Maybe one of geopolitics' hoariest cliches is in need of revision.
At least since the end of the Cold War, "The most powerful man in the world" has been a standard appendage for the President of the United States.
Now, if Forbes is to be believed, that title belongs to the leader of America's vanquished Cold War rival, the President of Russia.
For only the second time since the US business magazine began its practice of listing the world's most powerful people in 2009, Barack Obama is not ranked No 1 this year. In 2010, the distinction went to Hu Jintao, the former Chinese President. Now it is the hour of Vladimir Putin.
Such rankings are entirely subjective; indeed their existence is merely evidence of the American obsession with lists, numbers and its eternal search for definitive truth in statistics. But they're undeniably fun.
Nonetheless, Obama's demotion and Putin's promotion (from 3rd in 2012), underline a fundamental truth about the nature of power. In terms of objective "hard power", America has long reigned supreme: a defence budget exceeding those of the 10 next countries combined, a unique ability to project troops and colossal firepower to every corner of the earth, and (as the current NSA brouhaha only confirms) unsurpassed technology to boot.
But matters are not so simple. Power resides in the perception of power or, put another way, of the readiness of an individual or state to use it. Obama's performance of late, not least over Syria, suggests he is uncomfortable in that role. No such doubts surround Putin.
Happily for the US and the rest of us, economic might counts at least as much as military might, if the Forbes list is anything to go by. That's why Chancellor Angela Merkel is at No 5 - though Germany's readiness to use military power is close to zero - ahead of British Prime Minister David Cameron (11th) and French President Francois Hollande (18th), who both head nuclear powers and who both talked a fierce fight against Syria.
Even so, ranking the new Pope at 4th might be pushing it. Pope Francis' personal humility and moral example are indubitably inspiring, but the scandals that have plagued a hide-bound Catholic Church may be hard to overcome. By contrast China's new leader, Xi Jinping, entering the charts at No 3, has clear upside potential, as stock analysts say.
In general, however, the US continues to rule. Of the 72 names on the list (each representing 100 million of the world's population), 28 are American. The bulk of those are corporate bosses, plus the inevitable Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, ranked at No 7. The high-tech contingent (the heads of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple etc.) also attest to America's enduring "soft power".
Apart from Putin, only three Russians make the list, a more accurate reflection of the country's modest economic ranking (around 10th, as measured by GDP).
Forbes said that Obama's "lame duck period" had started earlier than usual, while Putin strengthened his control over Russia, the BBC reports.
According to the report, it is the first time in three years that Obama has dropped to the second place on the Forbes list.
Putin showed his strength by granting asylum to former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden in August, who is wanted in the U.S. over several intelligence document leaks.
Putin also strongly averted Obama's threats of missile strikes on Syria with a plan for Damascus to hand over chemical weapons.
On the other hand, Obama has been struggling from a 16-day U.S. government shutdown caused by a budget and debt crisis in Washington.
Top 10 most powerful people of the world according to Forbes 2013 are:
1) Vladimir Putin, Russian President
2) Barack Obama, US President
3) Xi Jinping, Chinese President
4) Pope Francis, Roman Catholic Church
5) Angela Merkel, German Chancellor
6) Bill Gates, co-chair, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has chaired a meeting on fighting corruption following a check of officials' incomes launched by the Kremlin.
Putin's chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, said after Wednesday's meeting that eight top officials, including two senior military officers, were fired recently after a check of their income declarations.
Ivanov, who is in charge of anti-corruption effort, said 1.5 million officials nationwide submitted their income declarations this year, and 200 lost their jobs following inquiries. He says checks will continue and "there can't be any untouchables."
For the first time this year, officials were requested to declare their expenditures if they spent more than their three-year income in a single year. Ivanov said 14,400 such officials submitted such declarations this year; of 600 checked so far, 20 raised suspicions.
BBC reporter Steve Rosenberg: "Russia's president strode out of the Kremlin to greet the Olympic flame. The Sochi winter games are Vladimir Putin's pet project"
Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken part in a ceremony in Moscow to launch the torch relay for next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The torch will go on a 123-day journey covering some 65,000km (40,000 miles) before the Games start in the Black Sea resort on 7 February.
The torch's journey will include a trip into space.
But the relay got off to a rocky start when the flame briefly went out during the loop through the Kremlin.
A security guard had to re-light it with a cigarette lighter.
Mr Putin said the Games would show Russia's "respect for equality and diversity".
