Russian Civilians Join Raids On Migrant Camps

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

Russia's federal migration service has introduced civilian patrols as part of a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Civic-minded citizens in Moscow can now sign up to take part in organised raids of migrant housing and street patrols.

The volunteers are supervised by a migration service official and not allowed to use force, unless in self-defence.

Sky News filmed a raid on a suspected migrant workers' camp in a suburb on the outskirts of Moscow.

The volunteers gathered in a supermarket car park at 6am. It was snowing heavily and the temperature was -10C, but the group seemed enthusiastic as they piled out of their 4x4s to discuss the plan.

We set off in convoy towards the camp along a rough track deep in snow. We were told the area is close to a large open-air market where many of the migrants find work.

Volunteers gather in a car park ahead of a raid

At first sight the camp was little more than a shanty town - a ramshackle collection of sheds and garages, improvised shelters against the depths of the Russian winter.

The patrol fanned out on foot, banging on doors and shouting for the people inside to come out.

Most meekly obeyed, zipping up jackets and pulling on hats as they stepped out into the snow and torchlights.

We saw one man breaking down a door with his shoulder after the occupants refused to open the door - a bewildered-looking man in his underwear was ordered to get dressed and get outside.

For the most part the volunteers were entirely civil and polite, and that was perhaps the most striking feature of what was happening - that these were not skin-headed neo-nazis or right wing extremists - to a person they seemed to be reasonable, educated Russians, who genuinely believe migrant workers have no place in their country.

Statistics suggest that view is not in the minority.

A migrant (left) is led away during a raid

According to the most recent research by the independent Levada Centre, 71% of Russians believe an increase in migration leads to an increase in crime.

Some 65% want the number of migrants in Russia - whether here legally or illegally - to be reduced, and 73% support 'strong measures' to deport those here illegally.

Members of the patrol claimed there was a clear link between migrant workers and crime.

The lead volunteer told us he believed migrants were responsible for the vast majority of local criminal activity.

"Ninety-nine percent of crime," he explained. "Most often it is, of course, guests from the east and from the Caucasus."

Another man gestured to the park behind and said: "There is so much stuff going on. They are stealing, raping, right there in the parks."

But that attitude can leave migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation - leaving them feeling they have few rights and even fewer places to turn if they find themselves in trouble in Russia.

A migrant called Bakia says she had been forced to work as a slave

Sky News met an Uzbek woman who was freed in an anti-slavery raid in Moscow last year. She told us she was forced to work as a slave for almost 10 years; cleaning, stacking shelves and serving customers in a shop.

Bakia said she was beaten and made to sleep in a basement, but that she could not escape because her children were being kept in a flat elsewhere.

She was rescued along with her six-year-old son, who she says has health problems linked to malnutrition and damage to his legs from being tied to a radiator.

Bakia says she also had a daughter, Camilla, who was taken from her shortly after the birth but she doesn't know what has happened to her.

She has no papers so it is difficult to verify her claims, but she says she has tried repeatedly to report her daughter missing to the police and a charity has now taken up her case. But four months after her release, she told us no-one is looking for her child.

Bakia said: "Thank God my son is with me, even though he is disabled. My daughter, my daughter, well if they don't want to do this I will go and look for her myself."

She told us she didn't want to leave Russia without finding her daughter, but that it was very clear they were not welcome here.

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Girl, 9, Hikes Out Of Canyon After Car Crash

A nine-year-old girl in California, who survived a car crash that killed her dad, has trekked for a mile in near darkness out of a remote canyon to get help.

Celia Renteria clambered out of the wreckage of the Ford SUV after it was launched about 200ft (60m) down an embankment, flipped over several times and came to rest on rough ground.

Her father, 35-year-old Alejandro Renteria, was left unconscious by the smash, just off a semi-rural stretch of the Sierra Highway in Acton at about 1am on Sunday.

Celia Renteria in hospital. Pic: Family video/KCAL-TV

She acted calmly throughout the ordeal, her family said. 

She even turned off the engine after smelling fuel.

Celia then hiked back up to the road to a commuter rail station, where she flagged down a passing motorist just over an hour later.

