It is clear from Anders Behring Breivik's attacks pandora bracelet in Norway that he was familiar with terrorism attacks in the United States -- namely, Timothy McVeigh's 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, wrote Andrew Gumbel, an author working on a book about the U.S. bombing, in an Op-Ed Thursday. Both men had Glock semiautomatics and .223-caliber Ruger assault rifles, and both used the same farm fertilizing compound, ammonium nitrate, to construct their respective bombs. McVeigh's bombing generated disgust in America and ended the U.S. militia movement, Gumbel wrote; Norway will probably have a similar reaction.
Such similarities of weaponry and methods are common among hard-right revolutionaries who tend to read the same pamphlets and books and frequent the same websites. The literature they share tends to fetishize military hardware and to speak reverently of the history of each piece of weaponry.
Norway in 2011 might bear some superficial similarities to Oklahoma in 1995. Both were regarded as peaceful, safe places that were unlikely targets for terrorist attacks. But there were also differences. Breivik discusses in his 1,500-page Unabomber-style manifesto how much more difficult it was for him to assemble bomb materials than it was in the America of the mid-1990s. "Times are changing and the possibilities which were available to us during the time of Mr. Timothy McVeigh are no longer present," he wrote.
Readers on the discussion board see less of a connection between the two men.
The media are going out of their way to connect pandora bracelets Islamic terrorism with Christian conservatives
Typically, the liberal media, who is often at pains to describe an Islamic terrorism as "muslim", is now going out of its way to connect crazies like McVeigh and Breivik with mainstream Christian conservatives who have no intentions of violence or hatred toward others and are by and large a peaceful people.
How's the re-election campaign for your Messiah Obama going, LA Times?
Breivik's manifesto reveals that he got his neo-nazi ideas from Fox News, the Tea Party, and right wing ideologues in America. It's only a matter of time before this happens here, too.
Just looking at the comments on stories about him, you can find many unstable people with views identical to his.
"Andrew Gumbel, a Los Angeles-based journalist, is writing a book about the Oklahoma City bombing, due out from William Morrow next April." Isn't "journalism" supposed to involve some kind of critical reasoning? Maybe this guy [carried a] Glock because Tim McVeigh carried a Glock, or maybe he did because it's probably the most popular handgun on the planet, and used by most of the world's police and military organizations. And the Ruger rifle? It's a popular rifle around the world because it's widely recognized as a good value.
So we have established this Norwegian extremist read up on weapons before he bought them. Wow. We've also established the author thinks owning the same kind of pistol makes for equivalent political ideology. If he brings the same kind of reasoning to his books, he should probably focus on ancient astronauts, crystal skulls and the Mayan Solar Calendar.
It's funny how conservatives think only brown people and Muslims can be terrorists, and deny what's right in front of them: Conservative white pandora bracelet australia people can be terrorists too. And, in the US, are more likely to be terrorists than Muslims are (simply because there are a lot more white militants).
Friday, July 29, 2011
Anders Behring Breivik Terror: Act of a 'Lone Wolf' Terrorist
Norway's top police official announced Thursday that pandora bracelet Anders Behring Breivik, the man who has admitted to carrying out the attacks that ravaged Norway, acted alone and without any accomplices or networks in the planning and implementation of his fatal attack.
Prior to Norway's top police official coming out, it had been largely speculated that Breivik had acted alone.
A few days ago, Norwegian domestic intelligence chief, Janne Kristiansen stated, "We don't have any indications that he has been part of a broader movement or that he has been in connection with other cells. He is manipulating us all in the sense that he is keeping us all uncertain."
Breivik admitted to the massacre and originally told police that he acted alone in the attacks that he described as "gruesome but necessary."
However, he later insisted that he had worked and been in contact with two other terror cells in Norway and numerous others worldwide.
European security officials said that right wing pandora bracelet uk extremism is not currently posing an imminent threat, nor has Europe seen a surge in right-wing terror.
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However, the concern all over Europe right now is that the shooting massacre and car bombing that together claimed the lives of 76 could inspire a copycat attack.
Furthermore, EU officials worry that Breivik might typify a new kind of “lone wolf” extremist that is becoming more prevalent on the internet and has the potential to become extremely deadly.
As opposed to a solo terrorist, the “lone wolf” extremist poses a different kind of threat in that they are not as readily detectable based upon their group affiliation.
Furthermore, Breivik, lived a lawful life which enabled him to stay "under the radar of security forces," according to Kristiansen.
An emergency counter-terrorism meeting was held between European Union and Norwegian Representatives that was dedicated to the cooperation and prevention of similar attacks in the future.
EU's principle advisor to the EU's counterterrorism pandora charms coordinator, Tim Jones, stated that, "Clearly, one major risk is that somebody may actually try to mount a similar attack as a copycat attack or as a way to show support."
Prior to Norway's top police official coming out, it had been largely speculated that Breivik had acted alone.
A few days ago, Norwegian domestic intelligence chief, Janne Kristiansen stated, "We don't have any indications that he has been part of a broader movement or that he has been in connection with other cells. He is manipulating us all in the sense that he is keeping us all uncertain."
Breivik admitted to the massacre and originally told police that he acted alone in the attacks that he described as "gruesome but necessary."
However, he later insisted that he had worked and been in contact with two other terror cells in Norway and numerous others worldwide.
European security officials said that right wing pandora bracelet uk extremism is not currently posing an imminent threat, nor has Europe seen a surge in right-wing terror.
Like us on Facebook
However, the concern all over Europe right now is that the shooting massacre and car bombing that together claimed the lives of 76 could inspire a copycat attack.
Furthermore, EU officials worry that Breivik might typify a new kind of “lone wolf” extremist that is becoming more prevalent on the internet and has the potential to become extremely deadly.
As opposed to a solo terrorist, the “lone wolf” extremist poses a different kind of threat in that they are not as readily detectable based upon their group affiliation.
Furthermore, Breivik, lived a lawful life which enabled him to stay "under the radar of security forces," according to Kristiansen.
An emergency counter-terrorism meeting was held between European Union and Norwegian Representatives that was dedicated to the cooperation and prevention of similar attacks in the future.
EU's principle advisor to the EU's counterterrorism pandora charms coordinator, Tim Jones, stated that, "Clearly, one major risk is that somebody may actually try to mount a similar attack as a copycat attack or as a way to show support."
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Leader of Rebel Military in Libya Is Reported Killed
The top rebel military commander was killed Thursday Tiffany Bracelet, and members of his tribe greeted the announcement with gunfire and angry threats. The violent outburst stirred fears that a tribal feud could divide the forces struggling to topple the Libyan dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
Enlarge This Image
The leader of the rebels’ provisional government, Mustapha Abdul Jalil, announced Thursday evening that assassins had killed the commander, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes, and two other officers. But he provided few details.
General Younes, a former officer and cabinet member in the Qaddafi government, had long been a contentious figure among the rebels, some of whom doubted his loyalty. He had been summoned to Benghazi for questioning by a panel of judges, and members of his tribe — the Obeidi, one of the largest tribes in the east — evidently blamed the rebel leadership for having some role in the general’s death.
The specter of a violent tribal conflict within the rebel ranks touches on a central fear of the Western nations backing the Libyan insurrection: that the rebels’ democratic goals could give way to a tribal civil war over Libya’s oil resources. Colonel Qaddafi has often warned of such a possibility as he has fought to keep power, while the rebel leaders have argued that their cause transcends Libya’s age-old tribal divisions.
Before General Younes defected to the rebel side soon after the uprising began in February, he had been a longtime friend of Colonel Qaddafi and his interior minister. Those ties fostered persistent rumors that his loyalties were divided. State television sometimes tried to exploit those rumors by reporting that he had returned to his old job.
During an interview in April, Colonel Qaddafi’s daughter, Aisha, suggested that General Younes was still loyal to her father, saying that at least one former member of the Qaddafi government on the rebels’ ruling council was talking with the Tiffany UK Sale Qaddafis and pointedly declining to rule out General Younes.
Tensions started rising here in the rebels’ de facto capital early Thursday evening with reports that a group of four judges working for the rebel council had summoned General Younes for questioning. The war effort he led has stalled out for months along immobile battle lines on the eastern front.
When the rebel leadership announced a news conference later at a Benghazi hotel, a few dozen members of his tribe gathered outside and began chanting. Some inside, at the news conference, warned of possible violence if General Younes were removed from his position.
Instead, two hours after the press conference had been scheduled to begin, Mr. Abdul Jalil made a short speech, saying that General Younes had been killed and offering few clues to the circumstances of the death.
Mr. Abdul Jalil confirmed that General Younes had been summoned for questioning by the judges, though he declined to say why. He said only that General Younes had been “released on his own recognizance,” rather than either accused or exonerated of anything.
For months, a public rivalry between General Younes and another rebel military leader, Khalifa Hifter, contributed to the pervasive sense of chaos in the ranks, as both men claimed to command the fighters in the field.
Mr. Abdul Jalil said that an armed gang had killed General Younes and the other two officers, and that at least one of the gang members had been Tiffany Bangles captured. He declined to name the killer, or to say whether the gang had been working for Colonel Qaddafi, rebels who did not trust General Younes, or some other tribal group or faction.
Mr. Abdul Jalil said rebel security forces were still searching for the bodies of the three dead officers, raising questions about how he had confirmed their death.
The rebel leader also conveyed an intense anxiety not to alienate General Younes’s tribe. Instead of appearing with other members of the rebel council as expected, he sat at a table with men he said were elders of the Obeidi tribe. He repeatedly said he wanted to “pay respects” to the tribe for its sacrifice and understanding, calling it “strong and deep.” He left the news conference without taking questions.
Enlarge This Image
The leader of the rebels’ provisional government, Mustapha Abdul Jalil, announced Thursday evening that assassins had killed the commander, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes, and two other officers. But he provided few details.
General Younes, a former officer and cabinet member in the Qaddafi government, had long been a contentious figure among the rebels, some of whom doubted his loyalty. He had been summoned to Benghazi for questioning by a panel of judges, and members of his tribe — the Obeidi, one of the largest tribes in the east — evidently blamed the rebel leadership for having some role in the general’s death.
The specter of a violent tribal conflict within the rebel ranks touches on a central fear of the Western nations backing the Libyan insurrection: that the rebels’ democratic goals could give way to a tribal civil war over Libya’s oil resources. Colonel Qaddafi has often warned of such a possibility as he has fought to keep power, while the rebel leaders have argued that their cause transcends Libya’s age-old tribal divisions.
Before General Younes defected to the rebel side soon after the uprising began in February, he had been a longtime friend of Colonel Qaddafi and his interior minister. Those ties fostered persistent rumors that his loyalties were divided. State television sometimes tried to exploit those rumors by reporting that he had returned to his old job.
During an interview in April, Colonel Qaddafi’s daughter, Aisha, suggested that General Younes was still loyal to her father, saying that at least one former member of the Qaddafi government on the rebels’ ruling council was talking with the Tiffany UK Sale Qaddafis and pointedly declining to rule out General Younes.
Tensions started rising here in the rebels’ de facto capital early Thursday evening with reports that a group of four judges working for the rebel council had summoned General Younes for questioning. The war effort he led has stalled out for months along immobile battle lines on the eastern front.
When the rebel leadership announced a news conference later at a Benghazi hotel, a few dozen members of his tribe gathered outside and began chanting. Some inside, at the news conference, warned of possible violence if General Younes were removed from his position.
Instead, two hours after the press conference had been scheduled to begin, Mr. Abdul Jalil made a short speech, saying that General Younes had been killed and offering few clues to the circumstances of the death.
Mr. Abdul Jalil confirmed that General Younes had been summoned for questioning by the judges, though he declined to say why. He said only that General Younes had been “released on his own recognizance,” rather than either accused or exonerated of anything.
For months, a public rivalry between General Younes and another rebel military leader, Khalifa Hifter, contributed to the pervasive sense of chaos in the ranks, as both men claimed to command the fighters in the field.
Mr. Abdul Jalil said that an armed gang had killed General Younes and the other two officers, and that at least one of the gang members had been Tiffany Bangles captured. He declined to name the killer, or to say whether the gang had been working for Colonel Qaddafi, rebels who did not trust General Younes, or some other tribal group or faction.
Mr. Abdul Jalil said rebel security forces were still searching for the bodies of the three dead officers, raising questions about how he had confirmed their death.
The rebel leader also conveyed an intense anxiety not to alienate General Younes’s tribe. Instead of appearing with other members of the rebel council as expected, he sat at a table with men he said were elders of the Obeidi tribe. He repeatedly said he wanted to “pay respects” to the tribe for its sacrifice and understanding, calling it “strong and deep.” He left the news conference without taking questions.
How Haynesworth can help the Patriots
Nnamdi Asomugha is the biggest name on the cheap tiffany jewelry free-agent market, but the New England Patriots made one of the biggest moves -- thus far -- by trading for Albert Haynesworth, the No. 1 free agent in 2009.
The Patriots are hoping Haynesworth will help a defensive line that since 2008 has registered 50 sacks -- only the Steelers (31.5), Chargers (35.5) and Ravens (41.0) had fewer. In that three-year span, Haynesworth alone had 15 sacks in 34 games.
Last season, the Patriots couldn't get off the field on third down. They ranked last defensively in third-down efficiency, allowing teams to covert 47.1 percent of the time.
They also had only eight sacks on third down, tied for the third-fewest in the NFL. That inability to pressure the quarterback reared its ugly head in the postseason. In the Jets' win over the Patriots in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, Mark Sanchez on third down completed 6-of-9 attempts for 74 yards and two touchdowns.
Although Haynesworth had just 6.5 sacks in his tiffany ring two seasons in Washington, 5.5 of them came on third down.
Last season, Haynesworth made it known that he did not like the way he was used in the Redskins' 3-4 scheme. Like the Redskins, the Patriots also run a 3-4 defense although they lined up in that front less frequently. The Patriots used a 3-4 defense on 40.1 percent of their snaps last season, 11th-most among 15 teams that lined up in a 3-4 defense on at least 200 snaps. Washington lined up 50.6 percent of the time in a 3-4.
The Patriots used Haynesworth's preferred 4-3 scheme on just three of 1,056 defensive snaps last season (0.3 percent), and 127 of 2,917 snaps since 2008 (4.4 percent).
And it's purely coincidental, is there something about 30-year-olds that the Patriots like? Some notable Patriots transactions in recent years involved players who were 30. In 2004, the Patriots traded for running back Corey Dillon tiffany necklaces, who turned 30 during the season. In 2007, New England signed 30-year-old linebacker Adalius Thomas and traded for 30-year-old wide receiver Randy Moss.
The Patriots are hoping Haynesworth will help a defensive line that since 2008 has registered 50 sacks -- only the Steelers (31.5), Chargers (35.5) and Ravens (41.0) had fewer. In that three-year span, Haynesworth alone had 15 sacks in 34 games.
Last season, the Patriots couldn't get off the field on third down. They ranked last defensively in third-down efficiency, allowing teams to covert 47.1 percent of the time.
They also had only eight sacks on third down, tied for the third-fewest in the NFL. That inability to pressure the quarterback reared its ugly head in the postseason. In the Jets' win over the Patriots in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, Mark Sanchez on third down completed 6-of-9 attempts for 74 yards and two touchdowns.
Although Haynesworth had just 6.5 sacks in his tiffany ring two seasons in Washington, 5.5 of them came on third down.
Last season, Haynesworth made it known that he did not like the way he was used in the Redskins' 3-4 scheme. Like the Redskins, the Patriots also run a 3-4 defense although they lined up in that front less frequently. The Patriots used a 3-4 defense on 40.1 percent of their snaps last season, 11th-most among 15 teams that lined up in a 3-4 defense on at least 200 snaps. Washington lined up 50.6 percent of the time in a 3-4.
The Patriots used Haynesworth's preferred 4-3 scheme on just three of 1,056 defensive snaps last season (0.3 percent), and 127 of 2,917 snaps since 2008 (4.4 percent).
And it's purely coincidental, is there something about 30-year-olds that the Patriots like? Some notable Patriots transactions in recent years involved players who were 30. In 2004, the Patriots traded for running back Corey Dillon tiffany necklaces, who turned 30 during the season. In 2007, New England signed 30-year-old linebacker Adalius Thomas and traded for 30-year-old wide receiver Randy Moss.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Davis firing right move at wrong time
You have to hand it to Holden Thorp and pandora bracelet sale the UNC Board of Trustees. They stood behind Butch Davis for months, passing on every opportunity to fire him, then pulled the trigger only days before practice for the new season begins.
It’s the right move, but at the wrong time.
Davis had to go. That much had been obvious to neutral-minded people for months. When an oil tanker runs aground, they don’t put the captain in charge of the cleanup.
If Davis knew what was going on in his program, with John Blake and Jennifer Wiley and all the agents handing out goodies, that would obviously be bad enough. It’s no better that all of this was going on under his nose, with Davis claiming to be impervious and oblivious.
By firing Davis now, Thorp and the trustees put the players on their football team who didn’t do a thing wrong – the vast majority of the players on this year’s roster – in an almost impossible position going forward.