The run-up to the Games has so far been marred by controversy over a new Russian law that restricts the spread of information about homosexuality, as well as allegations by rights groups that authorities have rounded up migrant workers who helped build the Games venues in Sochi.
'The way we love it'
The Olympic flame had been flown in from Greece after being lit last Sunday at the birthplace of the ancient Games.
The sun's rays were used to light the Olympic flame during a ceremony last Sunday in Greece
Hoisting the flame in Moscow, Mr Putin declared in a ceremony shown live on television that "our shared dream is becoming reality".
He said the Games would show "respect for equality and diversity - ideals that are so intertwined with the ideals of the Olympic movement itself".
Mr Putin said the relay would show off Russia "the way that it is and the way we love it".
"Today is a joyous and momentous day," he said. "The Olympic flame - the symbol of the planet's main sports event, the symbol of peace and friendship - has arrived in Russia, and in a few minutes it will be on its way around our huge country."
On its journey the flame will:
Travel to the North Pole on an atomic-powered icebreaker
Ascend Europe's highest peak, Mt Elbrus
Be taken to the depths of Lake Baikal in Siberia
Be taken on a spacewalk (unlit) at the International Space Station.
WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama disclosed in a television interview broadcast on Sunday that he had exchanged letters with new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and said diplomacy on Syria, backed up by a military threat, is a potential model for negotiations on Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
In an interview on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Obama did not reveal details of the letter exchange, but made clear that U.S. concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions are a "far larger issue for us" than Syria's chemical weapons.
He and Rouhani will speak at the U.N. General Assembly next week on the same day. A White House spokeswoman said there are currently no plans for them to meet at the United Nations.
Obama said Iran should avoid thinking that the United States would not launch a military strike in response to Tehran's nuclear program just because it has not attacked Syria.
"They shouldn't draw a lesson that we haven't struck, to think we won't strike Iran," Obama said. "On the other hand, what they should draw from this lesson is that there is the potential of resolving these issues diplomatically."
Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons but the United States and Israel are working under the assumption that Iran is well along toward developing an atomic weapons program.
Regarded as a relative moderate, Rouhani has made conciliatory statements toward Washington since coming to office last month. However, Obama said he doubted Rouhani would "suddenly make it easy" to negotiate with the Iranians.
"My view is that if you have both a credible threat of force, combined with a rigorous diplomatic effort, that, in fact you can strike a deal," he said.
White House spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said the United States hopes the Iranian government will engage substantively in order to reach a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue.
"We remain ready to engage with the Rouhani government on the basis of mutual respect to achieve a peaceful resolution to the nuclear issue," she said.
In the interview, Obama rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim that Syrian rebels were responsible for an Aug. 21 chemical gas attack, but he welcomed Putin's diplomatic role in the crisis.
Obama and Putin have become unlikely partners on Syria after U.S. threats to launch a military strike over the chemical weapons attack prompted a diplomatic initiative that has led to a deal to secure Syria's poison gas stockpiles.
"I think there's a way for Mr. Putin, despite me and him having a whole lot of differences, to play an important role in that," Obama said. "And so I welcome him being involved. I welcome him saying, 'I will take responsibility for pushing my client, the Assad regime, to deal with these chemical weapons.'"
Obama dismissed Putin's charge that it was the Syrian rebels who launched the chemical weapons attack, rather than forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as Washington believes.
"Well, nobody around the world takes seriously the idea that the rebels were the perpetrators of this," Obama said.
Obama defended his handling of the Syria crisis, saying the steps he has taken had led to a situation where Assad has acknowledged he has chemical weapons and that his key ally, Russia, is pressuring Syria to give them up.
"I think that folks here in Washington like to grade on style," Obama said. "And so had we rolled out something that was very smooth and disciplined and linear, they would have graded it well, even if it was a disastrous policy."
The Russian and US foreign ministers have begun a crucial meeting in Geneva on a plan to place Syria's chemical weapons under international control.
Sergei Lavrov and John Kerry have held a press conference ahead of a working dinner.
The UN has confirmed it has received documents from Syria on joining the Chemical Weapons Convention, a key step in the Russian plan.
Syria's president said it would submit arms data one month after signing.
The US accuses the Syrian government of killing hundreds in a chemical attack in the Ghouta area of the capital, Damascus, on 21 August. The government denies the allegation, blaming rebels.
Russia announced its proposal for dealing with the escalating chemical weapons crisis on Monday, as the US Congress was preparing to vote on whether to back President Barack Obama's moves towards military strikes.
