WICE WORLD NEWS

Serena knocked out in 4th round by Marion Bartoli.

2011-06-27T17:56:00.000+02:00

Defending champion Serena Williams was eliminated by Marion Bartoli 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the fourth round of Wimbledon on Monday, cutting short her return to Grand Slam tennis after nearly a year out with serious health problems.

Williams, a four-time winner at the All England Club, saved four match points before the ninth-seeded Frenchwoman closed out the contest by hitting a service winner into the corner. It was Williams' earliest exit at Wimbledon since a third-round loss in 2005.

Bartoli made the Wimbledon final in 2007, losing to Serena's older sister Venus.

Serena missed nearly a year after foot surgery and subsequent blood clots in her lungs. She returned two weeks ago at Eastbourne for the first time since winning the Wimbledon title in 2010.

Williams had 20 unforced errors Monday to go with 29 winners, and managed to convert only one of five break points. Bartoli served 10 aces, two more than Williams, and kept down her errors to 17.

It was the first time Bartoli has beaten the American after straight-set defeats in their previous two matches.

"Beating Serena is almost like a dream come true," Bartoli said. "Even though she didn't play for almost one year, she's probably one of the greatest champions in women's tennis.

"For me to be able come back after having three match points and losing this game at 6-5, and still be able to bounce back, it's really huge."

In men's play, fourth-seeded Andy Murray moved into the quarterfinals by beating Richard Gasquet of France 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-2 — then took a deep bow to the Royal Box, where Prince Wiliam and his new bride Kate joined the rest of the crowd in giving the British winner a standing ovation.

Murray, who has made the semifinals the last two years, is trying to become the first British man to win the title at the All England Club since Fred Perry in 1936.

Bernard Tomic, an 18-year-old Australian qualifier, downed Xavier Malisse 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to become the youngest man to make the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Boris Becker in 1986.

Among the women's winners was 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, who made it to the quarters here for the first time in five years, beating Peng Shuai 6-4, 6-2 on a sweltering day.

Sharapova started slowly before winning seven straight games to take command against the 20th-seeded Chinese player in an early match on Court 2. The big-hitting Russian had 27 winners and 10 unforced errors.

The match was played with on-court temperatures measured at 93 degrees, and Sharapova covered her legs with ice wrapped in towels during changeovers.

Sharapova could next face top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who was playing Dominika Cibulkova in the next match on Court 2.

"Last year I lost in the fourth round to Serena and this year I find myself in the quarterfinals and I'm giving myself an opportunity to go even in further so I'm quite happy about that," Sharapova said. "I have to be a little realistic about the fact that I haven't gotten past the fourth round in a few years. This is a step forward."

The first woman to move into the quarters was fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who beat Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-2. German wild card Sabine Lisicki reached the quarters for the second time, downing Petra Cetkovska 7-6 (3), 6-1. No. 8 Petra Kvitova, a semifinalist here last year, needed just 45 minutes to defeat No. 19 Yanina Wickmayer 6-0, 6-2.

Tamira Paszek, an 80th-ranked Austrian, beat another 20-year-old player — Ksenia Pervak of Russia — 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to secure her first Grand Slam quarterfinal berth.

Sharapova said Monday's scorching heat, after a first week marked by frequent showers and cool temperatures, made it "like playing a completely different tournament."

"You see everyone putting sun screen on and I had the ice bag out today," she said. "I'm used to it. I grew up in Florida and still live there and train there. I'm used to the humidity, so that really helped me."

On Centre Court, William and Kate — who were married April 29 — received a warm ovation from the crowd as they took their seats in the front row of the Royal Box in time for Murray's match. In keeping with Wimbledon's all-white dress theme, Kate wore an off-white, knee-length dress. William wore a blue suit.

St. James's Palace said the couple were at the All England Club "privately." The palace said Kate is an avid tennis fan and has been to Wimbledon "quite a number of times." Queen Elizabeth II came to Wimbledon last year for her first visit in 33 years.

Monday's schedule featured the busiest day in Grand Slam tennis — all 16 men's and women's fourth-round matches.

Two stood out in particular: Top-seeded Rafael Nadal against 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, and five-time women's champion Venus Williams against No. 32 Tsvetana Pironkova in a reprise of a 2010 quarterfinal won by the Bulgarian.

The top four men — Nadal, No. 2 Novak Djokovic, No. 3 Roger Federer and No. 4 Murray — lost a total of three sets during Week 1.

Canadian Tire executives uncertain about the future of its paper money.

2011-06-27T17:27:00.000+02:00

In a world of digital wallets, virtual currency and polymer bills can there still be a place for the coupons handed out by Canadian Tire?While the retailer has alluded to its desire to end the 50-year-old tradition of rewarding cash or debit purchases with Canadian Tire money, in favour of a card-based loyalty program, the prospect has reportedly met some internal corporate resistance.

"How to Fix Canadian Tire," a feature published in the July/August issue of Report on Business magazine, has focused on its recent efforts to overcome the stubbornness long associated with the stores.

A recent $771 million acquisition of the Foranzi Group, the Calgary-based owner of a dozen different sporting goods store banners across the country, was seen as one way to update Canadian Tire's homegrown image. A decade earlier, it acquired Mark's Work Wearhouse for $116 million.

With new retail competition arriving from the U.S., diversification is expected to help the bottom line, although chief executive Stephen Wetmore has also sought to refresh the core stores.

The first priority involved restoring the original story behind the Canadian Tire name. Where auto parts depots were once removed in favour of more general merchandise, they have now reappeared with products displayed at eye level.

Yet, the acquisition of the Foranzi Group is expected to help the company reach a new generation, which is unlikely to grasp the antiquated appeal of currency mascot Sandy McTire. There's only so much sentimental value attached to a 5-cent bill.

Curiously, debates over whether to keep or kill Canadian Tire money have come at the same time new approaches to the monetary system have reached a tipping point. Digital wallets, which eliminate the need for a bulging collection of cards, are expected to transform consumer spending.

Bitcoin, a digital currency that has stirred curiosity in the past few weeks, has also shed light on how our relationship with dollars issued by a central bank could change.

With the Bank of Canada's announcement this week of its new polymer notes, though, Sandy McTire's bills might end up being the country's last valuable form of paper money.

Gaddafi Faces International Arrest Warrant.

2011-06-27T17:20:00.000+02:00

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Libya's Colonel Gaddafi for crimes against humanity.Col Gaddafi, along with his son Saif al Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al Sanoussi, are wanted for the killing, injuring, arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of civilians during the first 12 days of the country's uprising.

Presiding Judge Sanji Monageng said there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that Gaddafi and his son were both "criminally responsible as indirect co-perpetrators" for the murder and persecution of civilians.

The fact that the trio are now internationally wanted suspects could complicate efforts to mediate an end to the fighting in Libya.

The court's authority was rejected by the Libyan government before the verdict was given. They claimed the court had unfairly targeted Africans while ignoring "crimes" committed by Nato in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

"The ICC has no legitimacy whatsoever. All of its activities are directed at African leaders," government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "I welcome the ICC judges' decision to issue arrest warrants for Col Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al Islam and Abdullah al Sanoussi.

"These individuals are accused of crimes against humanity and should be held to account before judges in a criminal court.

"The UK will continue to strongly support the ICC and calls upon the Libyan government to co-operate fully with the ICC investigation.

"The warrants further demonstrate why Gaddafi has lost all legitimacy and why he should go immediately. His forces continue to attack Libyans without mercy and this must stop."

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo began an investigation into the activities of Col Gaddafi's regime following a referral by the United Nations Security Council.

His submissions to the ICC alleged Gaddafi had a personal hand in planning and implementing "a policy of widespread and systematic attacks against civilians and demonstrators and dissidents in particular."

"Gaddafi's plan expressly included the use of lethal force against demonstrators and dissidents," the submission said.

Meanwhile, Musa Kusa, Col Gaddafi's former intelligence officer, has been found living in a luxury Qatari hotel following his departure from Britain in April.

He is believed to have been living for several weeks in a 17th-floor penthouse suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha.

He has been in the Gulf state since leaving Britain for talks there, and has the protection of a team of Qatari minders.

At the time, officials said Mr Kusa was likely to return to the UK because his grandchildren live there.

But it is now unclear whether he does intend to return, and he has reportedly refused to be drawn on the matter.

The former foreign minister arrived in the UK in March after defecting from Col Gaddafi's regime .

He was deputy head of the Libyan intelligence service at the time of the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, but has always denied the country was behind the atrocity.

While in Britain, he was questioned by Scottish police about the bombing. His departure just two weeks later infuriated victims' families.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "He is a private individual who is free to travel to and from the UK. We don't provide a running commentary on his movements or current activities."

Gunmen kill senior Pakistani Taliban commander.

2011-06-27T17:17:00.000+02:00

Gunmen riding in a car with tinted windows near the Afghan border on Monday shot and killed a senior Pakistani Taliban commander who helped train and deploy the group's suicide bombers, Pakistani intelligence officials said.Shakirullah Shakir was riding on a motorcycle near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, when he was shot, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Shakir was a senior commander and spokesman for the Fidayeen-e-Islam wing of the Pakistani Taliban. He once claimed to a local newspaper that his group had trained more than 1,000 suicide bombers at camps in North Waziristan.

No group has claimed responsibility for his killing.

Both North Waziristan and South Waziristan are key sanctuaries for the Pakistani Taliban, which has declared war on the U.S.-allied Pakistani government.

