|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Republican candidate admits he was 'completely wrong' to say nearly half of voters were dependent on government support Mitt Romney has said his comment on a secretly taped video in which he disparaged 47% of voters as dependent on government "was just completely wrong", as he attempts to repair the damage from the controversy. Romney's interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News was the first time he completely disavowed remarks he made at a private fundraiser in May and that have emerged as a major stumbling block in his campaign against Democratic president Barack Obama. The "47%" videotape did not come up during his Wednesday night debate with Obama, although the Democratic campaign has used his remarks in a television ad. Asked what he would have said if the issue had come up in the Denver debate, Romney said he would have said that after thousands of speeches as a presidential candidate, "now and then you're going to say something that doesn't come out right". "In this case, I said something that was just completely wrong," he said. "I absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that I care about 100%. And that's been demonstrated throughout my life. This whole campaign is about the 100%. When I become president, it will be about helping the 100%." Romney said at the Florida fundraiser that 47% of voters were dependent on government and unlikely to support him in the election on 6 November. When the video was disclosed on 17 September by liberal magazine Mother Jones, Romney said his comments had been "not elegantly stated" but that he stood by them. Obama has been criticised by some of his supporters for not bringing up the 47% video at the Denver debate. The president has been widely declared as the loser in that encounter, with two more presidential TV debates to come later this month.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President tells sea of cheering supporters in central Caracas: 'we will not lose the fatherland' Amid thunder and driving rain, Hugo Chávez marked the conclusion of his toughest presidential race yet on Thursday with a passionate address to hundreds of thousands of supporters in Caracas. The mass rally transformed the city centre into a sea of cheering, dancing, red-shirted followers on the final day of campaigning before Sunday's vote, which looks likely to be the closest since the former tank commander won power in 1998. The turn-out was bigger than the huge opposition rally staged in Caracas last Sunday by his rival Henrique Capriles, who has narrowed the gap between the two candidates but is still significantly behind in most polls. Chávez is the favourite, but few are predicting a landslide victory on the scale of past wins. Having battled cancer for most of the past year, he has been less visible than during previous campaigns. With many in the electorate frustrated at high murder rates and declining infrastructure, the opposition believe this is their best chance to grab power. But the president has made a good show of disproving his critics. Although some predicted his illness was so bad that he would not survive until election day, he has picked up the pace in the past week and looked robust early on Thursday as he spoke, danced and sang on stage despite the torrential downpour. Fresh health doubts were raised, however, when he abruptly curtailed plans to end the rally with a open-top motorcade to the presidential palance in Miraflores on the grounds that there were "too many people in the streets". Earlier, he had stressed the importance of remaining in power. "We are playing for life. In our hands we will not lose the fatherland, we will not lose the future of the fatherland," he proclaimed to a fervent crowd. He led a chorus of the national anthem, played air guitar to a campaign soundtrack and led his family on stage to huge applause. But as well as triumphalism and defiance, Chávez has added an unusual degree of contrition in recent speeches, where he has tended to refer to himself in the third person: "I have made many mistakes, but I am here with all my soul. Chávez is not me. Chávez is the people," he said at a rally on Sunday. "Chávez will not fail you the next term … during the next term he will be a better president, more efficient, a better companion." Capriles meantime closed his campaign in the city of Barquisimeto with a rally that drew tens of thousands of supporters clad in the tricolour baseball cap that has become his trademark. He called Chávez a great contender and described the race as a "spiritual battle between David and Goliath and just like in the biblical account David will win". If Chávez wins another term, aides say the president is preparing to do more to address security and economic concerns in recognition of the shortcomings that have eroded his popularity. But his core of support remains vast. The crowds had been gathering in Bolívar Avenue and other major thoroughfares since the morning. Some had travelled hundreds of miles on overnight buses. Others had come by subway, motorbike or foot from the Caracas barrios to show their support for a politician whom they credit for doing more for the poor than any other leader in the country's history. "I'm here to show support for Chávez because I've seen how the country has been transformed in the past 14 years," said Ligia Escalona, a law student from Lara state, who had left at 1am to make the long journey to Caracas. "Thanks to the education programs, people who have not previously had access to schooling are now literate and have an opportunity to go to college." Many wore red and blue shirts emblazoned with the president's eyes or slogans declaring "Chávez, heart of the fatherland". Some wore hats bearing the portraits of the heroes of Latin America's left: Chávez, Simón Bolívar, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Rafael Correa and Evo Morales. Others carried banners reading "On the way to victory on 7 October." The streets were filled with noise as well as colour: vuvuzelas, whistles, drums, loudspeakers playing salsa mixed with political lyrics, and chants of "Oh, aah, Chávez no se va" (Chávez won't go) – a slogan first heard after a failed 2002 coup against the president. Junior Landaetta, a police student, had come with a samba band to add to the fiesta spirit. Aged 18, he is part of a new generation who will vote for the first time on Sunday – a key segment of the electorate in a country that has undergone rapid population growth in recent years. "I'll vote for Chávez until death," he said as his band passed by the Congress building. "He has done so much for the country. If Capriles wins, I think everything will fall to pieces." Polls, analysts and the electorate are sharply divided about the likely outcome, but there is widespread agreement that Chávez has lost some of his previously enormous support. "The serious polls show Chávez will win by about 14%. But I can see that Capriles has done a good campaign and that the gap has been closing in the last few days. It might now be between 7 and 10 points," said Nicmer Evans, a left-leaning political scientist at the Central University of Venezuela. "The main reasons why Chávez's popularity has waned is flaws in management. Although he has been very successful in creating political consciousness, Chávez accepts criticism about the quality of the revolution." "I think it will be close and that Capriles will win," said Teodoro Petkoff, a former Marxist guerilla, founder of the Socialist party and former presidential election challenger. "If the gap is just 1 or 2 points for either contender, it could unleash violence." Close aides of the president dismiss rumours of possible unrest, saying the president will accept the result, whatever the outcome. But his supporters on the streets said they would defend the gains they have won under Chávez. "Capriles is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He would dismantle everything we've built," said Henry Reveron, a former peasant who has been able to train as a lawyer under one of Chávez's social "misions". "If Chávez loses, we'll go into unwavering opposition. This is a peaceful revolution, but if needed we'll go into the mountains and fight with our nails, teeth, arms and whatever is necessary. Venezuela is no longer naive."