|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Seals alleged to have divulged classified information to the maker of a video game called Medal of Honour: Warfighter Seven members of the secretive Navy Seal Team 6, including one involved in the mission to get Osama bin Laden, have been punished for disclosing classified information, senior Navy officials said. Four other Seals are under investigation for similar alleged violations, one official said. They are alleged to have divulged classified information to the maker of a video game called Medal of Honour: Warfighter. Each of the seven received a letter of reprimand and a partial forfeiture of pay for two months. Those actions generally hinder a military member's career. The deputy commander of Naval special warfare command, rear admiral Garry Bonelli, issued a statement acknowledging that nonjudicial punishments had been handed out for misconduct, but he did not offer any details. "We do not tolerate deviations from the policies that govern who we are and what we do as sailors in the United States Navy," Bonelli said. He alluded to the importance of honouring nondisclosure agreements that Seals sign. He said the punishments this week "send a clear message throughout our force that we are and will be held to a high standard of accountability." The two main complaints against the Seals were that they did not seek the permission of their command to take part in the video project and that they showed the video designers some of their specially designed combat equipment unique to their unit, said a senior military official. Seals, including some of those involved in the bin Laden raid of May 2011,
have been uncharacteristically prominent in the news this year. Matt Bissonnette, who participated in the raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, but later retired from the Seals, wrote a firsthand account under the pseudonym Mark Owen, but he landed in hot water with the Pentagon even before it was published in September. The Pentagon accused him of disclosing classified information in violation of the nondisclosure agreements he had signed as a Seal. He disputes the charge. The Seal mission to capture or kill Laden, while successful, encountered a number of unexpected obstacles, including the loss of a stealthy helicopter that was partially blown up by the Seals after making a hard landing inside bin Laden's compound. The head of naval special warfare command, rear admiral Sean Pybus, responded to the Bissonnette book by telling his force that "hawking details about a mission" and selling other information about Seal training and operations puts the force and their families at risk. Seals, both active duty and retired, possess highly sensitive information about tactics and techniques that are central to the success of their secret and often dangerous missions overseas. That is why they are obliged to sign nondisclosure agreements when they enter service and when they leave, and it is why the Pentagon seeks to enforce such written agreements. The punishments were first reported by CBS News.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Conservationists say drive is first time wildlife trafficking has been discussed as a security rather than environmental threat America's intelligence community was ordered to track poachers in Africa and Asia on Thursday as part of a new global drive against the illegal trade in elephant tusks and rhino horn. Conservationists said it was the first time trafficking in wildlife, an underground trade in animal parts thought to generate $15bn a year for sophisticated smuggling networks, was elevated to the status of a security threat, rather than sidelined as primarily an environmental concern. In a further sign of US commitment, Hillary Clinton said she and Barack Obama planned to talk about trafficking of endangered animals at the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Phnom Penh next week. Over the last few years, heavily armed trafficking gangs were overwhelming local authorities, terrorising village communities and increasingly posed a security threat, Clinton said. "It is one thing to be worried about the traditional poachers who come in and kill and take a few animals, a few tusks, a few horns, or other animal parts," Clinton told conservationists. "It's something else when you've got helicopters, night vision goggles, automatic weapons, which pose a threat to human life as well as wildlife." Poachers were crossing national borders at will, stoking concerns among US security officials that the conduits used by the traffickers in Asia and Africa to get their goods to market could also be used to smuggle drugs or arms for terrorist organisations. There is already some evidence to support that connection, conservationists said. Clinton's directive, for a study looking directly at the impact on US national security from trafficking operations, could prove critical to stamping out the cruel and illegal practices of killing endangered rhinos for their horns or elephants for their tusks. "The important thing is linking this with security issues and acknowledging this is an international crime," said Cristián Samper, president of the World Conservation Society. America is also assembling a global anti-trafficking alliance with Interpol and customs agencies. The security steps were part of a broader State Department initiative aimed at assembling a global alliance to end wildlife trafficking. Clinton, in remarks delivered before a crowd of about 200 including members of Congress, ambassadors, and State Department officials, said the effort could not be one-sided. America is the second largest market for trafficked goods. Unless you cut off demand, poaching in Asia and Africa won't stop. "We want to make buying goods, products from trafficked wildlife, endangered species unacceptable, socially unacceptable. We want friends to tell friends they don't want friends who ingest, display, or otherwise use products that come from endangered species anywhere in the world," Clinton said. Crawford Allan, who directs the anti-trafficking efforts in the US of the World Wildlife Fund, said getting the seal of approval from Clinton and the State Department could take the effort to end the trade to a new level. "For the first time we are seeing such a high-level of commitment for combatting wildlife trafficking on the world stage," he said. "Regardless of whether Secretary Clinton stays at the State Department or not, there is now going back now," Allan said. "She has certainly let the genie out of the bottle and we are going to make the most of that."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US-Iran tensions grow as defence officials say US will continue to conduct surveillance flights in Persian Gulf Iranian fighter jets fired on a US drone over the Persian Gulf last week, missing the unmanned aircraft, the Pentagon has said. The Predator drone, which was reportedly unarmed, photographed the 1 November incident with still and video cameras, Pentagon officials told CNN, which first reported the attack. The Washington Post said the drone was very close to the Iranian coast when it was shot at. Reza Marashi, director of the National Iranian American Council, said the incident was part of a "dangerous cycle of mutual escalation". President Barack Obama was informed of the incident early last Thursday, as he returned to the campaign trail after surveying damage from Hurricane Sandy. Pentagon spokesman George Little confirmed the incident on Thursday. He said it took place at about 4.50 am ET on 1 November. Iran was later warned that the United States would continue to conduct such surveillance flights in the region and that the military would protect its assets. Asked by CNN whether the jets deliberately missed, an unnamed US government official said: "It doesn't matter. They fired on us." Marashi said tensions between Iran and the US were growing. "Iran [is] fighting back and trying to calibrate [the US] response so it doesn't serve as casus belli," he wrote on Twitter. The United States has been building up its military presence in the Persian Gulf, doubling the number of minesweepers patrolling the Straight of Hormuz to eight vessels, the New York Times reported in July. The US organized the largest war games ever in the Gulf in the end of September. Britain reportedly sent at least six vessels to participate. The exercises were characterized as an unprecedented peacetime show of force in the region. Iran conducted war exercises in the Gulf in January. In an interactive inventory of US drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, the Washington Post plots 379 strikes since 2002, including one in Yemen on 28 October that killed at least three people. The Obama administration is likely to further entrench and possibly expand its policy of robot warfare in its second term, Wired's Spencer Ackerman has reported. According to reports, the president may have authorized a lethal strike in Yemen on the day of the US presidential elections. • Additional reporting from Reuters
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mayor Bloomberg introduces 'odd-even' measure from 6am Friday with car owners restricted to buying fuel every other day New York City will be subjected to enforced gas rationing from Friday after mayor Michael Bloomberg said the measure was necessary to reduce waiting times for fuel. The restrictions will come into force from 6am on Friday and are designed to cut long waiting lines at gas stations because of shortages caused by Hurricane Sandy. Car owners will be restricted to buying fuel every other day, depending on the final letter of their licence plate. A similar system will be imposed on Long Island, and has been in force in New Jersey for the past week. "This is designed to let everybody have a fair chance, so the lines aren't too oppressive and so everybody can get through this," Bloomberg told a press conference in on Thursday. Owners of vehicles with a license plate ending in an even number will be allowed to buy fuel on even-numbered dates, with the opposite applying for license plates ending in an odd number. New Jersey governor Chris Christie introduced the same measure in the Garden State on Saturday. The governor said on Thursday he would re-evaluate the scheme before the weekend. "It has worked well in New Jersey," Bloomberg said of the "odd-even" rationing scheme. The mayor said the measure reduced waiting times there from around two hours to 45 minutes. There have been long waits at gas stations across New York City since Sandy struck. The storm prevented tankers from accessing New York harbour, causing stations to run dry, which in turn led to more panic-buying from motorists concerned that they may run out of fuel. Bloomberg said on Thursday that only a quarter of the city's gas stations are open. "We believe it will help mitigate the worst of our problems," Bloomberg said. "I understand it's going to create inconveniences but I ask New Yorkers to be patient." Bloomberg warned motorists not to attempt to be "cute" by switching registration plates. He said police officers will be deployed at gas stations to observe lines and potentially check on vehicles' plates. The mayor would not say when the gas rationing would end, saying only that "we're keeping it for a while". He added: "If you think about it, it's not any great imposition once you get used to it." Bloomberg also said some 70,000 households remain without power in the city, approximately 10,000 of those because of the winter storm that blew through New York on Wednesday night. He said power had been restored to 82% of public housing buildings that lost electricity when Sandy hit, but that number was expected to rise. Earlier, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said that the total clean-up cost of Hurricane Sandy is now estimated to be $50bn, including $33bn in New York. The effort to return to normality was not helped by the winter storm that struck north-east America on Wednesday, leaving a foot of snow in some places and knocking out power to 300,000 homes and businesses. The State Department said that some 715,000 homes and businesses in the region were without power, a net increase of nearly 43,000 from Wednesday night after the nor'easter knocked it out to more customers following those who had lost it from Sandy, the US Energy Department said. Most of the 300,000 snowstorm power outages had been restored. Cuomo laid into the "bureacracy" of utilities on Wednesday as he criticised the progress in reconnecting homes and families. "This is a 1950s system with these utilities that are regulated by the state theoretically. But they are bureaucracies that are in many ways a monopoly," the governor said. "It is nameless, faceless bureaucracy that is a monopoly that operates with very little incentive or sanction …They have failed the consumers." The death toll from Sandy in the United States and Canada reached 121 on Wednesday after New York authorities reported another death linked to the storm in the Rockaways, in New York, an area severely affected by the storm.