Missiles believed to have been fired by a U.S. drone hit a pickup truck in the Dra Nishter area of South Waziristan on Monday, killing eight suspected militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Dra Nishter is a Pakistani Taliban stronghold near the border with North Waziristan and has been hit twice before by suspected U.S. drones in recent months. The Pakistani military launched a large ground offensive in South Waziristan in 2009, but Pakistani Taliban fighters are still active in the area.

The U.S. refuses to publicly acknowledge the covert CIA drone program in Pakistan, but officials have said privately that the strikes have killed many Taliban and al-Qaida commanders.

The Pakistani government is widely believed to support the program, even though officials regularly protest the strikes as violations of the country's sovereignty — a message that plays well with Pakistani citizens, who widely dislike the U.S.

But future Pakistani cooperation has become less certain after the unilateral U.S. commando raid that killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden last month in an army town not far from the Pakistani capital. The U.S. kept the raid secret from Pakistan, which humiliated the country and elicited calls for the government to end its cooperation with Washington.

Elsewhere in the northwest, a senior Pakistani Taliban commander said Monday that he is splitting from the group to protest attacks against civilians, a rare criticism of the militants by one of their own.

Fazal Saeed said he is forming his own militant group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Islami, and will focus on fighting NATO troops in Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, is mainly focused on battling the Pakistani government.

Saeed, leader of the Pakistani Taliban in the Kurram tribal area near the Afghan border, accused the group of targeting civilians in suicide attacks and bombings in mosques.

"We have repeatedly protested over killing unarmed and innocent people in these attacks, but no heed was paid, so we are splitting from Tehrik-e-Taliban" Pakistan, Saeed told The Associated Press by phone from an undisclosed location.

Thousands of civilians have been killed in attacks in Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban often deny responsibility for attacks that kill large numbers of civilians, but they are widely believed to carry them out.

It's unclear whether Saeed's decision to split from the group is related to plans by the Pakistani army to launch a military offensive soon in Kurram. The army has cut deals in the past to avoid targeting groups who fight in Afghanistan as long as they agree not to attack Pakistan.

Also Monday, a member of Pakistan's ruling coalition, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, announced it was pulling out of the government at both the national level and in southern Sindh province because of disputes over legislative assembly elections held in Pakistan-held Kashmir on Sunday.

Farooq Sattar, MQM's senior leader in parliament, also announced that the governor of Sindh, who is a member of the party, would resign in protest.

MQM's decision does not rob the ruling Pakistan People's Party of a majority in the national parliament. But the defection could spark increased violence in Karachi, the capital of Sindh, where gangs allegedly affiliated with the MQM and the PPP often wage battle against one another.

MQM pulled out of the national government last year following a decision to raise oil prices but eventually rejoined after officials agreed to retract the price hike.

Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said the PPP will work with the MQM to resolve their differences. "I am hopeful that issues with the MQM will again be resolved amicably," Awan said.

Israel drops threat to deport, ban journalists.

2011-06-27T17:15:00.000+02:00

The Israeli government on Monday dropped a threat to issue lengthy deportation orders against journalists aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla, in an attempt to scale back a crisis with the international media.On Sunday, Israel's Government Press Office sent a letter warning that any journalist caught on board the flotilla would be violating Israeli entry laws and could face deportation and a 10-year ban from the country.

The warning sparked an outcry from foreign journalists and was fiercely debated in Israeli media.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that after the issue was brought to his attention he ordered authorities not to apply the regular measures taken against infiltrators and to find a formula for the reporters intending to take part in a flotilla that violates Israel's entry laws.

He did not provide any details — only that an exception will be made for the journalists on board.

"In parallel, it was agreed that Israeli and international journalists join the navy ships in order to create transparency and reliable coverage of the events," his office said in a statement.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents hundreds of journalists working for international news organizations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, had sharply condemned Israel's original threat, saying they should be allowed to cover a legitimate news story.

"The government's threat to punish journalists covering the Gaza flotilla sends a chilling message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel's commitment to freedom of the press," it said in a statement.

The Israeli warning highlighted an already strained relationship with the international media and reflected Israeli jitters over the flotilla, which comes just more than a year after a similar mission ended in the deaths of nine Turkish activists in clashes with Israeli naval commandos.

Israel is eager to avoid a repeat of last year's raid, which drew heavy international condemnation and ultimately forced Israel to ease its blockade on Hamas-controlled Gaza. Israel says the embargo is needed to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons into the territory.

Israel said media on board the flotilla would be complicit in an illegal breach of its naval blockade of Gaza.

Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev said an exception would be made for journalists.

"The first decision was taken at a lower working bureaucratic level but when the issue went to the top, the prime minister made a decision that he thought would serve the country's interests," he said.

Syrian opposition meet in Damascus

2011-06-27T17:11:00.000+02:00

Critics of Syria's authoritarian regime, at a rare gathering in Damascus, called Monday for a peaceful transition to democracy and an end to the Assad family's 40-year-old monopoly on power. Otherwise, they said, Syria's current chaos might destroy the country.Almost 200 opposition figures and intellectuals gathered to produce "a vision about how to end tyranny," said an organizer.

While unprecedented in its size, the public meeting at a Damascus hotel — the first since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule began in March — had the government's approval, leading to criticism that the regime was trying to take on a veneer of openness while continuing its bloody crackdown on dissent. Many regime opponents stayed away for that reason.

Still, the dissident gathering, at which the government was not represented, would have been unthinkable a few months ago in tightly controlled Syria. It came as the regime was reeling under the pressure of a relentless protest movement, and authorities were clearly anxious to show they were making concessions.

Syria's state-run news agency, meanwhile, reported a national political dialogue planned by Assad would begin July 10, and "all factions, intellectual personalities, politicians" would be invited. As Assad had said in a June 20 speech, the agenda will include constitutional amendments, including one to open the way to political parties other than the ruling Baath Party, the agency said.

The dissidents' meeting began with the Syrian national anthem, followed by a minute's silence in honor of the hundreds of Syrians who have been killed in the suppression of protests.

"We are meeting today ... to put forward a vision about how to end tyranny and ensure a peaceful and secure transition to the hoped-for state: the state of freedom, democracy and equality," Louay Hussein, a prominent writer and one of the organizers, said in an opening speech. The current regime should "perish," he added.

Michel Kilo, one of Syria's best-known writers and pro-democracy activists, called on the regime to immediately build trust with the opposition by allowing secular, nonviolent opposition parties to exist and by amending an article in the consitution that designates Assad's Baath party as "the leader of the state and society."

The only salvation is through a peaceful political transformation, Syrian scholar Munther Khaddam said at the conference. Otherwise, he said, "the alternative to that is the unknown, and the destruction of (Syrian) society," he said.

But some opposition figures and activists, both inside Syria and abroad, dismissed the meeting of 190 critics as an opportunity for the government to convey a false impression it's allowing space for dissent, rather than cracking down.

The opposition says some 1,400 people have been killed — most of them unarmed protesters — during the government crackdown on three months of street protests.

"This meeting will be exploited as a cover-up for the arrests, brutal killings and torture that is taking place on daily basis," said opposition figure Walid al-Bunni. He told The Associated Press he was not invited to the conference because authorities had "vetoed" some names.

"We would have been happier if the organizers of the conference were free to invite whomever they wanted. As it is, this is not an opposition conference," he told the AP from Damascus.

An activists' group, the Coordination Union of the Syrian Revolt, also denounced the conference, calling it a "cheap ploy" that the government wants to exploit.

But there were also some highly prominent participants, including lawyer Anwar al-Bunni, another pro-democracy activist who spent years as a political prisoner. Hussein said Syrian authorities were informed of the meeting and had not blocked it. The divisions highlighted the fractured nature of the Syrian opposition, which has long been silenced, imprisoned or exiled by the autocratic regime in Damascus. Opposition meetings so far have been held abroad by exiles living in the West or elsewhere in the Middle East and who don't have significant followings inside the country.

Those inside Syria say change must come from within, but the split over Monday's conference reflected tactical differences over approaches.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, the London-based director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the crossfire of accusations within the opposition should end.

"Today's meeting in Damascus is a consultative one. It is not a meeting with the Syrian regime," he said. "The aim is to find a way to make the transition to democracy, to stop the slide toward civil war."

As the meeting began, some 50 people gathered outside the downtown hotel where it was held, shouting pro-Assad slogans.

Whether the meeting might produce partners for President Assad's proposed "national dialogue" remains to be seen.

Organizer Hussein told AP there would be no dialogue with the state "before the halt of the military's crackdown." But others at the conference seemed more supportive of dialogue.

"No one wants to harm the country, we only want reforms. ... We support dialogue," said Georgette Attiya, a university professor attending the meeting.

The European Union and the U.S., condemning the bloody crackdown, have imposed economic sanctions on Assad and other members of the Damascus leadership.

The Assad regime was condemned as well on Monday in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah, where some 200 Kurds and other members of the exiled Syrian opposition rallied to call for international military intervention in neighboring Syria, like the NATO intervention in Libya.

The Kurdish minority in Syria has long faced discrimination at the hands of the country's Arab leadership. Many Kurdish members of Syrian opposition groups live in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Withdrawal from Afghanistan: Three options weighed by the White House.

2011-06-22T16:18:00.000+02:00

How many US troops are coming home from Afghanistan this year? On the eve of Obama's speech on his promised July start to the drawdown of American forces, here are three scenarios.
President Obama’s Wednesday speech on his promised July drawdown of the 100,000 US troops in Afghanistan is drafted. But on circulating copies, there are still blank spaces where the final troop figures will go. Whether that’s because the White House is still in the midst of internal debate – or whether it’s a fear of leaks – remains the subject of speculation, but guessing precisely what those figures will be was insider Washington’s favorite parlor game Tuesday.

