Friday, March 04, 2011
SKY NEWS: Dozens of people have been killed and many more injured after the army opened fire on protesters in the Libyan city of Zawiyah.
It is thought pro-Gaddafi forces entered the city and fired at protesters, who then returned fire.
A number of people were shot, including a main rebel commander who was killed.
This then set off another march of thousands of people, many of whom were unarmed, who were subsequently shot at by the military who were using rocket-propelled grenades and sniper fire.
Many of the demonstrators were shot in the head, neck and chest. (+ video) >>> Alex Crawford in Zawiyah, and Adam Arnold | Friday, March 04, 2011
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Investigators now believe that the man who killed two US airmen at Frankfurt Airport on Wednesday was acting alone. Still, German commentators find little comfort in knowing that. To them, it just means no one's safe anymore.
Germany is in a state of shock following Wednesday's fatal shooting at Frankfurt Airport, which left two US airmen dead and two wounded. It appears to have been the first deadly attack with an Islamist motive on German soil.
Twenty-one-year-old Arid U. has already confessed to being the gunman and to acting alone, but that doesn't seem to be of much comfort to Germans. Instead, the incident, which took place in a public area of the airport, has highlighted just how little can be done to prevent a lone gunman from carrying out an attack.
The man, who lived in Frankfurt but was originally from Kosovo, was not previously known to authorities and appears not to have been a member of an Islamist group. However, the suspect's Facebook page, which has now been taken offline, indicates that he had contacts to Islamists from the radical Salafist movement. >>> David Gordon Smith | Friday, March 04, 2011
FAZ.NET: In der libyschen Hauptstadt ist es nach dem Freitagsgebet zu Zusammenstößen zwischen Gegnern und Anhängern von Machthaber Gaddafi gekommen. Unterdessen rollt internationale Hilfe für die vielen in Tunesien festsitzenden Flüchtlinge an.In Tripolis sind Gegner und Anhänger von Staatschef Gaddafi aneinandergeraten. Vor einer Moschee in der Innenstadt der libyschen Hauptstadt gingen nach dem Freitagsgebet mehr als tausend Regimegegner und Gaddafi-Anhänger mit Fäusten aufeinander los. Die eine Seite rief: „Das Volk will den Sturz des Oberst (Gaddafi).“ Die andere Seite rief: „Das Volk will Muammar, den Oberst.“
Gaddafi-treue Milizionäre, die grüne Armbinden trugen, schossen nach Angaben von Augenzeugen in die Luft, um die Regimegegner zu vertreiben. Die Stadtteile Tadschura und Souk al-Jumaa, in denen es ebenfalls größere Anti-Regime-Proteste gab, wurden nach Berichten von Augenzeugen inzwischen von Gaddafi-Truppen mit Panzern umstellt.
Bereits seit Tagen kommt es in Tripolis regelmäßig zu Verhaftungen. Die Leichen von Menschen, die plötzlich verschwunden waren, wurden häufig später auf offener Straße abgeladen. Videoaufnahmen zeigen, dass Milizen auch nachts mit Geländewagen durch die Stadtviertel fahren und Oppositionelle aus ihren Häusern verschleppen. „Während wir hier sprechen, sind überall um uns herum Agenten, die uns genau beobachten“, sagte ein Anwohner der Nachrichtenagentur AP. >>> FAZ.NET mit dpa/Reuters | Freitag, )4. März 2011
LE POINT: En renversant Saddam Hussein, l'ancien président américain a-t-il semé les germes de la démocratie dans le monde arabe ?