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | IMF report warns US lawmakers that a solution must be found to looming fiscal crisis as parties contemplate compromise Democrats have warned their opponents in Congress against seeking to wreck Barack Obama's second term by adopting confrontational strategies that risk bringing Washington to a standstill. One of Barack Obama's senior advisers, David Axelrod, said it was no longer "business as usual" and the American public did not want to see a return to the kind of deadlock they had witnessed over the last two years. "If the attitude (of the Republicans) is that nothing happened on Tuesday, that would be unfortunate," Axelrod said in an interview on Wednesday. His words came amid fears of a renewed clash between the Obama administration and the Republican-led House of Representatives over debt and spending, the so-called fiscal cliff, with a 1 January deadline looming. The crisis began to bubble up as Obama spent his first full day back in the White House since the election, laying plans for his second term, including a cabinet reshuffle. The seriousness of the fiscal cliff crisis was underlined by an International Monetary Fund report warning that that failure by Obama and Congress to strike a deal on raising the US debt ceiling could result in the country suffering a "technical default". It cautioned Washington against trying to "kick the can down the road", as the Republicans are suggesting, and outlined the risks to business and consumer confidence from a protracted period of uncertainty. It warned that if the US fell off the fiscal cliff the result would be a "recession with large international spillover". Axelrod, in his interview with MSNBC, was primarily concerned about the looming confrontation with Republicans over the so-called fiscal cliff, the 1 January deadline for resolving the deficit and spending crisis. "Hopefully people will read those results and read them as a vote for cooperation and will come to the table," Axelrod said. "And obviously, everyone's going to have to come with an open mind to these discussions." The Republicans, however, might choose to interpret the election differently: if the electorate had really wanted an end to confrontation they would have voted to give the Democrats a majority in the House as well as the Senate. The Democrats increased their lead in the 100-seat Senate from 51 to 53 and will receive the support of at least one of the independents. The other is also likely to back the Democrats but has not yet said. The Republicans have dropped to 45 seats. While some races are still be called for the 435-seat House, the Republicans have 234, well about the 218 needed for control, to the Democrats' 194. The Republican House speaker John Boehner and the Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid both expressed a desire on Wednesday to work together. But neither offered any hint of a compromise. One of Obama's former economic advisers, Austan Goolsbee, told CNN he feared there would be one more "death match". Almost no major legislation has been passed for at least 12 months in the stand-off between congressional Republicans, many of them backed by the Tea Party. In the battles over spending and debt, Washington came close to shutting down. One of the senior Democrats in the Senate, Charles Schumer, opted to take Boehner's hint of bipartisanhip co-operation at face value. He applauded him for his change of "tone". Republican leaders had seen the "handwriting on the wall". Obama's campaign team held a final conference call with reporters on Thursday afternoon. Asked about priorities for the second term, a senior member of the Obama team, David Plouffe, identified building up the middle-class, taxing the wealthy to bring down the debt and trying again to find a bipartisanship solution to the debt problems. Plouffe indicated that, even though the campaign was over, Obama's huge grassroots network will be maintained. Those grassroots supporters can be activated in support of single issues. Addressing the implication that those lists might be handed over to the next Democratic candidate, say Hillary Clinton, in 2016, he said that handing over a list did not necessarily mean support would be transferred.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Romney discusses the campaign failure with donors as fireworks are packed away and Republicans bicker about what went wrong Recriminations were flying in Republican circles on Thursday as Mitt Romney wound up his campaign, thanking donors and staff, after his defeat at the polls on Tuesday. His Boston headquarters and field offices across the country were being cleared and an office in Washington where preparations had been under way to prepare for transition to the White House if he had won was ordered to be cleared by Friday. The security detail that followed him around for months has been withdrawn and his codename Javelin has been de-activated. The Boston Globe disclosed that Romney had planned to celebrate a win over Obama on Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning with an eight-minute fireworks display over Boston harbour. Instead, after Romney conceded, the fireworks were unloaded from barges and taken back to the organising company's store in New Hampshire. In Boston, Romney met some of his wealthiest donors on Wednesday, both to thank them but also to offer an analysis of what had gone wrong. Some of his staff as well as Republicans outside his immediate campaign circle offered a range of explanations. One of the commonest was that Romney had lost vital campaign days last week because of hurricane Sandy. More brutal Republican critics blamed the candidate, describing him as bland, with no clear message. Others said that the Romney organisation fell far short of the superior Obama one in identifying and getting out voters. With the result in Florida still not declared, there is no final figure for the share of the popular vote. But it is unlikely to change significantly from Obama with Obama on 51% – down from 53% in 2008 – to Romney's 48%. In spite of more than $1bn spent by Romney and his supporters and fighting an incumbent presiding over high unemployment, Romney only managed to improve by two percentage points on the 2008 Republican challenger John McCain. An conservative commentator who enjoys a large following, Erick Erickson, founder of the conservative blog RedState, described Romney's approach to Latinos as atrocious. "Frankly, the fastest-growing demographic in America isn't going to vote for a party that sounds like that party hates brown people," Erickson said. One of the targets for conservative ire was George W Bush's former strategist, Karl Rove, co-founder of Crossroads, one of the biggest Super Pacs that raised hundreds of millions for the campaign, much of it from rich donors. The Huffington Post quoted a Republican saying: "The billionaire donors I hear are livid. There is some holy hell to pay. Karl Rove has a lot of explaining to do … I don't know how you tell your donors that we spent $390m and got nothing." In the first sign of Republicans already looking beyond this election to 2016, senator Marco Rubio, already touted as the front-runner, announced he is to hold a meeting next week in Iowa, whose caucus normally marks the start of the nomination process. Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, said the Republicans had "painted themselves out of the mainstream". He said: "The Republican party is going to have some soul-searching to do: whether they are going to represent the United States of America as it is and not based on some 50-year-old model." He had found heartening that the super-PACs had not had much impact. "You can't buy the White House. You can't overwhelm Congress with this money," he said. In a swipe directly at the co-founder of the Crossroads super-PAC, Karl Rove, he said that if he had been one of the donors to Crossroads, he would be asking what happened. "They did not get much for their money."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Taiwan company's reportedly evaluating LA and Detroit as site for TV assembly plants owing to rising labour costs at home Foxconn, the controversial Taiwanese manufacturer that has become one of the world's largest employers thanks to booming demand for the Apple products it assembles, is reportedly planning to open factories in the United States. With an 800,000 strong workforce largely based in mainland China, Foxconn is one of the businesses that has profited from the decline of western manufacturing. Now the firm is apparently planning to reverse the labour drain by opening American factories. As labour costs surge in its home market Foxconn has been looking overseas for opportunities, and sources have told Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes that the company is evaluating cities including Detroit and Los Angeles. The news should cheer Barack Obama, who has promised to create 1 million new manufacturing jobs over the next four years. Foxconn will have to adapt its formula, however, because America does not have armies of workers willing to survive on a few hundred dollars a month and live in dormitories as its Chinese staff do. In Foxconn's huge assembly halls in China, iPhones and iPads are largely put together by human hands, with very little automation. In the US, sources say Foxconn will specialise in flatscreen TV sets, which are easier to assemble with the help of robots. Apple has for some time been planning to make an internet-connected television set, which would essentially combine a TV screen with a computer. If the work is contracted to Foxconn's rumoured new factories, the iTV would be the first Apple product made in the US for some years. The company declined to comment on its plans, but chairman Terry Gou revealed this week he was planning to invite dozens of American engineers to his factories in China to learn about manufacturing. Gou told a business meeting on Wednesday that he did not believe President Obama could succeed in moving production lines back to the US because Americans have outsourced those jobs for too long. But he hoped Americans could learn how factories are operated so they can return home to set up facilities with automated equipment. Gou said he was already in discussion with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about establishing an exchange programme. Foxconn will have to adapt its working conditions to operate in the US market. Worker suicides, industrial accidents and riots have dogged its mainland China plants, which were recently discovered to be employing workers as young as 14. The scandals have proved a source of embarrassment for its largest client. Apple chief executive Tim Cook was prompted in January to appoint an external auditor, the Fair Labor Association, to evaluate conditions throughout its supply chain after a string of workers killed themselves and there was a lethal explosion at the company's Chengdu plant, thought to have been caused by combustible dust. Reforms undertaken as a result of the audits have led to rising costs at Foxconn, which also makes phones for Nokia and tablets for Amazon. The company has cut overtime hours and announced a near doubling of salaries in China in recent months, and is now looking abroad for opportunities. It already has eight factories in Brazil and in September signed a memorandum of co-operation with the São Paolo government to invest $14m building a technological industrial plant. And Foxconn is planning to establish a phone factory in Indonesia by the end of this year, having promised to invest up to $10bn in Indonesia within the next five to 10 years. Gou founded what is now Foxconn in 1974 with $7,500 (£4,624) borrowed from his mother. The company listed in Taipei in 1991, and its largest single plant in Shenzhen, China, employs hundreds of thousands of people. In its own GalaxyApple's iPhone 4S has been displaced as the world's bestselling smartphone by Samsung's Galaxy handset, in a sign that the Californian group's march to world domination may have been halted. Samsung shipped 18m Galaxy SIIIs in the third quarter of this year, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, outpacing the iPhone 4S which shifted 16.2m units. "It has become the world's bestselling smartphone model for the first time," said analyst Neil Shah. The upset could be temporary, with Apple's iPhone 5 expected to move into the top slot during the run-up to Christmas, but Apple's share price continued to fall on Thursday', hitting $545 (£341), a drop of more than 22% since its record high of $705.05 on the eve of the iPhone 5 launch in September. After the Apple maps fiasco and the departure of two executives, Scott Forstall and John Browett, investors are asking whether it has "jumped the shark" – the moment in Happy Days when the Fonz vaulted a shark on water-skis, which signalled the decline of the show.