Here are some possible scenarios – small, medium, and large troop withdrawals – being weighed by the White House for the near and long-term, along with their risks and rewards.
Small

This is certainly the Pentagon’s preference. It would involve continuing to keep fairly robust levels of American forces in Afghanistan through 2014, likely as many as 60,000 soldiers, according to a plan that Seth Jones, an analyst for the RAND Corporation and until earlier this year an adviser to special operations forces in Afghanistan, submitted in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month.

In the near term, it would involve keeping the bulk of the 30,000 US surge forces in the country, too – as 2011 draws to a close, only 5,000 to 10,000 surge troops would withdraw, according to plans favored by the Pentagon.

A reduction of up to 10,000 troops by the end of 2011 – most of them support and logistics specialists from the largest US bases – would not create a great risk for the US military’s mission in Afghanistan, says Jones, who adds that troop levels could perhaps be reduced by 10,000 to 20,000 more by the end of 2012.

“What the military wants is any withdrawal this year to take place after the fighting season is completed, which generally runs through the summer, and the withdrawal to be noncombat troops, so they have as many combat troops as possible to wage the fighting season this year and next year,” says Richard Fontaine, senior fellow with the Center for a New American Security and former foreign policy adviser to Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Some defense analysts say, however, that a small withdrawal is not consistent with achieving the goal of a sustainable homegrown counterinsurgency effort. The problem, says Jones, is that keeping close to current US troop levels in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future would “not adequately prepare Afghan forces to fight the insurgency and secure their country.”

American troop presence in the country, too, appears to have diminishing returns, Jones points out: Though it’s still above 50 percent, Afghan support for the US military has declined every year since 2005.
Medium

This approach would limit US goals in Afghanistan, focusing on assisting Afghan national security forces and targeting terrorist leaders – a plan Jones calls an “Afghan-led counterinsurgency.” Such a plan “would largely terminate US combat operations in 2014, except for targeting terrorist leaders,” he says.

This might mean pulling out 20,000 troops by the end of 2011, 40,000 more by the end of 2012, and reducing forces to roughly 30,000 by 2014, says Jones. The key would be bolstering Afghan national security forces as well as the Afghan Local Police (ALP), a goal enthusiastically supported by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of US forces in Afghanistan. So far, the ALP have undercut Taliban control in key areas of the South, Jones says, and helped to connect local villages to the Afghan government. But local security forces “do not offset the risks incurred by premature withdrawal of combat forces from Afghanistan,” says Frederick Kagan, a defense analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, who has advised the US military and was an architect of the surge in Iraq. What’s more, Dr. Kagan and others add that a premature withdrawal of combat forces would undermine what until now has been a promising local security effort.

“Local security forces operate in remote areas that have either been cleared or that were not enemy safe havens to begin with,” says Dr. Kagan, who supports a small troop drawdown. “They cannot by themselves clear enemy-held areas, nor can they withstand concerted enemy attacks.”

That’s because local security forces number only about 6,000, he says. “Remember that there were over 100,000 Sons of Iraq. Increasing their numbers depends on having requisite numbers of partners and mentors.” Removing conventional forces, he adds, “will encourage more Afghans to sit on the fence, and can undermine the entire local security effort.”
Large

This is the “counterterrorism” option favored by Vice President Joseph Biden and others, and would involve withdrawing all, or most, military forces from Afghanistan and relying on US Special Operations Forces and CIA units to capture or kill members of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

In this case, Jones explains in this option submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “The US footprint in Afghanistan might more closely resemble the current US footprint in Yemen: Lean and lethal.”

This would involve drawing down half of the 100,000 US troops currently in Afghanistan by the end of 2011, and nearly 30,000 more by the end of 2012, leaving some 20,000 US troops in the country by 2013. There are risks, though, that involve losing the gains that US troops have fought hard to achieve, says Mr. Fontaine of the Center for a New American Security.

“The military has fought very, very hard to make progress in the south and the east of Afghanistan – and with fewer troops you have less ground you can cover, less places you can go, less people you can fight,” he says. “But you have to balance that against all the other considerations.” These involve whether the expense in troops lives and billions of dollars, particularly in the midst of an economic crisis, is worth the price America is paying.

Such a strategy would significantly reduce the financial burden on the United States – a concern for lawmakers with a close eye on the 2012 elections.

“My personal belief is that the cost [of the war in Afghanistan] is obviously extremely high,” Fontaine says. “But if we are correct that the strategic stakes in Afghanistan are as great as we’ve been describing, then that justifies – at least in the short to medium term – some pretty substantial investments in what we’re trying to do.”

But how much impact will delaying the withdrawal for a little while really have on the ground in Afghanistan? That is the question Mr. Obama should be asking himself, says retired Col. Douglas Ollivant, senior national security fellow at the New America Foundation, and former senior counterinsurgency adviser to the US military’s Regional Command East in Afghanistan.

“ ‘What’s the right number of troops in Afghanistan?’ is the wrong question. The core question – what you want to ask – is: ‘Do we think what we’re doing is working?’ ” Beyond that, he adds, “Is the policy sustainable?”

China urges U.S. to stay out of sea dispute.

2011-06-22T16:01:00.000+02:00

China urged the United States on Wednesday to leave the South China Sea dispute to the claimant states, saying that U.S. involvement may make the situation worse, its most direct warning to Washington in recent weeks.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai's comments to a small group of foreign reporters ahead of a meeting with U.S. officials in Hawaii this weekend come amid the biggest flare-up in regional tension in years over competing maritime sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.

Tension has risen in the region in the past month on concern that China is becoming more assertive in its claim to waters believed to be rich in oil and gas.

Part of the waters are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

"The United States is not a claimant state to the dispute in the South China Sea and so it's better for the United States to leave the dispute to be sorted out between claimant states," Cui said.

"While some American friends may want the United States to help in this matter, we appreciate their gesture but more often than not such gestures will only make things more complicated," he said.

"If the United States wants to play a role, it may counsel restraint to those countries that have been taking provocative action and ask them to be more responsible in their behavior," he said.

"I believe the individual countries are actually playing with fire and I hope the fire will not be drawn to the United States."

While China has called for disputes to be resolved bilaterally, others, including the Philippines, have urged a multilateral approach.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Eduardo Malaya told reporters in Manila the disputes "affect not just the claimant countries but the entire region itself and beyond, and thus call for a multi-stakeholder approach." He did not mention the United States.

Cui, who will co-host this weekend's consultations with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, emphasized that China was not responsible for the dispute and said it was greatly concerned by frequent provocations by other countries.

"We are troubled by some recent events in the South China Sea but we were not the party who provoked these incidents," he said.

"If you examine the facts closely, you will recognize who are the countries that have occupied islands under other countries' sovereignty by illegal means. It was certainly not China. Who are the countries that have done the most to explore oil and gas resources in the region? It was certainly not China.

"Who are the countries that displayed force or used force against the fishermen of other countries? Again, it was certainly not China."

LARGEST CLAIM

China's claim is by far the largest, forming a large U-shape over most of the sea's 648,000 square miles (1.7 million square km), including the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos.

The latest spell of tension began last month when Vietnam said Chinese boats had harassed a Vietnamese oil exploration ship. China said Vietnamese oil and gas exploration undermined its rights in the South China Sea.

Cui said China has no intention of getting into military conflict with other countries, including Vietnam.

"We are now doing our best to maintain stability, to bring this problem back to dialogue and consultation between the relevant countries," he said. "If Vietnam has the same attitude and adopts a restrained and responsible stance, such military conflicts will not happen."

"If the U.S. takes the same attitude, such military conflicts are even more unlikely."

Navy ships from Vietnam and China held a two-day joint patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnamese state media reported on Tuesday, in a sign that tension over the disputed maritime border may be easing.

On Tuesday, two Vietnamese vessels docked in the city of Zhanjiang in China's southern Guangdong province -- the second port call by Vietnamese ships to China since 2009, Vietnam's People's Army newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Philippines, meanwhile, is set to start repairs on facilities, including an airstrip, on islands it occupies in the South China Sea after construction material was unloaded at Pagasa (Hope) Island over the weekend. The Philippines says the repairs are not a violation of a 2002 code of conduct agreed between China and the Association of South East Asian Nations.

IAEA chief: Nuclear safety must be improved.

2011-06-20T16:02:00.000+02:00

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday urged a worldwide review of safety measures to prevent new nuclear disasters, but acknowledged that since his organization lacks the authority to enforce rules any improvements are only effective if countries apply them.

While some countries at the 151-member IAEA's meeting want any new safety regime to be mandatory, most prefer them to be voluntary and don't want a regulatory role for IAEA. If the IAEA cannot enforce safety standards, those rules will be only as good as they are being enforced by IAEA nations.

"Even the best safety standards are useless unless they are actually implemented," Amano said.

Asked outside the meeting if he would like to see the IAEA have the same authority against safety violators as it now has against nuclear proliferators -- which includes referral to the U.N. Security Council -- he said: "I do not exclude that possibility."

But he said a sense of post-Fukushima urgency dictated action now under existing rules.

"We have to move by days, weeks, months, and I cannot wait years" -- the time it would take to revise the IAEA's mandate for the 35-nation board -- he said. "We need to have a sense of urgency."

Outlining a five-point plan to strengthen nuclear reactor safety, Amano called for strengthening IAEA standards and ensuring they are applied; establishing regular safety reviews of all the world's reactors; beefing up the effectiveness of national regulatory bodies; strengthening global emergency response systems, and increasing IAEA input in responding to emergencies.