After waiting this long, after Thorp declared last November that Davis and athletic director Dick Baddour would return for the 2011 season, what was the harm in letting the NCAA process and the football season run their course?
A coaching change a week before the start of training camp is about as big a negative as you can slap onto a team’s season. It’s an uphill pandora leather bracelet climb for the Tar Heels now, a season in purgatory, and there are a lot of innocent players who already saw last season diminished by the misdeeds of their teammates.
Thorp has had ample reason to cut Davis loose for almost a year, ever since that awkward night he apologized to fans because the investigation had uncovered possible academic fraud and, oh by the way, the tutor we would soon know as the mysterious Wiley just happened to have worked in the Davis household.
Even the day last month when the NCAA finally got around to handing down its Notice of Allegations would have been a better day.
Instead, the UNC chancellor let Davis represent the university last Thursday at the Pigskin Preview and then again Monday at ACC media days, talking endlessly about the university’s support for him.
Having stuck with Davis for so long, nothing obvious has changed to make this firing imperative. Did the university note the NCAA’s leniency with Ohio State once Jim Tressel was cut out of the picture? Was the rank embarrassment of defending the authenticity of Michael McAdoo’s term paper in court documents only to find it was thoroughly plagiarized the final straw?
It would make more sense if there were some new information that justified an immediate dismissal, but the university quickly ruled that out in the press release announcing the firing.
Given the timing, coming on the day of a Board of Trustees meeting, it’s entirely possible this has something to do with trustee politics, with Wade Hargrove taking over for Bob Winston as board chairman. Hargrove may have seen the football scandal more clearly and forced Thorp’s heretofore-unwilling hand.
Whether it was the internal dynamics of the pandora bracelets board of trustees or merely the accumulation of embarrassment to the university that finally prompted the move, the timing of Davis’ firing is as baffling as the long delay in getting to this point in the first place.
It’s the right move, but at the wrong time.
Davis had to go. That much had been obvious to neutral-minded people for months. When an oil tanker runs aground, they don’t put the captain in charge of the cleanup.
If Davis knew what was going on in his program, with John Blake and Jennifer Wiley and all the agents handing out goodies, that would obviously be bad enough. It’s no better that all of this was going on under his nose, with Davis claiming to be impervious and oblivious.
By firing Davis now, Thorp and the trustees put the players on their football team who didn’t do a thing wrong – the vast majority of the players on this year’s roster – in an almost impossible position going forward.
After waiting this long, after Thorp declared last November that Davis and athletic director Dick Baddour would return for the 2011 season, what was the harm in letting the NCAA process and the football season run their course?
A coaching change a week before the start of training camp is about as big a negative as you can slap onto a team’s season. It’s an uphill pandora leather bracelet climb for the Tar Heels now, a season in purgatory, and there are a lot of innocent players who already saw last season diminished by the misdeeds of their teammates.
Thorp has had ample reason to cut Davis loose for almost a year, ever since that awkward night he apologized to fans because the investigation had uncovered possible academic fraud and, oh by the way, the tutor we would soon know as the mysterious Wiley just happened to have worked in the Davis household.
Even the day last month when the NCAA finally got around to handing down its Notice of Allegations would have been a better day.
Instead, the UNC chancellor let Davis represent the university last Thursday at the Pigskin Preview and then again Monday at ACC media days, talking endlessly about the university’s support for him.
Having stuck with Davis for so long, nothing obvious has changed to make this firing imperative. Did the university note the NCAA’s leniency with Ohio State once Jim Tressel was cut out of the picture? Was the rank embarrassment of defending the authenticity of Michael McAdoo’s term paper in court documents only to find it was thoroughly plagiarized the final straw?
It would make more sense if there were some new information that justified an immediate dismissal, but the university quickly ruled that out in the press release announcing the firing.
Given the timing, coming on the day of a Board of Trustees meeting, it’s entirely possible this has something to do with trustee politics, with Wade Hargrove taking over for Bob Winston as board chairman. Hargrove may have seen the football scandal more clearly and forced Thorp’s heretofore-unwilling hand.
Whether it was the internal dynamics of the pandora bracelets board of trustees or merely the accumulation of embarrassment to the university that finally prompted the move, the timing of Davis’ firing is as baffling as the long delay in getting to this point in the first place.
Jeopardy Host Alex Trebek Reportedly Injured During Theft Attempt At SF Mariott Marquis
Don't make "was the robbery phrased in the pandora beads uk form of a question" cracks, this is serious! Host of the long-running game show "Jeopardy," Alex Trebek, was reportedly injured during an attempted theft in San Francisco early this morning.
According to ABC7, Trebek says he snapped a tendon while chasing a thief from his hotel room at 2:30 AM on Tuesday July 26.
While SFPD spokesperson Lt. Troy Dangerfield made it very clear that SFPD does not give out victim information in any circumstances "no matter who they are," he did confirm to the Appeal that there was indeed a burglary in 3 AM in a hotel on the first block of 4th Street. Leslie Duncan, director of sales and marketing at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, confirmed that the incident happened at the hotel located at at 55 Fourth St.
The unnamed victims were in bed sleeping, Dangerfield told the Appeal, when the female suspect entered the room and allegedly took a number of pandora beads sale personal items and cash. One of the victims awoke and gave chase, injuring himself in the process, while the other called hotel security.
Hotel security was able to detail the suspect, whom Dangerfield says has been identified at 56-year-old Lucinda Moyers. Moyers was booked on felony burglary and possession of stolen property.
Some of the items Moyers allegedly stole were found near an ice machine, but the cash was not recovered, Dangerfield said. How she allegedly gained access to the hotel room, Dangerfield says, is still under investigation.
No other suspects are believed to be involved. Duncan could not comment on how the woman got into the hotel room, saying the case is still under investigation, but said "safety and security are paramount to our guests."
She also said that the woman arrested was not an employee of the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.
Trebek, who according to his Jeopardy bio turned 71 last week, is in town to host the "National Geographic World Championship," being held pandora bracelets sale at Google. He will have surgery on Friday, ABC7 reports, and should be in a cast for about six weeks.
Overall, he is doing well, according to Jeopardy senior publicist Phil Zimmerman, who declined to comment further on the incident.
According to ABC7, Trebek says he snapped a tendon while chasing a thief from his hotel room at 2:30 AM on Tuesday July 26.
While SFPD spokesperson Lt. Troy Dangerfield made it very clear that SFPD does not give out victim information in any circumstances "no matter who they are," he did confirm to the Appeal that there was indeed a burglary in 3 AM in a hotel on the first block of 4th Street. Leslie Duncan, director of sales and marketing at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, confirmed that the incident happened at the hotel located at at 55 Fourth St.
The unnamed victims were in bed sleeping, Dangerfield told the Appeal, when the female suspect entered the room and allegedly took a number of pandora beads sale personal items and cash. One of the victims awoke and gave chase, injuring himself in the process, while the other called hotel security.
Hotel security was able to detail the suspect, whom Dangerfield says has been identified at 56-year-old Lucinda Moyers. Moyers was booked on felony burglary and possession of stolen property.
Some of the items Moyers allegedly stole were found near an ice machine, but the cash was not recovered, Dangerfield said. How she allegedly gained access to the hotel room, Dangerfield says, is still under investigation.
No other suspects are believed to be involved. Duncan could not comment on how the woman got into the hotel room, saying the case is still under investigation, but said "safety and security are paramount to our guests."
She also said that the woman arrested was not an employee of the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.
Trebek, who according to his Jeopardy bio turned 71 last week, is in town to host the "National Geographic World Championship," being held pandora bracelets sale at Google. He will have surgery on Friday, ABC7 reports, and should be in a cast for about six weeks.
Overall, he is doing well, according to Jeopardy senior publicist Phil Zimmerman, who declined to comment further on the incident.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
UN World Food Program readies aircraft to fly food aid to Somalia
However, hopes that the aircraft could take tiffany jewelry sale off yesterday were dashed by last minute bureaucratic hurdles in Kenya.
"The aircraft are loading with the hope that they can take off on Wednesday," said WFP spokesman David Orr.
"This will be the first of a series of flights -- once they start, they will just keep coming and coming in an ongoing operation," he added.
The flights have only a narrow timeframe to fly, offload their critical cargo and then return to Nairobi, Orr added, and a wait for clearance permission in Nairobi had delayed the mission.
An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia -- around a third of the population -- are on the brink of starvation and millions more in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda have been struck by the worst drought in the region in 60 years.
The UN last week officially declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia, and on Monday called for "massive" action to support 12 million people affected by drought.
Relief efforts will be the focus of a donor and aid agency meeting in Nairobi on Wednesday, as discussions continue on how to tackle the crisis, including delivering aid into areas held by Somalia's Shabab Islamist insurgents.
UN officials say the drought has killed tens of thousands of people in recent months, forcing hundreds of thousands to walk for weeks in search of food and water.
At an emergency meeting on the Horn Africa drought in Rome on Monday, officials said the UN had received about $US1 billion ($A924.56 million) tiffany ring since first launching an appeal for the region in November 2010 but needs a billion more by the end of the year to cope with the emergency.
The World Bank on Monday pledged more than $500 million, with the bulk of the money set to go towards long-term projects to aid livestock farmers while $12 million would be for immediate assistance to those worst hit by the crisis.
However charities have slammed low aid pledges and say not enough is being done.
Aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned in a statement yesterday that the situation remains dire for more than 387,000 mainly Somali refugees now in the Dadaab camp complex in eastern Kenya.
Thousands of refugees continue to arrive but are not receiving basic support, MSF said.
"Whilst many of these refugees remain on the outskirts of the camps they are still not receiving adequate assistance," MSF said in a statement.
"Delays in registration and access to food, water and shelter are tipping them over the edge."
The WFP flights will be carrying around 14 metric tonnes of high energy food aimed to combat malnutrition, especially for children.
Flights will also go to the Ethiopian town of Dolo on the border with Somalia and to the town of Wajir in northern Kenya.
Other organisations have already made relief deliveries, with the UN children's agency airlifting five tonnes of aid into rebel-held part of southern Somalia earlier this month.
The International Red Cross on Sunday said it had handed out 400 tonnes of food in drought-hit areas controlled by the hardline Shebab insurgents, the first ICRC-led drops into such areas since 2009.
The WFP was forced to pull out of southern Somalia last year after a series of threats and curbs on its operations from Shebab rebels, but it has continued to operate in Mogadishu and central and northern regions of the war-torn country.
In Mogadishu alone, WFP assists approximately tiffany bracelet 300,000 people and it has been scaling up operations with three new centres to feed the large numbers of internally displaced people flooding into the city from the south.
"The aircraft are loading with the hope that they can take off on Wednesday," said WFP spokesman David Orr.
"This will be the first of a series of flights -- once they start, they will just keep coming and coming in an ongoing operation," he added.
The flights have only a narrow timeframe to fly, offload their critical cargo and then return to Nairobi, Orr added, and a wait for clearance permission in Nairobi had delayed the mission.
An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia -- around a third of the population -- are on the brink of starvation and millions more in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda have been struck by the worst drought in the region in 60 years.
The UN last week officially declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia, and on Monday called for "massive" action to support 12 million people affected by drought.
Relief efforts will be the focus of a donor and aid agency meeting in Nairobi on Wednesday, as discussions continue on how to tackle the crisis, including delivering aid into areas held by Somalia's Shabab Islamist insurgents.
UN officials say the drought has killed tens of thousands of people in recent months, forcing hundreds of thousands to walk for weeks in search of food and water.
At an emergency meeting on the Horn Africa drought in Rome on Monday, officials said the UN had received about $US1 billion ($A924.56 million) tiffany ring since first launching an appeal for the region in November 2010 but needs a billion more by the end of the year to cope with the emergency.
The World Bank on Monday pledged more than $500 million, with the bulk of the money set to go towards long-term projects to aid livestock farmers while $12 million would be for immediate assistance to those worst hit by the crisis.
However charities have slammed low aid pledges and say not enough is being done.
Aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned in a statement yesterday that the situation remains dire for more than 387,000 mainly Somali refugees now in the Dadaab camp complex in eastern Kenya.
Thousands of refugees continue to arrive but are not receiving basic support, MSF said.
"Whilst many of these refugees remain on the outskirts of the camps they are still not receiving adequate assistance," MSF said in a statement.
"Delays in registration and access to food, water and shelter are tipping them over the edge."
The WFP flights will be carrying around 14 metric tonnes of high energy food aimed to combat malnutrition, especially for children.
Flights will also go to the Ethiopian town of Dolo on the border with Somalia and to the town of Wajir in northern Kenya.
Other organisations have already made relief deliveries, with the UN children's agency airlifting five tonnes of aid into rebel-held part of southern Somalia earlier this month.
The International Red Cross on Sunday said it had handed out 400 tonnes of food in drought-hit areas controlled by the hardline Shebab insurgents, the first ICRC-led drops into such areas since 2009.
The WFP was forced to pull out of southern Somalia last year after a series of threats and curbs on its operations from Shebab rebels, but it has continued to operate in Mogadishu and central and northern regions of the war-torn country.
In Mogadishu alone, WFP assists approximately tiffany bracelet 300,000 people and it has been scaling up operations with three new centres to feed the large numbers of internally displaced people flooding into the city from the south.
Lawyer says Norway suspect insane
The suspect in Norway's twin attacks that left Tiffany Earrings sale at least 76 people dead claims he is part of an organisation with several cells in Western countries, his defence lawyer said yesterday, but he added the case suggests his client is insane.
Anders Behring Breivik is not aware of the death toll or of the public's response to the massacre that has rocked the country, but believes the "operation" is going according to plan, Geir Lippestad said. In an interview, Lippestad said Breivik asked how many people he killed.
"This whole case has indicated that he's insane," Lippestad told reporters at during an earlier press conference.
Not guilty plea
Breivik has confessed to last week's bombing in the capital and a rampage at a Labour Party retreat for young people, but he has pleaded not guilty to the terrorism charges he faces, claiming he acted to save Europe from what he says is Muslim colonisation.
"He expects that this is a start of war that will last for 60 years. but his mind is very... well I don't want to comment more on his mind, but that's what he believes," he told reporters.
"He looks upon himself as a warrior. And he started this war, and takes some kind of pride in that."
The suspect took drugs to be "strong, efficient, awake", Lippestad said.
He claims he is part of an organisation with several cells in Western countries, including two in Norway, Lippestad said.
He said Breivik's family has not asked to see him.
Asked at the press conference if Breivik was Tiffany Earrings sale giving him instructions for his defence, Lippestad said he wasn't and that he wouldn't take such instructions.
Earlier, Norway's justice minister told reporters that employees from his department are still missing. Police planned to start publicly naming the dead for the first time yesterday.
There is a particular focus on identifying the dead since authorities dramatically lowered the death toll on Monday, apparently because they counted 18 bodies twice in the confusion following the massacre.
They initially said 86 people died on the island, but now say the figure is 68.
"The Justice Ministry has people who are missing, we have people who are very hard hit by this and we are without offices," minister Knut Storberget told reporters.
Storberget also offered a defence of the police in response to a question about the mounting admissions of missteps.
Police have acknowledged that they took 90 minutes to reach Utoya island, where a gunman was picking off young people attending a retreat for the Labour Party's youth wing. They weren't able to deploy a helicopter because the entire crew had been sent on vacation.
Victims who called emergency services from the midst of the massacre reported being told to stay off the line because authorities were dealing Tiffany UK Sale with the Oslo bombing.
"I feel the police have delivered well in this situation. I also feel they've delivered especially well on the points where there's been criticism raised," said Storberget
Anders Behring Breivik is not aware of the death toll or of the public's response to the massacre that has rocked the country, but believes the "operation" is going according to plan, Geir Lippestad said. In an interview, Lippestad said Breivik asked how many people he killed.
"This whole case has indicated that he's insane," Lippestad told reporters at during an earlier press conference.
Not guilty plea
Breivik has confessed to last week's bombing in the capital and a rampage at a Labour Party retreat for young people, but he has pleaded not guilty to the terrorism charges he faces, claiming he acted to save Europe from what he says is Muslim colonisation.
"He expects that this is a start of war that will last for 60 years. but his mind is very... well I don't want to comment more on his mind, but that's what he believes," he told reporters.
"He looks upon himself as a warrior. And he started this war, and takes some kind of pride in that."
The suspect took drugs to be "strong, efficient, awake", Lippestad said.
He claims he is part of an organisation with several cells in Western countries, including two in Norway, Lippestad said.
He said Breivik's family has not asked to see him.
Asked at the press conference if Breivik was Tiffany Earrings sale giving him instructions for his defence, Lippestad said he wasn't and that he wouldn't take such instructions.
Earlier, Norway's justice minister told reporters that employees from his department are still missing. Police planned to start publicly naming the dead for the first time yesterday.
There is a particular focus on identifying the dead since authorities dramatically lowered the death toll on Monday, apparently because they counted 18 bodies twice in the confusion following the massacre.
They initially said 86 people died on the island, but now say the figure is 68.
"The Justice Ministry has people who are missing, we have people who are very hard hit by this and we are without offices," minister Knut Storberget told reporters.
Storberget also offered a defence of the police in response to a question about the mounting admissions of missteps.