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Loughner, who pleaded guilty to attack in Tuscon in 2011 that left six dead and 12 other including Gabrielle Giffords injured The man who pleaded guilty to shooting the former US representative Gabrielle Giffords, in an attack that left six dead and 12 others injured, has been sentenced to life in prison. US district judge Larry Burns sentenced Jared Lee Loughner, 24, on Thursday to seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years in prison for the January 2011 shooting. Loughner pleaded guilty to federal charges under an agreement that guarantees he will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. The hearing marked the first time victims including Giffords could confront Loughner in court. Her husband spoke on her behalf, saying Loughner changed his wife's life forever but couldn't dent her spirit. Addressing the court Giffords' husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, told Loughner he had failed in his attempt to "extinguish the beauty of life". Giffords suffered a head wound that left her with speech difficulties, a paralyzed right arm, diminished sight and a limp. Kelly used the occasion to take a political swipe at Arizona governor Jan Brewer, a staunch gun-rights advocate, criticizing her for speaking out against proposed restrictions on high-capacity ammunition magazines, like the ones Loughner used, in the aftermath of the shooting. "Jan Brewer said it had nothing to do with the size of the magazine … She said this just one week after you used a high-capacity magazine," Kelly said, also noting that she named a "state gun" weeks later instead of "fixing the education system". Loughner, asked at the outset of the hearing by Judge Burns if he had chosen to waive his right to make a statement, answered in a low voice: "That's true." He was otherwise silent as he sat next to his lawyer, Judy Clarke. Giffords stood by her husband's side, looking impassively at Loughner as Kelly addressed the defendant directly. "You may have put a bullet through her head, but you haven't put a dent in her commitment to make the world a better place," Kelly told him. "Although you were mentally ill, you were responsible," he added. "You have decades upon decades to contemplate what you did, but from this moment, Gabby and I are done thinking about you." Giffords did not speak. Several survivors of the shooting also gave statements in court, including Giffords' former congressional aide Ron Barber, who also was wounded. Speaking to Loughner's parents, Amy and Randy, who were in court, Barber said: "Please know that I and my family hold no animosity toward you, and that I can appreciate how devastating the acts of your son were." Loughner pleaded guilty in August in federal court to 19 charges, including murder and attempted murder, in connection with the shootings outside a Tucson area supermarket. He admitted going to a "Congress on your corner" event armed with a loaded Glock 19 pistol and 60 additional rounds of ammunition with plans to kill Giffords. Loughner shot her through the head at close range. Six people were killed, including US district judge John Roll and nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. Loughner also admitted shooting the others with the intent to kill. Court-appointed experts said Loughner suffered from schizophrenia, disordered thinking and delusions. He was determined unfit to stand trial in May 2011 after he disrupted court proceedings and was dragged out of the courtroom. Loughner later was ruled mentally competent to stand trial after being treated for psychosis at a US bureau of prisons psychiatric hospital in Springfield, Missouri. He then agreed to plead guilty. Few clues to the motives for the attack have emerged. Prison psychologist Christina Pietz has testified that Loughner had expressed remorse for the rampage and especially for the nine-year-old girl's death. Giffords resigned from Congress in January to focus on her recovery. Barber served out the rest of her term after winning a special election. Barber ran in Tuesday's election for a newly created congressional district in Arizona and was running neck-and-neck with Republican Martha McSally, with the outcome hanging on some 80,000 provisional and early votes that have yet to be tallied.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Loughner pleaded guilty to attack in Tucson in 2011 that left six dead and 12 other including Gabrielle Giffords injured The man who pleaded guilty to shooting the former US representative Gabrielle Giffords, in an attack that left six dead and 12 others injured, has been sentenced to life in prison. US district judge Larry Burns sentenced Jared Lee Loughner, 24, on Thursday to seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years in prison for the January 2011 shooting. Loughner pleaded guilty to federal charges under an agreement that guarantees he will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. The hearing marked the first time victims including Giffords could confront Loughner in court. Her husband spoke on her behalf, saying Loughner changed his wife's life forever but could not dent her spirit. Addressing the court Giffords' husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, told Loughner he had failed in his attempt to "extinguish the beauty of life". Giffords suffered a head wound that left her with speech difficulties, a paralysed right arm, diminished sight and a limp. Kelly used the occasion to take a political swipe at Arizona governor Jan Brewer, a staunch gun-rights advocate, criticising her for speaking out against proposed restrictions on high-capacity ammunition magazines, like the ones Loughner used, in the aftermath of the shooting. "Jan Brewer said it had nothing to do with the size of the magazine … She said this just one week after you used a high-capacity magazine," Kelly said, also noting that she named a "state gun" weeks later instead of "fixing the education system". Loughner, asked at the outset of the hearing by Judge Burns if he had chosen to waive his right to make a statement, answered in a low voice: "That's true." He was otherwise silent as he sat next to his lawyer, Judy Clarke. Giffords stood by her husband's side, looking impassively at Loughner as Kelly addressed the defendant directly. "You may have put a bullet through her head, but you haven't put a dent in her commitment to make the world a better place," Kelly told him. "Although you were mentally ill, you were responsible," he added. "You have decades upon decades to contemplate what you did, but from this moment, Gabby and I are done thinking about you." Giffords did not speak. Several survivors of the shooting also gave statements in court, including Giffords' former congressional aide Ron Barber, who also was wounded. Speaking to Loughner's parents, Amy and Randy, who were in court, Barber said: "Please know that I and my family hold no animosity toward you, and that I can appreciate how devastating the acts of your son were." Loughner pleaded guilty in August in federal court to 19 charges, including murder and attempted murder, in connection with the shootings outside a Tucson area supermarket. He admitted going to a "Congress on your corner" event armed with a loaded Glock 19 pistol and 60 additional rounds of ammunition with plans to kill Giffords. Loughner shot her through the head at close range. Six people were killed, including US district judge John Roll and nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. Loughner also admitted shooting the others with the intent to kill. Court-appointed experts said Loughner suffered from schizophrenia, disordered thinking and delusions. He was determined unfit to stand trial in May 2011 after he disrupted court proceedings and was dragged out of the courtroom. Loughner later was ruled mentally competent to stand trial after being treated for psychosis at a US bureau of prisons psychiatric hospital in Springfield, Missouri. He then agreed to plead guilty. Few clues to the motives for the attack have emerged. Prison psychologist Christina Pietz has testified that Loughner had expressed remorse for the rampage and especially for the nine-year-old girl's death. Giffords resigned from Congress in January to focus on her recovery. Barber served out the rest of her term after winning a special election. Barber ran in Tuesday's election for a newly created congressional district in Arizona and was running neck-and-neck with Republican Martha McSally, with the outcome hanging on 80,000 provisional and early votes that have yet to be tallied.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US president's trip welcomed but activists say benefit will be to bilateral trade not persecuted Kachin and Rohingya people Barack Obama will risk controversy to become the first serving US president to visit Burma later this month on his first trip overseas since his re-election. During what is likely to be a short stop in the secretive and still repressive southeast Asian country, Obama will meet both the country's president, Thein Sein, and Aung San Suu Kyi, the veteran democracy campaigner and Nobel prize laureate. White House officials confirmed reports from senior government officials in Burma that the president would travel there. The visit is likely to provoke great excitement – as well as concern and anger – among some Burmese. His presence would be the most significant endorsement yet by the international community of Burmese reforms and its government. Representatives of ethnic minorities in Burma, long subject to human rights abuses by the military rulers and their forces, on Thursday criticised his decision. "This is good for the new government but I'm not sure it is good for minorities and especially the Kachin people," said Goon Tawng, a representative of the Kachin ethnic minority who are based in the north of the country and have periodically fought Burmese authorities. "We recognise there have been some reforms but these are not deep and if you look at the ethnic areas there are still human rights violations and fighting going on," said Tawng, who is based in the UK. Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, said Obama was rushing to "normalise relations" with Burma, adding: "But Burma isn't a normal country, it is not a democracy and still has one of the worst human rights records in the world." In March 2011 nearly half a century of repressive military rule ended when a quasi-civilian government took power and initiated sweeping changes. The US and EU suspended sanctions on Burma this year in recognition of the political and economic reforms. Though media and labour laws have been relaxed and hundreds of political prisoners released, the military is still responsible for widespread human rights abuses and many fear democratic progress might be reversed at any time. In recent weeks there has been renewed violence aimed at Muslim Rohingya people in the west of the country, with hundreds killed and tens of thousands displaced. Mabrur Ahmed, director of Restless Beings, a UK-based campaign group, said Obama's visit would be "good for the US and good for Burma in the long run" even if it was bad for Rohingya people in the short term. "There will no doubt be some pressure [from Obama] on the Kachin, Karen, Rohingya too even, but [his visit] is really about solidifying moves to full bilateral trade," he said. Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent years in detention under the military as the figurehead of the pro-democracy movement and was elected to parliament in April, has been criticised for not speaking out sufficiently strongly on ethnic issues. In Rangoon, Burma's commercial and cultural capital, many were happy about the visit. Maung Zaw, a 41-year-old English teacher, said he was very excited by the prospect of seeing the US president. "This is amazing for us. We could never have imagined it happening." There are strategic and economic advantages for the US in any rapprochement with Burma, ruled from the isolated new capital of Naypyitaw. The country has abundant resources and low-cost labour as well as a potentially huge new market for consumer goods. It is also strategically situated, and it grew close to China during decades of isolation, reinforced by western sanctions. One reason for the new reform push may be that the army hopes to balance close relations with Beijing with new ties to other regional powers and the west. The trip fits with Obama's broader strategic "pivot", involving efforts to reinforce US influence in the Asia-Pacific region as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down. In November last year Hillary Clinton became the first US secretary of state to visit Burma in more than 50 years. Obama is already travelling to south-east Asia to attend meetings in Cambodia associated with the annual summit of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The heads of government of China, Japan, Russia and other countries, are also expected in Cambodia. For almost all it is likely to be the first opportunity to personally congratulate the newly re-elected president. Several world leaders have already asked Obama to visit during his second term. On Wednesday Vladimir Putin said he had invited the US president to go to Moscow next year, despite the faltering "reset" between the two erstwhile superpower rivals, and accusations from the Kremlin that the US state department was behind recent anti-Putin street protests. Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor and Europe's most powerful leader, when congratulating the president Obama, added: "I would be pleased to welcome you again soon as my guest in Germany."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | World's biggest hamburger chain says global revenue at restaurants open for at least 13 months fell by 1.8% in October The world's biggest hamburger chain has said that a key sales figure fell for the first time in nearly a decade in October, as it faced intensifying competition and a challenging economy. McDonald's said on Thursday global revenue at restaurants open for at least 13 months ago fell 1.8% for the month. The last time it dropped was in March 2003. The figure which strips out the impact of newly opened and closed restaurants is a snapshot of money spent on food at both company-owned and franchised restaurants and does not reflect corporate revenue. The Illinois-based firm says the figure fell 2.2% in the US and Europe in October. In Asia, the Middle East and Africa it dropped 2.4%. McDonald's chief executive, Don Thompson, cited the "pervasive challenges of today's global marketplace" for the declines. After years of outperforming its rivals, McDonald's has seen sales slow recently, with longtime rivals such as Burger King and Wendy's working to revive their brands with improved menus and new TV ad campaigns. Taco Bell, owned by Yum Brands Inc, is also enjoying growth with the help of new menu offerings. McDonald's said it would remain focused on underscoring its value message. In the US, for example, executives said last month the company would return to focusing on its dollar menu, introduced about a decade ago. That was after the company's attempt to shift to an extra value menu, which charges slightly higher prices and generate better profit margins, had fallen flat. On Thursday, McDonald's said the impact of its dollar menu advertising in the US was offset by modest demand and greater competition, adding that the company would continue its everyday value marketing. The same was true for Europe, which accounts for 40% of its business. Amid the region's ongoing economic uncertainty, the firm said it would offer new meal combinations at various price ranges and continue remodeling restaurants. The company said positive results in the UK were offset by declines across many other regions. In the Asia, the company said it plans to differentiate itself with menu offerings tailored to local tastes. McDonald's shares were down 61 cents at $86.23 in premarket trading. The company, which has more than 34,000 locations worldwide, had warned last month that sales were trending negative for the month.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Syrian president warns against foreign intervention as members of opposition groups remain in disarray at unity talks in Doha Bashar al-Assad has vowed to "live or die" in Syria, warning against any foreign intervention in the crisis and defending his war-torn country as the "last stronghold of secularism and stability" in the region. Speaking to Russia Today TV, the Syrian president made clear he had no intention of fleeing abroad – just days after David Cameron suggested he could be offered "safe passage" if he stepped down. "I am not a puppet. I was not made by the west to go to the west or to any other country," Assad said during the interview, to be broadcast on Friday. "I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria. I do not think the west is going [to intervene], but if they do so, nobody can tell what is next. I think the price of this invasion if it happened is going to be more than the whole world can afford." Assad's unwavering message – albeit via an interviewer from a country that backs his government – contrasts with the disarray among members of opposition groups meeting in the Qatari capital, Doha, for what was supposed to be a drive for the greater unity urgently demanded by western countries. It also seemed intended to signal to a re-elected Barack Obama, struggling with the Syrian crisis as he contemplates his second term, that Assad does not plan to change tack despite international condemnation of a policy that has cost an estimated 35,000 lives in the past 20 months. But the gravity of the situation was underlined, as it is daily, by new reports of violence across the country. The International Committee of the Red Cross also said it was unable to cope with the needs of a growing number of refugees. "The humanitarian situation is getting worse despite the scope of the operation increasing," said Peter Maurer, its president. In Doha, there was confusion and uncertainty about the outcome of a meeting of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main foreign-based opposition group. It chose a new secretariat, with gains for the Muslim Brotherhood which were described by the commentator Malik al-Abdeh as an "aggressive takeover". But the election of a new leader was delayed until Friday to allow four members representing women and minorities to be added. Riyad Seif, a west-backed veteran dissident, failed to be elected. Seif launched a more inclusive Syrian "national initiative" to subsume the underperforming SNC and take in other groups, especially those representing activists on the ground. His plan called for the creation of a supreme military council and a transitional government-in-waiting – along the lines of Libya's Transitional National Council, which effectively galvanised international political and military support for its successful battle to topple Muammar Gaddafi last year. The hope is that a military council could establish a monopoly over both strategy and weapons – amid concern that arms are now flowing more freely to extremist Salafi or jihadi groups supported by wealthy Gulf Arabs. If it is united and credible enough, the theory goes, the opposition would eventually be able to negotiate a political transition for a post-Assad Syria. Britain's representative to the opposition, Jon Wilks, said he was staying in Doha, with other diplomats from the Friends of Syria group, to try to help forge agreement. Wilks sought to put a positive spin on what was widely seen as a disappointing outcome, saying: "The Syrian opposition have recognised the need to build bridges between the SNC and others, particularly internal [groups]. "Also urgency of building opposition strength given the worsening crisis and western donors' needs for a technocratic body to manage our aid. The decision must be Syrian. But our message is that we need decisions on these vital issues in coming days." Anti-Assad Syrians were scathing. "I think the SNC should form a revolutionary court and execute itself," tweeted the exiled activist @BSyria. Rafif Jouejati of the grassroots Local Co-ordination Committees, commented acidly: "We once had to beg Assad for reforms. Now we're begging SNC for reforms." Others complained that Seif initiative had created only infighting and further weakness.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sattar Beheshti's family told of his death in prison a week after he was arrested for criticising Iran on Facebook Iran has been accused of torturing to death a blogger who was arrested last week for criticising the Islamic republic on Facebook. Iran's cyber-police, known as Fata, picked up Sattar Beheshti from his home in Robat-Karim last week on suspicion of "acting against the national security" because of his online activities on social networking sites. He was then taken to Tehran's notorious Evin prison. Beheshti's family heard no news of him until Wednesday, when they were phoned by prison officials asking them to collect his dead body from the Kahrizak coroner's office. The opposition has accused Iranian officials of torturing the 35-year-old blogger to death. Beheshti's body was washed according to Islamic rituals on Thursday in Behesht-e-Zahra's cemetery, south of Tehran, and later buried in his hometown amid a tight security presence. Only one family member was allowed to attend the ceremony, which was carried out by the security officials. Kaleme, a news website close to the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, was the first to report the blogger's death. Iran's state media have largely refrained from reporting on Beheshti's case but the site Baztab, which is affiliated to Mohsen Rezaei, a former senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard, confirmed his death. "Sattar Beheshti, who was arrested by Fata [cyber] police, has died while being interrogated," Baztab reported. Before his arrest, Beheshti had complained on his blog of being threatened by the authorities. "They threatened me yesterday that my mother would wear black because I don't shut my mouth," he wrote. Beheshti had been arrested previously for his activism. "I told them [the officials] that I only write what I see and what I hear but they responded that they would do everything they can to shut me up, to stop me from spreading news. They said they will shut me up in a way that no name or sign would remain of me," he wrote. While in jail, Beheshti had officially complained that he was mistreated and tortured, according to Kaleme, which published a copy of his letter on its website. Iranian authorities have so far refused to comment on Beheshti's death or the allegations of torture but one MP, Mansour Haghighatpour, who sits on the parliamentary committee on national security, told the semi-official Ilna news agency that it was not necessary for parliamentarians to investigate the situation. Beheshti's death, which shocked the country's online community, has highlighted the treatment of political prisoners in Iran. Mohammad-Javad Larijani, the head of the Iranian judiciary's human rights council claimed earlier this year that there were no political prisoners in the Islamic republic. Human rights activists have long accused Iran's rulers of gross human rights violations, including depriving political prisoners of their right to access proper legal representation. In the light of the accusations, the United Nations has appointed a special rapporteur, Ahmed Shaheed, to investigate alleged abuses in the country. In October, Shaheed published a detailed report criticising Tehran for the harassment of its imprisoned activists, who he said were subjected to mock executions, rape, sleep deprivation and threats to their families. On Thursday, Shaheed told the Guardian he was disturbed by the news of Beheshti's death and would investigate it promptly. Speaking from Tehran, an Iranian blogger said: "It could have been me. Sattar was an ordinary blogger like me, like thousands of other bloggers in this country." The blogger added: "Just imagine how terrible this is for Sattar's mother … They arrested her son last week and gave her his dead body today and didn't even allow her to attend her son's funeral … I'm just speechless." Beheshti is not the first person to die in an Iranian jail. After the disputed presidential election in 2009, several activists and protesters died in jail, including at least three confirmed to have died in Kahrizak detention centre. Many protesters are believed to have been tortured to death in Kahrizak, and several claim to have been raped. An Iranian doctor who examined the victims of Kahrizak was shot dead in September 2010. Kahrizak became a scandal for the regime when Mohsen Rouholamini, the son of a former senior adviser to the Revolutionary Guards, was named among prisoners who had died at the centre. Evin prison is home to some of Iran's most respected activists and politicians. Among them are the prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is currently on a hunger strike with fellow inmates in protest at their mistreatment behind bars.