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Parliament approves 'deterrent' measures as UN warns of threat to regional stability Turkey's parliament has given legal authority to the military to launch cross-border raids into Syria in response to Wednesday's deadly mortar strikes that killed five civilians and edged the two former allies closer to a big conflict. The vote to allow the military to cross into Syria at any point over the next year was passed by 320 votes to 129. Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkey did not want war with Syria following the shelling on the town of Akçakale but was determined to protect its borders and its people. "We want peace and security and nothing else. We could never want to start a war," Erdogan said. "Turkey is a country which is capable of protecting its people and borders. No one should attempt to test our determination on the issue." Erdogan suggested the Syrian shelling was not accidental, saying shells had fallen on Turkish territory on seven previous occasions since the civil war began. The UN security council also issued strong condemnation of the Akçakale attack. A security council statement on Thursday night said: "This incident highlighted the grave impact the crisis in Syria has on the security of its neighbours and on regional peace and stability." The council demanded an immediate end to such violations of international law and called on the Syrian government "to fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbours". The statement managed to bridge differences between the US and its western allies which were demanding a strong text and Syria's most important ally, Russia, which tried to soften the text. Ankara said it had received an apology from the Syrian regime on Thursday, relayed by the UN, and an assurance that such an incident would not occur again. The moves by the Turkish parliament followed a day of high tension on the restive frontier and at least 12 hours of artillery fire from southern Turkey at targets deep inside north Syria. Observers outside the country who had spoken to activists in Tel Abyad, about nine miles from the border, claimed an unknown number of Syrian soldiers had been killed by the Turkish fire and others had withdrawn from their bases. As the shellfire ceased shortly after sunrise Thursday, officials in Ankara announced that Erdogan, would turn to parliament for the same sort of legal backing that underpinned the country's operations against Kurdish groups in north Iraq. Erdogan's motion said the shelling had been "on the threshold of an armed attack" and was a "serious threat to Turkish national security". The statement said: "As part of the military operations being conducted by the Syrian Arab republic armed forces, starting from [20 September] aggressive actions have been directed against our country's territories too. These actions have continued despite our repeated warnings and diplomatic initiatives. "Therefore, the need has developed to act rapidly and to take necessary precautions against additional risks and threats that may be directed against our country." Besir Atalay, the deputy prime minister, later said: "The bill is not for war. It has deterrent qualities." On Thursday Turkey moved troops and armour to the area near the town of Akçakale, which was hit late on Wednesday afternoon by at least two shells fired from Syria. Officials said radar tracks had shown the firing point was about six miles inside Syria, near a military base used by regime troops. The Syrian strike was roundly condemned by Nato, of which Turkey is a member state, as well as the UN and US. Russia, a staunch ally of Damascus and backer of Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, in the uprising, said it had asked its ally to explain what had happened and to apologise for any "mistake". Atalay later claimed to have received the indirect Syrian apology. There was no immediate comment from Damascus. Turkey and Syria had edged towards conflict in the summer when a Turkish jet was downed by a missile fired from Tartous, in Syria. On that occasion, Turkey invoked the Nato treaty that can require the powerful security body to defend a member state under attack. Ankara did not retaliate at the time but said it would do so against future provocations. Syria has accused Turkey of arming and sheltering the Free Syria army, its main adversary in the now blazing civil war. Syrian officials brand the rebel forces terrorists and say they are backed by foreign powers. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato's chief, reiterated to the Guardian on Monday that Nato would not support a Libya-style military intervention in Syria. "Syria is a very, very, complex society. Foreign military interventions could have broader impacts." An urgent meeting of Nato ambassadors hours after the Syrian strike produced a strongly worded statement condemning Damascus, but offered no hint that its anti-intervention stance had changed. "The alliance continues to stand by Turkey and demands the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts against an ally, and urges the Syrian regime to put an end to flagrant violations of international law," it said. Meanwhile, close to 100 people were reported to have died across Syria on Thursday as fighting continued to rage in most parts of the country. The popular uprising, inspired by the Arab spring, which by earlier this year had morphed into an intensive armed insurrection, has now claimed in excess of 30,000 lives and shows no signs of abating. Aleppo and Damascus are battle zones, as are most secondary cities and towns. The deteriorating situation in Syria poses an ever increasing risk to neighbouring states, including Turkey, which is already battling an insurgency led by restive Kurdish groups in Iraq and Syria.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Officials said all of those infected received spinal injections of a steroid solution sold by a Massachusetts-based facility Health officials investigating a deadly outbreak of a rare fungal meningitis have urged doctors and hospitals across 23 states to contact patients who may have received a contaminated steroid injection in the last three months, in order to check them for symptoms. The rapidly evolving outbreak has already killed five people and a further 35 are ill in six states, some of them "very seriously". Officials, who have focused their investigations on an injection made by the New England Compounding Center (NECC), in Massachusetts, have expanded a recall and warned physicians, hospitals and clinics not use any products which may have come from the company. When investigators from the Food and Drug Administration inspected NECC's facility, they found a fungal contaminate in a sealed vial of a steroid, methylprednisolone acetate. They also found what they described as "foreign material" in another, opened vial. Tests are still being carried out to determine if the contaminant matches that causing the illnesses and to determine the second contaminant. NECC, which issued a recall of three lots of the steroid last week, has told the Food and Drug Administration that it is expanding its recall. The company is licensed to distribute injections in 50 states. Officials said all of those infected with fungal meningitis received spinal injections of a steroid solution sold by NEEC. The outbreak has renewed debate over who should regulate specialty pharmacies which combine, alter active ingredients