L'idée fait son chemin : George Bush aurait été un précurseur, peut-être même un visionnaire. Il voulait diffuser la démocratie à travers tout le grand Moyen-Orient, d'Alger à Karachi. L'expédition d'Irak devait constituer la première étape d'un ébranlement qui allait répandre les lumières à travers tout le monde arabo-musulman. L'entreprise a paru sombrer dans la triste réalité du chaos irakien et se noyer dans la colère suscitée entre Nil et Euphrate par l'intervention américaine dans l'ancienne Mésopotamie. Mais voici que ces jours-ci, les néo-conservateurs qui entouraient George Bush relèvent la tête. Et si, finalement, le printemps arabe leur apportait a posteriori une éclatante justification ? Si, au fond, la soif de liberté qui pousse les peuples à se révolter était la meilleure preuve de la justesse de leurs analyses ? L'argumentaire est séduisant, la dialectique subtile mais largement biaisée. >>> Par PIERRE BEYLAU, RÉDACTEUR EN CHEF DU SERVICE MONDE | Vendredi 04 Mars 2011
AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: Government forces reportedly fire tear gas on protesters rallying against Gaddafi following Friday prayers.At least 1,000 people protesting against the rule of Muammar Gaddafi have taken to the streets of Tripoli, the Libyan capital, raising fears of fresh conflict between anti-government protesters and loyalist forces.
Protests called by the opposition began on Friday when worshippers streamed out of a mosque in the centre of the city, chanting "Gaddaf is the enemy of God", witnesses said.
"This is the end for Gaddafi. It's over. Forty years of crimes are over," Faragha, an engineer at the protest, told the Reuters news agency.
Pro-Gaddafi forces fired tear gas at protesters, the AP news agency said, saying at least five cannisters were fired at the crowd in the district of Tajoura in the capital.
"They fired teargas. I heard shooting. People are scattering," a reporter from the Reuters news agency in Tajoura said.
Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tripoli, said it was not possible to immediately verify the reports, but that there was a heavy security presence in the city.
"There is some evidence that there's been burning tyres, but beyond that it has been essentially a state of lockdown. The shops are shut, the streets are empty, minimal traffic and an extremely high and visible security presence in all major intersections in the city."
Government forces set up checkpoints in Tripoli ahead of the action, and residents said soldiers had been roaming the city in civilians cars. >>> Al Jazeera and agencies | Friday, March 04, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: LSE director Howard Davies resigns after fresh allegations over links to Libyan regime as PR firm admits errors over lobbyingA deepening row over the London School of Economics and its dealings with the Gaddafi regime has claimed the career of the university's director.
Sir Howard Davies resigned after fresh revelations that the institution had been involved in a deal worth £2.2m to train hundreds of young Libyans to become part of the country's future elite.
An independent inquiry headed by Lord Woolf, a former lord chief justice, will examine the LSE's relationship with Libya and with Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam. It will also establish guidelines for international donations to the university.
Davies said: "I have concluded that it would be right for me to step down even though I know that this will cause difficulty for the institution I have come to love. The short point is that I am responsible for the school's reputation, and that has suffered." >>> Jeevan Vasagar and Rajeev Syal | Friday, March 04, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: The school's association with Libya's leader is just an extreme version of the predicament now facing all UK universities
Pity the poor university. Told for 25 years to get into bed with big money, the London School of Economics found big money sometimes stinks. This week, as the Blairites bobbed and weaved their way out of the sleazy embrace of their friend, Gaddafi of Libya, someone forgot to tell the old school tie. The LSE thought it was helping the cause by giving Gaddafi's son a dodgy PhD, for which it accepted a £1.5m "donation". When the Blairites did a runner, the LSE was left looking like Bugs Moran's gang after the St Valentine's Day massacre.
With felicitous timing, London's Royal Court theatre is staging Richard Bean's hilarious if chaotic play, Heretic, about a university department eager for a grant from a multinational company and ready to suppress academic rigour to do so. It is clearly based on the University of East Anglia and climate change, but the words LSE and Gaddafi could be substituted throughout.
The global-warming sceptic, played by Juliet Stevenson, is ostracised and driven to madness by her colleagues, as her professor argues that their department is merely a unit to "service clients … a virtual budget centre providing tools to the market". Eager for money, he quotes a Chinese proverb: "Man must stand for long time with mouth open before roast duck fly in."
For the LSE, Gaddafi of Libya was pure roast duck. Journalists trawling through the recent jobs, contacts and pronouncements of LSE academics, including directors Lord Giddens and Sir Howard Davies – who has now resigned – have been aghast. Despite references to "the context of the times", the story is of a respected academic institution apparently in mesmerised thrall to a dictator, and actively participating in sanitising his image.