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Defence lawyer tells hearing soldier wants to offer guilty plea for some offences in US government's case against him Bradley Manning, the US soldier who is facing life in prison for allegedly having leaked hundreds of thousands of state secrets to WikiLeaks, has indicated publicly for the first time that he accepts responsibility for handing some information to the whistleblower website. Manning's defence lawyer, David Coombs, told a pre-trial hearing ahead of his court martial that the soldier wanted to offer a guilty plea for some offences contained within the US government's case against him. This is the first time the intelligence analyst has given any public indication that he accepts that he played a part in the breach of confidential US material. The statement is technically known as "pleading by exceptions and substitutions". By taking this legal route, Manning is not pleading guilty to any of the 22 charges brought against him, and nor is he making a plea bargain. He is asking the court to rule on whether his plea accepting limited responsibility is admissible in the case. Coombs set out the details in a statement that was posted on his website after the hearing. Should the judge presiding over Manning's court martial allow the soldier to plead guilty by "exceptions and substitutions", army prosecutors could still press on with all 22 counts. In this instance, a full trial would go ahead next year. Manning would continue to face the most serious charge of "aiding the enemy", which carries a maximum sentence of life in military custody with no chance of parole. The trial has been scheduled to start on 4 February and to last for six weeks. In court this week, Manning also indicated that he had decided that the trial should be conducted by a judge sitting alone. The soldier has rejected the option of having a jury. According to a report of the pre-trial hearing by Kevin Gosztola of the liberal website Firedoglake, Manning's offer of a plea was intended to simplify the evidentiary element of the trial. By accepting responsibility for transferring some information, the soldier would avoid pleading to more serious offences including breaches of the Espionage Act – the "aiding the enemy" count – and Computer Fraud and Abuses Act. What Manning admits remains unclear. It could be that he is accepting responsibility for some of the WikiLeaks documents but not others, or to some form of electronic transfer but not others. What is clear that this is an important step in the legal process, as Manning has for the first time attached his own name to the WikiLeaks dump. The website, in association with international newspapers including the Guardian, published hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables from US embassies around the world as well as warlogs from Iraq and Afghanistan and video footage of US military actions that caused civilian deaths. In defending Manning, Coombs has not so far attempted to argue that the soldier had nothing to do with WikiLeaks. Instead, he has tended to concentrate on highlighting inconsistencies in the US government's case and exposing the absence of care the soldier was afforded by his superiors while he was working as an intelligence analyst in a forward operating base outside Baghdad.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Post-election bloodletting begins within Republican ranks as talk of a Jeb Bush versus Hillary Clinton race in 2016 emerges
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Staff Sergeant Robert Bales had preference for aggressive military tactics, court hears An American soldier accused of massacring 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, in a midnight shooting spree had a preference for aggressive military tactics and showed no signs of mental trauma before the attack, his immediate superior told a preliminary hearing. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales had surgery for a sleep disorder, but never complained of post-traumatic stress or headaches, First Sergeant Vernon Bigham, speaking by video link from Afghanistan, told the Washington state hearing. Instead Bales was "doing an outstanding job", Bigham said, adding that he was trying to boost the decorated soldier's career prospects. "I was trying to groom him; to help him make the next step," he said. The testimony could limit any defence argument that Bales was mentally impaired during the five-hour massacre or was damaged by repeated deployments to war zones or by a reported injury to his head when his vehicle rolled over in Iraq. The 39-year-old father of two faces 16 counts of murder, six of attempted murder and other charges of assault and use of steroids and alcohol while deployed. The hearing will determine whether the case goes to a full court martial, which his lawyers say is inevitable. He could face the death penalty. Anger in the two villages where Bales allegedly went on his rampage prevented military investigators from visiting the crime scene for several weeks, meaning they lost the chance to gather valuable evidence. By the time they ventured out to the victims' mud homes, less than a mile from the remote base where Bales had been stationed, the bodies had been long buried and some bloodstains scraped away, according to Matthew Hoffman, of the army's Criminal Investigation Command. However, the team still found blood from the attack spattered on some walls and ceilings and also brought back bullet casings that matched weapons Bales was reported to have carried, and fabric that matched a blanket prosecutors say he wore as a cape. Photographs of Bales's blood-spattered uniform and boots and items brought back to base could also help tie Bales to the killings, the court heard. The US army Criminal Investigation Command agent Trayce Lang said she had found blood in the barrel of a pistol that Bales surrendered after the attack, and matches in his pocket. Ten of the bodies were burned. Witnesses had earlier told the hearing that Bales was upset after another soldier lost a part of his leg in a bomb blast a few days earlier. Bigham admitted that the accused man was annoyed by restrictions on US forces' use of weapons. "Was he frustrated with the rules of engagement?" the prosecutor Lieutentan Colonel Jay Morse asked Bigham. "Uh, yes," Bigham answered. He had earlier said Bales was "very excited" about the deployment to Afghanistan. As testimony moved on to those wounded in the attack, including young children, Bales leaned back in his chair and betrayed no reaction, Associated Press reported. He has not entered a plea nor participated in a "sanity board", because his lawyers have objected to him meeting army doctors without being in attendance.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Staff Sergeant Robert Bales had preference for aggressive military tactics, court hears A US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, in a midnight shooting spree had a preference for aggressive military tactics, and showed no signs of mental trauma before the attack, his immediate superior has told the court. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales had surgery for a sleep disorder, but never complained of post-traumatic stress disorder, headaches or traumatic brain injuries, First Sergeant Vernon Bigham, speaking by video link from Afghanistan, told a preliminary hearing in Washington state. Instead Bales was "doing an outstanding job", Bigham said, adding that he was trying to boost the decorated soldier's career prospects. "I was trying to groom him, to help him make the next step," he said. The testimony could limit any defence argument that Bales was mentally impaired during the five-hour massacre or was damaged by repeated deployments to war zones or by a reported injury to his head when his vehicle rolled over in Iraq. The 39-year-old father of two faces 16 counts of murder, six of attempted murder and other charges of assault and use of steroids and alcohol while deployed. The preliminary hearing will determine whether the case goes to a full court martial, which his lawyers say is inevitable, and he could face execution for the killings. Extreme anger in the two villages where Bales went on his deadly rampage prevented military investigators from visiting the crime scenes for several weeks, meaning they lost the chance to gather valuable evidence, one agent said. By the time they ventured out to the victims' mud homes, less than a mile from the remote base where Bales had been stationed, the bodies had been long buried and some bloodstains scraped away, according to Special Agent Matthew Hoffman of the army's Criminal Investigation Command. However, the team still found blood from the attack spattered on some walls and ceilings and also brought back bullet casings that matched weapons Bales was reported to have carried, and fabric that matched a blanket prosecutors say he wore as a cape. Photographs of Bales's blood-spattered uniform and boots and items brought back to base could also help tie Bales to the killings, the court heard. The US army Criminal Investigation Command agent Trayce Lang said she had found blood in the barrel of a pistol that Bales surrendered after the attack, and matches in his pocket. Ten of the bodies were burned. Witnesses had earlier told the hearing that Bales was very upset after another soldier lost the lower part of his leg in a bomb blast a few days earlier. Bigham admitted that the accused man was annoyed by restrictions on US forces' use of weapons. "Was he frustrated with the rules of engagement?" the prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Jay Morse asked Bigham. "Uh, yes," Bigham answered. He had earlier said Bales was "very excited" about the deployment to Afghanistan. As testimony moved on to those wounded in the attack, including young children, Bales leaned back in his chair and betrayed no reaction, Associated Press reported. The army physician Major Travis Hawks described a young girl with an exposed head wound and a boy of around seven with gory injuries below his left ear who were brought to his medical facility. Both survived after extensive medical care. It was not clear if either would testify. Bales has not entered a plea, and is not expected to testify. He has not participated in a medical evaluation known as a "sanity board", because his lawyers have objected to having him meet army doctors outside their presence.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Survivors of the rampage, which include US representative Gabrielle Giffords, can confront Lougher for the first time in court A man faces life in prison Thursday after pleading guilty for shooting six people dead and wounding former US representative Gabrielle Giffords. The sentencing hearing will mark the first time that victims will confront Jared Lee Loughner in court about the January 2011 shooting at a Giffords political event outside a grocery store in Arizona, in which 12 other people were injured. Prosecutors say an unspecified number of victims will comment before US District Judge Larry Burns sentences Loughner. It was unknown whether Giffords or her husband planned to attend or have a statement read on their behalf. Loughner, 24, pleaded guilty three months ago to 19 federal charges under an agreement that guarantees he will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. The deal calls for the dismissal of 30 other charges and a sentence of seven consecutive life terms, followed by 140 years in prison. Both sides reached the deal after a judge declared that Loughner was able to understand the charges against him. After the shooting, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was forced to undergo psychotropic drug treatments. it is unknown whether Pima County prosecutors, who have discretion on whether to seek the death penalty against Loughner, will file state charges against him. Stephanie Coronado, a spokeswoman for Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall, said Wednesday that no decision had been made.