"She walked quite a distance in a very, very threatening environment. It's very black out there, very dark," California Highway Patrol Sergeant Tom Lackey told KABC-TV.

"It's very steep and it's brushy and there's also coyotes in the background."

A helicopter transported the girl to the Los Angeles Children's Hospital.

She was treated for minor injuries including bumps and bruises and a cut on her face.

Relatives released a short video of her in her hospital bed to local station KCAL-TV.

Emergency workers found her father's dead body in the car.

"They were really close. And that hurts me the most," Amber Mejia, the girl's sister, told the TV station.

Celia told authorities that she and her dad were on their way back home from a party, when he has difficulty negotiating the winding roads.

The California Highway Patrol is investigating if alcohol played a role in the crash.

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Cyprus Bailout Deal Wins Eurozone Approval

Deposits above 100,000 euros (£85,000) in the Bank of Cyprus will be hit with a levy of "around 30%" under the EU bailout deal, a government official has confirmed.

Spokesman Christos Stylianides told state radio that the charge would be paid as the second largest Greek Cypriot lender is destined to be wound up.

However Russia, which is the source of many large uninsured Cypriot accounts worth up to 20bn euros (£17bn), reacted angrily on Monday to the levy news.

Vladimir Putin (r), with China's Xi Jinping on March 22, ordered a new loan

"The stealing of what has already been stolen continues," Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was quoted by news agencies as telling a meeting of government officials.

A spokesman for President Vladimir Putin added that the president has asked the government to restructure a 2.5bn euro (£2.13bn) loan to southern Cyprus.

Russian news agencies quoted Mr Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, as saying that the president has instructed the government to work out the terms for restructuring the loan, which was made 2011.

Angry Greek Cypriots have taken to the streets

The island's last-minute deal to secure a 10bn euro (£8.5bn) EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved bailout by eurozone ministers, saved the country from a banking system bankruptcy and eurozone departure.

Key markets across Europe, excluding Italy, reacted positively in midday trading.

The second-largest bank, Popular Bank of Cyprus - known as Laiki - will effectively be shut down and split into a "good bank" and a "bad bank".

Sub-100,000-euro deposits in Laiki will be safeguarded and transferred to the Bank of Cyprus, the so-called "good bank", while those above the 100,000-euro limit, which under EU law are not insured, will be frozen and hit with the levy of around 30% to resolve the debt crisis.

Christine Lagarde and the German finance minister at the Eurogroup

The move will yield some 4.2bn euros (£3.6bn) overall - the bulk of the 5.8bn euros (£4.9bn) Cyprus needed to raise as part of the bailout conditions.

But it is unclear to say when the bailout and bank restructuring will return Cyprus to growth, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso admitted afterwards.

"I am confident that the programme will work, but let's be honest. At this moment, we cannot say exactly what the impact is going to be," Mr Barroso said.

"It will depend on the level of implementation and the commitment of Cyprus itself."

The deal followed fraught negotiations between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and the troika of creditors - the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank.

Banks have been closed this past week

"We've put an end to the uncertainty that has affected Cyprus and the euro area over the past week," Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs the meetings of the 17-nation eurozone's finance ministers, said.

"We believe that this will form a lasting, durable and fully financed solution," IMF chief Christine Lagarde said.

President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, added: "I welcome the agreement reached by the Eurogroup and the Cypriot authorities early this morning.

"The agreement is essential to ensure a sustainable future for Cyprus in the euro area. This is first and foremost true for its people, who are living through times of great uncertainty."

After the eurozone's finance ministers' approval, several national parliaments, such as Germany's, must also approve the bailout deal, which might take another few weeks. EU officials said they expect the whole programme to be approved by mid-April.

Advertised property for Russians in the southern Cypriot port of Limassol

Cyprus' outsized banking sector was crippled by exposure to crisis-hit Greece and has been used as a haven for foreign funds.

In a vote on Tuesday, the country's 56-seat parliament dismissed a levy on depositors as "bank robbery".

The country's finance minister Michael Sarris then spent three fruitless days in Moscow trying to win help from Russia. The two countries share historic religious ties.

Cypriots were outraged by the original proposal and have been queuing at cash machines ever since the government ordered banks to close last weekend.

