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US defense chief says NATO outlook dim; future president may decide it's not worth the money
photo: US DoD / Cherie Cullen
US defense chief says NATO outlook dim; future president may decide it’s not worth the money
read more Star Tribune

BRUSSELS – America’s military alliance with Europe — the cornerstone of U.S. security policy for six decades — faces a “dim, if not dismal” future, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday in a blunt valedictory address. In his final policy speech as Pentagon chief, Gates questioned the viability of NATO, saying its…

 

 

Leon Panetta cites Afghanistan gains, continued terrorism threat in confirmation hearing

Defense secretary nominee Leon Panetta engages in a wide-ranging discussion of policy during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He says he expects Moammar Kadafi to step down eventually if the international community maintains pressure on the Libyan’s regime.

 

Defense secretary nominee Leon Panetta testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday.

Defense secretary nominee Leon Panetta testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday. (Tim Young/Reuters)

By Michael Muskal Los Angeles Times June 9, 2011

Leon Panetta, nominated to be the next secretary of Defense, told a Senate committee Thursday that the United States and its allies have made progress in Afghanistan, but warned that terrorists remain a threat despite the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In a morning of wide-ranging discussion of U.S. defense policy, Panetta, the current CIA chief, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he expected Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi will eventually step down if the international community keeps up the pressure of sanctions and airstrikes against his regime.

 

People stand next to caricatures of Muammar Gaddafi in Benghazi

Zimbabwe and Algeria sending troops to support Gaddafi in Libya war

 

 

 

 

 

NATO planes bomb Tripoli for hours on end

NATO planes bomb Tripoli for hours on end

By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times

Libyan officials say at least 31 are killed as waves of aircraft hit Libya’s capital with an unusual daytime bombardment, targeting what NATO calls ‘command-and-control’ centers.

 

 

 

The picture was taken by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli as he left the International Space Station in May in a Soyuz capsule to return to Earth.

 

It is a stunning image and one that is bound to be reproduced over and over again whenever they recall the history of the US space shuttle.

 

 

Safety procedures mean the Russian vehicle would never normally be in transit when a shuttle is present.

It makes this the first-ever image of an American orbiter docked to the ISS.

Endeavour sits firmly on the bow of the station, which is moving across the surface of the Earth at a speed of 27,000km/h (17,000mph) and at an altitude of approximately 355km (220 miles).

Nespoli’s camera is looking along the ISS’s truss, or backbone, which carries the four sets of giant solar wings. The stern is occupied by Europe’s robotic freighter – the Johannes Kepler ship.

 

 

 

 

 

AP sources: Yemen leader hurt worse than thought

Ali Abdullah Saleh has burns covering 40 percent of his body from rocket attack on his compound

Latest Article

— Obama administration officials say Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh was more badly injured than thought in a rocket attack on his compound last week.

Three U.S. officials say Saleh has burns covering some 40 percent of his body and is suffering from bleeding inside his skull.

The U.S. officials spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Information about Saleh’s condition is circulating in Washington as the U.S. presses for him to leave power

 

 

 

 

Britain and France to press for UN resolution on Syria
SYRIA
Britain and France will put forward a UN resolution Wednesday condemning Syrian repression and calling for “humanitarian action” over the deadly crackdown in which rights groups say hundreds of people have been killed.

 

 

 

Yemen opposition offer for talks rebuffed

 

Anti-government protesters in Sanaa, Yemen took to the streets on Sunday to...
AP

Anti-government protesters in Sanaa, Yemen took to the streets to celebrate the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The president flew to Saudi Arabia to seek medical attention for injuries suffered in a rocket attack on his compound.

 

 

 

 

Grassroots World Politics

 

HAVANA – A group of U.S. women leaders met with Cuban President Raul Castro’s daughter Monday for an exchange on topics including gender, reproductive health and gay rights. The delegation, which arrived in Havana on Sunday, includes Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile and former U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat who resigned…

 

 

 

Chile Volcano Eruption

Puyehue volcano erupted for the first time in half a century on June 4 prompting the evacuation of 3,500 people as it spewed out a cloud of ash that reached Argentina.  Natures disruption continues to change

 

 

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, center, walks towards the Manhattan Criminal Courts building Monday, June 6, 2011 in New York as he arrives for his arraignment proceedings.

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will plead not guilty on Monday to charges he sexually assaulted a New York hotel maid in a case that cost him his job and a chance at the French presidency. Strauss-Kahn, 62, faces up to 25 years in prison if…
photo: AP / Craig Ruttle

Tibetans around the world are commemorated the anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square,

Article by Yeshe Choesang, WN Correspondent Dharamshala. Dharamshala: -During the 22nd anniversary of June 4th, Tibetans in exile, Chinese and Vietnamese Community in solidarity called on supporters around the world taking to the streets to highlight…
photo: WN / Yeshe Choesang

Greek prime minister George Papandreou addresses Socialists lawmakers at the Greek Parliament in Athens, on Tuesday, March 2, 2010.

ATHENS, Greece-Greece’s prime minister is to meet with ministers Monday as he tries to get new austerity plans through Parliament despite increasing dissent within his own party and big demonstrations in the country’s two largest cities. The…
photo: AP / Thanassis Stavrakis

Yemeni army soldiers lifted by anti-government protestors, chants slogans and wave their national flag as they celebrate President Ali Abdullah Saleh's departure to Saudi Arabia, in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, June 5, 2011.

A truce seems to be holding between rival groups in the Yemeni capital Sanaa following two weeks of fierce clashes as Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country’s president, recovers in neighbouring Saudi Arabia from wounds that he sustained in an attack last…
photo: AP / Hani Mohammed

The International Monetary Fund headquarters is seen in Washington, Sunday, May 2, 2010. A senior International Monetary Fund  official says the IMF's executive board is meeting in Washington to consider how much aid to grant Athens under a massive rescue loan package.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is due to deliver its verdict on the UK economy later. When the IMF last reported on the UK in November, it said the economy was “on the mend”. Since then, it has emerged that the UK economy contracted by 0.5% in…
photo: AP / Cliff Owen

U.S. Army Spc. Erik Martin (left), with the Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team, enters the village of Khwazi, Afghanistan, while on a dismounted mission to survey the village for a new well on Dec. 14, 2010.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Rangin Spanta, President Hamid Karzai’s national security adviser, expressed concern in an interview Sunday about suggestions in Washington that the killing of Osama bin Laden last month by American commandos might…
photo: USAF / Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson

Pro-Palestinians protesters try to rescue a wounded man after he was shot by Israeli troops along the border between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in Golan Heights, Sunday, June 5, 2011.

