August 31, 2011

AUGUST IS THE DEADLIEST MONTH EVER  FOR U.S. TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN

      KABUL, AFGHANISTAN--August has become the deadliest month for U.S. troops in the nearly 10-year-old war in Afghanistan, where international forces have started to go home and let Afghan forces take charge of securing their country. A record 66 U.S. troops have died so far this month, eclipsing the 65 killed in July 2010, according to a tally by The Associated Press. This month's death toll soared when 30 Americans – most of them elite Navy SEALs – were killed in a helicopter crash Aug. 6. They were aboard a Chinook shot down as it was flying in to help Army Rangers who had come under fire in Wardak province. It was the single deadliest incident of war being waged by Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces and insurgents.

     On Tuesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai used the start of a three-day Muslim holiday to plead with insurgents to lay down their arms and help rebuild the nation. Karzai wants Afghan security forces to take the lead in defending and protecting the nation by the end of 2014. Violence is being reported across the nation despite the U.S.-led coalition's drive to rout insurgents from their strongholds in the south. At the same time, the U.S. military has begun to implement President Barack Obama's order to start withdrawing the 33,000 extra troops he dispatched to the war. He ordered 10,000 out this year and another 23,000 withdrawn by the summer of 2012, leaving about 68,000 U.S. troops on the ground. Although major combat units are not expected to start leaving until late fall, two National Guard regiments comprising about 1,000 soldiers started going home last month.

    Aside from the 30 Americans killed in the Chinook crash, southwest of Kabul, 23 died this month in Kandahar and Helmand provinces in southern Afghanistan, the main focus of Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces. The remaining 13 were killed in eastern Afghanistan. Besides the 66 Americans killed so far this month, the NATO coalition suffered the loss of two British, four French, one New Zealander, one Australian, one Polish and five other troops whose nationalities have not yet been disclosed. One of the five was killed in a roadside bombing Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said. No other details were released. So far this year, 403 international service members, including at least 299 Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan.

LIBYAN REBELS DEMAND ALGERIA RETURN DICTATOR GADHAFI FAMILY

       TRIPOLI, LIBYA--Libyan rebels are demanding that Algeria return Moammar GadHafi's wife and three of his children for trial after they fled, raising tensions between the neighboring countries. Algeria's decision to host members of the Gadhafi clan is an "aggressive act against the Libyan people's wish," said Mahmoud Shammam, information minister in the rebels' interim government.  Safiya Gadhafi, her daughter Aisha and sons Hannibal and Mohammed entered Algeria on Monday, while Gaddafi and several other sons remain at large. In Washington, the Obama administration said it had no indication that Gadhafi himself has left the country.

     Rebels also said another Gadhafi son, Khamis, was likely killed last week in a battle south of Tripoli. "We are determined to arrest and try the whole Gaddafi family, including Gadhafi himself," Shammam said late on Monday night. "We'd like to see those people coming back to Libya."  Rebel leaders said they were not surprised to hear Algeria welcomed Gadhafi's family. Throughout Libya's six-month uprising, rebels have accused Algeria of providing Gaddafi with mercenaries to repress the revolt.  The departure of Gaddafi's family was one of the strongest signs yet that the longtime leader has lost his grip on the country.  Gadhafi's children played important roles in the country's military and economic life. Hannibal headed the maritime transport company; Mohammed the national Olympic committee. Aisha, a lawyer, helped in the defense of toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the trial that led to his hanging.

      Rebels worry that if Gadhafi is not killed or captured, he will stoke more violence.  Rebel fighters backed by an escalating NATO bombing campaign are converging on Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, his last major bastion of support in largely rebel-controlled Libya, amid speculation the longtime Libyan leader might be hiding there.  NATO reported hitting 22 armed vehicles, three command and control sites, four radar installations and several other targets in the Sirte area Monday. Other targets were hit in contested regions south of Sirte.  Sirte, some 250 miles (400 kilometers) east of Tripoli, is heavily militarized and shows no signs yet of surrendering. Rebels say they are trying to negotiate a takeover to avoid raging battles in the streets of the city, whose entrances are reportedly mined.  A NATO officer, who asked not to be identified because of alliance rules, said on Monday there was fighting 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Sirte. He said there are still clashes around Sirte, Bani Walid south of Misrata and Sebha further south.

israel sends two warships to egyptian border

       JERUSALEM, ISRAEL--Israel sent two more warships to the Red Sea border with Egypt, the military said Tuesday, part of a military reinforcement there following warnings that militants are planning another attack on southern Israel from Egyptian soil. Earlier this week, Israel's military ordered more troops to the border area following intelligence reports of an impending attack, days after militants crossed into Israel through the Egyptian border and killed eight Israelis in a brazen attack that touched off a wave of violence between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip. Relative calm has returned, but Israel has remained on alert since the deadly Aug. 18 raid, closing roads near the border and warning citizens against traveling to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, a popular vacation destination for Israelis.

      Israel's Home Front Minister Matan Vilnai said Tuesday that militants from the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad were in Sinai, waiting to strike. "The Palestinian Islamic Jihad wants to carry out a terror attack along the Egyptian border," Vilnai told reporters. "The Egyptian border is absolutely porous. We have known this for many years." The attack this month sparked calls to increase security on both sides of the frontier and created new tensions between Israel and Egypt, which have maintained cool relations since signing a 1979 peace treaty. The violence shattered the usual sense of calm that has held for decades along the border, though there have been sporadic attacks in Sinai. Beyond announcing that two more warships were patrolling the border area, the military would give no further details.

      Israel has a permanent naval presence with a base in Eilat, at the northern tip of the Red Sea on the Egyptian border. The Israeli military would not disclose the number of warships usually positioned on its maritime border with Egypt or from where the two extra ships were sent. Access for ships to the Eilat naval base from the rest of Israel is possible only through Egypt's Suez Canal. Egyptian officials there were not immediately available for comment. No changes in security alignments have been observed on the Egyptian side of the border in the last two weeks. Earlier this month, the Egyptian government dispatched thousands of additional troops to Sinai as part of a major operation against al-Qaida inspired militants who have been increasingly active since longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February.

August 30, 2011

LIBYAN DICTATOR GADHAFI'S WIFE, DAUGHTER AND TWO SONS FLED TO ARGELIA 

      TRIPOLI, LIBYA--Members of Libyan leader Muammar QadHafi's family were reported Monday to have arrived in Algeria, a neighbor Libyan relatives have accused of supporting the ousted regime.  The report cited Algeria's Foreign Affairs Ministry as saying the family entered the neighboring country on Monday. It did not immediately provide additional details or say whether Qadhafi himself was with the family. The report came as battles raged on two sides of Sirte, the southern city that is the headquarters of Qadhafi's tribe and his regime's last major bastion. The rebels were consolidating control of Tripoli, the capital.

     White House spokesman Jay Carney says the Obama administration is continuing to work with rebels and NATO partners in Libya. He says if the United States knew where Qaddafi were, they would pass that information on. Despite effectively ending his rule, the rebels have yet to find Qadhafi or his family members -- something that has cast a pall of lingering uncertainty over the opposition's victory. The Egyptian news agency MENA, quoting unidentified rebel fighters, had reported from Tripoli over the weekend that six armored Mercedes sedans, possibly carrying Qadhafi's sons or other top regime figures, had crossed the border at the southwestern Libyan town of Ghadamis into Algeria. Algeria's Foreign Ministry had denied that report.

      Ahmed Jibril, an aid to rebel National Transitional Council head Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, said if the report of Qadhafi relatives in Algeria is true, "we will demand that Algerian authorities hand them over to Libya to be tried before Libyan courts." Ahmed Bani, military spokesman of the council, said he was unsurprised to hear Algeria had welcomed Qadhafi relatives. Throughout the six-month Libyan uprising, rebels have accused Algeria of providing Qadhafi with mercenaries to curb the revolution. Earlier Monday, Abdul-Jalil told senior NATO envoys meeting in the Gulf Arab nation of Qatar that Qaddafi can still cause trouble. "Qadhafi is still capable of doing something awful in the last moments," Abdul-Jalil told military chiefs of staff and other key defense officials from NATO nations including France, Italy and Turkey. "Even after the fighting ends, we still need logistical and military support from NATO," he added. NATO has been bombing Qadhafi's forces since March under a United Nations mandate to protect Libyan civilians.

29 KILLED IN SUICIDE BOMBING AT IRAQ MOSQUE

       BAGHDAD, IRAQ--Weeping relatives and friends are holding funeral processions for worshippers killed in a suicide bombing inside the Iraqi capital's largest Sunni mosque.NOne of the funerals was for a father and his 5-year-old son. Wrapped with blankets, victims' caskets were carried on minibuses through Baghdad's streets Monday while women wailed and beat their chests in grief.NThe suicide bomber blew himself up inside Baghdad's largest Sunni mosque Sunday night, killing 29 people during prayers, a shocking strike on a place of worship similar to the one that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war five years ago.

     Iraqi security officials said parliament lawmaker Khalid al-Fahdawi, a Sunni, was among the dead in the 9:40 p.m Sunday strike.NMaj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Baghdad's military operations command, confirmed the attack happened inside the Um al-Qura mosque during prayers in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Jamiaah. The blue-domed building is the largest Sunni mosque in Baghdad.NTwo security officials and medics at two Baghdad hospitals put the casualty toll at 29 dead and 38 wounded. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.  Al-Moussawi put the death toll at only six and said there was no significant damage to the mosque. Conflicting death tolls are common immediately after attacks in Iraq.

       The bomber detonated his explosives vest inside the mosque is particularly alarming, and it is reminiscent of a 2006 attack on a Shiite shrine in the Sunni city of Samarra that fueled widespread sectarian violence and nearly ignited a nationwide civil war. In that strike, Sunni militants planted bombs around the Samarra shrine, destroying its signature gold dome and badly damaging the rest of the structure. The attack hit Sunnis who were praying in a special service during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which ends Tuesday. It demonstrates anew that security measures to protect Iraqis as U.S. forces prepare to leave remain riddled with gaps, and shows the extent to which militants want to extend violence even as the eight-year- U.S. presence winds down.

dissident AND ACTIVIST chinese artist calls life in PEKIN a 'constant nightmare'

       PEKIN, china--In an angry, despairing essay for Newsweek, Ai Weiwei, a prominent Chinese artist and dissident who was released from detention two months ago, described life in the Chinese capital as a Kafkaesque “nightmare.” Mr. Ai, who still faces charges the Chinese authorities claim are related to tax evasion, not his outspoken criticism of the government, was arrested in April and held for three months. As Evan Osnos explained in a New Yorker blog post, Mr. Ai’s experience in prison does sound like something from Kafka — or from a documentary about Bradley Manning: According to various accounts, after being detained and fitted with a black hood, he was driven to a secluded location where he was watched twenty-four hours a day by shifts of two uniformed military police sergeants, who stayed less than three feet from his side, sometimes inches away, while he slept, showered, and used the bathroom.

     They reportedly required that he sleep with his hands in view, on top of his blanket. That sort of treatment, Mr. Ai told my colleague Keith Bradsher in a brief telephone interview earlier this month, “is designed as a kind of mental torture, and it works well.”  In his Newsweek essay, the artist writes that, even outside prison, life in Beijing seems like a bad dream from which he cannot awake: My ordeal made me understand that on this fabric, there are many hidden spots where they put people without identity. With no name, just a number. They don’t care where you go, what crime you committed. They see you or they don’t see you, it doesn’t make the slightest difference. There are thousands of spots like that. Only your family is crying out that you’re missing. But you can’t get answers from the street communities or officials, or even at the highest levels, the court or the police or the head of the nation.

     My wife has been writing these kinds of petitions every day, making phone calls to the police station every day. Where is my husband? Just tell me where my husband is. There is no paper, no information…This city is not about other people or buildings or streets but about your mental structure. If we remember what Kafka writes about his Castle, we get a sense of it. Cities really are mental conditions. Beijing is a nightmare. A constant nightmare. Although the terms of Mr. Ai’s release from detention reportedly prohibit him from making public statements, he has already tested the limits of that ban on Twitter. Earlier this month, the artist returned to the social network with a series of brief updates and humorous, enigmatic self-portraits, before using the platform to directly criticize the detention of four of his business colleagues and two other dissidents.

August 29, 2011

FUGITIVE DICTATOR MUAMMAR GADHAFI OFFERS TALKS ON POWER TRANSFER

      TRIPOLI, LIBYA--Fugitive Libyan DICTATOR  Col Muammar GadHafi is ready to begin talks to transfer power, his spokesman has said. Moussa Ibrahim reportedly said the toppled leader's son Saadi would lead the talks. The rebels say they will not negotiate until he surrenders. Meanwhile, desperately-needed fuel and water supplies are expected to arrive in the Libyan capital Tripoli later. More than 50 charred bodies have been found in a burnt-out warehouse in the south of the capital. Residents of the district of Salah al-Din said they were civilians who had been executed on Tuesday by members of a brigade commanded by Col Gadhafi's son, Khamis, before they abandoned a nearby military base. Human Rights Watch says it has evidence that pro-Gadhafi forces killed at least 17 prisoners and carried out "suspected arbitrary executions of dozens of civilians, including professionals" in the days before Tripoli fell to the rebels.

      On Friday, more than 200 decomposing bodies were found at an abandoned hospital in the capital's Abu Salim district. Doctors and nurses fled because of the fighting and many injured patients were left to die. The Associated Press news agency in New York reported that it had received a call from Col Gadhafi's spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, who said the former leader was still in Libya although he did not specify where. Mr Ibrahim, whom AP says it identified by his voice, said Col Gaddafi was offering to negotiate with the rebels to form a transitional government. Those negotations would be led by Col Gadhafi's son, Saadi, said Mr Ibrahim, who told AP he was still in Tripoli and had seen the former leader on Friday.  Early this week, CNN reported it had been in email contact with Saadi Gadhafi who confirmed his desire to negotiate a ceasefire. "I will try to save my city Tripoli and 2 millions of people living there... otherwise Tripoli will be lost forever like Somalia," he wrote. Without a cease-fire, Mr Gadhafi added, "Soon it will be a sea of blood."

      An official in the rebel's National Transitional Council (NTC) told Reuters news agency that they did not know where Col Gaddafi was and no negotiations were taking place with him. "If he wants to surrender, then we will negotiate and we will capture him," said Ali Tarhouni, the rebel official in charge of oil and financial matters.  UK Foreign Secretary William Hague described Colonel Gadhafi's offer as "delusional", saying the NTC is already in charge of the country. British Foreign Secretary William Hague says Col Gadhafi is making "delusional statements" "What is needed from the remnants of the Gaddafi regime is the fighting to stop," he told the BBC. The focus has now moved to the urgent humanitarian situation in Tripoli. The opposition says it will start distributing 30,000 tonnes of petrol on Sunday, and provide cooking gas within the next 48 hours. A ship carrying fresh water and diesel for the power stations is due to dock in the next couple of days.

libyan rebels reject gadhafi's offer to talk

       tripoli, libya--Libyan rebels on Sunday rejected an offer by Muammar QadHafi to negotiate and said they have captured the eastern town of Bin Jawwad, forcing regime loyalists to flee after days of fighting. With his regime crumbling, Qaddafi is on the run, but his chief spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told The Associated Press the Libyan leader is still in Libya. As the call for negotiations came, new signs emerged of arbitrary killings of detainees and civilians by Qadhafi forces during the rebels' push into Tripoli earlier this week, including some 50 charred corpses at a regime lockup. The rebels dismissed Qaddafi's proposal, relayed by Ibrahim by phone, to have his son al-Saadi lead talks on a transitional government as delusional. "I would like to state very clearly, we don't recognize them. We are looking at them as criminals. We are going to arrest them very soon," Mahmoud Shammam, the information minister in the rebels' transitional government, told a news conference. "Talking about negotiations is a daydream for what remains of the dictatorship."

    In London Sunday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague also dismissed the offer, saying the National Transitional Council was already in charge of the country and that Qadhafi should call on his supporters to stop fighting. "I referred a few days ago to Col. Qadhafi making delusional statements and this is another one of them," Hague told the BBC. The rebels control most of Libya, including Tripoli, but are struggling to alleviate shortages of water, fuel and electricity in the capital. Usama el-Abed, the deputy leader of the new city council, said between 60 and 70 percent of the residents don't have enough water, but that the shortages are due to technical problems, not sabotage by regime forces. The U.N. is preparing to ship in baby food, bottled water and medicine. World Health Organization officials are on Malta, some 350 kilometers (225 miles) north of Tripoli, to prepare the aid shipments, which are expected to leave for Libya in the next few days.

     In Sunday's fighting, rebels threatened to advance on the coastal road toward Qadhafi's hometown of Sirte if tribal leaders there don't agree to surrender. Mohammed al-Rajali, a spokesman, said rebel forces captured Bin Jawwad, about 350 miles east of Tripoli, late Saturday and deployed forces in the city after days of fighting. He said Qadhafi's forces fled westward, likely to join regime forces in Sirte, the headquarters of Qadhafi's tribe and his last major bastion of support. Sirte has been heavily targeted by NATO airsrikes. On Sunday, an AP reporter found some 50 charred corpses in a makeshift lockup near a military base that had been run by the Khamis Brigade, an elite unit commanded by Qaddafi's son, Khamis. Mabrouk Abdullah, who said he survived a massacre at the site by Qaddafi's forces, told The Associated Press that on Tuesday guards opened fired at some 130 civilian detainees in the lockup, a hangar, and fired again when prisoners tried to flee. Abdullah said he had been crouching along a wall and was shot in his side, lifting his shirt to show his injury.

 

VENEZUELAN CENTRAL BANK  RULES OUT SWAP OF US DOLLARS FOR YUANS OR RUBLES

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuelan reserves will be moved, but they will be kept in US dollars. This appears to be the mechanism Venezuela will use to move its operating international reserves from Swiss, British, French, and American banks to financial institutions in Russia, China, or Brazil.  President of the Central Bank of Venezuela Nelson Merentes said on Sunday that the transfer of international reserves does not mean that US dollars would be swapped for Chinese yuan, Russian ruble, or Brazilian real.

     During a meeting in Caracas to talk about Venezuela's international reserves, Merentes justified the decision to move reserve funds by saying that "we are protecting our funds, in a first phase. If there is a region affected by an economic disturbance, the most prudent and advisable decision is to change the location of these reserves (...) We are protecting ourselves from the risk of contagion. We seek better safeguard (for the funds)."  Operating reserves, which amount to USD 6.2 billion, are kept in banks in Basel, Switzerland (59%); the United Kingdom (17.9%); the United States (11.3%); France (6.48%) and Venezuela (3.79%).  Although Venezuela will keep the US dollars, the president of the BCV highlighted that the US dollars would be undoubtedly changed for Chinese yuan in a future, if "it becomes and international currency. Hopefully, we South Americans could have an international currency."

     According to Merentes, the global economy "can not depend on two or three currencies. This is very dangerous because when the economies that produce those currencies are disturbed, the rest of the world is affected."  Merentes also referred to the relocation of the monetary gold, which is kept in different banks worldwide. The BCV president said "we are bringing back the gold for sovereignty reasons and financial prudence. We will bring back the same gold ingots that were taken out."  Merentes said that the central bank has already initiated the protocols to request its gold holdings in the Bank of England. The shipments will be sent by airplanes.  The BCV stated that gold reserves amount to USD 18.2 billion. The economic authorities also said that they would revise rules to mobilize assets, if necessary.

August 28, 2011

AL-QAEDA'S NO. 2 LEADER KILLED IN PAKISTAN; U.S. OFFICIAL SAYS

      WASHINGTON, D.C.--Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, has been killed in Pakistan, a U.S. official said.   Al-Rahman was a Libyan national who was considered Al Qaeda's operational leader before rising to the No. 2 spot following Usama bin Laden's death in May. Al-Rahman's death is a big blow to the terrorist group and comes as U.S. officials have said in the aftermath of bin Laden's killing that a few more high-profile deaths could break Al Qaeda's back. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says al-Rahman was killed Aug. 22 in the Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan. That's the same day a US drone strike in Waziristan.

    Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last month that Al Qaeda's defeat was within reach if the U.S. could mount a string of successful attacks on the group's weakened leadership. "Now is the moment, following what happened with bin Laden, to put maximum pressure on them," Panetta said, "because I do believe that if we continue this effort we can really cripple Al Qaeda as a major threat." Since bin Laden's death, Al Qaeda's structure has been unsettled and U.S. officials have hoped to capitalize on that. The more uncertain the leadership, the harder it is for Al Qaeda to operate covertly and plan attacks.

     Bin Laden's longtime deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is running the group but is considered a divisive figure who lacks the founder's charisma and ability to galvanize Al Qaeda's disparate franchises. Rahman has been thought to be dead before. Last year, there were reports that Rahman was killed in a drone strike but neither senior U.S. administration officials nor Al Qaeda ever confirmed them. Al-Rahman was allowed to move freely in and out of Iran as part of that arrangement and has been operating out of Waziristan for some time, officials have said. Born in Libya, al-Rahman joined bin Laden as a teenager in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union. After Navy SEALs killed bin Laden, they found evidence of al-Rahman's role as operational chief, U.S. officials have said.

VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ REQUESTS FROM RUSSIA A USD 4 BILLION LOAN TO BUY WEAPONS

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--dictator  Hugo Chávez reported Wednesday that Venezuela's Minister of Planning and Finance Jorge Giordani will travel to Moscow in a few weeks to "fine-tune the details" of a USD 4 billion loan the Russian government will grant to Venezuela to buy weapons. 

    On Wednesday, Chávez received Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Miraflores presidential palace and at the end of the meeting the Venezuelan president answered the questions posed by three journalists.  "I will not get into details, because I do not have at this time the map related to the strengthening of our relationship," Chávez apologized when he was asked to provide details about the loan. "This agreement should lead us to continue strengthening our defense capacity of this large territory, in land, water, and air," he added.  Chávez highlighted that his government is incurring "minimum defense spending," but it has invested some USD 400 billion in social investment in the past 10 years.