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India Car Ads: Ford Sorry Over Women In Boot

Ford has apologised after car adverts in India showed women bound and gagged in the boot of vehicles.

The car manufacturer said it "deeply regretted" a series of adverts for the India-manufactured Ford Figo. 

One of the adverts shows a cartoon of Italy's ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi flashing a Victory sign with three women captive in the boot.

Another depicts Paris Hilton driving with the Kardashian sisters - bound and gagged.

The tag line on both reads: "Leave your worries behind with Figo's extra-large boot."

The adverts were created in India, a country still reeling from a series of shocking sex attacks on women, including the gang rape of a student on a Delhi bus.

A salesman with customers and the Figo in a Mumbai showroom

They appeared online on the Ads of The World website but have been pulled before featuring on any other paid sites.

Ford said: "We deeply regret this incident and agree with our agency partners that it should have never happened. 

"The posters are contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency within Ford and our agency partners. Together with our partners, we are reviewing approval and oversight processes to help ensure nothing like this ever happens again."

Advertising agency WPP said it regretted the ads, which should never have been created in the first place.

In a statement to The Huffington Post, WPP said: "We deeply regret the publishing of posters that were distasteful and contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency within WPP Group.

"These were never intended for paid publication and should never have been created, let alone uploaded to the internet.

"This was the result of individuals acting without proper oversight and appropriate actions have been taken within the agency where they work to deal with the situation."

Mr Berlusconi is currently on trial for allegedly paying a 17-year-old girl for sex when she attended some of his parties. Both deny any wrongdoing.

The Figo - manufactured in Chennai, India - launched in 2010.

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Cyprus Agrees 20% Tax On Bank Deposits

Politicians in Cyprus have reportedly agreed a new one-off levy on savers in order to secure a European bailout.

The measures, yet to be confirmed by the country's President, include a 20% tax on savers with deposits over 100,000 euros at the country's largest bank, the Bank of Cyprus.

A 4% tax on deposits over 100,000 euros would be levied at other banks, a senior Cypriot official told Reuters.

Cyprus has to raise 5.8bn euros by Monday or face being kicked out of the single currency.

Eurozone finance ministers are due to meet on Sunday evening to see if the numbers Cyprus has agreed with its international lenders add up.

Bank workers shout during a protest outside the presidential palace

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades tweeted: "We are undertaking great efforts. I hope we have a solution soon."

The conservative leader, barely a month into the job and wrestling with Cyprus's worst crisis since a 1974 invasion by Turkish forces split the island in two, was due to lead a delegation to Brussels, also on Sunday, to meet heads of the "troika" - the EU, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund - in a sign a deal might be near.

Government officials held talks throughout Saturday at the finance ministry with troika lenders. Angry demonstrators outside chanted "resign, resign!"

Its outsized banking sector crippled by exposure to crisis-hit Greece, Cyprus needs to raise the 5.8bn euros in exchange for a 10bn euro EU lifeline to keep the country's economy afloat.

But in a vote on Tuesday, Cyprus's 56-seat parliament rejected a levy on depositors, big and small, as "bank robbery", and the country's finance minister Michael Sarris spent three fruitless days in Moscow trying to win help from Russia, whose citizens have billions of euros at stake in Cypriot banks.

Rebuffed by the Kremlin, Mr Sarris said earlier on Saturday that talks with the troika were centred on a possibly levy of up to 25% on savings over and above 100,000 euros at failing Bank of Cyprus.

However, the situation remains fluid and other options, including a "voluntary haircut" in exchange for equity that would not require parliamentary approval, are said to still be on the table.

Ordinary Cypriots were outraged by the original proposal, and have been besieging cash machines ever since bank doors were closed last weekend on the orders of the government to avert a massive flight of capital.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mentor Joe Weider Dies

Arnold Schwarzenegger has paid tribute to his mentor and "father figure" Joe Weider, a leading figure in bodybuilding, who died at the age of 93.

Weider brought the young Austrian weightlifter to the US early in his career and helped him achieve the American dream as he became an international movie star.

The Canadian, who was a bodybuilder himself, helped popularise the sport and played a key role in introducing Schwarzenegger to the world.