The fact that the Russians and Americans are sending such large delegations to Geneva, including hordes of military and security officials, suggests a real desire on both sides to make use of this moment.
But the hurdles are immense. The Americans, along with the British and French, want to see some kind of enforcement mechanism to hold President Assad's feet to the fire. The Russians say this is simply not acceptable. President Putin, in a well-timed article in the New York Times, pours scorn on American threats of force.
But even if this fundamental stumbling block can be overcome (if the US Congress passes its own resolution, with deadlines and threats, then arguably the UN doesn't need to), there are a myriad other problems. Who would be willing to send personnel into a war zone to carry out such hazardous work? What weapons will the Syrians be expected, or willing, to hand over? How long, realistically, will this major undertaking last?
The BBC's James Robbins, in Geneva, says these are critical talks, aimed at breaking two and a half years of deadlock over Syria and stripping President Assad of his arsenal of chemical weapons.
Our correspondent says the American and Russian teams, led by Secretary of State Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov, are unusually large - packed with weapons experts as well as diplomats.
He says the idea is that detailed talks on the practicalities of chemical disarmament will run in parallel with the hard political graft between Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov - but it is expected to be a lengthy process, as each side tests the other hard to see if they really can find common ground.
US officials had earlier described Russia's plan as "doable but difficult".
Mr Lavrov also gave an outline of the three main phases of the proposal:
Syria joins the Chemical Weapons Convention, which outlaws the production and use of the weapons
Syria reveals where its chemical weapons are stored and gives details of its programme
Experts decide on the specific measures to be taken
Mr Lavrov said: "I am sure that there is a chance for peace in Syria. We cannot let it slip away."
Before meeting Mr Lavrov, Mr Kerry held talks with UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi.
Officials travelling with Mr Kerry said they want a rapid agreement with the Russians on principles for the process, including a demand for Syria to give a quick, complete and public declaration of its stockpile.
'Not unilateral'
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad earlier appeared on Russian TV to confirm that his country's chemical weapons would be placed under international control but insisted that "US threats did not influence the decision".
In his interview, which has not yet been broadcast in full, Mr Assad told state-run Rossiya 24 that Syria was sending relevant documents to the UN as part of the process of signing the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Mr Assad said Syria would then submit information on its chemical weapons one month after signing.
He also said that Russia's proposal was "not unilateral", adding: "Syria will accept it if America stops military threats and if other countries supplying the rebels with chemical weapons also abide by the agreement."
The US postponed plans to launch military strikes on Syria after Russia proposed the disarmament.
Russian media have hailed the move as a diplomatic coup.
BBC News asked people in the Middle East to share their views on a possible military strike against Syria
President Vladimir Putin affirmed this view by writing an opinion piece in the New York Times lambasting US policy, saying strikes would lead to an upsurge in terrorism.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Russian plan "must be treated with great caution", and experts have pointed out the difficulty of conducting such a process in a war zone.
5-6 Sep: Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama discuss idea of placing Syria's chemical weapons under international control on sidelines of G20 summit
9 Sep: Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says he has urged Syria to hand in chemical weapons and have them destroyed; Syria welcomes plan
10 Sep: Syria's foreign minister makes first public admission of the regime's chemical weapons stockpile; Syria commits to Russian plan. Barack Obama postpones Congress vote on military action and says he will give Russian plan a chance
12 Sep: John Kerry due to meet Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva
The main Syrian armed rebel group has already refused to co-operate.
Gen Salim Idriss of the Free Syrian Army said he categorically rejected the plan, and insisted that the most important thing was to punish the perpetrators of chemical attacks.
If the talks in Geneva are successful, the US hopes the disarmament process will be agreed in a UN Security Council resolution.
However, Russia regards as unacceptable any resolution backed by military force, or a resolution that blames the Syrian government for chemical attacks.
Moscow has already objected to a draft resolution that would be enforced by Chapter VII of the UN charter, which would in effect sanction the use of force if Syria failed in its obligations.
Russia, supported by China, has blocked three previous draft resolutions condemning the Assad government.
More than 100,000 people have died since the uprising against President Assad began in 2011.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- The New York Times on Wednesday evening published an op-ed piece on its website by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who argued for caution in the Syrian chemical weapons crisis, while urging the U.S. to work through the mechanism of the United Nations for a peaceful resolution to the issue.