Gaddafi was seen praised by LSE luminaries in a cringe-making video link as "the world's longest serving leader". His son, Saif al-Islam, settled in a north London palace to write an LSE PhD and dispense trips and contracts. He was declared as being committed to "democracy, civil society and deep liberal values" and was even invited to give the Ralph Miliband memorial lecture, an unusual honour for any student. His appreciation was swift. The university accepted a £1m contract to train 400 regime-approved "future leaders" from Libya. The mind boggles at it all. >>> Simon Jenkins | Thursday, March 03, 2011
Related >>>
BBC: First Minister Carwyn Jones thanked Yes for Wales supporters after the result became a foregone conclusion.
Wales has said a resounding Yes in the referendum on direct law-making powers for the assembly.
Almost all 22 Welsh counties have declared, and all except one, Monmouthshire, backed change. Turnout is provisionally put at 35%.
As celebrations began, First Minister Carwyn Jones said: "This has been a Yes vote across the whole of Wales."
A Yes vote will give the assembly direct law-making power in 20 devolved areas, such as health and education.
With only a couple of counties left to declare, the final result is now a formality. >>> | Friday, March 04, 2011
BBC: Welsh referendum: Gloom in No camp as count continues – Leaders of the No campaign in the Welsh assembly powers referendum admit they are pessimistic about their chances. >>> | Friday, March 04, 2011
BBC: The director of the London School of Economics Sir Howard Davies has submitted his resignation after admitting an "error of judgment" in establishing links with the regime of Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi.Sir Howard visited Libya to advise the regime about financial reforms and accepted a £300,000 donation from the Libyan leader's second son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi for research at the LSE.
His departure underlines just how politically toxic links with the Gaddafi regime have become ever since it began its brutal suppression of the Libyan uprising.
Saif al-Islam's former friends and business associates in the west have become embarrassed to admit ever knowing him now his reputation as a liberal reformer has been scuttled.
Yet just a few weeks ago Saif was socialising with the crème de la crème of British society.
So how did so many respectable people get it so wrong?
In part this is because Saif makes such a good impression in the media. Tall and handsome, he speaks fluent English and presented himself as the acceptable face of the Gaddafi regime.
With few exceptions, he sided with the reformers in Libya and seemed prepared to go head-to-head with his father in an attempt to develop the fledgling Libyan private sector and open up the atrophied media.
'Like the Godfather'
But Saif's warm reception in influential business, academic and political circles in the West was also attributable to the eagerness in some quarters to gain access to Libya's oil wealth.
"If Libya was a country without an oil producing capacity, I don't think Saif would have convinced the West," said Dr Omar Ashur, a lecturer in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. >>> Hugh Miles, BBC Radio 4, The Report | Friday, March 04, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Hans-Peter Friedrich under fire after claiming Islam 'does not belong' in GermanyGermany's new interior minister has said Islam does not "belong" in the country, reopening a bitter debate over the integration of Germany's 4 million Muslims.
Hans-Peter Friedrich, who took office on Wednesday, was being asked by reporters about a gun attack at Frankfurt airport in which two US servicemen were killed and another two injured. Investigators suspect the attack, carried out by a 21-year-old Muslim immigrant from Kosovo, was an act of Islamist terrorism. A federal judge in Karlsruhe on Thursday ordered the suspect be remanded to jail on two counts of murder and three of attempted murder, pending further investigation.
In his first press conference as minister, Friedrich said on Friday that Muslims should be allowed live in modern Germany, but he added: "To say that Islam belongs in Germany is not a fact supported by history." >>> Helen Pidd in Berlin | Friday, March 04, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Germany's disgraced former defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, nicknamed "zu Googleberg" after accusations he cheated on his doctorate, has also resigned as an MP, parliament said on Thursday.The 39-year-old, Germany's most popular minister until his resignation on Tuesday, thereby loses his parliamentary immunity, something he said he wanted to happen, clearing the way for prosecutors to investigate him if they wish.