or both to make custom medications, much like early pharmacists. They are under the control of state pharmacy boards, but critics have pointed to outbreaks of deadly infections linked to compounded pharmacies, as evidence that they need tighter controls by federal agencies. The New York Times reported a bacterial infection that killed nine people in two hospitals in Birmingham Alabama, in early 2011. Another 10 people were sickened by the Serratia marcescens bacteria, which was in an intravenous nutritional supplement prepared by a local compounding pharmacy. The FDA said it had issued a warning letter to NEEC in 2006, but it was not about the steroid solution. It did not elaborate. On Thursday, during a joint press conference by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), officials described the type of meningitis as "severe" and said early intervention was important for treatment. They said they did not know how many patients might be affected. Neither did they know how many doses of injection were in each lot of the steroids already recalled or the volume involved. Ilisa Bernstein, director of compliance at the FDA's center for drug evaluation and research, said: "Given the severity of the illness, we believed this precautionary measures are necessary to protect public health." Dr Benjamin Park, a medical officer at the CDC, said the number of infected patients is expected to grow, as the three lots of methylprednisolone acetate initially recalled by the company on 26 September were distributed to 75 health care facilities in 23 states. Park said: "If patents are concerned, they should call to find out if they have received medicine from one of these lots" Asked if it were possible that the products could be available in more than 23 states, Bernstein said: "There is a risk that's why we are asking physicians hospitals and clinics not to use their products at all." To date, they have no evidence of any ill effects of any other NECC product, according to the CDC. She said they were working with the company to establish a list of products they manufacture. Twenty-five of the cases are in Tennessee, where a Nashville clinic received the largest shipment of the steroid, according to officials at the CDC. Four cases have been reported in Virginia, two in Maryland, two in Florida, one in Indiana and one in North Carolina. Three of the deaths were in Tennessee, one in Virginia and one in Maryland. The type of meningitis involved is not contagious like the more common forms. This type is caused by a fungus often found in leaf mould and which health officials suspect may have been in the steroid. Early intervention is important in treatment and could improve the outcome in patients, Park said. "Fungal meningitis is quite a rare infection and physicians may not be suspecting it. The treatment is an anti-fungal medicine given intravenously, so a patient would be admitted to hospital." Treatment for the illness could take months. He said the steroid is usually given for back pain and that the patients tended to be older but were otherwise in good health. What is not clear is whether new infections are occurring. Federal health officials are looking for, and increasingly finding, illnesses that occurred in the past two or three months. At three clinics in Tennessee, officials are contacting the more than 900 people who received the steroid in the past three months. The incubation period is estimated at anywhere from two to 28 days, so some people may not have fallen ill yet, Tennessee health officials said. Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include severe and worsening headache, nausea, dizziness and fever. Some of the patients also experienced slurred speech, and difficulty walking and urinating, Tennessee health officials said. "Some are doing well and improving. Some are very ill, very, very seriously ill and may die," Dr David Reagan, a Tennessee health official, said of the state's patients. Investigators also have been looking into the antiseptic and anaesthetic used during the injections. Neither has been ruled out. However, the primary suspicion is on the steroid medication. Steroid shots are common for back pain, often given together with an anaesthetic.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US palaeontologist Paul Sereno says Pegomastax africanus ate only plants but used unusual teeth to ward off predators Given that it weighed only as much as a domestic cat and probably ate only plants, a new species of dinosaur recently unveiled by an expert at the University of Chicago is not likely to compete with Tyrannosaurus rex in the affections of many dino-fans. Except that Prof Paul Sereno has a certain way with words when it comes to describing the unusual beast. "It looks like a fanged vampire parrot," he told the Guardian. "And it probably had bristles, too. So it was a bristled, vampire parrot-like dinosaur." That, of course, is not its official name. The new species that Sereno has now described in an analysis in the journal Zookeys is called Pegomastax africanus – Latin for "thick jaw from Africa". It is one of a well-known breed of tiny early dinosaurs called heterodontasaurs, which refers to their unusually-shaped teeth. Which is where the vampire moniker comes from. For Sereno's new species of heterodontasaur has especially unusual and prominent front teeth, giving its skull a fearsome look that more than resembles something about to try and suck some blood. It also has a short, parrot-like beak. "What was it doing with these fangs?" asks Sereno. In his paper he answers his own question. Though some scientists have suggested that heterodontasaurs used their teeth to eat small prey – such as insects – that could supplement a plant-based diet, Sereno disagrees. Instead he suggests that the dinosaurs were entirely vegetarian and used their teeth for other reasons, such as display to attract a mate or to frighten off larger creatures that might prey upon them. He points to modern animals, such as the peccary and the fanged deer, which have similar dental arrangements despite being herbivores. In order to back up his thesis, Sereno examined the fossils of a specimen of Pegomastax africanus, and looked at wear and tear traces, as well as the way that its jaws and teeth articulated and fitted together. He concluded that the teeth were simply not suited to cutting meat and even built a wooden model to back up his ideas. "The fangs were something for display. These were not scissors for slicing meat," he said. Sereno did not discover his specimen out in the field. But instead came across it in a collection of fossils at Harvard. He first noticed it in 1983 – after the collection had arrived at Harvard in the 1960s from South America – but it took him almost three decades to get around to trying to officially describe it. "I got swept up in other expeditions after I first noticed it and so it took me 30 years to write it up," he said. The specimen was found in rock that was around 200 million years old and the species eventually died out after spreading all over the world. Sereno believes its diet and habitat became specialised and made it vulnerable to changes in its environment. "I suspect the plant life they depended upon disappeared, and that is what caused their extinction," he said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President turns on Romney for 'dancing around his positions' as he seeks to revive fortunes following lacklustre Denver display Barack Obama and the Democrats have accused Mitt Romney of dishonesty as they seek to limit the political damage from the president's lacklustre performance in the first debate. Speaking at a rally in Denver on Thursday morning before flying to another campaign event in Wisconsin, Obama suggested the Republican had not been candid about his positions on tax and other issues on the podium on Wednesday evening. "Governor Romney may dance