A draft of the conference's ministerial statement made available to The Associated Press showed that the gathering was content to work on upgrading present safety practices and emergency measures without giving the IAEA an enforcing role.

It called only for "a strengthened role of the IAEA in emergency preparedness and response by promoting and possibly expanding existing IAEA response and assistance capabilities." And it urged countries on the threshold of civilian nuclear programs to "create a nuclear safety infrastructure based on IAEA safety standards."

Amano also urged that the INES scale -- which classifies nuclear incidents on a seven-point scale -- be revamped. The March accident at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi accident was upgraded to seven - the highest on the scale -- only on April 12. That was more than a month after a 9-magnitute earthquake and a devastating tsunami overwhelmed the Fukushima reactor's cooling system and radiation started leaking into the atmosphere.

"Safety standards ... in particular those pertaining to multiple severe hazards such as tsunamis and earthquakes should be reviewed," Amano told the meeting. He proposed "IAEA international expert peer reviews" to complement national safety checks, and establishing stockpiles of emergency equipment by reactor operators to try and prevent a replay of Fukushima.

"Many countries have accepted (peer reviews) already; European countries, Japan, the United States," he told reporters outside the meeting. "I would like to expand it, so that all nuclear power plants will see a peer review on a random basis."

Speaking for Japan, Economics Minister Banri Kaieda pledged that his country "will take drastic measures to ensure the highest level of safety" for its reactor network.

US stock futures sag on European debt worries

2011-06-20T16:00:00.000+02:00

U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower opening Monday as worries about Europe's debt problems continue to fester.Euro-area finance ministers failed to agree to release more bailout money to Greece, which needs cash to avoid defaulting on its debt. In order to get it, Greece must first agree to further cut its deficit. Such moves have been unpopular in Greece, and its government faces a vote of confidence on Tuesday.

A Greek default would trigger losses for the banks that hold Greek bonds, and economists worry it could shake the European economy.

Greece has been at the center of Europe's debt worries, but other countries are also facing troubles. Moody's warned on Friday that it may cut Italy's credit rating because of its mounting debt and sluggish growth prospects.

The worries dragged down markets across Europe Monday: Italy's FTSE MIB index sank 2.7 percent, France's CAC 40 index dropped 1.3 percent and Germany's DAX index fell 1.2 percent.

European debt problems, combined with weakening economic data, have dragged the S&P 500 index of U.S. stocks down 6.7 percent since April 29. Crude oil's price has also tumbled on worries about lower global demand. It dropped below $92 per barrel to its lowest point since February.

Strong corporate earnings have helped drive stocks higher over the last two years, and analysts expect more growth for the April-through-June quarter. But Nabors Industries Ltd., a driller for oil and gas, warned that its international and pressure pumping businesses have been weaker than expected during the quarter. Its stock lost 3.2 percent in pre-market trading.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. fell 0.9 percent in pre-market trading after it said it will buy the U.S. retail operations of Royal Bank of Canada for $3.45 billion. The deal will make PNC the fifth biggest U.S. bank with 2,870 branches. It follows Capital One Financial Corp.'s $9 billion purchase last week of ING's U.S. online bank.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.92 percent as investors sought out the relative safety of U.S. debt. A bond's yield falls when its price rises. The 10-year yield had been as high as 3.74 percent in February.

Ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 50 points, or 0.4 percent, to 11,888. S&P 500 futures fell 6, or 0.5 percent, to 1,260. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 9.25, or 0.4 percent, to 2,181.

Stock futures do not always accurately predict how prices will change once the market opens.

Britain Will Stay Out Of New Greek Bailout.

2011-06-20T15:59:00.000+02:00

Britain should not be part of any new aid package to bail out the stricken Greek economy, Chancellor George Osborne will insist today.The UK was not involved in the original 110bn euro (£96.5bn) deal approved a year ago, which was put together by the eurozone countries to help save one of their own.

The only UK commitment came from its share of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) contribution, in the form of loan guarantees.

That would only be called in if Greece defaults.

At the time that prospect was dismissed as scare-mongering.

But with the pace of Greek deficit reduction painfully slow and the economic crisis far worse than feared, a second bailout is now thought to be inevitable.

Mr Osborne is due in Luxembourg today and is expected to stress that Britain should not be

Athens has been told it must approve 28 billion euros worth of spending cuts or it will not get the next instalment of a European bailout.

Meeting in Luxembourg, eurozone finance ministers decided not to sign-off on giving Greece another 12 billion euros just yet.

Germany and France have already indicated that Britain should not need to pay a share of a repeat bailout, which is likely to be finalised within weeks.

Mr Osborne has made clear at talks in Luxembourg that the issue remains one for the eurozone alone.

Ahead of today's meeting, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander set out the UK argument on Sky News.

He said: "It's the eurozone that is taking forward discussions now about the next stage of dealing with Greece's substantial problems.

"There's simply no proposition on the table for the UK to contribute beyond International Monetary Fund involvement and I don't expect there to be one."

However, a bailout fund was set up by the EU after last year's Greek crisis, specifically intended to finance future economic problems in the member states, and it involves all 27 member states.

And if a majority vote to use the fund for a second Greek aid package, rather than repeat a eurozone-only rescue, the UK Treasury would be responsible for 12% of the new loan guaranteed to the Greek government.

One UK official admitted there is "theoretical risk", but no money will be involved unless Greece defaults.

Last night Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou insisted his country would not default and is determined to crack down on its mounting deficit. He said failure to do so would be a "catastrophe".

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has said Greece should be allowed to default on its debts and leave the euro.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, the London Mayor said the single currency is responsible for aggravating the international financial crisis.

"The euro has exacerbated the financial crisis by encouraging some countries to behave as recklessly as the banks themselves," he said.

Libya says NATO airstrike kills 15 west of capital

2011-06-20T15:51:00.002+02:00

Libya's government said a NATO airstrike early Monday on a large family compound belonging to a close associate of Moammar Gadhafi has killed at least 15 people, including three children, west of Tripoli.

A NATO official in Naples, Italy, said the alliance has not conducted any strikes in that area in the past 24 hours. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of NATO regulations.

Gadhafi's regime has repeatedly accused NATO of targeting civilians in an attempt to rally support against the alliance's intervention in the country's civil war. NATO has repeatedly insisted it tries to avoid killing civilians.

Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said alliance bombs struck the compound belonging to Khoweildi al-Hamidi outside the city of Surman, some 40 miles (60 kilometers) west of Tripoli, around 4 a.m. local time Monday.

Ibrahim said al-Hamidi, a former military officer who took part in the 1969 coup that brought Gadhafi to power, escaped unharmed but that three children were among those killed, two of them al-Hamidi's grandchildren.

"They (NATO) are targeting civilians ... the logic is intimidation," Ibrahim said. "They want Libyans to give up the fight ... they want to break our spirit."

Foreign journalists based in the Libyan capital were taken by government officials to the walled compound, where the main two-story buildings had been blasted to rubble. A pair of massive craters could be seen in the dusty ground, and rescue service workers with sniffer dogs were searching the rubble in search of people. The smell of smoke was still thick in the air.

Journalists were later taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Sabratha, where medical workers showed them the bodies of at least 10 people, including those of two children, said to be killed in the strike. Some of the bodies were charred beyond recognition, while others had been half blown apart.

NATO, which has a mandate to protect Libyan civilians, has rejected the Libyan government's allegations that it targets civilians. However, mistakes have occurred.

The alliance acknowledged that one of its airstrikes on Sunday accidentally struck a residential neighborhood in the capital, killing civilians.

A coalition including France, Britain and the United States launched the first strikes against Gadhafi's forces under a United Nations resolution to protect civilians on March 19. NATO, which is joined by a number of Arab allies, assumed control of the air campaign over Libya on March 31.

Syria's Assad talks reforms in bid to keep power.

2011-06-20T15:49:00.000+02:00

Syria's embattled president said Monday his regime would consider political reforms, including ending his Baath Party's monopoly in politics, as he clings to power in the face of a growing, nationwide protest movement that refuses to die.

The opposition dismissed Bashar Assad's speech, saying it lacked any clear sign of a transition to true democracy. Activists said thousands of people took to the streets to protest in several cities, pressing on with a campaign to end the Assad family's 40-year authoritarian rule.

In a 70-minute, televised speech, only his third national address since the pro-democracy demonstrations began in March, Assad acknowledged demands for reform were legitimate, but said "saboteurs" were exploiting the situation. Although he called for "national dialogue," he said, "There is no political solution with those who carry arms and kill."

Speaking to supporters at Damascus University, the president announced that a national dialogue would start soon and he was forming a committee to study constitutional amendments, including one that would open the way to forming political parties other than the ruling Baath Party.

He said he expects a package of reforms by September or the end of the year at the latest. He also said parliamentary elections, scheduled for August, might be postponed if the reform committee decides to delay them.

But the speech signaled Assad's clear intent to try to ride out the wave of protests, showing the steely determination that has long kept his family and the Baathists in power. He played on fears that his downfall could usher in chaos.

"We want the people to back to reforms but we must isolate true reformers from saboteurs," he said.

Other besieged dictators across the Middle East — notably Egypt's Hosni Mubarak — have used the same argument as they sought to hold onto power during the Arab Spring, warning of chaos in their wake. In Syria, the warning has a special resonance, given the country's volatile mix of ethnic groups and minorities.

The Assad speech's vague timetable and few specifics — and lack of any clear move toward ending his family's political domination — left Syrian dissidents deeply dissatisfied.