Police have acknowledged that they took 90 minutes to reach Utoya island, where a gunman was picking off young people attending a retreat for the Labour Party's youth wing. They weren't able to deploy a helicopter because the entire crew had been sent on vacation.
Victims who called emergency services from the midst of the massacre reported being told to stay off the line because authorities were dealing Tiffany UK Sale with the Oslo bombing.
"I feel the police have delivered well in this situation. I also feel they've delivered especially well on the points where there's been criticism raised," said Storberget
Monday, July 25, 2011
Harris key to Australia's attack - Bayliss
Trevor Bayliss, the former Sri Lanka coach Tiffany Sale, has nominated Ryan Harris as the Australian bowler most likely to trouble a formidable home batting line-up during next month's Test series in the island nation.
Harris is one of numerous Australian players waiting nervously to discover whether they will be chosen in the first Test squad to be led by the new captain Michael Clarke, after the Australia A tour of Zimbabwe clouded the selectors' options almost as much as it shed light on them. The squad will be announced on Tuesday morning.
Told earlier this year that he was being considered as more of a Test match bowler, Harris, 31, was omitted from the limited-overs squad for the Sri Lanka tour despite showing he had returned to full fitness during the Indian Premier League. Bayliss said Harris' combination of speed, skid and movement both ways would make him the sort of bowler capable of troubling the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.
"From a pace point of view someone like Ryan Harris could be dangerous," Bayliss told ESPNcricinfo. "He is someone who bustles in, a bit quicker than what you think, but bowls a fairly consistent line and length, but nips the ball about and can nip it about off the seam and through the air a bit.
"Someone like that on their wickets over there ... early on with those wickets you get a little bit of swing and a little bit of seam, and someone who maybe skids onto the bat a bit quicker than what you think, and maybe nipping it back in
, I think he could do well. [He is] someone who can bowl reverse swing as well when the ball is older."
Beyond Harris, the questions surrounding the Australian attack are many and varied. Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle, the opening bowlers for much of the Ashes last summer, were conspicuously toothless with the new ball in Zimbabwe. Across the two-day and first-class portions of the tour, not once was either able to claim a wicket in their first spells to the top order.
The left-armer Mitchell Starc fared better, while Trent Copeland, another possible selection, bowled long spells but tended to struggle for wickets. Of the touring spin bowlers Michael Beer and Jason Krejza both had their moments of success counter-balanced by the odd expensive spell. Nathan Hauritz will not be considered for reasons of fitness, while Steve Smith's value as a Test match slow bowler is yet to be proven.
"From a spin point of view it depends a little on who they pick, most of them unless it is Nathan Hauritz, the rest of the guys haven't had a lot of experience in the subcontinent," said Bayliss. "So how they handle the pressure of having to bowl against batters who have been brought up on spin-friendly wickets, how they go about their craft under the pressure the Sri Lankan batters will undoubtedly put on Australia's spinners.
"It's not going to be easy, there are going to be some difficult times trying to get through the Sri Lankan batting order. You've got seven guys in the likely batting order to whom they're going to have to bowl very well and there's going to be some hard work to get through those seven.
"Sangakkara and Jayawardene are the main stumbling blocks, and if you can get those two out of the way, it puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the batting order. You can't take the rest of the guys lightly, but it does put a little bit of extra pressure on the rest of the guys when the two best players don't score any."
Australia's batting appears a little more settled, as Phillip Hughes secured his place alongside Shane Watson by maintaining a rich vein of Tiffany Earrings form that began in the closing weeks of the Australian domestic season. Usman Khawaja's lack of runs in Zimbabwe should not preclude his inclusion, and Shaun Marsh seems likely to stay on in reserve beyond the limited-overs matches.
Australia's batsmen have shown fallibility against quality bowling in recent times, and Bayliss said they would need to be aggressive in order to avoid becoming tangled in the web of the local spinners Rangana Herath, Suraj Randiv and Ajantha Mendis.
"In the Ashes last summer it was more about pace bowlers, but in Sri Lanka it will be more about spin, and Australia's batting against spin," Bayliss said. "Against spin you've got to be a bit more proactive, and try to put the pressure back onto the bowler, so it'll be interesting to see how Australia's batsmen go about facing the Sri Lankan spinners."
Harris is one of numerous Australian players waiting nervously to discover whether they will be chosen in the first Test squad to be led by the new captain Michael Clarke, after the Australia A tour of Zimbabwe clouded the selectors' options almost as much as it shed light on them. The squad will be announced on Tuesday morning.
Told earlier this year that he was being considered as more of a Test match bowler, Harris, 31, was omitted from the limited-overs squad for the Sri Lanka tour despite showing he had returned to full fitness during the Indian Premier League. Bayliss said Harris' combination of speed, skid and movement both ways would make him the sort of bowler capable of troubling the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.
"From a pace point of view someone like Ryan Harris could be dangerous," Bayliss told ESPNcricinfo. "He is someone who bustles in, a bit quicker than what you think, but bowls a fairly consistent line and length, but nips the ball about and can nip it about off the seam and through the air a bit.
"Someone like that on their wickets over there ... early on with those wickets you get a little bit of swing and a little bit of seam, and someone who maybe skids onto the bat a bit quicker than what you think, and maybe nipping it back in
, I think he could do well. [He is] someone who can bowl reverse swing as well when the ball is older."
Beyond Harris, the questions surrounding the Australian attack are many and varied. Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle, the opening bowlers for much of the Ashes last summer, were conspicuously toothless with the new ball in Zimbabwe. Across the two-day and first-class portions of the tour, not once was either able to claim a wicket in their first spells to the top order.
The left-armer Mitchell Starc fared better, while Trent Copeland, another possible selection, bowled long spells but tended to struggle for wickets. Of the touring spin bowlers Michael Beer and Jason Krejza both had their moments of success counter-balanced by the odd expensive spell. Nathan Hauritz will not be considered for reasons of fitness, while Steve Smith's value as a Test match slow bowler is yet to be proven.
"From a spin point of view it depends a little on who they pick, most of them unless it is Nathan Hauritz, the rest of the guys haven't had a lot of experience in the subcontinent," said Bayliss. "So how they handle the pressure of having to bowl against batters who have been brought up on spin-friendly wickets, how they go about their craft under the pressure the Sri Lankan batters will undoubtedly put on Australia's spinners.
"It's not going to be easy, there are going to be some difficult times trying to get through the Sri Lankan batting order. You've got seven guys in the likely batting order to whom they're going to have to bowl very well and there's going to be some hard work to get through those seven.
"Sangakkara and Jayawardene are the main stumbling blocks, and if you can get those two out of the way, it puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the batting order. You can't take the rest of the guys lightly, but it does put a little bit of extra pressure on the rest of the guys when the two best players don't score any."
Australia's batting appears a little more settled, as Phillip Hughes secured his place alongside Shane Watson by maintaining a rich vein of Tiffany Earrings form that began in the closing weeks of the Australian domestic season. Usman Khawaja's lack of runs in Zimbabwe should not preclude his inclusion, and Shaun Marsh seems likely to stay on in reserve beyond the limited-overs matches.
Australia's batsmen have shown fallibility against quality bowling in recent times, and Bayliss said they would need to be aggressive in order to avoid becoming tangled in the web of the local spinners Rangana Herath, Suraj Randiv and Ajantha Mendis.
"In the Ashes last summer it was more about pace bowlers, but in Sri Lanka it will be more about spin, and Australia's batting against spin," Bayliss said. "Against spin you've got to be a bit more proactive, and try to put the pressure back onto the bowler, so it'll be interesting to see how Australia's batsmen go about facing the Sri Lankan spinners."
N.Korea Lays Train Tracks to New Missile Site
Lee Sang-yoon is always ready to fly to China tiffany sale on short notice on a courier mission that even UPS and other top global shipping companies can't match.
He is not an ordinary delivery man.
What Lee brings to South Korea from his frequent trips to China is documents or USB drives that his "helpers" have smuggled out of North Korea. They include video footage shot undercover and other sensitive materials that could make him a public enemy of the North's communist regime.
The young North Korean defector is one of a group of newly emerging warriors who risk their lives for the mission, driven largely by their strong wish to let the world know of what they believe is worsening conditions in their former communist homeland.
Such covert courier missions drew fresh attention in the intelligence world last month when Lee's South Korean missionary group unveiled a North Korean police document, which, among other things, chronicled several cases of cannibalism amid an acute food shortage in the communist country. The document was later shared with government analysts.
The secret effort to glean intelligence through interaction with North Koreans has gained new urgency in recent years, especially after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il suffered an apparent stroke.
In an age of spy satellites and the Internet tiffany earring, North Korea largely remains as an intelligence black hole, as the isolated country keeps a tight lid on almost all information and denies its people access to the outside world.
Still, the wall of secrecy has begun to crack, as some North Koreans fed up with chronic poverty are willing to trade sensitive information for money, according to North Korean defectors and South Korean activists.
"Those who have access to sensitive documents in North Korea know that they can make money by selling them," said Rev. Kim Seung-eun, the head of Caleb Mission, a small South Korean church that claims it has "helpers" inside North Korea.
The new development is drawing a growing number of intelligence operatives to China's northeastern areas near the border with North Korea, a key conduit for leaked documents and secret footage, according to North Korean defectors.
"I can go to China right away, if necessary," Lee said in a recent interview in the Caleb Mission's small office in Cheonan, some 90 kilometers south of Seoul.
Lee said he has brought documents and USB drives in "countless times," and is determined to continue to do it, though he said he always fears that he may be arrested by Chinese police and punished.
The interview was frequently interrupted, as Lee was answering phone calls from his fellow couriers and North Korean contacts in the border areas dealing with the latest delivery of a package from North Korea.
Mobile phones smuggled from China have played a key role in arranging the risky business and leaking sensitive news on North Korea to the outside world, defectors said.
In a separate interview in Seoul, tiffany necklaces Park Byung-ho, another North Korean defector, said he used to obtain North Korean documents through ethnic Koreans in China, but now he prefers phone contacts to disseminate news quickly.
He is not an ordinary delivery man.
What Lee brings to South Korea from his frequent trips to China is documents or USB drives that his "helpers" have smuggled out of North Korea. They include video footage shot undercover and other sensitive materials that could make him a public enemy of the North's communist regime.
The young North Korean defector is one of a group of newly emerging warriors who risk their lives for the mission, driven largely by their strong wish to let the world know of what they believe is worsening conditions in their former communist homeland.
Such covert courier missions drew fresh attention in the intelligence world last month when Lee's South Korean missionary group unveiled a North Korean police document, which, among other things, chronicled several cases of cannibalism amid an acute food shortage in the communist country. The document was later shared with government analysts.
The secret effort to glean intelligence through interaction with North Koreans has gained new urgency in recent years, especially after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il suffered an apparent stroke.
In an age of spy satellites and the Internet tiffany earring, North Korea largely remains as an intelligence black hole, as the isolated country keeps a tight lid on almost all information and denies its people access to the outside world.
Still, the wall of secrecy has begun to crack, as some North Koreans fed up with chronic poverty are willing to trade sensitive information for money, according to North Korean defectors and South Korean activists.
"Those who have access to sensitive documents in North Korea know that they can make money by selling them," said Rev. Kim Seung-eun, the head of Caleb Mission, a small South Korean church that claims it has "helpers" inside North Korea.
The new development is drawing a growing number of intelligence operatives to China's northeastern areas near the border with North Korea, a key conduit for leaked documents and secret footage, according to North Korean defectors.
"I can go to China right away, if necessary," Lee said in a recent interview in the Caleb Mission's small office in Cheonan, some 90 kilometers south of Seoul.
Lee said he has brought documents and USB drives in "countless times," and is determined to continue to do it, though he said he always fears that he may be arrested by Chinese police and punished.
The interview was frequently interrupted, as Lee was answering phone calls from his fellow couriers and North Korean contacts in the border areas dealing with the latest delivery of a package from North Korea.
Mobile phones smuggled from China have played a key role in arranging the risky business and leaking sensitive news on North Korea to the outside world, defectors said.
In a separate interview in Seoul, tiffany necklaces Park Byung-ho, another North Korean defector, said he used to obtain North Korean documents through ethnic Koreans in China, but now he prefers phone contacts to disseminate news quickly.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
PPP leaders hope to appease estranged ally
While the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has pandora bracelets started playing its chosen role as opposition in parliament and Sindh provincial assembly, the leadership of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) appears to be reluctant to recognise the ground reality.
More than three weeks ago all 14 federal and provincial ministers of MQM tendered their resignations when the party announced withdrawal from the PPP-led coalition government after remaining part of it for over three years.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told reporters here yesterday that the MQM resignations had not been accepted.
"Their status as ministers remains intact," the pandora leather bracelet prime minister said, when asked whether and when the government would act to end the prevailing ambiguity.
He did not go into the reasons for keeping the resignations pending, but ruling party figures have repeatedly expressed the hope that efforts to persuade the MQM to rejoin the government would succeed.
Indication
An indication came when Dr Ishrat ul Ebad returned to his post of governor of Sindh on the directive of the London-based MQM chief Altaf Hussain following a phone conversation between him and President Asif Ali Zardari.
The party said its governor had resumed his functions in the interest of peace and stability in Sindh province, particularly in Karachi. The death pandora leather bracelet toll in latest incidents in Karachi rose to 16 and dozens injured in two days as three more people were reportedly shot dead yesterday.
More than three weeks ago all 14 federal and provincial ministers of MQM tendered their resignations when the party announced withdrawal from the PPP-led coalition government after remaining part of it for over three years.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told reporters here yesterday that the MQM resignations had not been accepted.
"Their status as ministers remains intact," the pandora leather bracelet prime minister said, when asked whether and when the government would act to end the prevailing ambiguity.
He did not go into the reasons for keeping the resignations pending, but ruling party figures have repeatedly expressed the hope that efforts to persuade the MQM to rejoin the government would succeed.
Indication
An indication came when Dr Ishrat ul Ebad returned to his post of governor of Sindh on the directive of the London-based MQM chief Altaf Hussain following a phone conversation between him and President Asif Ali Zardari.
The party said its governor had resumed his functions in the interest of peace and stability in Sindh province, particularly in Karachi. The death pandora leather bracelet toll in latest incidents in Karachi rose to 16 and dozens injured in two days as three more people were reportedly shot dead yesterday.
Doubts Grow in Egypt About Trial for Mubarak
Former President Hosni Mubarak is officially pandora bracelets uk sale scheduled to go to trial in 10 days on charges that could carry the death penalty. But the question preoccupying Cairo right now is not whether he will be found guilty, but this: What will happen when his trial is almost certainly postponed?
Sergey Ponomarev/Associated Press
A man burns a picture of former President Hosni Mubarak.
In anticipatory anger, some are already planning protests. Setting the trial date, activists say, was just an element of political theater, part of the ritual of superficial concessions that the military-led transitional government has made after each big new demonstration in Tahrir Square.
“The signs show that there is no intention to try him,” said Mahmoud el-Khodeiry, a former senior judge who a few months ago participated in a mock trial of Mr. Mubarak in the square. He is so sure, Mr. Khodeiry said, that he is planning to travel to Sharm el Sheikh, where Mr. Mubarak is under guard at a hospital, to participate in a protest scheduled for Aug. 5. The announced trial date, for the record, is Aug. 3.
No one expects it to start then, said Sayed Salmony, 26, an informal master of ceremonies on a Tahrir Square sound stage who leads chants demanding the trial. “It will definitely be postponed,” he said.
The prospect of a once-untouchable autocrat brought down before the law has captivated the Arab world. Some in power fear that a trial will embolden protesters in other countries. Some in the streets of those countries worry it could harden the resolve of embattled leaders not to give up power.
In Egypt, though, the immediate concern is about what happens in the meantime. After five months of mounting demonstrations calling for swift justice against Mr. Mubarak, who faces charges of corruption and of ordering the killing of protesters, some warn of an explosion of rage if he fails to appear on schedule in the metal cage that Egyptian courts use as a docket.
“I think it will be a critical situation if he doesn’t show up,” said Mohamed Sabry el-Gazzar, 34, a protester who was taking refuge pandora bracelet from the blistering sun in a makeshift tent on Friday afternoon. “At the end of the day, you can’t make fools out of 85 million people.”
But there are many reasons to doubt it will come off. For starters, the current trial date is during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when most Egyptians fast all day, feast much of the night, and little else gets done. And even without the excuse of Ramadan, almost every other trial of a Mubarak government figure has been postponed at least once.
Then there are the questions about Mr. Mubarak’s health that have so far kept him from any jail or courthouse. He has remained in a hospital near his summer home in Sharm el Sheikh since he complained of heart pains during his initial interrogation. Government officials have deemed his health too delicate for incarceration.
As the scheduled trial date has drawn near, his lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, has twice raised alarms about other maladies that might keep Mr. Mubarak from trial, including a recurrence of cancer and a stroke-induced coma, although doctors speaking in the official media have denied both reports.
Mr. Deeb, for his part, said in a brief interview that no one had given him a firm date for Mr. Mubarak’s trial. “We are currently waiting for an official announcement from the military council,” he said. “As of now, it is unclear if the trial will be postponed.”
