US confirms $60bn plan to sell Saudi Arabia arms

US officials have confirmed they intend to sell $60bn (£38bn) of arms to Saudi Arabia, including helicopters and jets.

The state department said details of the deal had been sent to Congress, which now has 30 days to object.

If completed, it could be the most lucrative single arms deal in US history and could support 75,000 jobs.

The state department said Israel, traditionally wary of arms deals involving Arab states, was not expected to raise objections.

'Strong message'

Announcing the plan, state department official Andrew Shapiro said it had a "tremendous significance from a strategic regional perspective".

"It will send a strong message to countries in the region that we are committed to support the security of our key partners and allies in the Arabian Gulf and broader Middle East," he said.

Analysts say the sale - which includes more than 80 F-15 fighters, and dozens of Apache, Black Hawk and Little Bird helicopters - is unlikely to face much opposition in Congress.

The plan was leaked last month, when officials were quoted as saying anti-radar missiles, precision-guided bombs, and Hellfire missiles would also be included.

But officials did not mention the missiles during Wednesday's news conference.

The Pentagon said the Saudis were expected to initially select about $30bn worth of aircraft. Delivery of the weapons is expected to be spread over 15 to 20 years.

Saudi Arabia is one of the top buyers of weapons in the developing world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11587348

Merkel says German multicultural society has failed

Attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany have "utterly failed", Chancellor Angela Merkel says.

In a speech in Potsdam, she said the so-called "multikulti" concept - where people would "live side-by-side" happily - did not work.

Mrs Merkel's comments come amid recent outpourings of strong anti-immigrant feeling from mainstream politicians.

A recent survey showed that more than 30% of Germans believed Germany was "overrun by foreigners".

The study - by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation think-tank - also showed that roughly the same number thought that some 16 million of Germany's immigrants or people with foreign origins had come to the country for the social benefits.

Foreign workers

Mrs Merkel told a gathering of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party on Saturday that at "the beginning of the 60s our country called the foreign workers to come to Germany and now they live in our country... We kidded ourselves a while, we said: 'They won't stay, sometime they will be gone', but this isn't reality.

"And of course, the approach [to build] a multicultural [society] and to live side-by-side and to enjoy each other... has failed, utterly failed."

In her speech, the chancellor specifically referred to recent comments by German President Christian Wulff who said that Islam was "part of Germany" like Christianity and Judaism.

While acknowledging that this was the case, Mrs Merkel stressed that immigrants living in Germany needed to do more to integrate, including learning to speak German.

"Anyone who does not immediately speak German", she said, "is not welcome".

By speaking now, Mrs Merkel has now joined the increasingly hot debate on multiculturalism, coming down on the side of those who are uneasy about immigration, says the BBC's correspondent in Berlin, Stephen Evans.

Her comments come a week after she held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which the two leaders pledged to do more to improve the often poor integration record of Germany's estimated 2.5 million-strong Turkish community.

Earlier this week, Horst Seehofer, the leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, CSU, said about integration that it was "obvious that immigrants from different cultures like Turkey and Arab countries, all in all, find it harder".

"'Multikulti' is dead," Mr Seehofer said.

In August, Thilo Sarrazin, a senior official at Germany's central bank, said that "no immigrant group other than Muslims is so strongly connected with claims on the welfare state and crime". Mr Sarrazin has since resigned.

Such recent strong anti-immigrant feelings from mainstream politicians come amid an anger in Germany about high unemployment, even if the economy is growing faster than those of its rivals, our correspondent says.

He adds that there also seems to be a new strident tone in the country, perhaps leading to less reticence about no-go-areas of the past.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11559451

Paris airport fuel running short amid pension strikes

France's main airport, Charles de Gaulle, has enough fuel to last only a few days, the transport ministry has warned amid strikes against government plans to raise the retirement age.

A ministry spokesman said officials were working to restore aviation fuel supplies. Economy Minister Christine Lagarde urged people "not to panic".

Oil refineries and fuel depots have been hit by the latest strikes.

Meanwhile unions are holding fresh mass protests over the pension plan.

On Saturday thousands of students have joined a fifth day of demonstrations in less than six weeks. Unions have called for more than 200 marches nationwide.

Police in Paris said 20,000 people were taking part in Saturday's protest when it started, shortly after 1500 local (1300 GMT), compared to 50,000 on 2 October, the last Saturday of protests.

Trapil, the company that operates the fuel pipeline to the Paris airports, told French media on Friday that supplies had stopped and that Roissy-Charles de Gaulle could run out of fuel as early as next week.

On Saturday a transport ministry spokesman confirmed to the AFP news agency that reserves would last until late on Monday or Tuesday.

But he said the pipeline was now working intermittently, adding: "We are exploring possible solutions to supply the airport [at Roissy]. We are confident."

All 12 oil refineries in France have been hit by the strikes. Ten have shut down or are in the process of closing.

A number of fuel depots have been blockaded.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11557240

Israel plan for 238 settler homes draws Palestinian ire

Israel has unveiled preliminary plans for 238 new homes for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem, reports say.

The Israeli plan for 158 homes in the Pisgat Zeev settlement and another 80 in Ramot were included in a building plan released by the housing ministry.

The move comes as the fledgling Middle East peace talks are in danger of collapsing over the settlement issue.