around his positions but if you want to be president, you owe the American people the truth," he said. "When I got on to the stage, I met this spirited fellow who claimed to be Mitt Romney," Obama told the crowd. "But it couldn't have been Mitt Romney, because the real Mitt Romney has been running around the country the last year promising $5tn in tax cuts that favor the wealthy. The fellow on stage said he didn't know anything about that." The confident, fired-up appearance by Obama was in stark contrast to his performance in the debate when he seemed disengaged, and at time frustrated as Romney batted away attacks on his policies. In one key exchange at the start, Obama said Romney was planning $5tn of tax cuts and had not explained how he was going to pay for those without increasing the deficit. Romney flat-out denied this was his policy. But independent analysts have said the tax cuts he is proposing would total almost $5tn over 10 years, and that it would be "mathematically impossible" to pay for that solely by stopping tax breaks for high-income individuals. Later, during a section on healthcare, Romney insisted that he had an alternative plan to ensure that people with pre-existing conditions were not discriminated against by health insurance companies. But after the debate, senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom conceded that it would be down to individual states to introduce legislation to protect people with pre-existing conditions. The Democrats are planning to hold Romney to account on these and other issues, Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, told reporters in a conference call on Thursday morning. "Governor Romney gave a good performance and we give him credit for that," Axelrod said. "The problem is that none of it was rooted in fact." Describing Romney as "devoid of honesty", he also accused the Republican of lying over his claim that he would regulate Wall Street. As the Obama team conducted its post-mortem, his campaign advisers faced questions about why Obama had appeared tired and uninterested, and about his failure to match Romney's aggression. Axelrod admitted that Democratic supporters would have been disappointed that Obama had not raised strong issues such as the Republican position on women's rights, or the secret video showing Romney disparaging 47% of voters as freeloaders or his record as chief executive of the investment fund Bain Capital. Axelrod said the president had not wanted the debate to turn into a slugfest that would have alienated the millions of television viewers. One of Axelrod's counterparts in the Romney camp, Ed Gillespie, interviewed on MSNBC, defended Romney's failure to go into the specifics of his tax plans, saying it would not make sense to box himself into a policy ahead of negotiations between a president and Congress. "If you negotiate this now, you and me on the set or candidates in campaigns across the country, you end up locking people in positions in a political environment that makes it impossible to govern," Gillespie said. In the 90-minute debate, Romney was forceful from the start, accusing Obama of repeatedly portraying the Republican's policies as inaccurate, and he maintained that momentum throughout. Obama, looking tired and at times irritated, remained largely calm. Obama, seemingly frustrated with Romney's elusiveness, retorted that it had been his opponent's strategy for 18 months. "And now, five weeks before the election, he's saying that his big, bold idea is: 'Never mind'". At times, Romney patronised the president, saying that he did not understand business or accountancy. "Mr President, you're entitled to your own airplane and your own house, but not your own facts," he said at one point. In another powerful attack which is at the core of the Romney message, he listed unkept promises and told Obama: "You've been president for four years." The president, by contrast, was hesitant in his responses. One of the biggest surprises was that he failed to deliver any of the attacks that have been successful on the campaign trail and have been used to devastating effect in television ads in swing states. There was no mention of Romney's disparaging remarks about the 47% of the population being freeloaders, nor of his opponent's tenure at Bain Capital. The main image of the night will be of Romney, eyes alight, gesticulating from the podium with a rarely seen passion, while Obama, playing into his image as professorial, delivered most of his answers with his head down. On healthcare reform, Obama defended his controversial changes to expand coverage, saying it was almost identical to changes introduced by Romney while he was governor of Massachusetts. Romney denied they were identical, claimed Obama's plan increased costs and reiterated that he would repeal the reform. "In my opinion, the government is not effective in bringing down the cost of almost anything. The right answer is not to have the federal government take over healthcare,'' Romney said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Fears of major conflict grow as parliament approves 'deterrent' measures in wake of cross-border incident on Wednesday Turkey's parliament has given legal authority to the military to launch cross-border raids into Syria in response to Wednesday's deadly mortar strikes that killed five civilians and edged the two former allies closer to a big conflict. Claiming that the move was only a deterrent against Syrian strikes, the legislature voted to authorise the Turkish military to cross into Syria at any time during the next year. The vote was passed 320-129. Ankara claims to have received an apology from the Syrian regime on Thursday, relayed by the UN, and an assurance that such an incident would not occur again. The moves followed a day of high tension on the restive frontier and at least 12 hours of artillery fire from southern Turkey at targets deep inside north Syria. Observers outside the country who had spoken to activists in Tal Abiyad, about nine miles from the border, claimed an unknown number of Syrian soldiers had been killed by the Turkish fire and that others had withdrawn from their bases. As the shellfire ceased shortly after sunrise Thursday, officials in Ankara announced that the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, would turn to parliament for the same sort of legal backing that underpinned the country's operations against Kurdish groups in north Iraq. Erdogan's motion said the shelling had been "on the threshold of an armed attack" and was a "serious threat to Turkish national security". The statement said: "As part of the military operations being conducted by the Syrian Arab republic armed forces, starting from [20 September] aggressive actions have been directed against our country's territories too. These actions have continued despite our repeated warnings and diplomatic initiatives. "Therefore, the need has developed to act rapidly and to take necessary precautions against additional risks and threats that may be directed against our country." Besir Atalay, the deputy prime minister, later said: "The bill is not for war. It has deterrent qualities." On Thursday Turkey moved troops and armour to the area near the town of Akcakale, which had been hit, late Wednesday afternoon, by at least two shells fired from Syria. Officials said radar tracks had shown that the firing point was about six miles inside Syria, near a military base used by regime troops. The Syrian strike was roundly condemned by Nato, of which Turkey is a member state, as well as the UN and US. Russia, a staunch ally of Damascus and backer of Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, in the uprising, said it had asked its ally to explain what had happened and to apologise for any "mistake". Atalay later claimed to have received the indirect Syrian apology. There was no immediate comment from Damascus. Both countries had edged towards conflict in the summer when a Turkish jet was downed by a missile fired from Tartous, in Syria. On that occasion, Turkey invoked the Nato treaty that can require the powerful security body to defend a member state under attack. Ankara did not retaliate at the time but said it would do so against future provocations. Syria has accused Turkey of arming and sheltering the Free Syria army, its main adversary in the now blazing civil war. Syrian officials brand the rebel forces terrorists and say they are backed by foreign powers. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato's chief, reiterated to the Guardian on Monday that Nato would not support a Libya-style military intervention in Syria. "Syria is a very, very, complex society. Foreign military interventions could have broader impacts." An urgent meeting of Nato ambassadors hours after the Syrian strike produced a strongly worded statement condemning Damascus, but offered no hint that its anti-intervention stance had changed. "The alliance continues to stand by Turkey and demands the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts against an ally, and urges the Syrian regime to put an end to flagrant violations of international law," it said. Meanwhile, close to 100 people were reported to have died across Syria on Thursday as fighting continued to rage in most parts of the country. The popular uprising, inspired by the Arab spring, which by earlier this year had morphed into an intensive armed insurrection, has now claimed in excess of 30,000 lives and shows no signs of abating. Aleppo and Damascus are battle zones, as are most secondary cities and towns. The deteriorating situation in Syria poses an ever increasing risk to neighbouring states, including Turkey, which is already battling an insurgency led by restive Kurdish groups in Iraq and Syria.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Institute of International Finance says politicians put desire for debt reduction ahead of efforts to spur growth An influential group of international banks and insurers has attacked political leaders in Europe over their handling of the Greek crisis, arguing that the single minded pursuit of austerity has made the situation worse. The Institute of International Finance, which last year brokered a deal between Greece and international bond investors to halve Greece's private debts, said politicians are playing a dangerous game putting their desire for debt reduction ahead of co-ordinated efforts to spur growth. Charles Dallara, the institute's chairman, said the world's major economies needed to co-ordinate their efforts or risk persistent instability and low growth. Dallara, who was speaking ahead of the International Monetary Fund gathering in Tokyo next week, said governments were acting against their best interests by rejecting multilateral agreement on economic and regulatory reforms in favour of pursuing go-it-alone policies. Dallara said: "The international financial community has a collective interest in reducing the uncertainty that currently surrounds the global economic outlook. If we want to lay the basis for a durable global economic expansion, then we need to see more concerted action by the world's policymakers." European policymakers are expected to come under fire at the IMF for their failure bring an end to the current crisis, which has triggered riots in Portugal, Spain and Greece. Spain is poised to apply for a bailout from the European Union and the IMF that could amount to €400bn. Cyprus is expected to ask for an £11bn bailout within days. The uncertainty surrounding the finances of key European nations has added to the instability, Dallara said. Central banks have flooded the world's financial systems with cheap funds to foster lending to businesses and households while banks rebuild their finances, but a disjointed and often contradictory response to financial regulation meant much of the funds were not reaching their destination. "The world economy appears to be stuck at the crossroads, being pushed in one direction by easier monetary policy, and pulled in another by fiscal austerity," he said. The situation in Greece is of particular concern, he said, where unemployment has rocketed and poverty increased dramatically. The institute said the interest rate demanded by Brussels as the price of Athens' rescue package should be cut to lessen the burden and allow the country to recover. "It is urgent to complete the ongoing review of Greece's programme, with an extension of the time schedule of budget deficit targets. The latter can and could be accommodated without additional new financing by lowering interest charges on official credits in line with markedly reduced funding costs," he said. Portugal's political consensus is also crumbling under the weight of austerity measures that have pushed the economy into a long depression. Portugese unions have called for a general strike on 14 November after the government announced a new basket of tax rises and spending cuts, after withdrawing the previous batch following violent protests. The European Central Bank said that a rescue package for Spain would not include "punitive" costs, as it kept base rates at 0.75%. ECB president, Mario Draghi, hinted that he preferred to keep some of his armoury in reserve in case the economic situation for the 17-member eurozone deteriorates further. Draghi said he stood ready to launch the ECB's latest sovereign bond buying scheme, which offers individual countries the opportunity to sell their bonds at low interest rates to remain solvent, but he has yet to receive any applications. But as if to exemplify the splits inside the eurozone, German finance minister Wolgang Schaüble insisted that austerity measures be in place before the release of bailout funds. Schaüble, who has a reputation as a fiscal hardliner, has previously blocked attempts to ease controls and cut interest rates on country's struggling with their debts. Dallara said a small group of key G20 nations, including the US and Japan should co-ordinate their efforts to tackle fundamental problems to spur growth. "We call on the global policymaking leadership to act cohesively and give a clear direction. The international private financial community stands ready to do its part and cooperate, with its usual responsibility, with the official sector," he said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Alexander Fishenko and six others accused of selling microelectronics to be used in Russian weapons systems A Kazakh-born US citizen appeared in court Thursday on charges of illegally smuggling military technology for Russian intelligence. Alexander Fishenko and six others did not enter pleas at an initial hearing in Houston, during which they were formally briefed on the indictment. They will return to court on Friday at a session to determine if they are to be released on bail ahead of a possible trial. Prosecutors claim the defendants sold cutting-edge microelectronics that could be used in Russian weapons systems, exchanged communications with Russian intelligence and tried to hide documents when they suspected authorities were onto them. Moscow has denied it has anything to do with the alleged network, details of which were released by US authorities on Wednesday. The Russian foreign ministry has expressed surprise at the allegations. "The charges are of a criminal nature and have nothing to do with intelligence activity," deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian news agencies. The situation had led to concern in Russia, whose relations with its former cold war enemy remain difficult despite President Barack Obama's call for a new start. Authorities were questioning the Russian nationals who were among the accused, Ryabkov said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Washington had informed Moscow that the charges were criminal and unrelated to espionage.
