South African police kill 2 more in crackdown on mine strikes: councillor shot, miner run over(2)

RUSTENBURG, South Africa - Days after soldiers were deployed, South African President Jacob Zuma's office announced Thursday that he has ordered military forces to assist police trying to control labour unrest in the nation's crucial mining sector.

Despite resolution of the longest and bloodiest strike, two more deaths were reported.

Even as miners returned to work Thursday at the Lonmin PLC platinum mine in Marikana, where police killed 34 miners on Aug. 16, labour advocates said police killed two more people: a ruling party municipal councillor who died of injuries from a rubber bullet and a miner who was run over by an armoured car.

Zuma's office said he was invoking the Constitution to use the military to support police "in the prevention and combating of crime as well as the maintenance of law and order in the Marikana Area ... and other areas around the country where needed" until Jan. 31. The notice from the presidency referred to section 201 (2) of the Constitution, which states that "only the President, as head of the national executive, may authorize the employment of the defence force."

Last weekend some 1,000 soldiers were trucked into the "platinum belt" northwest of Johannesburg.

Thursday morning, police in two water cannon trucks and several armoured cars confronted striking Anglo American Platinum miners at a shantytown where residents set up barricades of rocks and burning tires and logs. Before long, the fires died down and most of the police pulled back. The people dispersed, leaving a herd of goats milling around the water cannons.

Police spokesman Dennis Adriao confirmed that police fired tear gas and a stun grenade on the illegal gathering near Sondela settlement. There were no arrests, he said.

However there was a fatality from the confrontation Wednesday between police and strikers. Strike leader Evans Ramokga told The Associated Press that one miner was run over Wednesday by a police armoured car and dragged several meters (feet) before it stopped. He said the man died overnight in the hospital.

Police spokesman Adriao said he was unaware of the incident which occurred at the scene where police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to break up a march by thousands of strikers. The mines near Rustenburg belong to Anglo American Platinum, the world's largest platinum producer.

"The only thing we want is to sit down and have them hear our demands," Ramokga said. He said authorities have refused to give permission for the thousands of strikers among Anglo's 15,000 workers there to hold a protest march to back their demands for a gross monthly salary of 16,070 rand ($2,000).

Anglo issued an ultimatum for workers to report for duty by Thursday night or threatened to act on a court order declaring the strike illegal. That gives Anglo the power to fire strikers.

"Anglo American Platinum's Rustenburg mining operations are already under considerable economic pressure, any further delays in returning to work will only increase the risk to the long-term viability of these mines," it said in a statement late Wednesday.

The Marikana Solidarity Campaign meanwhile reported that African National Congress councillor Paulina Masutlhe was shopping Saturday at the Wonderkop shantytown where Lonmin platinum miners live when police firing from a speeding armoured car hit several women. Masutlhe was hit in the abdomen and leg and rushed to the hospital, where she died Wednesday, a statement said.

Adriao said he is investigating the report of a death. He said police had reported to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate that several people were hit by rubber bullets in a raid to disarm strikers on Saturday, the day after the government ordered a crackdown.

The directorate already has opened 34 murder and 78 attempted murder charges against police in the Aug. 16 shootings, the worst state violence since the white minority apartheid regime was brought down in 1994. The government has said it is awaiting the outcome of a judicial commission of inquiry that is to report to the president in January.

The solidarity campaign condemned the brutality of police and called for "the immediate identification and suspension of the police officers involved in her (Masutlhe's) murder. "

"We are also extremely unhappy that, to date, none of the police officers involved in the massacre on 16 August 2012 has been identified or suspended - this is totally unacceptable and unlawful," said the campaign that includes the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions that is part of a governing alliance with the African National Congress party and the South African Communist Party.

The deaths at the two mines, both northwest of Johannesburg, bring the strike-related death toll to 47.

Lonmin on Tuesday resolved its five-week strike by agreeing to pay raises of 16 to 22 per cent.

The strike already has spread to several gold, platinum and chrome mines, damaging investor confidence in the country that produces 75 per cent of world platinum and is the No. 4 chrome producer and in the top 10 of gold producers.

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Faul reported from Johannesburg.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/south+african+police+kill+2+more+in+crackdown+on+mine+strikes+councillor+shot+miner+run+over2/6442718923/story.html
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US space shuttle Endeavour to honour Giffords with flyover at astronaut husband's request

Space shuttle Endeavour flies over Ellington Field atop the shuttle aircraft carrier Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012, in Houston. Endeavour is making a final trek across the country to the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it will be permanently displayed. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

HOUSTON - The U.S. space agency says the shuttle Endeavour will honour former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords with a flyover of her Arizona hometown on its way to the California museum where it will be displayed.

NASA spokeswoman Lisa Malone says Thursday's flyover was requested by Giffords' husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who was the last person to fly the shuttle.

Giffords resigned from Congress earlier this year to focus on her recovery from wounds suffered in a gunman's attack last year in which six people were killed.

Malone says the flyover gives NASA the chance to recognize Giffords' legacy as a longtime advocate and champion of U.S. spaceflight.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Syrian TV says military helicopter has crashed near Damascus

BEIRUT - A Syrian military helicopter crashed in a rebellious suburb of Damascus on Thursday, state-run TV said, but the circumstances in which the aircraft went down were not immediately clear.