     The South American president said that Venezuela's military spending "is one of the lowest in Latin America and the world."  In addition to the USD 4 billion loan to buy arms, Russia will grant Venezuela another USD 6.5 billion loan for infrastructure.  Chávez also referred to US President Barack Obama. "We, the Latin American people, would like to have a rational government in the United States with which we could talk, maintain relations of cooperation for the good of all, for the stability and even for the benefit of the US people," he said.

IRAN DISCUSSES VENEZUELA'S MEDIATION TO BUY RUSSIAN MISSILES

       TEHRAN, IRAN--Iranian ambassador in Russia Mahmoud Sajjadi said that his country filed a lawsuit against Russia to seek the supply of missiles. The Iranian diplomat did not rule out the delivery of the air defense weapon via Venezuela

     Iran expects international courts to authorize the supply of Russia's S-300 air defense systems to Iran. The Russian authorities have refused to sell the surface-to-air missile to the Asian Islamic republic following international sanctions imposed by the United Nations.  "From a legal standpoint, we consider that the supply of S-300 does not fall under the UN resolution," Sajjadi said Wednesday at a press conference in Moscow, as reported by Russian agencies.

      The Iranian diplomat said that his country "filed a suit, and the decision of the court will help Russia to complete the supply."  Sajjadi left open the possibility that Iran may receive the weapons through a third country; in this case Venezuela, whose President, Hugo Chávez, has already confirmed his interest in buying the S-300 missiles.

August 27, 2011

SYRIAN POLITICAL CARTOONIST BRUTALLY ATTACKED BY  DICTATOR ASSAD'S SECURITY POLICE

      DAMASCUS, SYRIA--Syrian political cartoonist Ali Ferzat, an outspoken advocate for human rights, was attacked this week and his hands broken by masked thugs. The US State Department criticised the assault as a "targeted, brutal attack" and demanded that the regime of president Bashar al-Assad “stop its campaign of terror through torture, illegal imprisonment, and murder”. “The regime’s thugs focused their attention on Ferzat’s hands, beating them furiously and breaking one of them — a clear message that he should stop drawing,” said US Department of State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland in a statement. “He was then reportedly dumped on the side of a road in Damascus, where passers-by stopped and took him to a Damascus hospital."

     Last week, US President Barack Obama called for Assad to resign because he had lost credibility as a ruler following his violent crackdown on protesters. The demand was echoed by leaders in France, Britain and Germany, as well as the United Nations. Obama also issued an executive order freezing Syrian government assets in the US and imposing sanctions against the country, including a ban on imports of Syrian oil products.  “While making empty promises about dialogue with the Syrian people, the Assad regime continues to carry out brutal attacks against peaceful Syrians trying to exercise their universal right to free expression. We demand that the Assad regime immediately stop its campaign of terror through torture, illegal imprisonment, and murder,” said Nuland.

     According to reports in the Associated Press, Ferzat was followed by a Jeep with tinted windows late Thursday night. He was forcefully abducted by four men and driven to a highway on the outskirts of the capital. The gunmen told him that "this is just a warning," as they beat him, said a relative. Ferzat is one of the country’s most popular cartoonists, and has become an even more beloved figure during the country’s recent uprisings. At the start of the new presidency, he was allowed to publish a satirical magazine called The Lamplighter, which sold out just hours after hitting newsstands. But when Assad began jailing critics of his regime, the publication was soon shut down. Though Ferzat’s work has now been banned in local newspapers, the artist continued to post his illustrations on his private website. Recently he had become bolder and started taking jabs at Assad himself (under Syrian law, caricatures of the president are illegal), with a cartoon depicting Assad, his bags packed, hitching a ride with deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

JPMORGAN CHASE BANK FINED 88 MILLION USD FOR BREAKING CUBAN EMBARGO

       WASHINGTON, D.C.--The JP Morgan Chase Bank of New York has agreed to pay $88.3 million to settle allegations of “egregious” violations of Cuban Assets Control Regulations, the U.S. Treasury Department announced Thursday. JPMC processed 1,711 wire transfers totaling about $178.5 million from Dec. 12 of 2005, and March 31 of 2006 involving Cuba or a Cuban national through a correspondent account, the announcement noted. Another U.S. financial institution had alerted JPMC in November of 2005 that it might be processing improper wire transfers involving Cuba, the statement added, without identifying the institution.  JPMC investigated the tip and confirmed it, yet it “failed to take adequate steps to prevent further transfers” and “did not voluntarily self-disclose these apparent violations of the CACR,” the Treasury statement added.

    The base penalty for that set of actions alone was $111,215,000, according to the statement, but the bank agreed to pay $88.3 million for a total of six apparent violations involving Cuba, Iran and Sudan. The Treasury Department statement revealed few details about the cases, which were handled by its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). But the size of the settlement to be paid by JPMC suggested that the alleged violations were fairly serious. In the other apparent violations, JPMC also did not make a timely report on a trade loan for about $2.9 million that it had issued in 2009 in a deal involving a ship linked to Iran and listed in Weapons of Mass Destruction sanctions, the government reported. The base fine for that case was $3 million.

     Bank managers also failed to fully respond to a U.S. government subpoena last year seeking information about a wire transfer marked “Khartoum,” the capital of Sudan, which is on the U.S. list of nations that support terrorism. The base penalty in that case was $250,000. JPMC officials could not be immediately reached for comment on the Treasury Department statement. The Cuba, Iran and Sudan cases “were egregious because of reckless acts or omissions by JPMC,” the statement noted. “OFAC determined that JPMC is a very large, commercially sophisticated financial institution, and that JPMC managers and supervisors acted with knowledge of the conduct constituting the apparent violations and recklessly failed to exercise a minimal degree of caution or care.” OFAC reduced the potential fine because of the bank’s “substantial cooperation” with the investigations and the fact that JMPC had not faced such problems in the previous five years.

BOLIVIA ACCUSES UNITED STATES OF PROMOTING INDIGENOUS PROTESTS

       LA PAZ, BOLIVIA-- Bolivia's government is accusing U.S. officials of meddling in the South American nation's internal affairs and fueling indigenous protests of a proposed highway project. An influential Bolivian official called Wednesday for the expulsion of the U.S. Agency of International Development, accusing the agency of promoting actions aimed at "destabilizing" the government. "The expulsion of USAID should be ... an act of sovereignty," said Juan Ramon Quintana, director of a Bolivian government development agency and a former top presidential aide. His remarks came as hundreds of indigenous protesters trekked toward La Paz, protesting the proposed construction of a highway through a national park where indigenous communities live. Quintana showed documents that he said proved that officials from the agency were behind the movement.

     On Sunday, Bolivian President Evo Morales said the U.S. Embassy officials had "suspiciously" been in touch with protest organizers -- pointing to a phone log that he said proved it. But embassy officials have denied supporting the protests, which are scheduled to last for weeks. "We emphasize that neither the United States Embassy in Bolivia nor any other element of the U.S. government has given any support to the indigenous march," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. USAID did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency's website says it provided $52 million in aid money to Bolivia in the 2010 fiscal year for projects related to health, development, economic growth and the environment. Opposition politicians accuse Morales and his government of using the United States as a scapegoat as a way to deflect attention away from issues raised by indigenous groups Morales purports to defend.

     "They are violating fundamental rights, the right to privacy, they are flagrantly violating it," said Jaime Navarro, a representative in the National Unity Party. "And once again the government dusts off an old ghost when it finds itself facing situations like this, and tries to show a conspiracy." Sacha Llorenti, Bolivia's interior minister, said the phone log was obtained legally. Bolivia and the United States have had diminished relations since September 2008, when each country expelled the other's ambassador. Morales, a strong proponent of the cultivation of coca plants -- the source of cocaine -- expelled the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration a month later. He also delivered a strong verbal criticism of the U.S. government at the United Nations General Assembly that year. Last month Morales told CNN en Español that he was afraid the U.S. government was plotting against him. Days earlier, he told a convention of female of farm workers that he was worried U.S. authorities would plant something on his presidential plane while he attended the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. "They are preparing something to discredit us with drug trafficking," he said.

August 26, 2011

PENTAGON: CHINA MILITARY GROWING RAPIDLY 

      WASHINGTON, D.C.--Bolstered by the development of a new stealth fighter, an aircraft carrier and a record number of space launches over the past year, China is on pace to achieve its goal of building a modern, regionally focused military by 2020, according to the Pentagon. In a report released Wednesday, the Pentagon said Beijing has closed critical technological gaps and is rapidly modernizing its military equipment, all with an eye toward preventing possible U.S. and allied intervention in a conflict with Taiwan. It also warns that the military expansion could increasingly stretch to the western Pacific in a move to deny U.S. and allies access or movement there.

     "The pace and scope of China's sustained military investments have allowed China to pursue capabilities that we believe are potentially destabilizing to regional military balances, increase the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation and may contribute to regional tensions and anxieties," said Michael Schiffer, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia. The report comes as the U.S. and Beijing struggle to restore their strained and volatile relations amid ongoing concerns about the largely unexplained military build-up, America's continuing support for Taiwan and persistent fractures over what are believed to be China-based cyber intrusions into American government and defense-related networks.

    China froze military contacts with the U.S. last year to protest an arms sale to Taiwan worth more than $6 billion. China claims the self-governing island democracy as its own territory but Washington is committed to providing arms to Taiwan. The Pentagon's report acknowledges that political relations between China and Taiwan may be warming, but that has not slowed Beijing's efforts to expand its military options to protect and deny allied intervention within the Taiwan Strait. Over the past year, China marked several dramatic advances, including the test flight of a new stealth fighter and recent sea trials of its first aircraft carrier. China refurbished the former Soviet carrier and completed the trials earlier this month. Schiffer said officials expect the carrier to become operational next year, but it will take longer than that to base aircraft on the ship. He added that China is working on building multiple carriers and support ships over the next decade.

LOOTING AND UNREST AS CHILEANS STRIKE AGAINST PRESIDENT PINERA

       SANTIAGO DE CHILE, CHILE--Protesters scuffled with police in the Chilean capital on Thursday, the second of a two-day strike against unpopular President Sebastian Pinera marked by sporadic looting, though the linchpin mining sector was not affected.  Youths set fire to piles of trash at some intersections in Santiago and other cities to block traffic, and police used water cannon and tear gas to defuse the latest rash of social unrest against conservative billionaire Pinera's policies. The government said hundreds of people had been detained since Wednesday and several police officers were badly injured -- two of them shot -- as violence flared overnight, when dozens of shops, supermarkets and gas station kiosks were looted and buses damaged.

     The government says only a fraction of public sector workers have joined the strike, called by Chile's main umbrella labor union CUT, which follows huge demonstrations led by students to demand free education and greater distribution of the spoils of a copper price boom in the top world producer. "We've had numerous episodes of hooded protesters in small groups spreading out and damaging and looting different ... shops, businesses and supermarkets," said Rodrigo Ubilla, Interior Ministry undersecretary. Public transportation was running, and operations at some of the world's biggest copper mines were not affected by the protests that also seek to pressure the government into raising wages and revamping the constitution and tax system. While Latin America's model economy is seen expanding 6.6 percent this year and is an investor magnet thanks to prudent fiscal and monetary policies, many ordinary Chileans feel they are not sharing in Chile's economic miracle.

     Investors, long used to economic stability, are weighing risk, though markets have taken the protests in stride. "It's unlikely to affect direct foreign investment," said Fernando Soto, an analyst at Banchile Inversiones. "There could be some short-term effects on investment portfolios ... out of fear more than anything." Workers at some of the world's biggest copper mines have staged strikes of their own to demand a bigger share of windfall copper profits. Workers at BHP Billiton's Escondida, the world's No.1 copper mine, halted a two-week strike earlier this month that stoked global supply fears. Previous governments have faced one-day national strikes, but it was the first 48-hour national strike since the 1973-1990 Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. A recent poll showed Pinera is the least popular president since Pinochet's rule ended. Even a major Cabinet reshuffle last month, the second since Pinera took power, has failed to quell unrest. The slump in Pinera's support is seen hindering him in Congress, and delaying the passage of capital market reforms aimed at turning Chile into a financial hub to rival Brazil.

DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ SAYS VENEZUELAN EMBASSY IN LIBYA LOOTED

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that the South American country's embassy in Libya had been ransacked and asked for his country's sovereignty to be respected.  Speaking in a televised press conference after meeting with Russian officials, Chavez said he has received word that the Venezuelan Embassy in the Libyan capital of Tripoli "was assaulted and totally looted" by hordes of people. He didn't give details or say whether anyone was injured in the incident, which occurred during rebel assaults on government and other buildings.  The leftist leader didn't give more details but accused groups of people of violating the sovereign property of Venezuela. "There has to be respect for the integrity, above all, for our ambassador and all the personnel who work there," he said.  "The drama of Libya isn't ending with the fall of Gadhafi's government. It's beginning," Chavez said. "The tragedy in Libya is just beginning."

     Libyans hunting Moammar Gadhafi offered a $2 million bounty on Gadhafi's head and amnesty for anyone who kills or captures him as rebels battled Wednesday to clear the last pockets of resistance from the capital, Tripoli. A day earlier, Chavez reaffirmed full support of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi and said he won't recognize any new government in the North African country as the Libyan leader's 42-year reign appeared to be coming to an end.  Chavez, a self-proclaimed socialist revolutionary, has long allied with Gadhafi and other anti-American leaders such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Rumors have circulated in recent months that Gadhafi may look to flee to Venezuela if he were to leave the North African country.  Chavez has been a staunch defender of Moammar Gadhafi throughout the conflict.

     Asked about efforts to hunt for Gadhafi, Chavez said they reflect a "madness let loose.  "What the Yankee empire and the European powers ... want is Libya's oil," Chavez said. Chavez said Tuesday that Venezuela would continue to recognize Gadhafi as Libya's leader and would refuse to recognize a rebel-led interim government. On Wednesday, he again condemned NATO's airstrikes in Libya. "They've destroyed a country and they continue destroying it," Chavez said. "How many Libyan children have died?" He made the remarks in response to questions from reporters after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "Now they're aiming against Syria," said Chavez, referring to another ally of Venezuela. The president has accused the U.S. of being behind violence in Syria.

August 25, 2011

NICARAGUA  OPEN TO FORMER DICTATOR GADHAFI ASYLUM REQUEST, SAYS OFFICIAL

      MANAGUA, NICARAGUA--With the whereabouts of FORMER Libyan strongman Muammar al-QadHafi still unknown, an adviser to Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega said Tuesday that his government would consider granting him asylum. Asked whether Nicaragua would offer Qadhafi asylum, economic adviser Bayardo Arce said he didn't know how Qaddafi could even get to this Central American nation, whose government has been a strong ally of the Libyan leader.

     "I do not know how Qadhafi could get here from Libya, because we do not have an embassy in Libya," Arce told Channel 63 television. But Arce said "if someone asks us for asylum, we would have to consider it positively, because our people got asylum when the Somoza dictatorship was killing us," Arce said, referring to the 1979 uprising that overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza. Ortega made a public speech Tuesday but did not mention Qaddafi.

      Rebels overran Qadhafi's command compound in Tripoli on Tuesday, but his whereabouts are unknown. The leftist governments of Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia are staunch allies of Qaddafi and have criticized the military intervention by U.S. and European air forces. In late February, after Qadhafi's government began cracking down on the uprising, Ortega said he had telephoned the Libyan leader to express his solidarity. Ortega said at the time that Qadhafi "is again waging a great battle" to defend the unity of his nation.

NORTH KOREA REPORTEDLY READY TO HALT NUCLEAR MISSILE TESTS

       MOSCOW, RUSSIA--North Korea is ready to impose a moratorium on nuclear missile tests if international talks on its nuclear program resume, a spokesman for Russia's president said Wednesday after talks between the two leaders. Russian news agencies, meanwhile, reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said the country is ready to resume talks "without preconditions."

     The six-sided talks have been long-stalled, but Kim's Russia trip comes as his country pushes to restart them. South Korea and Washington have demanded that the North first show its sincerity on fulfilling past nuclear commitments. The Korean peninsula has seen more than a year of tension during which the North shelled a South Korean island and allegedly torpedoed a South Korean warship. Kim and Russian President Dmitry Medevdev met Wednesday on a military base near the city of Ulan-Ude in eastern Siberia in Kim's first trip to Russia since 2002. Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalya Timakova was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying afterward that Kim expressed readiness to return to the six-sided talks without preconditions and "in the course of the talks, North Korea will be ready to resolve the question of imposing a moratorium on tests and production of nuclear missile weapons."

    Medvedev said Russia and North Korea moved forward on a proposed project to ship natural gas to South Korea through a pipeline that crosses North Korea. North Korea had long been reluctant about the prospect of helping its industrial powerhouse archenemy increase its gas supply, but recently has shown interest in the project. Medvedev, in comments on Russian television, said the two countries have ordered that a special commission be created to "define concrete parameters for bilateral cooperation on gas transit."

IRAN MOVES SOME CENTRIFUGES TO UNDERGROUND SITE

       TEHRAN, IRAN-- Iran has moved some of its centrifuges to an underground uranium enrichment site that offers better protection from possible airstrikes, the country's vice president said Monday. Engineers are "hard at work" preparing the facility in Fordo, which is carved into a mountain to protect it against possible attacks, to house the centrifuges, Fereidoun Abbasi was quoted as saying by state TV. Abbasi, who is also Iran's nuclear chief, did not say how many centrifuges have been moved to Fordo nor whether the machines installed are the new, more efficient centrifuges Iran has promised or the old IR-1 types.  He did specify that the centrifuges will be taken to Fordo from Iran's main uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, central Iran.

     Uranium enrichment lies at the heart of Iran's dispute with the West, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or materials for atomic bombs. The United States and some of its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop atomic weapons. Iran has denied the charges, saying its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity, not nuclear weapons. On Monday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the new program raises suspicions. "The Iranian nuclear program offers no plausible reasons for its existing enrichment of uranium up to nearly 20 percent, nor ramping up this production, nor moving centrifuges underground," she said. "And its failure to comply with its obligations to suspend its enrichment activities up to 3.5 percent and nearly 20 percent have given all of us in the international community reason to doubt its intentions."

      Iran has been enriching uranium to less than 5 percent for years, but it began to further enrich its uranium stockpile to nearly 20 percent as of February 2010, saying it needs the higher grade material to produce fuel for a Tehran reactor that makes medical radioisotopes needed for cancer patients. Weapons-grade uranium is usually about 90 percent enriched. Iran's higher-grade enrichment efforts are of particular concern to the West because uranium at 20 percent enrichment can be converted into fissile material for a nuclear warhead much more quickly than that at 3.5 percent. The West argues that it revealed the existence of Fordo for the first time Sept. 25, 2009 at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh but Iran says it did nothing wrong and that it informed the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, in a Sept. 21 letter, at least two years before the plant would be operational.

August 24, 2011

MAGNITUDE 5.8 EARTHQUAKE HITS VIRGINIA, SENDS SHOCKWAVES THROUGHOUT EAST COAST

      WASHINGTON, d.c.--An unusually strong magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Virginia Tuesday afternoon, sending tremors along the East Coast of the United States. The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was more than three miles deep and struck near Mineral, Va., a city in central Virginia about 83 miles from Washington, D.C. The area is known for its seismic activity, but does not generally produce large earthquakes. Most of downtown D.C. has since been evacuated, including the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and other buildings. Pictures in the Capitol building reportedly fell from the wall and workers panicked and ran to the exits, apparently fearing a 9/11-style attack.

     Workers were told not to re-enter the buildings.  There have been no reports of serious structural damage or injuries. Marine helicopters were seen hovering above the D.C, and there were reports that the Washington Monument may be tilting. Buildings in New York City shook briefly and the FBI building was evacuated. Flights resumed at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Airport, where control towers were perviously evacuated. Evacuations were felt as north as Canada. The press corp with President Obama in Martha's Vineyard said they felt slight shaking. Attorney General Eric Holder has been evacuated from the Department of Justice.

     Federal officials say two nuclear reactors were taken offline near quake site in Virginia; there was no damage reported. Indian Point, a power plant in New York, said on Twitter that there are no issues at the facility.  The East Coast gets earthquakes, but usually smaller ones and is less prepared than California or Alaska for shaking. At Reagan National Airport outside Washington, ceiling tiles fell during a few seconds of shaking. Authorities announced it was an earthquake and all flights were put on hold. The largest earthquake from the area in the past few years have been in the magnitude 4 range. U.S. weather service says no tsunami expected after East Coast. Subways in New York have not been affected, but the Metro in D.C. has been cancelled. Phone companies said they are being overwhelmed with phone calls, but said none of their infrastructure have been damaged.

VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ SAYS HE RECOGNIZES ONLY THE GOVERNMENT OF GADAFI

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuela's dictator  Hugo Chavez on Tuesday reiterated his  support for the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi,  asserting that he only recognizes his government,  at a time when his headquarters in Tripoli has been  taken by rebels and his whereabouts unknown. "We recognize only one government, the one led by Muammar Gaddafi. We reaffirm our solidarity with the Libyan people, those brothers  attacked and bombed, "Chavez said during a cabinet meeting broadcast chain by all Venezuelan radio and television. According to Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, a spokesman of the  Libyan rebels, Qaddafi's headquarters in Tripoli, Bab al Aziziya,  is now under rebel control, however,  neither Qaddafi nor his sons, whose whereabouts are unknown, were found in that place or In his remarks Tuesday, Chavez called it "a complete effrontery" what happened in Libya. "Without doubt we are at the forefront of an imperial madness. The loot and rob of international reserves and oil, "he said.

      "Yes (the U.S. President, Barack) Obama said that he will cooperate economically with the new government, which we of course we do not recognize," said the Venezuelan leader, a close ally of Gaddafi and the only one in recent days who  has publicly supported him. Chavez also said that the actions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Libya amount to "throw away, kicking, spitting and ignoring the most elementary principles of international law." Since the beginning of the revolt in Libya during  the last six months, Chavez has backed the Gaddafi regime and opposed to any economic sanctions and NATO intervention. In February, he launched a proposal called “peace plan” and has exchanged letters in recent weeks with the Libyan ruler.