The public prosecutors' office in Hof in Mr zu Guttenberg's home state Bavaria said that there was enough evidence to begin an inquiry, with about 80 legal complaints against the former minister. >>> | Thursday, March 03, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Libyan rebels have said they are open to talks only to discuss Col Gaddafi's exile or resignation, vowing "victory or death"."We will not stop until we liberate all this country," Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the rebel National Libyan Council told supporters of a two-week-old uprising that has shaken Gaddafi's grip on the North African oil producer.
Ahmed Jabreel, an aide to Abdel Jalil, said if there was any negotiation "it will be on one single thing – how Gaddafi is going to leave the country or step down so we can save lives. There is nothing else to negotiate".
Rebel volunteers defending the opposition's expanding grip on a key coast road said a rocket attack by a government warplane just missed a rebel-held eastern military base which houses a big ammunition store in the town of Ajdabiyah. >>> | Friday, March 04, 2011
As a democratic revolution led by tech-empowered young people sweeps the Arab world, Wadah Khanfar, Al Jazeera's director-general, shares a profoundly optimistic view of what's happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and beyond.
In the first talk posted online from the TED 2011 conference in California, Khanfar describes the powerful moment when people realised they could step out of their homes and ask for change. This talk was given on March 1, 2011 in Long Beach, California. TED 2011 is taking place between March 1 and March 4. [Source: Al Jazeera]
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: For decades the dollar has served as the world's main reserve currency, but, argues Barry Eichengreen, it will soon have to share that role. Here's why—and what it will mean for international markets and companies.
The single most astonishing fact about foreign exchange is not the high volume of transactions, as incredible as that growth has been. Nor is it the volatility of currency rates, as wild as the markets are these days.
Instead, it's the extent to which the market remains dollar-centric.
Consider this: When a South Korean wine wholesaler wants to import Chilean cabernet, the Korean importer buys U.S. dollars, not pesos, with which to pay the Chilean exporter. Indeed, the dollar is virtually the exclusive vehicle for foreign-exchange transactions between Chile and Korea, despite the fact that less than 20% of the merchandise trade of both countries is with the U.S.
Chile and Korea are hardly an anomaly: Fully 85% of foreign-exchange transactions world-wide are trades of other currencies for dollars. What's more, what is true of foreign-exchange transactions is true of other international business. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries sets the price of oil in dollars. The dollar is the currency of denomination of half of all international debt securities. More than 60% of the foreign reserves of central banks and governments are in dollars.
The greenback, in other words, is not just America's currency. It's the world's.
But as astonishing as that is, what may be even more astonishing is this: The dollar's reign is coming to an end.
I believe that over the next 10 years, we're going to see a profound shift toward a world in which several currencies compete for dominance.
The impact of such a shift will be equally profound, with implications for, among other things, the stability of exchange rates, the stability of financial markets, the ease with which the U.S. will be able to finance budget and current-account deficits, and whether the Fed can follow a policy of benign neglect toward the dollar. >>> Barry Eichengreen | Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Dr. Eichengreen is the George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee professor of economics and political science at the University of California, Berkeley. His new book is "Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System." He can be reached at reports@wsj.com.
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THE AUSTRALIAN: THE West's response to a defiant Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is in disarray, with NATO allies divided over armed intervention and the Libyan regime contemptuously rejecting moves to investigate its alleged crimes against humanity.British Prime Minister David Cameron was accused by a senior NATO official of "jumping the gun" for announcing that he had asked the Ministry of Defence to draw up no-fly zone proposals, while the rift between the US and Britain was underlined as the White House continued to soft-pedal on military action.
"He may have rowed back now but as soon as he made it public that he was in favour of a no-fly zone, Cameron raised expectations," one official said.
Barack Obama struck a cautious note over any kind of military intervention. While saying that a no-fly zone remained an option, he gave warning that the ownership of the Egyptian revolution by its own people had been important to its success.
"One of the reasons we did not see any anti-American protests was because they didn't see that we tried to engineer an outcome," the US President said, adding that the US had to ensure "we are on the right side of history".