"We will look into this situation and what really happened, and what charges are being imposed on our citizens," he said. US authorities had "not properly informed" Russia of the arrest of its citizens and Russian diplomats were seeking access to them, he added. A consul had met one in a courtroom, he said. In all, some 11 people, and companies based in Houston, Texas and Moscow, have been accused of illegally exporting high-tech components to Russian security agencies. A US official said Fishenko, a Kazakhstan native who immigrated to the United States in 1994 and has frequently travelled to Russia, had been charged with operating in the United States as an unregistered agent of the Russian government. The indictment alleges that since October 2008, the 46-year-old and his co-defendants "engaged in a surreptitious and systematic conspiracy" to obtain the highly regulated technology from US makers and export them to Russia. US authorities say the microelectronics could have a wide range of military uses, including radar and surveillance systems, weapons guidance systems and detonation triggers. They also say the charges come amid a modernization campaign by Russian military officials hungry for the restricted, American-made components. "The defendants tried to take advantage of America's free markets to steal American technologies for the Russian government," Loretta Lynch, US attorney in Brooklyn, said in a statement Wednesday. In an interview this week, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow and Washington must do more to strengthen relations because the "reset" called for by Obama could not last forever. Republican candidate Mitt Romney has accused Obama of being soft on Moscow during his four-year term and described Russia as the United States' "number one geopolitical foe".
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Google Library Project to proceed after seven-year court case brought by group of American publishers is resolved Google has reached a settlement with a group of American publishers over its plans to create a massive web-based library, ending seven years of court wrangling. The deal means that the scheme, the Google Library Project, can move ahead, collecting and scanning books online and making them searchable to web users. The project had begun with Google Books working with seven major universities to digitise their libraries. Once the books are scanned, excerpts can be read in search results. But several major publishers went to the courts, complaining of copyright infringement. The publishers were worried that the Google Library Project would undermine their business models, with users choosing to read large samples of the books online rather than to buy them. The deal announced today, the terms of which have not been fully disclosed, means that publishers will be able to choose to make their books available to Google or to have them removed from the project. Google Books will now make 20% of any book browsable and also allow users to purchase the whole book. Tom Allen, the president of the Association of American Publishers, which represented the aggrieved companies, said in a statement: "We are pleased that this settlement addresses the issues that led to the litigation. It shows that digital services can provide innovative means to discover content while still respecting the rights of copyright holders." The publishers involved in the case were McGraw Hill, John Wiley & Sons, Simon and Schuster and Pearson Education Inc and Penguin Group (USA), which are both part of Pearson. Google also welcomed the deal. The web giant's chief legal officer, David Drummond, said: "By putting this litigation with the publishers behind us, we can stay focused on our core mission and work to increase the number of books available to educate, excite and entertain our users." The deal, however, does not affect another current law suit, around similar issues, which was brought by the Authors Guild.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Virus has killed four and infected 26 across five states as officials investigate steroid injections as a possible cause Health and drug safety watchdogs will on Thursday addressed growing concerns over a rapidly evolving outbreak of a rare form of meningitis which has already killed four people and infected dozens more across five states. The news comes as officials warned that they expected the number of people affected will grow. So far, 26 people have been struck down by the illness, with some described as being in a "very serious" condition. The outbreak of the life-threatening disease is suspected of being caused by a contaminated steroid injection. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will hold a joint press conference with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Thursdayat 1pm ET to provide fresh details of the investigation into the cause of the outbreak and to answer questions. All of those who died received steroid injections, mostly for back pain, a fairly typical treatment. The drug was made by a speciality pharmacy in Massachusetts, the New England Compounding Center (NECC), according to the FDA. The company issued a recall last week and has now shut down operations. The type of meningitis involved is not contagious like more common forms. This type is caused by a fungus often found in leaf mould and which health officials suspect may have been in the steroid. Eighteen of the cases are in Tennessee, where a Nashville clinic received the largest shipment of the steroid, according to officials at the CDC. Investigators say they are still trying to confirm the source of the infection. Three cases have been reported in Virginia, two in Maryland, two in Florida and one in North Carolina. Two of the deaths were in Tennessee, and Virginia and Maryland had one each, CDC officials said. Tennessee department of health commissioner John Dreyzehner said more cases were almost certain to appear in the coming days. Five new cases had appeared in the last 24 hours, he said on Wednesday, describing the situation as a "rapidly evolving outbreak". What is not clear is whether new infections are occurring. Federal health officials are looking for, and increasingly finding, illnesses that occurred in the past two or three months. At three clinics in Tennessee, officials are contacting the more than 900 people who received the steroid in the past three months. The incubation period is estimated at anywhere from two to 28 days, so some people may not have fallen ill yet, Tennessee health officials said. Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include severe and worsening headache, nausea, dizziness and fever. Some of the patients also experienced slurred speech, and difficulty walking and urinating, Tennessee health officials said. "Some are doing well and improving. Some are very ill, very, very seriously ill and may die," Dr David Reagan, a Tennessee health official, said of the state's patients. Investigators also have been looking into the antiseptic and anaesthetic used during the injections. Neither has been ruled out. However, the primary suspicion is on the steroid medication. Steroid shots are common for back pain, often given together with an anaesthetic. NECC is a speciality pharmacy in Framingham, Massachusetts. Last week, it issued a recall of three lots of the steroid – methylprednisolone acetate. In a statement, the company said it had voluntarily suspended operations and was working with regulators to identify the source of the infection. Compounding pharmacies mix ingredients for customized medicines that generally aren't commercially available. They are regulated by states. The outbreak was discovered about two weeks ago when Vanderbilt University's Dr April Pettit was treating a patient who was ill for reasons doctors did not understand. When the lab found the fungus in the patient's spinal fluid, Pettit began asking questions and learned the patient recently had steroid injections in his spine, according to Dr William Schaffner, who chairs Vanderbilt's Department of Preventive Medicine. "When it became clear that the infection-control practices at the clinic were up to par, the steroid medication became implicated," Schaffner said. Federal officials did not release condition reports or details on all the patients in the five states. Fungal meningitis is treated with high-dose anti-fungal medications, usually given intravenously in a hospital. Seventeen of the Tennessee cases were treated at the Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center in Nashville. It had 2,000 vials of the suspect lots, the largest number. That clinic voluntarily closed last month to deal with the investigation.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Suspect was planning to plant bombs on a university campus in Palma de Mallorca, police say Spanish police have arrested a man on suspicion that he planned to imitate the 1999 Columbine high-school killings in the US by planting bombs around a university campus on Mallorca. Spain's interior minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, hailed the arrest, saying: "It appears a massacre has been averted." In a statement, police said they seized 140kg of bomb-making material when they arrested the 21-year-old man in Palma de Mallorca on Wednesday. They added that, in his personal diary and blog, the man – a Spaniard only identified by his initials, JMMS – talked of his admiration for the perpetrators of the Columbine attacks and how he planned to place several bombs around a campus of the University of the Balearic Islands in Palma. The man had openly expressed his hatred for society, and particularly students, the statement said. A police spokesman said there was nothing to indicate that the man had planned to carry out the attack for any particular ideological reasons. Twelve students and one teacher were killed in the Columbine attack in Colorado. The two perpetrators then killed themselves. The Spanish man's diary reportedly indicates that he had considered committing suicide once he had carried out the attack. Spanish police said the man had tried several times to purchase guns, but, finding this impossible, then opted to buy explosives-making material on the internet. The statement said he had planned to make shrapnel pipe bombs. The arrest took place just as the materials were delivered to his house, the statement said. Police revealed they had been watching the man for the past five months after messages referring to Columbine began appearing on internet pages in Spain. A police spokesman said the suspect had previously studied electronics at a technical training school and had recently begun a course in business administration, adding that the suspect earned money by playing poker on the internet.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The heavily armed combatants were killed in a strike typical of Washington's ongoing assassination campaign by drone Four al Qaida-linked militants were killed in an apparent US drone strike on Thursday in a remote part of the south of Yemen, a security official and residents said. The security official and residents said the militants were killed in an air strike on their vehicles in the isolated area of Maqbala in Shabwa province. They said it was a drone strike. The militants were heavily armed, carrying weapons and explosives, said the official, who declined to be named. Two militants were wounded and another fled the scene after the strike, the official added. Yemen, a US ally, has been in upheaval since a popular uprising ousted veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh in February. Overlooking one of the world's busiest oil shipping routes, Yemen is plagued by poverty and lawlessness that the toppling of Saleh has done little to change. Washington, which has pursued a campaign of assassination by drone and missile against suspected al Qaida members, backed a military offensive in May to recapture areas of Abyan province - which borders Shabwa province - from Islamist insurgents. But militants have struck back with a series of bombings and killings.
Earlier on Thursday, the Defence Ministry said two bombs went off at the gate of the local council headquarters in Yemen's southern city of Ma'ala, wounding two soldiers. The attackers, whose affiliation was not immediately clear, fled the scene and security forces defused a third bomb found at the building, the ministry said in a statement on its website. Islamist militants frequently attack government facilities and officials as part of a campaign against the state, and tribesmen also frequently bomb gas and oil pipelines and attack government buildings as a way to press their demands. The Yemen-based al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is viewed by Washington as the most dangerous branch of the militant network established by Osama bin Laden.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Security official and residents say four armed combatants were killed, two were wounded and one fled the scene Four al-Qaida-linked militants were killed in an apparent US drone strike on Thursday in a remote part of the south of Yemen, a security official and residents said. The security official and residents said the militants were killed in an air strike on their vehicles in the isolated area of Maqbala in Shabwa province. They said it was a drone strike. The militants were heavily armed, carrying weapons and explosives, said the official, who declined to be named. Two militants were wounded and another fled the scene after the strike, the official added. Yemen, a US ally, has been in upheaval since a popular uprising ousted veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh in February. Overlooking one of the world's busiest oil shipping routes, Yemen is plagued by poverty and lawlessness that the toppling of Saleh has done little to change. Washington, which has pursued a campaign of assassination by drone and missile against suspected al-Qaida members, backed a military offensive in May to recapture areas of Abyan province – which borders Shabwa province – from Islamist insurgents. But militants have struck back with a series of bombings and killings. Earlier on Thursday, the Defence Ministry said two bombs went off at the gate of the local council headquarters in Yemen's southern city of Ma'ala, wounding two soldiers. The attackers, whose affiliation was not immediately clear, fled the scene and security forces defused a third bomb found at the building, the ministry said in a statement on its website. Islamist militants frequently attack government facilities and officials as part of a campaign against the state, and tribesmen also frequently bomb gas and oil pipelines and attack government buildings as a way to press their demands. The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is viewed by Washington as the most dangerous branch of the militant network established by Osama bin Laden.