At least twenty-three protesters, including a 12-year-old boy, have been shot dead by Israeli forces near the border fence on Golan Heights, Syrian state television is reporting. Another 325 people were injured, according to the TV station. The…
photo: AP / Ariel Schalit

 

 

 

LIMA, Peru — A leftist former army officer with questioned human rights credentials narrowly won Peru’s presidency in a bitterly fought runoff with the daughter of disgraced ex-President Alberto Fujimori. Ollanta Humala, 48, won Sunday after softening his radical image and disavowing the affinity for Venezuela’s socialist President Hugo…

Greece Austerity Protests Grow

Greece Austerity Protests

Demonstrators gather during a peaceful rally outside the Greek Parliament in Athens, on Sunday, June 5, 2011. Thousands of protesters have gathered for a 12th consecutive day to protest at fiscal austerity measures and demand that Greece stop paying its debtors. They have also denounced politicians of all stripes as incompetent and corrupt. (AP Photo/Dimitri Messinis)

Nato raids pound Tripoli as Moscow readies peace bid


A Libyan rebel stands guard on a roof top as thousands perform Friday noon prayers at the Revolution Square in the eastern rebel stronghold city of Benghazi June 3, 2011. AFP

A Libyan rebel stands guard on a roof top as thousands perform Friday noon prayers at the Revolution Square in the eastern rebel stronghold city of Benghazi June 3, 2011. AFP

TRIPOLI
Explosions rattled the Libyan capital early Friday as Russia prepared to send an envoy on a shuttle mission to try to broker a negotiated settlement between its Cold War ally and the rebels.

Four explosions were heard on Thursday night from the centre of Tripoli, followed by others about 15 minutes later.

Then at 1.45 am, four powerful blasts shook the district where Muammar Gaddafi’s residence is located not far from the city centre.
An army barracks in the same sector had been the target of several raids last week.

Earlier this week, government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said NATO air raids on Libya had killed 718 civilians and wounded 4,067 since they were unleashed on March 19 and up to May 26.

In Washington, US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen pointed to “some signs, certainly in the last few days, that Gaddafi is becoming more and more isolated.”

He noted the defection of oil minister Shukri Ghanem, who had been a key figure in the regime, along with a group of “young generals” who had also parted with Gaddafi.

 

 

 

Live: President Saleh injured as battle rages in Sanaa
YEMEN
The presidential compound has been hit by shells, reportedly injuring senior officials, including President Ali Abdullah Saleh, as clashes between tribal fighters and government forces escalate. Follow FRANCE 24’s live coverage.

 

 

 

 

Bahrain Ends Martial Law but Renews Crackdown on Protests read more Bahraini protesters face off against army tanks near the Pearl roundabout Friday, Feb. 18, 2011, in Manama, Bahrain. Many protesters began to pray and shouted "peaceful, peaceful". Soldiers fired tear gas and shot heavy weapons into the air as thousands of protest marchers defied a government ban and streamed toward the landmark square that had been the symbolic center of the uprising against the Gulf nation's leaders.

Hours after Bahrain officially ended 11 weeks of martial law on Wednesday, security forces attacked peaceful protesters in more than 20 villages with rubber bullets, stun grenades, shotguns and tear gas, according to human rights observers in…
photo: AP / Hasan Jamali

 

IAEA cites ambiguous responsibility, inadequate response to Fukushima crisis read more IAEA cites ambiguous responsibility, inadequate response to Fukushima crisis

The International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded that confusion over responsibility was a factor behind the inadequate response to the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The agency’s summary report was released on June 1 and…

 

 

 

GENEVA – A United Nations panel said Wednesday that Libyan government forces have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes, apparently as a result of orders given by Moammar Gadhafi and other senior officials. The U.N. investigators said they have received estimates of 10,000-15,000 people killed since February and added there is evidence…

 

 

 

 

TEA PARTY FIRES WARNING AT GOP

 

 

China Bombings Show Growing Unrest

Gordon Chang BLOG

A string of bombings in China suggests enraged citizens have grown desperate, further threatening Communist Party legitimacy.

 

 

 

TRIPOLI – Muammar Gaddafi is emphatic he will not leave Libya, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday after talks with the Libyan leader that left prospects for a negotiated end to the conflict looking dim. But new questions emerged over how long Gaddafi could hold on after a senior United Nations aid official said shortages of food and…

 

 

 

Darko Vojinovic/AP


Thousands protested the arrest of alleged Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic in Belgrade on Sunday. But indifference or relief has largely outweighed anger over the arrest.

 

 

 

Osama Bin Laden Raid A Watershed Moment For Pakistan, Says Clinton

Hillary Clinton

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses a news conference with Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff at U. S. embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan on Friday, May 27, 2011. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)

 

 

 

India Strengthens Ties To Africa

Singh said our ‘partnership is unique and owes its origins to history and our common struggle against colonialism’ [AFP]

India has intensified a push to strengthen its economic ties with Africa and emerge from the shadow of rival China’s influence in the area by offering $5bn to help the continent, which is rich in minerals and commodities.

At an address to an India-Africa summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, India’s prime minister trumpeted his country’s historical ties with Africa in an attempt to catch up with Beijing’s growing influence on the continent.

Speaking on Tuesday, Manmohan Singh said: “There is a new economic growth story emerging from Africa.

“Africa possesses all the prerequisites to become a major growth pole of the world.

“The India-Africa partnership is unique and owes its origins to history and our common struggle against colonialism, apartheid, poverty, disease, illiteracy and hunger.”

Singh, who is on a six-day trip to the continent, which began on Monday, is pledging development support in exchange for trade agreements to fuel growth in India’s resource-intensive economy.