     Chavez considers Kadafi a friend and has visited Libya on several occasions, the first of these in 2001 and most recently in 2009, the same year that Gaddafi arrived in Venezuela for a summit of South American-Africa leaders. The Venezuelan dictator has insisted that the revolt in Libya has been promoted by the United States and its European allies to take over the Libyan oil reserves, the largest in Africa, and on Tuesday hinted that it might have a similar goal in Venezuela, the most important oil producer in South America. Some "say Chavez equal to Gaddafi, Libya and Venezuela equals. They will stay with their desire because that formula will not work here, it will not work at all, neither  for the gringo empire, or his minions, or anyone else, "he said. "We want to remind them, if they are going to apply to venezuela  the formula that worked for them in Libya, at least apparently, that it brought that country to a civil war, "he said.

NY SUPREME COURT JUSTICE DISMISSES SEX ASSAULT CHARGES AGAINST STRAUSS-KAHN 

       NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK-- State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus said he wouldn't dismiss the case until an appeal is decided on whether a special prosecutor should be appointed. That appeal was expected to be decided later Tuesday. The former head of the International Monetary Fund, Strauss-Khan, appeared resolute in the courtroom, wearing a dark gray suit, blue shirt and a navy-and-gold striped tie, smiling and shaking hands with an audience member and his wife, journalist Anne Sinclair, sitting nearby. They left court without speaking to reporters but read a statement shortly afterward.

      "These past two and a half months have been a nightmare for me and my family," he said. "I want to thank all the friends in France and in the United States who have believed in my innocence, and to the thousands of people who sent us their support personally and in writing. I am most deeply grateful to my wife and family who have gone through this ordeal with me. "We will have nothing further to say about this matter and we look forward to returning to our home and resuming something of a more normal life," he said. He reiterated a statement in French outside the posh townhouse where he was held under house arrest for much of the summer.

      Obus said he saw no reason not to dismiss the case. But noting that the accuser was still seeking to get a special prosecutor appointed, Obus said, "I am going to stay the effectiveness of the order I am about to enter."  Shortly before the hearing Obus had denied the request to appoint a special prosecutor, saying there was nothing that would disqualify Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance from heading the case. At the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon formally recommended the case be dismissed. "Our inability to believe the complainant beyond a reasonable doubt means, in good faith, that we could not ask a jury to do that," she said.  Manhattan prosecutors had filed court papers a day earlier saying they did not feel comfortable going forward with the case, because they had deep concerns about the credibility of the maid, Nafissatou Diallo.

August 23, 2011

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA URGES DICTATOR GADHAFI LOYALISTS LAY DOWN ARMS

      WASHINGTON, d.c.--President Barack Obama called on Monday for Muammar Gaddafi to end the bloodshed in Libya as pockets of his loyalist forces continued to fight. Although it is clear Gaddafi's rule is over, he still has the opportunity to reduce bloodshed by explicitly relinquishing power to the people of Libya and calling for those forces that continue to fight to lay down their arms," Obama said.

     While rebels hunted for Gadhafi in Tripoli, some forces loyal to the autocratic leader were fighting on fiercely. "This is not over yet," Obama warned in a statement from the farm where his family is vacationing on an island off the coast from Boston. Vowing the United States would be a friend and partner to help a democratic Libya emerge in the post-Gaddafi era, Obama also cautioned the Libyan opposition against acts of revenge for the four decades of Gaddafi's autocratic rule. "True justice will not come from reprisals and violence. It will come from reconciliation and a Libya that allows its citizens to determine their own destiny," he said.

      Although he did not go into details about what help the United States would be prepared to offer Libya, Obama said a top priority would be humanitarian aid to the wounded. He did spell out that U.S. engagement would continue to be part of a multinational effort and praised the role NATO had played in the campaign to oust Gaddafi. "NATO has once again proven it is the most capable alliance in the world and its strength comes from both its firepower and the strength of out democratic ideals," Obama said.

VENEZUELAN COURT BANS PUBLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF JOURNAL "SEXTO PODER" 

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Caracas Ninth Crime Court, presided by Judge Denise Bocanegra Díaz, issued a precautionary measure banning publication and distribution of weekly journal Sexto Poder.  Marco Da Costa, an assistant to the president of weekly journal Sexto Poder, said he was served a notice whereby a court banned the publication and distribution of the journal by any means.  "Once again they are closing a media outlet. They are harming freedom of expression (...) We are being hit," said Da Costa.

     Pedro Aranguren, the attorney of weekly journal Sexto Poder, complained at the courthouse that he was denied entry to the Ninth Control Court to learn about the case brought against journalists Leocenis García, the president of the journal, and Dinorah Girón, the director of the weekly publication.  "I do not know the status of journalist Dinorah Girón; I do not know whether she is in the courtroom or if there is an arraignment without the presence of a defense lawyer," Aranguren said.  He added that clerks denied him access to the court, claiming said that the case against García and Girón has not been assigned to any court yet.

     Blanca Eekhout, the second deputy speaker of the National Assembly and leader of ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), said Monday that the publication by weekly journal Sexto Poder of "offensive" images that outrage six women who are leading different public institutions is part of a campaign against the government.  "This campaign seeks to delegitimize, discredit (the government), and justify violent actions," Eekhout said. The Venezuelan lawmaker added that it is not a new strategy because it was used in April 2002, "when there a smear campaign was launched against the people, the president and the State," she added.  The Venezuelan legislator also said that Sexto Poder receives foreign funds. The authorities will not only investigate the article in which a group of female officers holding senior public offices are "discredited" but they will investigate the weekly publication as a whole, she added.

NY DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO DROP SEXUAL ASSAULT CHARGE AGAINST STRAUS-KAHN

       NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK-- A New York district attorney plans to drop criminal charges against former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn related to allegations that he sexually assaulted a hotel housekeeper, attorneys for both the housekeeper and Strauss-Kahn said Monday. Kenneth Thompson, who represents alleged victim Nafissatou Diallo, addressed reporters after a meeting with prosecutors that lasted less than half an hour, and hours after filing a motion asking a judge to halt proceedings in the case and appoint a special prosecutor. "Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has denied the right of a woman to get justice in a rape case," Thompson said in a brief statement. "He has not only turned his back on this innocent victim, but he has also turned back on the forensic, medical and other evidence in this case.

     "If the Manhattan district attorney, who is elected to protect our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our wives, and our loved ones, is not going to stand up for them when they're raped or sexually assaulted, who will?"  But Strauss-Kahn's U.S.-based attorneys, William W. Taylor and Benjamin Brafman, lauded the decision to drop charges, noting it vindicates their consistent claims that their client is innocent and his accuser "was not credible." "Mr. Strauss-Kahn and his family are grateful that the District Attorney's office took our concerns seriously and concluded on its own that this case cannot proceed further," the attorneys said in a statement.  There was no immediate comment from the office of District Attorney Vance on the attorneys' statements, and his office earlier declined to comment on the motion. Thompson had said before the meeting Monday that he believed Vance was going to drop the charges. A status hearing for the case is scheduled for Tuesday. A judge would have to consent to the district attorney's request in order for the charges officially to be dropped. 

     A grand jury indicted the then-IMF chief in May on sexual abuse and attempted rape charges over allegations he sexually assaulted housekeeper Diallo in his New York hotel suite. He pleaded not guilty and, after several days behind bars, was ordered held on house arrest. But on July 1, a judge freed him after prosecutors learned Diallo had lied about the specifics of her whereabouts after the incident and past details of an asylum application and information on tax forms.  Prosecutors said she admitted lying on the asylum application about having been a victim of a gang rape, even providing details of an attack and later admitting it never happened.  Strauss-Kahn's attorneys have insisted that any sexual encounter was consensual. Diallo, who has conducted high-profile interviews about the case, and her attorneys have said Strauss-Kahn attacked her, and that her case should go to trial.   Attorneys for Diallo complain she is being treated by prosecutors like a criminal defendant and not an alleged victim.    Diallo has filed a civil lawsuit against Strauss-Kahn, without specifying the financial damages she was seeking. The accused has filed a counter-suit for slander.

August 22, 2011

LIBYAN REBELS HAVE CAPTURED THREE OF GADHAFI'S SON IN TRIPOLI

      TRIPOLI, LIBYA--Rebel forces took control of much of Tripoli tonight, and thousands have flooded the streets of the Libyan capital and other cities around the country to celebrate what they hope will be the end of Moammar Gadhafi's four-decade reign.  The Transitional National Council (NTC) has claimed that three of the Libyan strongman's sons have either been captured or surrendered.  Muhammad Gadhafi, son of the Libyan leader, told Al Jazeera in a weepy phone call that he had surrendered to opposition forces. Crying on the phone, he said that his house was surrounded by gunfire.  Shortly before, his brothers Seif al Islam and al Saadi, were captured by rebel forces in Tripoli, according to the NTC.  The International Criminal Court (ICC) will discuss on Monday with the transitional forces how Seif al Islam will be transferred to the Hague, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told The Associated Press.  Rebel forces have surrounded the Gadhafi compound, Bab al Aziziya, a representative of the rebel government told ABC News and gunfire has been heard outside the compound. Mohamad al Akari, a Transitional National Council (NTC) advisor, said that if Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi is still in Tripoli, they believe he is in Bab al Aziziya.  

      In an audio address broadcast just before midnight -- his second of the day -- the still at large longtime Libyan dictator Gadhafi claimed that "very small groups of people who are collaborators with the imperialists" were fighting inside the capital. He also blasted the rebels who have been fighting to unseat him as "traitors." Libyan rebels advance "How can you let Tripoli, Libyan's capital, fall once again to occupation?" he said. "How can you let it become a military circus? ... It can't fall!" Should the opposition prevail, Gadhafi said NATO would not protect them and predicted massive bloodshed. To prevent this, he said, Libyans -- he included a special appeal to women -- should go out and fight. "Get out and lead, lead, lead the people to paradise," he said.

     While the Libyan leader earlier predicted he'd win the battle, NATO said the end of his 42-year reign as the North African nation's ruler was near. NATO, under a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing force to protect Libyan civilians, has conducted 7,549 strike sorties in Libya since the end of March. "The territory (Gadhafi) controls is shrinking fast, his closest allies are packing their bags, and the people of Tripoli are rising," said NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu. "The sooner he realizes he cannot win, the better -- so that the Libyan people can be spared further bloodshed and suffering." Gunfire crackled and explosions rocked the capital Sunday night, as the six-month-long conflict finally approached Gadhafi's doorstep. Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told reporters just after 11 p.m. Sunday that some 1,300 people had been killed and about 5,000 wounded in fighting in the previous 12 hours. "(The city) is being turned into a hellfire," he said.

syria hits point of no return amid broad isolation

       damascus, syria--When Bashar Assad inherited power in Syria in 2000, many saw him as a youthful new president in a region of aging dictators - a fresh face who could transform his father's stagnant dictatorship into a modern state ready to engage with the world. Now, the bloody government backlash has extinguished the once-popular image of Assad as a reformer struggling against members of his late father's old guard. With calls for his resignation last week from Washington to Tokyo, the Arab Spring has forced Assad to face the most severe isolation of his family's four-decade rule. And the events of the past five months have dashed any lingering hopes that he would change one of the most repressive states in the world.

     There is little sign that the 45-year-old Assad will manage to crush the protests that are shaking his regime. But even if he does, his newfound status as a global pariah stands to devastate his country of 22 million people, undermine stability in the Middle East and affect the role of Iran, Syria's ally, on the world stage. "Power is an aphrodisiac, and as the old saying goes, it corrupts absolutely," said David W. Lesch, an American expert on Syria who wrote a 2005 biography of Bashar Assad. "In the end, he became more of a product of his environment rather than a transformational figure who could change that environment." The United States and several of its major allies called Thursday for Assad to give up power, a crescendo to months of mounting reproach. The messages from Washington, London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels coincided with a U.N. report recommending that Syria be referred to the International Criminal Court for investigation of possible crimes against humanity in the crackdown, including summary executions, torturing prisoners and targeting children.

     Human rights groups said Assad's forces have killed nearly 2,000 people since the uprising erupted in mid-March, touched off by the wave of revolutions sweeping the Arab world. There is no sign that the global calls for Assad's ouster will have any immediate effect, although analysts say they could ultimately help turn the tide. The growing isolation could compel Syrians who have supported the regime to move toward the opposition, especially if the economy continues to deteriorate. Longtime ally Iran has offered unwavering support for Damascus, but it cannot prop up the regime indefinitely. Still, many observers predict at least several more months of bloodshed, perhaps even more brutality to prevent further attempts to replace Assad.

venezuelan central bank proposes replacing de dollar to avoid us federal reserve control

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--The proposal made by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) and the Ministry of Finance to move international reserves back to Venezuela and "spread them out" to diversify Venezuelan assets implies that the South American country will no longer use US dollars for transactions. This proposal was submitted to President Hugo Chávez.  Authorities claimed they are implemented such measure because they fear that the US Federal Reserve may freeze a part of the dollars that Venezuela holds to support its currency, repay foreign debt and pay imports.  The paper, which President Chávez said was delivered to him already, reads that "the Federal Reserve must be informed on any electronic trading involving the US dollar as a payment system (clearinghouse). Therefore, it may interfere with the destination and purpose of the funds; in other words, it can freeze dollar funds."

     The document adds that "in case of making deposits or any dollar transaction at any bank worldwide, there is an implicit risk involved, because the Federal Reserve must be informed on any operation." In order to avoid this, it is suggested to use another currency for Venezuela's operations, Nelson Merentes, the central bank president, and Jorge Giordani, the Minister of Planning and Finance, said.  The top Venezuelan officials did not explain the reasons why the Fed may "freeze" Venezuela's dollar resources.  The document failed to provide any indication of the currency that could replace the US dollar.  Analysts have said that it would be difficult to replace completely the US dollar to pay imports and repay foreign debt, but they conceded that it could be replaced in part by the euro, yen and pound.  A part of the central bank's reserves is held in euros and pounds.

    The Central Bank of Venezuela already has a portion of international reserves in euros and pounds sterling. At the end of August 8 total reserves are located in $ 29,000,067, of which 63% are in gold and $ 6,285,000 corresponds to the portion known as operational because it is cash or vouchers that can be sold immediately. BCV data indicates that the operative portion, 67.7% is invested in U.S. dollars and 32.3% in euros and pounds sterling. In which countries are placed the operating reserves? The vast majority, 59.17%, is in Switzerland at the Bank for International Settlements in Basilea, 17.90% in the UK (Barclays), 6.48% in France (BNP Paribas) and 11.31% in United States (JP Morgan). The Government envisages that operating reserves will be transferred to "financial institutions and countries like China, Russia and Brazil and other countries in Asia and Latin America." However, the BCV methodology does not allow Latin American countries and Russia to be considered as appropriate for the custody of international reserves.

August 21, 2011

MILLION YOUNG PILGRIMS BRAVE SEARING TEMPERATURE FOR POPE 

      MADRID,  SPAIN--An estimated million young pilgrims braved searing temperatures Saturday to take part in a prayer vigil with Pope Benedict XVI, massing at a dusty airport field as the Catholic Church's youth festival neared its climax. Firefighters atop fire trucks sprayed the crowds with water from hoses, and pilgrims sought shade from umbrellas, trees and tents in a bid to stave off the near 40-degree Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) heat. Despite the discomfort, the scene at the Cuatro Vientos airport was nevertheless festive and colorful, with pilgrims in a rainbow of sunhats dancing, singing and waving their national flags as they geared up for a massive sleepover to be in place for Sunday's main World Youth Day Mass. "There is a truly awesome number of people here and we have come to join them to celebrate out Christianity in the most universal and Catholic sense," said Joe Melendrez, a rap artist from San Antonio, Texas.

     Nearby a group of six people from southern China fanned and shaded one of their own, a young woman who was obviously overcome by the heat. News reports said some 700 people had sought medical care. With an hour to go before the vigil began, organizers told the crowd their numbers had surpassed a million. Benedict was due to arrive later Saturday for the vigil, then return Sunday morning for the Mass. This is his third World Youth Day, the once-every-three-year gathering of young Catholics from around the world that was launched a quarter century ago by Pope John Paul II in a bid to reinvigorate and spread the faith among the young. It has the feel of a weeklong rock concert and camping trip, with bands of flag-toting pilgrims roaming through Madrid's otherwise empty streets to take part in prayer sessions, Masses, cultural outings and papal events.

     Earlier Saturday, Benedict celebrated a Mass with nearly 4,000 seminarians at Madrid's main cathedral and announced that he would soon proclaim St. John of Avila a doctor of the church, conferring one of Catholicism's greatest honors on the influential 16th century Spanish saint. The title of church doctor is reserved for those churchmen and women whose writings have greatly served the universal church. There are currently 33 such doctors, including St. Augustine, St. Francis de Sales and St. Teresa of Avila. Pope John Paul II added St. Therese of Lisieux to the list in 1997, the last time one was proclaimed. "In making this announcement here, I would hope that the word and the example of this outstanding pastor will enlighten all priests and those who look forward to the day of their priestly ordination," Benedict said.

LIBYAN REBELS SCORE MAJOR VICTORY CAPTURING THE CITY OF ZAWIYA

       ZAWIYA, LIBYA--Libyan rebels expelled government forces from the strategic western city of Zawiya on Saturday, a major victory for the opposition in their march on Muammar al-Qaddafi's stronghold of Tripoli. The territory remaining under the Libyan ruler's control has been shrinking dramatically in the past three weeks, with opposition fighters advancing on the capital, a metropolis of 2 million people, from the west, south and east. Zawiya, a coastal city just 30 miles west of Tripoli, is the biggest prize so far in the rebels' three-week-old offensive.The rebels also claimed to have captured two more towns -- Zlitan in the west and Brega in the east. On Saturday, rebel fighters and pickup trucks poured into Zawiya's main square. Signs of the fierce fighting over the past week were all around: pockmarked and shattered facades of buildings ringing the plaza and bodies of two Qaddafi soldiers lying on the ground.

    For more than a week, fighting had focused on two main streets here -- Omar Mokhtar and Gamal Abdel-Nasser streets -- with Qaddafi snipers positioned on top of Zawiya's hospital, a bank and a hotel overlooking the main square. Government forces appeared to have fled those strategic positions and others in the eastern half of the city they still held on Friday. An Associated Press reporter visited those positions -- all of which are now under rebel control. In the distance, the rumble of shelling could be heard to the east. Inside Zawiya's hospital, workers from Bangladesh who had been stuck here throughout the fighting, were busy cleaning the ground floor. The dialysis section was up and working, with about a dozen patients hooked up to the machines.

     Everywhere in Zawiya, there were traces of recent fighting. Nearly every window in the hotel, banks and government office buildings that line the square had been shattered, and bullet and shrapnel holes marred every wall. The bodies of two Qaddafi fighters lay on the central plaza, with blankets thrown over them and the sidewalk stained red.  Outside Zawiya, dozens of cars rushed through rebel checkpoints carrying families fleeing Tripoli. Their cars piled high with mattresses and supplies, those fleeing told of tense capital where Qaddafi loyalists were digging in. "The situation is tragic in Tripoli, there is security everywhere but no electricity or gas," said Rabie Salem, who fled the capital Saturday. "The people are living in fear and no one will go out and demonstrate." Salem said she and her family tried to leave the capital Friday but were turned back by Qaddafi forces at a checkpoint. She said they managed to escape Saturday by traveling on back roads. Qaddafi loyalists have begun blocking off streets with concrete barriers and thrown up more checkpoints, she said. The forces looked like they were preparing for battle as they positioned more soldiers on rooftops. Opposition fighters elsewhere also reported major advances. Further west, rebels also claimed to have taken control of Zlitan, 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.

ZULIA GOVERNOR PABLO PEREZ: "ANYTHING GOES FOR VENEZUELA"

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Pablo Pérez, the current governor of the state of Zulia, northwestern Venezuela, came to the podium to present his candidacy for the opposition primary elections. Pérez was nominated by opposition Un Nuevo Tiempo (A New Era) party. "Both people and the media are welcome, no matter where they come from. We are open-minded; we promote inclusion and respect"

    With his formidable height and accompanied by his children and wife and wearing a beige suit, Pablo Pérez, the governor of the state of Zulia, came to the podium to present his candidacy for the opposition primary elections after he was nominated by opposition Un Nuevo Tiempo (A New Era) party.  "I want to tell the Venezuelan people that I accept the challenge and that anything goes for Venezuela," were Pérez's first words of when he began to deliver his speech.  While people shouted "There is no censorship in Zulia!" and "Pablo for president!", the governor of the state of Zulia criticized the fact that Hugo Chávez's government has used Venezuela's oil revenue to buy weapons, talk about wars and give money to other countries.

      "We Venezuelans were promised that the government would put an end to poverty; we were promised that there would be no more street children, that there would be full employment. We were promised that the government would fight insecurity, but we are seeing the opposite... They have wiped out 7,000 companies in Venezuela. In the past 10 years, more than 120,000 Venezuelans have died in the hands of violence," he said.  "Both people and the media are welcome, no matter where they come from. We are open-minded; we promote inclusion and respect," the opposition leader said.  Pérez acknowledged the work of Manuel Rosales, the former governor of the state of Zulia and founder of A New Era party, in preserving unity and democracy in Venezuela.

August 20, 2011

BRUTALITY AGAINST THE LADIES IN WHITE IN THE STREETS OF HAVANA

      HAVANA, CUBA--In the streets of Neptuno and Hospital, at around 4:30 P.M., mobs instigated by the Cuban regime brutally attacked a group of almost fifty pro democracy women dressed in white as they were about to march through the streets of Havana to advocate on behalf of Cuban political prisoners and the freedom of all Cubans. As the "Ladies in White" set off from the house of Laura Pollan located at Calle Neptuno No. 963 between Aranburen and Hospital, following their monthly "Literary Tea", they were dragged, beaten, kicked, spit upon, scratched, pushed, and had their hair pulled as well as their clothes ripped off by paramilitary mobs. The violence forced them back inside the home they consider their headquarters.