"It did not give a vision about beginning a new period to start a transfer from a dictatorship into a national democratic regime with political pluralism," Hassan Abdul-Azim, a prominent opposition figure, told The Associated Press.

Omar Idilbi, a spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees, which tracks the protest movement, said the speech drove thousands of opposition supporters into the streets, calling for the downfall of the regime. That claim could not be independently confirmed immediately.

The opposition estimates more than 1,400 Syrians have been killed and 10,000 detained as Assad unleashed his military, pro-regime gunmen and the country's other security forces to crush the protest movement that erupted in March, inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.

The deadly crackdown has only fueled the protests, in which tens of thousands have insisted they will accept nothing less than the regime's downfall.

Assad, 45, who inherited power in 2000 after his father's death, previously has made a series of overtures to try to ease the growing outrage, lifting the decades-old emergency laws that give the regime a free hand to arrest people without charge and granting Syrian nationality to thousands of Kurds, a long-ostracized minority. But the concessions did nothing to sap the movement's momentum, being dismissed as either symbolic or coming far too late.

Shadi Hamid, director of research at The Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, said the speech was a "predictable disappointment."

"The kind of language that Assad used suggests that he sees most of the opposition as being traitors and conspirators," he told The Associated Press. "I think this was his final chance to show that he's willing to take reforms seriously and, for the third time after three speeches, he made clear that he is not ready to commit to real democratic reform in Syria."

Hamid said he expected protests to continue and international pressure to escalate. "The time line is not in (Assad's) favor," he said. "The question is, how long can Assad sustain the current situation?"

The Arab League, which had been largely silent on Syria, came out in strong support of the regime after Assad's speech. Its deputy secretary-general, Ahmed bin Heli, an Algerian, said Syria was a "main factor of balance and stability in the region" and said the League rejects any foreign intervention in its affairs.

International pressure on the regime has been mounting steadily, as almost 11,000 Syrians have fled the crackdown into neighboring Turkey in an embarrassing spectacle for one of the most tightly controlled countries in the Middle East.

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday said Syria's leader must reform or go. Hague also said he hopes Turkey will play an influential role.

"I hope our Turkish colleagues will bring every possible pressure to bear on the Assad regime with a very clear message that they are losing legitimacy and that Assad should reform or step aside," Hague said as he arrived in Luxembourg for a meeting of European Union foreign ministers. They were expected to discuss expanding sanctions on Syria.

On Monday, the government tried to back up its claim that criminals were behind the unrest by taking journalists and foreign diplomats on a trip to a northern town where authorities say armed groups killed 120 security personnel two weeks ago.

Maj. Gen. Riad Haddad, head of the Syrian military's political department, told journalists on the trip to Jisr al-Shughour that the military will continue to pursue gunmen "in every village where they are found, even near the Turkish border."

In addition to the refugees in Turkey, some 5,000 people who fled their homes are camped out on the Syrian side of the border and face dwindling resources.

Gunmen in Mexico kill 22 as FIFA tournament opens.

2011-06-20T15:45:00.000+02:00

At least 22 people were killed in a string of attacks in Mexico, authorities said Sunday, including a shooting at a bar in Monterrey just hours after the opening of soccer's Under-17 World Cup.

Gunmen stormed the bar in Mexico's third largest city late Saturday and "executed three people," wounded another, and kidnapped a security guard at the bar who was later found dead, an official of Nuevo Leon state's investigation agency told AFP.

Four other people, 18-25 years old, were killed Sunday morning in Guadalupe, a city adjacent to Monterrey.

"The victims were gathering in front of one of their homes when armed men showed up in several vehicles and shot them," the official said.

Monterrey is one of the host cities for FIFA's Under-17 football tournament and it held two matches on its opening day Saturday: France-Argentina and Japan-Jamaica.

The relatively prosperous industrial hub of northern Mexico, home to several foreign companies, was until recently considered a near-safe haven as drug violence increased in many parts of the country.

But a bloody turf war between the Gulf cartel and its former hitmen the Zetas has spilled into the state in less than two years, producing daylight shootouts, grenade attacks and a climate of fear.

Thirty-three violent killings were recorded in and around Monterrey, an area of some four million, on Wednesday, making it the area's most violent day in recent history.

Another 14 people meanwhile were killed in the western state of Michoacan, whose bodies were found early Sunday, authorities said, also blaming drug cartel-related violence there.

Mexico is in the grip of a brutal wave of largely drug-related violence that has killed some 37,000 people since President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on organized crime in 2006.

EU works to contain Greek crisis.

2011-06-20T15:39:00.002+02:00

Europe sought Monday to put a firewall between the dire financial situation of Greece and the destiny of Ireland and Portugal, the two other countries that have already received international aid.

The region's finance ministers signed off on important changes to both its current and future bailout funds, which they hope will reinforce confidence in the eurozone's struggling economies as the debt crisis in Greece was reaching a new boiling point.

The ministers agreed to raise their guarantees for bailout loans given out from the current rescue fund to euro780 billion($1.1 trillion) from euro440 billion, said Klaus Regling, who manages the Luxembourg-based fund. That will allow the fund to lend out a total of euro440 billion, up from about euro250 billion currently.

The European Financial Stability Facility, as the fund is known, requires significant over-guarantees to get a good credit rating and make the bonds it issues attractive to investors.

On top of that, the ministers also made an important tweak to their future rescue fund, which they hope will help already bailed out countries regain access to debt markets.

The so-called European Stability Mechanism, which will come into force in mid-2013, when the EFSF expires, will not have preferred creditor status when it helps countries that have already been bailed out, said Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister who also chairs the meetings of eurozone finance ministers.

Having preferred status means the fund would be repaid before any private creditors. That had been harshly criticized by many economists, who said it would deter banks and other investment funds from lending any money to already struggling countries.

2011-06-17T19:21:00.000+02:00

The U.S. is paying two European mine-clearing groups nearly $1 million to hunt and dispose of loose anti-aircraft missiles that could make their way from Libyan battlefields to terror groups.The hiring of weapons demolition experts hardly dampens concerns about anti-aircraft missiles still in the hands of the Gadhafi regime's military, which amassed nearly 20,000 of the weapons before the popular uprising started in March.

The State Department's hiring of British and Swiss weapons demolition teams in Libya to search for missiles, mines and other deadly munitions was prodded by fears that terrorists could use scavenged man-portable air defense systems, known as MANPADS. The action came after American and allied authorities made it clear to Libyan opposition figures that their cooperation on the missile launchers would be a factor in future assistance, said U.S. and United Nations officials familiar with the discussions.

"From the U.S. point of view, it was an issue of paramount importance," said Justin Brady, officer-in-charge of the U.N. Mine Action Service, which is overseeing the weapons disposal effort in Libya. "The Libyans seemed to get the big picture of what was necessary to present a credible international face."

The move has no effect on the massive numbers of mostly Russian-built anti-aircraft launchers and missiles still in the hands of Moammar Gadhafi's forces. While some shoulder-held and truck-mounted launchers were pillaged by rebel forces when they seized Libyan ammunition stocks, the vast majority are still held by the regime.

"I can't imagine the U.S. can do anything about Gadhafi's inventory until they defeat him or negotiate his exit," said Matthew Schroeder, an arms expert with the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. "But even without that, securing any MANPADS loose in Libya is a good thing."

The Obama administration listed the nearly $1 million anti-MANPADS effort this week in a report to Congress defending the legality of its intervention in Libya. The report included classified documents detailing a "threat assessment of MANPADS, ballistic missiles and chemical weapons in Libya."

Most U.S. warplanes have electronic evasion systems and can fly above the range of the missiles, but most passenger jets are vulnerable. Reports have surfaced in recent weeks from officials in Algeria and Chad, and recently from Russian media, that several anti-aircraft missiles and launchers looted from Libyan government caches have already wound their way to the North African terror group, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. American officials have yet to confirm any of the reports.

Officials with the two firms hired by the State Department, the British-based Mines Advisory Group and the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action, said almost all of the Libyan weapons depots they surveyed in recent weeks showed clear signs of looting. Libyan opposition forces took almost any useful weapon from Gadhafi regime stocks in the opening weeks of the conflict, and search teams have found few inventory documents, so it is impossible to trace which are missing and whether any were sold to terrorists or criminal gangs.

"The ammo dumps we've seen are either partially destroyed or picked clean," said Alexander Griffiths, director of operations for the Swiss group, which now has 35 disposal experts working in rebel territory under a $470,000 U.S. grant. "We haven't seen MANPADS so far and my guess is we won't see many because they're such a high-value item. They would be the first items to go."

The British mine disposal group located and destroyed two of the portable missile systems near the northeastern Libyan opposition-controlled town of Ajdabiya last week, spokeswoman Kate Wiggans said. The group also found two other stray anti-aircraft missiles in May and destroyed them. All four were SA-7s, Russian-made portable missiles that date to the 1970s. Experts say many Libyan MANPADS are probably of similar vintage and some may be too decayed to use.

The Mines Advisory Group has three workers in Libya but plans to expand to at least 20, operating with $486,000 in State Department funding and $290,000 in British government aid, Wiggans said. Both she and Griffiths said that their demolition experts were taking care to avoid hot battle zones, coordinating with U.N. officials overseeing relief efforts in opposition-held turf.

U.S. officials would not say whether the funding would continue beyond the end of the year. The U.S. has been the lead player in efforts to round up and destroy stray missiles, hiring contractors like the two European firms to scour battlefields and, in some cases, discreetly paying armed governments like Yemen to turn over missile stocks. The U.S. programs have destroyed 32,500 missile systems in 30 countries since 2003, but officials say thousands more still pose a hazard among the estimated 1 million manufactured since the late 1960s.