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  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Turkish military fires into Syria for second day after five civilians are killed by shelling in border town Turkey's parliament has authorised military operations against Syria and its military has fired into the county for a second day after shelling killed five civilians in a Turkish border town. For its part, Syria admitted it was responsible for the shelling and formally apologised for the deaths, a top Turkish official said. The border violence has added a dangerous new dimension to Syria's civil war, dragging Syria's neighbours deeper into a conflict that activists say has already killed 30,000 people since an uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime began in March 2011. Deputy prime minister Besir Atalay said parliament's authorisation was not a declaration of war on Syria but gave Turkey the right to respond to any future attacks from Syria. "The bill is not for war," Atalay said. "It has deterrent qualities." Cross-border tensions escalated on Wednesday after a shell fired from inside Syria landed on a home in the Turkish village of Akcakale, killing two women and three of their daughters and wounding at least 10 others, according to Turkish media. The bill opens the way for unilateral action by Turkey's armed forces inside Syria without the involvement of Turkey's western or Arab allies. Turkey has used a similar provision to repeatedly attack suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq. Nato, of which Turkey is a member, met in an emergency session in Brussels and condemned the attack on Turkey. Nato demanded "the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts against an ally" and urged the Syrian regime to "put an end to flagrant violations of international law". The Turkish response to the shelling was prompt – it fired salvos of artillery rounds deep inside Syria. Mustafa Guclu, a witness in Akcakale, said the Turkish military had fired five artillery rounds after midnight towards Syria and another round at about 5am on Thursday. "I have not heard any more shelling since then," he told the Associated Press. The Syrian mortar shell damaged the door and walls of a house in Akcakale, while shrapnel left holes and shattered windows in neighbouring houses and shops. Some residents of Akcakale abandoned their homes close to the border and spent the night on the streets. Others gathered outside the mayor's office, afraid to return to their homes as distant artillery fire rumbled. Turks have grown weary of the burden of involvement in the Syrian conflict, which includes the hosting of 90,000 Syrian refugees in camps along the border. Yet Turkey is still loth to go it alone in Syria, and is anxious for any intervention to have the legitimacy conferred by a UN resolution or the involvement of a broad group of allies. Turkey is mindful in part of inconclusive ground missions, mostly in the 1990s, against Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq, as well as the bitter lessons of being seen as an occupying power that are associated with the US-led invasion in Iraq. Reaching deeper into history, Turkey is aware of Middle Eastern sensibilities over Ottoman rule over much of the region. On a visit to Pakistan on Thursday, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, expressed his government's concern over the escalation of tension. Lavrov, speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, said Syria had assured Russia, an ally, that an incident like the shelling that killed the Turks would not happen again. "It is of great concern for us," Lavrov said. "This situation is deteriorating with every coming day." Germany's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, said Nato members agreed on the need for solidarity but also on prudence in reacting to events on the Turkish-Syrian border. The Turkish retaliatory shelling and steps to authorise military intervention against Syria were the latest events to sharply escalate tensions between the two former allies. In June, Turkey reinforced its border with anti-aircraft missiles and threatened to target any approaching Syrian military elements after Syrian forces brought down a Turkish jet, killing its two pilots. Turkey said the plane was in international airspace, countering Syrian claims that it was in Syrian airspace.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tension between Syria and Turkey has intensified after mortar fire from across the border killed five people in a Turkish village
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Polls suggest most voters think the president fared poorly in the candidates' first meeting. Follow the day's developments live
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Bank of England and the European Central Bank leave interest rates and asset purchases unchanged
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Founder Mark Zuckerberg confirms that the social network now has 1 billion active users a month Facebook is now used by 1 billion people every month – 14% of the global population of about 7 billion – its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has confirmed. The milestone means Zuckerberg has achieved his stated ambition of reaching 1 billion active monthly users just two years and three months after the social network reached the half billion mark. Facebook reached 900 million active monthly users in April. Facebook has recorded 1.13 trillion Likes, 140.3 billion friend connections and 219bn shared photos since it launched in February 2004. More than 300m photos are uploaded every day and 62.6m songs played. The world's biggest social network also marked the milestone by posting a digital brand ad celebrating "The Things that Connect Us". "Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life," wrote Zuckerberg in the blog post. "I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too." The announcement will also be a welcome distraction for the disastrous Facebook IPO. Facebook is still reeling from the share collapse, which launched at $38 a share in May only to drop steadily to $21 on Wednesday. As a result Zuckerberg tumbled down the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans as his personal fortune fell by $8.1bn. Facebook recently launched paid posts for individual users, allowing users to pay about $7 (£4.30) to promote their news in their friends' timelines. It also launched its first major global advert to promote its own advertising tools.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Eric Maillaud says investigation into the four killings will take a 'very, very long time' unless there is a sudden breakthrough There will be no quick solution in finding the killers of four people who were gunned down in the French Alps, a prosecutor has said. About 100 police officers in Britain and France are investigating the deaths of engineer Saad al-Hilli, 50, his dentist wife Iqbal, 47, her elderly mother, and passing cyclist Sylvain Mollier in the attack last month. The couple's four-year-old daughter Zeena lay undiscovered under her mother's corpse for eight hours after the shooting, while her seven-year-old sister Zainab was found with serious injures after being shot and beaten. The family were attacked as they drove through a remote area near Lake Annecy. So far there have been no clear leads as to why the four were killed. Annecy's chief prosecutor, Eric Maillaud said: "It's a long task and there's nothing that gives hope of a result in the near future." French investigators came to the UK and searched the al-Hilli family home in Claygate, Surrey, following the deaths. They said last month that they were investigating three lines of inquiry, focusing on Saad al-Hilli's work, his family and links to his native Iraq. Maillaud said: "We're investigating everything but it all takes a lot of time, trying to piece together the lives of all the people who have died, trying to perhaps understand a real motive, the real reasons for these killings. "Perhaps if we can understand why they were killed we can work out who killed them but at the moment there are many questions. "I think the investigation will take a very, very long time, unless we discover something that will suddenly enable us to understand everything. There are lines of inquiry but each raises so many questions and nothing suggests there will be a quick solution." He said it was too early to say whether officers would travel to Iraq as part of the inquiry.
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