* YOU BEEN SNAP * YAWALETEENI Obama and Cameron ask G8 partners to bankroll Arab Spring countries which embrace democracy"

 

   *MKILETEWA HAPA NA FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*

• Nations could breed 'poisonous extremism' if not given financial aid, warns Cameron
• Prime Minister defends plans to spend UK money at time of austerity
• U.S. and France once again call for Yemen leader to stand down
• Cameron confirms helicopters may soon be deployed in Libya
• World leaders call on Armenia and Azerbaijan to move towards a peaceful resolution in long-standing conflict
• Serbia praised for arrest of war crimes fugitive Mladic

Barack Obama has asked U.S. allies gathered at the G8 summit to back his calls to provide financial assistance to Tunisia and Egypt, countries at the forefront of the Arab Spring uprisings.
The U.S. President said both countries will need help stabilising and modernising their economies as they attempt to transition to democracy.
David Cameron echoed Obama's sentiments at today's summit in Deauville, saying the Arab Spring could breed 'poisonous extremism' and immigration if wealthy nations do not step in to help fledgling democracies.

Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy arrive at today's G8 summit"

Sarkozy, left, and David Cameron wave upon arrival at the summit in Deauville today. Sarkozy has insisted he wants the internet to be at the heart of the summit"

Nicolas Sarkozy, right, greets Mr Obama and Mr Medvedev. The U.S. President today asked for allies gathered at the G8 summit to back his calls to provide financial assistance to Tunisia and Egypt"

The Prime Minister called on his fellow leaders to demonstrate they were 'on the side' of reforming countries such as Egypt and Tunisia.
'I want a very simple and clear message to come out of this summit, and that is that the most powerful nations on earth have come together and are saying to those in the Middle East and North Africa who want greater democracy, greater freedom, greater civil rights, we are on your side,' Mr Cameron said in a round of interviews.

'We will help you build your democracy, we will help your economies, we will help you build trade, we will help you in all the ways we can because the alternative to a successful democracy is more of the poisonous extremism that has done so much damage in our world.'

Mr Obama walks with, from left, Mr Sarkozy, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr Cameron stride ahead on their way to the first working session at the G8 summit

Obama walks with Mr Medvedev and Mr Sarkozy at the Centre International de Deauville"

Mr Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi give each other a somewhat strained greeting

Mr Cameron defended spending UK money on aid at a time when the government is implementing austerity measures.

WHAT ELSE WAS DISCUSSED

The world leaders covered a range of world issues at the summit today. The highlights included:

YEMEN
The U.S. and France stepped up their calls for Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, after overnight gun battles killed dozens of people.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking in Paris, urged all sides to immediately cease violence, and a French foreign ministry spokesman told reporters at today's summit that France blamed the latest bloodshed on Saleh's refusal to sign a transition deal.
'We call on all sides, on all sides, to immediately cease the violence,' Clinton told a news conference in Paris.
'We continue to support a united and stable Yemen and we continue to support the departure of President Saleh who has consistently agreed that he would be stepping down from power and then consistently reneged on those agreements,' she said.
More than 40 people have been killed since Monday in violence that threatens to spread into other areas of Sanaa.
The United States and Saudi Arabia, both targets of foiled attacks by a wing of al Qaeda based in Yemen, have tried to defuse the crisis and avert any spread of anarchy that could give the global militant network more room to operate.
LIBYA
David Cameron confirmed that helicopters may be deployed soon against Colonel Gaddafi’s forces in Libya.
He said: 'We are looking at ways to turn up the pressure, including helicopters. When we are ready to make an announcement we’ll make an announcement.'
Sources say the Ministry of Defence has not yet agreed the move, which would put service personnel in greater danger than the current fast jet campaign.

AZERBAIJAN
The leaders of the U.S., France and Russia called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to move towards a peaceful resolution of the long-standing conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Muslim Azerbaijan with the support of Christian Armenia as the Soviet Union fell, but the past two years have seen the worst clashes on its border since the 1994 ceasefire ended a war which killed more than 30,000.
'We...are convinced that it is time for the sides in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh to take a decisive step towards a peaceful resolution (of the conflict),' said a joint statement by Presidents Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev at the G8 summit in the French resort of Deauville.
'We firmly call on the leaders of the sides to prepare their people for peace, not war,' the statement said.
SERBIA
The arrest of Serbian war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic shook up the summit in Deauville, prompting European optimism that it may pave the way for EU membership for Serbia.
Obama and Sarkozy led tributes to the Serbian government for its arrest of Mladic.
The French president called it 'courageous' and said it would bring former pariah Belgrade a step closer to integration with the EU.