“We will offer $5bn for the next three years under lines of credit to help Africa achieve its development goals,” he said.

Singh said India would offer an additional $700m for new institutions and training programmes, and a further $300m for a new Ethiopia-Djibouti railway line.

He also pledged $2m to fund the African Union’s peacekeeping force in Somalia.

 

 

Egypt Opens Border To Gaza Strip Permanently

There have been several attempts, some successful, to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip [GALLO/GETTY]

Egypt will permanently open its Rafah border crossing starting from Saturday, the country’s official news agency reported, easing a four-year blockade on the Gaza Strip.

The news agency MENA said on Wednesday that Egypt’s new military rulers had set the date for the opening of the crossing as part of efforts “to end the status of the Palestinian division and achieve national reconciliation”.

It said the Rafah border crossing would be opened permanently, starting on Saturday, from 9am to 9pm every day except Fridays and holidays.

Minha Bakhoum, spokeswoman for the Egyptian foreign ministry, told Al Jazeera that the decision was taken to ease the suffering of Gaza residents.

“This comes in the context of the decision taken by the new Egyptian government to help end the disunity between Palestinian factions, in the absence of any resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” she said.

Siege ‘not over’

Mustafa Barghouti, a long time activist and former Palestinian presidential candidate, told Al Jazeera that re-opening the border was a “big step forward”.

“Hundreds of people have lost their lives because they could not get medical care in Gaza, thousands of students have lost their studies, and thousands of businesses have suffered,” Barghouti said.

“But the siege is not over. Construction material is still forbidden and that means that the 25,000 houses that were destroyed by Israel during the war on Gaza cannot be rebuilt.”

“We appreciate the Egyptian initiative – this is one of the big changes after the Egyptian revolution.”

Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston, reporting from Gaza, said there would still be restrictions in place, preventing men younger than 40 from leaving the strip.

“It will allow basically all women to leave Gaza, also children under the age of 18 years will be allowed to leave, as well as men over the age of 40 years. However, those between the ages of 18 and 40 years will require an Egyptian visa,” she said.

“Visas would have to come from Ramallah. Sources in Hamas say they have been told by the Egyptian authorities over the last few weeks that they [Egyptians] do intend to open some sort of representative office inside Gaza, so that people can get the visa from there.”

 

 

 

 

Deauville, May 28: World leaders at the two-day G8 summit held in France issued a joint call Friday asking the embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down. Of the 25-page communique issued at the end of a two-day summit by the leaders of the US, Russia, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and the Britain, the part…

 

War fugitive Ratko Mladic arrested in Serbia

Ratko Mladic, wanted for the Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslims, is arrested in Serbia and moves to extradite him to The Hague tribunal begin.

 

 

 

WASHINGTON-The State Department on Wednesday ordered nonessential U.S. diplomats to depart Yemen and urged all Americans there to leave as security conditions deteriorated with the country’s embattled leader refusing to step down. The decision to tell most nonessential personnel and the families of all American staff at the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa to…

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – War-weary lawmakers pushed President Barack Obama to wind down the 10-year-old conflict in Afghanistan on Wednesday as the House of Representatives began debating a bill to authorize $690 billion in defense spending for the next fiscal year. Republicans and Democrats aiming to ramp up pressure on Obama introduced 18…

 

 

 

 

DEAUVILLE, France (Reuters) – Leaders of the Group of Eight gather in France Thursday to endorse aid to new Arab democracies, but wrangling among Western and developing economies over running the IMF may take up much of their time. Officials from the G8 — the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia — held…

 

 

 

 

File - Libyan rebel fighters in vehicles queue for their share of meals distributed at a Libyan charity institution that prepares about twelve thousand meals in two waves for lunch and diner for on duty rebel fighters, men in training camps and national security officers, operating in Benghazi, Libya Saturday, April 30, 2011.
photo: AP / Nasser Nasser
BENGHAZI, Libya – In the days after Libya’s rebels rose up against Moammar Gadhafi, they faced a vexing challenge: How do you pay for a revolution? They figured that part of the answer could be found inside the secure vaults of the Benghazi branch of the Central Bank of Libya, where Gadhafi’s government held about $505 million. So they broke in and…

 

In this undated photo released Thursday, May 19, 2011, by Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service in Tokyo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, center, inspects the Toksong fruit farm, South Hamgyong Province, North Korea.
photo: AP / Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is reported to be in Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao. The secretive leader’s armoured train was spotted in the capital and later a heavily guarded motorcade sped through the city. China

 

 

 

US, UK renew call for Gaddafi to goBarack Obama and David Cameron

US President Barack Obama and UK PM David Cameron renew a call for Libya’s Col Gaddafi to leave power, warning they will step up pressure against him, at a meeting in London.

 

 

 

Explosion hits Iran refinery just before Ahmadinejad speech

‘Gas leak’ blamed for explosion at the facility’s ribbon-cutting ceremony

Related Articles

 

 

 

Why the Next IMF Chief Will Come from Europe

By Christian Reiermann

International finance pros Christine Lagarde and Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Being a woman is an advantage for Lagarde, but her French nationality could hurt her prospects.

Zoom
Getty Images

International finance pros Christine Lagarde and Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Being a woman is an advantage for Lagarde, but her French nationality could hurt her prospects.

The last time Europe picked an International Monetary Fund chief, many said it would be the last, with the role eventually being handed over to a representative of an emerging economy. With the IMF now presiding over bailouts to EU countries, it is almost certain that the job will again go to a European.

 

 

Ouattara insists Gbagbo must face war crimes trial
FRANCE 24 EXCLUSIVE
In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24 Sunday, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara insisted that his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, must be tried for crimes committed during the deadly standoff that followed last year’s disputed election.