A senior prosecutor who was said to be working on the case was on vacation last week, according to his secretary. Interior Ministry officials, meanwhile, say they have made no plans for security or other logistics. And Abdel Aziz Omar, chief of the Egyptian appeals court, said in an interview that top judges had not settled on even a short list of possible venues, in part because they were busy with a judicial reorganization and in part because they were looking for a big enough courtroom. Then it will be up to the judge in charge of the case to decide whether to postpone it, Mr. Omar said.
Many doubt that the generals now running the country — or, for that matter, the Mubarak-appointed prosecutors — have much enthusiasm for humiliating their former boss. And many note that the military continues to resort to swift military trials for certain street crimes but insists on methodical due process for the man who ruled Egypt so completely for 30 years.
Egyptians also insist, despite official denials, that rich oil monarchies — and potential aid donors — like Saudi Arabia are lobbying against a public trial, for fear that it will encourage insurrection elsewhere in the region cheap pandora bracelets. “There is obviously a lot of pressure from Arab countries not to prosecute him,” said Mr. Khodeiry, the former judge.
In Tahrir Square, the stage for the protests that ousted Mr. Mubarak in the first place, the anger is intensifying as the doubts pile up. On Friday, several people there said independently that if Mr. Mubarak’s trial was put off, Egyptians should take justice into their own hands.
“Bad things will happen,” said a 58-year-old carpenter whose identification card read Gamal Abdel Nasser — the name of the Egyptian officer who led the last revolution, in 1952. “People are fed up.”
One suggested planting a bomb, and three said that aggrieved citizens should take their wrath out on police officers suspected of violence. “An eye for an eye,” said Mohamed Abdel Hamid, 25, a contractor.
But Mr. Salmony, who helps lead the demonstrations, said he believed that protest leaders would escalate “civil disobedience” only gradually, for fear of alienating the rest of the public. “Right now people don’t trust the government,” he said, “and they don’t trust us, either.”
Sergey Ponomarev/Associated Press
A man burns a picture of former President Hosni Mubarak.
In anticipatory anger, some are already planning protests. Setting the trial date, activists say, was just an element of political theater, part of the ritual of superficial concessions that the military-led transitional government has made after each big new demonstration in Tahrir Square.
“The signs show that there is no intention to try him,” said Mahmoud el-Khodeiry, a former senior judge who a few months ago participated in a mock trial of Mr. Mubarak in the square. He is so sure, Mr. Khodeiry said, that he is planning to travel to Sharm el Sheikh, where Mr. Mubarak is under guard at a hospital, to participate in a protest scheduled for Aug. 5. The announced trial date, for the record, is Aug. 3.
No one expects it to start then, said Sayed Salmony, 26, an informal master of ceremonies on a Tahrir Square sound stage who leads chants demanding the trial. “It will definitely be postponed,” he said.
The prospect of a once-untouchable autocrat brought down before the law has captivated the Arab world. Some in power fear that a trial will embolden protesters in other countries. Some in the streets of those countries worry it could harden the resolve of embattled leaders not to give up power.
In Egypt, though, the immediate concern is about what happens in the meantime. After five months of mounting demonstrations calling for swift justice against Mr. Mubarak, who faces charges of corruption and of ordering the killing of protesters, some warn of an explosion of rage if he fails to appear on schedule in the metal cage that Egyptian courts use as a docket.
“I think it will be a critical situation if he doesn’t show up,” said Mohamed Sabry el-Gazzar, 34, a protester who was taking refuge pandora bracelet from the blistering sun in a makeshift tent on Friday afternoon. “At the end of the day, you can’t make fools out of 85 million people.”
But there are many reasons to doubt it will come off. For starters, the current trial date is during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when most Egyptians fast all day, feast much of the night, and little else gets done. And even without the excuse of Ramadan, almost every other trial of a Mubarak government figure has been postponed at least once.
Then there are the questions about Mr. Mubarak’s health that have so far kept him from any jail or courthouse. He has remained in a hospital near his summer home in Sharm el Sheikh since he complained of heart pains during his initial interrogation. Government officials have deemed his health too delicate for incarceration.
As the scheduled trial date has drawn near, his lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, has twice raised alarms about other maladies that might keep Mr. Mubarak from trial, including a recurrence of cancer and a stroke-induced coma, although doctors speaking in the official media have denied both reports.
Mr. Deeb, for his part, said in a brief interview that no one had given him a firm date for Mr. Mubarak’s trial. “We are currently waiting for an official announcement from the military council,” he said. “As of now, it is unclear if the trial will be postponed.”
A senior prosecutor who was said to be working on the case was on vacation last week, according to his secretary. Interior Ministry officials, meanwhile, say they have made no plans for security or other logistics. And Abdel Aziz Omar, chief of the Egyptian appeals court, said in an interview that top judges had not settled on even a short list of possible venues, in part because they were busy with a judicial reorganization and in part because they were looking for a big enough courtroom. Then it will be up to the judge in charge of the case to decide whether to postpone it, Mr. Omar said.
Many doubt that the generals now running the country — or, for that matter, the Mubarak-appointed prosecutors — have much enthusiasm for humiliating their former boss. And many note that the military continues to resort to swift military trials for certain street crimes but insists on methodical due process for the man who ruled Egypt so completely for 30 years.
Egyptians also insist, despite official denials, that rich oil monarchies — and potential aid donors — like Saudi Arabia are lobbying against a public trial, for fear that it will encourage insurrection elsewhere in the region cheap pandora bracelets. “There is obviously a lot of pressure from Arab countries not to prosecute him,” said Mr. Khodeiry, the former judge.
In Tahrir Square, the stage for the protests that ousted Mr. Mubarak in the first place, the anger is intensifying as the doubts pile up. On Friday, several people there said independently that if Mr. Mubarak’s trial was put off, Egyptians should take justice into their own hands.
“Bad things will happen,” said a 58-year-old carpenter whose identification card read Gamal Abdel Nasser — the name of the Egyptian officer who led the last revolution, in 1952. “People are fed up.”
One suggested planting a bomb, and three said that aggrieved citizens should take their wrath out on police officers suspected of violence. “An eye for an eye,” said Mohamed Abdel Hamid, 25, a contractor.
But Mr. Salmony, who helps lead the demonstrations, said he believed that protest leaders would escalate “civil disobedience” only gradually, for fear of alienating the rest of the public. “Right now people don’t trust the government,” he said, “and they don’t trust us, either.”
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Cameron Defends Handling of Crisis
Prime Minister David Cameron faced a barrage of Tiffany jewellery accusations in Parliament on Wednesday over his relationship with News Corp. and his former communications chief, Andy Coulson, a key figure in the phone-hacking scandal that continues to inflict damage on the British leader.
British Prime Minister David Cameron made an admission of regret on Wednesday over the phone-hacking crisis, saying with hindsight he would not have hired ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson. Video courtesy of AFP. (Photo: Getty Images Europe)
Opinion polls show the prime minister has taken a hit with voters, but Mr. Cameron's decision to hire Mr. Coulson, a former editor at News Corp.'s now-closed News of the World, may have also caused him damage within his own Conservative Party, some of that party's lawmakers said.
Mr. Cameron said he regretted ever employing Mr. Coulson and apologized for the "furor" caused by that hiring, the closest he has come to the apology regularly demanded by opposition lawmakers.
"I have an old-fashioned view about innocent until proven guilty, but if it turns out that I have been lied to [by Andy Coulson], it will be time for a profound apology. I will not fall short," he said.
Amid a boisterous parliamentary debate, both main political parties were put on the rack over their relations with News Corp. and the wider press.
Reuters
Among the accusations flying round Parliament on Wednesday, Labour lawmaker Nick Raynesford said that the government's top civil servant was told by another senior government worker that he was subjected to "disgraceful and illegal" phone hacking while Mr. Coulson was actually in Downing Street. A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said this "is absolutely not true."
Illustrating the stream of criticism, the British media also condemned Mr. Cameron for giving Mr. Coulson a "standard-level" security vetting, a more basic version of the security checks government workers must go through to get access to classified government documents. A person familiar with the matter said that this level was standard for Mr. Coulson's level of political adviser.
Mr. Cameron has been repeatedly drawn into this scandal through Mr. Coulson, who was arrested this month, but not charged, amid the hacking investigation. Mr. Coulson had resigned from News of the World in 2007 when one of his reporters went to jail for intercepting voice mails. Mr. Cameron hired him months after, and brought him into cheap tiffany jewelry Downing Street when he won last year's election despite a series of warnings from a range of sources including colleagues.
When he resigned from the paper, Mr. Coulson denied that he knew about the hacking, but said he would step down because it happened on his watch.
Related Articles
Former Editor in Spotlight
The Business: The Missteps in Managing News Corp.'s Hacking Crisis
Law Firm Authorized to Answer Investigators
Lawmakers Fault Police on Failures
Senators Press Dow Jones Panel to Probe U.K. Hacking Allegations
Some Conservative lawmakers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had their own misgivings and believe Mr. Cameron's "lack of judgment" on the issue has damaged him internally. They are frustrated that at a time when the government should be focusing on debt crisis in Europe and the still weak British economy it is fighting opposition barbs over Mr. Coulson.
On Wednesday, Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said that Mr. Cameron's loyalty to Mr. Coulson had compromised the country's top police official in Scotland Yard's investigation into the alleged hacking of mobile-phone voice mails by News of the World.
Mr. Miliband said Downing Street aides built "a wall of silence" to protect Mr. Cameron from warnings about the suitability of Mr. Coulson as the prime minister's director of communications. This made it hard for Sir Paul Stephenson, then-commissioner, to update the prime minister on an inquiry that Mr. Coulson featured in.
"The prime minister was compromised by the relationship with Mr. Coulson," Mr. Miliband said. "He was hamstrung by a conflict of interest."
Mr. Cameron went on the attack himself, saying that the previous Labour government also ignored many warnings about phone hacking and missed opportunities to investigate, and also had also enjoyed a close relationship with News Corp. (News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.)
Web of Connections
Learn more about who's who and how they're all connected in the scandal over allegations of voice-mail interceptions and corrupt payments to police.
View Interactive
More photos and interactive graphics
The prime minister delivered a robust defense of his staff and his own handling of the phone-hacking scandalas he sought to prevent himself being dragged deeper into the spiraling crisis.
The prime minister said his staff had "behaved entirely properly."
In recent days Mr. Cameron's chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, has been criticized for urging the police not to brief the prime minister about developments in their investigation.
Mr. Cameron said Mr. Llewellyn's decision was correct as it was important that the prime minister wasn't seen as seeking to influence a sensitive police inquiry.
The prime minister was also repeatedly asked about his connection with News Corp. executives and whether he discussed the U.S. media giant's tiffany bracelet bid for the rest of the satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting PLC.
Mr. Cameron said that he had been taken out of the decision-making process on the potential acquisition and that he had no "inappropriate" conversations with News Corp. executives about the bid. Opposition politicians continuously pressed him on whether he would rule out that he had talked about the bid with News Corp. personnel.
Tory lawmakers rallied around Mr. Cameron during the debate, saying the Labour Party was trying to score political points at a time when the country wanted to move on and focus on the economy, among other issues.
British Prime Minister David Cameron made an admission of regret on Wednesday over the phone-hacking crisis, saying with hindsight he would not have hired ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson. Video courtesy of AFP. (Photo: Getty Images Europe)
Opinion polls show the prime minister has taken a hit with voters, but Mr. Cameron's decision to hire Mr. Coulson, a former editor at News Corp.'s now-closed News of the World, may have also caused him damage within his own Conservative Party, some of that party's lawmakers said.
Mr. Cameron said he regretted ever employing Mr. Coulson and apologized for the "furor" caused by that hiring, the closest he has come to the apology regularly demanded by opposition lawmakers.
"I have an old-fashioned view about innocent until proven guilty, but if it turns out that I have been lied to [by Andy Coulson], it will be time for a profound apology. I will not fall short," he said.
Amid a boisterous parliamentary debate, both main political parties were put on the rack over their relations with News Corp. and the wider press.
Reuters
Among the accusations flying round Parliament on Wednesday, Labour lawmaker Nick Raynesford said that the government's top civil servant was told by another senior government worker that he was subjected to "disgraceful and illegal" phone hacking while Mr. Coulson was actually in Downing Street. A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said this "is absolutely not true."
Illustrating the stream of criticism, the British media also condemned Mr. Cameron for giving Mr. Coulson a "standard-level" security vetting, a more basic version of the security checks government workers must go through to get access to classified government documents. A person familiar with the matter said that this level was standard for Mr. Coulson's level of political adviser.
Mr. Cameron has been repeatedly drawn into this scandal through Mr. Coulson, who was arrested this month, but not charged, amid the hacking investigation. Mr. Coulson had resigned from News of the World in 2007 when one of his reporters went to jail for intercepting voice mails. Mr. Cameron hired him months after, and brought him into cheap tiffany jewelry Downing Street when he won last year's election despite a series of warnings from a range of sources including colleagues.
When he resigned from the paper, Mr. Coulson denied that he knew about the hacking, but said he would step down because it happened on his watch.
Related Articles
Former Editor in Spotlight
The Business: The Missteps in Managing News Corp.'s Hacking Crisis
Law Firm Authorized to Answer Investigators
Lawmakers Fault Police on Failures
Senators Press Dow Jones Panel to Probe U.K. Hacking Allegations
Some Conservative lawmakers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had their own misgivings and believe Mr. Cameron's "lack of judgment" on the issue has damaged him internally. They are frustrated that at a time when the government should be focusing on debt crisis in Europe and the still weak British economy it is fighting opposition barbs over Mr. Coulson.
On Wednesday, Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said that Mr. Cameron's loyalty to Mr. Coulson had compromised the country's top police official in Scotland Yard's investigation into the alleged hacking of mobile-phone voice mails by News of the World.
Mr. Miliband said Downing Street aides built "a wall of silence" to protect Mr. Cameron from warnings about the suitability of Mr. Coulson as the prime minister's director of communications. This made it hard for Sir Paul Stephenson, then-commissioner, to update the prime minister on an inquiry that Mr. Coulson featured in.
"The prime minister was compromised by the relationship with Mr. Coulson," Mr. Miliband said. "He was hamstrung by a conflict of interest."
Mr. Cameron went on the attack himself, saying that the previous Labour government also ignored many warnings about phone hacking and missed opportunities to investigate, and also had also enjoyed a close relationship with News Corp. (News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.)
Web of Connections
Learn more about who's who and how they're all connected in the scandal over allegations of voice-mail interceptions and corrupt payments to police.
View Interactive
More photos and interactive graphics
The prime minister delivered a robust defense of his staff and his own handling of the phone-hacking scandalas he sought to prevent himself being dragged deeper into the spiraling crisis.
The prime minister said his staff had "behaved entirely properly."
In recent days Mr. Cameron's chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, has been criticized for urging the police not to brief the prime minister about developments in their investigation.
Mr. Cameron said Mr. Llewellyn's decision was correct as it was important that the prime minister wasn't seen as seeking to influence a sensitive police inquiry.
The prime minister was also repeatedly asked about his connection with News Corp. executives and whether he discussed the U.S. media giant's tiffany bracelet bid for the rest of the satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting PLC.
Mr. Cameron said that he had been taken out of the decision-making process on the potential acquisition and that he had no "inappropriate" conversations with News Corp. executives about the bid. Opposition politicians continuously pressed him on whether he would rule out that he had talked about the bid with News Corp. personnel.
Tory lawmakers rallied around Mr. Cameron during the debate, saying the Labour Party was trying to score political points at a time when the country wanted to move on and focus on the economy, among other issues.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
‘I’m the best person to clean this up’
Toward the very end of his questioning today Tiffany Earrings before a parliamentary committee, News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch proclaimed, “I think that, frankly, I’m the best person to clean this up.”
The millions of people watching that flourish finally got to see a bit of the Murdoch that commentators have been talking about for decades. A headstrong guy, that is, who pursues a course of action regardless of the obstacles.
Consider for a moment what Murdoch said just before talking up his refurbishing credentials. In response to a question about taking full responsibility for the actions of his company, Murdoch passed blame in unequivocal terms: “People I trusted — I’m not saying who, and I don’t know what level — let me down. They betrayed the company, and it’s for them to pay.”
And not long before that, Murdoch provided another reason why he shouldn’t be trusted with the cleaning supplies. This time, he was asked if he’d used this crisis as an opportunity to push strict editorial standards at his many other newspapers and media properties.
“No,” responded the mogul. “But I am more than prepared to do so.” Well, if he’s more than prepared to do so, why hasn’t he done so?
To work back through the testimony is merely to stack up reasons why Murdoch is either too out of touch, too stuck in denial or too stubborn Tiffany Bracelet to take it from here. When the questioning got tough, he answered with some variation on three themes: 1) I don’t know; 2) I don’t remember; or 3) This is a huge company; News of the World constituted less than 1 percent of News Corp., so don’t expect me to answer that.