'What I would say to everybody about the issue of overseas aid is that there is a real case for saying if you can secure greater democracy and freedom in countries like Egypt and Tunisia, that is good for us back at home,' he said.
'That will mean less extremism, it will mean more peace and prosperity, it will mean there will not be the pressure on immigration that may otherwise face our country.
'These things are not just good for the countries we are talking about, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, they are good for Europe, they are good for us in the UK.
'That is why what we are talking about today and tomorrow here at the G8 in Deauville really matters.'
The uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East have so far dominated the two-day G8 gathering.
The funding scheme is to be modelled on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which helped build market economies and democracies in post-communist Europe.
Washington has been calling for 'debt swaps', where wealthier nations agree to convert sums they are owed by countries that are implementing change - such as Egypt - into investments.
There will also be pressure for more practical advice and assistance as the states try to build up democratic institutions.
The G8 - made up of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and America - is due to be briefed tomorrow from the recently-installed prime ministers of Egypt and Tunisia, Essam Sharaf and Beji Caid el Sebsi.
But discussions are also due to cover the situation in Afghanistan, global economic development and reform, nuclear safety, and internet regulation.
David Cameron and Mr Obama reiterated their determination to keep up the military pressure on Muammar Gaddafi after meeting in London yesterday.
But the Nato campaign in Libya could provoke tensions among the G8 leaders, as Russia has expressed concerns about the extent of strikes against the regime.
There is also significant scope for friction over Syria, with Moscow resisting efforts to take action on the regime's brutal repression of protests. A resolution is due to go before the United Nations Security Council later today.
Before the summit, French president Nicolas Sarkozy insisted he wanted the internet to be at the heart of discussions.
Today, a delegation of executives, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google chairman Eric Schmidt, addressed the world leaders.
In his speech, Zuckerberg warned world leaders against any attempts to regulate free speech on the internet, claiming that interference would spoil the internet’s power to spread freedom.
'People tell me: "It’s great you played such a big role in the Arab Spring, but it’s also kind of scary because you enable all this sharing and collect information on people",' said the billionaire software developer.
'But it’s hard to have one without the other. You can’t isolate some things you like about the internet and control other things that you don’t.'

The French president appears far more happy in the company of the U.S. President"

Obama greets the crowd prior to a lunch meeting at the Villa le Cercle during today's summit"

Mr Medvedev, right, enters the summit with Mr Berlusconi, as Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council, walks alongside"

Mr Schmidt said governments could not control the fast-moving technology.
'Technology will move faster than governments, so don’t legislate before you understand the consequences,' Schmidt said.
Although no Twitter representatives are thought to be on the guest list, the session could provide an opportunity for Mr Cameron to take the temperature on international regulation.

Mr Cameron takes time to visit war graves at Tourgeville Military Cemetery"

The French president welcomes Mr Cameron to a bilateral meeting during the G8 summit. The Prime Minister is expected to suggest bolstering support for states that turn to democracy at the summit"

The U.S. President and Russia's Dmitry Medvedev covered a range of topics including nuclear safety"

The social networking site has been at the centre of controversy after the identities of celebrities alleged to have taken out privacy injunctions in the UK were repeatedly Tweeted.
The Prime Minister’s officials made it clear he does not think regulation would be effective. 'There are a lot of practical problems,' said one.
Whitehall sources have indicated there is no prospect of further aid targets being agreed at Deauville.

However, the leaders are likely to take stock of progress toward the 0.7 per cent of GDP target for aid spending.

Shadow international development secretary Harriet Harman and charities have urged Mr Cameron to restate the government's commitment to the goal, despite senior Tories such as Liam Fox voicing reservations.
After a working lunch today, the summit kicked off with a session on nuclear safety in the wake of the crisis created by the earthquake in Japan.

AAAA,,HOW LOVELY , MAPENZI MOTO MOTO NDO HAYOOO"Barack Obama and his wife Michelle embrace before the President boards Air Force One at Stansted Airport"

Mr Obama bids farewell to Britain as he boards his Boeing 747 following his highly successful state visit"

This morning, Mr Obama bade farewell to Britain - and wife Michelle - as he boarded Air Force One following his highly successful state visit.
After a kiss with Mrs Obama, the President climbed the steps of his Boeing 747 and turned to give a warm smile and a wave as the sun shone at Stansted Airport, Essex, a stark contrast to his late-night arrival on Monday.
His plane took off at 9.18am and landed safely not long after 10am in Normandy, France, on his way to the G8 summit.
Earlier, the Obamas landed at the airport in a presidential helicopter, before parting ways on the asphalt.
The First Lady will be travelling back to the U.S. separately.
Mr Obama's trip to France is his third stop on a four-country, six-day European tour.

The U.S. President and the First lady landed at the airport in a helicopter before parting ways as Mr Obama headed to the G8 summit in France"

A U.S. presidential helicopter lands in the grounds of Buckingham Palace this morning before taking Mr and Mrs Obama to Stansted Airport"

Meanwhile, as the UK press excitedly pores over every minute detail of Barack Obama's Europe trip, American reaction appears to be far less positive.
Tornado-Damaged Missouri Braces for Second Storm, Obama Arrives in London' read a headline on one U.S. news website earlier this week - epitomising the feeling of ambivalence about the President's actions overseas while his country comes to terms with the destruction following Sunday night's devastating natural disaster.
Obama has promised to visit Missouri - where at least 125 people were killed in the deadliest U.S. tornado since records began - on Sunday, straight after completing his trip around Europe. But many Americans believe the President should have put his people first and came home early.
The ABC News site went as far as suggesting that Obama's foreign trips were cursed.
'This is not the first time one of Obama's international trips has been eclipsed by a disaster. Several of his previous voyages have been cursed by Mother Nature and other unforeseen circumstances.'
The article listed the BP oil spill (which forced him to cancel a trip to Indonesia and Asia), April 2010's volcanic eruption in Iceland (which prevented him from flying to the funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski) and the ongoing Icelandic volcanic activity (which forced him to leave Ireland a day earlier than planned this week) as evidence.
Other sections of the U.S. press appear completely apathetic about the goings-on of their leader.
On the homepage of the New York Times website this morning, there is not a single mention to be found of Obama's Europe trip.