Weider created one of bodybuilding's leading events, the Mr Olympia competition, in 1965 and reportedly discovered the Austrian at a contest in Europe two years later.

He relentlessly promoted Schwarzenegger, who won the Mr Olympia title a then-record seven times - every year from 1970 to 1975 and again in 1980.

Arnold Schwarzenegger initially found fame as a champion bodybuilder

Weider also created the Ms Olympia contest in 1980, the Fitness Olympia in 1995 and the Figure Olympia in 2003.

He spread the message of health and fitness worldwide with publications as Muscle & Fitness and Flex, of which The Terminator star is now the executive editor.

Weider's publicist Charlotte Parker said he died of heart failure in Los Angeles.

Following his death, Schwarzenegger said in a statement: "I knew about Joe Weider long before I met him.

"He was the godfather of fitness who told all of us to be somebody with a body. He taught us that through hard work and training we could all be champions.

"As I read his articles in Austria, I felt that he was speaking directly to me and I committed to move to America to make my vision of becoming the best bodybuilder, to live the American dream, and to become an actor a reality."

Schwarzenegger, who was elected governor of California in 2003 and served two terms before retiring from politics, added: "Joe didn't just inspire my earliest dreams; he made them come true the day he invited me to move to America to pursue my bodybuilding career.

"I will never forget his generosity. One of Joe's greatest qualities is that he wasn't just generous with his money; he freely gave of his time and expertise and became a father figure for me."

Weider once said of his protege: "Every sport needs a hero and I knew that Arnold was the right man."

Schwarzenegger said Weider was the godfather of fitness

Schwarzenegger also said he helped land him his first movie role, in Hercules In New York, by passing him off to the producers as a German Shakespearean actor.

"He was there for me constantly throughout my life, and I will miss him dearly," Schwarzenegger added.

Born in Canada in 1919, Weider grew up in a tough area of Montreal. He said he was a small, skinny teenager who was being picked on by bullies when he discovered the magazine Strength.

He said he tried to join a local wrestling team, but was turned down by the coach who feared he was so small he would be hurt.

Weider built his own weights from scrap parts found in a railway yard and pumped them relentlessly. He was eventually invited to join a weightlifting club.

He won his first bodybuilding contest at the age of 17, and soon after began to publish his first magazine, Your Physique.

He is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Betty.

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Musharraf Returns To Pakistan Despite Threat

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has defied Taliban death threats to return home after more than four years in exile.

The 69-year-old ex-dictator was whisked away by security forces as he arrived at Karachi airport and did not stop to greet hundreds of supporters who had waited for him.

It is unclear if the security forces detained Mr Musharraf, who faces criminal charges in three cases including one involving the assassination of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, or acted out of concern for his safety.

His return came after the Pakistani Taliban released a video threatening to unleash a squad of suicide bombers to assassinate him if he sets foot in the country.

Hours before his arrival, a car bomb exploded near the Afghanistan border, killing 17 soldiers and injuring dozens more.

Mr Musharraf greets supporters on his flight home to Pakistan

Mr Musharraf said he was prepared to risk any danger to stand for election on May 11, marking the first time an elected government has fulfilled its term and handed over power to another elected government.

"I don't get scared ... by such kind of threat … I am going back to save Pakistan," said Mr Musharraf, who escaped three al Qaeda assassination attempts as ruler.

Mr Musharraf is expected to make his way to the tomb of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the father and first president of Pakistan.

He plans to hold a public rally for his All Pakistan Muslim League party, but police said they had withdrawn permission following the Taliban threat. However, the party's information secretary said the rally would go ahead "at any cost".

Mr Musharraf has been living in London and Dubai since leaving Pakistan

Mr Musharraf has failed to follow through on previous promises to return home but flew in from Dubai after a Pakistani court granted him pre-emptive bail on Friday.

The order prevents his immediate arrest in the three cases in which he is implicated.

Under the pre-emptive bail, he has 10 days to appear in court, which Mr Musharraf promised he would do.

He said he would "face these cases with bravery", adding that "elements in Pakistan and outside" were spreading rumours that he was not returning, but the granting of his bail would address some of those concerns.