In the article, titled "A Plea for Caution From Russia," Putin wrote that recent events surrounding Syria have prompted him to "speak directly to the American people and their political leaders" to remind the U.S. of the importance of the United Nations in the international order.
"No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage," wrote Putin, "This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization."
The Russian president continued to argue against military intervention in Syria, saying it will undoubtedly result in civilian casualties in a country embroiled in "armed conflict between government and opposition."
"There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government," warned Putin. He also aired his doubts over the U.S. claim that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government used chemical weapons.
"There is every reason to believe that it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists."
Putin also said Russia is "not protecting the Syrian government, but international law", while advocating a peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future.
"Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression," wrote Putin, invoking failed U.S. military ventures in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
At the end of the article, Putin questioned the wisdom of American exceptionalism, saying it is "extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation," as "God created us equal."
On Tuesday evening, U.S. President Barack Obama appeared to embrace the Russian proposal to put Syrian chemical weapons under international control, after weeks of arguing that the United States should use military force to punish Syria for alleged use of chemical weapons.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country will press forward with efforts to ward off military action by the U.S. and its allies against the Tehran-backed regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iranian state TV reported on Thursday.
The report said the remarks came late Wednesday during a phone conversation between Rouhani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Rouhani was quoted as saying "military action will bring great costs for the region" and "it is necessary to apply all efforts to prevent it."
Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, used stronger rhetoric while talking to the Tasnim news website, saying an attack on Syria would draw in Israel.
"The Zionists should know that a U.S. military attack on Syria will not save the fake regime from the resistance but it means the immediate destruction of Israel," Jafari was quoted as saying.
According to the state TV report, President Rouhani said both Iran and Russia would work in "extensive cooperation" to prevent any military action against Syria. Rouhani also called such military action an "open violation" of international laws.
While condemning chemical weapons, Rouhani was quoted as saying, "Early judgment can be dangerous, before clarification" can be made of allegations that Syria used the weapons.
"Western countries have found some excuse to prepare the ground to weaken the stance of Syria in further talks" after the Syrian government has won the upper hand in confronting rebels, Rouhani said.
The president also predicted regional consequences for any military strike.
"Syria has a strategic and sensitive situation, and any sort of military invasion would lead to instability in the entire Middle East," he said.
Iran has regularly warned the U.S. over possible military action against Syria by calling it the country's own "red line" as the U.S. naval fleet takes positions near Syria and President Barack Obama considers a military response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad government.
Hossein Naghavi, spokesman of Iran's parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, told the semi-official Fars news agency Thursday that an Iranian parliamentary delegation will visit Syria Saturday to study developments and to express support for its people and government.
Assad is Iran's main Middle East ally, and his downfall would deal a serious blow to Iran and its proxy forces, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestinian Hamas. Iran does not recognize Israel.
In a Cabinet meeting earlier on Wednesday, Rouhani strongly condemned the use of chemical weapons.
"Iran, as a major victim of chemical weapons, is a pioneer in fighting any kind of inhuman weapons at the global level, and it strongly condemns any use of this weapon," he said, according to the president's website.
Rouhani called for the U.N. to investigate both sides of the Syrian conflict.
"The U.N should probe the use of chemical weapons while regarding field realities, handmade weapons that were used and the history of transferring chemical weapons to Takfiri groups from abroad," said Rouhani, using the general term for Muslims who accuse others of being unbelievers.
The Kommersant newspaper said the reason was Cuba told officials to stop Mr Snowden from boarding the Aeroflot flight at the last minute.
It said Cuba had changed its mind after pressure by the US, which wants to try Mr Snowden on espionage charges.
The newspaper also said Mr Snowden had spent a couple of days in the Russian consulate in Hong Kong to declare his intention of flying to Latin America via Moscow.
"His choice of route and his plea to help were a complete surprise to us. We did not invite him," Kommersant quoted a Russian state source as saying.
Allowing Mr Snowden to land would have put Cuba's relations with the US at risk.
Ties between the US and Russia were strained when Russia granted Mr Snowden asylum.
Following the disagreement over Mr Snowden, US President Barack Obama postponed a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin planned for next month.
The 41-year-old actor came out in a bid to tackle homophobia in the country, saying he was "deeply troubled by the current attitude" by the Russian government.
He wrote to organisers of the St. Petersburg International Film Festival saying: "As a gay man I must decline."
"I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government," Wentworth added in his letter.
'The situation is in no way acceptable, and I cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly,' he said.