Okay, but in the same hearing he professed to be a hands-on manager, putting in 10- to 12-hour days and talking frequently to his editors. And it’s not as if inquiries about the nitty-gritty of News of the World were coming straight from nowhere: This property has been at the center of a two-week scandal — it’s not as if the MPs were asking about expenditure-approval protocols at the Australian. Amateur observers by now have a greater command of the details than Murdoch exhibited before Parliament.
At one point in the proceedings, Deputy Chief Operating Officer James Murdoch was asked about a key document relating to News Corp.’s awareness of its own actions. After James Murdoch sparred with the committee on the matter, Rupert Murdoch was asked if he knew about the document.
“No,” came the answer.
A moment of confusion ensued. It then became clear that Rupert Murdoch didn’t know precisely what document he had just disavowed knowledge of.
The back-and-forth opened a window into the Murdoch strategy before Britain’s elected representatives: Deny, deny, deny whenever possible. Squeak through.
The denials came mixed with expressions of regret about the damage that the company caused. “This is the most humble day of my career,” Rupert Tiffany Bracelet Murdoch said in a closing statement. “To all the victims of phone hacking, apologizing cannot take back what has happened. I want them to know the depth of my regret for the invasions into their lives, and I will work tirelessly for their forgiveness.”
An honest corporate apology must include two parts. One is an expression of regret to the victims of the corporation’s misdeeds. This, News Corp. has done. The other is an honest acknowledgment of what and who caused the wrongdoing, a taking of responsibility by those in charge. This, News Corp. hasn’t even approached, nor does it appear likely to.
The millions of people watching that flourish finally got to see a bit of the Murdoch that commentators have been talking about for decades. A headstrong guy, that is, who pursues a course of action regardless of the obstacles.
Consider for a moment what Murdoch said just before talking up his refurbishing credentials. In response to a question about taking full responsibility for the actions of his company, Murdoch passed blame in unequivocal terms: “People I trusted — I’m not saying who, and I don’t know what level — let me down. They betrayed the company, and it’s for them to pay.”
And not long before that, Murdoch provided another reason why he shouldn’t be trusted with the cleaning supplies. This time, he was asked if he’d used this crisis as an opportunity to push strict editorial standards at his many other newspapers and media properties.
“No,” responded the mogul. “But I am more than prepared to do so.” Well, if he’s more than prepared to do so, why hasn’t he done so?
To work back through the testimony is merely to stack up reasons why Murdoch is either too out of touch, too stuck in denial or too stubborn Tiffany Bracelet to take it from here. When the questioning got tough, he answered with some variation on three themes: 1) I don’t know; 2) I don’t remember; or 3) This is a huge company; News of the World constituted less than 1 percent of News Corp., so don’t expect me to answer that.
Okay, but in the same hearing he professed to be a hands-on manager, putting in 10- to 12-hour days and talking frequently to his editors. And it’s not as if inquiries about the nitty-gritty of News of the World were coming straight from nowhere: This property has been at the center of a two-week scandal — it’s not as if the MPs were asking about expenditure-approval protocols at the Australian. Amateur observers by now have a greater command of the details than Murdoch exhibited before Parliament.
At one point in the proceedings, Deputy Chief Operating Officer James Murdoch was asked about a key document relating to News Corp.’s awareness of its own actions. After James Murdoch sparred with the committee on the matter, Rupert Murdoch was asked if he knew about the document.
“No,” came the answer.
A moment of confusion ensued. It then became clear that Rupert Murdoch didn’t know precisely what document he had just disavowed knowledge of.
The back-and-forth opened a window into the Murdoch strategy before Britain’s elected representatives: Deny, deny, deny whenever possible. Squeak through.
The denials came mixed with expressions of regret about the damage that the company caused. “This is the most humble day of my career,” Rupert Tiffany Bracelet Murdoch said in a closing statement. “To all the victims of phone hacking, apologizing cannot take back what has happened. I want them to know the depth of my regret for the invasions into their lives, and I will work tirelessly for their forgiveness.”
An honest corporate apology must include two parts. One is an expression of regret to the victims of the corporation’s misdeeds. This, News Corp. has done. The other is an honest acknowledgment of what and who caused the wrongdoing, a taking of responsibility by those in charge. This, News Corp. hasn’t even approached, nor does it appear likely to.
With Necks on the Line, Murdoch & Co. Face The Proverbial Guillotine
Half close your eyes and you could imagine the tumbrils Tiffany Bracelets rolling through the streets of London today as more of the now fearful high and mighty are headed for the implacable Madame Guillotine.
Today it is the turn of Rupert and James Murdoch together with his former chief executive Rebekah Brooks who resigned on Friday and was arrested and questioned for 12 hours on Sunday over the phone hacking scandal.
They are being questioned by a House of Commons select committee who have been sharpening their knives and axes over the last few days in response to the public outcry over News International journalists tapping the phone messages not merely of politicians and celebrities, but a missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler who was found murdered.
Outside Parliament eager spectators have been waiting for hours for a chance to witness what they hope is the verbal execution of the most powerful media mogul in the world -- or at least one of Murdoch’s deputies. Knitting wool is not supplied.
Whatever the outcome of today’s sharp cross questioning of this family of News International aristocrats - Rupert considers Rebekah as close as a daughter - the media mogul has already been cut down to size - losing a fifth of the value of News Corps and any goodwill he ever enjoyed from the public.
There is other collateral damage. Two of Britain’s most senior policemen have fallen on their swords, resigning in the wake of the scandal. While protesting their innocence and integrity, Madame Guillotine has taken their scalps, beheaded Tiffany Earrings for the way they conducted the initial inquiry into phone tapping and for hiring a former NI executive Neil Wallis - another of the 10 journalists and newspaper executives arrested - to advise them on media strategy.
The Fourth Estate is paying a high price for this scandal. Last night it was revealed that former News of the World journalist and whistleblower Sean Hoare, who was one of the first to reveal the extent of phone hacking, had taken his life.
The police too are in the midst of an unparalleled period of soul searching about their all too cosy relationship with the media. Heads are rolling by the hour.
The biggest head has yet to fall into the basket. Prime Minister David Cameron, currently and conveniently in Africa selling British industry has been lagging behind the crowd in this whole affair. For good reason. It shows his weaknesses before the baying mob.
His decision to hire former News of the World editor Andy Coulson - another NI executive facing prosecution and the prospect of jailtime - as Tiffany UK Sale his Head of Communications has attracted widespread criticism for his lack of judgment. Moreover his cosy relationship with Rebekah Brooks - she spent part of last Christmas with the Cameron family - is another factor that seems to have clouded his thinking. He is irredeemably tainted by the scandal.
There have already been political parallels made with President Nixon and Watergate. More appropriate is the way that the scandal over Britain’s decision to invade Iraq on the false premise of finding weapons of mass destruction and the subsequent suicide of scientist David Kelly stained the reputation and standing of war leader Tony Blair. The death of Sean Hoare is now to Cameron what Kelly was to Blair.
Unlike Blair, Cameron is the leader of an increasingly restless Coalition between his Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and his senior supporters, notably Vince Cable, had warned Cameron about Coulson. They have never played cosy with the media aristocrats at News International.
For the last few months Clegg and Co. have been on the back foot, blamed for the swingeing cuts imposed on Britain’s public services. If he were a ruthless politician Clegg would smell blood - the chance to bring the head of Old Etonian David Cameron on a platter before the angry mob. He could break up the Coalition and force an election, saving his political life and dealing a fatal blow to the standing of the Prime Minister.
Will Clegg prove himself the cold and calculating Tiffany Sets Robespierre in this unprecedented bloodbath of the British establishment? Madame Guillotine awaits.
Today it is the turn of Rupert and James Murdoch together with his former chief executive Rebekah Brooks who resigned on Friday and was arrested and questioned for 12 hours on Sunday over the phone hacking scandal.
They are being questioned by a House of Commons select committee who have been sharpening their knives and axes over the last few days in response to the public outcry over News International journalists tapping the phone messages not merely of politicians and celebrities, but a missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler who was found murdered.
Outside Parliament eager spectators have been waiting for hours for a chance to witness what they hope is the verbal execution of the most powerful media mogul in the world -- or at least one of Murdoch’s deputies. Knitting wool is not supplied.
Whatever the outcome of today’s sharp cross questioning of this family of News International aristocrats - Rupert considers Rebekah as close as a daughter - the media mogul has already been cut down to size - losing a fifth of the value of News Corps and any goodwill he ever enjoyed from the public.
There is other collateral damage. Two of Britain’s most senior policemen have fallen on their swords, resigning in the wake of the scandal. While protesting their innocence and integrity, Madame Guillotine has taken their scalps, beheaded Tiffany Earrings for the way they conducted the initial inquiry into phone tapping and for hiring a former NI executive Neil Wallis - another of the 10 journalists and newspaper executives arrested - to advise them on media strategy.
The Fourth Estate is paying a high price for this scandal. Last night it was revealed that former News of the World journalist and whistleblower Sean Hoare, who was one of the first to reveal the extent of phone hacking, had taken his life.
The police too are in the midst of an unparalleled period of soul searching about their all too cosy relationship with the media. Heads are rolling by the hour.
The biggest head has yet to fall into the basket. Prime Minister David Cameron, currently and conveniently in Africa selling British industry has been lagging behind the crowd in this whole affair. For good reason. It shows his weaknesses before the baying mob.
His decision to hire former News of the World editor Andy Coulson - another NI executive facing prosecution and the prospect of jailtime - as Tiffany UK Sale his Head of Communications has attracted widespread criticism for his lack of judgment. Moreover his cosy relationship with Rebekah Brooks - she spent part of last Christmas with the Cameron family - is another factor that seems to have clouded his thinking. He is irredeemably tainted by the scandal.
There have already been political parallels made with President Nixon and Watergate. More appropriate is the way that the scandal over Britain’s decision to invade Iraq on the false premise of finding weapons of mass destruction and the subsequent suicide of scientist David Kelly stained the reputation and standing of war leader Tony Blair. The death of Sean Hoare is now to Cameron what Kelly was to Blair.
Unlike Blair, Cameron is the leader of an increasingly restless Coalition between his Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and his senior supporters, notably Vince Cable, had warned Cameron about Coulson. They have never played cosy with the media aristocrats at News International.
For the last few months Clegg and Co. have been on the back foot, blamed for the swingeing cuts imposed on Britain’s public services. If he were a ruthless politician Clegg would smell blood - the chance to bring the head of Old Etonian David Cameron on a platter before the angry mob. He could break up the Coalition and force an election, saving his political life and dealing a fatal blow to the standing of the Prime Minister.
Will Clegg prove himself the cold and calculating Tiffany Sets Robespierre in this unprecedented bloodbath of the British establishment? Madame Guillotine awaits.
China mulls expanding resource tax program
One year after China introduced pandora bracelets resource tax reforms in its westernmost region of Xinjiang, the government is considering expanding the program to other areas to save resources and restructure the country's economy.
On June 2, 2010, the Ministry of Finance announced that it would implement a resource tax on sales of crude oil and natural gas in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on a trial basis.
The tax, which helps to save natural resources by raising consumption costs, has provided nearly 3.6 billion yuan in fiscal revenues for the Xinjiang government over the past year.
Guo Xiaolin, deputy head of the State Administration of Taxation, said Saturday that a proposal for expanding the program nationwide has been submitted to the State Council, or China's Cabinet, for approval.
The expanded program would also include coal, the China Business News quoted a source close to the program as saying on Tuesday.
The timing for expanding the program has come under heated debate. Lin Boqiang, an energy professor at Xiamen University, said the tax will push up end-product prices, which could exacerbate the country's already-high inflation.
Liu Shangxi, deputy director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science of the Ministry of Finance (MOF), argued that the timing of the program pandora bracelets expansion should not be hinged on inflation data.
"It seems that when growth is sluggish, the tax becomes undesirable for fears of inhibiting growth. When the economy is good, the tax will push up inflation," Liu said.
The Chinese government has been cautious in advancing the program. The government currently controls the prices of major resources such as water, natural gas and coal.
Resource tax reforms have been postponed twice in recent years. They were first delayed in 2007 over concerns that they would help speed up price hikes and add inflationary pressure to an overheating economy. The second delay in 2008 was caused by fears of harming companies amid an economic slowdown resulting from the fallout of the global financial crisis.
Liu Shangxi said it is the right time to push the reforms, citing the fact that China has vast supplies of resources, which will prevent prices from rising too much.
His view was echoed by Jia Kang, director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science of the MOF. Jia said inflation is expected to stabilize in the latter half of the year, which will provide an opportunity to push the reforms forward.
Although disagreements remain regarding the timing of the reforms, the government has decided to take gradual steps to allow resource prices to be determined by market forces.
The State Council said in a document issued last month that expanding the resource tax program is high on their agenda.
Sheng Laiyun, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said last Wednesday at a press conference that price controls will remain pandora jewelry the top priority for the latter half of the year.
However, he added that the government should seize the chance to allow prices to play their role in helping conserve natural resources.
On June 2, 2010, the Ministry of Finance announced that it would implement a resource tax on sales of crude oil and natural gas in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on a trial basis.
The tax, which helps to save natural resources by raising consumption costs, has provided nearly 3.6 billion yuan in fiscal revenues for the Xinjiang government over the past year.
Guo Xiaolin, deputy head of the State Administration of Taxation, said Saturday that a proposal for expanding the program nationwide has been submitted to the State Council, or China's Cabinet, for approval.
The expanded program would also include coal, the China Business News quoted a source close to the program as saying on Tuesday.
The timing for expanding the program has come under heated debate. Lin Boqiang, an energy professor at Xiamen University, said the tax will push up end-product prices, which could exacerbate the country's already-high inflation.
Liu Shangxi, deputy director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science of the Ministry of Finance (MOF), argued that the timing of the program pandora bracelets expansion should not be hinged on inflation data.
"It seems that when growth is sluggish, the tax becomes undesirable for fears of inhibiting growth. When the economy is good, the tax will push up inflation," Liu said.
The Chinese government has been cautious in advancing the program. The government currently controls the prices of major resources such as water, natural gas and coal.
Resource tax reforms have been postponed twice in recent years. They were first delayed in 2007 over concerns that they would help speed up price hikes and add inflationary pressure to an overheating economy. The second delay in 2008 was caused by fears of harming companies amid an economic slowdown resulting from the fallout of the global financial crisis.
Liu Shangxi said it is the right time to push the reforms, citing the fact that China has vast supplies of resources, which will prevent prices from rising too much.
His view was echoed by Jia Kang, director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science of the MOF. Jia said inflation is expected to stabilize in the latter half of the year, which will provide an opportunity to push the reforms forward.
Although disagreements remain regarding the timing of the reforms, the government has decided to take gradual steps to allow resource prices to be determined by market forces.
The State Council said in a document issued last month that expanding the resource tax program is high on their agenda.
Sheng Laiyun, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said last Wednesday at a press conference that price controls will remain pandora jewelry the top priority for the latter half of the year.
However, he added that the government should seize the chance to allow prices to play their role in helping conserve natural resources.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Borders May Be Dead, But e-Reader Kobo Is Still Alive And Kicking
I am old enough to remember when going into a chain store pandora charms like Borders and picking out books physically was something one did to save time. Plus, as any bookworm will tell you, rifling through bookstore shelves for buried treasure and asking knowledgable employees about their reading recommendations was an oddly exciting feeling, even at a franchise. Sometimes (in my unemployed writer days) I used to go to the nearest Borders and sit on the floor and open a book, and just read all day until I finished, like it was a library. Sometimes I’d even buy something.
Apparently that “buying something” thing isn’t happening often enough for Borders to be a business anymore; As of today the WSJ is reporting that Borders will be closing its 399 stores and laying off 11,000 employees.
Last time I wrote a Borders post it was titled “The Internet Scores Its Second Victory Of The Day, Borders Nears Bankruptcy,” juxtaposing the chain’s troubles with the fact that a newspaper couldn’t reverse a news story in time. But maybe it wasn’t the Internet exactly but the way Borders management handled the Internet that caused its downfall.
As Harry McCracken wrote in a thoughtful post about the company’s demise, “The last time I was in a Borders, which was last week, the first thing I encountered when I entered was a great big table of Kobo readers. But it was clearly far too little, far too late.” Borders announced its partnership with Kobo in 2009, lagging far behind competitor Barnes and Noble’s Nook.
Kobo, which asserted its independence from Borders when Borders filed for bankruptcy protection in February, today writes us with the following pandora leather bracelet reinforcement of that independence in light of the shut down news:
“As one of the early investors in Kobo, Borders has a minority stake in our company and serves as part of our distribution in the U.S. along with Walmart, Best Buy, Sears and other retailers. As a member of the broader book publishing and retailing community, we are watching Borders’ story with interest and send our best wishes to all the people of Borders.
In June Kobo and Borders began transitioning Borders’ customers’ eBook accounts to Kobo to provide direct access to the most up to date eReading functionality, apps, and devices. Kobo owners will continue to use their eReader devices as usual and browse and shop for new titles in the Kobo Store with no interruption in service. Kobo continues to grow in the U.S. and around the world and we’re very pleased with progress of the launch of the new Kobo eReader Touch Edition and European office with Kobo Germany.”