The ex-president seized power in a bloodless coup as army chief of staff in 1999 and left the country after stepping down in August 2008 when Asif Ali Zardari was elected president after the murder of his wife, Benazir Bhutto.

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Berezovsky Death: Police Give Home 'All Clear'

Boris Berezovsky: A Profile

Updated: 10:23pm UK, Saturday 23 March 2013

Boris Berezovsky was once one of Russia's most powerful kingmakers, a member of the influential group of Russian tycoons referred to as the "oligarchs".

Born in Moscow in 1946, the son of a civil engineer, he gained a doctorate in applied mathematics, before becoming one of a number of Russian businessmen who took advantage of Perestroika.

He made his money founding the car company LogoVAZ in 1989, selling local Russian cars and importing Mercedes.

As his wealth grew so too did his sphere of influence and in 1993 he entered the Kremlin's inner circle, eventually earning the nickname Rasputin, after the mystic adviser to the Romanovs.

By the mid-1990s Mr Berezovsky owned a stake in the oil company Sibneft and had a majority share in Russia's main television channel, ORT.

In 1997 Forbes estimated his wealth was $3bn.

At Davos in 1996 he joined forces with other businessmen who had flourished in the ruins of the Soviet Union and they formed a pact, known as the "Davos Pact" in which they agreed to bank roll Boris Yeltsin for his second presidential run.

Together with members of Mr Yeltsin's family, like his daughter Tatyana Yumasheva, and like-minded politicians, like Anatoly Chubais, Yegor Gaidar and Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, they effectively ran Russia during Mr Yetsin's second term as his health faltered.

When it was clear a successor was needed, it is said that it was Mr Berezovsky who hand-picked the ex-KGB head, Vladimir Putin.

He may have made him king but Mr Putin soon made it clear that he was not to be anyone's puppet and shortly after he became President the two men fell out.

Mr Berezovsky resigned from the Duma and set himself up in opposition then left the country on business. He never returned.

In November 2000, while travelling, he was summoned for economic crimes but he did not respond and set up home in London. He was granted asylum in the UK in 2003.

Mr Berezovsky vowed that he would bring Mr Putin down, but after a series of assassination attempts, he also lived in fear for his life.

According to Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian FSB agent who was assassinated in London in 2006, a Russian agent was preparing a hit on Mr Berezovsky in September 2003.

Mr Litvinenko had also claimed in 1998 when he was an FSB agent that he himself had been ordered to kill Mr Berezovsky.

In 2007, Scotland Yard said it had foiled a plot to assassinate Mr Berezovsky in the UK. The alleged hitman, a Chechen national, was arrested in London and deported to Russia.

Mr Berezovsky also survived an assassination attempt in Russia in 1994 when a car bomb exploded, wounding him and decapitating his driver.

And as Mr Berezovsky's power faded in his self-imposed exile, so did his wealth.

According to the Sunday Times Rich List by 2011, his net worth was only about $900m (£591m).

Mr Berezovsky's stake in Sibneft eventually led to a court battle with Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, which is estimated to have cost him £100m, and speculation about his financial well-being.

In 2012, he lost the High Court case in which he accused his fellow oligarch of breach of trust, breach of contract and claimed Mr Abramovich "intimidated" him into selling shares in Sibneft for a "mere $1.3bn" (£800m) - "a fraction of their true worth".

In July 2011 his ex-wife Galina Beshanrova, 53, won the biggest divorce settlement in history, said to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

Mr Berezovsky ran up further legal bills of more than £250,000 later in 2012 fighting a case against his former lover, Elena Gorbunova.

Ms Gorbunova, who had two children with Mr Berezovsky, complained that she had not been given millions promised by him.

On Wednesday, Mr Berezovsky sold Red Lenin, an Andy Warhol screen print, for £133,875 at Christie's auction house, prompting more speculation about his financial situation.

Demoralised by the Abramovich case, the Kremlin claims that Mr Berezovsky, the kingmaker, was a broken man in the days before he died.

He had written, Mr Putin's spokesman claimed, to beg forgiveness and to finally return to Russia.

He never did.

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Cyprus Leaders Head To Brussels For Talks

Cyprus Bailout: Threat To Savings

Updated: 7:36am UK, Saturday 23 March 2013

By Ashish Joshi, Sky News Correspondent

Finally late into Friday night - an agreement on Plan B, meaning Cyprus has moved one giant step towards securing a Brussels bailout.