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 'It's just not enough': Residents and volunteers struggling in area hit hardest last week spend another tense night looking for relief A powerful winter storm has blanketed the US east coast in snow, creating new hardships for those still recovering from the devastation of superstorm Sandy. Parts of New Jersey, still struggling to recover from the effects of last week's damage, were hit with more than 12 inches. There was a six-inch dump from Connecticut to Rhode Island. Thousands of people whose power had only just been restored after Sandy, lost it again. "I am waiting for the locusts and pestilence next," said the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, as the storm approached on Wednesday In Belle Harbor, a hard-hit neighborhood on New York City's Rockaway peninsula, piles of last week's wreckage still lined the street. As night fell on Wednesday and the storm intensified, the mounds of torn-up wood and debris began to look like miniature mountains capped in snow. The wind whipped outside Belle Harbor's St Francis Parish, where an ad-hoc relief center has been established. In a gymnasium filled with stacks of donated food, clothes and supplies, a handful of army National Guard members mixed in among a few dozen volunteers and residents. Three uniformed police officers watched from a balcony as two young boys tossed a ball back and forth. In a separate room, an elderly woman slept on a military-style cot under a pile of blankets. A small space heater was pointed in her direction. Sixteen-year-old Jamie Dolan sat among the gymnasium donations. The aspiring young actor began volunteering at the center four days ago. His home is still without heat or hot water. He took his first warm shower on Tuesday, a full week after Sandy struck. He hasn't been back to school. He recently acquired a generator-powered space heater for his room. For the last week has been sleeping in multiple sweaters and a coat, with his blanket pulled over his head. He was unsure when things would return to normal. "Some people said weeks, months," Dolan said. "I'm hoping soon." Fema locked its doors at a number of its disaster relief centers Wednesday. Signs in the windows read "FEMA CENTER CLOSED DUE TO WEATHER". New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg advised residents in low-lying areas – including the Rockaways – to seek shelter elsewhere. Earlier in the week he estimated as many as 40,000 New Yorkers could face relocation amid the worsening weather conditions. Leaving is out of the question for many Belle Harbor residents. According to Dolan, the massive wall of sea water that rushed through the neighborhood did serious damage to vehicles. "All cars are ruined," he said. Dolan criticized Bloomberg for not making the Rockaways more of a priority. "He knows how bad it is. He just doesn't want to show anyone." The mayor made an unscheduled visit to the Rockaways on Saturday and was confronted by frustrated residents, including a woman who yelled: "When are we gonna get some fucking help?" Another man said: "There's old ladies in my building who got nothing." Wednesday's storm knocked out electricity for roughly 16,000 Con Edison customers, bringing the total number of ConEd customers without power to 80,000, up from 64,000 earlier in the day. In the Rockaway neighborhood of Shore Front Parkway – two miles from Belle Harbor – police discovered the unconscious and unresponsive body of 78-year-old William McKeon. According to NYPD spokesman Paul Browne, McKeon was found "at the bottom of a pitch-black stairwell that was still wet and covered with sand". He was bleeding from a wound to the head. The office of the medical examiner determined McKeon's fatal injuries were storm-related. His death raised the total number of Sandy's New York fatalities to 41. 'People are fending for themselves'Off-duty New York City police officer Anthony DiCarlo sorted stacks of non-perishable food items in the St Francis gym. He was confident his neighborhood would recover from the setbacks it has endured over the last week. "It's a good community, it's a strong community," he said. "It's been through a lot." DiCarlo added, however, that residents were on edge over the possibility of looters taking what they have left, a persistent fear among those in New York's most affected areas. Fifteen people were arrested for looting businesses in the Rockaways last week, including a liquor store, clothing stores and a Radio Shack. DiCarlo acknowledged that residents had reason to be scared. "It's snow, it's cold. People are fending for themselves," he said. And in perhaps a startling admission for a law enforcement officer, he added: "Looting, to me, is acceptable if you're looting for your baby or your family." But not for a "60 inch flat-screen TV". Volunteers with Occupy Sandy – a collaboration between the Occupy Wall Street movement, the environmental organization 350.org and others – have been in the neighborhood for days and have established their own base of operations, offering residents hot food and assistance. Shortly after nightfall Wednesday, Occupy Sandy volunteer Nastaran Mohit was attempting to provide prescriptions to storm victims trapped in their homes. Wet snow was coming down in steady sheets and the streetlights were out, making for an eerie scene on the deserted streets. Without warning, a man with a walker appeared in Mohit's headlights. Wearing a soaking leather jacket and tan pants, the man ambled slowly down the road. Snow had piled on his shoulders and head. Mohit pulled up beside him, rolled down her windows and asked if he needed help or a ride. "I'm good," the man said. Mohit pressed him. "Are you sure?" she asked. The man quit responding and continued shuffling along. Mohit eventually relented, rolled up her windows and continued on. "Down in these areas, most of these folks – unless they're disabled or elderly and have absolutely no contact with friends and family – they evacuated," Mohit said. A number of those who have stayed behind are in need of psychiatric medication, she added. Last weekend volunteers canvased Belle Harbor and the Rockaways delivering food and water and assessing the needs of the community. Mohit says the volunteers found a number people they encountered were lacking vital medications. Since that time volunteers have been systematically cataloging the medical needs of individual residents. That information was consolidated in a binder Mohit carried during Wednesday night's storm. "People were literally writing medical needs on these little pieces of paper and I had to have volunteers transcribe them into these forms," she said. The illnesses reflected in the binder are grave. "We have folks that are HIV/Aids patients. We have a lot of methadone users in this area. We have folks who are on cancer meds. We have a lot of chronic illnesses like hypertension, diabetes." According to Mohit, a number of medical professionals have volunteered their services in the Rockaways, including physicians, nurses and emergency technicians. But, she added, knowing which residents need what medication is only part of the problem. Doctors inclined to fill out prescriptions for storm victims are hampered by the constraints of liability, she said. "They write these prescriptions and they're held accountable for anything that happens." Even with a prescription, volunteers face further challenges. On Wednesday night Mohit attempted to fill an elderly resident's prescription for psychiatric medication at a recently opened pharmacy. Only a small portion of the building was accessible. On the pharmacy's floor were cardboard boxes full of blankets and bottled water. There was a box of hand warmers on the counter. All were free to the public. Mohit was denied the medicine she sought because the resident's insurance was expired. "Now we have to find someone to go back to this woman," she said. While Mohit is proud of the support volunteers such as herself have provided for Sandy's victims, she acknowledged the enormity of the problems at hand particularly in light of the latest storm. "It's just not enough," she said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Police officer endorses looting for benefit of family as residents in Sandy-hit area struggle through harsh winter storm A powerful winter storm has blanketed the US east coast in snow, creating new hardships for those still recovering from the devastation of superstorm Sandy. Parts of New Jersey, still struggling to recover from the effects of last week's damage, were hit with more than 12 inches. There was a six-inch dump from Connecticut to Rhode Island. Thousands of people whose power had only just been restored after Sandy, lost it again. "I am waiting for the locusts and pestilence next," said the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, as the storm approached on Wednesday In Belle Harbor, a hard-hit neighborhood on New York City's Rockaway peninsula, piles of last week's wreckage still lined the street. As night fell on Wednesday and the storm intensified, the mounds of torn-up wood and debris began to look like miniature mountains capped in snow. The wind whipped outside Belle Harbor's St Francis Parish, where an ad-hoc relief center has been established. In a gymnasium filled with stacks of donated food, clothes and supplies, a handful of army National Guard members mixed in among a few dozen volunteers and residents. Three uniformed police officers watched from a balcony as two young boys tossed a ball back and forth. In a separate room, an elderly woman slept on a military-style cot under a pile of blankets. A small space heater was pointed in her direction. Sixteen-year-old Jamie Dolan sat among the gymnasium donations. The aspiring young actor began volunteering at the center four days ago. His home is still without heat or hot water. He took his first warm shower on Tuesday, a full week after Sandy struck. He hasn't been back to school. He recently acquired a generator-powered space heater for his room. For the last week has been sleeping in multiple sweaters and a coat, with his blanket pulled over his head. He was unsure when things would return to normal. "Some people said weeks, months," Dolan said. "I'm hoping soon." Fema locked its doors at a number of its disaster relief centers Wednesday. Signs in the windows read "FEMA CENTER CLOSED DUE TO WEATHER". New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg advised residents in low-lying areas – including the Rockaways – to seek shelter elsewhere. Earlier in the week he estimated as many as 40,000 New Yorkers could face relocation amid the worsening weather conditions. Leaving is out of the question for many Belle Harbor residents. According to Dolan, the massive wall of sea water that rushed through the neighborhood did serious damage to vehicles. "All cars are ruined," he said. Dolan criticized Bloomberg for not making the Rockaways more of a priority. "He knows how bad it is. He just doesn't want to show anyone." The mayor made an unscheduled visit to the Rockaways on Saturday and was confronted by frustrated residents, including a woman who yelled: "When are we gonna get some fucking help?" Another man said: "There's old ladies in my building who got nothing." Wednesday's storm knocked out electricity for roughly 16,000 Con Edison customers, bringing the total number of ConEd customers without power to 80,000, up from 64,000 earlier in the day. In the Rockaway neighborhood of Shore Front Parkway – two miles from Belle Harbor – police discovered the unconscious and unresponsive body of 78-year-old William McKeon. According to NYPD spokesman Paul Browne, McKeon was found "at the bottom of a pitch-black stairwell that was still wet and covered with sand". He was bleeding from a wound to the head. The office of the medical examiner determined McKeon's fatal injuries were storm-related. His death raised the total number of Sandy's New York fatalities to 41. Police officer: 'Looting is acceptable if it's for your family'Off-duty New York City police officer Anthony DiCarlo sorted stacks of non-perishable food items in the St Francis gym. He was confident his neighborhood would recover from the setbacks it has endured over the last week. "It's a good community, it's a strong community," he said. "It's been through a lot." DiCarlo added, however, that residents were on edge over the possibility of looters taking what they have left, a persistent fear among those in New York's most affected areas. Fifteen people were arrested for looting businesses in the Rockaways last week, including a liquor store, clothing stores and a Radio Shack. DiCarlo acknowledged that residents had reason to be scared. "It's snow, it's cold. People are fending for themselves," he said. And in perhaps a startling admission for a law enforcement officer, he added: "Looting, to me, is acceptable if you're looting for your baby or your family." But not for a "60 inch flat-screen TV". Volunteers with Occupy Sandy – a collaboration between the Occupy Wall Street movement, the environmental organization 350.org and others – have been in the neighborhood for days and have established their own base of operations, offering residents hot food and assistance. Shortly after nightfall Wednesday, Occupy Sandy volunteer Nastaran Mohit was attempting to provide prescriptions to storm victims trapped in their homes. Wet snow was coming down in steady sheets and the streetlights were out, making for an eerie scene on the deserted streets. Without warning, a man with a walker appeared in Mohit's headlights. Wearing a soaking leather jacket and tan pants, the man ambled slowly down the road. Snow had piled on his shoulders and head. Mohit pulled up beside him, rolled down her windows and asked if he needed help or a ride. "I'm good," the man said. Mohit pressed him. "Are you sure?" she asked. The man quit responding and continued shuffling along. Mohit eventually relented, rolled up her windows and continued on. "Down in these areas, most of these folks – unless they're disabled or elderly and have absolutely no contact with friends and family – they evacuated," Mohit said. A number of those who have stayed behind are in need of psychiatric medication, she added. Last weekend volunteers canvased Belle Harbor and the Rockaways delivering food and water and assessing the needs of the community. Mohit says the volunteers found a number people they encountered were lacking vital medications. Since that time volunteers have been systematically cataloging the medical needs of individual residents. That information was consolidated in a binder Mohit carried during Wednesday night's storm. "People were literally writing medical needs on these little pieces of paper and I had to have volunteers transcribe them into these forms," she said. The illnesses reflected in the binder are grave. "We have folks that are HIV/Aids patients. We have a lot of methadone users in this area. We have folks who are on cancer meds. We have a lot of chronic illnesses like hypertension, diabetes." According to Mohit, a number of medical professionals have volunteered their services in the Rockaways, including physicians, nurses and emergency technicians. But, she added, knowing which residents need what medication is only part of the problem. Doctors inclined to fill out prescriptions for storm victims are hampered by the constraints of liability, she said. "They write these prescriptions and they're held accountable for anything that happens." Even with a prescription, volunteers face further challenges. On Wednesday night Mohit attempted to fill an elderly resident's prescription for psychiatric medication at a recently opened pharmacy. Only a small portion of the building was accessible. On the pharmacy's floor were cardboard boxes full of blankets and bottled water. There was a box of hand warmers on the counter. All were free to the public. Mohit was denied the medicine she sought because the resident's insurance was expired. "Now we have to find someone to go back to this woman," she said. While Mohit is proud of the support volunteers such as herself have provided for Sandy's victims, she acknowledged the enormity of the problems at hand particularly in light of the latest storm. "It's just not enough," she said.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Markets calm after yesterday's drama in Greece and a sharp selloff in global shares, but all eyes now on European Central Bank