So there you have it, Borders customers with Borders e-Reader accounts now basically have Kobo accounts. I still haven’t received word from Kobo on whether Borders’ shares in Kobo will go to liquidator Hilco Consumer Capital and Gordon Brothers, but I’m guessing they will be transferred with the other Borders assets (will update this post when I find out). You can read Devin Coldewey’s comprehensive and more technical review of the Kobo device here.
What makes the Borders story particularly poignant is the detail that Louis Borders was the founder of failed 90s startup Webvan, which was a vanguard of online grocery delivery and then went bankrupt in 2001. As the SF Business Times brings up, it’s pretty poetic that Borders’ bets both for and against brick and mortar stores resulted in two of the most-emblematic Internet-related bankruptcies of our time.
Borders rise in the mid-nineties and fall in the 2000s is also sort of the reversal of investor Marc Andresseen’s comments that all the startups that failed then would succeed now. The company rode a short slice of history where pandora bracelets price heading to a big impersonal book superstore was actually the most convenient option for consumers and then failed to hop on the next wave. RIP Borders. Long live the Kobo (at least, in theory).
Apparently that “buying something” thing isn’t happening often enough for Borders to be a business anymore; As of today the WSJ is reporting that Borders will be closing its 399 stores and laying off 11,000 employees.
Last time I wrote a Borders post it was titled “The Internet Scores Its Second Victory Of The Day, Borders Nears Bankruptcy,” juxtaposing the chain’s troubles with the fact that a newspaper couldn’t reverse a news story in time. But maybe it wasn’t the Internet exactly but the way Borders management handled the Internet that caused its downfall.
As Harry McCracken wrote in a thoughtful post about the company’s demise, “The last time I was in a Borders, which was last week, the first thing I encountered when I entered was a great big table of Kobo readers. But it was clearly far too little, far too late.” Borders announced its partnership with Kobo in 2009, lagging far behind competitor Barnes and Noble’s Nook.
Kobo, which asserted its independence from Borders when Borders filed for bankruptcy protection in February, today writes us with the following pandora leather bracelet reinforcement of that independence in light of the shut down news:
“As one of the early investors in Kobo, Borders has a minority stake in our company and serves as part of our distribution in the U.S. along with Walmart, Best Buy, Sears and other retailers. As a member of the broader book publishing and retailing community, we are watching Borders’ story with interest and send our best wishes to all the people of Borders.
In June Kobo and Borders began transitioning Borders’ customers’ eBook accounts to Kobo to provide direct access to the most up to date eReading functionality, apps, and devices. Kobo owners will continue to use their eReader devices as usual and browse and shop for new titles in the Kobo Store with no interruption in service. Kobo continues to grow in the U.S. and around the world and we’re very pleased with progress of the launch of the new Kobo eReader Touch Edition and European office with Kobo Germany.”
So there you have it, Borders customers with Borders e-Reader accounts now basically have Kobo accounts. I still haven’t received word from Kobo on whether Borders’ shares in Kobo will go to liquidator Hilco Consumer Capital and Gordon Brothers, but I’m guessing they will be transferred with the other Borders assets (will update this post when I find out). You can read Devin Coldewey’s comprehensive and more technical review of the Kobo device here.
What makes the Borders story particularly poignant is the detail that Louis Borders was the founder of failed 90s startup Webvan, which was a vanguard of online grocery delivery and then went bankrupt in 2001. As the SF Business Times brings up, it’s pretty poetic that Borders’ bets both for and against brick and mortar stores resulted in two of the most-emblematic Internet-related bankruptcies of our time.
Borders rise in the mid-nineties and fall in the 2000s is also sort of the reversal of investor Marc Andresseen’s comments that all the startups that failed then would succeed now. The company rode a short slice of history where pandora bracelets price heading to a big impersonal book superstore was actually the most convenient option for consumers and then failed to hop on the next wave. RIP Borders. Long live the Kobo (at least, in theory).
Pearl River’s New Butcher
Anthony Santucci admits that his experience with Hollywood Tiffany UK Sale was a challenge, certainly very different from his day job.
“It certainly is a tough way to find love,” said Santucci, co-owner of Pearl River Meateria. Along with his Uncle Mike (who also owns Karl Ehmer’s Quality Meats in Hillsdale, NJ and Butcher in the Farm in Montvale, NJ). Santucci now runs the butcher shop which was owned and operated by Jack and Charlotte Neugarten under “Ed’s Meat Market” for over forty years.
The “love” that Santucci is referring to is his appearance on the seventh season of The Bachelorette.
“My cousin Lia called me to see if I could help out. A friend of hers was a scout for the show and she was looking for eligible bachelors,” explains Santucci. “I thought, why not.”
He had his first interview in Manhattan and then flew to Los Angeles for the second and final interview with the network.
“A few weeks later I got a call….I couldn’t believe it.” Santucci said with a laugh.
Santucci did not receive a rose (on the show if a bachelor receives a rose, they stay until at least the next episode), so he only appeared in one episode. With stardom in his blood he returned to the family business.
The Butcher Shop
The meateria has been open for almost three months and Santucci is new to Pearl River. Growing up in Upper Saddle River, he attended Iona College Tiffany Key Rings, graduating in 2005.
“My great grandfather opened Ben’s Food Market in 1929 on 164th Street.” said Santucci of the long line of butchers in his family. “I worked in one or another of the family shops since I was about 15.”
“I wasn’t sure that I was going into the family business. When I got out of college I did all kinds of jobs; sold private jet time, soda, worked at Giants stadium, did a little bartending all before coming back to the butcher shop.”
The Meateria sells choice and prime meats. A favorite is the “Butter Steaks.” It is a cut off the shoulder and according to Santucci is the second-most tender cut of beef next to the filet mignon. The “Butter Steaks” are marinated in a Peter Luger sauce with horseradish or a blend of extra virgin olive oil, Italian seasoning and balsamic vinaigrette.
In addition to traditional butcher shop fare, the Meateria also carries free range chickens, Italian sausage, turkey burgers, already cooked and marinated ribs, alligator, duck, quail, pheasant, wild boar, duck sausage, beef tongue, wagyu beef, other game meats, hot dogs come from Kochers in Ridgefield park www.kochers.com Tiffany Earrings and even bone marrow for dogs. Prices are according to market. Santucci also carries olive oils, canned tomatoes, sauces and marinades at wholesale prices. Like an old fashioned, traditional shop all specials are posted on the shop window every day.
Due to his appearance on the Bachelorette, Santucci has his own fan club. The club created a facebook page to talk about Anthony and The Bachelorette. Visiting Pearl River Meateria will most likely produce its own set of fans.
“It certainly is a tough way to find love,” said Santucci, co-owner of Pearl River Meateria. Along with his Uncle Mike (who also owns Karl Ehmer’s Quality Meats in Hillsdale, NJ and Butcher in the Farm in Montvale, NJ). Santucci now runs the butcher shop which was owned and operated by Jack and Charlotte Neugarten under “Ed’s Meat Market” for over forty years.
The “love” that Santucci is referring to is his appearance on the seventh season of The Bachelorette.
“My cousin Lia called me to see if I could help out. A friend of hers was a scout for the show and she was looking for eligible bachelors,” explains Santucci. “I thought, why not.”
He had his first interview in Manhattan and then flew to Los Angeles for the second and final interview with the network.
“A few weeks later I got a call….I couldn’t believe it.” Santucci said with a laugh.
Santucci did not receive a rose (on the show if a bachelor receives a rose, they stay until at least the next episode), so he only appeared in one episode. With stardom in his blood he returned to the family business.
The Butcher Shop
The meateria has been open for almost three months and Santucci is new to Pearl River. Growing up in Upper Saddle River, he attended Iona College Tiffany Key Rings, graduating in 2005.
“My great grandfather opened Ben’s Food Market in 1929 on 164th Street.” said Santucci of the long line of butchers in his family. “I worked in one or another of the family shops since I was about 15.”
“I wasn’t sure that I was going into the family business. When I got out of college I did all kinds of jobs; sold private jet time, soda, worked at Giants stadium, did a little bartending all before coming back to the butcher shop.”
The Meateria sells choice and prime meats. A favorite is the “Butter Steaks.” It is a cut off the shoulder and according to Santucci is the second-most tender cut of beef next to the filet mignon. The “Butter Steaks” are marinated in a Peter Luger sauce with horseradish or a blend of extra virgin olive oil, Italian seasoning and balsamic vinaigrette.
In addition to traditional butcher shop fare, the Meateria also carries free range chickens, Italian sausage, turkey burgers, already cooked and marinated ribs, alligator, duck, quail, pheasant, wild boar, duck sausage, beef tongue, wagyu beef, other game meats, hot dogs come from Kochers in Ridgefield park www.kochers.com Tiffany Earrings and even bone marrow for dogs. Prices are according to market. Santucci also carries olive oils, canned tomatoes, sauces and marinades at wholesale prices. Like an old fashioned, traditional shop all specials are posted on the shop window every day.
Due to his appearance on the Bachelorette, Santucci has his own fan club. The club created a facebook page to talk about Anthony and The Bachelorette. Visiting Pearl River Meateria will most likely produce its own set of fans.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Syria security forces attack protesters across the country
Security forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad cheap pandora jewelry met antigovernment protests throughout the country with violence Friday in defiance of increased Western pressure on the regime to radically reform.
At least 27 people were reported killed, activists said, many of them in the suburbs of Damascus and areas around the capital. Protesters say security forces are cracking down hard there so the demonstrations don't spread to the heart of the capital.
"The demonstration started out peacefully, and then after a while they started firing tear gas and live bullets," said an eyewitness in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh. "The security stood by for a while and suddenly attacked us. It's always like that. The repression is always strong here since we're close to the capital."
A witness in the Roukn Eddine district of Damascus reported that two people died there and dozens were injured when security forces opened fire. Barrages of gunfire could be heard continuing into Friday evening, the witness said.
There were conflicting versions of events in the central city of Homs, where activist accounts said that at least 15 people were injured when security forces fired on demonstrators. Amateur video purportedly filmed Friday in the Inshaat district showed a couple of men running from a barrage of what sounded like gunfire while plumes of black smoke rose in the air behind them.
Protesters in Homs carried a Syrian flag from the time before Assad's Baath Party took power, a provocative gesture challenging its authority.
A Syrian satellite television channel said a soldier was killed and eight law enforcement officers wounded when gunmen fired at them in the city's Khalidiyeh neighborhood.
Friday's anti-regime rallies came a week after U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Ford and French envoy Eric Chevallier visited the restive city of Hama, gestures that enraged Syrian authorities.
On Monday, a pro-regime crowd attacked the U.S. and French embassies pandora bracelets price in Damascus, smashing windows and shaking up embassy staff members.
U.S. officials have stopped short of calling on Assad to step down. But at a 32-nation diplomatic conference Friday in Istanbul, Turkey, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated the Obama administration view that the Syrian president had lost legitimacy.
"I think we all share the same opinion, that what we are seeing from the Assad regime in its barrage of words, false promises and accusations is not being translated into any path forward for the Syrian people," she said.
The four-month uprising against Assad and his Baath Party's decades-long rule shows no sign of abating. Video posted on the Internet depicted large pro-democracy protests in cities across the country after Friday prayers.
Many protesters said they thought the government would not be able to stop the uprising.
"Every week more and more people come out," the eyewitness in Barzeh said. "Every week you hear of new towns where there are protests."
The Syrian activist group Local Coordination Committees said some of the deaths in Friday's protests were in Homs and in the northwestern city of Idlib, where it said security forces and pro-regime militiamen fired into a crowd of protesters.
Friday's protests took place as a call for the release of prisoners of conscience. Activists say thousands of people have been arrested in an intensification of raids on homes of dissidents.
"For freedom for the detainees, for the dignity of free men!" read a banner posted on the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page, which has become an organizing point for the uprising.
In the southwestern city of Dara, where the antigovernment protests started, tens of thousands of demonstrators came out, chanting slogans calling for the downfall of the Assad regime and freedom for prisoners.
One witness said the army acted as a buffer between security forces and the protesters but the security forces still opened fire, killing and pandora silver bracelet wounding many people.
Video purportedly made Friday in the town of Dael in southwestern Syria showed throngs of protesters running for cover from what sounded like a barrage of gunfire.
For a couple of seconds they hide behind corners and walls before returning to the street shouting "Gunfire!" and "God is great!" They jump up and down waving their arms right in front of what appears to be squads of security forces in green uniforms.
At least 27 people were reported killed, activists said, many of them in the suburbs of Damascus and areas around the capital. Protesters say security forces are cracking down hard there so the demonstrations don't spread to the heart of the capital.
"The demonstration started out peacefully, and then after a while they started firing tear gas and live bullets," said an eyewitness in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh. "The security stood by for a while and suddenly attacked us. It's always like that. The repression is always strong here since we're close to the capital."
A witness in the Roukn Eddine district of Damascus reported that two people died there and dozens were injured when security forces opened fire. Barrages of gunfire could be heard continuing into Friday evening, the witness said.
There were conflicting versions of events in the central city of Homs, where activist accounts said that at least 15 people were injured when security forces fired on demonstrators. Amateur video purportedly filmed Friday in the Inshaat district showed a couple of men running from a barrage of what sounded like gunfire while plumes of black smoke rose in the air behind them.
Protesters in Homs carried a Syrian flag from the time before Assad's Baath Party took power, a provocative gesture challenging its authority.
A Syrian satellite television channel said a soldier was killed and eight law enforcement officers wounded when gunmen fired at them in the city's Khalidiyeh neighborhood.
Friday's anti-regime rallies came a week after U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Ford and French envoy Eric Chevallier visited the restive city of Hama, gestures that enraged Syrian authorities.
On Monday, a pro-regime crowd attacked the U.S. and French embassies pandora bracelets price in Damascus, smashing windows and shaking up embassy staff members.
U.S. officials have stopped short of calling on Assad to step down. But at a 32-nation diplomatic conference Friday in Istanbul, Turkey, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated the Obama administration view that the Syrian president had lost legitimacy.
"I think we all share the same opinion, that what we are seeing from the Assad regime in its barrage of words, false promises and accusations is not being translated into any path forward for the Syrian people," she said.
The four-month uprising against Assad and his Baath Party's decades-long rule shows no sign of abating. Video posted on the Internet depicted large pro-democracy protests in cities across the country after Friday prayers.
Many protesters said they thought the government would not be able to stop the uprising.
"Every week more and more people come out," the eyewitness in Barzeh said. "Every week you hear of new towns where there are protests."
The Syrian activist group Local Coordination Committees said some of the deaths in Friday's protests were in Homs and in the northwestern city of Idlib, where it said security forces and pro-regime militiamen fired into a crowd of protesters.
Friday's protests took place as a call for the release of prisoners of conscience. Activists say thousands of people have been arrested in an intensification of raids on homes of dissidents.
"For freedom for the detainees, for the dignity of free men!" read a banner posted on the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page, which has become an organizing point for the uprising.
In the southwestern city of Dara, where the antigovernment protests started, tens of thousands of demonstrators came out, chanting slogans calling for the downfall of the Assad regime and freedom for prisoners.
One witness said the army acted as a buffer between security forces and the protesters but the security forces still opened fire, killing and pandora silver bracelet wounding many people.
Video purportedly made Friday in the town of Dael in southwestern Syria showed throngs of protesters running for cover from what sounded like a barrage of gunfire.
For a couple of seconds they hide behind corners and walls before returning to the street shouting "Gunfire!" and "God is great!" They jump up and down waving their arms right in front of what appears to be squads of security forces in green uniforms.
41 reported killed in weekend of violence in Syria
Forty-one people were killed in "Friday of Freedom" protests tiffany jewelry sale across Syria that were broken up by security forces using live ammunition, a human rights group said Saturday.
The day was dubbed "Friday of Freedom Prisoners," in honor of those jailed during months of protests called for political reform and on President Bashar Assad to step down.
In this citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network, Syrian anti-government protesters hang a banner in Arabic that reads 'thank you Al-Jazeera and Shaam News Network,' during a rally in
The death toll was initially given as 27 by activists documenting the protests, but on Saturday, National Organization for Human Rights said 27 people were killed in the capital Damascus and its suburbs alone, with more killed in the central city of Homs, Idlib in the north, and Daraa in the south.
The official SANA news agency meanwhile reported that 12 civilians and security personnel were killed by armed groups "who opened fire on gatherings of civilians following the Friday prayers."
Syrian forces continued to crack down on protesters Saturday, killing one and wounded five when they opened fire at pro-democracy demonstrators in the eastern border town of Albu Kamal near Iraq's Sunni heartland, activists and residents said.
"Military Intelligence patrols fired on a crowd at the main square. More people are now gathering there. This is a tribal province and inhabitants do not take killings lightly," said one of the activists, who gave the name of the dead protester as Hayan Mohsen al-Bahr.
The National Organization for Human Rights, in a statement said: "We declare our full support for Syrians to the right to assembly, to peaceful tiffany earrings protests expressing their legitimate demands."
It urged the government to quickly to implement these demands and "held authorities responsible to violence and bloodshed in the streets."
More than 1 million Syrians participated in Friday's protests, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. The figure could not be independently verified.