     Also, the following eight women were detained as they were on their way to Pollan's home to attend the meeting they hold the 18th of every month: Sara Martha Fonseca, Idalmis Ramirez, Odalis Izarza, Cristina Duquezne, Ivon Mayesa, Mercedes Fresneda,Rosario Morales, Yanelis Rey. In Cuba, violence against human rights defenders and particularly against the Ladies in White has escalated to acts of brutality following a speech given by Raul Castro at the VI Congress of the Cuban Communist Party held in April 2011, were he stated that: "…we will never deny the people the right to defend the Revolution, since the defense of independence and of the gains of socialism, as well as of our plazas and streets, will continue to be the first duty of every Cuban patriot."

     The Ladies in White are asking that the Cuban regime put a stop to the violent repression and requested the Pope's intercession in this critical matter. The Coalition of Cuban-American Women denounces the increase of these cruel and degrading acts committed by the Cuban regime against their own people and makes an urgent call to the press and to non-governmental organizations dedicated to the defense of human rights worldwide, as well as to women in positions of leadership in religious, political, educational, social, and cultural institutions.

DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ WILL BRING TO VENEZUELA GOLD RESERVE DEPOSITED IN FOREIGN BANKS

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuelan DICTATOR Hugo Chávez reported on Wednesday that gold reserves deposited in foreign banks will be brought in Venezuela and he asked Nelson Merentes, the president of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), to take action right away.  "I agree, Nelson. Let us bring that gold and have it in our vaults at the BCV (...). For how long are we, the countries of the south, to keep on funding the countries of the north? the Head of State wondered.  "Take it all," he emphasized.  The gold will be taken to the BCV vaults. Venezuela's international reserves for more than USD 18 billion are in US and European banks.

     Minister of Planning and Finance Jorge Giordani noted that they were following the president's orders on diversification or international reserves.  Chávez dismissed criticism from the opposition. "All that the bourgeoisie wants is to dismantle the State of Venezuela and be subordinated to the imperial State."  The president noted that the decision to move Venezuela's international reserves was based on his ministers' recommendations. Julio Montoya, an opposition lawmaker in the National Assembly, said that officials of the Ministry of Planning and Finance gave him a document according to which Venezuela intends to transfer international reserves from European and US banks to financial institutions in Russia, China, and Brazil.  International reserves would be transferred from European and US banks to financial institutions in Russia, China, and Brazil.

      The Venezuelan government intends to transfer international reserves from European and US banks to financial institutions in Russia, China, and Brazil, according to lawmaker Julio Montoya (UNT, A New Era, for the northwestern state of Zulia). He said that the reserves would be moved within two months.  The Venezuela deputy said that officials of the Ministry of Planning and Finance gave him a document, which according to them was assessed by President Hugo Chávez. "(In the document) they proposed the transfer of Venezuelan international reserves, a little secret that the Venezuelan people were not aware of."  "Finally, Venezuelans are going to know the amount of money we have in gold, where such sums are, and the amount of cash we have thanks to officials of the Ministry of Finance," Montoya said.  The Venezuelan lawmaker criticized the government for failing to inform the country about this situation.

VENEZUELAN CENTRAL BANK PRESIDENT:  RESERVES WILL BE DEPOSITED IN DIFFERENT BANKS

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--The President of the Central Bank of Venezuela Nelson Merentes said Thursday that, once repatriated, the country's international reserves will be deposited in different banks.  "I want to inform Venezuelan people that these USD 6 billion (in international reserves) must be distributed, because you can not put it all in a single bank, as it is very risky; you have to diversify the portfolio," said Merentes.  Merentes, together with Minister of Planning and Finance Jorge Giordani appeared Thursday at a special session in the National Assembly to discuss the issue of international reserves.

     Giordani said there are plans to create a Latin American Reserve Fund comprising the countries of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur). The fund would be managed "in a sovereign way, independently from the United States."  "At the next meeting with the presidents of Unasur, we have to reach agreements for the creation of a Latin American Reserve Fund that manages reserves with Latin American and Caribbean sovereignty," Giordani said, adding that the reserves of the countries in the region total nearly USD 600 billion.  He noted that the decision to repatriate gold reserves and move Venezuela's international reserves is intended to defend the country's resources and assets abroad and comes as a response to the crisis of Capitalism.

     "Here the opposition tries to make the people believe that  the use of international reserves is something that is hidden, this has been our continuous policy, but had its difficulties since the coup and oil sabotage," the minister said. He said the government has allocated the amount of 400 billion dollars to missions, education, "the development funds and as a source of credit from abroad." He stressed that the United States  is experiencing a structural crisis for many years, "these are the reflections of what  first observed in 2007 and 2008 with the beginning  of the housing crisis that  later had severe consequences in Europe and the rest of the world, creating a complex global situation. "

August 19, 2011

AL LEAST 7 DEAD AND ANOTHER 40 INJURED AFTER TERRORISTS ATTACKED TWO BUSES IN ISRAEL

      JERUSALEM, ISRAEL--Israel's military spokesman says a series of attacks have occurred in the country, as assailants targeted Israeli soldiers, a passenger bus and another vehicle near the border with Egypt.  The spokesman, Brig-Gen. Yoav Mordechai, says there are fatalities as well as wounded. He says civilians and soldiers are among the casualties. At least six people were killed and dozen more injured, officials said. "We are talking about a terror squad that infiltrated into Israel," said Israeli military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich. "This is a combined terrorist attack against Israelis."

     The attacks began when a gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus near the Israeli-Egyptian border. Israel Radio said a vehicle had followed the first bus, and two to three gunmen got out and opened automatic weapons fire. The vehicle carrying the assailants fled the scene, and Israeli security forces were in pursuit, Israel Radio said. Channel 2 said two helicopters had been deployed to join the chase. The military spokesman said a roadside bomb then was detonated when a military patrol arrived at the scene of the bus attack and drove over the device. Gunmen then launched an anti-tank missile at another vehicle, injuring passengers inside. Israeli security forces tracked down some of the assailants and are engaged in an ongoing gunbattle with them, Mordechai said. The military said several assailants had been killed in the shootout with Israeli forces, but did not give a number. "This seems like a coordinated attack," a senior IDF officer told the Jerusalem Post. 

     Military spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai says the attackers used heavy weapons, possibly mortars or anti-tank weapons, and explosive devices during the attacks. The IDF suspects that the gunmen infiltrated Israel through the Egyptian border. "The incident underscores the weak Egyptian hold on Sinai and the broadening of the activities of terrorists," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement. "The real source of the terror is in Gaza and we will act against them with full force and determination." But in Egypt, a senior security official denied that the attackers crossed into Israel from the Sinai Peninsula or that the buses were fired at from inside Egyptian territory. "The border is heavily guarded," said the Sinai-based official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

ISRAEL RETALIATES FOR DEADLY ATTACKS NEAR SINAI 

       JERUSALEM, ISRAEL--Israeli jets attacked the southern Gaza Strip Thursday after the government blamed Gaza militants for a series of deadly raids in southern Israel. Israeli military officials say at least five people were killed in the airstrike. The Reuters news agency says the dead included a chief of the Popular Resistance Committee, an armed Palestinian faction.

      Earlier Thursday, gunmen carried out a series of apparently coordinated attacks in southern Israel that killed at least seven people.  Israeli officials say the attacks took place in quick succession near the border with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. They say say 40 people were wounded in the attacks.   Defense Secretary Ehud Barak called the attacks a grave terrorist incident.  Barak and other Israeli officials asserted that the attackers came from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and entered Israel from the Sinai.  Hamas has denied involvement.

     U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the violence, saying it underscores the situation along the Israeli-Egyptian border. "The United States condemns today's attacks in southern Israel and all acts of terrorism in the strongest terms," she said in a statement. "These brutal and cowardly attacks appear to be premeditated acts of terrorism against innocent civilians. Our deepest condolences go out to the victims, their families and loved ones." Israel has expressed concern about a deterioration of security in the Sinai since Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak resigned in February.   Last week, Egypt moved additional forces to the region in an effort to improve security.

US:  VENEZUELA DOES NOT COOPERATE WITH ANTITERRORIST EFFORTS

       WASHINGTON, D.C.--The United States reiterated on Thursday that Venezuela continues failing to "fully" cooperate with counterterrorist efforts and expressed that it "remains concerned" about Hezbollah's fundraising activities in Venezuela and contacts with Iran. The statements were made in the US Country Reports on Terrorism 2010.

     The case study, prepared by the US Department of State, assesses antiterrorist actions throughout the world. It recalled that in 2010, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez rejected Washington's allegations the previous year that he or his government supported terrorism, "and instead he accused the United States of sponsoring terrorism."  Concomitantly, "President Chávez has continued to strengthen Venezuela's relationship with state sponsor of terrorism Iran," according to the US government. The report noted that the Venezuelan Head of State "condemned international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program and signed cooperation agreements in areas including oil and gas, trade, and construction."

      The United States is also worried about Hezbollah's fundraising activities in Venezuela," in addition to persistent suspicions about Venezuela's alleged support of Colombian guerrillas, DPA quoted. In this connection, the report noted that "the Venezuelan government took no action against government and military officials linked to the (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) FARC or (National Liberation Army) ELN (...) In November, President Chávez promoted another official designated by the United States in 2008 for materially assisting the FARC, Henry Rangel Silva, Chief of the Armed Force's Strategic Operation Command, to the four-star equivalent General in Chief. The prosecutor general also awarded Rangel Silva with a Citizen's Merit Medal for his 'service in defense of the interests of the country and the constitution.'"

August 18, 2011

DEFENSE SECRETARY LEON PANETTA SAYS DICTATOR GADHAFI'S DAYS 'ARE NUMBERED' 

      WASHINGTON, D.C.--U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says Libyan rebels are advancing toward Tripoli from the east and west, and there now is a sense that Moammar Gadhafi's days in power “are numbered.” Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed Libya, Syria and other Middle East issues at a public forum in Washington.  The Libyan rebels have been claiming battlefield advances in recent days. Panetta’s comments, though, were the first by a senior Obama administration official in that span suggesting Gadhafi’s position is indeed eroding. Appearing with Clinton at Washington’s National Defense University, Panetta said Libyan opposition forces in the west are advancing along the coast toward Tripoli, and rebels in the east are advancing on Brega, a gateway to the capital.

     The Pentagon chief said a combination of factors, including this week’s reported defection of Libyan Interior Minister Nasser al-Mabruk Abdullah, point to a decline in Gadhafi’s fortunes. “Gadhafi’s forces are weakened. And this latest defection is another example of how weak they have gotten," said Panetta. "So I think, considering how difficult the situation has been, the fact is that the combination of NATO forces there, the combination of what the opposition is doing, the sanctions, the international pressure, the work of the Arab League, all of that has been very helpful in moving this in the right direction. And I think the sense is that Gaddafi’s days are numbered.”

     Clinton downplayed reported splits within the Libyan rebel movement, and hailed what she said was the first “NATO-Arab alliance” providing military and political support for anti-Gaddafi forces. She also expressed satisfaction that it is not a case of the United States in the lead with everyone else on the sidelines.  In that same vein, she said, it is really not of central importance whether the United States has called for the departure of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. “It is not going to be any news if the United States says Assad needs to go. Okay, fine, what’s next? If Turkey says it, if [Saudi] King Abdullah says it, if other people say it, there is no way that the Assad regime can ignore it,” she said. The appearance by Clinton and Panetta before military officers and other students at the Defense University came a day after suicide attacks and car bombings in Iraq killed 60 people and raised new concerns about the Baghdad government’s ability to maintain security after the U.S. troop withdrawal.

SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: LIBYA, SYRIA SHOW 'SMART POWER' AT WORK

       WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton defended the U.S. response to crises in Libya and Syria on Tuesday, saying the Obama administration is projecting "smart power" by refusing to act alone or with brute force to stop autocratic repression in the two countries.  Clinton said the United States remains the world's strongest leader but is wisely building coalitions to respond more effectively and better promote universal values of human rights and democracy. "The United States stands for our values, our interests and our security, but we have a very clear view that others need to be taking the same steps to enforce a universal set of values and interests," she told an audience in a joint appearance at the National Defense University with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. "We are by all measurements the strongest leader in the world and we are leading, but part of leading is making sure that you get other people on the field. And that's what I think we are doing," she said.

     Clinton has been a champion of the administration's "smart power" policy, which aims to combine defense, diplomacy and development to advance U.S. foreign policy goals. The term is most commonly used to describe the strategies President Barack Obama has employed in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the U.S. has placed heavy emphasis on civilian projects designed to eliminate the roots of extremism. But Clinton said other elements of smart power are also at work in Libya and Syria. She and Panetta both noted that Libyan rebels had scored recent significant military gains in their struggle to oust Moammar Gadhafi after months of stalemate. Clinton said Libya was a study in the use of "strategic patience," whereby the United States resisted the impulse for immediate intervention and instead helped to build support for the country's nascent opposition, which the U.S. now recognizes as Libya's legitimate government. She said the unprecedented NATO-Arab alliance protecting civilians on the ground was a key result of the tactics of smart power. "This is exactly the kind of world that I want to see, where it's not just the United States and everybody is standing on the sidelines while we bear the costs," she said.

     In Syria, Clinton said Washington had adopted a similar stance. The administration has imposed sanctions to protest a ruthless crackdown on reformers but has thus far resisted calls to make an explicit demand for President Bashar Assad to step down, something it did with Gadhafi.  Clinton said it would be a mistake for the administration to demand Assad's ouster on its own because it wouldn't be effective given Washington's long-strained ties with Damascus and limited U.S. influence and trade with Syria. "It is not going to be any news if the United States says Assad needs to go," she said. "OK, fine, what's next? If other people say it, if Turkey says it, if (Saudi) King Abdullah says it, there is no way the Assad regime can ignore it." "I think this is smart power, where it is not just brute force, it is not just unilateralism," she said. "It is being smart enough to say you know what we want a bunch of people singing out of the same hymn book and we want them singing a song of universal freedom, human rights, democracy, everything that we have stood for and pioneered over 235 years."

GUNFIRE IN SYRIAN COASTAL CITY LEAVES 35 DEAD IN 4 DAYS

       DAMASCUS, SYRIA--Heavy machine-gun fire erupted across the besieged Syrian city of Latakia on Tuesday as the death toll rose to 35 from a military assault now in its fourth day, residents and activists said. President Bashar Assad has dramatically escalated the crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising since the start of the holy month of Ramadan. Despite broad condemnation, the regime is trying to retake control in rebellious areas by unleashing tanks, ground troops and snipers. Assad has launched military operations in the opposition stronghold of Hama, the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, the central city of Homs and now the port city of Latakia. Most of the shooting early Monday was in Latakia's impoverished al-Ramel, al-Shaab and Ein Tamra areas. Al-Ramel is home to a crowded Palestinian refugee camp where many low-income Syrians also live.

     The U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees said Monday more than 5,000 refugees have fled the camp after Assad's forces shelled the city in an operation that began Saturday. UNRWA said the Palestinians fled after the city came under fire from gunboats cruising off the coast and ground troops attacked over the weekend. "We are calling for access to the camp to find out what is going on," said UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness. "There were 10,000 refugees in the camp and we need to find out what is happening to them." Syria has denied firing from gunboats, despite widespread witness accounts. The regime insists its crackdown is aimed at rooting out terrorists fomenting unrest in the country.

     The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, two activist groups with a network of people on the ground, said at least 15 people were killed Monday, five of them in Latakia. Monday's deaths bring the total of people who have died in Latakia since Saturday to around 35. Also Monday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on Syria to immediately end the bloodshed and threatened unspecified "steps" if it fails to do so. "If the operations do not end, there would be nothing more to discuss about steps that would be taken," Davutoglu said, without elaborating.  In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Assad must "cease the systematic violence, mass arrests and the outright murder of his own people," adding that the Syrian president "has lost legitimacy to lead." Carney said the U.S. would be looking to apply further sanctions against Assad's government.

August 17, 2011

LIBYAN REBELS ENCIRCLE TRIPOLI; THREATEN TO CUT OFF DICTATOR GADHAFI'S SUPPLY LINES

      TRIPOLI, LIBYA--The Libyan opposition is the closest it's ever been to Tripoli since the civil war began six months ago. According to multiple news outlets, the rebels have slowly worked their way around the city and are now in a position to cut off supplies to Muammar Gaddafi's regime. That news was paired with the apparent defection of Nassr al-Mabroul Abdullah, Libya's head of public security as well as news that Gaddafi's army fired its first scud missile. In an apparent high-level defection, the head of Libyan public security and a former interior minister flew to Egypt on a private plane with nine family members. Nassr al-Mabroul Abdullah entered on a tourist visa. If confirmed, it would be the latest in a string of defections by prominent officials in Khadafy's regime. White House Spokesman Jay Carney said the rebel advance means Gadhafi's regime may be coming to an end. "I think it's becoming increasingly clear that Gadhafi's days are numbered, that he's — his isolation is — grows more extreme as each day passes, and as we have for a long time, we believe that the people of that country, of Libya, need — deserve the right to choose their own future," Carney said aboard Air Force One.

    Others however are taking a more complicated view. Con Coughlin, The Telegraph's executive foreign editor, writes today that the launching of a scud missile raises the concern that Gadhafi is "preparing to use chemical weapons in a last-ditch effort to save his regime." And in a long analysis piece from Reuters, experts lay out three possibilities: 1) The rebels put a strangle-hold on Gadhafi's supplies; his military gives up to save themselves and Gadhafi loses. 2) Gadhafi strikes a deal with a foreign government and seeks exile in a country that won't turn him over to the International Criminal Court. 3) Cutting off Gadhafi's supplies fails to dislodge him, so the rebels make a move for Tripoli and a bloody urban war entails. Libyan rebels raised their flag over a strategic town near Tripoli on Sunday after their most dramatic advance in months cut off Muammar Gaddafi's capital from its main link to the outside world. The swift rebel advance on the town of Zawiyah, about 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, will deal a psychological blow to Gaddafi's supporters and severs the coastal highway to Tunisia which keeps the capital supplied with food and fuel.

     There was no sign Tripoli was under immediate threat from a rebel attack.  But rebel forces are in their strongest position since the uprising against 41 years of Gaddafi's rule began in February. They now control the coast both east and west of Tripoli, while to the north is the Mediterranean and a NATO naval blockade and there is fighting to the south. "I hope we can go and attack Tripoli in a few days," said Legun, a taxi driver turned anti-Gaddafi fighter. "Now that we have Zawiyah, we can free Libya," he said. Rebels from the Western Mountains region to the south dashed forward into Zawiyah late on Saturday, encountering little sustained resistance from Gaddafi's forces. Near Zawiyah's central market early on Sunday, about 50 rebel fighters were milling around and triumphantly shouting "Allahu Akbar!" or "God is greatest". The red, black and green rebel flag was flying from a shop. At the point where it passes through Zawiyah, the main highway linking Tripoli to Tunisia was empty of traffic.

U.S. OFFICIALS:  " DICTATOR GADHAFI FIRES FIRST SCUD MISSILE AGAINST LIBYAN REBELS

       TRIPOLI, LIBYA--DICTATOR GADHAFI'S MILITARY tapped into its stores of Scud missiles during the weekend, firing one for the first time in this year's conflict with rebels, but hurting no one, U.S. defense officials said Monday. The missile launch was detected by U.S. forces shortly after midnight Sunday, and the Scud landed in the desert about 50 miles outside Brega, said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. Rebel and government forces have battled over the strategic port city of Brega throughout the conflict, and control has swung back and forth between the two sides.

      The strike comes as rebel forces continue to advance, working in recent days to block vital supply routes around Tripoli. The Obama administration said Monday that it is encouraged by recent rebel progress but stopped short of predicting victory for the opposition forces after months of inconclusive battles. According to the military, the Scud missile was launched from a location about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Surt, a city on the Mediterranean coast about 230 miles (370 kilometers) east of Tripoli. Noting that Scuds are not precision guided missiles, officials said they could not tell whether Brega was the target.  Brega is about 450 miles (725 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.

      Early in the conflict, NATO and U.S. forces targeted sites around the country where Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi stored surface-to-surface missiles like Scuds, largely because they worried that he would use them to target areas beyond his control. The military intervention in Libya began March 19, after the U.N. authorized action to protect Libyan civilians from attacks by government forces. NATO took over the mission in early April, but the U.S. has continued to provide jet fighters and drones, as well as war ships off the coast. Two senior U.S. officials said it is too soon to tell whether the Scud strike was a singular incident or if it represented a new phase of fighting. Scuds have a range of up to 500 miles (805 kilometers).

nato condemns dictAtor gadhafi's use of scud missile

       naples, italy--NATO is condemning Libya's use of a scud missile in its battle against rebels who are advancing toward Tripoli to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.  NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero says the Gadhafi government's use of the short-range ballistic missile shows that it is "desperate" as the rebels close in on the capital.  In a news conference Tuesday in Brussels, Romero said many civilians could have been killed when pro-Gadhafi forces used the missile to attack Brega on Sunday.  Meanwhile, Libyan rebels are capturing key towns to the south and west of Tripoli and trying to cut off supply routes to the capital in their bid to force Gadhafi from power. On Tuesday, the French News Agency quoted the Transitional National Council envoy, Mansur Saif Al-Nasr, as saying opposition fighters had entered a "decisive phase" and could soon liberate all of southern Libya.

    The rebels say they control most of Zawiya, a strategic town 50 kilometers west of Gadhafi's power base in Tripoli.  Rebel fighters entered Zawiya Saturday in their closest approach to the capital since the early weeks of the uprising.   Pro-Gadhafi forces exchanged fire with rebel fighters in Zawiya Monday, trying to push them back from the town center.  Rebel spokesmen say their fighters also captured the towns of Surman, 60 kilometers west of Tripoli, and Gharyan, 80 kilometers south of the capital. Their claims could not be independently verified. Control of Zawiya, Surman and Gharyan would allow the rebels to cut off Tripoli from a key highway to the south and another leading west to Tunisia. Also Monday, a senior Libyan Interior Ministry official flew to Egypt with nine family members in what appears to be another defection from Gadhafi's government.

    Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah and his relatives arrived in Cairo on a private jet from the Tunisian resort island of Djerba. Abdullah is believed to be a deputy interior minister. He entered Egypt on a tourist visa and did not meet any representatives of Gadhafi's embassy in Cairo. Western news agencies quote sources in Djerba as saying Gadhafi's aides met Libyan rebels at a local hotel on Sunday. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Libya envoy Abdul Ilah al-Khatib arrived in Tunisia Monday to join the talks between the two sides.  In an audio message broadcast on Libyan state television Monday, Gadhafi urged his people to fight to "to liberate Libya" from rebels who began their uprising in February to end his 42-year rule. He called the rebels "traitors" and denounced NATO as a "colonizer" for staging airstrikes in support of the uprising.

August 16, 2011

DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO OPPOSITION UMBRELLA GROUP

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Dictator Hugo Chávez returned to Venezuela on Saturday night in good spirits, with visible signs of having undergone chemotherapy to prevent the reappearance of cancer cells. "Are we in (the international airport of) Maiquetía? What time is it?," Chávez asked when he stepped off the plane that brought him from Havana (Cuba), where he completed the second phase of cancer treatment.  Chávez had a telephone conversation on Sunday morning (after 10 a.m.) with Venezuelan state-run television (VTV) and accused the opposition umbrella group Democratic Unified Panel (MUD) "and all that nest of snakes", of advancing a strategy to destabilize the country and trigger foreign intervention.

     "(Foreign Minister) Nicolás (Maduro) and the state agencies that are listening to me must act immediately. Nicolás must send a copy of my words to the Venezuelan agencies because they must be forced to act. There has been a violation of the Constitution. Although they should be presumed innocent, this would lead to a political and legal investigation," Chávez said after reading several Op-ed articles and news reports to support his accusations.  According to Chávez, the opposition wants to spread false rumors that his government "seeks to create an environment according to which he would not recognize" his eventual defeat in the presidential elections.

      Julio Borges, a Venezuelan opposition leader and national coordinator of Primero Justicia (Justice First) party, on Sunday termed as "sad" the fact that dictator Hugo Chávez asked the Attorney General Office to launch an investigation into the opposition parties while the country is plagued with murder, rape and kidnapping.  "Shame on you!," Borges told Chávez when asked by private TV news network Globovisión about the request made by the Venezuelan president to investigate his foes for allegedly requesting a foreign intervention.   When questioned about the alleged destabilization plans of the opposition umbrella group Democratic Unified Panel (MUD), Borges said "we are winning and you do not quit playing when you are winning. We will hold primaries and we are going to win democratically the election over an undemocratic government."

AL QAEDA NEW LEADER URGES ATTACKS ON "CRIMINAL AMERICA"

       CAIRO, EGYPT-- Al Qaeda's new leader called on his followers to continue to fight the United States despite the killing of Usama bin Laden, calling America a "criminal country" that has corrupted the world. In a video posted on militant websites Sunday, Ayman al-Zawahri also said the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have provided opportunities for the group to spread its message. The 12-minute message is the third from the Egyptian-born al-Zawahri since he was named Al Qaeda's new leader in June following the killing of Usama bin Laden by U.S. commandos in Pakistan.

     Wearing a white robe and turban with an automatic rifle at his side, al-Zawahri said the Muslim jihad, or holy war, against America "does not halt with the death of a commander or leader" -- a clear reference to bin Laden. "Chase America, which killed the leader of the mujahedeen and threw his body into the sea," he said. "Go after it so that history will say that God enabled his worshippers to attack a criminal country which has spread corruption in the world." Shifting to the Middle East, al-Zawahri said the uprisings that toppled longtime autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt have presented Al Qaeda an opening to spread its message.

     "In Tunisia and Egypt, opportunities for preaching have been opened and only God knows until when these opportunities will last," he said. "Therefore, the Muslims and the mujahedeen should benefit and take advantage of them to reveal the truth." Al Qaeda has repeatedly tried to forge a role for itself in the uprisings across the Arab world this year, though it played no role in their outbreak and has little in common with the mainly youth activists behind the protests. Most uprisings leaders say they seek greater freedoms, not Islamic states. He said these countries' constitutions should be brought in line with Islamic Sharia law.

PAKISTAN allowed china agents to inspect us helicopter wreckage inSIDE bin laden'S compound

       WASHINGTON, D.C.--Pakistan may have allowed the Chinese military to examine the US stealth helicopter downed in the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden, reports say. US officials are quoted as saying there is evidence Pakistan invited Chinese military engineers to the site in Abbottabad in the days after the raid. The Black Hawk helicopter was blown up by US Navy Seals after it crashed, but the tail remained largely intact. The covert 2 May raid has strained relations between the US and Pakistan. The two countries - allies in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the region - have been involved in a tit-for-tat row for the last few months, although they have tried to prevent a breakdown of relations.

    Pakistan enjoys a close relationship with China, which is a major investor in telecommunications, ports and infrastructure in the country. "The US now has information that Pakistan, particularly the ISI [Pakistan's intelligence service], gave access to the Chinese military to the downed helicopter in Abbottabad," the Financial Times quoted a source in US intelligence circles as saying. He said Chinese engineers were allowed to survey the wreckage and take samples of the "stealth" skin that allowed the Seals to enter Pakistan undetected by radar, according to the paper. Both the FT and the New York Times quote intelligence officials as saying they are "certain" the visit took place, although the NYT said officials cautioned that they did not have definitive proof of it happening.

     One source said the US case came mostly from intercepted conversations in which Pakistan officials discussed inviting the Chinese to visit the crash site. In the immediate aftermath of the raid on the compound in Abbottabad housing Osama Bin Laden, US officials had asked Pakistan not to let anyone view the remains of the helicopter. It was brought back to the US two weeks later following a trip by US Senator John Kerry. Both Pakistan and Chinese officials have denied the latest reports. "It's just speculation. It's all false. The wreckage was handed back. There is no helicopter left [in Pakistan]," one senior Pakistani security official told the AFP news agency.

August 15, 2011

DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ RETURNS TO CARACAS AFTER HIS SECOND ROUND OF CHEMOTHERAPY IN CUBA

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Ministers and military officers greeted Venezuelan DICTATOR  Hugo Chavez as he returned home to Caracas Sunday after a second round of chemotherapy in Cuba. Chávez, who arrived in Venezuela shortly after midnight Sunday following a week in Cuba, said his doctors will conduct “daily evaluations of all types to make the decision” in a few days. The medical team will later decide if the president needs a second round of radiation treatment. “We still haven’t begun to evaluate that,” he said.

      Sporting a military uniform and escorted by his daughter Rosa, Chavez stepped off the plane at the Caracas International Airport to applause, joking and even singing with Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, Vice president Elias Jaua and other cabinet officials. "So you have to take life by the horns," said a smiling Chavez after his weeklong stint in Cuba. The firebrand leftist said he had taken up painting after two chemotherapy sessions on Monday and Tuesday. The ruler recently shaved his head after his hair began to fall out as a result of the chemotherapy. He was accompanied by one of his daughters, and was met by his vice president and other Cabinet ministers.

      He later spoke in a phone call aired on state television, saying his medical tests showed “all my systems are working well.” The Venezuelan leader underwent surgery in Cuba in June to remove a cancerous tumor. He said it was located in the pelvic region but has not disclosed what type of cancer was found. Chavez, 57, underwent an operation in Cuba on June 20 to remove a cancerous tumor in his pelvic area and received a first round of chemotherapy in mid-July. He said Sunday he was starting a "new life" and expressed renewed confidence in his recovery. "I'm making my own recovery. I've got a new center of gravity and it's the beginning of a new stage in my life," said Chavez, who has been in power since 1999. The Venezuelan leader said he gave two trees to Cuba's Fidel Castro, a close ally who turned 85 on Saturday.

28 dead in attack of afghan governor's compound

       charikar, afghanistan-- A team of six suicide bombers -- some wearing explosive vests -- stormed a provincial governor's compound in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 22 people in the latest high-profile attack to target prominent Afghan government officials, authorities said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in the Parwan provincial capital of Charikar, some 30 miles north of Kabul. The province is home to Bagram Air Field, a sprawling base for U.S. and NATO troops. The coordinated assault is the most recent in a string of spectacular Taliban attacks within an hour's drive of Kabul -- a worrying sign of the insurgency's strength near the heart of the country and its determination to target Afghanistan's nascent leadership.

     Sunday's assault began with a car bomb outside the front gate, police said. The blast blew open a hole in the wall, allowing five insurgents wearing suicide vests and carrying automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades to rush into the compound. Afghan police said they killed three of the attackers as they approached the governor's house. The attack took place during a high-level provincial security meeting attended by Parwan Gov. Abdul Basir Salangi, his police chief, intelligence director, a local army commander and at least two NATO advisers. Salangi told the international press that he and his aides fired from their meeting room with AK-47s. He claimed to have killed at least one of the insurgents himself. "I had an AK-47. I shot him and from the window of my waiting room," said Salangi, who was formerly the police chief of Kabul and a rebel fighter during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

      Salangi  said it was the second time in the past month he was targeted by an assassination attempt. Provincial Police Chief Gen. Sher Ahmad Maladani also took part in the gun battle, which he said lasted for approximately one hour. "The last attacker was killed by police when he was only about 15 meters away from me," said Maladani. The bomber was killed before he could detonate his explosives. The attack left much of the compound in ruins. Part of the governor's offices were burned. Broken glass and body parts littered the courtyard. Several cars were wrecked by explosions and bullets. Sixteen of the dead were civilian Afghan government employees and six were policemen, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry.

DEADLY MILITARY ATTACK ON SYRIA'S LATAKIA PORT; AT LEAST 25 DEAD

       DAMASCUS, SYRIA--Syrian warships have joined a military assault on protesters in the northern port city of Latakia, activists say. At least 25 people have been killed in the operation, according to activists and human rights groups. Explosions and gunfire have been reported in several districts of the city which have seen large protests against the Syrian government. More than 1,700 people have reportedly died in the six-month uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. The operation began on Saturday with armoured vehicles and troops moving in.

     Some 20 tanks and personnel carriers were said to be taking part in the Latakia assault along with at least two gunboats. One witness told Reuters news agency by telephone: "I can see the silhouettes of two grey [naval] vessels. They are firing their guns and the impact is landing on al-Ramleh, al-Filistini and al-Shaab neighbourhoods." Latakia was one of the cities to be caught up in the revolt soon after it erupted in mid-March. Despite repeated attempts by the regime to stifle defiance, it keeps breaking out. It is a sensitive city. Its population is 600,000 or so, and it has a Sunni Muslim majority, as does the country, but there are also areas dominated by President Assad's minority Alawite community.

     The current punishment is being meted out to mainly Sunni areas, a fact that could further aggravate sectarian tensions already sensitised by the situation. A report on state television denied there had been any naval shelling. Activists said at least two people were killed and 15 wounded in Saturday's attacks. They said a large number of residents had fled the city and that telephones and internet connections had been cut off. International journalists face severe restrictions in operating in Syria, and it is hard to verify reports. Thousands of people were said to have come on to the streets of Latakia on Friday to demonstrate against the government. Latakia has seen many anti-government protests in the past six months. Tens of thousands of people had come out on to the streets across the country again on Friday to protest.

August 14, 2011

BERLIN MARKS 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF "THE WALL"

      BERLIN, GERMANY--Germans on Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of the rise of the Berlin Wall, which divided Berlin and came to define the Cold War.  The city observed a minute of silence at noon in memory of those who died trying to escape. Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit told a ceremony that the construction of the wall 50 years ago must be a constant reminder to maintain freedom and democracy. German President Christian Wulff and Chancellor Angela Merkel also attended the ceremony.

      After the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, the victorious World War II allies divided Germany into four zones of occupation. The U.S., French and British sectors became West Germany, while the Soviet sector became communist East Germany. On August 13, 1961, authorities in the communist East ordered all crossing points from East Berlin to West Berlin to be sealed off with barbed wire, later reinforced with concrete.  The wall divided streets and neighborhoods and tore apart families and friendships.  The wall was designed to keep residents in the east from fleeing to the West.  The 161-kilometer wall would later include 45,000 cement blocks and dozens of watchtowers.

     Historians say 125 people died trying to cross the wall from communist East Berlin, but some experts have said the death toll is much higher.  East German border guards had orders to shoot to kill anyone they spotted trying to escape. In June of 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan delivered a speech in Berlin in which he challenged then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."   In November 1989, East German residents brought down the wall and the government in the communist state.  East and West Germany reunited October 3, 1990.

AMERICAN MAN KIDNAPPED IN EASTERN PAKISTAN 

       LAHORE, PAKISTAN--Gunmen kidnapped an American development expert after tricking his guards and breaking into his house in Pakistan on Saturday, a brazen raid that alarmed aid workers, diplomats and other foreigners who already tread carefully in this country rife with Islamic militancy and anti-U.S. sentiment. The U.S. Embassy identified the victim as Warren Weinstein. Weinstein is the Pakistan country director for J.E. Austin Associates, a development contractor that has received millions of dollars from the aid arm of the U.S. government, according to a profile on LinkedIn, a networking website.

     Police declined to speculate on the motive, and no group immediately claimed responsibility. But kidnappings for ransom are common in Pakistan, with foreigners being occasional targets. Criminal gangs are suspected in most abductions, but Islamic militants, are believed to also use the tactic to raise money. Lahore has seen a number of militant attacks, and the Punjab region where it is located is home to several of Pakistan's top militant networks, some of which are suspected of ties to Pakistani intelligence. Police said the American, believed to be in his 60s, had returned to his home in the eastern city of Lahore the previous night from the capital, Islamabad. He had told his staff that would be wrapping up his latest project and moving out of Pakistan by Monday, police officer Tajammal Hussain said.

     According to Pakistani police, two of the kidnappers showed up at Weinstein's house Saturday and told the guards inside the gate of the walled compound that they wanted to give them food, an act of sharing common during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started early this month. The guards opened the gate, and five other men suddenly appeared. The armed assailants overpowered the guards and stormed into the house. Some gunmen are believed to have entered through the back. They snatched the American from his bedroom but took nothing else. In Washington, the State Department said it was in touch with Weinstein's family and that U.S. officials in Pakistan were working with local authorities on the case.

BOLIVIAN PARENTS CLASH WITH POLICE OVER EXPIRED SCHOOL LUNCHES

       LA PAZ, BOLIVIA--Protesters turned violent in Bolivia as hundreds of angry parents descended on El Alto's mayor's office and faced off with police as damning revelations emerged that public schools in the poor district had used rotten and contaminated food in free student lunches. Calling for Mayor Edgar Patana's resignation, rowdy protesters overpowered police and forced open the heavy metal doors that lead to Patana's headquarters.

     With the situation threatening to explode and police forces struggling to maintain order, reinforcements powered with tear gas and high-powered water hoses were quickly called to the scene to control the unruly mob of parents. While protesters struggled to maintain their positions outside local government offices in the face of the police offensive, defiant mothers and fathers desperately tried to keep up their fight against school authorities they accuse of attempting to kill their children.

      El Alto is one of Bolivia's poorest districts and at the forefront of the country's socialist movement. These violent scenes are a serious blow to the left-wing mayor who was once the darling of parents after announcing the school program to feed impoverished children who attend school. Protesters who had broken into the district's headquarters showed off rotten and contaminated food well past their expiry date that they allege are being used by schools to feed their children. Bolivia's socialist government has been rocked by several high-profile protests throughout the country in recent years as voters are angry at the slow pace of socio-economic change in one of Latin America's poorest countries.

August 13, 2011

LIBYAN REBELS CLAIM VICTORY IN BREGA, A KEY OIL TOWN

      BENGHAZI, LIBYA--Libyan rebels battling Muammar al-QadHafi's troops along the country's Mediterranean coast said they captured a key oil terminal Thursday after three weeks of hand-to-hand fighting. Rebel spokesman Mohammed al-Rijali said he was with the fighters in Brega when they gained control of the strategic port city, 125 miles southwest of the de-facto rebel capital of Benghazi. "Brega is liberated," al-Rijali told The Associated Press after nightfall. Al-Rijali, who spoke over the telephone from nearby Ajdabiya, didn't provide any details or a casualty toll. His claim could not be immediately verified. Officials in the Libyan capital Tripoli made no comment on the rebel claim.

    Brega fell under rebel control briefly in March, but was recaptured by Qadhafi's forces shortly afterward. The fighting around the city has gone back and forth since then, with the rebels not managing to keep their ground. Brega's capture would be an important boost for the rebels because whoever controls the strategic oil terminal, which is also Libya's second-largest hydrocarbon complex, is in charge of the country's main oil fields. Another rebel spokesman, Mohammed al-Zawawi, said earlier Thursday that two rebels died in the day's fighting in Brega, while 16 others were wounded. Libya's 6-month old civil war has been deadlocked for months despite NATO's airstrikes to protect civilians.

     In recent weeks, rebels have pushed out of their Nafusa strongholds, advancing on the coastal plain toward Qaddafi-held towns along the Mediterranean. The rebels hope to first capture towns near Tripoli, before launching an offensive on the capital, commanders have said. Meanwhile, rebel fighters and Qadhafi troops exchanged fire on the country's western front Thursday along a highway leading to the coastal town of Zawiya, said rebel fighter Mohammed Frefer. The fighting took place in Nasser City, a town about 16 miles south of Zawiya -- the closest rebels have come to Tripoli, just 30 miles to the east. Rebel fighters had reached Nasser City on Wednesday, but pulled back a few miles after encountering strong resistance. Capturing both Brega or Zawiya would mark a significant gain in the Libyan rebels' goal to topple the Qaddafi regime. "It will be a huge morale victory," said Fawzi Bukatef, a Brega rebel operations chief and head of the Coalition of Revolutionaries -- a large group of armed Libyan volunteers and civilians who fight at the front lines.

SYRIAN ANTI-GOVERNMENT ACTIVISTS DEMAND PRESIDENT ASSAD RESIGNATION

       DAMASCUS, SYRIA--Reports from Syria say at least 11 people have been killed as government troops fired on anti-government protesters in a half-dozen cities across the country. The demonstrations, following Friday prayers, come amid a week-long government crackdown.  Syrian anti-government activists Friday said protesters were killed in areas that include Aleppo, Homs, the suburbs of Damascus and in northwestern Syria near the border with Turkey. Government security forces reportedly also fired on demonstrators following prayers in Hama and Deir el-Zor. They were the latest incidents in a five month-long popular uprising against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Human rights organizations say more than 1,700 people have been killed in the attacks.

     The U.S. government says Assad's government has lost legitimacy. But Washington has not yet called for him to step down.  Senior officials have said it was important for the international community to speak with one voice on Syria. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged countries to stop trading with Syria and buying products that include oil and gas. In a speech at the State Department, Friday, she also called on countries who have been supporting the Syrian government to "get on the right side of history." Syrian dissidents say Damascus is using revenues from its petroleum exports to pay for the crackdown. At least seven protesters were killed: two outside the capital, Damascus, one in the central city of Homs and another in Hama, two in the major northern city Aleppo and one in Deir el-Zour in the east, according to activists. Military raids earlier in the day killed at least two people.

     Friday has become the main day for demonstrations in Syria, despite the near-certainty of a government crackdown with bullets and tear gas. The latest rallies were largest in Homs and the outskirts of Hama in central Syria, Deir el-Zour in the east, Idlib province near the Turkish border and Latakia in the north. The protests in Deir el-Zour and outside Hama were significant because government forces took control of both areas this week during deadly military assaults. The fact that protesters still turned out was a strong sign of defiance and the latest signal that Assad's forces cannot terrify them into staying home. Syrian troops opened fire on thousands in Deir el-Zour, according to two main activist groups. In Washington, presidential spokesman Jay Carney stopped just short of calling for Assad's ouster, saying that Syria "would be a much better place without him." "We believe that President Assad's opportunity to lead the transition has passed," Carney told reporters traveling on Air Force One with President Barack Obama to Michigan.

CHINESE BULLET TRAIN MAKER ORDERS RECALL

       BEIJING, CHINA-- A Chinese bullet train manufacturer announced a recall Friday of 54 trains in the latest embarrassment for a problem-plagued prestige project following a July crash that killed 40 people. The recall adds to growing signs official attitudes toward the bullet train are shifting and Beijing might scale back its rapid expansion of the high speed rail network. A moratorium on new rail projects was imposed this week and the government announced a reduction in train speeds. The recall applies to model CRH380BL trains used on the new Beijing-Shanghai line, which has suffered repeated delays blamed on equipment failures, state-owned China North Locomotive and Rolling Stock Ltd. said in a statement through the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

    Beijing launched an overhaul of the multibillion-dollar high-speed network after the July crash prompted an avalanche of public complaints about the human cost of rapid, government-driven development. CNR announced a temporary halt to production of CRH380BL trains this week. A state news agency cited a company manager as saying faulty sensors were believed to be to blame for the stoppages and experts were being sent to examine rail lines. The bullet train was meant to showcase China's technological advancement and form the basis for possible exports. Chinese bullet train makers have sold rail cars to Malaysia and are working on projects in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. But even before the July crash, the bullet train was a target of critics who said it was dangerously fast and too expensive for a society where the poor majority need more low-cost transportation, not record-setting speeds.

     China has the world's biggest train network, with 56,000 miles of passenger rail. But trains are overloaded with passengers and cargo, and critics say the money would be better spent expanding slower routes. Critics have expected changes since the bullet train lost its biggest official booster when the former railway minister was dismissed in February amid a graft probe. Earlier plans called for expanding the network to 10,000 miles of track by 2020. Authorities have announced no changes but the railway ministry says it is spending less than planned this year on the high-speed system. Authorities blamed the July crash on a lightning strike that caused one train to stall and a sensor failure that allowed a second train to keep moving on the same track and slam into it. That caused train cars to fall from a viaduct near the southern city of Wenzhou.