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ITV presenter Phillip Schofield confronts prime minister with list of names of politicians possibly involved in child abuse claims David Cameron has warned that accusations of paedophilia against senior Conservative politicians risk creating a "witch hunt", particularly against gay people. The prime minister made his comments after being confronted on daytime television with a piece of paper listing the names circulating on the internet about the Tory politicians possibly involved in child sex abuse allegations. It was accidentally briefly flashed on air. Speaking on ITV1's This Morning, Cameron appealed to anybody with information to contact the police but raised concerns over the internet speculation about who may be embroiled in the scandal dating back to the 1970s and 80s. "I've heard all sorts of names bandied around and what then tends to happen is everyone sits around and speculates about people, some of whom are alive, some of whom are dead," he told This Morning. "I do think it's very important that anyone who's got any information about any paedophile, no matter how high up in the country or whether they are alive or dead, go to the police." The presenter Phillip Schofield passed Cameron a piece of paper listing names he had gathered from the internet, telling Cameron "you know the names on that piece of paper, will you be speaking to these people?". Cameron replied: "There is a danger if we are not careful that this can turn into a sort of witch hunt, particularly about people who are gay, and I'm worried about the sort of thing you are doing right now, taking a list of names off the internet." He said the allegations were "extremely serious" and the government had "moved quickly to try to get to the bottom of what they are". Allegations that senior Conservative politicians may have been involved in child abuse at children's homes in north Wales triggered two separate inquiries this week. They are the latest in a number of inquiries set up over recent weeks after a slew of historic child sex abuse allegations involving the BBC, care homes and Whitehall surfaced, beginning with revelations about BBC presenter Jimmy Savile. The home secretary, Theresa May, announced on Tuesday that the incoming director general of the new National Crime Agency, Keith Bristow, would head a team looking at how North Wales police investigated allegations of child abuse in the 1970s and 80s, amid claims that they failed to take complaints seriously. A high court judge, Mrs Justice Julia Wendy Macur, would examine the scope and conduct of the previous Waterhouse inquiry into the abuse. One of the main issues will be why 28 alleged abusers, including an influential ally of Lady Thatcher, were identified during the inquiry but had their names protected. The former children's minister Tim Loughton used an open letter to the prime minister on Thursday to urge him to launch a single, wide-ranging, judicial inquiry into child abuse for fear of "drowning" in separate inquiries "which now run to double figures". The Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, who served as children's minister for two years until being dropped in the September reshuffle, said it was time to set up an overarching inquiry "into what went wrong across a whole range of institutions". Cameron did not rule out one "mega inquiry" further down the line, but said he was interested in getting the information in the quickest way possible. He told This Morning: "The real question is would that help us get to the truth quickly. The idea that if you had one mega inquiry that you would speed everything up I'm not sure it's true. I don't rule out taking further steps. I want the government to be absolutely on top of this. I don't want anything to be covered up, I don't want any information held back. "If there are more things we have to do, we will do them. But we always have to remember it's very easy for governments to stand up and say: 'Here's a new inquiry'. What we have got to do is get to the truth as fast as we possibly can." The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said there should be an overarching review to pull together the findings and the "lessons learned" from all the inquiries into child abuse once they were completed. Andrew Flanagan, the NSPCC chief executive, said: ""There is a need to ensure that the public has confidence that the numerous inquiries under way will result not only in justice for people who have suffered abuse, but in improvements to the way we protect today's children. It's vital any review puts the needs of victims right at its heart and ensures recommendations are implemented in full. "Whilst the cases of Jimmy Savile, Bryn Estyn children's home, and others, may appear to be quite different there will be similar failings, both from institutions and individuals." He said "public and political opinion will shift in a similar way to that seen following the death of baby Peter Connelly," who died in 2007 after horrendous abuse at home. "We must maintain this momentum and use this opportunity to fundamentally change how we help children and young people to talk about abuse," Flanagan said. "As a country, and individually, we should commit to helping young people speak out as soon as they fear they are at risk, or as soon as abuse starts, not months or even years later. "Much has improved in recent years but the cases of grooming gangs in Rochdale, Rotherham and elsewhere show that major failures in child protection can and do still occur. "Confidence in the system and the authorities' ability to take action is at serious risk; we must now act decisively if we are to turn this around."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Markets calm after yesterday's drama in Greece and a sharp selloff in global shares, but all eyes now on European Central Bank
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ITV presenter Phillip Schofield confronts prime minister with list of names of politicians possibly involved in child abuse claims David Cameron has warned that accusations of paedophilia against senior Conservative politicians risk creating a "witch hunt", particularly against gay people. The prime minister made his comments after being confronted on daytime television with a piece of paper listing the names circulating on the internet about the Tory politicians possibly involved in child sex abuse allegations. It was accidentally briefly flashed on air. Speaking on ITV1's This Morning, Cameron appealed to anybody with information to contact the police but raised concerns over the internet speculation about who may be embroiled in the scandal dating back to the 1970s and 80s. "I've heard all sorts of names bandied around and what then tends to happen is everyone sits around and speculates about people, some of whom are alive, some of whom are dead," he told This Morning. "I do think it's very important that anyone who's got any information about any paedophile, no matter how high up in the country or whether they are alive or dead, go to the police." The presenter Phillip Schofield passed Cameron a piece of paper listing names he had gathered from the internet, telling Cameron "you know the names on that piece of paper, will you be speaking to these people?". A clearly irritated Cameron replied: "There is a danger if we are not careful that this can turn into a sort of witch hunt, particularly about people who are gay, and I'm worried about the sort of thing you are doing right now, taking a list of names off the internet." Cameron said the allegations were "extremely serious" and the government had "moved quickly to try to get to the bottom of what they are". Allegations that senior Conservative politicians may have been involved in child abuse at children's homes in north Wales triggered two separate inquiries this week. They are the latest in a number of inquiries set up over recent weeks after a slew of historic child sex abuse allegations involving the BBC, care homes and Whitehall surfaced, beginning with revelations about BBC presenter Jimmy Savile. The home secretary, Theresa May, announced on Tuesday that the incoming director general of the new National Crime Agency, Keith Bristow, would head a team looking at how North Wales police investigated allegations of child abuse in the 1970s and 80s, amid claims that they failed to take complaints seriously. A high court judge, Mrs Justice Julia Wendy Macur, would examine the scope and conduct of the previous Waterhouse inquiry into the abuse. One of the main issues will be why 28 alleged abusers, including an influential ally of Lady Thatcher, were identified during the inquiry but had their names protected. The former children's minister Tim Loughton used an open letter to the prime minister on Thursday to urge him to launch a single, wide-ranging, judicial inquiry into child abuse for fear of "drowning" in separate inquiries "which now run to double figures". The Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, who served as children's minister for two years until being dropped in the September reshuffle, said it was time to set up an overarching inquiry "into what went wrong across a whole range of institutions". Cameron did not rule out one "mega inquiry" further down the line, but said he was interested in getting the information in the quickest way possible. He told This Morning: "The real question is would that help us get to the truth quickly. The idea that if you had one mega inquiry that you would speed everything up I'm not sure it's true. I don't rule out taking further steps. I want the government to be absolutely on top of this. I don't want anything to be covered up, I don't want any information held back. "If there are more things we have to do, we will do them. But we always have to remember it's very easy for governments to stand up and say: 'Here's a new inquiry'. What we have got to do is get to the truth as fast as we possibly can." Loughton made his case for a single inquiry on ConservativeHome: "It is something I first mooted some time ago when I warned that the Savile revelations only represent the 'tip of the iceberg'. Without this, I fear we risk a substantial number of inquiries across the police, the BBC, the health service, the church and so on, overlapping in many of their findings and circumstances, but reporting incrementally at various intervals over coming months and years. "Notwithstanding the need to avoid anything that would hamper ongoing or revived police investigations, I think we need to demonstrate that there is one substantial inquiry undertaken by a highly respected group of experts with gravitas and authority to look at wherever the evidence takes it. It should be able to investigate all the institutions that have substantial contact with children and young people of which the BBC and other entertainment bodies, the church, care homes, and the NHS are just the starting points that have been subject to exposure already. "Without this, I believe we risk an almost weekly call for yet another new inquiry as the media uncovers some fresh or reheated stories of child abuse involving yet another body. The public is rightly asking: 'Where will it all end?' and beginning to show signs of 'abuse fatigue.'"
