Titles:

• Norway attacks by Christian zealot 'a sign', say UK's far-right
• NATO allies open to possibility Qaddafi could stay in Libya
• US to oppose Palestinian UN bid  
• Karzai outlines Afghan ‘conditions' for future US ties
• US military chief nominee says to press Pakistan
• China tells US to halt spy plane flights

News Details:

Norway attacks by Christian zealot 'a sign', say UK's far-right
The leader of a British far-right group to which Anders Behring Breivik claims links called the attacks a sign of "growing anger" in Europe against Muslim immigrants, while a politician in a party in Italy's governing coalition called some of the gunman's ideas "great".  Following a wave of near universal revulsion against the attacks, the comments were among the first public statements that appeared to defend the extremist views that drove the Norwegian gunman to carry out the massacre. Stephen Lennon, leader of the English Defence League (EDL), said overnight that he does not condone Breivik's rampage but "the fact that so many people are scared - people have to listen to that". "People should look at what happened in Oslo and understand that there is growing anger in Europe," said Lennon, 28. "You suppress people's rights you suppress people's voices and people will just continue to go underground - but that doesn't make the problem go away." Meanwhile, Mario Borghezio, a European parliamentarian who belongs to Italy's rightwing Northern League party, told a mainstream Italian radio station that he sympathised with some of Breivik's ideas. "Some of the ideas he expressed are good, barring the violence, some of them are great," he told Il Sole-24 Ore radio station.

NATO allies open to possibility Qaddafi could stay in Libya
The U.S., the U.K., Italy and France now say they're willing to accept an outcome in Libya that would allow Muammar Qaddafi avoid exile or a trial on war crimes charges.  After conducting four months of daily bombings, NATO-led allies are willing to let Qaddafi stay in Libya on the condition that he gives up power.  "If the Libya people believe an internal solution is acceptable, then Italy agrees," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said yesterday in Guangzhou, China, according to ANSA news agency. A spokesman confirmed his comments. "One of the scenarios effectively envisaged is that he stays in Libya on one condition, which I repeat: that he very clearly steps aside from Libyan political life," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said July 20 in a television interview with French news channel LCI.  As the military campaign enters its fifth month, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies want to wrap up a mission that Juppe promised at its March 19 outset "will be counted in days and in weeks, not in months." Politically, they have pressing concerns at home: For Europeans, it's saving the euro and for Americans, it's defending an AAA credit rating by cutting federal spending.  "It shows some desperation, because the entire military operation didn't deliver what the U.K., France and also the U.S. had hoped for," Jan Techau, director of Carnegie Europe in Brussels, the European center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said in a telephone interview. "You get pragmatic and you change the targets." 

US to oppose Palestinian UN bid  
US envoy terms Palestine's approaching of UN as "unilateral action", despite backing of over 120 countries.  The US is to oppose Palestine's application to the UN for full membership status when the body's General Assembly convenes in September. Rosemary DiCarlo, the US deputy ambassador to the UN, said that the US would not support "unilateral action" by the Palestinians at the UN. DiCarlo was speaking at the final, regular UN Security Council discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian situation. "Let there be no doubt: symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September will not create an independent Palestinian state," DiCarlo said. "The United States will not support unilateral campaigns at the United Nations in September or any other time." DiCarlo said the US is pressing for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, insists on a negotiated settlement, and will oppose any unilateral action by the Palestinians at the UN. The US is among five veto-power members of the Security Council. It only considers UN admissions to the General Assembly from recommendations by its 15-member council.

Karzai outlines Afghan ‘conditions' for future US ties
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday outlined conditions governing negotiations for a future strategic partnership with the United States as he met defence chiefs at his palace. The new US ambassador in Kabul, Ryan Crocker, has said the US has no interest in permanent military bases in the country and does not want to project its influence in the region by remaining in Afghanistan. Karzai said Afghanistan's conditions included foreign forces working within Afghan legal rules, US troops not taking prisoners or maintaining jails, and an end to controversial night raids by elite commandos. He gave no details how the demands would shape negotiations, as he addressed heads of the army, police and intelligence services in a speech marking the end of the first phase of security transitions from foreign to local forces' control. "There are many other conditions on the economy and sovereignty and all other aspects... and about respect to the Afghan constitution," Karzai said. "They also have their own conditions, but we haven't agreed on anything yet." Seven parts of the country were ceremonially handed over from foreign to Afghan forces last week, although Nato officials say it will be up to two years before each area will assume full control for security and governance. All Western combat troops are due to leave by the end of 2014. "Nato and the international community are helping our country. But this will not go on forever and we don't want it forever," Karzai said. 

US military chief nominee says to press Pakistan
The nominee to be the next chief unformed officer of the US military pledged on Tuesday to press Pakistan to rein in extremists, saying that the war partner falsely considered India to be its top enemy. General Martin Dempsey, answering questions from senators at his confirmation hearing, said that he would urge Pakistan not to eliminate the safe haven enjoyed by militants in its lawless areas bordering Afghanistan. Dempsey told the Senate Armed Forces Committee that he will "continue to work with Pakistan to reduce the safe haven on the (Pakistan-Afghanistan) border." "As you know, they persist in the idea that India poses an existential threat to their existence while the terrorists that operate with some impunity in North West Frontier Province and FATA are less of a threat to them, and therefore they allocate their resources accordingly," he said, referring to two parts of Pakistan. The United States is working to convince Pakistan that extremists in the West are "as great a threat and probably a greater threat to them than any threat that India might pose," he said. Dempsey, who led troops through insurgency in Iraq, was nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed Admiral Mike Mullen as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

China tells US to halt spy plane flights
China has demanded that the United States stop spy plane flights near the Chinese coast, saying they have "severely harmed" trust between the two countries, state-run media reported Wednesday. The comments came after Taiwanese media reported two Chinese fighter jets attempted to scare off an American U2 reconnaissance plane that was collecting intelligence on China while flying along the Taiwan strait in late June. Beijing's defence ministry said the US must discontinue such flights, calling them a "major obstacle" as the two Pacific powers try to put a series of military disputes behind them, China's Global Times reported. The flights "severely harmed" mutual trust, the paper quoted the ministry as saying."We demand that the US respects China's sovereignty and security interests, and take concrete measures to boost a healthy and stable development of military relations," it added.