He is the latest high profile celebrity to hit out at Russian anti-gay laws, joining Stephen Fry and Lady Gaga in protest. The controversy in Russia was sparked after politicians in its lower house of parliament, the Duma, passed a law imposing heavy fines for providing information about homosexuality to people under 18.
Comedian Stephen called for Russia to be banned from hosting next year's Winter Olympics – and compared Vladimir Putin to Hitler.
He said the authorities in Russia regularly turn a blind eye to gay people being abused, raped and murdered.
He added that President Putin's country is victimising homosexuals in the same way that Jews were in Hitler's Germany.
Sending support: Lady Gaga
Stephen begged sports chiefs and political leaders to cancel the Games in the Russian city of Sochi so that Putin is not rewarded for his actions such as approving "barbaric" anti-gay laws.
In an open letter to David Cameron and the International Olympic Committee today, Stephen said: "I am gay. I am a Jew.
"My mother lost over a dozen of her family to Hitler's anti-Semitism.
"Every time in Russia (and it is constantly) a gay teenager is forced into suicide, a lesbian 'correctively' raped, gay men and women beaten to death by neo-Nazi thugs while the Russian police stand idly by, the world is diminished and I for one weep anew at seeing history repeat itself.
The Russian government is criminal. Oppression will be met with revolution. Russian LGBTs you are not alone. We will fight for your freedom.
Even as US intelligence agencies and their global partners assess potential damage from Edward Snowden's disclosures about surveillance programs, militants have begun responding by altering methods of communication, a change that could make it harder to foil attacks, US officials say.
Intelligence agencies have detected that members of targeted militant organizations, including both Sunni and Shi'ite Islamist groups, have begun altering communications patterns in what was believed to be a direct response to details on eavesdropping leaked by the former US spy agency contractor, two US national security sources said.
The officials said it was too early to tell whether the recent changes in communications methods had caused a loss of critical intelligence or if there was now a greater risk of missing warning signs about future attacks. "You don't know what you lose until after you've lost it," one of the sources said.
Previous dire warnings of leaks causing huge damage to US national security interests have proved overplayed. The leaking of tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables by Wikileaks in 2010 appears to have had far less impact than Washington initially warned.
And militants changing the way they communicate could actually hinder plots as they resort to different methods to avoid detection.
The charge that Snowden's leaks are causing damage, made by officials speaking on condition of anonymity, comes as the Obama administration mounts a campaign to pressure Russia to extradite him. Russian president Vladimir Putin on Tuesday confirmed Snowden was in the transit area of a Moscow airport, but ruled out handing him to Washington.
The officials declined to specify what changes were spotted among militant groups, fearing that the more details provided on what was known about their behavior the easier it would be for them to adapt.
One US telecommunications expert said privately that the militants' latest adjustments likely included reduced electronic transmissions and more frequent switching of cell phones while they seek new encryption methods.
... contd.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to sign a statement at the Group of Eight summit calling for the establishment of a "transitional government" in Syria as quickly as possible, putting more pressure on his ally, President Bashar al-Assad.
The text of the statement on Syria called for "a transitional governing body with full executive powers, formed by mutual consent," while stopping short of calling for Assad's ouster. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters it was "unthinkable" that a transition government could include Assad.
The G-8 declaration says the leaders endorse a negotiated end to the civil war and commits $1.5 billion for humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees.
Putin was isolated among fellow G-8 leaders, including host Cameron and U.S. President Barack Obama, for backing Assad in a bloody conflict that has killed more than 93,000 people. A British official, who asked not to be identified, called the summit a clarifying moment in differences over Syria.
While backing a transitional government marked a move toward the position of the U.S. and other Western nations, differences remain. Putin said today there is no proof that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons, as stated by the U.S., U.K. and France, and that arming the rebels may destabilize the situation more.
He said Assad's opposition includes extremists, comparing them to the killers of a British soldier last month in London.
'Strong Evidence'
"Among the Syrian opposition there are very many such criminals, not all but many, who committed the brutal murder in London," he said. "The Europeans want to supply weapons to these people? And who will then control where and in whose hands they end up?"
After a meeting with French President Francois Hollande today, Obama said both governments "have strong evidence" that chemical weapons have been used in Syria.
Ben Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser, told reporters traveling with the president to Berlin that the U.S. is "pleased with the language" in the G-8 declaration. He said it represented a "good convergence" of views from all the leaders.
Russian Pressure
The next step will be a meeting of representatives from the U.S., Russia and the United Nations next week, he said.