 

 

 

KARACHI: Suspected militants have stormed an airbase in Karachi late last night, rocking one of the nation’s heavily guarded military installations with fiery explosions and leaving at least 10 people, including six of them, dead just three-week after the death of Osama bin Laden . They also blew up a PC3 Orion aircraft in one of the most brazen…

 

 

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Doubts over a deal to end Yemen’s political crisis are growing, amid dramatic scenes in the capital, Sanaa. President Ali Abdullah Saleh reportedly refused to sign the accord – brokered by Gulf nations –

 

 

 

 

MOSCOW-The world may face a “mad arms race” if the United States goes ahead with its missile defense plans without trying to engage Moscow and assuage its security concerns, the top Russian military officer warned Friday. Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the military’s general staff, urged Washington to reshape its plans so the U.S.-led NATO missile…

 

 

Spain Rocked By Massive Youth Protests

 

Jim Young / Reuters
By Michael Muskal | 11:46 a.m.
The Israeli leader emerges from an extended meeting with the president and says he would make some concessions, but not agree to Obama’s suggested basis for talks.

 

 

 

Nato air strikes have hit eight warships belonging to Col Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in co-ordinated raid on Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte. In a statement, a spokesman said Nato had to take “decisive action” given Col Gaddafi’s increasing use of naval assets to…

 

 

NEW YORK: Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was granted bail by a New York court shortly after he was formally indicted on all sexual assault charges. The court agreed to free Strauss-Kahn from a New York City jail on bail terms of $1 million in cash and also on the condition that he would remain under house arrest in a Manhattan apartment…

 

 

 

An Egyptian woman watches U.S. President Barack Obama's policy address, outside a shop selling televisions in Cairo, Egypt Thursday, May 19, 2011.
photo: AP / Amr Nabil

Obama and Netanyahu poised for tense meeting
read more Al Jazeera
US president Barack Obama’s endorsement of a longstanding Palestinian demand for a future state based on 1967 borders sets the stage for what could be a tense meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, on Friday. Netanyahu, who has had strained relations with Obama.

 

 

Dominique Strauss-Kahn at Manhattan Criminal Court after being arrested for sexual assault

French Shock As DSK Bail Denied

A former Socialist culture minister calls the way Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been treated a “lynching”.

 

 

 

The Fall of the Global Economy’s Top Steward


Dominque Strauss-Khan is as much a charmer as he is a banker, making him an unusual choice to head the IMF. But his stewardship of the institution during the global financial crisis drew praise. The rape allegations now lodged against him are creating havoc for a summit addressing the rescue of the euro this week. By Gregor Peter Schmitz in Washington.

Strauss-Kahn Broke Ranks And Was Crushed Like A Bug



EGYPT: Shooting, clashes at Coptic Christian sit-in injure at least 60

May 15, 2011

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Witnesses and Egyptian state television reported that armed thugs attacked a group of mainly Coptic Christian protesters overnight Saturday, injuring at least 60 people, two critically.

Christian protesters have been holding a sit-in outside the state television building in Cairo for nearly a week after Christian-Muslim clashes in the Imbaba area of the city that left 15 people dead.

Overnight, crowds could be seen rushing into the sit-in area, lobbing rocks and fire bombs from a nearby bridge and charging toward the few hundred protesters. Vehicles were set on fire and fires burned in the middle of the street.

 

 

Click here to find out more!

Yaron Kaminsky / Associated Press
By Edmund Sanders

Soldiers open fire on Palestinian protesters as they attempt to cross Israel’s borders in bitter remembrance of the Palestinians’ displacement with the founding of Israel

 

 

 

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been charged by New York police over an alleged sex attack on a hotel maid. Mr Strauss-Kahn was taken off an Air France plane at John F Kennedy airport minutes before it left for Paris. Police told the BBC he faced three charges, including attempted rape. The married former…

 

 

May 14, 2011

Haitian president-elect Michel Martelly, 50, said one of his first actions will be to nominate high court judges.
Haitian president-elect Michel Martelly, 50, said one of his first actions will be to nominate high court judges.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Michel Martelly was once a bad-boy musician
  • He won the election with promises to bring change
  • He was inaugurated Saturday in Port-au-Prince

Port-Au-Prince, Haiti  — With expectations of change running high, former bad-boy pop star Michel Martelly was sworn in Saturday as the president of impoverished Haiti, still reeling from last year’s devastating earthquake.

In a sign of the nation’s troubles, the electricty went out moments before the inauguration, prompting formally dressed dignitaries and guests, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton, to fan themselves to stave off rising May heat.

Immediately, Twitter lit up with posts calling the blackout a “bad sign.” Despite the outage, the ceremony proceeded before parliament.

Martelly, savvy insocial media, announced his own inauguration as Haiti’s 56th president minutes after it happened along with a flurry of messages expressing hope that change would now come to Haiti.

Outside, thousands of Haitians rejoiced at what they see as a new start for their country, where many people remain displaced from their homes and post-quake reconstruction has been slow, one of the reasons popular discontent with the former administration had grown.

A collective joy surfaced in a nation that has been subjected to months of misery compounded by a cholera epidemic that erupted last October.

Martelly has acknowledged his task as herculean in nature. He has pledged to fight corruption and institute measures of transparency.

 

 

China’s crackdown leaves Tibetan eco-tourism in the balance read more The Palace Potala with modern city, Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, 14 January 2011.

Last minute state security concerns derailed my Sichuan trip to follow in the footsteps of an Edwardian explorer Chinese soldiers in riot gear patrol the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province during unrest in 2008. The area is once…
photo: WN / Yeshe Choesang

Barack Obama

Police in Ireland have arrested a Muslim convert after he apparently made death threats against US President Barack Obama. Khalid Kelly – who is also known as ‘Taliban Terry’ because of his pre-conversion name…
photo: Public Domain / BotMultichillT

 

 

 

Following the February ousting of Egypt’s longstanding president Hosni Mubarak, calls have been circulating in Egypt and throughout the region for a ‘Third Intifada’ to begin May 15. “Unlike the first two Palestinian uprisings, the proposed Third Intifada is meant to involve the entire Arab world,” said Egyptian journalist and political analyst…

 

 

 

 

NATO-led air strikes hit Moamer Gaddafi’s compound on Thursday, killing six people, the Libyan regime said as rebels celebrated the capture of Misrata airport and a British invitation to open their first foreign office. The pre-dawn strikes in the capital Tripoli came just hours after Libyan state television showed what it said was footage of…

 

 

 

 

 

Islamabad – Two back-to-back suicide bombings at a paramilitary police training centre in north-western Pakistan Friday killed at least 80 people, most of them recruits, and injured more than 100, police and health officials said. The twin bombings took place outside the base of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary (FC) police in Shabqadar area…

 

 

 

 

French TV journalists mark 500 days in Taliban captivity
FRANCE
Friday marks 500 days since two French journalists were taken hostage by Taliban forces in Afghanistan. The continuing plight of Hervé Ghesquière and Stéphane Taponier underscores the dangers of reporting from conflict zones.