August 12, 2011

VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ CLAIMS TO BE RESPONSIVE TO CHEMOTHERAPY

      HAVANA, CUBA--In a telephone contact during the opening of a high-tech medical center, Venezuelan DICTATOR Hugo Chávez reported that he has been responsive to the chemotherapy received so far in the second stage of his cancer treatment.  "We are winning and will win this battle. I will live and we will live," said Chávez.  "I am laying down straight, receiving my cycle of chemotherapy for today. It started on Monday and should end on Friday (...) I am feeling well, but receiving the appropriate dose of chemotherapy. We are winning and will win this battle. I will live and we will live," he said.  He added that his days have been "intensive."

    The Head of State talked once again of the opposition's alleged scheming and said that a nationwide transportation strike convened for Thursday was part of the efforts at destabilization. The president again criticized the opposition and called on the middle class to realize the gains attained by his revolution. I asked the people to criticize the revolution but never to leave it.  "I keep calling on the middle class, asking them to join us and defeat the conspiracies, defeat the empire that is collapsing. In capitalism there is no social investment, privatized health and education, so I say from the bed of a convalescent but victorious,” come and join us in the defense of the revolution, against the opposition and attack the empire. "  Again the dictator spoke of conspiracies against his government. "the opposition is already plotting, they will not win elections even with “ Bambarito,”  we are going to knock them out. We will win for 10 or 11 million votes."  

      Chavez believes that if five years ago he was victorious with 6 million 300 thousand votes, he can now reach 12 million. "If we won then with 63%, now it will be 70%. I say: Chavez will be the candidate and Chavez will be the president  for the next 7 years."  "They (the opposition) are already  plotting with the backing of the empire, since they  know that they  will never defeat us through the electoral vote, now they are  attacking the Armed Forces, searching for resources from the empire."  He insists that the transport strike announced for today is part of that conspiracy. "Today we had guarimba in Valles del Tuy, there they are conspiring. I want  to warn the “Mesa of the United State"  not even to think about it because the answer would be devastating, It will not be the Chavez of the  crucifix. You better try to win the election because you are going to be knockout. "  "Sooner rather than later, I will be  physically with you again. Meanwhile I send each one of you my love and my heart. Long live the homeland, living life, people living together, long live socialism," and the dictator  said "goodbye. "

FORMER COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT ALVARO URIBE: SANTOS HAS A VERY COMPLACENT ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHAVEZ DICTATORSHIP

       BOGOTA, COLOMBIA--Former President Alvaro Uribe said today that  his successor and fellow partisan Juan Manuel Santos has taken an accommodating policy towards the "dictatorship" taking shape in Venezuela under the government of dictator  Hugo Chávez.  "I do not know what the (Colombian) government intends with such approximation of foreign relations" with Venezuela, Uribe said in an interview with portal confidencialcolombia.com, Efe quoted.  Uribe (2002-2010) considered that an analysis of the attitudes of Santos against Venezuela would leave the impression that the government of his country has adopted  "a very indulging wording" " with Chavez. Uribe (2002-2010) commented that an insight into Santos' attitude toward Venezuela makes him think that the Colombian Executive Office has adopted with Chávez.  Álvaro Uribe is a harsh critic of Chávez; he barely kept any links with the Venezuelan Head of State during his term in office.  "He is one the impression that it is an appeasement policy with a dictatorship that has been consolidating in Venezuela and a policy that ignores some facts," the Colombian president.

     Uribe alluded to some of the reasons they opened the doors for binational crisis as the alleged presence of guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on Venezuelan soil. The last one broke in mid-2009, with complaints on the matter to the OAS, which led Chavez to the suspension of bilateral relations, which only resumed a few days from  the inauguration of Santos with a summit Santa Marta on August 10, 2010. with a summit Santa Marta on August 10, 2010. "I came to border regions to speak with citizens who voted for President Santos, who are friends, who want President Santos to be  successful and immediately appears the criticism  concerning the deteriorating security and guerrillas shelters  in Venezuela, "said Uribe. The former Colombian president said he "made a great  effort for many years to have a constructive dialogue with President Chavez, an effort that was sterile." But he said he also met "the constitutional duty to seek the protection of life and safety of the citizens of Colombia, even against terrorists who were refugees abroad."

      In this context, he recalled that some of the binational crisis had its origin in the capture in Venezuela of Rodrigo Granda, FARC rebel known by the alias of the "Chancellor" by Colombian agents infiltrated, according to Caracas, and the signing of a failed agreement with the U.S. military. Uribe considered one of the problems of international politics of his country that "has ceased in demanding that Latin America and the Caribbean declare terrorist groups in Colombia as they must be know: terrorists." "They are called as such, as terrorists, in Europe, Canada, the United States, and in this continent, we still have difficulties," he lamented afterwards. Uribe also argued that protecting citizens from these terrorist organizations should be above commercial interests. For the sake of them, we  sacrifice political freedoms, rule of law and security of citizens, and finally "ends losing democracy, (and) of course trade," said Uribe. Just four days, while introducing the new Colombian representative in  Caracas, businessman Carlos Cure, Santos affirm that for  his government the relationship with Venezuela "is of  tremendous strategic importance."

CUBA'S PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE TOURS TO BEGIN THURSDAY

       MIAMI, FLORIDA--Liane and Tom Young got interested in Cuba through listening to the Buena Vista Social Club, the best selling Cuban album in history, and the allure of the island's famed cigars. When the first Americans to participate in people-to-people exchanges with Cuba in 7½ years leave Miami on a Marazul charter Thursday afternoon, the central Virginia couple will be aboard. They want to meet the people who go with the music and cigars, said Liane Young. “My husband and I think this is a fabulous opportunity to get to know the Cuban people,’’ she said earlier this week as she finished packing for a trip that will take the couple to Havana and Pinar del Rio, a prime tobacco-growing province.

    Young, who is retired but working on a screen play, and her husband, a small-scale organic farmer, said the couple chose the eight-day trip because they wanted to see Cuba beyond Havana but didn’t want to tie up too much time in travel. The Youngs are traveling with Insight Cuba, which arranged people-to-people exchanges from 2000 to 2003 before the Bush administration tightened travel to the island and stopped the trips as a way of shoring up the U.S. embargo. But the Obama administration has not only allowed Cuban-Americans to travel freely to the island if they can get visas from Cuba but also announced guidelines in January allowing other Americans to visit Cuba if they engage in “purposeful travel’’ that reaches out to ordinary Cubans in an effort to support civil society and support the free flow of information.

     As of Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department had approved licenses for 35 organizations to arrange trips to bring Americans and Cubans together. A number of them have scheduled their first trips this fall. But at least one, global travel provider Abercrombie & Kent, which had planned to piggyback on the license of a non-profit group, put its 13 planned trips on hold because of apparent conflict with rules issued by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control last month. Critics of the people-to-people exchanges say they are merely disguised tourism that will permit more U.S. currency to flow to the Castro government.

August 11, 2011

U.S. MAY CALL ON SYRIAN PRESIDENT AL-ASSAD TO STEP DOWN

      DAMASCUS, SYRIA--While international leaders mull their next steps, heavy gunfire, explosions and tanks permeated the eastern city of Deir Ezzor Wednesday, an activist group and a resident said. Businesses and homes belonging to known opposition organizers have been destroyed, said the resident, who did not want to be identified for safety reasons. He said at least 20 motorcycles belonging to residents were burned -- a move he suspects was an effort by security forces to hamper residents' resources. Security forces were impounding and burning motorcycles in the Damascus suburbs of Zamalka, Irbeen and Hammouriya as well, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said."  The observatory said gunfire from security forces killed one woman and injured three people in Sirmeen. Security forces killed an activist in Taftanaz, the observatory said.

     The forces seized more than 300 detainees in a day's time in Binnish, Taftanaz, Sirmeen and Taoum, according to the observatory. In the western city of Homs, three people were killed and eight injured in the Bab Amr neighborhood, the scene of intense gunfire after security forces stormed the area, the observatory said. The conflict in Syria was fueled five months ago when Syrian forces swiftly suppressed protests in the southern city of Daraa. Anti-government fervor caught on nationwide as more protests were met with tougher crackdowns. While activists blame government security forces for the violence and casualties, the al-Assad regime has consistently said "armed groups" are responsible. By Wednesday, the death toll had reached 2,417 -- including more than 2,000 civilians, said the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of activists. The number includes 84 deaths in the city of Deir Ezzor alone since Saturday, when pro-government forces began a military campaign in the area, the LCC said.

     Meanwhile, the United States is moving toward issuing an explicit call for al-Assad to step down, U.S. government sources told CNN Tuesday. The move is expected to be announced in the coming days, after U.S. officials consult with the Security Council, the sources said. They said the question of whether to call for al-Assad to leave office has been under discussion over the past few weeks. Fareed Zakaria: What's taking the U.S. so long on Syria? The United States has slapped sanctions on Syria's largest mobile phone operator and a Syrian bank and its Lebanese subsidiary.  The Treasury Department Wednesday announced the designation of mobile phone operator Syriatel, the Commercial Bank of Syria and the Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank. It said Americans are "generally prohibited from engaging in commercial or financial transactions" with the companies.

SOUTH KOREA RETURNS FIRE AFTER NORTH SHELLS DISPUTED WATERS

       SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA--The South Korean military returned fire on Wednesday after North Korean artillery shells fell in waters near a South Korean island the North attacked last year with a lethal artillery barrage, Defense Ministry officials said. South Korean marines based on the island, Yeonpyeong, 75 miles west of Seoul, detected three artillery shots from a North Korean island around 1 p.m. Wednesday, the officials said. South Korean military’s Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said it believed that one of the shells landed at the Northern Limit Line, a border drawn by the United Nations at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The South accepts and patrols the line, but the North rejects it, insisting on a border line farther south.

     South Korea responded by broadcasting a warning and then firing three artillery shells on the northern line. At 7:46 p.m., North Korea fired two more shells, one of them hitting the water close to the northern line, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. In response, South Korean marines fired three artillery rounds on that area. “We fired to warn them,” said a Defense Ministry spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. “We are watching the situation carefully and maintain our readiness.” The South Korean military has maintained high vigilance since North Korea’s coastal artillery launched a barrage on Yeonpyeong last November, killing two marines and two civilians. At the time, South Korea responded with an artillery attack on North Korea.

      Earlier Wednesday, South Korean media reported that the Seoul authorities were searching for an assassination squad assigned by North Korea to murder the South Korean defense minister, Kim Kwan-jin. . But neither the Defense Ministry nor the government’s main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, would confirm or deny the reports. North Korea, which had earlier threatened to “execute” Mr. Kim for his hawkish remarks, had not yet reacted to the news reports. Mr. Kim, a former army general, came to office shortly after the Yeonpyeong shelling, calling for a swift and powerful retaliation against North Korean provocations. North Korean state media called him a “national traitor” and “warmonger.” In June, they called for his “execution” after some South Korean reserve army troops used photos of the North’s ruling family as rifle-range targets. Last week, the South Korean Justice Ministry said it would increase the cash reward for reporting a North Korean spy to the authorities from 100 million won to 500 million won, or from $92,000 to $462,000.
 

CHINA'S FIRST AIRCRAFT CARRIER LAUNCHES SEA TRIALS 

       BEIJING, CHINA-- China's first aircraft carrier swept through fog-shrouded waters Wednesday to open sea trials that underscore concerns about the country's growing military strength and its increasingly assertive claims over disputed territory. The mission by the refurbished former Soviet carrier marks a first step in readying the craft for full deployment. China says the ship is intended for research and training, pointing to longer-term plans to build up to three additional clones of the carrier in China's own shipyards. "As a major economy, China on the one hand should take more responsibilities for the world and on the other hand, it has some new security interests that it needs to protect. Under the circumstances, China's naval power needs to grow accordingly," said Wang Shaopu, director of the Center for Pan-Pacific Studies at Jiaotong University in Shanghai. Information about the cruise was tightly restricted in line with the Chinese military's habitual secrecy, although the official Xinhua News Agency indicated that the step had been planned for some time.

     The 1,000-foot (300-meter) vessel departed through fog from the northern port of Dalian where it is being overhauled. "After returning from the sea trial, the aircraft carrier will continue refit and test work," Xinhua said. China has spent the better part of a decade refurbishing the carrier formerly known as the Varyag after it was towed from Ukraine in 1998, minus its engines, weaponry, and navigation systems. Beijing's carrier program is seen as the natural outgrowth of the country's burgeoning military expansion, fed by two decades of near-continuous, double-digit percentage increases in the defense budget. China's announced military spending rose to $91.5 billion last year, the second highest in the world after the United States. While the development of carriers is driven largely by bragging rights and national prestige, China's naval ambitions have been brought into focus with its claims to disputed territory surrounding Taiwan and in the South China Sea. T

     Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy claimed by China as its own, has responded to the growing Chinese threat by developing missiles capable of striking carriers at sea. An illustration at a display Wednesday of military technology in the capital Taipei showed a Hsiung Feng III missile hitting a carrier that was a dead ringer for the former Varyag. China defends its carrier program by saying it is the only permanent member of the United Nations Security Council that has not developed such platforms and that it has a huge coastline and vast maritime assets to defend. As the world's second largest economy, Beijing says it lags behind smaller nations such as Thailand and Brazil, as well as regional rival India, which have purchased carriers from abroad. While Chinese carriers could challenge U.S. naval supremacy in Asia, China still has far to go in bringing such systems into play, experts said. The U.S. operates 11 aircraft carrier battle groups and its carriers are far bigger and more advanced.

August 10, 2011

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA HONORS 30 SOLDIERS KILLED IN AFGHAN HELICOPTER CRASH

      DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, DELAWARE--The fallen come home here with such dignity that every American flag on every case of remains is inspected for the tiniest smudge. The dead are treated with reverence by everyone. Including their commander in chief.  For the second time in his presidency, Barack Obama was at Dover on Tuesday, saluting troops who died on his watch.  Sadness hung everywhere. For Obama, it was a day to deal with the nation’s single deadliest day of the decade-long war in Afghanistan. For the families of the 30 Americans who were killed, it was a time to remember the dreams their loved ones had lived, not the ambitions that died with them.

    There will be no lasting, gripping images this time of Obama assuming his office’s grimmest role. No family could give permission for media coverage, the military said, because no individual bodies had been identified yet.  The helicopter crash in Afghanistan on Saturday was that horrific.  The troops who died had been flying on a mission to help fellow forces under fire. An insurgent shot the helicopter down.  For Americans with no sons, daughters, other relatives or friends in the military, this punch seemed to blindside everyone. The war is supposed to winding down, and the face behind it, Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, was killed months ago by elite U.S. forces.  

      Saturday’s blow claimed 22 Navy SEALs from the same special forces team that pulled off the remarkable mission in Pakistan that ended bin Laden. None of those killed on the helicopter were part of the bin Laden raid, but the connection, along with the size of the loss, was deeply felt.  The troops who died were described as intensely patriotic, talented and passionate about the risks and responsibilities that came with their jobs.  Some were married with children. One wanted to be an astronaut. Another was going to propose to his girlfriend when he got home.   Three were from some the same Army reserve unit in Kansas: Bravo Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment.   Seven Afghan commandos and one Afghan interpreter were killed, too, when the helicopter crashed in the Tangi Valley. Thirty cases came off the planes draped in American flags; eight were covered in Afghan flags.

CUBAN RIGHTS GROUP COMPLAINS OF REPRESSION

       HAVANA, CUBA--The dissident Cuban group Ladies in White on Monday complained that several of their members were harassed and physically and verbally attacked when they left the cathedral in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. The spokeswomen for the group, Laura Pollan, told Efe that “they were beaten a lot” and she blamed the Communist government for “what might happen to the Ladies in White both in Santiago de Cuba as well as in any other place on the island.”

      Pollan attributed these acts to “an increase in repression” in the country’s interior. “But these women are not going to be alone, they’re going to have our support. They have been physically attacked and there is a lot of violence and we are peaceful women and we cannot permit that. We have to be there personally,” she said. She said that she had requested a meeting with Cuba’s Catholic primate, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, “with whom we want to speak because he is the intermediary between the government and the Ladies in White.” Ayme Garces, one of the women involved in the incident in Santiago on Sunday, told Efe by telephone that about 15 Ladies in White were the targets of “an act of repudiation” in the street by government supporters, uniformed female police and plainclothes police.

     “They told us that we are paid mercenaries and other insults, and the police (women) pushed us, arrested us and forced us to board a bus in which they transported us to the highway near the town of Palma Soriano,” she said. Garces said that this is the third time that they have been subjected to repressive treatment and recalled the first such incident, when a group of 16 women “were beaten and (pelted with stones) and they injured one of them with some scissors” after the ladies had visited the church in the town of El Cobre.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT! CUBA'S MOST RENOWNED COMMUNIST SINGER TO PERFORM IN MIAMI IN AUGUST

       MIAMI, FLORIDA--One of Cuba’s most renowned COMMUNIST musical artists will play Miami’s biggest venue in August. Singer-songwriter Pablo Milanes, a pillar of Cuban music for almost 50 years, will perform at AmericanAirlines Arena on Aug. 27 as part of his first U.S. tour since 1979. Tickets go on sale on Ticketmaster at 10 a.m. Friday. The venue, which has a capacity of 19,600 seats (although it can be configured for smaller audiences), home to the Miami Heat and host to numerous pop stars, is the largest that any Cuban act has played in South Florida. “Pablo fills stadiums all over Latin America,” says Hugo Cancio, a longtime promoter of Cuban music, whose Fuego Entertainment is producing the tour. Milanes will also perform in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Oakland and Puerto Rico. “When you talk about Pablo you talk about Cuba. He’s the maximum representation of Cuban music and culture,.” Cancio says.

     The revered Milanes is one of the architects of Cuban Nueva Trova, a musical genre that developed in Latin America in the 1960s and is known for its poetic, leftist and socially conscious lyrics. He has released 29 albums, won two Grammys and collaborated with many top Spanish-speaking singers and composers. With his generational and artistic compatriot Silvio Rodriguez (who toured the United States last year but did not come closer to Miami than Orlando), Milanes has long been closely associated with the Cuban Revolution. In recent years, however, he has criticized the Cuban government for its treatment of dissidents and reluctance to change.

     Cuban artists have performed in Miami much more frequently since the Obama Administration loosened Bush-era restrictions on cultural exchange with the island, mostly with little controversy. The folkloric ensemble Los Munequitos de Matanzas performed at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in March. Singer-songwriter Carlos Varela played the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts last year (he returns to the downtown club Grand Central on Thursday and Saturday), and numerous other acts have played various clubs and private venues. On Saturday an event called MiaFest, which includes the Cuban act Gente D’Zona, will take place at the Klipsch Auditorium at Bayfront Amphitheater. Despite the potential for controversy, Cancio believes Miami is a natural destination for Milanes. “It’s where millions of [his] fellow Cubans reside. ... From a business point of view it’s a natural market,” Cancio says. “It’s a mecca for Latin American artists.”

August 9, 2011

CUBA TRAVEL AGENCY SUSPENDED BY U.S. TOUR COMPANY

      MIAMI, FLORIDA--One of the first travel companies to jump into the Cuba trips allowed by a new Obama administration policy has suspended the tours amid questions that trouble both opponents and supporters of increased travel to the island. The luxury travel firm Abercrombie & Kent advertised its tours for non-Cuban Americans, which included salsa dancing and rum-laced mojitos, under the “people to people” travel policy unveiled Jan. 28.

     It quickly sold out 13 tours organized in conjunction with the Foundation for Caribbean Studies, holder of one of the licenses to organize people to people trips issued by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC). But an OFAC statement on July 25 pointed at problems with A&K’s arrangement with the Foundation, and sparked questions about the California-based group. As a result of the OFAC statement, the company “suspended all Cuba-related travel bookings until it can ensure it is fully compliant with this new guidance,” A&K media relations manager Jean Fawcett wrote in an email to El Nuevo Herald.

     People to people travel started under President Clinton to allow non-Cuban U.S. residents to engage in “meaningful interaction” with everyday Cubans in "support of their desire to freely determine their country’s future.’’ Cuban Americans travel for family reunifications, but all tourist visits are illegal. The Bush administration shut people-to-people travel amid widespread complaints that Americans were engaging in thinly disguised tourism, and President Barack Obama reopened it Jan. 28.  Without naming names, OFAC’s July statement noted that companies that do not have a license to organize Cuba trips cannot use another firm’s license. Fawcett confirmed A&K does not have an OFAC license.

NATO: PROBE CONTINUES AT SITE OF MILITARY HELICOPTER CRASH

       KABUL, AFGHANISTAN--International military forces worked on Monday to recover every last piece of a Chinook helicopter that crashed over the weekend, killing 30 American troops, seven Afghan soldiers and an Afghan interpreter, NATO said.

     German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, told reporters that troops had secured the crash site in a rugged area of eastern Wardak province and nobody was being allowed in or out of the area while the investigation was ongoing. Jacobson said the coalition still had not yet determined the exact cause of the crash, but some officials have said the heavy and lumbering transport helicopter was apparently shot down. Officials said the helicopter was hit as it was flying in and approaching the area.

     "We are still investigating this incident so we have no picture of what was the cause for the incident. That is what the investigation is basically all about," Jacobson said. The helicopter was ferrying a group of U.S. Navy SEALs to reinforce a group of U.S. Army Rangers who were under fire. It remains unclear if the Rangers and SEALs were taking part in a night raid to capture or kill an insurgent leader. It was deadliest single incident for U.S. forces in the decade-long war. The fatal crash on Saturday highlights the risks confronting the U.S.-led coalition as it looks to rely more on special operations forces while reducing the overall number of troops in Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

LAB TESTS RESULTS ARE OK. SAYS VENEZUELAN DICTATOR CHAVEZ

       havana, cuba --Venezuelan DICTATOR Hugo Chávez reported on Monday morning that his lab results, including blood tests and liver, kidney, and heart function went "okay." Therefore, his second cycle of chemotherapy as part of his cancer treatment would begin in the next few minutes.

     "They just measured my weight; I am putting weight on me; I weigh 86.5 kilograms. I did it by means of an extraordinary instrument which measures even water in cells; I am gaining muscle mass and my mood is outstanding," the Head of State said.  He explained that regardless of his medical treatment, he is fulfilling his functions as Head of State, keeping in touch with his government team, including Vice-President Elías Jaua and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicolás Maduro.