"We want the Russians to work with the regime to make sure they come to the table in a serious fashion," Rhodes said.
The language on transition in the statement went no further than that agreed to in Geneva in June 2012 by the United Nations-sponsored Syria Action Group. Still, Cameron said it represented progress. "That was something that was slipping away over the last few weeks, bought back onto the table and agreed right here," he said.
Cameron made a direct offer to Assad's supporters within Syria. "To those who have been loyal to Assad but who know he has to go, and who want stability in their country, they should take note at this point," he said. "Let's get on with the process of naming people from the regime, from the opposition that can sit down and talk."
The prime minister also said it was an achievement to get the G-8 to call for an investigation into whether chemical weapons have been used in Syria. "Reaching this agreement was not easy," he said. "It was made possible only by the frank, open, leader-to-leader discussion at this G-8."
At the same time as Cameron was hailing progress, Putin was attacking Obama's decision to supply small arms to the opposition elsewhere at the summit. He told reporters it would destabilize the situation.
To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Hutton in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland at
rhutton1@bloomberg.net; Ilya Arkhipov in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland at
iarkhipov@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net
There was a major security presence for an anti-G8 protest in Belfast.
The rally was organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ahead of next week's G8 summit in County Fermanagh.
The ICTU said one billion people were living in "extreme poverty" around the world, due to Western capitalism and the policies of the G8 leaders.
The rally passed off peacefully and no arrested were made. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said protesters started to disperse at 14:00 BST.
The anti-capitalist demonstration was staged ahead of the two-day global summit, which will see the leaders of some of the world's most powerful countries gather at the Lough Erne resort for talks.
Organisers blamed the rain for the less than expected number of protesters.
It fell far short of the 5,000 to 10,000 that had originally been estimated.
At some parts of the route, the marchers were outnumbered by police.
Officers from various UK police forces lined High Street and Royal Avenue as the march made its way to Belfast City Hall.
As the speeches began a small crowd of loyalist protesters jeered those on the platform, but the rally continued and the crowd dispersed peacefully.
Hundreds of police officers and scores of PSNI vehicles lined the route of the march to Belfast City Hall, and police helicopters circled overhead.
A weekly loyalist protest against a restriction on flying the union flag at Belfast City Hall also took place.
Some loyalist flag protesters jeered as anti-G8 rally speeches got under way.
Addressing protesters at the Belfast City Hall rally, ICTU chairperson Pamela Dooley said: "There is an obligation on the trade union movement and civil society to stand together to demand a different and better way."
'Corrupt capitalist system'
Ms Dooley said the G8 leaders did not have consent "to force their damaging policies on the rest of us".
She added that unemployment had risen to "unprecedented levels" on the island of Ireland.
She told the crowd that in the Irish Republic "prosperity for working people is over" while in Northern Ireland "almost one third of the population is classed as economically inactive".
"We know that we are facing the consequences of a corrupt capitalist system bereft of moral standards", Ms Dooley said.
There was a major security presence for an anti-G8 protest in Belfast.
"It is a system which puts profit before people and always will. It is a system for the few and not for the many."
She added that the ICTU had "credible alternative proposals which can create a fair and just world".
James Orr of Friends of the Earth said it was "time to put the long term future of the planet first - and develop a clean energy future we can all afford".
He added: "G8 nations should be taking the lead in tackling climate change, instead of driving forward policies that keep their economies hooked on dirty, damaging and increasingly costly fossil fuels.
"People across the UK, including Northern Ireland, are rightly concerned about the threat fracking poses to their communities, local environment and the global climate."
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said the G8 leaders were "undermining their credentials as global leaders due to human rights violations in their own countries".
It called on the US government to close its military prison at Guantanamo Bay and called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release jailed members of rock band, Pussy Riot.
In addition to the march, a number of concerts have taken place in Belfast and County Fermanagh.
Video messages
A concert in Belfast's Botanic Gardens was staged to send a message to world leaders about ending world hunger.
The Big IF concert was organised by a number of charities including Oxfam, Trocaire and Christian Aid and featured high-profile speakers and video messages from celebrities.
The artists included Two Door Cinema Club, Duke Special, Bronagh Gallagher, Prodijig, Flash Harry, and the Ulster Orchestra.
Event director Dan Schofield described it as a "fantastic, fun, family event, albeit one that has a very serious underlying message".
"People want the opportunity to make their voices heard in a positive and dignified way so that the leaders attending the G8 summit will be in no doubt that justice for the world's poor has to be top of the agenda in Fermanagh," he said.