The Palestinians have threatened to walk away unless Israel renews its partial ban on West Bank settlements.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told the AFP news agency that the move proved that Israel was intent on "killing" every opportunity to revive peace talks between the two sides.

Settlements or suburbs

The housing ministry's plans for Pisgat Zeev and Ramot were approved on Thursday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Ynet news website said. There has been no comment from his office on Friday.

Palestinians regard Pisgat Zeev and neighbourhoods like it as settlements, and accuse Israel of using them to increase the Jewish presence in the mainly Arab east of the city, but Israelis see them simply as suburbs of Jerusalem.

The international community considers East Jerusalem occupied territory, and building on occupied land is illegal under international law.

This was the first such approval since March, when Israel gave the green light to plans for the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in East Jerusalem during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden, prompting a major crisis with Washington.

Mr Netanyahu has been under pressure from Washington to extend a 10-month slowdown on the building of settler homes on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Although the freeze - which expired on 26 September - did not apply to East Jerusalem, building projects there too were quietly held back to avoid any political fallout, Israeli press reports said.

Earlier this week, Mr Netanyahu offered to renew the West Bank freeze if the Palestinians recognised Israel as a Jewish state, but the Palestinian leadership dismissed the proposal as unfair and unnecessary.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967, settling close to 500,000 Jews in more than 100 settlements. They are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

The Palestinians - backed by the Arab League - have pledged not to return to direct talks without a full settlement construction freeze, but have given the US a month to come up with a way to break the impasse

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11550263

Australia PM Julia Gillard to form minority government‎

Julia Gillard will stay as Australia's prime minister after winning the backing of two key independent MPs.

Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott held the balance of power in parliament after a fellow independent MP, Bob Katter, backed opposition leader Tony Abbott.

The dramatic announcement ended more than two weeks of political deadlock following indecisive elections.

It gives Ms Gillard's Labor Party the backing of one more MP in the lower house than the Liberal-led coalition.

The minority government is Australia's first since World War II.

"The events of the past fortnight show us unequivocally that our democracy is very, very strong indeed," Ms Gillard told a news conference in Canberra.

"With today's agreement... Labor is prepared to deliver stable, effective and secure government for the next three years. Ours will be a government with just one purpose - to serve the Australian people."

"We will be held more accountable than ever before, and more than any government in modern memory," she added.

Mr Abbott told reporters he would respect the outcome, despite his alliance having won one more seat than Ms Gillard's party on 21 August.

"The Coalition won more votes and more seats than our opponents, but sadly, we did not get the opportunity to form a government," he said. "Obviously I'm disappointed about that, but that's our system."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11209560

Key Australia MP backs opposition

Bob Katter, one of three independent Australian MPs who hold the balance of power in parliament has said he will support opposition leader Tony Abbott.

The two other MPs - Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott - are due to reveal their decision soon.

There has been political deadlock in Australia since last month's inconclusive election.

The Labor Party, led by caretaker Prime Minister Julia Gillard, has 74 seats to the conservative opposition's 73.

Mr Katter's support for Mr Abbott evens them up.

Both leaders now need the support of Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott to gain a majority of 76 seats.

If they split, it is a dead heat and Australians face a return to the polls.

Mr Katter said he had not spoken to the party leaders before announcing his decision.

"I haven't told anybody at all," he said, adding that his move would not have any bearing on the decision of the other two.

"I said 'That's my decision, fellas. I'm really sorry, I'm locked in'."

The BBC's Nick Bryant, in Sydney, says that with negotiations over the formation of the next government now in their third week, there has been growing public impatience with the time it has taken the rural-based MPs - dubbed the three amigos - to reach their decision.

The elections on 21 August produced Australia's first hung parliament in 70 years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11209560

Bahrain accuses Shia activists of 'terror campaign'

Prosecutors in Bahrain have accused 23 Shia activists of planning to overthrow the state's Sunni-dominated government.

The men, arrested since mid-August, belonged to a "sophisticated terrorist network" that was planning and executing a "campaign of violence and subversion", an official said.

There has been a series of Shia-led protests in the Gulf state ahead of October's parliamentary election.

Bahrain's majority Shia community has long complained of discrimination.

"This sophisticated terrorist network with operations inside and outside Bahrain has undertaken and planned a systematic and layered campaign of violence and subversion aimed squarely at undermining the national security of Bahrain," public prosecution official Abdulrahman al-Sayed said in a statement.

"The leaders of the network have been accused of several crimes including the planning and instigation of violence, conducting a wide-ranging propaganda campaign against the Kingdom and seeking to overthrow the regime by force," his statement continued.

Bahrain is unique in all the states of the Arabian Peninsula in that it has a Shia majority, roughly 65% of the population.

However, the ruling elite is Sunni. Shia Bahrainis say they have been discriminated against for years.

Among those being charged is Abd al-Jalil Singace, head of the Shia-dominated Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy.

He was arrested in August on his return from London where he had been giving a lecture on human rights in Bahrain.

The secretary general of the Haq Movement, Husain Mshaim, is also being charged.

Mr Singace was arrested with four other activists in 2009 and held for several months on charges of plotting to overthrow the government.

He later received a royal pardon after weeks of protests.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11190726