But the British Prime Minister won support from France, Europe's other main military power[.] >>> David Charter and Michael Evans | The Times | Friday, March 04, 2011
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: De nombreux appels à manifester ce vendredi ont été lancés ces derniers jours. Les électeurs étaient appelé à exprimer leur déception dans la rue, près d’un an après les élections législatives du 7 mars.Des manifestants commençaient vendredi matin à affluer dans le centre de Bagdad, où les autorités ont interdit la circulation des véhicules en prévision de nouveaux rassemblements contre le manque de services publics, la corruption, le chômage et l’incompétence des dirigeants.
Ces rassemblements s’inscrivent dans un mouvement de contestation inspiré des révoltes dans le monde arabe qui a culminé le 25 février avec une "Journée de la colère" et des manifestations dans une vingtaine de villes, suivies d’affrontements avec les forces de sécurité qui ont fait 16 morts. >>> AFP | Vendredi 04 Mars 2011
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Knapp sechs Monate ist die niederländische Regierung im Amt - nun hat sie bei den Provinzwahlen einen Dämpfer erhalten. Die Mehrheit im Oberhaus hat sie knapp verfehlt. Die Partei des Rechtspopulisten Geert Wilders zählt zu den Gewinnern der Abstimmung.Den Haag - In den Niederlanden geht die Minderheitsregierung von Ministerpräsident Mark Rutte geschwächt aus den Provinzwahlen hervor. Die von Islamgegner Geert Wilders gestützte Mitte-Rechts-Regierung hat eine Mehrheit für das Oberhaus des Parlaments knapp verfehlt. >>> kgp/dpa/AFP | Donnerstag, 03. März 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Secret police loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi have staged sweeps of the Libyan capital, arresting hundreds of opponents and protesters in advance of demonstrations planned for prayers on Friday.
There have been night-time arrests across the capital Tripoli during the week, according to exile groups. Many were identified through photographs of last Friday's protests in which an unknown number of people were shot dead.
Precise figures are impossible to confirm – friends of those arrested say it is not known where those who have been arrested have been taken. According to rumour, they have been taken to Bab al-Azizia, the regime's command-and-control centre in the south of Tripoli, which includes the Gaddafi compound bombed by US jets in 1986.
"Several of my friends have been arrested," said one young man in the city, who cannot be named for his own protection. "I do not know where they are. There will still be big protests tomorrow. Inshallah, God willing, Gaddafi will be gone." >>> Richard Spencer, Tripoli | Thursday, March 03, 2011
Thursday, March 03, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Libyan government bombing raids on Brega were a "big misunderstanding" designed to scare off rebels, according to Saif al-Islam, son of Col Muammar Gaddafi.
In an interview with Sky News, Saif said: "First of all the bombs (were) just to frighten them to go away. Not to kill them.
"I'm talking about the harbour and the oil refinery there. Nobody would allow the militia to control Brega. It's like allowing someone to control Rotterdam harbour in Holland.
His comments came as the International Criminal Court announced that Col Gaddafi and key aides will be investigated over allegations they committed crimes against humanity while fending off the uprising in Libya. >>> | Thursday, March 03, 2011
SKY NEWS: In an interview with Sky's foreign correspondent Lisa Holland, Saif al Islam admitted there had been raids to "scare off" anti-Gaddafi forces at the town's oil hub, but insisted there was no uprising. >>> | Thursday, March 03, 2011
LE FIGARO: Quelque 460 Tunisiens ayant transité par Lampedusa en Italie ont été arrêtés dans les Alpes-maritimes en un mois. Les organismes d'aide aux réfugiés relativisent néanmoins l'importance de cette vague.