Tim Magowan from the IF Coalition said: "Imagine if Northern Ireland became known as a place of agreement; a place where decisions were made which began the process of ending world hunger."
Meanwhile, in Enniskillen free classical music concerts were organised in advance of the G8 summit.
International opera singer Ruby Philogene led the line-up for the Songs for Saturday celebration in the afternoon.
Ruby devised a special G8 song recital of eight songs, one song from each of the eight countries involved in the summit at St Macartin's Cathedral.
Fermanagh District Council also organised a family fun day in each electoral ward as compensation for the G8 disruption.
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama heads to next week's summit of world leaders in Northern Ireland burdened by a messy domestic political landscape and distracting controversies. The latest one — about a leaked global surveillance program — has outraged people abroad and could cast a shadow on his trip.
The question is whether the growing political battles will affect Obama's standing at a G-8 summit of leading industrial countries, where he now will be dealing with reactions to his decision to arm Syrian rebel forces after a U.S. finding that President Bashar Assad's regime has used chemical weapons.
The decision should put Obama more in line with Europeans who made similar findings weeks ago. It also sharpens the differences with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an Assad supporter, who will also attend the summit.
Obama travels to Northern Ireland and later to Germany as he struggles on the domestic front. Despite his convincing victory in November, an improving economy and his still-respectable popularity numbers, his second-term agenda has stalled. An effort at gun control failed in the Senate, and his bid for a grand bipartisan bargain to cut government spending without harming the neediest Americans seems dead.
His last big hope for a big legislative win rides on an overhaul of immigration laws.
Yet it's hard to keep lawmakers focused on immigration or much else with Obama on the defensive over a series of controversies. Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, have been denouncing the administration's actions surrounding a terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, last year that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
Beyond that, Obama's Justice Department took the unusual step of subpoenaing phone records of The Associated Press without prior notification and obtaining a search warrant to secretly gather emails of a Fox News journalist. That prompted an uproar over what many critics saw as a violation of constitutional protections of press freedom.
Now comes the leaked information about the National Security Agency, the largest U.S. spying organization, collecting the details of telephone records of Americans, and two NSA programs that purportedly target foreign messages — including private emails, voice and other data transmissions — sent through U.S. Internet providers.
The NSA operations on foreign communications traffic might cause trouble for one of Obama's top goals at the G-8 summit. The president hoped the G-8 leaders could announce the start of negotiations on a sweeping free-trade agreement to eliminate tariffs on trade with the European Union. European Parliament members, elected representatives from the 27-nation EU, now want language on data protection written into any possible deal.
Hannes Swoboda, a Socialist leader in the European Parliament, said the surveillance showed that the U.S. "is just doing what it wants."
At the same time, however, Germany's interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, confirmed that his government regularly receives tips from the United States on Islamic extremists — and he doesn't expect the Americans to tell him where they got the information.
"We get very good and reliable information from our American friends and partners that has played an important role in the past in preventing attacks in Germany," Friedrich said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to raise the NSA issue with Obama when he visits Berlin after the summit.
Obama's voice remains first among equals at the G-8 gathering given his leadership of the nation with the world's biggest economy and his role as commander in chief of the dominant global military power. With much of Europe still struggling and some countries still deep in a new recession, the slowly improving U.S. economy lends Obama strong credibility.
But Obama had faced criticism, at home and abroad, for appearing tentative in his response to the Syrian civil war. That could change following the announcement Thursday of plans to arm opposition fighters, though the extent of U.S. weapon supplies to the rebels remains unclear.
The announcement will also intensify the spotlight on Obama's meeting with Putin in Northern Ireland. The Russians have refused to back away from their support for the Syrian leader. Obama has said repeatedly that the Syrian civil war can only end with Assad's ouster.
That dispute between Washington and Moscow, rivals who stood toe-to-toe in a superpower standoff through the Cold War, remains one of just a number of continuing irritants preventing a more normal U.S.-Russian relationship, something that Obama began his presidency hoping to construct. And that's just one of many plans the president had for domestic and foreign policy that have fallen by the wayside.
Mr Cameron visited Moscow last year, ending a four-year period during which r Putin has had no high-level contact with British officials. On Monday, Mr Cameron had to wait for Mr Putin who was late after an extended meeting with US President Barack Obama.
"The Prime Minister kindly agreed to wait and used the pause to work with documents," Mr Peskov said. He said the two leaders exchanged jokes about euro 2012.