Passenger flights have never been targeted inside the U.S. Nearly a dozen lethal strikes have brought down passenger and cargo planes over the past decade in Africa and Asia.

No explosives found with man in custody near Pentagon.

2011-06-17T19:19:00.000+02:00

A suspicious man with a backpack prompted authorities to temporarily close major highways around the Pentagon Friday, but a search of the backpack turned up no explosives.The man, described as a U.S. resident in his 20s, was taken into custody in the predawn hours after he ran from police in Arlington National Cemetery near the Pentagon. Authorities traced him to a car found abandoned near a Pentagon parking lot.

Hours later, the unnamed man was in police custody but had had not been charged with any crime, and the FBI said nothing suspicious was found in the car.

ABC News reported that the backpack contained a substance initially believed to be the explosive compound ammonium nitrate, as well as spent bullet shells and written material referring to al Qaeda and the Taliban.

However, FBI special agent Brenda Heck told reporters that the substance in the backpack was an unknown inert material but it would require further investigation. She said there was no device in the backpack.

"We believe he did act alone," Heck said.

The incident was being investigated by several agencies including the FBI, Pentagon Police, U.S. Park Police and county authorities. A U.S. official described it as "a law enforcement matter."

The Pentagon has been the scene of a number of security incidents since the September 11 attacks in 2001, including an exchange of gunfire outside the building between a man and security guards in March 2010.

Last December, an unattended blinking package prompted authorities to shut the Pentagon's subway station for 90 minutes during rush hour. It turned out to be a Christmas ornament.

Al-Qaeda's New Boss: The U.S. Hunt for al-Zawahiri Begins.

2011-06-17T16:39:00.000+02:00

So what took al-Qaeda so long to replace Osama bin Laden? It's been over six weeks since a U.S. Navy SEAL team killed the terrorist chief, and only now has al-Qaeda decided on his successor - Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, an acerbic Egyptian physician who was bin Laden's longtime deputy.

Even for the likes of al-Qaeda, an organization not known for its warm and fuzzy side, al-Zawahiri has a reputation for obnoxiousness. One ex-militant describes al-Zawahiri, 60, as "sharp-tongued" and "arrogant." His scraggly beard, prayer callous on his forehead and thick glasses make him look more like an unpleasant and pious schoolmaster than a terrorist mastermind. Nevertheless, al-Zawahiri remains a force to be reckoned with. The Egyptian fully intends to continue waging bin Laden's war against the U.S. and its allies, his hatred sharpened by the fact that his wife and two children were killed by a U.S. air strike in October 2001 while fleeing across Afghanistan. (See Ayman al-Zawahiri in "Al-Qaeda's Most Infamous Faces.")

Despite the Egyptian's fulsome eulogy for his boss earlier this month, the take-charge deputy was often at odds with bin Laden. Hothaifa Abdullah Azzam, a Jordanian cleric who spent time in Peshawar, Pakistan, and who maintains communication with some fighters of al-Qaeda told TIME in Amman that by 2006, al-Zawahiri and his comrades were "isolating bin Laden with the excuse of protecting him." He adds, "Nobody I met liked al-Zawahiri, but he is the guy moving things." Azzam also says that bin Laden and al-Zawahiri quarreled in 2007 over the choice of a new military commander after the previous one was killed. "Al-Zawahiri got his way and bin Laden was not happy." The new commander is thought to be either Saif al-Adel, a former Egyptian commando, or a Libyan, Abu Yahya al-Libi.

Al-Zawahiri's abrasiveness is one factor to explain why he was not automatically picked to replace bin Laden by al-Qaeda's ruling council, the so-called General Command. Another is his lack of combat experience. A former surgeon and ideologue, al-Zawahiri has a reputation for leading from the rear. "He's called the 'Shadow Leader,'" says Azzam. Furthermore, a new, younger generation of combat-hardened jihadi leaders from Libya and Yemen are rising through the ranks, and their utterances on the Internet seem to have far greater impact than al-Zawahiri's oft-repeated rants against the Americans and the Jews.

Several weeks back, a few jihadi-militant websites claimed that the Egyptian al-Adel had been chosen as a "caretaker" chief, and it seemed that al-Zawahiri had been shoved aside. One Washington official who tracks al-Qaeda offered two scenarios to explain the need for a caretaker: either a succession battle was raging inside the terrorist group, or its commanders were too scattered after bin Laden's death to gather for a vote. Either way, says the official, "It underscores the fact that al-Zawahiri isn't well liked by the senior leaders or the foot soldiers." (See the top 10 notorious fugitives.)

Unlike bin Laden, who spent the past six years holed up behind the penitentiary-like walls of his Pakistan safe house, al-Zawahiri is a moving target. "His business cards are left all over the place," says South Asia expert Michael Semple, a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School. By all accounts, the Egyptian has been moving around Pakistan's tribal borderlands and fleeing the predatory missiles of the drones.

Yet, even on the run, al-Zawahiri can't keep quiet. Since 2006, he has broadcast 22 anti-Western video sermons on the Internet, compared with a single appearance by his late boss. Earlier this month, in his first public response to bin Laden's death, al-Zawahiri proclaimed, "Today, and thanks be to God, America is not facing an individual or a group ... but a rebelling nation [a reference to the Muslim community] which has awoken from its sleep in a jihadist renaissance, challenging it wherever it is."

Al-Zawahiri is as deadly as he is elusive. Counterterrorism experts say that when bin Laden slipped into his Abbottabad villa, al-Zawahiri handled day-to-day operations for al-Qaeda and coordinated murderous attacks with the organization's Taliban allies. He roams inside a wide swath of Pakistan's mountainous border with Afghanistan, extending from Bajaur (where the widower may have married the daughter of a Pashtun chieftain) down to South Waziristan. This lawless region, says Semple, is "the world's greatest jihadi industrial park," from where al-Qaeda supplies "specialist services" to the various Pakistani and Afghan Taliban factions bent on committing spectacular suicide bombings and assassinations.
See TIME's complete coverage of Osama bin Laden.

Al-Zawahiri was also involved in a trap against the CIA. A Jordanian "mole" planted by the CIA inside al-Qaeda promised to reveal al-Zawahiri's whereabouts in December 2009. Instead, the Jordanian turned out to be a triple agent, an unrepentant jihadi and suicide bomber, who blew up a high-level CIA team at a secret base near Khost, in eastern Afghanistan. Five CIA officers and two security men were killed and a dozen others were wounded in the bombing, the worst disaster to befall the agency in over 30 years. A U.S. official told TIME that al-Qaeda leaders had "knowledge of the operation and encouraged it." And the bait had been al-Zawahiri.

Questions have arisen over whether Pakistan's all-powerful military knew where bin Laden was holed up. But there's little doubt that, had the Pakistanis known where al-Zawahiri was hiding, they would have gladly hunted him down. Bin Laden, according to his biographer Michael Scheuer, an ex-CIA officer, had "close ties with ISI [Pakistani intelligence] up to and including generals" before 9/11. But al-Zawahiri had a phobia of military men, acquired during his years inside the prisons of the Egyptian regime. (See a profile of al-Zawahiri.)

Soon enough, al-Zawahiri's suspicion of the Pakistani army turned to hostility. In a September 2003 video harangue, the Egyptian terrorist urged Pakistanis to rise against the generals. Two months later, President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escaped two attempts on his life. Counterterrorism experts in Islamabad also claim al-Zawahiri was involved in the December 2007 assassination of ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. And U.S. officials say the Egyptian maintains close ties with Hakimullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, which has launched a suicide-bombing campaign against Pakistani troops in the tribal territory bordering Afghanistan.

The CIA and the Pakistanis had plenty of near misses with al-Zawahiri. He was sighted in February 2003 with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a day before the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks was captured in Rawalpindi in a joint raid by Pakistani and American forces. A year later, al-Zawahiri supposedly escaped with minor injuries after the Pakistani air force, following a tip-off from an informant, bombed a farmhouse in South Waziristan. The trail went cold for two years, until American intelligence got wind of a dinner feast for al-Qaeda's leaders north of the Khyber Pass. Predator missiles struck the gathering, killing 18 people. Al-Zawahiri was supposed to be among them, but apparently bowed out at the last minute. (See pictures of a jihadist's journey.)

But al-Zawahiri's hunters may have again picked up the trail. Using intelligence gleaned from computer files seized in bin Laden's Abbottabad safe house, U.S. officials say they may be closer to finding al-Zawahiri and other surviving al-Qaeda leaders.

Meanwhile, the situation may get complicated in Afghanistan if the U.S. and Afghan President Hamid Karzai choose to broker cease-fire talks with the Taliban, al-Qaeda's longtime ally. Both the Taliban and al-Qaeda hate the U.S., but they have divergent goals. It's al-Qaeda's strategy to keep the U.S. tied down in Afghanistan, while the Taliban wants to drive out the "infidel" American and NATO troops. Afghanistan, says Semple, has "turned into a giant film studio for al-Qaeda propaganda." He adds, "They want to keep America embroiled in the conflict." And so, if Karzai wants to reach a settlement with the Taliban, expect al-Qaeda to come between their erstwhile ally and the Afghan government, especially now that al-Zawahiri is running the show. - With reporting by Ranya Kadri/Amman

Obama Mocked by US lawmakers on Libya hostilities.