 

 

 

It’s Official: Newt Gingrich is Running for President!




BIN LADEN SON OMAR AND JANE FELIX-BROWN

By EVAN PEREZ WASHINGTON—A son of Osama bin Laden released a letter Tuesday accusing the U.S. of violating international law in the military operation that killed the al Qaeda leader. The letter from Omar bin Laden, purporting to be on behalf of other family members, was reported by the New York Times.

 

 

 

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

U.S.-China Clashes Laid Bare in Latest Talks

U.S. and Chinese officials in Washington on Monday laid out differences on human rights in China, U.S. exports on high technology products, and China’s exchange rate as they held ongoing talks to resolve strategic and economic issues.

 

 

 

A conversation with renowned Middle East scholar Gilles Kepel on bin Laden, Egypt and Syria – TheDC

‘Al-Qaeda was already dead politically before bin Laden was terminated physically’

 

 

U.S. officials will question the three wives who were taken into custody following the raid.

U.S. officials will question the three wives who were taken into custody following the raid.

Related Articles

 

 

Bin Laden death is top news across world’s newspapers

 

Indian customers read newspapers displaying front page headlines and photographs of the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Amritsar on May 3, 2011. The US warned it would probe Osama bin Laden’s support network in Pakistan, raising tough questions for its anti-terror ally after killing the Al-Qaeda kingpin in a daring raid. (AFP/Getty Images)

 

 

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
The Clues That Should Have Given Bin Laden Away

 

 

 

 

Al Qaeda’s Goal: Bankrupt the U.S.

How successful was bin Laden, anyway? Ezra Klein takes up the question in a column today, and finds that while the al Qaeda leader didn’t win his battle with the U.S., he sure came close. According to al Qaeda expert Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, bin Laden’s goal all along was to bankrupt the United States, just as he bankrupted the Soviet Union by waging a resistance war in Afghanistan. The Afghan campaign taught bin Laden that “superpowers fall because their economies crumble, not because they’re beaten on the battlefield,” writes Klein. “For another, superpowers are so allergic to losing that they’ll bankrupt themselves trying to conquer a mass of rocks and sand.” That’s the strategy he set out to use against the United States, and it almost worked. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz estimates the price of the Iraq War alone at over $3 trillion. Afghanistan will likely add another trillion or two. Then there’s another trillion for the homeland security spending. “It’s a smart play against a superpower,” writes Klein. “We didn’t need to respond to 9/11 by trying to reshape the entire Middle East, but we’re a superpower, and we think on that scale.” Bin Laden “may not have won,” writes Klein, “but he did succeed, at least partially.”

 

 

 

 

 

Terrorism experts say that Ayman al-Zawahiri, currently the No. 2 of al-Qaida, is well-positioned to take the helm of the terrorist group. This picture is from an online video released on Nov. 28, 2008.

Terrorism experts say that Ayman al-Zawahiri, currently the No. 2 of al-Qaida, is well-positioned to take the helm of the terrorist group. This picture is from an online video released on Nov. 28, 2008.

 

Al-Qaida’s Next Leader: After Bin Laden, Who?

Al-Qaida’s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, could take charge of the organization he helped create. But there are other rising stars: Saif al-Adel, a former colonel in the Egyptian special forces; Libyan Abu Yahya al-Libi; and U.S.-born radical Internet imam Anwar al-Awlaki.

 

 

 

BIN LADEN IS DEAD

 

Obama: ‘The U.S. Has Conducted An Operation That Killed Osama Bin Laden’..
Killing Or Capture Was CIA ‘Top Priority’.. ‘Justice Has Been Done’



Video Inside The Kill Zone

 

 

 

Global Briefing, April, 2011: Saints and Sinners

Have Oil, Will Fight — The West is considering blocking all oil trade with Libya. That’s ill-advised, argues Vivienne Walt. By tapping into the country’s own vast supplies, Gaddafi could keep his army fighting for a while.

Post-Racial — David Remnick calls out Donald Trump and his fellow ‘birthers’ in an essay for the New Yorker. He calls Trump “an irrepressible jackass who thinks of himself as a sly fox” and blasts the movement for “race-baiting” and “fear-mongering.”

Tibetan Transition — The director of Columbia’s Modern Tibetan Studies Program tells TIME’s Ishaan Tharoor what to expect from the Dalai Lama’s political successor.

Old Wounds — The UN’s ‘winner takes all’ approach to the Ivory Coast may have reignited the North-South civil war instead of healing it, writes Mahmood Mamdani for Al Jazeera.

Speedy Sainthood —  Beatification usually takes about a decade, but the  process has been shortened for Pope Jonh Paul. Stephan Faris explains why some people aren’t pleased.

Guantanamo Files — Spiegel Online highlights the “absurd” case of Murat Kurnaz, a German man held at Guantanamo for five years.

Petraeus and Panetta —Spencer Ackerman of Wired‘s Danger Room offered this take on the announcement: “It’s a good day to be an armed Predator drone or a shadow warrior.”

In Pictures — Light Box features the work of Canadian photographer Devin Tepleski, whose latest project looks at people displaced by the damming of Ghana’s Black Volta river.