Des policiers chargés du contrôle de l'immigration à la frontière franco-italienne se disent «submergés» et «sous une pression hallucinante». Le député-maire de Nice, Christian Estrosi, a fait part au nouveau ministre de l'Intérieur de ses «inquiétudes concernant les flux migratoires en provenance d'Italie» mercredi. Claude Guéant a depuis annoncé sa venue dans la région vendredi. Et les quelque 500 arrestations de clandestins tunisiens recensées en France depuis début février sont présentées par des policiers locaux comme le début d'un phénomène de plus grande ampleur, qui pourrait atteindre les 15.000 entrées illégales. >>> Par Pauline Fréour | Jeudi 03 Mars 2011
REUTERS.COM: Pakistan vows to battle extremism after minister slain: Pakistan must not buckle to extremism, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday, a day after Taliban militants killed his government's only Christian minister for challenging a law on blasphemy toward Islam. >>> Zeeshan Haider | Thursday, March 03, 2011
FAZ.DE: Der Anschlag auf amerikanische Soldaten am Frankfurter Flughafen hat nach Ansicht der Bundesanwaltschaft einen islamistischen Hintergrund. Der 21 Jahre alte Kosovare hat seine Tat gestanden. Offenbar arbeitete er im Postzentrum am Flughafen.
Die Bundesanwaltschaft vermutet einen islamistischen Hintergrund bei dem tödlichen Angriff auf amerikanische Soldaten am Frankfurter Flughafen. Es bestehe der Verdacht, dass es sich um eine islamistisch motivierte Tat handele, erklärte die Behörde am Donnerstag in Karlsruhe. Die Bundesanwaltschaft hatte die Ermittlungen zuvor von der Staatsanwaltschaft Frankfurt am Main übernommen. Der mutmaßliche Täter soll am Donnerstag dem Ermittlungsrichter am Bundesgerichtshof vorgeführt werden. Die Bundesanwaltschaft will sich am Freitag zu weiteren Details äußern. >>> FAZ.NET | Donnerstag, 03. März 2011
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: ARMÉE IMPROVISÉE | Quelque 800 Touareg ont été recrutés à ce jour par le régime du leader libyen Mouammar Kadhafi pour l’aider à combattre le soulèvement populaire.
Kadhafi a recruté 800 Touareg pour assurer sa défense. Quelque 800 Touareg du Niger, du Mali, d’Algérie et du Burkina Faso, ont été recrutés à ce jour par le régime du leader libyen Mouammar Kadhafi pour l’aider à combattre le soulèvement populaire auquel il fait face, a-t-on appris jeudi de sources sécuritaires. Au Mali, un petit bureau de recrutement discret a été installé dans un hôtel de Bamako appartenant à la Libye, où un diplomate libyen fait office d’agent recruteur. Mais le recrutement se fait également à partir des zones sahéliennes, selon les sources sécuritaires. "Ceux qui partent maintenant sont tentés par le gain facile. Ce sont eux qu'on appelle les mercenaires", a déclaré Abdou Salam Ag Assalat, président de l'assemblée régionale de Kidal (nord-est du Mali)."Parmi ces jeunes, il y a des ex-rebelles touareg maliens et nigériens qui avaient repris au Mali les armes en 2006 et 2008", a-t-il ajouté. >>> ATS | Jeudi 03 Mars 2011
REUTERS FRANCE: LE CAIRE - Le Premier ministre égyptien, Ahmed Chafik, a démissionné jeudi, annonce le Conseil suprême des forces armées (CSFA), répondant favorablement aux demandes de remaniement formulées par des artisans de la révolution.
L'armée au pouvoir, qui a publié un communiqué en ce sens sur sa page Facebook et en a confirmé la teneur à Reuters, a chargé Essam Charaf, un ancien ministre des Transports, de former un nouveau gouvernement. >>> Par Maroua Aouad | Jeudi 03 Mars 2011
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Tripolis - Unterstützer des libyschen Machthabers Muammar Gaddafi haben im Osten des Landes eine Gegenoffensive gestartet, um den seit zwei Wochen anhaltenden Aufstand niederzuschlagen.
Regierungstruppen hätten am Mittwoch vergeblich versucht, die Stadt Marsa El Brega wieder unter ihre Kontrolle zu bringen, erklärten Aufständische. Möglicherweise sei eine Militärintervention des Auslands nötig, um die Herrschaft Gaddafis endgültig zu beenden. Gaddafi selbst lud die Vereinten Nationen und die Nato ein, sich selbst ein Bild über die Lage in seinem Land zu machen. >>> | Mittwoch, 02. März 2011
ARAB NEWS: AMMAN – A senior US official held separate meetings on Wednesday with Jordan’s King Abdallah and Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit to relay Washington’s support for the political and economic reforms recently pledged by the two leaders, according to a US embassy statement.