2011-06-17T16:36:00.000+02:00

Republicans and Democrats on Thursday derided President Barack Obama's claim that U.S. air attacks against Libya do not constitute hostilities and demanded that the commander in chief seek congressional approval for the 3-month-old military operation.

In an escalating U.S. constitutional fight, the Republican leader of the House of Representatives threatened to withhold money for the mission, pitting a Congress eager to exercise its power of the purse against a dug-in White House. Speaker John Boehner signaled that the House could take action as early as next week.

"The accumulated consequence of all this delay, confusion and obfuscation has been a wholesale revolt in Congress against the administration's policy," said Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee who has backed Obama's actions against Libya.

The administration, in a report it reluctantly gave to Congress on Wednesday, said that because the United States is in a supporting role in the NATO-led mission, American forces are not facing the hostilities that would require the president to seek such congressional consent under the War Powers Resolution.

The 1973 law prohibits the military from being involved in actions for more than 60 days without congressional authorization, plus a 30-day extension. The 60-day deadline passed last month with the White House saying it is in compliance with the law. The 90-day mark is Sunday.

In the meantime, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has maintained his grip on power, and the White House says if the mission continues until September, it will cost $1.1 billion.

Instead of calming lawmakers, the White House report and its claims about no hostilities further inflamed the fierce balance-of-power fight between the legislative and executive branches.

"We have got drone attacks under way, we're spending $10 million a day. We're part of an effort to drop bombs on Gadhafi's compound. It doesn't pass the straight-face test, in my view, that we're not in the midst of hostilities," Boehner told reporters at a news conference.

Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat, combat veteran and member of the Armed Services Committee, scoffed at the notion.

"Spending a billion dollars and dropping bombs on people sounds like hostilities to me," Webb said in an interview.

Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican, called the claims "really totally bizarre." Rep. Tom Rooney, a Republican, said telling Congress and Americans "that this is not a war insults our intelligence. I won't stand for it and neither will my constituents."

The White House pushed back, singling out Boehner and saying he has not always demanded that presidents abide by the War Powers Resolution.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Boehner's views "stand in contrast to the views he expressed in 1999 when he called the War Powers Act 'constitutionally suspect' and warned Congress to 'resist the temptation to take any action that would do further damage to the institution of the presidency."

Boehner's spokesman, Brendan Buck, dismissed Carney's reference to a "decade-old statement."

"As speaker, it is Boehner's responsibility to see that the law is followed, whether or not he agrees with it," Buck said.

The White House response has complicated efforts for several Democrats and Republicans urging their colleagues to hold off on any action that could encourage Gadhafi. In a Senate speech, McCain said it would be a mistake for the United States to cut and run from its allies and the mission.

Speaking directly to Republicans, McCain asked, "Is this the time to ride to the rescue of the man who President Reagan called the mad dog of the Middle East?"

McCain said later that he and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, a Democrat, would push ahead with a resolution authorizing the U.S. mission in Libya with conditions. The committee twice postponed meetings to finalize the resolution.

"The convoluted definition of hostilities backs us into a corner," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican.

In a letter to Obama this week. Boehner said the commander in chief will clearly be in violation of the War Powers Resolution on Sunday and he pressed the administration to state the legal grounds for Obama's actions. The House speaker said Thursday the White House report failed to answer his questions and that he expects a response by his Friday deadline.

Previous presidents, Republicans and Democrats, have largely ignored the Vietnam-era law, which was created as a check on their power to authorize military force.

Countering the criticism, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Obama did not need congressional authorization, but she acknowledged the congressional frustration.

"It's like a marriage. You may think you're communicating, but if the other party doesn't think you're communicating, you're not communicating enough," Pelosi told reporters.

The White House sent Congress the 32-page report in response to a nonbinding House resolution passed this month that chastised Obama for failing to provide a "compelling rationale" for U.S. involvement in Libya.

The administration report estimated the cost of U.S. military operations at about $715 million as of June 3, with the total increasing to $1.1 billion by early September.

While the U.S. led the initial airstrikes on Libya, NATO forces have since taken over the mission. The U.S still plays a significant support role that includes aerial refueling of warplanes and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance work. Obama has ruled out sending U.S. ground forces to Libya.

Facebook user becomes famous after claiming role in Vancouver riot.

2011-06-17T16:26:00.000+02:00

Until Thursday, the name Brock Anton probably didn't mean much to most Canadians online, other than his 534 friends on Facebook.But by the end of the day, he was one of the most frequently discussed topics on Twitter, hundreds of Facebook users were furiously posting diatribes about him, and he became a symbol of the collective anger pouring from Vancouverites in the aftermath of the Stanley Cup riots.

An image shared on the Facebook group "Vancouver Riot Pics: Post Your Photos," which amassed more than 54,000 followers, captures an alleged post by a user identified as Brock Anton.

"Maced in the face, hit with a batton, tear gassed twice, 6 broken fingers, blood everywhere," reads the post, alongside a profile photo portraying a man in front of a smashed, overturned car.

The status update goes on to detail how he supposedly punched a police officer in riot gear and participated in the rioting.

"Through the jersey on a burning cop car, flipped some cars, burnt some smart cars, burnt some cop cars, im on the news ... one word ... history :) :) :)"

Less than a minute after the posting, according to the image, a friend urged Anton to remove the post.

"Brockkkk! take this down!!! its evidence!"

Anton did not respond to a Facebook message seeking comment.

It's possible the image was created as a hoax to rile furious residents who watched their city attacked. Or it could've been a case of overstated bravado on Anton's part, bragging about incidents that never occurred. Either way, his post certainly generated a flurry of online responses.

"It's pretty ridiculous and sad that a person is so out of it that they think this is not only something they can do (but) he's proud of it too, which is pretty horrible," said Ryan Arndt, who started a Facebook group Wednesday night to collect images of rioters in the act.

"Just going around wrecking your own city is very stupid and (I thought) it'd be great to have people use this as evidence ... at trials, if the judges or police think that's appropriate."

It didn't take long before the Facebook group was deluged with requests to join, and Arndt had to recruit three others to help deal with the flood of emails and manually click on each to approve new members.

He eventually directed his group's followers to another that had grown larger, and helped a friend set up a Tumblr blog where non-Facebook users could contribute.

On Thursday, Vancouver police department said it had received 120 tips by phone as of 5 a.m., and appealed to the public to continue sending in their photos and video footage identifying rioters.

"Members of the public are sending us their videos, and we are adding those to the thousands of minutes of video that we shot ourselves. We are fully committed to tracking down these criminals and arresting them for their crimes," said police Chief Jim Chu.

"The public can really help us and help us move beyond this and show the true spirit of Vancouverites by helping catch these criminals who caused all the mayhem and destruction."

Arndt, who had ventured out into the crowds early Wednesday before retreating when things got ugly, said he is happy to see so many online users submitting photos and pledging to help clean up the city.

"It's pretty shameful for Vancouver to have this blight ... on the city, but on the other side we've got all the people who are downtown right now helping to clean up," he said.

On Thursday, separate groups on Facebook and Twitter encouraged residents to head downtown during the next several days to help clean up.

"I've seen quotes from people saying they feel like they're taking back the city and so it's given people some hope, that they can take this over and make something positive out of it."

Arndt had expected the riot would happen but was disappointed when it did break out.

"There was a Facebook event for rioting so it's not like it was a surprise, and I heard people saying on (public transit) that they were going to riot even before the game started."

IMF Chief Tried To Claim Immunity In Sex Case.

2011-06-17T16:21:00.000+02:00

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to claim diplomatic immunity when he was arrested for sexual assault in New York.Court documents have been released which show a timeline of events from the moment police removed him from an Air France flight bound for Paris at JFK airport.

Strauss-Kahn was told that detectives wanted to speak to him about "an incident in the city at a hotel".

The 62-year-old was silent and then around 15 minutes later said: "I have diplomatic immunity" and asked to speak to someone from the French Consulate.

He also complained about how tight the handcuffs were.

The former managing director of the International Monetary Fund has pleaded not guilty to attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching, following accusations by a hotel chambermaid.

If convicted he could be sentenced to 25 years in prison.

He is currently on bail and living under house arrest in New York.

:: See the transcripts here

Strauss-Kahn, who resigned from his role a few days after the arrest, does not have full diplomatic immunity and IMF rules only granted him immunity limited to acts performed in his "official capacity".

At about 5.15pm on May 14 during his transfer to the Manhattan Special Victims Unit, which deals with sex crimes, Strauss-Kahn said: "I need to make a call and let them know I won't be at my meeting tomorrow."

"These handcuffs are tight," he added.

Strauss-Kahn had been due to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on May 15 and join euro zone finance ministers in Brussels the following day to discuss the bloc's debt crisis and how to handle the economic meltdown in Greece.

At 9pm at the Special Victims Unit, Strauss-Kahn asked to call his lawyer, then asked police if he needed a lawyer.

A detective said he had a right to a lawyer but added that he didn't know if Strauss-Kahn had diplomatic status.

"No, no, no, I'm not trying to use that," Strauss-Kahn said.

At 10.55pm Strauss-Kahn was asked if he wanted to speak to detectives about the alleged hotel incident, to which he replied: "My attorney has told me not to talk. I was ready to talk."

Strauss-Kahn's next court date is July 18.

Vancouver riots' kissing duo are Australian, Canadian.

2011-06-17T16:18:00.000+02:00

The mystery identity of the couple kissing while lying on a Vancouver street as riot police battled crowds following the Canucks' Stanley Cup loss has been revealed as Australian Scott Jones and his Canadian girlfriend Alex Thomas.