Posted by Emily Rauhala

 

 

Netanyahu says that the Palestinian Authority must decide whether it wants peace with Hamas or if it wants peace with Israel

“PALASTINE can choose peace with Hamas or with Israel; not both”

 

ROME — Facing a surge in undocumented migrants from North Africa, the leaders of France and Italy called Tuesday for changes in the Schengen Agreement, which grants free passage across national frontiers in most of Western Europe. The appeal, in a joint letter to the president of the European Commission, represented a remarkable request to change…

 

 

 

 

More News Naqibullah was about 14 years old when U.S. troops detained him in December 2002 at a suspected militant’s compound in eastern Afghanistan. The weapon he held in his hands hadn’t been fired, the troops concluded, and he appeared to have been left behind with a group of cooks and errand boys when a local warlord, tipped to the raid, had…

 

 

 

 

Military deadlock in Libya has exposed growing international rifts, with critics of NATO bombing calling it another case of the West trying to overthrow a regime by stretching the terms of a U.N. resolution. “Is there a lack of such crooked regimes in the world?” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin asked on Tuesday. “Are we going to bomb…

 

 

 

 

 

A Nigerian human rights group says more than 500 people died after presidential elections earlier this month. The Civil Rights Congress said the violence happened mostly in the northern state of Kaduna and that the…

 

 

 

WASHINGTON – WASHINGTON-Faced with the worst-ever foreign attack on American soil, the U.S. military set up a human intelligence laboratory at Guantanamo that used interrogation and detention practices they largely made up as they went along. The world may have thought the U.S. was detaining a band of international terrorists whose questioning…

 

 

Police are seen in front of the Sharm el Sheikh International Hospital, Tuesday, April 12, 2011, where former President Hosni Mubarak is hospitalized.

Cairo, Apr 25 (PTI) Monday, April 25, 2011 –> Egypt’s prosecutor general has ordered former President Hosni Mubarak be transferred to a prison hospital after a medical test declared him ”fit enough” to travel. A specific date for the move, ordered…
photo: AP

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, left, and New Zealand Defense Minister Wayne Mapp carry bouquets of flowers as they pay respects during a ceremony to mark Anzac Day at Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 25, 2011. Gillard is visiting South Korea from April 23-25 to mark the 60th anniversary of Australia's troop dispatch to the Korean War and the 50th anniversary of the start of Korea's diplomatic relations with Australia.

By Phil Mercer BBC News, Sydney Australians and New Zealanders are marking Anzac Day to remember those who died fighting for their country. Continue reading the main story Related Stories Fatal Anzac Day helicopter crash Gallipoli dead honoured by…
photo: AP / Ahn Young-joon

An Alitalia national airline airplane prepares for take off in Rome's Fiumicino international airport, Italy, Friday, Sept. 12, 2008, as the company unions entered what was billed as the last round of do-or-die talks on a plan to save the company from bank

ROME (Reuters) – A man who tried to hijack a Paris-Rome flight Sunday night and take it to Libya was overpowered by cabin crew during the flight and arrested when the plane arrived in Rome, officials said. A statement from Alitalia airlines said the…
photo: AP / Andrew Medichini

An UNMIS peacekeeper patrol in Abyei, Southern Sudan, Friday, March 11, 2011.Scores of villagers have died in recent fighting in Southern Sudan.

At least 57 people have been killed in fighting between government forces and a rebel militia in South Sudan, officials have said. South Sudan army spokesman Brig Malaak Ayuen said dozens were also wounded in the clashes in the state of Jonglei. The…
photo: AP / Tim Freccia

A Cambodian soldier sits at Phnom Trop near Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple in a world heritage site at the Cambodian-Thai border, about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 11, 2008. Cambodian troops said Friday a brief gunfight broke out with Thai soldiers at their tense border near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, the site of increasingly regular conflicts between the neighbors.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—Fighting broke out again Sunday along Cambodia’s border with Thailand following two days of skirmishes that killed at least 10 soldiers and forced the evacuation of thousands of civilians. The dispute between the neighbors…
photo: AP / Heng Sinith

File - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, center, stands near Indian Spiritual leader Satya Sai Baba, sitting, during the convocation ceremony of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning at Puttaparthi University in Andhra Pradesh state, India, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010.

PUTTAPARTHI (Andhra Pradesh): Sathya Sai Baba, who died on Sunday, was seen as a reincarnation of god by millions, having preached an eclectic blend of Hindu religion since the time he claimed to be an ‘avatar’ at a young age of 14. The many attacks…
photo: AP

The Transocean drill vessel, Discoverer Inspiration, prepares for drilling operations for the Deepwater Horizon oil response in the Gulf of Mexico, July 10, 2010.

A report finds problems with the rig owner’s emergency training and equipment ahead of last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Associated Press…
photo: US Coast Guard / PO1 Jonathan Caruk

 

 

 

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – A border clash between troops from Cambodia and Thailand resumed Saturday, a day after at least six soldiers were killed and thousands of civilians were forced to evacuate the battle zone. The fighting springs from decades-old competing claims over small swaths of land along the border, with nationalistic politics fueling…

 

 

 

President orders Ivory Coast warlord to lay down arms read more Alassane Ouattara, centre, opposition leader greet his supporters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010. Ouattara is widely regarded as being the winner of recent presidential elections, although incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo refuses to relinquish power.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — President Alassane Ouattara on Friday ordered a renegade…
photo: AP / Sunday Alamba

Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan was back in jail on Friday after a rollercoaster day in which a judge downgraded her jewellery theft charge, but sentenced the actress to four months behind bars for violating her probation. Looking confused and distressed, Lohan – who…
photo: AP /

President Barack Obama speaks during a prime time news

WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama told Syria on Friday that its bloody crackdown on protesters ‘must come to an end now’ and accused Damascus of seeking Iranian help to repress its people. Obama issued a toughly worded statement on a day when…
photo: Creative Commons / Lobo

Police Service of Northern Ireland officers near the scene of the shooting at Lismore Manor, Craigavon, Northern Ireland, Tuesday, March, 10, 2009.

Police in Northern Ireland have warned the public to be vigilant over the Easter weekend because of the “severe threat posed by terrorists“. Security checkpoints and patrols are being stepped up as a result. On Friday, detectives investigating…
photo: AP / Peter Morrison

This May 31, 2007 file photo, shows a view of the LHC (large hadron collider) in its tunnel at CERN (European particle physics laboratory) near Geneva, Switzerland.