Since mid-March, more than 1,440 civilians and 350 members of security have been killed by security forces during unprecedented protests, human rights groups say.
But the government disputes the figures and blames "armed thugs" and foreign conspirators for the unrest.
London's Times newspaper reported Saturday
'A serious arms build-up'
London’s Times newspaper reported Saturday that the Assad regime is "engaged in a serious arms build-up," in the words of an Israeli intelligence official quoted by the newspaper.
The missiles acquired by Hezbollah “bring all of Israel, Jordan and large parts of Turkey within Hezbollah's range,” according to other western officials also cited by the Times.
The Syrian Embassy in London responded to the report, saying they had no knowledge of the reports claims, according to an Army Radio report.
In June, French newspaper Le Figaro reported tiffany necklaces that Hezbollah had moved hundreds of missiles from storage sites in Syria to bases in eastern Lebanon.
According to Le Figaro, Hezbollah moved the missiles due to the concern that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad will fall and that a new Syrian government will cut off ties with Hezbollah.
The day was dubbed "Friday of Freedom Prisoners," in honor of those jailed during months of protests called for political reform and on President Bashar Assad to step down.
In this citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network, Syrian anti-government protesters hang a banner in Arabic that reads 'thank you Al-Jazeera and Shaam News Network,' during a rally in
The death toll was initially given as 27 by activists documenting the protests, but on Saturday, National Organization for Human Rights said 27 people were killed in the capital Damascus and its suburbs alone, with more killed in the central city of Homs, Idlib in the north, and Daraa in the south.
The official SANA news agency meanwhile reported that 12 civilians and security personnel were killed by armed groups "who opened fire on gatherings of civilians following the Friday prayers."
Syrian forces continued to crack down on protesters Saturday, killing one and wounded five when they opened fire at pro-democracy demonstrators in the eastern border town of Albu Kamal near Iraq's Sunni heartland, activists and residents said.
"Military Intelligence patrols fired on a crowd at the main square. More people are now gathering there. This is a tribal province and inhabitants do not take killings lightly," said one of the activists, who gave the name of the dead protester as Hayan Mohsen al-Bahr.
The National Organization for Human Rights, in a statement said: "We declare our full support for Syrians to the right to assembly, to peaceful tiffany earrings protests expressing their legitimate demands."
It urged the government to quickly to implement these demands and "held authorities responsible to violence and bloodshed in the streets."
More than 1 million Syrians participated in Friday's protests, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. The figure could not be independently verified.
Since mid-March, more than 1,440 civilians and 350 members of security have been killed by security forces during unprecedented protests, human rights groups say.
But the government disputes the figures and blames "armed thugs" and foreign conspirators for the unrest.
London's Times newspaper reported Saturday
'A serious arms build-up'
London’s Times newspaper reported Saturday that the Assad regime is "engaged in a serious arms build-up," in the words of an Israeli intelligence official quoted by the newspaper.
The missiles acquired by Hezbollah “bring all of Israel, Jordan and large parts of Turkey within Hezbollah's range,” according to other western officials also cited by the Times.
The Syrian Embassy in London responded to the report, saying they had no knowledge of the reports claims, according to an Army Radio report.
In June, French newspaper Le Figaro reported tiffany necklaces that Hezbollah had moved hundreds of missiles from storage sites in Syria to bases in eastern Lebanon.
According to Le Figaro, Hezbollah moved the missiles due to the concern that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad will fall and that a new Syrian government will cut off ties with Hezbollah.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Rein in Murdoch, not the press
It is beginning to look as if respectable cheap tiffany jewelry British newspapers might be collateral damage in the backlash against Rupert Murdoch and his sleazy underlings at the News of the World. Prime Minister David Cameron predicted that a special panel studying the tabloid phone-hacking scandal would make recommendations for "a new, more effective way of regulating the press."
The possibility of new restrictions on the press is only one of the reactions to the scandal in which Murdoch's reporters hacked into the telephones of an array of unsuspecting people. But it's the most ominous.
No one, journalists included, should defend the hackers. Their behavior — including the now-infamous deletion of messages from the cellphone of a missing 13-year-old girl — was unforgivable, unethical and most likely tiffany earrings illegal. But, even where the tabloid press is concerned, reporters and editors shouldn't be supervised or second-guessed by government. If laws were broken, the lawbreakers should, of course, be prosecuted, but new restrictions on the freedom of legitimate journalists to do their jobs are uncalled for.
Granted, the press in Britain long has had a more intimate relationship with government than its American counterpart. There is no British equivalent of the 1st Amendment, and government there — including the courts — is less protective of press freedom than in the United States. But that is no excuse for intrusive state monitoring of the workings of a newspaper. For example, Cameron wants to keep track of the "contacts made, and discussions had, between national newspapers and politicians." That sort of "regulation" goes far beyond the hacking scandal and intrudes on one of the most basic functions of journalism. Why should Cameron's government be informed each time a British reporter talks to one of the prime minister's political opponents?
The hacking scandal and its aftermath have made for a delicious drama. But regardless of what one thinks of the 80-year-old Murdoch and his out-of-control employees, his newspapers should enjoy the same freedom to gather the pandora charm news as others, within the limits of the law. "Regulation" of the press — on either side of the Atlantic — is incompatible with a free society.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
The possibility of new restrictions on the press is only one of the reactions to the scandal in which Murdoch's reporters hacked into the telephones of an array of unsuspecting people. But it's the most ominous.
No one, journalists included, should defend the hackers. Their behavior — including the now-infamous deletion of messages from the cellphone of a missing 13-year-old girl — was unforgivable, unethical and most likely tiffany earrings illegal. But, even where the tabloid press is concerned, reporters and editors shouldn't be supervised or second-guessed by government. If laws were broken, the lawbreakers should, of course, be prosecuted, but new restrictions on the freedom of legitimate journalists to do their jobs are uncalled for.
Granted, the press in Britain long has had a more intimate relationship with government than its American counterpart. There is no British equivalent of the 1st Amendment, and government there — including the courts — is less protective of press freedom than in the United States. But that is no excuse for intrusive state monitoring of the workings of a newspaper. For example, Cameron wants to keep track of the "contacts made, and discussions had, between national newspapers and politicians." That sort of "regulation" goes far beyond the hacking scandal and intrudes on one of the most basic functions of journalism. Why should Cameron's government be informed each time a British reporter talks to one of the prime minister's political opponents?
The hacking scandal and its aftermath have made for a delicious drama. But regardless of what one thinks of the 80-year-old Murdoch and his out-of-control employees, his newspapers should enjoy the same freedom to gather the pandora charm news as others, within the limits of the law. "Regulation" of the press — on either side of the Atlantic — is incompatible with a free society.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
Boehner gave up power in hopes of gaining it when he needed it
WHEN IMPORTANT politicians find themselves Tiffany UK Sale in a vulnerable position, they often respond by pretending that what appears to be weakness is, in fact, part of some sophisticated strategy that is underappreciated and actually quite brilliant. House Speaker John Boehner was able to keep up this ruse for the first six months of his speakership. But on Saturday, everything abruptly fell apart when his own party turned on him and aborted the historic $4 trillion deficit-reduction deal he was negotiating with President Obama.
Given the Republicans’ path back to power, Boehner was always an unlikely leader. His weakness derives from his being a 20-year veteran of Washington who happened to be next in line for the speakership when last fall’s Tea Party uprising delivered the House of Representatives to the Republicans. Boehner, the consummate insider, became speaker thanks to a bunch of militant outsiders. Power doesn’t get more fragile than that.
But Boehner himself never conceded this. Instead, he laid out an elaborate theory of governance whereby he would end the recent House tradition of iron-fisted rule, employed by both Nancy Pelosi and Dennis Hastert (really Majority Leader Tom DeLay), and delegate power from the speaker’s office to the committees, freshly stocked with new ideologues. He presented this as the act of a true conservative instinctively inclined toward decentralizing power, and a sign of his allegiance to the cause. But all this was simply an attempt to put a noble polish on an act of appeasement necessary to maintain his precarious perch.
Nor did he stop there. He made a series of elaborate deferrals to junior Republicans who could easily have been steamrolled, and he sacrificed with apparent willingness high-profile projects that are a speaker’s prerogative. Earlier this year, for example, he let freshman budget hawks kill off the multibillion-dollar alternative Tiffany Pendants engine program for the F-35 jet fighter that was bringing jobs and money to his Cincinnati district (and to Massachusetts). And though he must have understood how it could damage his party, he allowed his Budget Committee chairman, Paul Ryan, to introduce a radical agenda, including a plan to privatize Medicare, that passed the House in April.
And all this was in the service of his larger strategy, which went like this: by deferring to Tea Party freshmen and other hardcore conservatives on countless issues of process and policy, he would gradually win their trust so that when he truly needed them to do difficult things like raise the debt ceiling, he would have their support. A cover story in National Journal last month perfectly captured this vision: “A Different Kind of Speaker: How John Boehner is giving up power to gain power.’’
But that illusion was only workable so long as it wasn’t put to too hard a test. In April, he narrowly skirted a government shutdown and, after extracting $40 billion in concessions from the White House, appeared to have emerged intact. But these concessions turned out to be less than advertised, which left many members of his caucus feeling betrayed - and therefore less, not more, inclined to submit on the debt ceiling.
Boehner did what he could to protect his right flank, assigning Eric Cantor, his majority leader and possible Brutus-in-waiting, to negotiate a debt increase with the White House. But Cantor quit those talks last week, which thrust Boehner into the role of lead negotiator and finally exposed his true weakness.
The strategy failed. The pity of it is that although Boehner was derided as weak for breaching the latest right-wing orthodoxy and considering revenue increases (something most Republicans understand is necessary, but few admit for reasons now obvious), his $4 trillion deal with Obama would have cut spending far more Tiffany Bracelets than any current alternative. It also would have reformed entitlements like Medicare and Social Security that conservatives rail against, but dare not touch for fear of a backlash. Boehner would have bought cover from the Democrats at a bargain price. What he proposed - and what his party killed - would have done more to advance conservative objectives than anything that will now be considered.
Boehner, in other words, had the judgment, but not the power, that a speaker requires. And the irony now lost amid the clamor of his failure is that it was he, and not the Tea Party, who has proved to be the true radical.
Given the Republicans’ path back to power, Boehner was always an unlikely leader. His weakness derives from his being a 20-year veteran of Washington who happened to be next in line for the speakership when last fall’s Tea Party uprising delivered the House of Representatives to the Republicans. Boehner, the consummate insider, became speaker thanks to a bunch of militant outsiders. Power doesn’t get more fragile than that.
But Boehner himself never conceded this. Instead, he laid out an elaborate theory of governance whereby he would end the recent House tradition of iron-fisted rule, employed by both Nancy Pelosi and Dennis Hastert (really Majority Leader Tom DeLay), and delegate power from the speaker’s office to the committees, freshly stocked with new ideologues. He presented this as the act of a true conservative instinctively inclined toward decentralizing power, and a sign of his allegiance to the cause. But all this was simply an attempt to put a noble polish on an act of appeasement necessary to maintain his precarious perch.
Nor did he stop there. He made a series of elaborate deferrals to junior Republicans who could easily have been steamrolled, and he sacrificed with apparent willingness high-profile projects that are a speaker’s prerogative. Earlier this year, for example, he let freshman budget hawks kill off the multibillion-dollar alternative Tiffany Pendants engine program for the F-35 jet fighter that was bringing jobs and money to his Cincinnati district (and to Massachusetts). And though he must have understood how it could damage his party, he allowed his Budget Committee chairman, Paul Ryan, to introduce a radical agenda, including a plan to privatize Medicare, that passed the House in April.
And all this was in the service of his larger strategy, which went like this: by deferring to Tea Party freshmen and other hardcore conservatives on countless issues of process and policy, he would gradually win their trust so that when he truly needed them to do difficult things like raise the debt ceiling, he would have their support. A cover story in National Journal last month perfectly captured this vision: “A Different Kind of Speaker: How John Boehner is giving up power to gain power.’’
But that illusion was only workable so long as it wasn’t put to too hard a test. In April, he narrowly skirted a government shutdown and, after extracting $40 billion in concessions from the White House, appeared to have emerged intact. But these concessions turned out to be less than advertised, which left many members of his caucus feeling betrayed - and therefore less, not more, inclined to submit on the debt ceiling.
Boehner did what he could to protect his right flank, assigning Eric Cantor, his majority leader and possible Brutus-in-waiting, to negotiate a debt increase with the White House. But Cantor quit those talks last week, which thrust Boehner into the role of lead negotiator and finally exposed his true weakness.
The strategy failed. The pity of it is that although Boehner was derided as weak for breaching the latest right-wing orthodoxy and considering revenue increases (something most Republicans understand is necessary, but few admit for reasons now obvious), his $4 trillion deal with Obama would have cut spending far more Tiffany Bracelets than any current alternative. It also would have reformed entitlements like Medicare and Social Security that conservatives rail against, but dare not touch for fear of a backlash. Boehner would have bought cover from the Democrats at a bargain price. What he proposed - and what his party killed - would have done more to advance conservative objectives than anything that will now be considered.
Boehner, in other words, had the judgment, but not the power, that a speaker requires. And the irony now lost amid the clamor of his failure is that it was he, and not the Tea Party, who has proved to be the true radical.
Obama ends tense debt talks with a warning
President Obama abruptly left debt negotiations Tiffany UK Sale with congressional leaders Wednesday at the White House when a top Republican said there was no longer time to engage in the large-scale deficit reduction discussions the White House is now seeking as part of a vote to raise the nation's debt ceiling.
The flare-up came at the end of the nearly two-hour session during which House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told the president that Congress should instead consider a series of debt ceiling votes based on spending cuts that already have been identified. Talks could then continue to identify additional cuts for subsequent votes, he said.
Republicans have refused Democrats' call for taxes on the wealthy. The president responded by ending the meeting, sources said.
"I suggested we were so far apart I didn't see in the time before us how we get to where he wants us to be," Cantor told reporters after the meeting.
Obama warned Cantor not to set such an ultimatum, and according to congressional and administration aides repeated his vow to veto legislation that would extend the debt ceiling only for a short period.
"The president told me, 'Eric, don't call my bluff. I'm going to take this to the American people,' " Cantor said.
Aides described it as the tensest meeting yet in the months of discussions, with the president at one point accusing both sides of posturing.
Democratic officials, however, denied reports Tiffany Bracelets that Obama had "walked out" of the meeting. "Left abruptly is perfectly fair," one official said. "But the meeting was over — in no sense did he walk out on it."
Toward the end of the meeting, before he left, Obama said: "This process is confirming what the American people think is the worst about Washington: that everyone is more interested in posturing, political position and protecting their base than solving real problems," according to a second Democratic official familiar with the talks. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the nature of the discussions.
The president "was most insistent that he wanted the debt limit extended into 2013, because he believes a repeat of what we're going through now, when things will be politically more tense, would be very destabilizing," the second official said.
During the White House meeting, Moody's Investors Services issued a warning that it was putting the U.S. credit rating on watch for possible downgrade — which could set off a firestorm in the financial markets if Congress does not act soon to raise the federal debt ceiling.
The White House and congressional Republicans have been locked for more than a month in a stalemate over raising the federal government's $14.3-trillion debt ceiling. Administration officials say the government will be unable to pay all of its bills if the limit is not raised by Aug. 2.
Obama warned Tuesday that failure to raise the debt ceiling could mean that Social Security checks, veterans benefits and other government obligations would not be paid as scheduled in August.
Republicans have refused to vote for the debt ceiling increase unless it is accompanied by steep spending cuts equaling about $2.4 trillion over the next decade, though their own spending plan requires that the limit be raised. Obama is seeking a larger deficit reduction plan, totaling about $4 trillion over the decade, but would include both spending cuts and tax revenue. The GOP has rejected that idea.
In addition to the divisions between the Republicans and the White House, the GOP remains internally divided over how to proceed, Tiffany Earrings with some Republican leaders pushing for a compromise while other press toward a greater confrontation with Obama.
The flare-up came at the end of the nearly two-hour session during which House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told the president that Congress should instead consider a series of debt ceiling votes based on spending cuts that already have been identified. Talks could then continue to identify additional cuts for subsequent votes, he said.
Republicans have refused Democrats' call for taxes on the wealthy. The president responded by ending the meeting, sources said.
"I suggested we were so far apart I didn't see in the time before us how we get to where he wants us to be," Cantor told reporters after the meeting.
Obama warned Cantor not to set such an ultimatum, and according to congressional and administration aides repeated his vow to veto legislation that would extend the debt ceiling only for a short period.
"The president told me, 'Eric, don't call my bluff. I'm going to take this to the American people,' " Cantor said.
Aides described it as the tensest meeting yet in the months of discussions, with the president at one point accusing both sides of posturing.
Democratic officials, however, denied reports Tiffany Bracelets that Obama had "walked out" of the meeting. "Left abruptly is perfectly fair," one official said. "But the meeting was over — in no sense did he walk out on it."
Toward the end of the meeting, before he left, Obama said: "This process is confirming what the American people think is the worst about Washington: that everyone is more interested in posturing, political position and protecting their base than solving real problems," according to a second Democratic official familiar with the talks. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the nature of the discussions.