It includes a solidarity fund pooling together state assets and the granting of power to the Government to control bank capital.

The latter move is to prevent a run on the banks when their doors finally open on Tuesday.

There will also be a restructuring of the country's banks and a savings tax on Cypriot savers.

The details of the tax have still to be finalised, but the framework is in place.

It could mean savings over 100,000 euros held in Bank of Cyprus accounts being taxed up to 20%, according to one source close to the negotiations.

The same source said if that proposal is rejected there will be a plan to impose a tax of around 10% on all Cypriot bank accounts over 100,000 euros.

The threat of savers being hit hangs over the heads of people like Loizos Michael.

The 60-year-old tailor worked hard for 35 years, building up a good business.

He was looking forward to a wealthy retirement. Not anymore. Times are hard.

Speaking from his small tailor's shop in central Nicosia, Mr Michael said: "With the banks being closed, it is hard because I don't have a credit card and so cash flow is a problem.

"Even filling your car with petrol needs thinking about.

"Cypriots have always been workers by nature and nobody could have imagined that unemployment would be so high.

"This has hit us hard in the pockets."

Cyprus is weathering a storm - the likes of which this Mediterranean island has never faced in her young history.

Mr Michael said he knew things were getting bad, but expected solutions to be found to avoid ordinary people having to suffer.

"I expected something better. But now, it looks like the problem has been brewing for some time," he said.

"There used to be some people talking about the crisis, but now everyone's talking about it.

"I think things are harder now than just after the war. After the war of '74 people could still find work. Now, there is just no work so people have no money. What can we do?"

In the 1990s, Cyprus boasted a dynamic, booming economy, but it grew and unchecked.

An overbloated banking sector exposed to Greek debt has crippled the country's economy.

Now people like Loizos Michael must pay the price. He and the rest of Cyprus will soon find out exactly how much that is going to be.

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Obama Ends Mid East Tour With Petra Visit

Obama Beams On Mid East Trip

Updated: 11:49am UK, Saturday 23 March 2013

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent, Jerusalem

He beamed and Bibi-ed at every opportunity literally back slapping his way out of a sour relationship with Israel's Prime Minister.

Then Barack Obama shooed Benjamin Netanyahu into a cabin at Ben Gurion airport which was being swept with a khamsin sandstorm from the Sahara.

Inside the little room he stood over "Bibi" like the parent of a petulant child ordered to phone to apologise to an angry neighbour.

The call to Recep Erdogan, Turkey's Prime Minister, was to say sorry for the deaths of nine of his countrymen who were killed in a botched commando raid on the Mavi Marmaris in May 2010.

The raid was intended to stop the Marmaris from breaching the sea blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel.

It shattered relations with Turkey, until then an Israeli ally.

Obama told Netanyahu to fix it - and he dutifully got some diplomatic glue out and got to work.

After four days of his first tour of Israel and Palestine since he became US president, the Israel-Turkey break through was Mr Obama's only visible achievement.

The Palestinians expected nothing and got it from an administration which has, in their eyes, woefully neglected the region while illegal Jewish settlements continued to eat into Palestinian lands on the West Bank.

The Israeli public was charmed by a speech he gave to 600 university students in Jerusalem in which he quoted the Torah, dropped the occasional Hebrew phrase and celebrated the princes of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl and David Ben-Gurion.

That speech was an effort to reach past Netanyahu and appeal directly to the Israeli people. He told them to campaign for change and peace directly and demand their politicians take risks to achieve a two-state solution.

Many in Israel believe that the "status quo" is acceptable. He told them that no wall was high enough, no anti-missile batteries too impregnable, that Israel could survive indefinitely without making peace with he Palestinians.

But he didn't demand a freeze on settlements, which he has in the past and which has been a pre-condition for the Palestinians to return to talks.

Obama was his usual captivating self when delivering a set-piece speech.

Off the cuff at press conferences he was as poor as a performer as Ronald Reagan. Not with gaffes but by appearing uncomfortable, halting and insecure when asked to provide solutions to the problems that he had eloquently identified.

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