Geneva, 22 April 2011. Around midnight this night CERN’s (1) Large Hadron Collider set a new world record for beam intensity at a hadron collider when it collided beams with a luminosity of 4.67 x 1032cm-2s-1. This exceeds the previous world record…
photo: AP / Keystone, Martial Trezzini

File - A U.S. Air Force RQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle from the 432nd Wing out of Creech Air Force Base, Nev., takes off from the Rafael Hernandez Airport outside Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, Jan. 28, 2010, for a mission in support of Operation Unified Response.

Armed US Predator drones are to carry out missions over Libya, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said. Mr Gates said their use had been authorised by President Barack Obama and would give…
photo: USAF / Tech. Sgt. James L. Harper Jr

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan reacts during an upper house budget committee session at parliament in Tokyo Tuesday, March 8, 2011.

By TAKASHI MOCHIZUKI And GEORGE NISHIYAMA TOKYO — The Japanese government Friday approved a ¥4 trillion ($49 billion) extra budget, the first in what is expected to be a series of spending packages to finance quake-relief steps, but avoided any…
photo: AP / Itsuo Inouye

Budget Disater Japan Photos Wikipedia: 2011 T?hoku earthquake and tsunami



Gold Tops $1,500 an Ounce in ‘Flight to Quality

 

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Gold jewelry on display in the jewelry district in New York. The contract for May delivery of gold in New York was quoted at $1,502.50 an ounce on Wednesday.

Published: April 20, 2011







  • PARIS — Investor concerns about global inflation, government debt and turmoil in the Middle East converged Wednesday to push the price of gold above $1500 dollars ever

Other precious metals also rose, benefiting from what analysts call a “flight to quality.” That is when uncertainty about the economic and political outlook pulls investors into those assets perceived to be safest.

The list of factors that have supported the price of precious metals in recent weeks is long. It includes worries about the sustainability of European debt levels — and whether countries like Greece will soon default; the threat of a possible downgrade of U.S. credit ratings amid an impasse over raising the debt limit and dealing with the budget deficit; the weaker dollar; rising inflation in many parts of the world and continued unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, which has pushed up oil prices.

“We’re seeing a perfect storm for gold and silver prices,” said Robin Bhar, a senior metals analyst in London for the French bank Crédit Agricole.

 

 

 

The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad yesterday bowed to the most serious and sustained challenge to his authoritarian grip on the country as his regime finally agreed to lift the 48-year state of emergency. The concession – one of the key demands of demonstrators during weeks of protests against Assad’s 11-year rule – failed to placate opposition…

 

 

 

AmmanSyrian security forces opened fire on protesters at a funeral on Sunday, witnesses said, and an announcement that President Bashar al-Assad would lift 48 years of emergency rule failed to quell fury on the streets. Two witnesses said security forces killed three mourners when they opened fire on a funeral for a man killed the day before,…

 

 

 

 

A rebel fighter holds a rocket propelled grenade launcher, near the front line in Brega, Libya Monday, April 4, 2011.
photo: AP / Ben Curtis
The future of Libya
read more The Los Angeles Times

The conflict may result in various outcomes — the regime implodes, Kadafi is ousted by former aides or the country is split into two. But stability in any scenario will require continued Western attention….

 

 

 

 

An Iraqi soldier secures the scene of a suicide car bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 18, 2011. Suicide bombers detonated two explosives-packed cars Monday outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, killing and wounding several of people, police said
photo: AP
Car bombs in central Baghdad kill 9
read more The State

BAGHDAD – Suicide bombers detonated two explosives-packed cars Monday outside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, killing at least nine people and wounding 23, officials said. The blasts marked the start of a violent day in the Iraqi capital, where a another bombing and a jewelry heist left two more dead and 13 wounded. The twin suicide car…

 

 

 

 

Nigerian incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan cast his ballot in Otuoke, Nigeria, Saturday, April 16, 2011. Nigerians chose their president in an election Saturday many hoped would show how Africa's most populous nation could hold a credible vote without the violence and rigging that marred previous ones, though children cast ballots and party officials helped others press their inked fingers to paper.
photo: AP / Godwin Omoigui
Nigeria President Heads to a Win
read more Wall Street Journal

By WILL CONNORS KADUNA, Nigeria—After a largely peaceful day of voting Saturday, Nigeria’s incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan was closing in on victory despite a strong challenge from former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. Mr. Buhari, who ruled Nigeria for a year and a half in the early 1980s, has widespread popular support in mostly…

 

 

 

Cuba marks 50th anniversary of Bay of Pigs invasion

 

Cuban army cadets march, on April 16, 2011 in Havana, during the military parade to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs and the beginning of the Cuban Communist Party 6th Congress. The military parades were followed by a march of thousands of people

Cuba has held one of its largest military parades in decades, to mark the 50th anniversary of the failed CIA-led invasion at the Bay of Pigs.

Flags were draped on buildings and military planes roared through the sky as Cubans celebrated the occasion, seen as a triumph over the US.

Hundreds of thousands of people joined marches in the capital, Havana.

Meanwhile, a Communist Party congress is set to open, which is expected to back moves towards market reform.

President Raul Castro has said Cuba must reduce the role of the state and encourage private enterprise in order to save socialism.

The parade and Congress also celebrate 50 years from when Fidel Castro proclaimed that his was a socialist revolution, rather than a democratic one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this image from Syrian state television President Bashar Assad makes a speech in front of his cabinet in Damasus, Syria Saturday April 16 2011
photo: AP / Syrian TV via APTN
Syria’s Assad says govt to lift emergency law
read more Houston Chronicle

BEIRUT – Syria’s president says he expects the government to lift the country’s decades-old emergency laws next week. Lifting the state of emergency has been a key demand during a wave of protests over the past four weeks. The demonstrations have posed the most serious challenge to President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian regime.

In his second public appearance since the protests began, President Bashar Assad warned there will no longer be “an excuse” for organizing protests after Syria lifts the emergency laws and implements reforms.

“After that, we will not tolerate any attempt at sabotage,” he told the newly formed Cabinet in a televised address.