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour Michael Posner "emphasised the strong, long-term American commitment to the well-being of Jordan and the US appreciation of Jordan’s many decades of work toward regional peace and prosperity”, the statement said.
He also underscored the "US support for the king’s call for sustained, serious and comprehensive program of political and economic reform as the key to realizing the enormous potential of Jordan and Jordanians”, it added. >>> Abdul Jalil Mustafa | Arab News | Thursday, March 03, 2011
MAIL ONLINE: An Indonesian maid faces being beheaded in Saudi Arabia after murdering the employer she claimed had tried to rape her.
Darsem binti Dawud Tawar had pleaded self-defence when she went on trial accused of the fatal attack on her Yemeni boss.
Camapaigners are now desperately trying to raise half a million dollars in blood money to save her life.
They are asking for donations on TV and social networking sites like Facebook. >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Thursday, March 03, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A father-of-seven from Manchester has been shot dead in Libya, according to reports.
Friends of Khaled Att-ardi from Whalley Range said he had been killed in the oil port of Brega on Wednesday. Relatives said he had travelled to Libya last week to help relatives caught up in the unrest.
Nandi Handi, a family friend, told the BBC: "I am shocked. All the children are crying. Nobody believes it. Everything is not fair, it is horrible.
The Foreign Office said it was aware of the reports and was "urgently investigating" them. >>> | Thursday, March 03, 2011
REUTERS FRANCE: PARIS - En pleine polémique sur le débat sur l'islam en France réclamé par Nicolas Sarkozy, la loi sur l'interdiction du voile intégral devient réalité.
Le texte, promulgué en octobre dernier, est publié ce jeudi au Journal officiel et une campagne d'information volontairement sobre est lancée pour l'expliquer.
Cette loi interdisant "la dissimulation du visage dans l'espace public" sert officiellement à réaffirmer les valeurs de la République et vise clairement les adeptes du voile intégral islamique - burqa ou niqab.
Elle concerne, selon les statistiques du ministère de l'Intérieur, moins de 3.000 personnes en France, soit une petite minorité.
Le principe, simple, de la loi, est rappelé sur l'affiche de la campagne d'information: "Nul ne peut, dans l'espace public, porter une tenue destinée à dissimuler son visage." >>> Edité par Yves Clarisse | Jeudi 03 Mars 2011
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Kairo - Die Arabische Liga führt Verhandlungen über einen Friedensplan für Libyen.
Das bestätigte der Generalsekretär der Arabischen Liga, Amr Mussa, am Donnerstag der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters. Über den von Venezuelas Präsident Hugo Chavez vorgeschlagenen Plan sei aber noch keine Einigung erzielt worden, sagte Mussa. Zuvor hatte der Fernsehsender Al-Dschasira berichtet, der libysche Machthaber Muammar Gaddafi und sein Verbündeter Chavez hätten sich bereits auf den Plan für ein Ende der Gewalt in dem nordafrikanischen Land verständigt. >>> © Reuters | Donnerstag, 03. März 2011
ABNA.IR: Oman, Muscat - Hundreds of Omani anti-government protesters have camped outside the Consultative Council in the capital Muscat to demand political reform and better life conditions.
They were carrying placards reading, “We want jobs” and “We want freedom of press, AFP reported on Wednesday.
The protesters also called for bringing to justice those responsible for the deaths of demonstrators in the northern town of Sohar.
At least six people were killed in Sohar on Sunday after police opened fire on the anti-government demonstrators.
Also on Tuesday, Omani forces used tanks to disperse the protesters blocking roads spanning the industrial city of Sohar and the capital Muscat.
The army forces say they succeeded in driving away the protesters and the operation ended peacefully. >>> | Thursday, March 03, 2011
THE WASHINGTON POST: THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Dutch Queen Beatrix has postponed a state visit to Oman amid ongoing unrest in the strategic Gulf state.
