The Merkozy preferred plan for tighter fiscal Euro consolidation, with sanctions for member nations that fail to reach budget targets, requires a change to the Treaty of Lisbon, which covers not just the 17 countries in the Eurozone, but all 27 member countries in the EU. If that route is pursued, any country that vetoes the treaty change would effectively block it. And that brings Britain into the picture.

A UK parliamentary committee, the Culture, Sports & Media Committee (CSMC), which has been investigating the News of the World phone hacking scandal for the past months, released letters from various individuals involved in the scandal. The contents include new revelations on News International’s approval and support of the practice of phone hacking.

Various explanations for the riots in London in the past week have been flouted. Diversity, white liberals who control the media, rap music, people who scream racism, multiculturalism, infantilism, victim-centers narcissistic politics, black people, liberal dogma, the breakdown of family, no threat of capital punishment or deportation to Australia for the underclass and the “social engineering industry” have all been suggested by various right-wing commentators. Others contend UK austerity measures, including the closing of youth clubs, are partly to blame.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron says gangs are responsible for the chaos and disorder in London over the past days.

Riots have gripped London for the past three nights and, as communities move to clean up, there is increased tension and the possibility of more property damage.

Watching the fall of Rupert Murdoch play itself out has brought back old, old memories. Memories of the only political scandal I’ve experienced in my homeland that comes even close to what’s been unfolding in the UK right now: Watergate. And to judge from this British piece and this Canadian one, I’m not the only person to be thinking of Watergate in connection with all of this.

The civil war in Libya has hit a snag, from the perspective of the rebels and the international coalition. As quickly has the rebels gained oil cities along the eastern coast, they are now losing them. After meeting fierce resistance on the road to Sirte, the rebels appear in disarray, still outmanned and outgunned by Gadhafi’s forces. Even with the close air support from the coalition, Gadhafi’s forces have the better of it on the ground, because they’re actually an army and they have actual firepower.

Claiming his government “takes great interest in protecting civilians,” Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa has just declared an “an immediate stop to all military operations.”

The announcement was made within the last half-hour, and shortly after statements by both French and British leaders that airstrikes on Libya would begin “within hours.” The airstrikes were authorized by last night’s vote in the United Nations Security Council.

That Twitter thing works for British protesters just like it did for Egyptians. It could happen here.

In a move that he has used many times before, David Petraeus is putting out inflated claims on his “training” prowess in advance of a war strategy review. This time, Petraeus’ claim comes through an ISAF press release dated Monday, with the headline “Afghan Force Strength Growing Faster than Projected”. This looks like a direct repeat of September, 2004 when he burst onto the political scene by penning a Washington Post Op-Ed in which he falsely claimed great progress on troop training in Iraq and helped George W. Bush to re-election. Then, in September, 2007, while defending the surge in Iraq (and starting again from scratch on Iraqi troop training), Petraeus’ actions prompted John Arquilla, of the Naval Postgraduate School to note to Michael Hirsh “I think Colin Powell used dodgy information to get us into the war, and Petraeus is using dodgy information to keep us there.” Little wonder, then, that with another Afghanistan strategy review session looming, Petraeus should get ISAF to put out a claim that training is moving ahead of schedule.

Showing at least a model of what accountability can look like, the British government will pay reparations to victims of torture at Guantanamo Bay, to absolve British intelligence services of their role.