Syria’s widely despised emergency laws have been in place since the ruling Baath party came to power in 1963, giving the regime a free hand to arrest people without charge and extending state authority into virtually every aspect of Syrians’ lives.

The protest movement has been steadily growing over the past four weeks and swelled Friday to the largest and most widespread gatherings to date as tens of thousands of people made a bold march toward the capital, Damascus.

The protesters demanded concrete reforms even as Assad’s security services launched a bloody crackdown. More than 200 people have been killed in the government crackdown on protesters over the past four weeks, rights groups say.

Assad has tried to calm the protests with promises of reform, such as forming committees to look into replacing the emergency laws and freeing detainees. He also fired his Cabinet — a move that was largely symbolic, as the real power in Syria is concentrated around Assad and a tight coterie of family and advisers.

The protesters say the gestures are not nearly enough.

 

 

Soldiers of the Nigerian army, right, and a policeman, left, stand guard as electoral officials count ballot papers after the National Assembly election in Ibadan, Nigeria,Saturday, April 9, 2011.
photo: AP / Sunday Alamba
Nigeria votes in crucial presidential election
read more Yahoo Daily News

LAGOS (AFP) – Nigeria votes for a president on Saturday with incumbent Goodluck Jonathan favoured to win as Africa’s most populous nation bids to hold its cleanest polls for head of state in nearly two decades. Jonathan has staked his reputation on the conduct of the polls, repeatedly promising a free and fair election in the…



North Korea identifies detained American


April 14, 2011
Tensions between North Korea and the West have spiked in recent years due to concerns over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Tensions between North Korea and the West have spiked in recent years due to concerns over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Jun Young Su was arrested in November 2010, KCNA reports
  • Sources say the detainee is a Korean-American businessman
  • The State Department is working on the case with the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang
  • North Korea has detained several Americans in recent years

(CNN)– North Korea has identified a detained American man, who was arrested last year for “committing a crime” against the reclusive nation, according to state-run media.

“U.S. citizen Jun Young Su was arrested in November 2010 and has since been investigated by a relevant organ for committing a crime against (North Korea) after entering it,”the KCNA news agency reported Thursday. “He admitted his crime in the course of investigation.”

KCNA did not provide details on the nature of the alleged crime.

Two State Department officials, speaking on condition of not being identified told CNN Tuesday that the man is a Korean-American businessman. One of the sources said the businessman had a visa to enter North Korea.

The State Department is working with the Swedish Embassy in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, the officials said. The United States is urging North Korean authorities, through Swedish officials, to release the man on humanitarian grounds.

CIAo! Black ops, drone deaths push US-Pakistan tensions to edge

 

 

 

Pakistan Demands Suspension of Drone Hits

America considers that Drone strikes against targets in Pakistan’s FATA as legitimate use of force as these attacks are with Pakistani consent. The US is critical of governance and law enforcement inadequacies in Pakistan and frequently counsels it to The see-saw of Pak-US relations! PakTribune.com





Egypt: Mubarak and sons detained amid corruption probe

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (file photo) Hosni Mubarak is said to have been refusing food and drink while in detention

Egypt’s prosecutor general has ordered the detention of former President Hosni Mubarak, ahead of an investigation into corruption and abuse allegations.

He is reported to be in an “unstable condition” a day after being admitted to hospital with heart problems. He has been ordered detained for 15 days.

His sons Alaa and Gamal have also been detained amid allegations of corruption and violence, police say.

Mr Mubarak stood down in February after a popular uprising against his rule

Story Highlights

It is hard to separate facts from myths in the debate about the Mubarak family’s wealth and how it was obtained.

It is not even clear how rich they are – estimates range from $1bn (£0.6bn) all the way up to $70bn. US intelligence puts the figure at the lower end of spectrum, at not more than $5bn.

Opponents of the Mubaraks within Egypt say much of this wealth was acquired through corrupt property deals. In the last 30 years, large tracts of empty, sometimes desert, land around major cities has been converted into valuable real estate.

It is claimed the Mubarak family were given kickbacks in return for using their influence so that property developers acquired what become vast sites for free or almost free of charge. There are similar claims about land used for building hotels and resorts in the Sinai and along the Red Sea.

Other allegations centre on claims that the two Mubarak sons, Gamal and Alaa, pressured Egyptian firms into giving them shares without paying the market price. But its also clear that the brothers had many quite legitimate business interests. The family denies any wrongdoing.

 

 

 

 

A cameraman films a pro-Gadhafi forces tank as it burns on the outskirts of Ajdabiya, in Libya Sunday, April 10, 2011. Libyan rebels said NATO airstrikes on Sunday helped them drive Moammar Gadhafi's forces out of the hard-fought eastern city of Ajdabiya that is the gateway to the opposition's stronghold.
photo: AP / Altaf Qadri
NATO must do more in Libya – France
read more The Jordan Times

Tweet – Libyan rebels reported heavy fighting in the besieged city of Misrata on Tuesday and France said NATO must step up bombing to stop Muammar Qadhafi?s forces attacking civilians. “It is not acceptable that Misrata is still under fire and being bombarded by Qadhafi?s troops,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in Luxembourg. NATO took…

took over air operations from a coalition of the United States, Britain and France on March 31 and rebels have accused it of not doing enough, although they recently toned down criticism.

Despite NATO raids, the government bombardment of Misrata, the last rebel stronghold in western Libya, has continued unabated with hundreds of civilians reported killed.

Insurgents said renewed artillery bombardments and heavy fighting hit the city on Tuesday and they had beaten back two government offensives. Misrata, under siege for more than six weeks, is surrounded on three sides and the plight of civilians is said to be desperate.

The criticism of NATO by France, which pushed for Western intervention in Libya, followed the collapse of an African Union peace initiative on Monday. Juppe told France Info radio: “It’s not enough.”

He said NATO must stop Qadhafi shelling civilians and take out the heavy weapons bombarding Misrata. In a barbed reference to the alliance command of the operation, Juppe added: “NATO must play its role fully. It wanted to take the lead in operations, we accepted that.”

Speaking after meeting European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg later, Juppe said NATO should “exert the most efficient military pressure. We need to be more efficient”.