Jones's family in the Land Down Under said he has been in Canada for six months, working as a bartender and trying to break into acting and standup comedy. At least one of his comedy routines has been posted on YouTube.

Following the Canucks' Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night, images of the kissing couple were splashed around the world — notably in Australia after the family came forward as knowing the man caught in a passionate embrace with a woman on the street of the B.C. city.

On Twitter, Facebook and other social media, there was early speculation that the picture was staged. CBC.ca immediately launched a search to uncover the identity of the two.

Hannah Jones, Scott's sister from Perth, told CBC News in an email that the man in the pictures is her 29-year-old brother, and he recently started dating Thomas, who attends the University of Guelph in Ontario.

And via Skype from Perth, their father, Brett, also confirmed that the pair are his son and his new girlfriend, and that Scott ended up being a knight in shining armour of sorts.

Brett Jones said the couple had been at the NHL final game, and after the frenzy following the loss spilled into the street, the two were caught in the violence.

"They were between the riot police and the rioters, and the riot police were actually charging forward, and Alex got knocked by a [police] shield and fell to the ground," he told CBC News. "[Scott] was comforting her and gave her a kiss to say, 'It’s going to be OK,' and the photographer just took the shot at that moment."

Brett Jones said Scott is fine, and Alex suffered a bruised leg from falling to the ground.

The two are overwhelmed by all the coverage the picture has gotten, he said, noting that he has been fielding calls from media around the world.

"They are both just totally stunned by it, actually."

The dad of the now-famous bartender-standup comedian said Scott was in Vancouver on a work visa, and is leaving in a few days for the U.S., and then heading back to Australia.

But the image of Scott Jones and his girlfriend will likely forever be considered the one bright light in the Vancouver post-Stanley Cup frenzy.

"It’s just completely gone viral around the world," his dad noted.

Premier League fixtures have been Announced.

2011-06-17T16:15:00.000+02:00

The 2011/12 Premier League fixtures have been announced, with champions Manchester United facing West Brom.Runners-up Chelsea are also away from home on the opening day of the 2011/12 season, when they head to FA Cup finalists Stoke City.

Newly promoted Swansea City will get an immediate taste of the high life with a trip to big-spending Manchester City, who finished third last season and will be appearing in the Champions League for the first time.

Arsenal have a tricky start to the season, travelling to Newcastle United with whom they shared a thrilling 4-4 draw last season, before matches at home to revitalised Liverpool and away to champions United.

Arsene Wenger's side are also not helped by having to play in the Champions League playoff round in August, having missed out on qualifying directly for the group stage after finishing fourth.

Last season's top two do not have long to wait before their first match against each other, with Chelsea heading to Old Trafford on the fifth weekend of the season.

Premier League opening day fixtures, August 13, 2011:

Blackburn v Wolves

Fulham v Aston Villa

Liverpool v Sunderland

Manchester City v Swansea

Newcastle v Arsenal

QPR v Bolton

Stoke City v Chelsea

Tottenham Hotspur v Everton

West Brom v Manchester United

Wigan Athletic v Norwich

Big early-season matches

Manchester United v Chelsea - 17 September

Liverpool v Manchester United - 15 October

Manchester United v Manchester City - 22 October

Chelsea v Arsenal - 29 October

Premier League final-day fixtures, May 13, 2012

Chelsea v Blackburn

Everton v Newcastle

Man City v QPR

Norwich v Aston Villa

Stoke v Bolton

Sunderland v Man Utd

Swansea v Liverpool

Tottenham v Fulham

West Brom v Arsenal

Wigan v Wolverhampton

NATO targets Tripoli with daytime raid.

2011-06-17T16:09:00.000+02:00

NATO warplanes dashed into the Libyan capital Tripoli at midday Friday, pounding a target in the south of the city and sending a thick cloud of black smoke rising high into the air.A series of explosions rumbled across other parts of the city as fighter jets could by heard flying overhead. Fire engines raced through the streets, sirens blaring.

It wasn't clear what was hit or whether there were casualties. Friday is the main day of rest in Libya, with many people off work.

NATO has been ramping up the pressure on Moammar Gadhafi's regime. Though most airstrikes happen under cover of darkness, daytime raids have grown more frequent.

Friday's raids follow a barrage that struck multiple targets late Thursday night.

The fresh strikes blasted the capital as renewed diplomatic efforts to halt Libya's civil war appeared to be gaining momentum, though there are no signs a breakthrough is imminent.

On Thursday, Russia's envoy to Libya met with senior government leaders in Tripoli, but not Gadhafi himself, in an effort to stop the fighting.

Last week, the envoy Mikhail Margelov visited the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi and said that Gadhafi has lost his legitimacy. However, the envoy also said NATO airstrikes are not a solution to Libya's violent stalemate.

Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi said the Libyan government has held a number of "preliminary meetings" with officials based in the eastern rebel-held city of Benghazi. He said the talks took place abroad, including in Egypt, Tunisia and Norway, but he did not provide specifics.

A coalition including France, Britain and the United States launched the first strikes against Gadhafi's forces under a United Nations resolution to protect civilians on March 19. NATO assumed control of the air campaign over Libya on March 31. It's joined by a number of Arab allies.

What started as a peaceful uprising inside Libya against Gadhafi has grown into a civil war, with rebels now holding a third of the country in the east and pockets in the west.

Libya's rebels mark Feb. 17 — four months ago Friday — as the start of their revolution against Gadhafi's more than four-decade rule.

It was on that date that protesters emboldened by Arab uprisings in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt took to the streets in a number of Libyan cities. At least 20 people were reported killed in a crackdown by state security forces.

Fighting between government forces and the rebels had reached a stalemate until last week when NATO launched the heaviest bombardment of Gadhafi forces since the alliance took control of the skies over Libya.

Greek PM replaces finance minister in reshuffle.

2011-06-17T15:51:00.000+02:00

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou replaced his finance minister Friday in a broad cabinet reshuffle to counter widespread anger over tough new austerity measures essential to prevent Greece from a disastrous default.

The critical position which has been held by George Papaconstantinou since the debt crisis began in late 2009, will now be taken over by outgoing Defense Minister Evangelos Venizelos, a leading figure in the Socialist Party, who challenged Papandreou for the party leadership four years ago.

Venizelos, a 57-year-old constitutional law professor, is considered Papandreou's main internal Socialist rival. A veteran of several ministries, he handled the run-up to Greece's hosting of the Olympic Games in 2004 as culture minister, and has also held the justice, development and transport portfolios in the past.

Papaconstantinou, who became broadly unpopular as he imposed budget cuts and tax hikes as part of an international bailout deal, moves to the environment and energy ministry.

Government portfolios were also redistributed to address demands for faster reform from Greece's debt monitors at the European Union and International Monetary Fund. A new ministry for administrative reform was created to help scale back the country's bloated public sector.

The new cabinet was sworn in shortly after being named, and the new ministers were heading straight into a cabinet meeting with the prime minister.

The reshuffle is Papandreou's latest attempt to deal with a severe political crisis that threatened to derail the debt-ridden country's efforts to pull itself out of its financial morass. Fears that Greece would default on its debts soon spooked investors all round the world over the past couple of days, sending share prices and the euro sharply lower.

A default by Greece could spark further panic on financial markets, pummel banks in Greece and across Europe and have a knock-on effect on other struggling European economies such as Portugal, Spain and Ireland.

Initial reaction to the reshuffle appeared positive, with the difference in interest rates on Greek 10-year bonds and the benchmark German equivalents narrowing from the record 16 percentage points overnight to the still exceptionally high 15 percentage points. The euro meanwhile pushed back above $1.42 and Greek stocks rallied hard.

Other party heavyweights were also promoted at the expense of Papandreou loyalists in a bid to calm internal dissent and push through the new five-year austerity plan, due to be voted on in Parliament this month.

Dimitris Droutsas, a close friend of Papandreou, lost the foreign affairs portfolio — and any position in the new government, as did Tina Birbili, the outgoing environment minister. Droutsas was replaced by Stavros Lambrinidis, who heads Greece's Socialists in the European Parliament.

Papaconstantinou, the 50-year-old outgoing finance minister, had handled negotiations with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund last year to get the country a euro110 billion ($155 billion) bailout, imposing harsh budget cuts and tax hikes in return, and has been in crucial talks over more financial help for Greece.

Generally well-respected among his European peers, he faced criticism from large sections of the public in Greece — as well as from other ministers — over the stringent austerity measures, and the fact that Greece missed many of its fiscal targets that are essential for it to continue receiving funding from the bailout loans.

Greece has promised to slash its bloated public service by 150,000 people by 2015 and effectively end government jobs for life.

Papaconstantinou now heads the energy portfolio — another key area slated for financial liberalization despite fierce opposition from the powerful and traditionally pro-Socialist electricity workers' union.

Papandreou has struggled to garner support for a crucial new package of euro28 billion ($39.5 billion) in spending cuts and tax hikes demanded by the EU and IMF. The package must be voted through parliament if the country is to continue receiving funds from its bailout.

Despite the insistence of both Papaconstantinou and Papandreou that the country had no other option and that it would default on its debts without reforming the economy, the anger has led to riots on the streets and a party revolt within the prime minister's governing Socialists.

Papandreou tried to face down the rebellion by negotiating with the rival conservatives to form a coalition government earlier this week, but the talks quickly collapsed. The crisis deepened Thursday morning, when two of his Socialist party lawmakers quit their seats in Parliament. Although the resignations did not affect Papandreou's five-seat majority in the 300-member legislature, they were a severe blow.

The reshuffle was his next step. He is to seek a Parliamentary vote of confidence in the new government, likely early next week.