Elsewhere wire

US President Barack Obama wrapped up his four-day Middle East tour with visit of Jordan’s amazing ancient city of Petra Saturday, news agencies reported.

One of the major achievements of Obama’s trip was persuading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apologize on behalf of Israel for the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, a commando raid on an aid flotilla that left nine Turkish activists dead. That was an important step toward reconciling two friends of the US – Israel and Turkey, considering that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accepted the apology.

Largo, FL. – 18 March 2013 – A group of young Drug-Free Marshals have been on the prowl in Tampa Bay tracking down the scourge of drug addiction and its gang of followers.  Distributing their own form of “Wanted” posters, the youth hope to force illicit drugs to go on the run.
Over the last week the Drug-Free Marshalls visited local merchants around Tampa Bay, asking them to take the Drug-Free Marshal pledge to lead a drug-free life and to place educational booklets on drugs of abuse in their stores, which they provided free of charge. 

Il faudrait
Se métamorphoser en feu (1680-1718), Edward Teach, le pirate anglais
Se faire Barbe Noire à toutes les idées
Il faudrait
Ne s'intéresser à aucun trésor
Même pas à celui, pourtant pas frais
De feu (1672-1730) Olivier Le Vasseur, le pirate français
La Buse toujours aux aguets
Cela n'est pas cela, qui nous plaît
La société spectaculaire marchande techno-industrielle
Est un immense vaisseau dans l'espace
Et son pirate, à l'humeur lasse
Il me fallut être, pour boire son miel

A key regional ally pulled out of India's ruling coalition on Tuesday, jeopardizing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's economic reforms but posing no immediate threat to the minority government, which can survive with the support of other parties.

The withdrawal of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) could hamper the government's efforts to rein in the budget deficit, spur growth in Asia's third-largest economy and stave off the threat of a downgrade by global credit ratings agencies.

China will hold three rounds of trade negotiations with Japan and South Korea this year and step up talks with other trading partners, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday, as U.S. efforts to seal a trans-Pacific free trade deal gather pace.

China said the first set of talks on a three-way free trade agreement (FTA) with its two neighbors would be staged in Seoul, the South Korean capital, from March 26-28. They will then move to China, with a third leg to be held in Japan, ministry spokesman Shen Danyang told a news conference.

A car bomb exploded near the presidential palace in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Monday, killing at least 10 people in a blast that appeared to target senior government officials, police said.

The suicide attacker detonated explosives while driving along a boulevard that runs between the palace and the national theatre, a route lined by tearooms that were engulfed in fire moments after the blast, senior police officer Abdiqadir Mohamud said. A public minibus driving along the road burst into flames.

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first politically risky step of declaring the country's intent to join talks on a U.S.-led Pacific Rim free trade pact appears to be paying off as his record high ratings edge even higher.

Public opinion surveys showed on Monday that Abe's support ratings had risen since last month to reach the highest levels since he took office in December and a majority backed Friday's announcement that Japan wanted to join Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) membership talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday chose Moshe Yaalon, an ex-general and vice premier from his right-wing Likud party, to be the country's next defense minister, a government official said.

Yaalon shares Netanyahu's distrust of the Palestinians, but in the past, officials say, he has taken a more cautious line about the timing for a possible Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites.