Lighthouse Publisher Press...

2012-02-17T04:41:00.006-08:00

After Gaddafi, Libya Struggles to Control Armed Militias

By VIVIENNE WALT | Time.com –

As Libya marks the first anniversary of its revolution on Friday, the dozens of well-armed militia groups operating across the vast country have slipped well out of the control of the nascent government in Tripoli, making the country ever more fractured as well as dangerous to ordinary Libyans attempting to adjust to the end of Muammar Gaddafi's 41-year dictatorship.

That assessment came on Thursday from Amnesty International, whose latest research on the country documents at least 12 Libyans who have died in militia custody since September, allegedly after being beaten, suspended upside down and given electric shocks. In a chilling 38-page report published on the eve of the anniversary, Amnesty describes a wave of terror and widespread abuse by militia groups, whose members in recent months have dragged hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Libyans from their homes or from roadside checkpoints into makeshift jails on suspicion of being Gaddafi sympathizers or having fought alongside the regime's forces during the civil war.
(PHOTOS: Libya's New Regime: The Fight for Gaddafi's Hometown)
Libya should be preparing for wild celebrations on the anniversary of the revolution, which saw scrappy fighters crush one of the world's longest-serving regimes in just eight months, after drawing NATO allies into the sole Western military intervention of the Arab Spring. The revolution erupted Feb. 17, 2011, when hundreds of protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi stormed into the streets demanding the end of Gaddafi's rule -- an extraordinarily brave act at the time. The demonstrations spread rapidly, engulfing eastern Libya within weeks, then catapulting the country into all-out civil war once NATO began its bombing campaign in mid-March. The revolution ended in the stunning collapse of the dictatorship in August.
But this Feb. 17 is likely to be a far less joyous milestone. Last week, Gaddafi's son Saadi announced from his exile in neighboring Niger that a pro-Gaddafi insurgency was readying itself for battle across Libya. And militia groups, many of which led the rebel forces during the war, have now settled into semipermanent power arrangements in areas across the country, with no signs of disarming. The National Transitional Council (NTC), the administration in Tripoli, has set several deadlines for the groups to give up their weapons and join a national army, all of which have gone unheeded. Instead, says the Amnesty report, the groups operate independent of authorities in Tripoli -- including inside the capital itself -- with little fear of prosecution. "After the great wave of hysteria last year of mass detentions, there is now a more pernicious hunting down of people," Donatella Rovera, senior crisis-response adviser for Amnesty in London, tells TIME.
(VIDEO: Libya to Citizens: Give Up Your Guns)
Over the past two months, Rovera visited numerous detention facilities controlled by militia groups, interviewing detainees in Arabic, alone in closed rooms. She says that since she was often given little time to talk to them, detainees ripped off their shirts the moment the door was closed, eager to show her bruises and cuts from interrogations. After presenting the evidence to NTC officials in Tripoli, she says she came to believe that the council lacked both the willingness and the capability to wrest control from armed groups -- perhaps because the task could require a major confrontation at a time when officials are attempting to stabilize the battered economy and prepare the country for June elections. Rovera believes the delay has only worsened the situation. "The lack of political will has contributed to making the militias more and more powerful, and more and more difficult to control," she says.
The report outlines the grim detentions in fairly close detail, adding to mounting evidence of abuse. In December, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it had visited about 8,500 prisoners in 60 detention facilities over the previous year. And in late January, Doctors Without Borders shut its clinic in Misratah after its staff treated 14 torture victims who had been taken to an interrogation center nearby. The group said the militia in charge of the prison refused to allow 13 of the prisoners to be given further medical treatment and then took them back to the interrogation center.
(PHOTOS: Libya Celebrates Liberation)
The most chilling details in Amnesty's new report involve those whose detentions ended in death. One of those was Fakhri al-Hudairi al-Amari, a police officer from the Tripoli suburb of Tajura. Al-Amari, a 31-year-old with two children, was hauled from his home with his four brothers by a group of armed men last October, days before Gaddafi was killed in Sirt. The brothers were detained in Tajura, and all except al-Amari were soon released. More than a month after al-Amari's arrest, the staff at Tripoli's Abu Salim Hospital phoned family members to say he had been admitted with severe injuries; he died later that day. The hospital's postmortem exam found two missing fingernails, marks from electric shocks, burn marks on his forehead, arm and wrist, and bruises across his body.
Despite several such cases, Amnesty says no prosecutions have taken place and high-profile reports of killings -- including, for example, the deaths of some 65 apparent Gaddafi supporters in Sirt immediately after Gaddafi's death -- have not resulted in any arrests. In several places, Amnesty was told that investigations were being done by ad hoc "judicial committees," whose members told the organization "that they had to take on the task of prosecutors because the judicial system was not working."
(READ: Libya's Army Tries to Reassert Itself as Militias Have Their Way)
That raises the question about how Libya's most high-profile detainee -- Gaddafi's powerful son Saif al-Islam -- may be tried. Although the International Criminal Court (ICC) has indicted Saif for crimes against humanity, Libyan officials say they do not intend to transfer him to the Hague, where the ICC is based. Under the rules of the ICC, Libya would need to petition the court to try Saif inside Libya by arguing that the country is capable of giving him a fair, thorough trial. On Jan. 23, Libya's new Justice Minister, Ali Humaida Ashour, told reporters that Saif would be "held in Libya under Libyan law," prompting the ICC to issue a statement saying that no decision had yet been made about where the country's most famous prisoner would ultimately be tried.
PHOTOS: Vast Weapons Stockpile Found in Libyan Desert
MORE: In Libya, a Fundamentalist War Against Moderate Islam Takes Shape

2012-02-17T04:38:00.000-08:00

NY Times correspondent Shadid dies in Syria

By CRISTIAN SALAZAR | Associated Press –

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who strove to capture untold stories in Middle East conflicts from Libya to Iraq, died Thursday in eastern Syria after slipping into the country to report on the uprising against its president.

Shadid, shot in the West Bank in 2002 and kidnapped for six days in Libya last year, apparently died of an asthma attack, the Times said. Times photographer Tyler Hicks was with him and carried his body to Turkey, the newspaper said.
"Anthony was one of our generation's finest reporters," Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger said in a statement. "He was also an exceptionally kind and generous human being. He brought to his readers an up-close look at the globe's many war-torn regions, often at great personal risk. We were fortunate to have Anthony as a colleague, and we mourn his death."
Shadid's father, Buddy Shadid, told The Associated Press on Thursday his son had asthma all his life and had medication with him.
"(But) he was walking to the border because it was too dangerous to ride in the car," the father said. "He was walking behind some horses — he's more allergic to those than anything else — and he had an asthma attack."
The Times reported that Shadid and Hicks recently were helped by smugglers through the border area in Turkey adjoining Syria's Idlib Province and were met by guides on horseback.
Hicks told the newspaper that Shadid suffered one bout of asthma the first night, followed by a more severe attack a week later on the way out.
"I stood next to him and asked if he was OK, and then he collapsed," Hicks told the Times.
Hicks said that Shadid was not conscious and that his breathing was "very faint" and "very shallow." He said that after a few minutes he could see that Shadid "was no longer breathing."
Shadid, a 43-year-old American of Lebanese descent, had a wife, Nada Bakri, and a son and a daughter. He had worked previously for the AP, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. He won Pulitzer Prizes for international reporting in 2004, when he was with the Post, and in 2010, when with the Times, for his Iraq coverage.
In 2004, the Pulitzer Board praised "his extraordinary ability to capture, at personal peril, the voices and emotions of Iraqis as their country was invaded, their leader toppled and their way of life upended."
Shadid was a native of Oklahoma City and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He joined the AP in Milwaukee in 1990, worked on the International Desk in New York and served as the AP's news editor in Los Angeles. He was transferred to Cairo in 1995, covering stories in several countries.
AP Senior Managing Editor John Daniszewski, who worked with Shadid in Baghdad during the U.S. invasion in 2003, called him "a brilliant colleague who stood out both for his elegant writing and for his deep and nuanced understanding of the region."
"He was calm under fire and quietly daring, the most admired of his generation of foreign correspondents," Daniszewski said.
Shadid had been reporting in Syria for a week, gathering information on the resistance to the Syrian government and calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, the Times said. The exact circumstances and location of his death were unclear, it said.
Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson sent a note to the newsroom Thursday evening, relaying the news of Shadid's death and remembering him.
"Anthony died as he lived — determined to bear witness to the transformation sweeping the Middle East and to testify to the suffering of people caught between government oppression and opposition forces," she wrote.
Shadid, long known for covering wars and other conflicts in the Middle East, was among four reporters detained for six days by Libyan forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi last March.
Speaking to an audience in Oklahoma City about a month after his release, he said he had a conversation with his father the night before he was detained.
"Maybe a little bit arrogantly, perhaps with a little bit of conceit, I said, 'It's OK, Dad. I know what I'm doing. I've been in this situation before,'" Shadid told the crowd of several dozen people. "I guess on some level I felt that if I wasn't there to tell the story, the story wouldn't be told."
When Shadid's wife was asked at the time whether she worried about him returning to writing about conflicts, she said as a journalist she understood that he might need to.
"At the end of the day, he's my husband, and the thought of going through life without him and raising our children alone is terrible," she said afterward.
Shadid's father, who lives in Oklahoma City, said a colleague tried to revive his son after he was stricken Thursday but couldn't.
"They were in an isolated place. There was no doctor around," Buddy Shadid said. "It took a couple of hours to get him to a hospital in Turkey."
___

Associated Press writer Rochelle Hines contributed to this report from Oklahoma City.

24/7 FrontLine Results - LPPNEWS

2012-02-16T15:56:00.000-08:00

Cuban artist Sandro de la Rosa looks at his creation entitled “All You Need Is Love” for the opening of the exhibit entitled “Three From Cuba” at the Appleton Museum. “The work is based around my daughter and her uncertain future,” de la Rosa said. Also featured in the exhibit, which runs through April 1, are artists Miguel Florido, who was not given a visa to come to the United States, and Vicente Hernandez.
Buy Photo Doug Engle/Staff photographer

2012-02-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

Venezuelans stage protest following oil spill

Associated Press –

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Hundreds of protesters blocked streets and burned tires in eastern Venezuela on Wednesday to demand clean water after a recent oil spill polluted rivers and streams that supply local storage tanks.

"We have not had water for a week," said Maria Rodriguez, an angry 26-year-old housewife who joined the protest in the city of Maturin. "We don't have water to cook and bathe, and we don't have the money needed to buy bottled water everyday."
Crude oil began spilling from a ruptured pipeline on Feb. 4 near Maturin.
Monagas state Gov. Jose Gregorio Briceno declared a "state of emergency" following the spill, halting water distribution and closing schools in the state's capital of Maturin, which is located approximately 255 miles (410 kilometers) northeast of Caracas
Representatives of Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, have not revealed how much oil leaked into the river.
City mayor Jose Vicente Maicavares said approximately 2,000 people, including PDVSA employees, trying to contain the spill that has fouled the Guarapiche River.
Maicavares called for calm, saying officials were doing everything possible to resolve the problem.
"We understand the irritation," Maicavares told a news conference on Wednesday. "We can only be patient."
None of the protesters have been arrested, he said.
Ramiro Ramirez, environmental director of state oil company, told the state-run Venezuelan News Agency last week that workers have been using absorbent barriers to block the crude in the river.
They have also shut off water intakes along the river, where a drinking water purification plant is located, Ramirez said.
State oil company officials said a pipe that transports crude to a processing plant ruptured.
Ramirez said officials were investigating what caused the accident.

Cuba Says It Will Not Rejoin OAS

Gilbert Chamber offers 9-day Cuba excursion

Cuba Unleashes the Pent-Up Energy of Real Estate Dreams

Appleton celebrates ‘Three From Cuba'

News PipeLine LPPNEWS

2012-02-16T05:33:00.000-08:00

UN sees possible crimes against humanity in Syria

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY and GEORGE JAHN | Associated Press – 5 mins ago

BEIRUT (AP) — U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused the Syrian regime of potential crimes against humanity Thursday as activists reported fresh violence in Daraa, the city where the uprising against President Bashar Assad erupted 11 months ago.

Speaking to reporters in Vienna, Ban demanded the Syrian regime stop using indiscriminate force against civilians caught up in fighting between government troops and Assad's opponents.
"We see neighborhoods shelled indiscriminately, hospitals used as torture centers, children as young as 10 years old chained and abused," Ban told reporters in Vienna. "We see almost a certain crime against humanity."
Syrian activists said government forces attacked Daraa on Thursday, carrying out arrests and shooting randomly in the city seen as the birthplace of the uprising.
The push into Daraa, located near the Jordanian border some 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Damascus, follows sieges on the rebellious cities of Homs and Hama and appears to be part of an effort by the regime to extinguish major pockets of dissent.
The U.N. General Assembly scheduled a vote for Thursday on an Arab-sponsored resolution strongly condemning human rights violations by the Syrian regime and backing an Arab League plan aimed at ending the conflict.
Assembly spokeswoman Nihal Saad said Wednesday that the vote will take place Thursday afternoon. There are no vetoes in the 193-member world body and U.N. diplomats said the resolution, which already has 60 co-sponsors, is virtually certain to be approved.
While General Assembly resolutions are nonbinding, they do reflect world opinion on major issues and supporters are hoping for a high "yes" vote to deliver a strong message to Assad's regime.
On Wednesday, Assad ordered a Feb. 26 referendum on a new constitution that would create a multiparty system in Syria, which has been ruled by the same family dynasty for 40 years. Such a change would have been unheard of a year ago, and Assad's regime is touting the new constitution as the centerpiece of reforms aimed at calming Syria's upheaval.
But after almost a year of bloodshed, with well over 5,400 dead in the regime's crackdown on protesters and rebels, Assad's opponents say the referendum and other promises of reform are not enough and that the country's strongman must go.
Assad's call for a referendum also raises the question of how a nationwide vote could be held at a time when many areas see daily battles between Syrian troops and rebel soldiers.
The U.S. dismissed the referendum move as an empty gesture.
Assad "knows what he needs to do if he really cares about his people," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington on Wednesday. "The violence just needs to come to an end, and he needs to get out of the way so we can have a democratic transition."
In Strasbourg, the speaker of the European Parliament said Assad's leadership was "completely discredited" and that his proposal to submit a new constitution to a referendum before a nation at war is "inconceivable."
"The European Parliament wants to see humanitarian corridors to be put into place and shelters provided for the growing numbers of displaced people," Martin Schulz said. "The parliament urges the EU ... to help strengthening the unity of the Syrian forces which oppose the regime inside and outside the country."
Russia, a top Syrian ally, has presented Assad's reform promises as an alternative way to resolve Syria's bloodshed. Earlier this month, Moscow and Beijing vetoed a Western- and Arab-backed resolution at the U.N. Security Council aimed at pressuring Assad to step down.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun will be in Syria on Friday and Saturday for talks on how to end the violence, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Thursday. Zhai met a Syrian opposition delegation in Beijing last week.
"I believe the message of this visit is that China hopes for a peaceful and proper resolution of the Syrian situation, and that the Chinese side will play a constructive role in the mediation," Liu said.
On Thursday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported raids and shooting by Syrian troops in Daraa, along with renewed shelling in the rebellious neighborhood of Baba Amr in Homs.
Homs has seen one of the deadliest assaults of the crackdown that activists say has killed hundreds in the past two weeks, aimed at crushing a city that has been a stronghold of dissent.
___
Jahn reported from Vienna.

2012-02-16T05:29:00.000-08:00

US missile strike kills 6 people in NW Pakistan

By RASOOL DAWAR | Associated Press –

MIR ALI, Pakistan (AP) — A suspected U.S. drone fired two missiles at a house in Pakistan's northwest tribal region near the Afghan border Thursday, killing six people, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The attack occurred in Spalga village in the North Waziristan tribal area, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Pakistan, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The identities of those killed were unknown.
A salvo of U.S. missiles hit a house in Spalga about a week ago as well, killing nine people, including some Pakistani Taliban militants, intelligence officials said.
The area is dominated by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a prominent militant commander focused on fighting foreign troops in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama has significantly ramped up drone attacks in Pakistan since he took office. He recently acknowledged the covert CIA-run program in Pakistan for the first time in an interview. But he and other U.S. officials refuse to discuss details of the program openly.
Pakistani officials regularly denounce the strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty, but the government is widely believed to have provided support for the program in the past.
(This version CORRECTS spelling of village name.)

News PipeLine/ LPPNEWS

2012-02-15T16:34:00.001-08:00

Michele Bachmann will not appear on ‘Dancing with the Stars’

| The Ticket –

Michele Bachmann dances with her husband Marcus at the Ames Straw Poll. (Charles Dharapak/AP)

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann will not be appear on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," she said Wednesday.
The former Republican presidential candidate blasted out a release to dispel any lingering rumors:
"In full disclosure, I did win a polka dancing competition when I was in the tenth grade at my alma mater, Anoka High School in Anoka, Minn.," Bachmann said in a statement. "But, despite my tenth grade polka success and my lifelong love of ballroom dancing, the recent rumors are false. I will not be joining 'Dancing with the Stars.'"

On Tuesday, Herman Cain denied reports that he might appear on the show as well.

2012-02-15T00:15:00.000-08:00

Syrian forces attack Hama, Homs despite pressure to stop

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis | Reuters – 34 mins ago

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian government forces launched an offensive on the city of Hama early on Wednesday, firing on residential neighborhoods from armored vehicles and mobile anti-aircraft guns, opposition activists said.

Troops also shelled Sunni Muslim neighborhoods in Homs, the 13th day of their bombardment of a city that has been at the forefront of the uprising against 42 years of rule by President Bashar al-Assad and his late father Hafez.
An explosion hit a major oil pipeline feeding a refinery in Homs, sending a large plume of smoke rising into the sky, witnesses said. The blast hit the pipeline near a district being shelled by government troops, they said.
France said it had created a one million euro emergency fund for aid agencies looking to help the Syrian people and would propose a similar one at an international level next week at a meeting in Tunisia to discuss the escalating crisis.
Paris had previously proposed "humanitarian corridors" with Syrian approval or with an international mandate for shipping food and medicine to alleviate civilian suffering.
Tanks deployed near the citadel of Hama were shelling the neighborhoods of Faraya, Olailat, Bashoura and al-Hamidiya, and troops were advancing from the airport, opposition sources said.
An activist called Amer, speaking briefly by satellite phone, said that "landlines and mobile phone networks have been cut in the whole of Hama," a Sunni city notorious for the massacre of some 10,000 people when the present president's father Hafez sent in troops to crush an uprising there in 1982.
Activists said no casualty reports were available from Hama, Syria's fourth largest city, because of communications problems.
Assad's determination to crush the revolt, regardless of widespread condemnation of his use of force against civilians, prompted Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia to prepare a new resolution at the United Nations in support of a peace plan forged at a meeting in Cairo on Sunday.
A resolution passed at the meeting urged Arabs to "provide all kinds of political and material support" to the opposition.
This included arms transfers, Arab League diplomats told Reuters.
"We will back the opposition financially and diplomatically in the beginning but if the killing by the regime continues, civilians must be helped to protect themselves. The resolution gives Arab states all options to protect the Syrian people," an Arab ambassador said in Cairo.
The head of Egypt's influential seat of Sunni Islamic learning, al-Azhar, called on Tuesday for bold Arab action against the Syrian government, raising regional pressure on Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, that has dominated Syria for five decades.
The threat of military support was meant to add pressure on the Syrian leader and his Russian and Chinese allies but it also risks leading to a Libya-style conflict or sectarian civil war.
Russia and China on February 4 vetoed a Western-Arab U.N. Security Council resolution that backed an Arab League call for Assad to step aside as part of efforts to end the bloodshed.
U.S. President Barack Obama told Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, at a meeting at the White House, that the United States was disappointed with China's veto, an administration official said.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai told reporters after the talks that China still supported the role of the Arab League and wanted "inclusive dialogue" to end the violence.
But he said the Security Council needed to take a "very careful and very responsible attitude" to Syria, adding that "If the U.N. Security Council takes the wrong steps, that could lead to even worse bloodshed." He did not amplify his remarks.
Smuggled guns are already reaching Syria but it is not clear if Arab or other governments are behind the deliveries. Weapons and Sunni Muslim insurgents are also crossing into Syria from Iraq, Iraqi officials and arms dealers said.
Assad dismisses his opponents as terrorists backed by enemy nations in a regional power-play and says he will introduce reforms on his own terms.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 20 people killed across Syria on Tuesday, including opposition supporters, civilians, and five government soldiers shot in clashes with rebel fighters in Qalaat al-Madyaq town near Hama.
Rallies by civilians, defying the crackdown, are one part of the uprising, but armed insurrection by the Free Syrian Army, mainly army defectors, is increasingly coming into play.
The government says at least 2,000 members of its military and security forces have died and the United Nations says government forces have killed several thousand civilians.
In Homs, a strategic city on the highway between Damascus and the commercial hub Aleppo, the pro-opposition district of Baba Amro was struck by shelling on Wednesday, activists said. At least six people were killed there on Tuesday, taking the city's estimated toll above 400 since the assault began on February3
Foreign media have to rely on unverified activists' accounts because the Syrian government restricts access. But reports from neutral international organizations confirm a general picture of widespread violence.
An Arab League proposal that a joint Arab-U.N. peacekeeping mission be sent to Syria elicited a guarded response from Western powers, who are wary of becoming bogged down militarily in Syria. It was rejected out of hand by the Assad government.
Russia, Assad's main ally and arms supplier, also showed little enthusiasm, saying it could not support a peacekeeping mission unless both sides stopped the violence first.
The Syria conflict, one of a series of revolts in the Arab world which saw the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya toppled last year, is shaping up to be a geopolitical struggle reminiscent of the Cold War.
Russia wants to retain its foothold in the region and counter U.S. influence. Assad is also allied to regional Shi'ite power Iran, which is at odds with the United States, Europe and Israel.
(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair, Yasmine Saleh and Ayamn Samir in Cairo, Erika Solomon and in Beirut, and Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; editing by Tim Pearce)

24/7 FrontLine Results - LPPNEWS

2012-02-14T14:05:00.002-08:00

February 13, 2012

Obama’s Budget Takes Aim at Deficit Hawks—and Mitt

Posted by John Cassidy

Peter Orszag and other fiscal hawks, eat your heart out: the Obama Administration’s pivot to deficit reduction is well and truly done—until after the election, at least.
And Mitt Romney, take note, too. If the 2013 budget, which the White House released this morning, were to be enacted in full, which is highly unlikely, you would face a big increase in your tax bill.
From late 2009 until 2011, the Obama Administration was intent on reassuring the markets that it would bring the long-term deficit under control. It is now focussing on winning reëlection. Following the President’s populist State of the Union address, which in turn built upon his landmark inequality speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, in December, his new budget seeks to preserve existing stimulus measures, such as the extension of payroll-tax cuts and unemployment benefits. It also seeks to finance long-term investments in manufacturing, alternative energy, and education by raising taxes on the rich.

In particular, the budget proposes that Americans who earn more than $250,000 a year no longer get the benefits of low tax rates on dividends and capital gains. Instead, for these taxpayers, dividends and capital gains would be subject to the ordinary income-tax rate, which for many high-income people is thirty-five per cent.
Let’s take Romney as an example. In 2011, he made $20.9 million, almost all of it from dividends and capital gains on his investments, which are currently taxed at fifteen per cent. Romney’s tax bill in 2011 came to $3.2 million. If the budget proposal had been in effect, almost all of Romney income would have been taxed at thirty-five per cent, and his tax bill would have been $7.3 million. That’s a tax hike of about a hundred and thirty-three per cent.
In a briefing, Gene Sperling, the head of the National Economic Council, said the tax hikes on the rich would raise about $206 billion, much of which would be spent on infrastructure investments, and higher spending on education and research—part of the President’s plan, outlined in the State of the Union, to create “an America built to last.”
As for measures to reduce the deficit, they are rather less in evidence than in past budgets—something that won’t please Orszag, who, before leaving the White House in 2010, pushed for more aggressive fiscal consolidation. Still, the Office of Management and Budget is forecasting that over the next five years the budget deficit will be cut in half: from $1.33 trillion in fiscal 2012, which ends in October, to $612 billion in fiscal 2017. As a percentage of G.D.P., which is what matters, the deficit is predicted to fall from 8.5 per cent in 2011 to three per cent in 2017.
How is this reassuring outcome to be achieved? During a campaign-style appearance at Northern Virginia Community College, Obama said he was “proposing some difficult cuts” but didn’t identify many. Jeffrey Zients, the acting head of the Office of Management and Budget, pointed to cuts in Medicaid, Medicare, farm subsidies, and spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Zients insisted that the new budget contains five trillion dollars in deficit reduction over the next ten years, and he said that more than $3.5 trillion of this total comes from spending cuts. But these are Washington-style spending cuts, not the sort you and I would recognize: i.e., they are cuts relative to a growing baseline, not cuts in absolute dollars. The budget documents show federal spending rising from $3.8 trillion this year to $4.5 trillion in 2017, and to $5.8 trillion in 2022. And to get to those numbers, you have to believe that discretionary spending—on defense and non-defense programs—will fall sharply in inflation-adjusted terms over the next ten years.
As far as I can tell, the bulk of the deficit reduction comes from higher revenues, partly generated by higher taxes on the wealthy but mainly due to more rapid economic growth. Of the thousands of figures in the budget, what stands out most is the assumption that, over the next five years, G.D.P. will expand at an average rate of more than 3.7 per cent. Without making much of a noise about it, the White House is forecasting that the U.S. economy will finally enjoy a vigorous recovery from the housing and Wall Street busts, during which output growth will rise above the long-run trend determined by increases in population and productivity. In short, Obama is putting his faith in that trusty enabler of lower deficits, a figure many of his predecessors also relied on: Rosy Scenario.
This sunny forecast may turn out to be correct. Since last year, I’ve been more upbeat about the outlook than many professional economists, and so far the data has confirmed my view. But it’s only fair to point out that it’s an optimistic take on things: if G.D.P. growth of close to four per cent doesn’t materialize, the deficit won’t fall by nearly as much as the White House is predicting.
Finally (for now): a health warning. This budget, like its predecessors, is essentially a wish list. With the Republicans controlling the House, it has virtually no chance of being enacted as it stands: some Republicans have already declared it dead on arrival. It should be viewed not as a legislative blueprint but as a statement of the Administration’s priorities and of its thinking about the economy—and, in an election year, as a very political document.
Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty.

http://www.newyorker.com

Cuba and its Ongoing Engagement in Espionage in the Americas

U.S. Watches Closely As Oil Drilling Begins Off Cuba

Awaiting pope: New Castro, same mess of an economy in Cuba

Reversal of Fortune: Venezuela Could Be Biggest Beneficiary of New Cuban Oil

2-year effort to set up ferry service to Cuba runs aground

2012-02-14T06:15:00.000-08:00

Liverpool deny sponsor pressure over Suarez

AFP – 24 mins ago

Liverpool denied Tuesday reports they'd apologised for Luis Suarez's conduct at Old Trafford as a result of pressure from shirt sponsors Standered Chartered bank.

Uruguay striker Suarez sparked fresh uproar last weekend when he refused to shake the hand of Manchester United's Patrice Evra, having only recently returned from an eight-game ban for racially abusing the French defender.
Liverpool subsequently apologised for Suarez's conduct but, having steadfastly supported their forward up until that point, there were suspicions they had been pressured into taking action by Standard Chartered, who are currently half-way through a four-year deal worth £81 million ($128 million).
However, Liverpool insisted Tuesday that managing director Ian Ayre and manager Kenny Dalglish had not been prompted by anyone from outside Anfield.
"Ian Ayre kept Standard Chartered fully informed of developments over the course of the weekend," said a Liverpool statement. "The actions the club decided to take on Sunday were supported by Standard Chartered."
A Standard Chartered statement Sunday said: "We were very disappointed by Saturday's incident and have discussed our concerns with the club."
It has been suggested the club's American-based owners, Fenway Sports Group, only became fully aware of the severity of the Suarez situation when reports appeared in the US press.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson branded Suarez's conduct ahead of Liverpool's 2-1 defeat on Saturday a disgrace, while Professional Footballers' Association chief Gordon Taylor called the Liverpool star's actions "disrespectful, inappropriate and embarrassing".
Suarez finally showed some contrition in a statement expressing his regret for his actions.
"I have spoken with the manager (Kenny Dalglish) since the game at Old Trafford and I realise I got things wrong," Suarez said Sunday on Liverpool's official website.
"I've not only let him down, but also the club and what it stands for and I'm sorry. I made a mistake and I regret what happened.
"I should have shaken Patrice Evra's hand before the game and I want to apologise for my actions.
Ayre added: "We are extremely disappointed Luis Suarez did not shake hands with Patrice Evra before yesterday's (Saturday's) game. The player had told us beforehand that he would, but then chose not to do so," Ayre said.
"He was wrong to mislead us and wrong not to offer his hand to Patrice Evra.
"He has not only let himself down, but also Kenny Dalglish, his team-mates and the club. It has been made absolutely clear to Luis Suarez that his behaviour was not acceptable."
And, later on Sunday, Dalglish said: "Ian Ayre has made the club's position absolutely clear and it is right that Luis Suarez has now apologised for what happened at Old Trafford.
"To be honest, I was shocked to hear that the player had not shaken hands having been told earlier in the week that he would do."

2012-02-14T06:10:00.002-08:00

Prosecutors seek to reinstate Knox conviction

Associated Press – 19 mins ago

MILAN (AP) — Italian prosecutors have appealed to Italy's highest criminal court against the overturning of the murder convictions of American Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend in the brutal slaying of a British student.

Perugia prosecutors filed the 111-page appeal on Tuesday, more than four months after an appeals court in Perugia threw out the convictions of Knox and Raffaele Sollecito.
The two were convicted in a lower court of murdering Knox's roommate Meredith Kercher in what prosecutors described as a sex-fueled attack. The appeals court said the evidence did not hold up.
Sollecito's lawyer said the high court is expected to issue its decision toward the end of the year.

2012-02-14T06:06:00.000-08:00

Israel Accuses Iran as the Culprit Behind Bomb Attacks

By BABAK DEHGHANPISHEH | Time.com –

The attack sounded all too familiar. An assassin on a motorcycle reportedly slapped a magnetic bomb on a car on Monday afternoon and rode away as the occupants scrambled to escape the vehicle. Nearly half a dozen similar attacks in Tehran have targeted scientists linked with Iran's controversial nuclear program in recent years. And Iranian officials have pointed the finger at Israel and the U.S. as the culprits behind the assassinations. But this time it was different: the target was the wife of an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi, who was injured in the blast along with a driver. Another explosive device attached to an Israeli embassy vehicle in Tblisi, Georgia, was found and defused on Monday afternoon.

So is this the Iranian regime's attempt at payback? Israeli officials certainly seem to think so. "Iran is behind these attacks, and it is the largest terror exporter in the world," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told members of the Likud party on Monday afternoon. Iranian officials quickly dismissed the accusation. In a report published on the semiofficial Fars News Agency website, Ramin Mehmanparast, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said these charges were leveled at Iran as part of a "psychological war" against the country. "The finger needs to be pointed at those countries who openly support terrorist actions, especially those of the Zionist regime," Mehmanparast said. "These countries have to explain why they defend and support the actions and crimes of terrorist groups in Iran and other countries in the region." An article published by the semiofficial Mehr News Agency about the attacks and Netanyahu's accusation ran with an equally blunt headline: "The Zionist Hype Has Begun." (See photos of Israel's drills for a missile strike.)
If an Iranian link is found to either of the bombs, it would signify a marked escalation in the covert war between Iran and its perceived enemies. And it wouldn't be particularly surprising. Iranian officials were enraged by the attacks against the nuclear scientists and have promised revenge. The assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, a scientist who worked at the Natanz uranium-enrichment plant, in mid-January seems to have been the last straw. "We will not neglect punishing those responsible for this act," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said after the killing last month. General Masoud Jazayeri, the spokesman for Iran's Joint Armed Forces Staff, was even more explicit. "The enemies of the Iranian nation, especially the United States, Britain and the Zionist regime, or Israel, have to be held responsible for their activities." The Iranian government has organized a number of events to commemorate Ahmadi-Roshan's assassination and to send the message that his death won't go unanswered. One recent event was an odd BASE jump from Tehran's landmark Milad Tower last week, in which the participants wore T-shirts emblazoned with Ahmadi-Roshan's picture as they parachuted down from the top of the building.
The assassination of Ahmadi-Roshan last month, coupled with a tightening of international sanctions against Iran and persistent rumors of an Israeli attack, has led to a siege mentality in the country. And the government's hard-line supporters have become even more conspiracy-minded. It's worth noting that some members of the Basij militia who attacked the British embassy last November were carrying pictures of another recently assassinated nuclear scientist, Majid Shahriari. (See "Syria's Clashing Armies.")
The Israeli diplomat's wife who was targeted on Monday was reportedly flung from the vehicle by the force of the blast, according to an Indian journalist who arrived on the scene shortly after the attack and posted photos on Twitter. The diplomat's wife was rushed to the hospital, where she is reportedly in critical but stable condition. The attack will no doubt prove to be an embarrassment for the Indian security forces because of its proximity to the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Israeli leaders have accused Iran of involvement in other attacks that were foiled in the past month. One was an alleged plot to attack Israeli tourists in Thailand that was reportedly going to be carried out by a Hizballah agent. Another was an assassination attempt against the Israeli ambassador to Azerbaijan, which borders Iran. Two Azerbaijani nationals were arrested in that plot. The Iranian government struck back on Sunday when they summoned the Azerbaijani ambassador and gave him a protest note claiming that some of the assassins of the Iranian scientists had recently travelled to Azerbaijan before heading to Israel to meet Mossad agents. (See "Can Israel Stop Iran's Nuke Effort?")
Despite the fiery rhetoric coming out of Tehran, there hasn't been any concrete evidence yet tying the Iranian government to the plots in Thailand or Azerbaijan or the attacks on Monday. In fact, the Iranian chief prosecutor, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, said in a press conference on Monday that Iran had submitted a file against the "Zionist regime" to international courts and intended to pursue the cases of the assassinated scientists through legal means. Meanwhile, Iranian nuclear scientists and Israeli diplomats will no doubt be watching their backs.

2012-02-13T04:47:00.000-08:00

Investigators seek answers to Houston's death

By ANTHONY MCCARTNEY | Associated Press – 4 mins ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Whitney Houston's life of glorious song and unnerving self-destruction apparently ended in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Grammy weekend, but it could be weeks before investigators know exactly why she died.

Coroner's officials say they will not release any information on an autopsy performed Sunday at the request of police detectives investigating the singer's death. Houston was found in the bathtub of her room, but Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter declined to say anything more about the room's condition or any evidence investigators recovered.
There were no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma on Houston's body, but officials were not ruling out any causes of death until they have toxicology results, which will likely take weeks to obtain. Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mark Rosen said that his agency may release more details Monday about Houston's death, but it will depend on whether detectives feel comfortable releasing any information.
Security holds on autopsy results are used in some high-profile Los Angeles cases, with Michael Jackson's results being withheld for weeks while detectives pieced together the circumstances of his death in June 2009. Toxicology results are frequently necessary before the coroner will release an official cause of death.
A member of Houston's entourage found the 48-year-old singer unresponsive in her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Saturday, just hours before she was supposed to appear at a pre-Grammy gala.
The Grammys themselves were in part a memorial to Houston, a six-time winner. LL Cool J introduced a clip near the start of the show of a glowing Houston singing her signature ballad, a cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You."
Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Wonder were among other performers who praised Houston and Jennifer Hudson capped the tributes with an emotional version of "I Will Always Love You" that ended with a personal note: "Whitney, we love you." Houston's most famous song was the most downloaded single for much of Sunday on iTunes.
Meanwhile, Houston's daughter was transported by ambulance to a Los Angeles hospital Sunday morning and later released. A source close to the family who did not want to speak given the sensitivity of the matter said she was treated and released for stress and anxiety. Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18, who is Houston's daughter from her marriage to singer Bobby Brown, had accompanied her mother to several pre-Grammy Awards events last week.
"At this time, we ask for privacy, especially for my daughter, Bobbi Kristina," Bobby Brown wrote in a statement released about an hour after she was transported from the hotel. "I appreciate all of the condolences that have been directed towards my family and I at this most difficult time."
A sensation from her very first album, Houston was one of the world's best-selling artists from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. She awed millions with soaring, but disciplined vocals rooted in gospel and polished for the masses, a bridge between the earthy passion of her godmother, Aretha Franklin, and the bouncy pop of her cousin, Dionne Warwick.
Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she became a rare black actress with box office appeal, starring in such hits as "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Exhale."
Bishop T.D. Jakes, a Texas minister and producer on Houston's final film project, a re-make of the 1970s release "Sparkle," said he saw no signs she was having any substance issues. He said Houston was a complete professional and moved the cast and crew to tears two months ago when she sang the gospel hymn "Her Eyes on the Sparrow" for a scene shot in Detroit.
"There was no evidence in working with her on 'Sparkle' that there was any struggle in her life," Jakes said Sunday. "She just left a deep impression on everybody."
___

Associated Press writers Nekesa Mumbi Moody and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles, Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tenn.; Bruce Shipkowski in Newark, N.J.; and Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report.

2012-02-13T04:44:00.000-08:00

Birth Control Debate: Why Catholic Bishops Have Lost Their Grip on U.S. Politics -- and Their Flock

By TIM PADGETT | Time.com – 37 mins ago

The Vatican's timing was ironic. While Roman Catholic bishops in the U.S. were trying to revive their moral and political clout last week by battling President Obama over contraception coverage and religious liberty, a papally endorsed symposium was underway in Rome on how the Church has to change if it wants to prevent sexual abuse crises, the very tragedy that has shriveled the stature of Catholic prelates worldwide over the past decade, especially in the U.S. One monsignor at the Vatican gathering even suggested the hierarchy had been guilty of "omertà," the Mafia code of silence, by protecting abusive priests.

The Roman forum was a reminder -- and the birth control clash is turning out to be one as well -- of just how much influence the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has lost in the 10 years since the abuse crisis erupted in America. It hopes that its protest of a new federal rule requiring religiously affiliated institutions like Catholic hospitals and universities to provide no-cost contraception in their health insurance coverage, even if church doctrine forbids birth control, will help restore the bishops' relevance. They did win a partial victory last Friday when Obama, acknowledging the uproar, said those institutions would no longer have to pay for the contraception coverage themselves. But the President did not fully genuflect: The compromise will still oblige religious-based employers to offer the coverage, while their insurance providers foot the bill. (MORE: Mired in the Sticky Politics of Health and Faith, Obama Shifts on Contraception)
Although major Catholic groups like Catholic Charities and Catholic Health Services accepted that revision, the bishops are holding out for more. But their crusade to be exempted from the mandate is likely to fall short of its grail. If so, it's because Obama read the Catholic flock better than its shepherds did.
Granted, the bishops, led by New York Archbishop and Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan, did get the White House to acknowledge how high-handedly and ham-handedly it had managed the contraception debate -- confirming along the way the public's wariness of the so-called liberal elite -- and convinced it to craft a deal that should have been policy in the first place. Yet in his refusal to cave completely to the religious liberty campaign, Obama has illustrated the reality that the bishops no longer speak for most U.S. Catholics -- the nation's largest religious denomination and a critical swing-voter group -- on a host of moral issues, according to polls.
Not on abortion or the death penalty (a majority of Catholics believe those should remain legal); on divorce or homosexuality (most say those are acceptable); on women being ordained as priests and priests getting married (ditto); or on masturbation and pre-marital sex (ditto again, Your Excellencies). (MORE: Conflict Over Obama's Contraception Rule Intensifies)
And especially not on contraception. Ever since Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the Church's senseless ban on birth control in 1968, few doctrines have been as vilified, ridiculed and outright ignored by Catholics – evidenced by a recent study showing that 98% of American Catholic women have used some form of contraception. It's hard to believe, as the bishops would have it, that those women simply succumbed to society's pressure to do the secular thing. They've decided, in keeping with their faith's precept of exercising personal conscience, that family planning is the moral and societally responsible thing to do -- for example, preventing unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions. And it explains why a recent Public Religion Research Institute poll found most Catholics support the contraception coverage mandate even for Catholic-affiliated organizations. Presumably most endorse Friday's compromise.
Far more Evangelical Protestants, according to the PRRI survey, back the bishops than Catholics do. But that hardly makes the bishops, when it comes to the more independent Catholic vote, the same force to be reckoned with that they were in the 20th century. That is, before 2002 and the horror stories of how prelates like Cardinal Bernard Law, then Boston's archbishop, had serially shielded alleged pedophile priests. It's true that some bishops, like Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl, confronted rather than coddled accused priests. But when it became clear that so many of the men in miters cared more about safeguarding the clerical corporation than about protecting kids, episcopal "authority" vanished like so much incense smoke -- and Catholics increasingly abandoned the 2,000-year-old notion that their church and their religion are the same thing. (MORE: Obama vs. the Church)
That's essentially what Catholics like me are asking for, especially from my colleagues in the media, during episodes like the contraception and religious liberty fracas: Stop equating what the bishops say with what we think, because we're not the obedient, monolithic bloc that newspapers and cable news networks so tiresomely insist is in "jeopardy" for this or that party whenever they smell church-state friction. When a hardline U.S. bishop calls for withholding communion from a Catholic politician who supports legalized abortion, stop assuming all Catholics have the prelate's back rather than the pol's. When Catholic politicians draft legislation like the religious liberty bills popping up on Capitol Hill right now, stop accepting their assertion that the birth-control ban is "a major tenet" of Catholic faith, as Florida Senator Marco Rubio called it this month. For the vast majority of Catholics, it isn't.
And for that matter, stop forgetting that in the 2008 election, 54% of Catholic voters ignored their bishops and backed a pro-choice presidential candidate like Obama. I certainly don't point that out as some kind of endorsement of Obama in 2012. I'm simply noting that pundits and politicians need smarter criteria for gauging the Catholic vote -- just as advisers in Obama's White House shouldn't have been so clueless about religious issues when they first decreed the contraception mandate. If the tragedy of the 2002 abuse crisis reminds us of anything, it's that religion does matter in politics. Just ask the church leaders who are still paying a political price for their religious code of silence.

2012-02-13T04:42:00.000-08:00

U.S. Navy: Iran prepares suicide bomb boats in Gulf

By Warda Al-Jawahiry | Reuters –

MANAMA (Reuters) - Iran has built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats that could be used in suicide attacks, but the U.S. Navy can prevent it from blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the commander of U.S. naval forces in the region said on Sunday.

Iran has made a series of threats in recent weeks to disrupt shipping in the Gulf or strike U.S. forces in retaliation if its oil trade is shut down by sanctions, or if its disputed nuclear program comes under attack.
"They have increased the number of submarines ... they increased the number of fast attack craft," Vice Admiral Mark Fox told reporters. "Some of the small boats have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device. The Iranians have a large mine inventory."
"We have watched with interest their development of long range rockets and short, medium and long range ballistic missiles and of course ... the development of their nuclear program," Fox, who heads the U.S. Fifth Fleet, said at a briefing on the fleet's base in the Gulf state of Bahrain.
Iran now has 10 small submarines, he said.
Military experts say the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet patrolling the Gulf - which always has at least one giant supercarrier accompanied by scores of jets and a fleet of frigates and destroyers - is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran's navy.
But ever since al Qaeda suicide bombers in a small boat killed 17 sailors on board the destroyer U.S.S. Cole in a port in Yemen in 2000, Washington has been wary of the vulnerability of its huge battleships to bomb attacks by small enemy craft.
Asked whether the U.S. Navy was prepared for an attack or other trouble in the Gulf, Fox said: "We are very vigilant, we have built a wide range of options to give the president and we are ready... What if it happened tonight? We are ready today."
Iranian officials have threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, the outlet to the Gulf through which nearly all of the Middle East's oil sails.
Asked if he took Iran's threats seriously, Fox said: "Could they make life extremely difficult for us? Yes they could. If we did nothing and they were able to operate without being inhibited, yeah they could close it, but I can't see that we would ever be in that position."
He added that diplomacy should be given priority in resolving the tension.
"So when you hear discussion about all this overheated rhetoric from Iran we really believe that the best way to handle this is with diplomacy... I am absolutely convinced that is the way to go. It is our job to be prepared. We are vigilant."
Contacts between the U.S. Navy and Iranian craft in the Gulf region were routine, Fox said, referring to cases where his sailors helped Iranian ships that were in distress or threatened by pirates.
In addition to commanding the Fifth Fleet, Fox is also the commander of a multinational naval task force charged with ensuring Gulf shipping routes stay open. Although most of its firepower is American, the task force also includes other Western countries and the Gulf Arab states.
The European Union slapped an embargo on Iranian oil last month, which is due to kick in completely by July 1. The United States and EU have both imposed new sanctions on Iran's central bank which make it difficult for countries to pay Tehran for oil and for Iran to pay for the goods it imports.
(Corrects date of Cole attack in para 7, fixes typo in paragraph 10)
(Editing by Firouz Sedarat and Peter Graff)

2012-02-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

Al Qaeda leader backs Syrian revolt against Assad

By Martina Fuchs | Reuters –

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in a video recording posted on the Internet on Sunday, urged Syrians not to rely on the West or Arab governments in their uprising to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

In the eight-minute video, entitled "Onwards, Lions of Syria" and posted on an Islamist website, the Egyptian-born Zawahri also urged Muslims in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan to come to the aid of Syrian rebels confronting Assad's forces.
"Wounded Syria still bleeds day after day, while the butcher, son of the butcher Bashar bin Hafiz (Hafez al-Assad), is not deterred to stop," Zawahri, wearing his white turban and seated against a green curtain, said.
"But the resistance of our people in Syria despite all the pain, sacrifice and bloodshed escalates and grows," he added.
Zawahri took command of al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces in a raid in Pakistan last May.
A Muslim should help "his brothers in Syria with all that he can, with his life, money, opinion, as well as information," Zawahri says.
Syrian forces bombarded districts of the city of Homs on Saturday in a campaign to crush the revolt against Assad, whose ally Russia said it would not support an Arab League peace plan circulating at the United Nations.
Activists said seven people were killed in the latest attacks in a week-long government siege of Homs, which has been at the heart of the uprising which broke out 11 months ago.
"Our people in Syria, don't rely on the West or the United States or Arab governments and Turkey," Zawahri said in what is believed to be his second such message to Syrian protesters.
"You know better what they are planning against you. Our people in Syria, don't depend on the Arab League and its corrupt governments supporting it."
Arab foreign ministers will discuss a proposal next week to send a joint U.N.-Arab mission to Syria, after a uniquely Arab team failed to end Assad's crackdown on protests.
"If we want freedom, we must be liberated from this regime. If we want justice, we must retaliate against this regime," Zawahri said.
"Continue your revolt and anger, don't accept anything else apart from independent, respectful governments."
In July, Zawahri urged Syrian protesters to direct their movement also against Washington and Israel, denouncing the United States as insincere in showing solidarity with them.
Earlier this month, another video with Zawahri appeared on Islamist forums, announcing Somali militant group al Shabaab was joining its ranks in an apparent bid to boost morale and sharpen a threat to Western targets.
(Reporting by Martina Fuchs; Editing by Sami Aboudi and Michael Roddy)

24/7 FrontLine Results - LPPNEWS

2012-02-12T06:22:00.001-08:00

Has Former Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro ‘Rediscovered Jesus?’

The Blaze –

Fidel Castro

Cuba's ailing former leader Fidel Castro, 85, is certainly no friend of the United States. But new reports have some wondering if the former president is now looking to become a comrade of...Jesus Christ. According to media reports, Castro's daughter, Alina Fernandez, is claiming that her father has become more friendly to religion as his life is nearing a close.
Now, it is important to note that Fernandez is estranged from her father, so it's unclear just how much inside information she has regarding his faith views. See, Fernandez was born to one of Castro's mistresses who fled to Spain with her daughter back in 1993 (Fernandez is now based in Miami). That being said, her words are still worth noting, especially considering news that has purportedly leaked from a Vatican source.
"He has rediscovered Jesus at the end of his life," Fernandez was quoted as saying in La Repubblica, a popular Italian newspaper. The complete translation of her comments, as reported by ABC News, is as follows:

“During this last period, Fidel has come closer to religion: he has rediscovered Jesus at the end of his life. It doesn’t surprise me because dad was raised by Jesuits.”

Pope Benedict XVI

This same article goes on the quote an unnamed, high-ranking Vatican official as well -- an individual who is helping organize Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming trip to Cuba.
"Fidel is at the end of his strength. Nearly at the end of his life. His exhortations in the party paper Granma, are increasingly less frequent," the unnamed source said. "We know that in this last period he has come closer to religion and God."
This is causing some to wonder if the former leader will be seeking out forgiveness and a clean slate with the Pople next month. The Associated Press has more regarding Pope Benedict's impending trip to Cuba:

The Roman Catholic Church in Cuba has announced the dates and a partial itinerary for Pope Benedict XVI's much-anticipated visit to the island, the first by a pontiff since John Paul II's groundbreaking 1998 tour. The church said in a statement Sunday that the pontiff will be in Cuba from March 26 to 28, following a visit to Mexico.

Fidel Castro With Brother Raul, Who After Taking Control in 2008 Has Introduced A New and Once Unthinkable Push …

This trip is noteworthy for a number of reasons. To begin, Castro has a complicated history with the Catholic Church. He was excommunicated in 1962 and, considering his treatment of citizens and his nation's isolation, he hasn't always had the most favorable interactions with Christian leadership. However, since his brother, Raul, has taken over, conditions seem to be improving. NPR reports:

The origins of Pope Benedict's upcoming trip to Cuba can partly be traced back to events at the church in the spring of 2010. At that time, government-organized mobs attacked the women outside the church as foreign television cameras rolled. Cuba's church leaders intervened, and in the dialogue with Raul Castro that followed, more than 100 jailed dissidents were freed. [...]
Under Raul Castro, Cuba's Catholic Church has recovered a degree of prominence it hasn't had in 50 years. Castro said the island will welcome the pope with affection and respect, announcing he would pardon nearly 3,000 more prisoners in advance of the papal visit.
"This is a demonstration of the strength and generosity of the Cuban Revolution," Castro said in a Dec. 23 speech to Cuba's parliament.

All things considered, it is quite possible that the former dictator (Fidel) has renounced his past behaviors and is prepared to ask the Pope for forgiveness, while seeking to re-join his long-lost faith tradition.
(H/T: Miami New Times)

Florida-Cuba ferry plans stuck in U.S. "black hole"

Raul Castro Defends Cuba's One-Party System

Yamilé Aldama has taken no shortcuts to jump from Cuba to Team GB

Younger Castro steers Cuba to a new revolution

AP IMPACT: Trip reports reveal jailed American subcontractor's USAID Internet efforts in Cuba

Students travel to Cuba, study its history

Dissident Couple Remains Imprisoned

2012-02-12T06:19:00.000-08:00

Assad's forces intensify shelling on Syria's Homs

Reuters –

AMMAN (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad's forces killed at least four civilians in an intensified tank and rocket bombardment on opposition districts in the Syrian city of Homs on Saturday to put down a popular revolt demanding his removal, activists said.

"This is the most violent barrage since the attack on Homs started six days ago. The four included a 55-year old woman. They were killed by shelling that hit a building where they live in Bab Amro," opposition activist Mohammad Hassan told Reuters by satellite phone from Homs.
The account could not be independently confirmed. Syria restricts access by most foreign journalists.
Footage on YouTube showed a doctor at a field hospital in Bab Amro next to the body of the woman, who appeared to have been hit in the head.
"This is Ibtissam al-Dalati, mother of three...Shrapnel hit her in the head," the doctor says, holding the woman's fractured and bloody head. "I call upon all Syrians to take to the streets to take the pressure off Homs."
(Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Amman newsroom)

2012-02-12T06:16:00.001-08:00

Airlines urge U.N. deal to avert carbon trade war

By Tim Hepher and Harry Suhartono | Reuters – 38 mins ago

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Global airlines called on Sunday for a U.N.-brokered deal to prevent a row over aviation emissions between China and the European Union spilling into a damaging trade war.

The call by the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) comes amid signs that the EU may be willing to soften a unilateral stance that also risks souring efforts to resolve Europe's sovereign debt crisis with Chinese support.
In an interview, IATA Director General Tony Tyler said airlines had become wedged between conflicting domestic laws after China ordered its airlines not to join the EU's compulsory market-based system for regulating airline emissions.
"The Chinese move to prevent its airlines from taking part in the Emissions Trading Scheme is a very bold move and it pushes the Chinese carriers very much into the front line of this particular dispute," Tyler told Reuters.
"This is an intolerable situation which clearly has to be resolved; it cannot go on like this. I very much hope of course that we are not seeing the beginning of a trade war on this issue and eventually wiser counsels will prevail," he said.
China was an early opponent of the EU's cap-and-trade scheme, which has also drawn protests from the United States and India, and the escalating row threatens to hamper efforts to work out an international solution to Europe's sovereign debt crisis.
By banning its airlines last week from co-operating, China hardened its stance just ahead of a February 14 Beijing summit at which the EU will seek Chinese help to ease its debt crisis.
The EU says its scheme to charge airlines for emissions on flights into or out of Europe, which took effect on January 1, is needed as part of the fight against global climate change.
It maintains it was driven to act after more than a decade of inaction at the United Nations' aviation standards agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which has yet to find a global solution to tackling airline emissions.
Tyler said ICAO's chambers were the only forum for resolving the row and he and other airline industry officials noted that the EU had indicated willingness to avoid further isolation.
"The European Commission is now much more open to an ICAO solution," he said. "I very much hope that the EU and all its member states will work hard with ICAO to come up with a global solution. It is not going to be easy."
Tyler was speaking on the eve of the Singapore Airshow.
MORE AIRLINE BANKRUPTCIES POSSIBLE
Last week the senior EU civil servant responsible for climate action said Brussels preferred multilateral discussion.
"We have been clear that we are willing to review our legislation in the light of agreement on market-based measures being agreed in ICAO," Jos Delbeke told a conference.
A relative backwater of the United Nations responsible for industry standards, the Montreal-based ICAO has emerged as the potential bulwark against the first serious carbon trade war.
It is widely seen as a challenging task for an agency created to oversee neatly bordered airspace, but which must now try to find an urgently needed formula for tackling aircraft fumes that criss-cross international frontiers.
ICAO has already served as a back-channel for issues deemed too difficult to handle elsewhere, for example providing opportunities for contacts between Washington and Cuba, but has rarely found itself in the diplomatic foreground.
The row comes at a difficult time for airlines as the industry struggles to escape the fallout from high oil prices and the economic uncertainty surrounding Europe's debt crisis.
Tyler said airlines faced a tough year in 2012 and warned of further bankruptcies in Europe or elsewhere if the region failed to resolve its credit problems. The current quarter is traditionally the leanest time for aircraft revenues.
IATA has predicted the global airline industry will make a profit of $3.5 billion in 2012, but says this could flip to a loss of $8.3 billion in the event of deep recession in Europe.
Cargo traffic which acts as a barometer for global trade ticked 0.2 percent higher in December, but Tyler said it was too early to tell whether this signaled a turnaround.
The head of a sister organization responsible for Asian carriers said airlines risked being hurt by any trade conflict.
"The risk for airlines is that if this does degenerate into tit-for-tat trade war, then airlines will be caught in the crossfire from both sides," Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, told Reuters.
(Writing by Tim Hepher; Editing by Ron Popeski and Erica Billingham)

2012-02-11T09:44:00.000-08:00

Syria forces shell Homs as Russia to oppose U.N. resolution

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Dominic Evans | Reuters – 11 mins ago

AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces bombarded districts of Homs city on Saturday in a campaign to crush a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, whose ally Russia said it would not support an Arab peace plan circulating at the United Nations.

Activists said seven people were killed in the latest attacks in a week-long government siege of Homs, which has been at the heart of the uprising which broke out 11 months ago.
Mohammed Hassan, an opposition campaigner in the western city, told Reuters by telephone that a 55-year-old woman was among those killed by shellfire on the Bab Amro district.
The bloodshed followed Friday's violence, when bombings targeting security bases killed at least 28 people in Aleppo and rebel fighters battled troops in a Damascus suburb after dark.
Assad has ignored repeated international appeals, the latest from the European Union, to halt his crackdown.
"I condemn in the strongest terms these acts perpetrated by the Syrian regime against its own civilians," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.
However, the world is deeply divided over how to end the conflict. A week ago, Russia and China vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution sponsored by Western and Arab states that backed an Arab League call for Assad to step down.
With Syria in worsening turmoil, Saudi Arabia has circulated a new draft for the General Assembly similar to the earlier one.
But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Saturday Moscow could not support a move at the U.N. General Assembly resting on "the same unbalanced draft resolution text."
HOMS SUFFERS
The diplomatic dispute brings no relief to Homs, where the government offensive on mostly Sunni Muslim rebel-held areas has killed at least 300 people in the past week, activists say.
Food and medical supplies are running low in blockaded areas and many people are trapped in their houses.
Accounts could not be independently confirmed as Syria restricts access by most foreign journalists.
Youtube footage provided by activists showed a doctor at a field hospital next to the body of the woman. "Shrapnel hit her in the head and completely drained her brain matter," he says.
The 46-year-old Assad belongs to the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has dominated the majority Sunni country since his late father took control in a 1970 coup.
Security forces have also made house-to-house raids in Homs in the last two days. The bodies of three people shot by snipers were pulled from the streets on Saturday, activists said.
YouTube footage from Friday showed two tanks said to be on the edge of Bab Amro, one firing its main gun across a highway.
"The indiscriminate shelling is killing mostly civilians," Fawaz Tello, of the opposition Syrian National Council, told Reuters, arguing that Assad wanted to avoid pushing his troops into street fighting and was banking on the bombardment to force rebel fighters to withdraw.
AMBUSH AND ASSASSINATION
In Damascus, gunmen shot dead a senior Syrian military doctor outside his home in northern Damascus on Saturday, the state news agency SANA said.
It blamed "an armed terrorist group" for killing Brigadier-General Issa al-Khouli, who it described as a doctor and hospital director. He was the most senior official to be reported killed in Damascus.
That killing followed a four-hour clash in the capital on Friday night pitting Free Syrian Army rebels against troops backed by armored vehicles who had entered al-Qaboun neighborhood, activists said. ID:nL5E8DACME]
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 soldiers were killed in an ambush by army defectors using roadside bombs and hand grenades on Friday in the rebellious Idlib region.
The British-based Observatory also reported three people killed in bombardments of the opposition stronghold of Zabadani.
In Douma, south of Damascus, an officer and eight soldiers defected along with a tank after clashes between army deserters and security forces, it said.
Opposition to Assad has evolved from pro-democracy street protests to armed insurrection over the past 11 months and world powers fear a slide into civil war with knock-on effects for Syria's neighbours - Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon.
REGIONAL RISK
Gulf Arab states, the United States, Europe and Turkey hope diplomacy can force Assad out and have ruled out military action of the kind that helped oust Libya's Muammar Gaddafi last year.
Assad can count on the support of Russia, Syria's main arms supplier and an ally stretching back to the Soviet era, as well as Iran. Moscow, which is keen to counter U.S. influence in the Middle East, insists foreign powers should not interfere.
The U.N. assembly is due to discuss Syria on Monday and vote
later in the week on the draft resolution, which "fully supports" an Arab League plan floated last month.
The Arab League will meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the idea of a joint Arab-U.N. monitoring mission for Syria.
Ayham Kamel, a Eurasia Group analyst, said the Russian and Chinese vetoes showed that change in Syria was not imminent. As rebel forces lacked structure and a unified command, Assad would keep the military edge but find it hard to crush the revolt.
"In the next few months, Syria will transition from civil conflict into civil war. Assad's power and control over the country will diminish and civilian casualties on both sides are expected to rise," Kamel said.
Highlighting the danger of the conflict spilling over borders, supporters and opponents of Assad fought in the streets of Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, a security source said. Two people were killed and eight wounded, some of them soldiers who had been deployed to halt the fighting.
(Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations and Gleb Bryanski in Moscow; Writing by Angus MacSwan in Beirut; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Cuba embargo turns 50: is this what JFK intended?

Getting to Cuba

The readers’ forum

Support Cuba’s dissidents, commissioners

Among Cubans and Cuban Americans, a number of foreign companies have earned a place in the “hall of infamy” for their outright complicity with the Castro dictatorship. These include Spain’s Sol-Melia hotel chain and Canada’s Sherritt mining company for profiting from long years of the Castros’ apartheid brand of tourism and exploitation of Cuba’s natural resources.
However, Brazil’s Odebrecht construction conglomerate is now placing itself in a reprehensible class of its own. Foreign companies that seek to do business in Cuba generally recognize they must choose either to profit from the monopoly of the Castro dictatorship or from Cuban Americans in Florida’s free market.
In the 1990s, Sol-Melia and Sherritt shamefully chose the Castro dictatorship, giving up opportunities in Florida. Odebrecht feels it is duly entitled to both.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff traveled to Cuba last week to promote the company’s business arrangements with the Castros’ dictatorship. These include enlarging the Port of Mariel, which Raúl Castro considers the single most important project to ensure the economic survival of his regime, and a new 10-year agreement to revitalize the island’s moribund sugar industry. During her trip, Rousseff made a point of shunning Cuban dissidents and even refused opportunities to criticize the Castros’ human-rights record.
Meanwhile, a couple hundred miles to the north, for more than a decade Odebrecht has been seducing Miami-Dade County commissioners, taking in more than $4.8 billion in taxpayer dollars — much of it from Cuban-American victims of its business partners in Havana.
The company has been awarded contracts on projects ranging from the seemingly interminable reconstruction of Miami International Airport, to building the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Art and a no-bid contract to build Florida International University’s stadium — complete with an Odebrecht skybox.
Its seduction has been so effective that Miami-Dade County commissioners jumped through legal hoops last year to give Odebrecht a $57 million contract to strengthen the cargo wharves of the Port of Miami. Commissioners sought to justify the contract by asserting Odebrecht was the lowest bidder. But it wasn’t.
The lowest bidder was actually a U.S. company — American Bridge Company. It didn’t get the contract because of a “local preference” that favored Odebrecht despite the extra expense. How could that be?
Only in Miami-Dade County can a Brazilian company be given preferential treatment (at extra cost to taxpayers) over a U.S. company. It was an award that fuels suspicion and feeds nasty stereotypes. This charade has gone on long enough.
Rousseff, in support of Odebrecht, didn’t hesitate to shun Cuban dissidents seeking political and economic reform. The time has come for Miami-Dade County commissioners — a majority are Cuban-American — to shun Odebrecht in support of those dissidents. As they do so they may find they’re also helping U.S. companies.
Mauricio Claver-Carone, director, U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, Washington, D.C.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/10/2635363/support-cubas-dissidents-commissioners.html#storylink=cpy

Today's Picture...

2012-02-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

Copies of The Sun newspaper are seen for sale at a newsstand in London February 11, 2012. British police on Saturday arrested five senior members of staff at News Corporation's flagship newspaper The Sun, the company said, as part of investigations into alleged payments to police by journalists for information. REUTERS/Olivia Harris (BRITAIN - Tags: SOCIETY CRIME LAW MEDIA)

2012-02-11T09:33:00.001-08:00

Iran to announce nuclear progress: Ahmadinejad

By Parisa Hafezi and Mitra Amiri | Reuters –

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that the Islamic Republic, targeted by tougher Western sanctions, would soon announce advances in its nuclear program.

He was speaking on the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah. Tens of thousands of Iranians joined state-organized rallies to mark the occasion.
"In the coming days the world will witness Iran's announcement of its very important and very major nuclear achievements," Ahmadinejad told a crowd at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square in a speech relayed live on state television.
Demonstrators carrying Iranian flags and pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America." Ismail Haniya, who heads the Islamist Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, also attended the ceremony.
Ahmadinejad gave no details of how Iran's nuclear work, which Tehran says has only peaceful purposes, has progressed.
The United States and Israel, a country which Iran does not recognize, have not ruled out military action if sanctions fail.
Iran has warned of a "painful" answer, saying it would hit Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf as well as block the vital Gulf oil shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.
"If attacked by the Zionist regime (Israel), we will turn it to dust," said a Revolutionary Guards commander, Mohammad Shirdel, semi-official Fars news agency reported Saturday.
"Thousands of our missiles will target Israel and the 40 bases of America in the region," he added.
The nuclear dispute has fuelled tension as the West tightens sanctions. The European Union has agreed to ban Iranian oil imports by July and to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank.
Its measures reinforce those imposed by the United States as the West tries to force Tehran to return to talks before it produces enough nuclear material for an atomic bomb.
Neither side has shown much appetite for compromise. Iran says it will fight EU sanctions with counter-measures and its parliament plans legislation to ban oil exports to the EU.
Iranian officials brush off the impact of sanctions, while also proclaiming that Iranians will endure any hardship in support of their country's right to nuclear technology.
"I am saying openly that if you (the West) continue to use the language of force and threat, our nation will never succumb to your pressure," Ahmadinejad said.
IMPACT OF SANCTIONS
Industry analysts say sanctions are hitting Iran's vital oil sector and say falls in crude output and exports will speed up.
Global oil flows are realigning even though the EU ban on imports from Iran only takes effect in July, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly Oil Market Report Friday.
Asia's two giants, China and India, want to head off new sanctions on Iran. China, Iran's biggest trade partner, is one of six major powers involved in nuclear talks with Tehran.
Ahmadinejad, echoing Iran's official stance, said fresh nuclear talks would be welcome. The last round collapsed a year ago over Iran's refusal to halt its uranium enrichment work.
"They say we want to negotiate. That is fine with us, we have been always ready to hold talks in the framework of justice and mutual respect," Ahmadinejad said. "The Iranian nation will not withdraw even one iota from its path."
Western nations say talking is pointless unless uranium enrichment is on the table, something Iran refuses to discuss.
Iran's economy is around 60 percent reliant on oil. The country is heavily dependent on food imports, buying 45 percent of its rice and most of its animal feed abroad.
Sanctions-linked trade snags risk fuelling already high inflation, which Iranian critics blame on Ahmadinejad's economic policies. The official inflation rate exceeds 20 percent.
But Ahmadinejad said the economy was "flourishing," reeling off figures to back his contention. Critics have in the past accused the government of falsifying economic statistics.
"We have saved over $30 billion for rainy days," he said. "Iran's non-oil exports will reach over $43 billion by March ... Iran's imports in the past 10 months dropped five percent."
Following reforms under which the government phased out hefty subsidies on staples like food and fuel since 2010, Ahmadinejad said billions were saved by not importing petrol.
"We were importers of fuel but ... now we are among main exporters of fuel and oil products," he said.
Fresh U.S. and EU financial sanctions are snarling Iranian payments for staple food and other imports, causing hardship for its 74 million people weeks before a parliamentary election.
The election will be Iran's first since a disputed presidential vote in 2009, which the opposition says was rigged to secure Ahmadinejad's re-election. That sparked eight months of street protests which the government forcibly suppressed.
(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

24/7 FrontLine Results - LPPNEWS

2012-02-11T00:28:00.006-08:00

NYSE stocks posting largest volume increases

Associated Press –

NEW YORK (AP) — A look at the 10 biggest volume gainers on New York Stock Exchange at the close of trading:

Aaron's Inc. : Approximately 2,603,500 shares changed hands, a 444.5 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares fell $.79 or 2.7 percent to $27.96.
Cobalt International Energy Inc. : Approximately 17,510,100 shares changed hands, a 1,042.3 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares rose $7.78 or 32.6 percent to $31.68.
Gardner Denver Inc. : Approximately 3,751,500 shares changed hands, a 461.5 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares fell $7.18 or 9.0 percent to $72.70.
Helios High Yield : Approximately 155,900 shares changed hands, a 544.0 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares rose $.05 or .5 percent to $10.60.
KV Pharmaceutical Co. class B : Approximately 44,600 shares changed hands, a 521.3 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares fell $1.00 or 38.0 percent to $1.63.
KV Pharmaceutical Co. class A : Approximately 5,054,400 shares changed hands, a 529.4 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares fell $.99 or 37.9 percent to $1.62.
Kosmos Energy Ltd. : Approximately 1,567,300 shares changed hands, a 440.3 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares rose $.48 or 3.4 percent to $14.51.
LinkedIn Corp. : Approximately 12,807,500 shares changed hands, a 597.7 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares rose $13.57 or 17.8 percent to $89.96.
Pacific Drilling S.A. : Approximately 2,347,400 shares changed hands, a 772.9 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares rose $.41 or 3.8 percent to $11.06.
XL Group PLC : Approximately 20,113,900 shares changed hands, a 511.5 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares fell $1.74 or 8.3 percent to $19.27.

2012-02-11T00:23:00.000-08:00

Saadi Gaddafi warns of uprising in Libya: TV

By Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Ali Shuaib | Reuters –

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi warned on Friday of an imminent uprising in Libya, saying he was in regular contact with people in the country who were unhappy with the authorities put in place after the ousting and killing of his father.

Speaking to Al-Arabiya television by phone - the first time he has spoken publicly in months - Saadi said he wanted to return to Libya "at any minute" after escaping across the border to Niger when National Transitional Council forces captured the capital Tripoli in August.
He said he was in contact from Niger with the army, the militias, the NTC and other members of the Gaddafi family. It was impossible to verify where he was calling from as the station showed only an old still picture of Saadi as a backdrop to his words.
"First of all, it is not going to be an uprising limited to some areas. It will cover all the regions of the Jamahiriya and this uprising does exist and I am following and witnessing this as it grows bigger by the day," he said, referring to Libya.
"There will be a great uprising in the south, in the east, in the centre and in the west. All the regions of Libya will witness this new popular uprising."
A transitional government appointed in November is leading the country to elections in June but is struggling to restore services and impose order on myriad armed groups.
These groups fought hard in the campaign to topple Gaddafi but still refuse to hand in their weapons.
The government lost control of the former Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid last month after local people staged an armed revolt, posing the gravest challenge yet to the NTC's authority.
However elders in the desert city dismissed accusations they wanted to restore the late dictator's family to power or had any ambitions beyond their local area.
Saadi told Al-Arabiya: "The Libyan people should revolt against these militias and against this deteriorating situation. The NTC is not a legitimate body ... and is not in control of the militias," he added. "We call on all to be ready for the coming uprising."
"We have to exert pressure to change this situation and to remove this evil doing that exists in Libya. We do not know any such thing as elections. We are a Muslim nation," he said.
ANNIVERSARY
Government officials were not immediately available for comment. Mohammed al-Alagy, former interim justice minister and who now heads the human rights council, told Al-Arabiya Saadi's comments were "an attempt to drive a wedge between the Libyan people."
Saadi, a businessman and former professional footballer, said he was in contact with people in Libya. Interpol last year issued a "red notice" requesting member states to arrest Saadi with a view to extradition if they find him in their territory.
"I have daily communications with Libya from Niger and these contacts are not just to start the uprising but also to follow up the status of our tribes, our relatives and the people," he said.
"The situation of the people is deteriorating. I am in contact with the militias, the tribes, the NTC and the national army. I can confirm that more than 70 percent of those who are in Libya now whether they support the February 17th (revolution) or not, all are not satisfied with the situation and are ready to cooperate to change this situation."
Libya is preparing for the first anniversary of the start of the February 17 uprising which began in the eastern city of Benghazi. Libyan armed forces chief Yousef al-Mangoush this week said there were concerns for potential sabotage of the anniversary by Gaddafi loyalists.
"A large number of February 17th members do regret this and we are now in full cooperation with the February 17th and our supporters to change this deteriorating situation," Saadi said. "As for my return, yes I must return to Libya and this will happen at any minute. If I do return I will prevent any revenge."
Saadi said he was also in contact with his family members. Gaddafi's wife Safiya, his daughter Aisha and his sons Mohammed and Hannibal fled to Algeria in August. Saadi's brother Saif al-Islam was captured in the Sahara desert in November and is now being held in the town of Zintan.
"I am in contact with my family inside and outside Libya and in the neighboring countries and in Europe," Saadi said.
"I call on all the elders, the youth, the militias and the tribes to come and to sit with each other and to negotiate with each other and to come up with a true reconciliation."
Mexican authorities said in December they had uncovered and stopped an international plot to smuggle Saadi into the country using fake names and false papers.
(Reporting by Ali Shuaib and Omar Fahmy in Cairo; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Alison Williams)

2012-02-11T00:13:00.000-08:00

Bombings hit Syria, Saudis push for peace at U.N.

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis | Reuters –

AMMAN (Reuters) - Violence flared across Syria, including bomb attacks that killed at least 28 people in Aleppo, while at the United Nations diplomats said a new effort was afoot to gain backing for an Arab peace plan to end 11 months of bloodshed in the country.

The two Aleppo bombings on Friday were the worst attack to hit the country's commercial hub during the revolt against the 42-year dynastic rule by the family of President Bashar al-Assad.
Mangled bodies and severed limbs lay on the pavement outside the military and security service buildings that were targeted - as shown in live footage on Syrian television, which has consistently portrayed the revolt against President Assad as the work of foreign-backed "terrorists".
No one claimed responsibility for the Aleppo bombings but they took place as Assad's forces grow more ferocious in operations to crush the uprising. Some opposition figures accused the government of manipulating events to discredit them.
Friday saw more unrest across the country, with activists reporting that security forces opened fire in Latakia, in the town of Dael in Deraa province, and elsewhere to break up demonstrations taking place after weekly Muslim prayers.
In Damascus, members of the Free Syrian Army fought for four hours with troops backed by armored vehicles who had entered al-Qaboun neighborhood in the north of the capital during a protest one mile from the main Abbaside Square, activists said.
The rebels said they had sustained several casualties but it was not known if any had died of their wounds.
In the western city of Homs, where a week of bombardments has killed dozens of civilians and drawn condemnation from world leaders, four people were killed in the opposition-held neighborhoods of Baba Amro and Bab Sebaa, the activist Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Troops also opened fire as worshippers left a mosque in Homs after Friday prayers.
Activists in Homs said shelling started up again in the morning and they feared a big push was imminent to storm residential areas of the city that has come to symbolize the plight of those opposing the Assad government.
"The carnage in Homs continues and the martyrdom of the Syrian people continues," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. "Not only are we seeing an army that is massacring its own people, but for the Syrian army hospitals and doctors have become systematic targets for repression."
SAUDI PLAN AT UNITED NATIONS
At the United Nations, Saudi Arabia circulated a draft resolution backing an Arab peace plan for Syria among members of the U.N. General Assembly on Friday after a similar text was vetoed in the Security Council last week by Russia and China, diplomats said.
The new draft appeared as two advisers to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon repeated a warning that Syrian government attacks on civilians could amount to crimes against humanity.
Like the failed council resolution, the assembly draft "fully supports" the Arab League plan floated last month, which among other things calls for President Assad to step aside.
Russia and China cast their vetoes in the council last Saturday saying the draft there was unbalanced and failed to blame Syria's opposition, along with the government, for violence that has killed over 5,000 people, according to U.N. figures.
There are no vetoes in the General Assembly. The 193-nation body's resolutions have no legal force, unlike those of the Security Council, but were the Syria text to pass it would add to pressure on Assad and his government.
The assembly is due to discuss Syria on Monday, when it will be addressed by U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay. Diplomats said the resolution was not expected to be voted on then, but that there could be a vote later next week.
The assembly draft, seen by Reuters, broadly follows the one voted down in the council. While calling for an end to violence by all sides, it lays blame primarily on the Syrian authorities, whom it strongly condemns for "continued widespread and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms."
The draft urges accountability for those guilty of human rights violations, but makes no specific mention of the International Criminal Court, to which Pillay has said Syrian officials should be sent. Only the Security Council can refer Syria to the court - an unlikely move given its divisions.
In one addition to the council text, the assembly draft invites Secretary-General Ban to appoint a special envoy for Syria - a proposal that Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby put to the U.N. chief earlier this week.
In a statement, Francis Deng, Ban's adviser on prevention of genocide, and Edward Luck, his adviser on the responsibility to protect, said they were alarmed by Syrian security forces' "indiscriminate fire" on densely populated areas of the city of Homs.
Reiterating a warning from last July, they said such attacks could constitute crimes against humanity under international law. "The presence of armed elements among the population does not render attacks against civilians legal," they said.
(Additional reporting By Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Lighthouse Publisher Press...

After Gaddafi, Libya Struggles to Control Armed Militias

NY Times correspondent Shadid dies in Syria

Related Content

24/7 FrontLine Results - LPPNEWS

Venezuelans stage protest following oil spill

News PipeLine LPPNEWS

UN sees possible crimes against humanity in Syria

Related Content

US missile strike kills 6 people in NW Pakistan

News PipeLine/ LPPNEWS

Michele Bachmann will not appear on ‘Dancing with the Stars’

Syrian forces attack Hama, Homs despite pressure to stop

Related Content

24/7 FrontLine Results - LPPNEWS

Obama’s Budget Takes Aim at Deficit Hawks—and Mitt

Liverpool deny sponsor pressure over Suarez

Related Content

Prosecutors seek to reinstate Knox conviction

Israel Accuses Iran as the Culprit Behind Bomb Attacks

Investigators seek answers to Houston's death

Related Content

Birth Control Debate: Why Catholic Bishops Have Lost Their Grip on U.S. Politics -- and Their Flock

U.S. Navy: Iran prepares suicide bomb boats in Gulf

Al Qaeda leader backs Syrian revolt against Assad

Related Content

24/7 FrontLine Results - LPPNEWS

Has Former Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro ‘Rediscovered Jesus?’

Assad's forces intensify shelling on Syria's Homs

Airlines urge U.N. deal to avert carbon trade war

Related Content

Syria forces shell Homs as Russia to oppose U.N. resolution

Related Content

The readers’ forum

Support Cuba’s dissidents, commissioners

Today's Picture...

Iran to announce nuclear progress: Ahmadinejad

Related Content

24/7 FrontLine Results - LPPNEWS

NYSE stocks posting largest volume increases

Saadi Gaddafi warns of uprising in Libya: TV

Related Content

Bombings hit Syria, Saudis push for peace at U.N.

Related Content