     "We are regulating the pace without despair or rush; I have (Friedrich) Nietzsche's supreme formula stuck to one side of my bed: assimilation of fundamental errors, assimilation of passions, assimilation of knowledge and being able to give up knowledge which is burden and torment; the I coming back from the child lightening burdens and the creation of a new center of gravity," elaborated President Chávez as he revealed his way of physical and emotional recovery.  The president made these remarks on the phone through state-run TV channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).

August 8, 2011

U.S. NAVY SEALS KILLED IN AFGHAN CRASH WERE ON RESCUE MISSION

      WASHINGTON, D.C.--The 30 American service members – most of them elite Navy SEALs – who died when their helicopter was shot down had rushed to help Army Rangers who had come under fire, two U.S. officials said Sunday. The heavy loss shows that covert tactics carry huge risks despite the huge success of the SEAL mission that killed Osama bin Laden more than three months ago. Some of the SEALs who died Saturday were from the same unit that killed bin Laden, although none of the men took part in that mission. The U.S.-led coalition plans to rely more on special operations missions as it reduces the overall number of combat troops by the end of 2014. This weekend, the rescue team had subdued attackers who had pinned down the Rangers and were departing in their Chinook helicopter when the aircraft was apparently hit, one of the officials said.

     Thirty Americans and eight Afghans were killed in the crash, making it the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. The Rangers, special operations forces who work regularly with the SEALs, secured the crash site in the Tangi Joy Zarin area of Wardak province, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Kabul, the other official said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the event, as the investigation is still ongoing. The SEAL mission was first reported by CNN. NATO was recovering the remains of the twin rotor Chinook helicopter. A current and a former U.S. official said the Americans included 22 SEALs, three Air Force combat controllers and a dog handler and his dog. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because military officials were still notifying the families of the dead.

    Eight Taliban fighters were also killed in the battle, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement. Afghanistan has more U.S. special operations troops, about 10,000, than any other theater of war. The forces, often joined by Afghan troops, are among the most effective weapons in the coalition's arsenal, conducting surveillance, infiltration and capture missions and night raids. From April to July this year, 2,832 special operations raids captured 2,941 insurgents and killed 834, twice as many as during the same time period last year, according to NATO. SEALs, Rangers, and other special operations troops are expected to be the vanguard of the American military effort in Afghanistan as international military forces start pulling out. By the time combat troops plan to have left the country, the coalition will have handed control of security to the Afghan forces they have spent tens of billions of dollars arming and training.

VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ SAID QUOTA UNDER OPEC SHOULD BE ADJUSTED

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA---VENEZUELAN dictator  Hugo Chávez's request to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to raise Venezuela's oil production quota could be fruitless, amid tensions among some OPEC member countries after the difficult situation the group faced in June, sources said.

     On Friday, Chávez called upon the OPEC to increase gradually the Venezuelan 3 million bpd oil production quota, even though at the end of 2008 the group agreed to reduce their joint production, thus leaving the application of the quotas system without effect temporarily.  "It is irrational. There is no quota system in force at the moment and if Venezuela wanted to produce more, I would have done so by now," a Persian Gulf delegate to the OPEC told Reuters.  "The truth is that they cannot get more oil from the ground," added the source, who recalled that Venezuela was one of the countries that rebutted an increase in OPEC production during their meeting in June, which unexpectedly ended without consensus.

      According to figures released by the Ministry of Energy, Venezuela has been pumping less than 3 million bpd of crude oil since 2010, having overcome a decline in oil prices in 2009, which resulted in a reduction in the investments of state-run oil holding Pdvsa.  The OPEC uses two key parameters for setting production quotas: proven oil reserves and production capacity.  "If they had the ability to pump more oil, they should have done so when Libya stopped producing, but they did not," the source said in Dubai.  "They (Venezuela) simply lack a clear strategy and it is apparent that this is what is happening now," said another delegate to OPEC.

DICTATOR CHAVEZ'S REQUEST TO INCREASE OIL PRODUCTION QUOTA CONSIDERED SENSELESS

       VIENNA, AUSTRIA--DICTATOR Hugo Chávez's request to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to raise Venezuela's oil production quota could be fruitless, amid tensions among some OPEC member countries after the difficult situation the group faced in June, sources said.

     Chávez called upon the OPEC to increase gradually the Venezuelan 3 million bpd oil production quota, even though at the end of 2008 the group agreed to reduce their joint production, thus leaving the application of the quotas system without effect temporarily.  "It is irrational. There is no quota system in force at the moment and if Venezuela wanted to produce more, I would have done so by now," a Persian Gulf delegate to the OPEC told Reuters.  "The truth is that they cannot get more oil from the ground," added the source, who recalled that Venezuela was one of the countries that rebutted an increase in OPEC production during their meeting in June, which unexpectedly ended without consensus.

      According to figures released by the Ministry of Energy, Venezuela has been pumping less than 3 million bpd of crude oil since 2010, having overcome a decline in oil prices in 2009, which resulted in a reduction in the investments of state-run oil holding Pdvsa.  The OPEC uses two key parameters for setting production quotas: proven oil reserves and production capacity.  "If they had the ability to pump more oil, they should have done so when Libya stopped producing, but they did not," the source said in Dubai.  "They (Venezuela) simply lack a clear strategy and it is apparent that this is what is happening now," said another delegate to OPEC.

August 7, 2011

UNITED STATES LOSES PRIZED AAA CREDIT RATING FROM S&P

      WASHINGTON, D.C.--The United States lost its top-tier AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday in an unprecedented blow to the world's largest economy in the wake of a political battle that took the country to the brink of default. "The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics," S&P said in a statement. The outlook on the new U.S. credit rating is "negative," S&P said in a statement, indicating another downgrade was possible in the next 12 to 18 months.

     The move reflects the deterioration in the global economic standing of the United States, which has had a AAA credit rating from S&P since 1941, and it could have implications for the U.S. dollar's reserve currency status. "The global system must now adjust to the many implications and uncertainties of the once-unthinkable loss of America's AAA," said Mohamed El-Erian, co-chief investment officer at Pacific Investment Management Co which oversees $1.2 trillion in assets. The decision follows a fierce political battle in Congress over cutting spending and raising taxes to reduce the government's debt burden and allow its statutory borrowing limit to be raised.

     On August 2, President Barack Obama signed legislation designed to reduce the fiscal deficit by $2.1 trillion over 10 years. But that was well short of the $4 trillion in savings S&P had called for as a good "down payment" on fixing America's finances. The political gridlock in Washington over addressing the long-term fiscal problems facing the United States came against the backdrop of slowing U.S. economic growth and led to the worst week in the U.S. stock market in two years. The S&P 500 stock index fell 10.8 percent in the past 10 trading days on concerns that the U.S. economy may be heading into another recession and because the European debt crisis has worsened. Treasury bonds, once indisputably seen as the safest security in the world, are now rated lower than bonds issued by countries such as Britain, Germany, France or Canada.

VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ TO RETURN TO CUBA FOR MORE CHEMOTHERAPY

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuelan dictator  Hugo Chavez said on Friday he will return to Cuba for a second session of chemotherapy to treat a cancer that has forced him to slow his pace ahead of a re-election bid next year. Chavez, who had surgery in Havana in June to remove a baseball-sized tumor, told state TV in a phone call that he would undergo medical tests in Cuba on Sunday and could resume chemotherapy treatment on Monday depending on the results. "My evolution continues to be favorable. Recent tests show that. My physical condition is still not the best," the 57-year-old socialist leader said. Chavez said his trip to Cuba could last five days. Last month, Chavez spent a week undergoing chemotherapy on the communist-led Caribbean island as the guest of his close friend and mentor, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. He has not said exactly what type of cancer he has, denying media reports of prostate or colon cancer and repeating that doctors have found no malignant cells in his body.

    The illness has forced Chavez to cut back dramatically on his marathon speeches and famously long public appearances. Critics fear he could use his disease to garner sympathy and support at a time when opposition parties sense a chance to end his 12-year rule at next year's election. The opposition has accused him of putting Venezuela's national security at risk by governing from Cuba while recuperating. But the president said the public understood why he was traveling abroad to seek the best possible care. "Beyond the cries and screams of those calling for a coup, in desperation, the people support my decision to continue treatment," Chavez said in his call to state TV on Friday. During his illness he has made repeated appearances on state media, apparently to demonstrate he remains in control, and the phone call was his fifth such appearance of the day.

The National Assembly unanimously approved Chávez's trip to Cuba, where is to start his second stage of chemotherapy.  After authorization was granted to the Venezuelan ruler, speaker of the National Assembly Fernando Soto Rojas said "thank God it all ended in holy peace."  He added that the reasons for the presidential trip had been sufficiently explained to date and that permission should be granted for legal and even humanitarian reasons.  The debate was so brief that Soto Rojas suggested that it was perhaps the shortest meeting in the history of the Venezuelan parliament.  At the end of the session, pro-government parliamentarians shouted slogans showing support for Chávez.

REBELS LAUNCH PUSH IN WESTERN LIBYA, AIM FOR COAST TOWN

       BENGHAZI, LIBYA--LIBYAN Rebels launched a new offensive Saturday out of their stronghold in Libya's western mountains, battling regime forces in a drive toward the heartland of Muammar Qaddafi's rule on the Mediterranean coast. Opening a new front, the rebels are aiming to break a monthslong deadlock and eventually fight their way to the capital, Tripoli. Booms of shelling and rocket fire echoed from the front lines, centered around the town of Bir Ghanam, where the rebel force backed by tanks fought Qaddafi's troops much of the day.

     Rebels are hoping for a breakthrough in the far west of Libya, frustrated with the stalemate in the center of the country, where their underequipped forces have been unable to budge the battlelines despite five months of NATO airstrikes on Qaddafi's military. Rebels control most of the eastern half of country, while Qaddafi's regime holds most of the west, centered around Tripoli. At dawn, thousands of opposition fighters pushed out of the Nafusa Mountains, a range near the Tunisian border, into the coastal plain toward their main objectives, Zawiya and Sabratha, two key regime-held towns on the Mediterranean west of the capital. Bir Ghanam, one of their initial targets Saturday, lies a little more than a third of the 50-mile distance to Zawiya.

      Rebel commander Col. Jumma Ibrahim said opposition forces had captured Bir Ghanam and had moved a few miles beyond it, as well as making advances on a separate highway to Sabratha. His claims could not be independently confirmed. "Now he can only defend himself against us," Ibrahim said of Qaddafi. "Our main destination is Tripoli, but we cannot jump directly to Tripoli. We go one by one." Despite the ambitious goals, the new assault is certain to hit tough resistance, as it would push right into the heartland of Qaddafi's control. Zawiya, the rebel's main target on the coast, was the scene of a major uprising by anti-Qaddafi protesters early on in the conflict. The protesters took over the city and drove out regime supporters, but then were brutally crushed in a long, bloody siege.

August 6, 2011

COMMUNIST CUBA'S SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS SENTENCE FOR JAILED AMERICAN ALAN GROSS

      HAVANA, CUBA--COMMUNIST Cuba's Supreme Court has upheld the 15-year prison sentence of jailed American aid contractor Alan Gross for trying to set up Internet networks in Cuba, in a damaging decision for U.S.-Cuba relations. The Cuban government said Friday the court upheld the finding in his March trial that he illegally brought equipment into Cuba to spread Internet access under a U.S. program "to subvert the Cuban constitutional order." The case has brought U.S.-Cuba relations to a standstill after a brief warming under President Barack Obama, who eased U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba and allowed a free flow of remittances to the island before Gross, 62, was arrested in December 2009.

    The Obama administration has said there would be no more improvement in U.S.-Cuba relations as long as Cuba imprisons Gross, who has been behind bars for 20 months. "We call on the government of Cuba to release Alan Gross immediately and unconditionally, to allow him to return to his family and bring to an end the long ordeal that began well over a year ago," said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the White House National Security Council. The court's decision followed a July 22 appeal to the Supreme Court that was Gross' last legal recourse in the case. The outcome was not a major surprise, although some had expected the court to at least reduce his sentence. The court rejected Gross' defense that he intended no harm toward Cuba and was only trying to provide more Internet access to the island's small Jewish community. He was working for a secretive U.S. Agency for International Development program that Cuba views as part of longstanding U.S. efforts to destabilize the island's government. It considers the Internet one of the new battlegrounds in the two countries' half-century old ideological conflict.

     The program has drawn criticism in Washington for ineffectiveness and for putting Gross, who had engaged in development projects around the world, in danger. His wife, Judy Gross, has repeatedly pleaded that her husband be freed for humanitarian reasons because his elderly mother and their daughter are battling cancer and Gross is suffering health problems that have contributed to his losing 100 pounds (45 kg) in jail. In a statement from Washington, where Gross' family lives, his attorney Peter Kahn said the court's decision was disappointing and had left the family "heartbroken." He urged a diplomatic solution and requested that Cuban President Raul Castro release Gross. "Alan and his entire family have paid an enormous personal price in the long-standing political feud between Cuba and the United States," Kahn said. "We call upon the two countries to resolve their dispute over Alan's activities diplomatically and request that President Raul Castro release Alan immediately on humanitarian grounds."

VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ POINTS TO DISSENTERS' DESTABILIZING PLANS BACKED BY USA

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--dictator) Hugo Chávez reiterated on Friday that the opposition, backed by the United States, has destabilizing plans, and asked his supporters inside and outside the party to keep alert. "Dissenters are preparing to take again their usual path: violence, anti-democracy, betrayal, and their search for imperial intervention in foreign countries," said the Venezuelan president.  He added that such plans are the result of a crisis facing the opposition. "The country should be concerned about such crisis, as it is leading to serious clashes within the opposition. This reveals that dissenters are organically incapable of governing a country as today's Venezuela."  "The other side of the coin is the opposition's plan B (...) They have started to send messages saying that there are hundreds in the military waiting for a change," said Chávez.

     He stressed that in recent days, subliminal or direct messages to the Armed Forces have increased. "In some cases, (such messages have appeared) even in headlines, attacking patriotic officers, and sending veiled messages and threats."  He said that even though "coup-mongers" have been "purged" from the Armed Forces, we cannot rule out the possibility that "a well thought out plan of the imperial forces may incite someone people (to take part in) a particular violent event that may set Venezuela in fire (...) That is the reason why we should keep alert."  He referred to the situation in Libya and Syria. "Six months ago I visited Damascus and there was peace (...) Back then, nobody knew the empire's plans..."  "I trust my Armed Forces, I trust my generals, and my high command, but remember that there are retired military officers and they are coupsters. There are retired military officers living in Central and South America and the CIA is behind them, giving them money. Further, there are paramilitaries on the move..."

     The dictator reported that late on Thursday a Cuban medical team arrived in Caracas. The Cuban doctors are to meet on Friday with their Venezuelan colleagues to decide on when the new sessions of chemotherapy will start.  He said he has not disclosed the names of the doctors who have been treating him -which he called his medical chiefs of staff- because he does not want to expose them. Therefore, he has been releasing his own medical reports and believes that he has done so in a transparent manner so far.  "I am under attack. I am asked, where are the doctors? But I do not want to expose them," he added. Concerning his cancer treatment, he said he was ready to adopt either of two scenarios: to undergo chemotherapy either in Cuba or in Venezuela. "I am physically and spiritually prepared to begin the second stage (of chemotherapy)."

pdvsa SENDS NEAR 350,000 BPD OF OIL TO CHINA 

       caracas, venezuela--Venezuela-China rapprochement includes the interest of the Asian giant in reliable and steady supply of raw materials and energy for its increasingly intense economy. For the agreements on supply of crude oil and byproducts and the agreements on repayment with crude oil under the Chinese Fund, Venezuela is sending around 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and byproducts, said Eulogio del Pino, Exploration and Production Vice-President of the state-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa).

    In addition, Del Pino reported that out of the total volume shipped to China, 20,000-25,000 bpd are sent for valuable consideration of the Chinese Fund. The director added that the goal of shipments to China in 2015 totals one million bpd. By then, the Venezuelan oil output should reach a capacity of 4.15 million bpd, according to the postulates of the Oil Sowing Plan.

    The governments of Venezuela and China scheduled for 2008, 2009 and 2010 shipments of crude oil and byproducts from Pdvsa to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). They are expected to reach as high as 100,000; 330,000 and 360,000 bpd, respectively. While such goals were not reached, shipments have gradually risen. According to Pdvsa data, in 2008, a total of 86,000 bpd (86% of the agreed-upon volume) was sent, in addition to 188,000 bpd (57%) in 2009 and 244,000 bpd (67%) in 2010.

August 5, 2011

LIBYA ALLYING WITH ISLAMISTS, GADHAFI SON SAYS 

      TRIPOLI, LIBYA--After six months battling a rebellion that his family portrayed as an Islamist conspiracy, Col. Muammar el-GadHafi’s son and one-time heir apparent said Wednesday that he was reversing course to forge a behind-the-scenes alliance with radical Islamist elements among the Libyan rebels to drive out their more liberal-minded confederates.  “The liberals will escape or be killed,” the son, Seif al-Islam el-Gadhafi, vowed in an hourlong interview that stretched past midnight. “We will do it together,” he added, wearing a newly grown beard and fingering Islamic prayer beads as he reclined on a love seat in a spare office tucked in a nearly deserted downtown hotel. “Libya will look like Saudi Arabia, like Iran. So what?”

     The leading Islamist whom Gadhafi identified as his main counterpart in the talks, Ali Sallabi, acknowledged their conversations but dismissed any suggestion of an alliance. He said the Libyan Islamists supported the rebel leaders’ calls for a pluralistic democracy without the Gadhafis. But the interview nonetheless offered a rare glimpse into the defiant, some say delusional, mentality of the Gadhafi family at a time when they have all but completely retreated from public view under the threat of a NATO bombing campaign, now five months old, and a six-month rebellion. On one level, Gahdafi’s avowed embrace of the Islamists represents a sharp personal reversal for a man who had long styled himself as a cosmopolitan, Anglophile advocate of Western-style liberal democracy. He continues to refer to the Islamists as “terrorists” and “bloody men,” and says, “We don’t trust them, but we have to deal with them.”

     But it may also be simply a twist on an old theme, a new version of the Qaddafi argument that by assisting the rebels the Western intervention could usher in a radical Islamist takeover. In a further taunt to the West, he suggested that the Gadhafis would even help the Islamists stamp out the liberals. “You want us to make a compromise. O.K. You want us to share the pot. O.K., But with who?” he said in imagined dialogue with the Western powers. The Islamists, he said, answering his own questions, “are the real force on the ground.” “Everybody is taking off the mask, and now you have to face the reality,” he said. “I know they are terrorists. They are bloody. They are not nice. But you have to accept them.” He seemed to enjoy repeating the notion that Western capitals would be forced to welcome the ambassadors or defense minister of a new Islamist Libya. “It is a funny story,” he said, though he insisted in all seriousness that he and the Islamists would announce a joint communiqué within days, from both Tripoli and the rebels’ provisional capital of Benghazi, Libya. “We will have peace during Ramadan,” he said, referring to the current Islamic holy month.

UNITED NATIONS  condemns SYRIAN government crackdown

       united nations, new york--The UN Security Council has condemned the Syrian government for its deadly crackdown on protesters. It is the first clear condemnation issued by the Security Council, which includes longstanding allies of Syria such as Russia. The statement was adopted over the fears of some members that any action could lead to Libya-style intervention. It comes as the Syrian army attacks Hama, a centre of opposition protest, with reports of much loss of life. Dozens of people are believed to have been killed in the action against Hama, with residents saying tanks have shot their way into Assi (Orontes) Square, in the centre of the city of 800,000 people. Human rights groups say at least 140 people have been killed in the Syrian unrest since Sunday, mainly in Hama, adding to a civilian death toll believed to be more than 1,600 since March. Protesters have vowed to rally every evening during the holy month of Ramadan, after nightly prayers.

     Late on Wednesday, there were reports of large demonstrations in several Syrian cities. Activists told AFP news agency that 50,000 people demonstrated in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, 20,000 in Duma, north of Damascus, and 40,000 in Homs. At least four people were killed when troops fired on protesters in Damascus, near the southern city of Deraa, and in the central town of Palmyra. On Thursday, Syria's Sana news agency said that President Bashar al-Assad had issued a decree authorising a multi-party system, apparently ending decades of monopoly on power by the Baath party. In Wednesday's statement, the council said it "condemns the widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities". It says those responsible for the violence should be held accountable. European members of the 15-nation council had pushed for a strong resolution condemning the Syrian government and calling for a rights inquiry. The BBC's correspondent at the UN in New York, Barbara Plett, says the statement is weaker than what the European states wanted, but stronger than might have been expected given the opposition from some members to saying anything on Syria.

    The statement stressed that the only solution to the crisis was a Syrian-led political process, in effect ruling out outside intervention, says our UN correspondent. It also called for "an immediate end to all violence and urges all sides to act with utmost restraint, and to refrain from reprisals, including attacks against state institutions." Observers say the phrase is a concession to Russia and other governments that said they wanted a balanced statement that placed some blame with both sides. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the statement represented "the clear message of the international community" to Mr Assad. "The world has watched the deteriorating situation in Syria with the most profound concern. But the events of the past few days have been brutally shocking," Mr Ban said. "Just continuing like this is not sustainable. He cannot and they cannot carry on like this, killing their people."

pdvsa has given iran, belarus and portugal 88,000 bpd of oil 

       caracas, venezuela--The 2010 annual management report of state-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) provides for shipment to Portugal, Iran and Belarus under the agreements on supply of crude oil and byproducts. Pdvsa specified that around 88,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and byproducts were shipped to its counterparts of those three countries in 2010. No further details as to individual destination were provided. In addition, the exponential increase in the volume supplied to Portugal, Iran and Belarus last year, compared to 5,000 bpd each year in 2008 and 2009, was underscored.