The monarch had been due to begin a three-day visit to Oman on Sunday, accompanied by heir to the throne Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife, Princess Maxima. >>> The Associated Press | Wednesday, March 02, 2011
THE TELEGRAPH - CALCUTTA: Washington – The first targeted attack on an Indian-owned property since the Arab world went up in flames in January has sent up a wave of concern in New Delhi that it may have to brace for an influx of its citizens from the Gulf, a repeat of the events following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
The burning down of Lulu Hypermarket in the Omani town of Sohar this week is particularly unsettling for the Congress party which fears that any repetition of this incident creating a pattern could have an echo in elections in Kerala, which has lakhs of households living off income from its people working in the Gulf. >>> K. P. Nayar | Wednesday, March 02, 2011
MAIL ONLINE: David Cameron has been secretly consulting Tony Blair about Libya despite publicly criticising his links with Colonel Gaddafi.Senior officials say the Prime Minister has held at least two conversations in the past fortnight with the former Labour premier, now a Middle East peace envoy.
Mr Cameron has consulted Mr Blair about the Libyan dictator’s state of mind and sought advice about how to make him quit.
But yesterday the Prime Minister continued his public condemnation of Blairite links to Libya, telling MPs that Lord Mandelson, Baroness Symons and former defence minister Adam Ingram should refer themselves to the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which vets jobs of former ministers.
Lord Mandelson has twice met Gaddafi’s son Saif. Baroness Symons resigned this week as an adviser to the National Economic Development Board of Libya, while Mr Ingram works for a defence firm which has sought contracts in Libya. >>> Tim Shipman and Sam Greenhill | Thursday, March 03, 2011
SKY NEWS: Attacks by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's fighter jets and artillery have been repulsed by the rebels threatening to end his 41-year rule of Libya. >>> Dominic Waghorn, in Adjaybia [sic], and Richard Williams | Thursday, March 03, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: 'Aiding the enemy' among 22 new charges brought against US soldier held in solitary confinementBradley Manning, the US soldier who has spent 10 months in solitary confinement on suspicion of having transmitted a huge trove of state secrets to WikiLeaks, now faces a possible death penalty.
The intelligence specialist, who is being held in the maximum security jail on Quantico marine base in Virginia, has been handed 22 additional military charges as part of his court martial process.
They come on top of initial charges of having illegally obtained 150,000 secret US government cables and handing more than 50 of them to an unauthorised person that carried a possible sentence of up to 52 years in prison.
Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, said that the most serious of the new charges was the Article 104 offence of "aiding the enemy". The charge carries a potential death sentence. >>> Ed Pilkington in New York | Thursday, March 03, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Gaddafi's Libya ran on farce mingled with fear, recalls the BBC reporter he nearly ran down in a small, battered PeugeotI feel obliged to dip into books which have been given to me as a present. "In need freedom is latent . . ." Late at night in Tripoli in 1984 I found Colonel Gaddafi's Green Book hard going. He'd signed the book that morning, in revolutionary green ink of course, a curious V-shape, as if an inky fly had slid down the page and staggered back up. He'd also given me a Qur'an and wished me Happy Christmas.
Nothing was ever straightforward dealing with Gaddafi.
There was little to do in revolutionary Libya in the evenings. Television was dreary, full of the Leader's speeches and only occasionally enlivened by pirated foreign programmes, including the nation's favourite: Monty Python's Flying Circus. Libyans watched it, not laughing but nodding. They said: "That's our country they're showing." It was an oil-rich country with broken pavements and an atmosphere that discouraged taking a walk in the dark. No obvious threat, no armed men prowling the street, just hotel employees and anonymous regime officials twitching with an unexpressed fear that "things might happen . . ." So I read on: "No democracy without popular congresses, and committees everywhere."
In frequent visits since, I've noticed that the Colonel's slogans plastered on the walls of public buildings have faded somewhat, but he still looms large, even when cornered. And when the possibility of freedom emerged in the city of Benghazi a few days ago, a bright-eyed young man was shouting joyfully, "We're forming a committee." This is the new Libya, which needs a government – and old habits die hard. >>> Kate Adie | Wednesday, March 02, 2011
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