The numbers were small, but the presence undeniable as colorfully masked supporters turned out from Washington to Kiev Friday to support members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot. The three women were found guilty of hooliganism for a protest in Moscow's main cathedral that denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin. They were each sentenced to two years in prison.
European markets have fallen following uncertainty caused by the failure so far of Cyprus to ratify the €10bn bank bailout.
If the Cypriot parliament votes the deal down, the eurozone would face a real risk of being dragged back into crisis.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, a conservative elected just three weeks ago, has said the tax on deposits was an alternative to a disorderly bankruptcy.
In a televised address, Mr Anastasiades said it was painful but "will eventually stabilise the economy and lead it to recovery".
He said that savers who lost money would be compensated by shares in commercial banks, with equity returns guaranteed by future revenues expected from natural gas discoveries.
However, many legislators remain unconvinced.
The plan has led to Cypriots trying to withdraw their savings before a bailout is introduced.
Banks in Cyprus are closed today for a national holiday and it is thought they could remain shut tomorrow to avoid mass withdrawals.
EU sources have pointed out that any bailout deal must also be passed by the German lower house of parliament. Therefore, significant concessions to Cyprus are unlikely.
Bailout terms criticised
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the proposed Cyprus levy on banking deposits "unfair, unprofessional and dangerous".
Mr Putin is said to have held a special meeting to discuss developments in the debt-stricken Cyprus.
Russian banks and businesses have significant deposits in Cyprus.
Russian banks had about $12 billion (€9bn) placed with Cypriot banks and corporate deposits amounted to $19 billion (€15bn) at the end of 2012, according to Moody's rating agency.
Fianna Fáil finance spokesperson Michael McGrath has said that the burning of depositors in Cyprus sets a dangerous precedent across the eurozone and makes a mockery of plans for an EU-wide banking union.
Mr McGrath said that the so-called "tax" sends a clear signal that ordinary depositors are now in the firing line.
Despite comments from senior EU officials that Cyprus is a unique case, he said the move will undermine the confidence of investors in the eurozone and cause alarm to savers across Europe.
The White House is monitoring Cyprus' plans to seize money from bank depositors to secure the island's financial rescue, a White House spokesman said, but declined to comment further on the plan, which has rattled financial markets.
"We're obviously monitoring the situation right now," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a briefing.
"We believe it's very important for Europe to take steps necessary, as they have been, to both grow and deal with sovereign debt issues."
White House monitoring Cyprus' plans
The White House is monitoring Cyprus' plans to seize money from bank depositors to secure the island's financial rescue, a White House spokesman said, but declined to comment further on the plan, which has rattled financial markets.
"We're obviously monitoring the situation right now," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a briefing.
"We believe it's very important for Europe to take steps necessary, as they have been, to both grow and deal with sovereign debt issues."
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman says French actor Gerard Depardieu has flown to Sochi, where he is likely to meet with Putin and receive a Russian passport.
Putin on Thursday approved the actor's application for Russian citizenship, causing a scandal in France, where Depardieu has been fighting a proposed 75 per cent income tax on the superrich.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency as saying Depardieu arrived Saturday in Sochi, the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics, and could meet with Putin on Saturday evening.
Peskov said "it cannot be excluded that during the meeting Depardieu could receive a passport."
Russia is again dismissing any suggestions it might be planning to offer political asylum to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed Moscow's position at a news conference with visiting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in the Russian capital.
"Our German colleagues said [during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Berlin last month] that they thought it would be nice if Russia granted asylum to Bashar al-Assad. We took it as a joke and responded with a joke: Why don't you, Germans, take Mr. Assad if he wants to go somewhere?"
Russia has previously rejected the idea of hosting the Syrian strongman while refusing to say whether it had actually been approached on the subject by the West.
ISTANBUL - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan decried Israeli's air strikes on Gaza on Friday as a pre-election stunt and said he would discuss the crisis with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo this weekend.
Under Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party, Turkey has sought to use its clout as a rising democratic power in the Muslim world to increase its influence in the Middle East, distancing itself from former ally Israel.
Erdogan said he would speak by phone with US President Barack Obama later on Friday and that Ankara was also seeking talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the prospect of a full Israeli ground invasion.
The United States says it has asked Turkey and Egypt to encourage the Islamist Hamas movement that rules Gaza to cease rocket fire into Israel, but Erdogan laid the blame for the deepening crisis firmly on the Jewish state.