     Sales of Venezuelan crude oil and byproducts to Iran were agreed in September 2009, when Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez signed in Tehran a supply agreement whereby Venezuela would dispatch around 20,000 bpd of gasoline to Iran, beginning in October 2009. The agreement was valued at USD 800 million. Sale revenues would be deposited in a special fund to cover expenses for the purchase of technology, machinery and services of Iranian providers. However, the trade relationship in the energy area has been the reason for which the US Department of State resolved to enjoin unilateral sanctions on Pdvsa in May 2011, based on US laws which toughen sanctions against Iran and its alleged nuclear arms program. According to Washington, Pdvsa "sent at least two shipments of gasoline components between December 2010 and March 2011, at an approximate cost of USD 50 million."

     While Venezuela neither denied nor affirmed such shipments, it did reassert its sovereign right to marketing with any country. Nevertheless, as reported in October 2010 by Venezuela's Minister of Energy and Petroleum Rafael Ramírez, "Iran resolved the issue of gasoline (...) Some components it needed are being produced there. Venezuela is not selling gasoline to Iran anymore." With regard to the oil shipments to Belarus, in March 2010, the Venezuelan government reported that 80,000 bpd would be sent to process Venezuelan oil in a local refinery. The amount was expected to heighten up to 10,000 bpd. However, it is unlikely that Pdvsa has attained this goal.

August 4, 2011

DICTATOR CHAVEZ, ECHOES THE WORDS OF PUTIN AND SAYS THAT "AMERICA IS A TRUE PARASITE OF THE WORLD ECONOMY"

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuelan DICTATOR Hugo Chavez said Wednesday in a message on Twitter social network, that "America is a true parasite of the world economy," echoing the words of his "friend" Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. "I agree with what it was said by my friend the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: America is a true parasite of the world economy," wrote Chavez on Twitter.

     Putin on Monday accused the U.S. of  being  "like a parasite" on the global economy with debt and said the U.S. is a giant "living on credit beyond his means and put some of the weight burden (debt) in the economy" global. "I was watching a video of the clear and courageous statements  (made by Putin)," Chavez said in a telephone call made to state television channel VTV, in which he announced  that he would call the Russian Prime Minister to support  his words about the U.S. debt. President Barack Obama on Tuesday passed an austerity budget and increased the debt ceiling approved by the Senate just before turning off the risk of permanently 'default' in the first world economy.

      However, only hours after the promulgation of the text,  Moody Agency  cut Tuesday the credit rating of the United States from “stable" to "negative." The rating was kept as "Aaa", but Moody's raised the risk faced by Washington to lose the new qualifications for several reasons. "Now is when the strategic proposal to create the Bolivarian Sucre as a  new currency has the highest value.  Down with the dictatorship of the dollar! "Added dictator Hugo Chavez, referring to the accounting unit that promotes the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA) as an alternative to the U.S. dollar.

COLOMBIA'S PRESIDENT SANTOS: THERE ARE SECTORS INTERESTED IN HARMING TIES WITH CHAVEZ

       BOGOTA, COLOMBIA--Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Tuesday that "many enemies" want to hamper the relations between Colombia and Venezuela, but added that "mutual trust" prevails.  The Colombian leader would not name the sectors trying to torpedo bilateral relationships, but revealed that "with President (Hugo) Chávez, we began a sort of process of restoring mutual confidence," AP reported.

     After noting that the restoration of relations between the governments of Bogotá and Caracas in August 2010 "has not been an easy process," Santos added that "there are many enemies on both sides" who are trying to prevent the relationship from blossoming.  However, "I still believe and will continue to believe that (a good relation) is what's best for Colombia (and) and for Venezuela as well," said Santos in Mexico, where on Tuesday evening he ended a two-day official visit, TV network Caracol reported.  On the eve, the commander of the Colombian Armed Forces, Admiral Edgar Cely, said that there are Colombian guerrillas in Venezuela.

     Later, Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera, referring to Cely's statements, said that "we have received, publicly and privately, repeated assurances from the government of Venezuela, at the highest level, that they do not tolerate the presence of offenders and criminals from Colombia in Venezuelan territory."  In July 2010, President Chávez broke off diplomatic relations with Bogotá after the government of President Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) claimed publicly that Venezuela sheltered in its territory some heads of the rebel Colombian Armed Forces (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN.)  Some days after Uribe left office, Chávez and Santos resumed bilateral ties at a meeting in the Caribbean port of Santa Marta, 750 kilometers north of Bogotá.

COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT EXPECTS CHAVEZ TO DELIVER FARC GUERRILLA CAPTURED IN VENEZUELA

       BOGOTA, COLOMBIA--Colombian Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera asked the Venezuelan government to "exhaust all internal protocols" to make effective the delivery of Julián Cornado, a.k.a. Guillermo Torres.

     Colombia expects Venezuela to exhaust "all internal protocols" and deliver Julián Cornado, a.k.a. Guillermo Torres, an alleged member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombian Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera reported in Bogotá.  Rivera added that Torres was captured in Venezuela in a joint effort.  The rebel chief, also known as "the FARC singer" after his love for music, was captured last May 31 in western Barinas state, under an application filed by Colombia at the Interpol.

     Rivera told reporters that Torres "was captured in Venezuelan territory by Venezuelan authorities, as a result of the cooperation with Colombia in the field of intelligence."  "We were working together in this matter; we managed to identify and locate him, and Venezuelan authorities, in another evidence of such cooperation and of how this relation has changed for good, captured him there," Rivera underscored.

August 3, 2011

RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER PUTIN SAYS U.S. IS "LIKE A PARASITE" ON GLOBAL ECONOMY

      MOSCOW, RUSSIA--Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States Monday of living beyond its means "like a parasite" on the global economy and said dollar dominance was a threat to the financial markets. "They are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy," Putin told the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi while touring its lakeside summer camp some five hours drive north of Moscow. "They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar," Putin said at the open-air meeting with admiring young Russians in what looked like early campaigning before parliamentary and presidential polls.

     US President Barack Obama earlier announced a last-ditch deal to cut about $2.4 trillion from the U.S. deficit over a decade, avoid a crushing debt default and stave off the risk that the nation's AAA credit rating would be downgraded. The deal initially soothed anxieties and led Russian stocks to jump to three-month highs, but jitters remained over the possibility of a credit downgrade. "Thank god," Putin said, "that they had enough common sense and responsibility to make a balanced decision." But Putin, who has often criticized the United States' foreign exchange policy, noted that Russia holds a large amount of U.S. bonds and treasuries. "If over there (in America) there is a systemic malfunction, this will affect everyone," Putin told the young Russians. "Countries like Russia and China hold a significant part of their reserves in American securities ... There should be other reserve currencies."

     U.S.-Russian ties soured during Putin's 2000-2008 presidency but have warmed significantly since his protégé and successor President Dmitry Medvedev responded to Obama's stated desire for a "reset" in bilateral relations. Casually dressed in khaki trousers and a striped white shirt, Putin flew by helicopter to the tented camp as part of a string of appearances that are being closely watched in the run-up to the elections. He did not say whether he plans a return to the Kremlin or will stand aside for Medvedev, his partner in Russia's leadership tandem, to run for a second term. But young people crowding round Putin, caught up in the campaigning spirit created by huge portraits of Putin hung from trees, were not shy about saying who they wanted as president.

EGYPTIAN FORCES FORCIBLY CLEARED CENTRAL TAHRIR SQUARE  

       CAIRO, EGYPT--Central Tahrir Square was forcibly cleared Monday of the remnants of a three-week-old sit-in protesting the slow pace of change since the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, with hundreds of Egyptian troops and security police officers shredding tents, arresting dozens of protesters, thwacking some with truncheons and sending about 200 others fleeing into nearby streets as the holy month of Ramadan began. Egyptian security forces on Monday advanced to destroy the tents of a sit-in that had been there since early July. The army deployed at least a dozen tanks in the square and prevented protesters from reconstituting their sit-in, but by nightfall hundreds of Egyptians had come to the square perimeter, chanting “Down with military rule!” as military police officers watched.

    In another area, protesters began a rock-and-bottle-throwing melee after soldiers and police officers stormed into the Omar Makram Mosque, a sanctuary for the protesters, where at least 500 people had been praying. Witnesses said the officers beat many of the people inside. The intensity of the Cairo clashes was some of the worst since the revolution that felled Mr. Mubarak nearly six months ago, and came at the start of monthly Muslim observance more associated with forgiveness and compassion than mayhem and retribution. The clashes also came two days before Mr. Mubarak, a former military officer, is scheduled to go on trial in what is seen by many Egyptians as a test of the military government’s sincerity in prosecuting him and his colleagues for crimes committed during his three decades of autocratic rule. State radio said at least 270 people were arrested during the day in Cairo.

     The violence began as squads of troops and police officers, including many in plain clothes, used sticks to shred the tents in the square, ripping the cloth fabric so the tents could not be rebuilt. Dozens of garbage workers then moved in to clear the wreckage and load it into trucks. Some military officers also stopped people holding cameras from photographing the eviction, and destroyed a few cameras and cellphones of others who had taken pictures. A few officers were seen violently removing two young men from the square and herding them into a back alley. “Come on, walk!” one officer could be heard saying as he punched one youth in the back of his head. The protesters, including women and children, had been camped out in the square since July 8 to demand more political openness and faster justice for crimes committed during Mr. Mubarak’s rule. They accused the interim military government of protecting Mr. Mubarak, who was toppled in a revolution in February, and his cronies.

ITALY RECALLS ITS AMBASSADOR TO SYRIA

       ROME,  ITALY--Italy recalled its ambassador to Syria on Tuesday to protest the repression of anti-government protests and urged other European nations to do the same. Italy is the first European Union country to pull its ambassador, although the EU has been tightening sanctions, imposing asset freezes and travel bans against five additional military and government officials on Monday. The Foreign Ministry said it had decided to recall its envoy "in the face of the horrible repression against the civil population" by the Syrian government, which launched a deadly new push against protesters as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began. The ambassador was coming back Tuesday night, the Foreign Ministry said.

     Rome's appeal to fellow EU nations was not immediately heeded. Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Spain and Sweden had no such plans for now. France also signaled no move was imminent, suggesting Rome had not sent its proposals through official diplomatic channels, and there was no EU-wide directive to recall envoys from Damascus, officials in Brussels said. The Czech Republic said ambassadors are the only foreigners in a country where virtually all foreign media are banned. "We need to maintain an independent source of information there," Foreign Ministry spokesman Vit Kolar said.

     Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said tougher EU sanctions were sending a "clear and unambiguous" message. "In the absence of an end to the senseless violence and a genuine process of political reform, we will continue to pursue further EU sanctions," he said in a statement. Without change, he added, "President Assad and those around him will find themselves isolated internationally and discredited within Syria." In Rome, a Foreign Ministry undersecretary, Stefania Craxi, said Italy wanted to send "a strong signal of condemnation" for the crackdown. Craxi said Assad appeared "incapable" of handling the situation and implementing the serious reforms that both his citizens and the international community demand, the ANSA news agency reported. Craxi was briefing lawmakers on the situation in Syria. Rome will also suspend cooperative programs with Damascus, save for aid destined to Iraqi refugees and other humanitarian assistance, Craxi said. The programs have been worth a total of euro50 million for the past three years, according to the Foreign Ministry.

August 2, 2011

VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ SHAVES HIS HEAD BECAUSE OF CHEMOTHERAPY

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appeared with his head almost shaved on Monday, saying his hair has begun to fall out because of his cancer treatment. Chavez said his chemotherapy has been going well, and he joked about his appearance as he presided over a televised ceremony with Cabinet ministers. "It's a new look," the president said, switching briefly into English with a grin.

    The dictator had said he expected his hair to begin falling out as a result of the chemotherapy. "It indicates the treatment is being effective," he said. Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba on June 20 to remove a cancerous tumor. He hasn't said what type of cancer he has been diagnosed with or specified where it was located, only that it was in his pelvic region. On Monday, he denied suggestions it was in the colon, the rectum or the bladder: "None of that is true." Chavez underwent an initial round of chemotherapy last month to prevent malignant cells from reappearing. He said he is "preparing myself for a second dose," but didn't say when it would begin.

     Chavez was animated during the ceremony, breaking into song, taking about German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and recalling an illustrated magazine he enjoyed reading as a child.  He held up a black-and-white photo of himself as a toddler next to his brother, Adan, and joked: "I have the same haircut." The 57-year-old leader, a former army officer, said earlier in a phone call on state television that he had asked for a "military cut" as his hair began to fall out. "I went to bathe and a bit of hair fell out, and last night we called the barber," said Chavez, whose head bore a few small hairless patches. He has joked that with his nearly shaved head, he may soon start to look like the late actor Yul Brynner.

SYRIAN TANKS  ATTACK THE CITY OF HAMA FOR SECOND DAY

       DAMASCUS, SYRIA-- Syrian troops kept up attacks on the restive city of Hama Monday, the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a day after a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters killed at least 70 and drew harsh rebukes from the U.S. and Europe. Sunday was one of the bloodiest days since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian rule began in mid-March. Six Syrian rights groups said in a joint statement that 74 people were killed throughout the country, 55 of them from Hama and neighboring villages. The European Union expanded its sanctions against Syria Monday, imposing asset freezes and travel bans against five more military and government officials. The EU decision brings the number of individuals targeted by the EU to 35, including Assad.

     Four government entities are also on the list.  "Residents are committed to resistance through peaceful means," Hama-based activist Omar Hamawi told The Associated Press by telephone Monday. The city's streets are full of barriers as well as thousands of men "who are ready to defend the city with stones," he said. "People will not surrender this time. We will not allow a repetition of what happened in 1982," he said. Hamawi said residents in villages and towns around Hama have blocked roads and highways leading to the city in order to prevent the military from bringing supplies. He added that dozens of checkpoints were set up and activists have blocked the highway linking the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest, with the capital Damascus. The escalating government crackdown appears aimed at preventing the protests from swelling during Ramadan. Muslims throng mosques during Ramadan for special nighttime prayers after breaking their daily dawn-to-dusk fast. The gatherings could trigger intense protests throughout the predominantly Sunni country and activists say authorities are trying to prevent that.

     The worst carnage on Sunday was in Hama, the scene of a 1982 massacre by Assad's late father and predecessor and a city with a history of defiance against 40 years of Assad family rule. Hospitals there were overwhelmed with casualties, suggesting the death toll could rise sharply, witnesses said. It appeared the regime was making an example of Hama, a religiously conservative city of about 800,000 people some 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of the capital, Damascus. The city largely has fallen out of government control since June as residents turned on the regime and blockaded the streets against encroaching tanks. President Barack Obama on Sunday called the reports "horrifying" and said Assad is "completely incapable and unwilling" to respond to the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people. On Monday, Britain's foreign secretary William Hague said there is no prospect of international military intervention in Syria, despite an assault by the regime on protest strongholds. Troops backed by tanks renewed shelling of Hama for a second day in an attempt to subdue the city.

COLOMBIAN MILITARY CHIEF CLAIMS THAT FARC IS STILL OPERATING FRO0M VENEZUELA

       BOGOTA, COLOMBIA--Admiral Edgar Cely, the commander of Colombia's Military Forces, disclosed on Monday that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) continue in Venezuelan territory, as denounced in mid 2010 by the government of then Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.  "In very concrete, fast terms, yes," Cely answered when queried by Bogotá's TV channel Caracol about the deployment of FARC members in Venezuelan territory.

     The Colombian government says it has evidence that leaders of outlawed rebel groups are hiding in neighboring Venezuela. President Alvaro Uribe's office said Thursday it had proof that four leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and one from the National Liberation Army, or ELN, were in Venezuela.  The government said the minister of defense will present documentation to back up the claim.

     Among the rebels Colombia says are hiding in Venezuela is Ivan Marquez, a member of the FARC's leadership.  There was no immediate response from the Venezuelan government.  Uribe, who has had tense relations with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, steps down next month after two terms in office.  Colombia previously has accused Venezuela of financing and supporting the FARC, a charge Venezuela denies. In 2008, Venezuela and Ecuador broke diplomatic relations with Colombia after Colombian troops raided a FARC rebel camp in Ecuador, killing FARC commander Raul Reyes and at least 20 other people.

August 1st., 2011

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS REACH DEBT DEAL

      WASHINGTON, D.C.--days before the deadline for a possible U.S. government default, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders reached agreement Sunday on a legislative package that would extend the federal debt ceiling while cutting spending and guaranteeing further deficit-reduction steps. The proposed deal, which still requires congressional approval, brought some immediate relief to global markets closely watching the situation play out and to a nation filled with anger and frustration over partisan political wrangling that threatened further economic harm to an already struggling recovery. However, there is no guarantee the plan will win enough support to pass both chambers of Congress. Democratic and Republican leaders in both the House and Senate were briefing their caucuses about the agreement on Sunday night or Monday. "There are still some very important votes to be taken by members of Congress, but I want to announce that the leaders of both parties in both chambers have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default," Obama said in brief remarks to reporters.

     House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, told reporters that she needs to see "the final product" in writing before she can decide if she supports it. Pelosi said she would meet with the House Democratic caucus on Monday to discuss the matter. "I don't know all the particulars of what the final product is in writing and what the ramifications will be," Pelosi said, noting the measure will have an impact for a decade or more. Asked about the outcome, she warned: "We all may not be able to support it or none of us may be able to support it." In the face of an August 2 deadline to get new authorization to borrow money or face a possible government default, congressional leaders and the White House were trying to complete the agreement that would extend the debt limit through 2012 -- a presidential election year.

     Earlier, Reid's Republican counterpart in the Senate said the two parties were "very close" to reaching a deal that would bring $3 trillion in deficit reduction. "We had a very good day yesterday," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, told CNN, adding that the two sides "made dramatic progress" in negotiations on a deal that would cut government spending and raise the federal debt ceiling. Another Republican senator, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, later told reporters he expected a Monday vote on a compromise. "It feels like they're going to finish the deal today and then we'll have the vote tomorrow," Isakson said, adding he supports the plan under discussion.

SYRIAN ACTIVISTS SAY AT LEAST 100 KILLED IN PROTESTS

       DAMASCUS, SYRIA--The Syrian army reportedly killed at least 100 people Sunday during an attack on the flashpoint city of Hama, as an uptick of gunfire left bodies scattered in the streets, according to various news reports from the region. There has been an escalation of the crackdown on protests ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, activists and residents said. Demonstrations calling for President Bashar Assad's ouster are expected to swell during Ramadan, which starts Monday, in Syria. Security forces appeared to be racing against time as they stormed and raided cities and small villages across the country in an attempt to crush a remarkably resilient uprising that began in mid-March.

     The AFP reports that the official SANA news agency said two security forces officers were killed Sunday by "armed groups.” "Two law enforcement members were martyred by armed groups in Hama who set police stations on fire, vandalized public and private properties, set up roadblocks and barricades and burned tires at the entrance of the city and in its streets," AFP reported, citing an English-language report on the SANA website. The Syrian protests, which began in earnest in March, seek to dismantle the repressive rule by the Assad family. They appeared to be inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings seen in nearby Egypt and Tunisia. "Hama is used to massacres by the Assad family, but we tell this tyrant the more you kill us the more we are determined to oust you," an activist said, according to Haaretz.com, citing the German Press Agency.

    British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the attacks against civilians were "all the more shocking" on the eve of Ramadan and appeared to be part of a "coordinated effort to deter Syrians" from protesting during Ramadan. President Obama issued a statement Sunday saying he is "appalled" by the violence and brutality the Syrian government has aimed at its own people. He calls the reports from Hama "horrifying" and says they demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime. Other raids were reported in southern Syria and in the suburbs of the capital Damascus. In the neighborhood of al-Joura in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, soldiers in tanks fired machine guns, killing at least seven people, activists said. An estimated 1,600 civilians have died in the crackdown on the largely peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad's regime since the uprising began. Most were killed in shootings by security forces on anti-government rallies.

LIBYAN REBELS SAY ROGUE FIGHTERS KILLED GENERAL

       BENGHAZI, LIBYA--Libya’s rebel government announced Friday that its top military chief, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younis, was assassinated by its own rebel fighters, who dumped his bullet-ridden and burned body outside Benghazi. A brigade leader tasked with transporting Younis from the front line near the oil town of Brega to the rebel capital of Benghazi confessed that his lieutenants killed Younis and two aides Thursday, the rebels’ oil and finance minister, Ali Tarhouni, said at a news conference Friday night. Younis was to have appeared before a military committee investigating allegations that he had maintained ties with Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi after defecting from the government to the rebel side in February.Tarhouni said the assassins were members of the Abu Obaida Aljarah brigade, one of dozens of autonomous units that answer, more or less, to the central authority of the rebel council. The rebel government offered no motive for the killing.

     The deaths have shaken the fractious Transitional National Council, which the United States recently recognized as the sole governing authority in Libya. The rebel government has been challenged by bickering among political factions and tribes. The news that Younis was killed by his own side shows how stark those divisions are, and the violence will likely sow seeds of doubt among NATO officials and governments supporting the rebel side. U.S. officials were struggling Friday to learn precisely what happened. The State Department’s emissaries to Benghazi sought explanations from the rebel leaders about the reasons for the slayings and how they would affect military operations going forward. The deaths spurred questions about Western plans to turn over vast sums of money to the rebels. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters that it was too early to second-guess the commitment to a unified and broad-based government. “For us to make a judgment one way or the other about who’s at fault for this is just premature,” Toner said. “We’ve seen reports that this was an internal matter. We’ve reached no conclusions yet.”

     Reports of gunfire were also reported in the opposition capital, heightening concerns in Washington that rebel factions were fighting among themselves. The shooting subsided later in the day. With his dark sunglasses and confident style, Younis was popular with NATO officials and Middle East governments that support the Libyan opposition. But he was criticized as the rebels’ military advance in the east stalled, and was suspected of having conflicted loyalties after his decades of service to Gaddafi.  Mourners carried Younis’s coffin through Benghazi’s central square Friday and then to the cemetery. Local reporters at the scene said the crowds praised Younis as a martyr who died for the revolution — not a traitor to the rebel cause, as some charge. According to an Associated Press reporter at the scene, Younis’s son, Ashraf, broke down and screamed, “We want Moammar to come back! We want the green flag back!” as his father’s body was lowered into the ground.