The president "was most insistent that he wanted the debt limit extended into 2013, because he believes a repeat of what we're going through now, when things will be politically more tense, would be very destabilizing," the second official said.
During the White House meeting, Moody's Investors Services issued a warning that it was putting the U.S. credit rating on watch for possible downgrade — which could set off a firestorm in the financial markets if Congress does not act soon to raise the federal debt ceiling.
The White House and congressional Republicans have been locked for more than a month in a stalemate over raising the federal government's $14.3-trillion debt ceiling. Administration officials say the government will be unable to pay all of its bills if the limit is not raised by Aug. 2.
Obama warned Tuesday that failure to raise the debt ceiling could mean that Social Security checks, veterans benefits and other government obligations would not be paid as scheduled in August.
Republicans have refused to vote for the debt ceiling increase unless it is accompanied by steep spending cuts equaling about $2.4 trillion over the next decade, though their own spending plan requires that the limit be raised. Obama is seeking a larger deficit reduction plan, totaling about $4 trillion over the decade, but would include both spending cuts and tax revenue. The GOP has rejected that idea.
In addition to the divisions between the Republicans and the White House, the GOP remains internally divided over how to proceed, Tiffany Earrings with some Republican leaders pushing for a compromise while other press toward a greater confrontation with Obama.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Obama gives Social Security warning in debt debate
President Obama said he "cannot guarantee" that pandora bracelets uk sale millions of Social Security beneficiaries would get their checks as scheduled next month unless he and congressional leaders agreed to raise the nation's debt limit by Aug. 2, a warning that came as both sides ratcheted up the tension over the monthlong standoff.
Amid a volley of charges and countercharges over who would bear responsibility for a crisis, the Senate's Republican leader proposed a complex plan under which Congress would largely surrender its authority to determine the debt ceiling.
The proposal offered by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would essentially flip the debt ceiling process on its head. Rather than vote on measures to raise the debt limit, members of Congress would vote on bills that would forbid increases. Obama's presumably certain veto of the measures would allow the ceiling to rise. Politically, Republicans could claim to be voting to hold the line against a higher limit, safe in the knowledge that there would be no catastrophic default on federal borrowings.
But the plan would essentially abandon the GOP quest to use the debt ceiling as a mechanism to force deep cuts in the federal budget, and was widely criticized by conservatives.
Obama has rejected plans for a short-term agreement, but the White House said McConnell's proposal was an acknowledgment of the importance of meeting U.S. obligations.
The back-and-forth played out Tuesday in a darkening atmosphere, with the White House saying that federal officials would face a "Sophie's choice" in deciding what to pay when federal revenue falls short of bills coming due, as is expected in the absence of an increase in borrowing authority from Congress.
Obama wants a resolution within 10 days to avoid unpredictable reactions by financial markets to the growing uncertainty, but Republicans tiffany earrings accuse the White House of trying to stampede them to an agreement.
Until now, administration officials have declined to specify which bills they would pay after Aug. 2 with no increase in borrowing authority.
But in an interview with "CBS Evening News," Obama issued his most explicit warning about government benefits and said for the first time that the elderly might not be the only ones affected.
"This is not just a matter of Social Security checks," Obama said. "These are veterans' checks, these are folks on disability and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out every month."
Based on cash flow projections, the government will have enough to cover only slightly more than 55% of its bills in August.
Republicans have said the Treasury Department should prioritize its bills. But besides debt service, the biggest government bills are for Social Security checks, Medicare, weapons for the military, fuel, active-duty military personnel and unemployment benefits.
"That would then entail a kind of 'Sophie's choice' situation where you have to decide what bills you can pay," said Jay Carney, the president's spokesman. "So, no, we can't guarantee, if there were a default, any specific bill will be paid."
Carney said the administration did not want to confront a decision to pay "the Chinese government, but not pay Social Security recipients or veterans' benefits recipients."
Some Republicans said Obama was resorting to scare tactics to win an increase in the debt ceiling. "Telling seniors that they may not receive their Social Security checks is his backdoor way of trying to fulfill his desire to raise the debt limit without any conditions," said freshman Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.).
McConnell, the minority leader, ignited a conservative backlash with his proposal to force Obama to repeatedly return to Congress for debt ceiling increases.
McConnell's plan, if passed, would create a legislative mechanism in which Obama would be required to request an increase in the debt ceiling in three stages, with the biggest increase scheduled for next summer, in the heat of the presidential campaign. Republicans and Democrats alike could then vote to oppose the request. If that "measure of disapproval" passes Congress, then Obama could veto it and the request would essentially be approved. Only a two-thirds majority in Congress could override the veto.
The plan would force Democrats to take a pandora bracelets political hit for raising the debt ceiling and allow the GOP to vote against it without risk of default.
McConnell said his proposal was not his "first choice," but that he had little alternative but to offer a contingency plan. "As long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is unattainable," McConnell said.
Amid a volley of charges and countercharges over who would bear responsibility for a crisis, the Senate's Republican leader proposed a complex plan under which Congress would largely surrender its authority to determine the debt ceiling.
The proposal offered by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would essentially flip the debt ceiling process on its head. Rather than vote on measures to raise the debt limit, members of Congress would vote on bills that would forbid increases. Obama's presumably certain veto of the measures would allow the ceiling to rise. Politically, Republicans could claim to be voting to hold the line against a higher limit, safe in the knowledge that there would be no catastrophic default on federal borrowings.
But the plan would essentially abandon the GOP quest to use the debt ceiling as a mechanism to force deep cuts in the federal budget, and was widely criticized by conservatives.
Obama has rejected plans for a short-term agreement, but the White House said McConnell's proposal was an acknowledgment of the importance of meeting U.S. obligations.
The back-and-forth played out Tuesday in a darkening atmosphere, with the White House saying that federal officials would face a "Sophie's choice" in deciding what to pay when federal revenue falls short of bills coming due, as is expected in the absence of an increase in borrowing authority from Congress.
Obama wants a resolution within 10 days to avoid unpredictable reactions by financial markets to the growing uncertainty, but Republicans tiffany earrings accuse the White House of trying to stampede them to an agreement.
Until now, administration officials have declined to specify which bills they would pay after Aug. 2 with no increase in borrowing authority.
But in an interview with "CBS Evening News," Obama issued his most explicit warning about government benefits and said for the first time that the elderly might not be the only ones affected.
"This is not just a matter of Social Security checks," Obama said. "These are veterans' checks, these are folks on disability and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out every month."
Based on cash flow projections, the government will have enough to cover only slightly more than 55% of its bills in August.
Republicans have said the Treasury Department should prioritize its bills. But besides debt service, the biggest government bills are for Social Security checks, Medicare, weapons for the military, fuel, active-duty military personnel and unemployment benefits.
"That would then entail a kind of 'Sophie's choice' situation where you have to decide what bills you can pay," said Jay Carney, the president's spokesman. "So, no, we can't guarantee, if there were a default, any specific bill will be paid."
Carney said the administration did not want to confront a decision to pay "the Chinese government, but not pay Social Security recipients or veterans' benefits recipients."
Some Republicans said Obama was resorting to scare tactics to win an increase in the debt ceiling. "Telling seniors that they may not receive their Social Security checks is his backdoor way of trying to fulfill his desire to raise the debt limit without any conditions," said freshman Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.).
McConnell, the minority leader, ignited a conservative backlash with his proposal to force Obama to repeatedly return to Congress for debt ceiling increases.
McConnell's plan, if passed, would create a legislative mechanism in which Obama would be required to request an increase in the debt ceiling in three stages, with the biggest increase scheduled for next summer, in the heat of the presidential campaign. Republicans and Democrats alike could then vote to oppose the request. If that "measure of disapproval" passes Congress, then Obama could veto it and the request would essentially be approved. Only a two-thirds majority in Congress could override the veto.
The plan would force Democrats to take a pandora bracelets political hit for raising the debt ceiling and allow the GOP to vote against it without risk of default.
McConnell said his proposal was not his "first choice," but that he had little alternative but to offer a contingency plan. "As long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is unattainable," McConnell said.
Thailand's Yingluck plays down endorsement delay
The woman set to become Thailand's pandora bracelets uk sale first female prime minister on Wednesday played down a decision by the Election Commission to postpone certification of her poll victory over allegations she violated electoral law.
The commission announced late Tuesday that 44-year-old Yingluck Shinawatra was one of a quarter of winning candidates from the country's July 3 parliamentary ballot whose endorsements were still pending investigations into complaints against them.
Any move to disqualify Yingluck, who heads the opposition Pheu Thai party, could trigger mass protests by her supporters and spark a new round of turmoil in the fractious Southeast Asian nation.
"I believe that the Election Commission will grant justice to me and the Pheu Thai party," Yingluck told reporters Wednesday.
She described the postponement as part of a "normal process" for the commission and said it still had a month to investigate and make a final decision.
The Election Commission, which has the right to disqualify winners, did not specify reasons for it rulings Tuesday and could still certify the candidates' victories in the days ahead if they are absolved of the complaints against them. The commission is expected to certify a second batch of candidates next week.
Among the 142 candidates in the 500-member pandora bracelets uk lower house of parliament that the commission failed to endorse was Yingluck's main rival, the army-backed incumbent Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Yingluck is the youngest sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose overthrow in a 2006 military coup triggered years of unrest that many see as pitting long-marginalized rural Thais against an elite alliance comprising the army, the military and powerful businessmen and politicians.
Thaksin is barred from politics and lives in exile in Dubai to escape a two-year prison term on a graft conviction that he says is politically motivated. His overthrow was followed by controversial court rulings that removed two pro-Thaksin premiers who came after him - one of whom won a 2007 vote intended to restore democracy in the nation of 66 million people.
The Election Commission's decision could mark the start of another "judicial coup" against the pro-Thaksin camp, said Pavin Chachavalpongpun of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore,
"This is a postelection attempt to prevent the Pheu Thai party from coming to power," Pavin told The Associated Press by telephone.
At the very least, he said, "it will stir up resentment among their supporters. And it could end up prolonging the Thai crisis."
Yingluck's Pheu Thai party won 265 of the cheap tiffany jewelry parliament seats up for grabs in this month's vote, a victory that gave the opposition the crucial majority it needed to form a government.
The commission announced late Tuesday that 44-year-old Yingluck Shinawatra was one of a quarter of winning candidates from the country's July 3 parliamentary ballot whose endorsements were still pending investigations into complaints against them.
Any move to disqualify Yingluck, who heads the opposition Pheu Thai party, could trigger mass protests by her supporters and spark a new round of turmoil in the fractious Southeast Asian nation.
"I believe that the Election Commission will grant justice to me and the Pheu Thai party," Yingluck told reporters Wednesday.
She described the postponement as part of a "normal process" for the commission and said it still had a month to investigate and make a final decision.
The Election Commission, which has the right to disqualify winners, did not specify reasons for it rulings Tuesday and could still certify the candidates' victories in the days ahead if they are absolved of the complaints against them. The commission is expected to certify a second batch of candidates next week.
Among the 142 candidates in the 500-member pandora bracelets uk lower house of parliament that the commission failed to endorse was Yingluck's main rival, the army-backed incumbent Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Yingluck is the youngest sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose overthrow in a 2006 military coup triggered years of unrest that many see as pitting long-marginalized rural Thais against an elite alliance comprising the army, the military and powerful businessmen and politicians.
Thaksin is barred from politics and lives in exile in Dubai to escape a two-year prison term on a graft conviction that he says is politically motivated. His overthrow was followed by controversial court rulings that removed two pro-Thaksin premiers who came after him - one of whom won a 2007 vote intended to restore democracy in the nation of 66 million people.
The Election Commission's decision could mark the start of another "judicial coup" against the pro-Thaksin camp, said Pavin Chachavalpongpun of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore,
"This is a postelection attempt to prevent the Pheu Thai party from coming to power," Pavin told The Associated Press by telephone.
At the very least, he said, "it will stir up resentment among their supporters. And it could end up prolonging the Thai crisis."
Yingluck's Pheu Thai party won 265 of the cheap tiffany jewelry parliament seats up for grabs in this month's vote, a victory that gave the opposition the crucial majority it needed to form a government.
Monday, July 11, 2011
As Ramadan approaches, Libyan rebels worry about mounting odds
Rebels battling Moammar Gaddafi’s forces in Libya’s western tiffany pendants mountains fear that supply shortages and other hurdles could prevent them from making major headway before fighting is likely to slow for Ramadan next month.
Rebel leaders say that limited fuel, water and food could take a toll on the fighting force as temperatures soar in the arid mountain ridge where the rebels have been slowly but steadily gaining ground on troops loyal to Gaddafi.
“It will be more difficult for us,” Col. Juma Ibrahim, a senior rebel commander, said of the period of religious observance during which many Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. Ramadan begins toward the start of August.
Even as the rebels look to sustain their momentum after a series of mountain victories, there are few signs that the tide is shifting definitively against Gaddafi and his troops.
Fighting on two major fronts in the east remains largely deadlocked, with neither side able to mount continued, large-scale advances. And Gaddafi remains in control of large swaths of the country, including stronghold Tripoli and a key corridor east of the capital that is a vital conduit for supplies.
“Most people are thinking only about weapons tiffany bracelets,” said Ibrahim, a Libyan air force pilot who defected and is one of the senior rebel commanders in the Nafusa Mountains. “But we should be thinking about everything: water, food, shoes, clothes, equipment.”
Ibrahim said Islam permits fighters to forgo fasting during Ramadan in times of war, but he said rebel leaders hope to at least make bold strides before the end of the month.
“We don’t want to be fighting during Ramadan,” he said in a recent interview in the rebel military command center in Zintan, which has become a garrison town. “We’re trying very hard to finish” the march toward Tripoli before the end of the month.
Gaddafi’s government appears intent on holding on to Gharyan, the last mountain town that sits on a major highway to Tripoli. Government minders took Western journalists to the city Sunday in an effort to show that support for Gaddafi remained strong there.
But the Associated Press reported that graffiti in Gharyan had been painted over, apparently to cover anti-Gaddafi slogans, though phrases such as “Libya free” remained visible.
Although mountain rebels benefit from knowing the terrain better than their enemy, many of the squads are poorly equipped and trained. Fighters commonly barrel into battle in the back of pickup trucks, some carrying century-old rifles.
“We don’t have helmets or body armor,” said rebel fighter Hussein Muhammad, 30, a former soldier in the Libyan army. “Many haven’t had any training. These are students, doctors, engineers and civilians.”
Having wrested control of the village of al-Qualish last week, the rebels are gearing up for battles for Asabiah, the next town en route tiffany key rings to Tripoli, and then Gharyan. Controlling the latter would constitute an important victory because it would choke off one of the two gateways that Gaddafi’s military uses to resupply forces in Tripoli.
Rebel leaders say that limited fuel, water and food could take a toll on the fighting force as temperatures soar in the arid mountain ridge where the rebels have been slowly but steadily gaining ground on troops loyal to Gaddafi.
“It will be more difficult for us,” Col. Juma Ibrahim, a senior rebel commander, said of the period of religious observance during which many Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. Ramadan begins toward the start of August.
Even as the rebels look to sustain their momentum after a series of mountain victories, there are few signs that the tide is shifting definitively against Gaddafi and his troops.
Fighting on two major fronts in the east remains largely deadlocked, with neither side able to mount continued, large-scale advances. And Gaddafi remains in control of large swaths of the country, including stronghold Tripoli and a key corridor east of the capital that is a vital conduit for supplies.
“Most people are thinking only about weapons tiffany bracelets,” said Ibrahim, a Libyan air force pilot who defected and is one of the senior rebel commanders in the Nafusa Mountains. “But we should be thinking about everything: water, food, shoes, clothes, equipment.”
Ibrahim said Islam permits fighters to forgo fasting during Ramadan in times of war, but he said rebel leaders hope to at least make bold strides before the end of the month.
“We don’t want to be fighting during Ramadan,” he said in a recent interview in the rebel military command center in Zintan, which has become a garrison town. “We’re trying very hard to finish” the march toward Tripoli before the end of the month.
Gaddafi’s government appears intent on holding on to Gharyan, the last mountain town that sits on a major highway to Tripoli. Government minders took Western journalists to the city Sunday in an effort to show that support for Gaddafi remained strong there.
But the Associated Press reported that graffiti in Gharyan had been painted over, apparently to cover anti-Gaddafi slogans, though phrases such as “Libya free” remained visible.
Although mountain rebels benefit from knowing the terrain better than their enemy, many of the squads are poorly equipped and trained. Fighters commonly barrel into battle in the back of pickup trucks, some carrying century-old rifles.
“We don’t have helmets or body armor,” said rebel fighter Hussein Muhammad, 30, a former soldier in the Libyan army. “Many haven’t had any training. These are students, doctors, engineers and civilians.”
Having wrested control of the village of al-Qualish last week, the rebels are gearing up for battles for Asabiah, the next town en route tiffany key rings to Tripoli, and then Gharyan. Controlling the latter would constitute an important victory because it would choke off one of the two gateways that Gaddafi’s military uses to resupply forces in Tripoli.
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