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live updates as David Cameron pushes for a tougher approach to the Assad regime but the Syrian president warns that international intervention would create chaos
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | But island remains bitterly divided over relationship to the US as many question the validity of this week's referendum Puerto Ricans have supported US statehood in a vote that jubilant members of the pro-statehood party say is the strongest sign yet that the Caribbean island territory is on the road to losing its second-class status. But Tuesday's vote comes with an asterisk and an imposing political reality: The island remains bitterly divided over its relationship to the US and many question the validity of this week's referendum. Nearly a half million voters chose to leave a portion of the ballot blank, and voters also ousted the pro-statehood governor, eliminating one of the main advocates for a cause that would need the approval of Congress. "Statehood won a victory without precedent but it's an artificial victory," said Angel Israel Rivera Ortiz, a political science professor at the University of Puerto Rico. "It reflects a divided and confused electorate that is not clear on where it's going." President Barack Obama had said he would support the will of the Puerto Rican people on the question of the island's relationship to the US, referred to simply on the island as its "status", and this week's referendum was intended to be the barometer. But the results aren't so clear cut. It was a two-part ballot that first asked all voters if they favour the current status as a US territory. Regardless of the answer, all voters then had the opportunity to choose in the second question from three options: statehood, independence or "sovereign free association", which would grant more autonomy to the island of nearly 4 million people. More than 900,000 voters, or 54%, responded "no" to the first question, saying they were not content with the current status. On the second question, only about 1.3 million voters made a choice. Of those, nearly 800,000, or 61% of those expressing an opinion, chose statehood – the first majority after three previous referendums on the issue over the past 45 years. Some 437,000 backed sovereign free association and 72,560 chose independence. Nearly 500,000, however, left that question blank. "We made history with this plebiscite," said Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, the island's representative in Congress and a member of both the pro-statehood New Progressive party and the Democratic party. The certified results will be sent to the White House and the congressional leadership, and it would be up to them to begin the process of possibly admitting Puerto Rico into the union. "The ball is now in Congress' court and Congress will have to react to this result," Pierluisi said. "This is a clear result that says 'no' to the current status." Governor Luis Fortuño, a member of the pro-statehood party who is also a Republican, welcomed the results and said he was hopeful that Congress would take up the cause. But Fortuño won't be around to lead the fight: Voters turned him out of office after one term, and gave the governship to Alejandro García Padilla of the Popular Democratic party, which wants Puerto Rico to remain a semi-autonomous US commonwealth. García has pledged to hold a constitutional assembly in 2014 to address the island's status, followed by another referendum with support from Congress. Puerto Rico has been a territory for 114 years and its people have been US citizens since 1917. Residents of the island cannot vote in the US presidential election, have no representation in the Senate and only limited representation in the House of Representatives. It's a situation that frustrates many, as does the long-simmering political uncertainty. Independence was once the dominant political movement on the island but no longer: Only 6% of voters opted to sever ties from the US, a prospect that scared voters like 31-year-old José Ramos. "I prefer that the United States helps us, because to stand on our own two feet, no," said the father of three. "I don't want this to become a republic. That scares me."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live updates as Nato is due to discuss Turkey's request to deploy patriot missiles on its border with Syria and David Cameron pushes for a tougher approach to the Assad regime
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Burmese government source says US president will visit on 19 November, meeting Aung San Suu Kyi as well as Thein Sein US President Barack Obama plans to visit Burma on 19 November and meet both his counterpart, Thein Sein, and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, a senior government source in the country has said. Obama's visit would be further strong endorsement by the international community of Burma's transformation under the quasi-civilian government of Thein Sein, who took office in March 2011 to end half a century of military rule. Obama would be the first serving US president to visit Burma. "So far as I understand, President Obama is coming to Myanmar on 19 November and he will meet both President U Thein Sein and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, of course on separate occasions," the government official said on Thursday, using honorifics and asking not to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media. Neither the government nor the US embassy would confirm the date. The US suspended sanctions on Burma this year in recognition of the political and economic changes under way, and many US companies are looking at starting operations in the country, with abundant resources and low-cost labour. In November 2011, Hillary Clinton became the first US secretary of state to visit in more than 50 years. Obama has sought to consolidate ties and reinforce US influence across Asia in what officials have described as a policy "pivot" toward the region as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down. Burma grew close to China during decades of isolation, reinforced by western sanctions over its poor human rights record, but is now seeking to expand relations with the west. Obama met Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit to the US in September. President Thein Sein was also there in September for the General Assembly of the UN but the two men did not meet. Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent years in detention under the military as the figurehead of the pro-democracy movement and was elected to parliament in April, will be in India just before the mooted date for Obama's visit to Burma. "She is leaving for India on a week-long visit on 12 November but I am not sure when exactly she will be back," Nyan Win, an official of her National League for Democracy party, said. Obama is coming to south-east Asia to attend meetings in Cambodia centred around an annual summit of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which is usually extended to take in leaders of partner countries. Preliminary details for this year show the event will run from 15-20 November and the Cambodian government has said Obama will be in the capital, Phnom Penh, on 18 November. The US administration has not confirmed that. The heads of government of China, Japan, Russia and other countries are also expected in Cambodia for the meetings. Thai media has said Obama may also visit Thailand, like Burma an Asean member, while he is in Asia, but that could not be confirmed.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Burmese government source says US president will visit on 19 November, meeting Aung San Suu Kyi as well as Thein Sein President Barack Obama plans to visit Burma on 19 November and meet both his counterpart, Thein Sein, and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, a senior government source in the country has said. Obama's visit would be further strong endorsement by the international community of Burma's transformation under the quasi-civilian government of Thein Sein, who took office in March 2011 to end half a century of military rule. Obama would be the first serving US president to visit Burma. "So far as I understand, President Obama is coming to Myanmar on 19 November and he will meet both President U Thein Sein and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, of course on separate occasions," the government official said on Thursday, using honorifics and asking not to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media. Neither the government nor the US embassy would confirm the date. The US suspended sanctions on Burma this year in recognition of the political and economic changes under way, and many US companies are looking at starting operations in the country, which has abundant resources and low-cost labour. In November 2011, Hillary Clinton became the first US secretary of state to visit in more than 50 years. Obama has sought to consolidate ties and reinforce US influence across Asia in what officials have described as a policy "pivot" toward the region as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down. Burma grew close to China during decades of isolation, reinforced by western sanctions over its poor human rights record, but is now seeking to expand relations with the west. Obama met Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit to the US in September. Thein Sein was also there in September for the general assembly of the UN but the two men did not meet. Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent years in detention under the military as the figurehead of the pro-democracy movement and was elected to parliament in April, will be in India just before the mooted date for Obama's visit to Burma. "She is leaving for India on a week-long visit on 12 November but I am not sure when exactly she will be back," Nyan Win, an official of her National League for Democracy party, said. Obama is travelling to south-east Asia to attend meetings in Cambodia centred around an annual summit of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which is usually extended to take in leaders of partner countries. Preliminary details for this year show the event will run from 15-20 November and the Cambodian government has said Obama will be in the capital, Phnom Penh, on 18 November. The US administration has not confirmed that. The heads of government of China, Japan, Russia and other countries are also expected in Cambodia for the meetings. Thai media have said Obama may also visit Thailand, like Burma an Asean member, while he is in Asia, but that could not be confirmed.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Crews work through the night in San Marcos, searching rubble for survivors after powerful magnitude 7.4 quake kills dozens Guatemalans fearing aftershocks huddled in the dark and frigid streets of this mountain town wrapped in blankets early on Thursday, while others crowded inside its hospital, the only building left with electricity after a powerful earthquake killed at least 48 people and left dozens more missing. Crews worked through the night in San Marcos, searching rubble for survivors and more dead following the magnitude 7.4 quake that struck on Wednesday near Guatemala's border with Mexico. In the town of San Cristóbal Cucho, firefighters picked at a collapsed house trying to dig out 10 members of one family, including a four-year-old child, who were buried, fire department spokesman Ovidio Perez told the radio station Emisoras Unidas. Volunteers carrying boxes of medical supplies began arriving in the area in western Guatemala late on Wednesday. Eblin Cifuentes, a 26-year-old law student, and a group of his classmates already were collecting medical supplies as part of a school drive to provide aid for the only hospital in San Marcos, a poor, mainly indigenous mountain area of subsistence farms. When the quake hit, the group decided to bring everything they had collected. "Thank God nothing happened to us and that's why we have to help out," Cifuentes said. The quake caused terror over an unusually wide area, with damage reported in all but one of Guatemala's 22 states and shaking felt as far away as Mexico City, 600 miles (965 km) to the north-west. It hit hardest in San Marcos, where more than 30 homes collapsed and many of the colourful adobe buildings in its centre were either cracked or reduced to rubble, including the police station and the courthouse. The tore a large gash in one of the streets. Hundreds of frightened townspeople stayed in the open, refusing to go back inside after more than five strong aftershocks shook the area. President Otto Pérez Molina said that 40 people died in the state of San Marcos and eight more were killed in the neighbouring state of Quetzaltenango. Hundreds of people crammed into the hallways of San Marcos' small hospital after the quake seeking help for injured family members. Some complained they were not getting care quickly enough. Ingrid Lopez, who bought in a 72-year-old aunt whose legs were crushed by a falling wall, said she had waited hours for an X-ray. "We ask the president to improve conditions at the hospital," she said. "There isn't enough staff." More than 300 firefighters, police officers and civilians dug desperately at a half-tonne mound of sand at a quarry trying to rescue seven people believed buried alive. Among those under the sand was a six-year-old boy who had accompanied his grandfather to work. "I want to see Giovanni! I want to see Giovanni!" the boy's mother, 42-year-old Francisca Ramirez, frantically cried. "He's not dead. Get him out." By Wednesday night, firefighters had dug out two bodies from the quarry, including Giovanni's. Pérez flew to San Marcos to view the damage in this lush mountainous region of 50,000 indigenous farmers and ranchers, many belonging to the Mam ethnic group. "One thing is to hear about what happened and another thing entirely is to see it," the president said. "As a Guatemalan I feel sad ... to see mothers crying for their lost children." Pérez said the government would pay for the funerals of all victims in the region. Efrain Ramos helped load a tiny casket carrying the body of his six-year-old niece from San Marcos' morgue to a waiting pickup truck. "The little girl died when a wall fell over her," a shocked Ramos told a reporter. He said the girl was playing in her room when the quake hit. Sobbing uncontrollably, the girl's mother hugged the coffin wrapped with white lace and tulle. Ramos said the family would escort his niece Rosa's body back home for a viewing. The quake, which was 20 miles deep, was centred 15 miles off the coastal town of Champerico and 100 miles south-west of Guatemala City. It was the strongest earthquake to hit Guatemala since a 1976 temblor that killed 23,000. Officials said most of 100 missing were from San Marcos, where people farm corn and herd cattle, mostly for their own survival. Hospital officials in San Marcos said they had received 150 injured. Pérez said more than 2,000 soldiers were deployed to help with the disaster. A plane had made at least two trips to carry relief teams to the area.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow how the day unfolded as David Cameron pushed for a tougher approach to the Assad regime but the Syrian president said he would not flee
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | After yesterday's drama in Greece and a sharp selloff in global shares, there are a flurry of news events which could again test the nerve of the markets
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