The brief Syrian TV report said the helicopter crashed southeast of Douma, a suburb that has witnessed repeated military crackdowns to purge fighters seeking to topple President Bashar Assad. No further details were made available.

"We heard the sound of several explosions and some gunfire, and few minutes later, we were told that a helicopter had crashed," said Mohammad Saeed, an activist in Douma.

In Damascus, soldiers raided a Palestinian refugee camp where many Syrians from other parts of the country's capital and its suburbs have been sheltering, arresting dozens of people in a sweeping operation, the government and opposition groups said.

Syrian TV said an army unit conducted a "special operation" during which about 100 gunmen were captured in the Palestinian refugee camps of Yarmouk and Palestine in Damascus. It gave no further details.

The Local Coordination Committees activist network reported gunfire and several casualties that accompanied the raid. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three people were killed and dozens of others were arrested when troops stormed parts of the Yarmouk camp that has provided shelter for many residents of Damascus' Hajar al-Aswad district, an area has seen heavy fighting between rebels and government troops in recent days.

The government increasingly has been using helicopters and other aircraft in its fight against an 18-month-old rebellion against the Assad rule. Rebels have claimed to have shot down helicopters and warplanes in the past, although the regime has blamed most of the problems on mechanical difficulties.

Saeed said Syrian MiG warplanes and helicopter gunships had been flying low over the southeastern part of Douma before Thursday's crash. Speaking via Skype from Douma, he said the helicopter crashed in a district known as Tal Kurdi near a factory for household items.

Rebels in Syria are fighting mostly with light weapons. Still, they are increasingly claiming success in downing government aircraft.

In the first week of September, rebels said they shot down a MiG aircraft in Abu al-Dhuhour, an area in the northwestern province of Idlib. On Aug. 13, rebels claimed to have shot down a regime MiG-23 warplane and captured the pilot in Deir el-Zour. Syria said the pilot ejected after a technical malfunction in the fighter jet.

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Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed to this report from Damascus, Syria.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/syrian+tv+says+military+helicopter+has+crashed+near+damascus/6442718737/story.html
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Who are the 47 per cent? The 3 groups Mitt Romney called out in his controversial remarks

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at a rally at Darwin Fuchs Pavilion in Miami, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON - Just which 47 per cent of Americans was Mitt Romney was talking about? It's hard to say. He lumped together three different ways of sorting people in what he's called less-than-elegant remarks.

Each of those three groups — likely Obama voters, people who get federal benefits and people who don't pay federal income taxes — contains just under half of all Americans, in the neighbourhood of 47 per cent at a given moment. There's some overlap, but the three groups are quite distinct.

Confusingly, Romney spoke as if they're made up of the same batch of Americans.

A look at the three groups:

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OBAMA VOTERS

What Romney said: "There are 47 per cent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what."

He's right on the nose, according to the latest Associated Press-GfK poll: Forty-seven per cent of likely voters say they support Obama. And 46 per cent say they support Romney, essentially a tie. This number fluctuates from poll to poll and week to week and could shift substantially before Election Day.

Who they are:

—Most are employed: Sixty-two per cent of the Obama voters work, including the 10 per cent working only part time. A fourth are retired. Five per cent say they're temporarily unemployed.

—Most earn higher-than-average wages. Fifty-six per cent have household incomes above the U.S. median of $50,000. Just 16 per cent have incomes below $30,000, and about the same share (20 per cent) have incomes of $100,000 or more.

—They're all ages but skew younger than Romney's voters: Twenty per cent are senior citizens and 12 per cent are under age 30.

—They're more educated than the overall population: Forty-three per cent boast four-year college degrees or above; 21 per cent topped out with a high school diploma.

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PEOPLE WHO GET FEDERAL BENEFITS

What Romney said: "There are 47 per cent ... who are dependent on government ... who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it."

Whether they are dependent and believe they are entitled to anything is arguable, but Romney's statistic is about right — 49 per cent of the U.S. population receive some kind of federal benefits, including Social Security and Medicare, according to the most recent Census Bureau data. Looking only at people who receive benefits that are based on financial need, such as food stamps, the portion is smaller — just over a third of the population. Many people get more than one type of benefit.

The biggest programs and their percentage of the U.S. population:

—Medicaid: 26 per cent

—Social Security: 16 per cent

—Food stamps: 16 per cent

—Medicare: 15 per cent

—Women, Infants and Children food program: 8 per cent

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THOSE WHO PAY NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX

What Romney said: "Forty-seven per cent of Americans pay no income tax."

Romney's about on target — 46 per cent of U.S. households paid no federal income tax last year, according to a study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Most do pay other federal taxes, including Medicare and Social Security withholding. And they're not all poor. Some middle-income and wealthy families escape income tax because of deductions, credits and investment tax preferences.

Why these people don't pay:

—About half don't earn enough money for a household of their size to owe income tax. For example, a family of four earning less than $26,400 wouldn't pay.

—About 22 per cent get tax breaks for senior citizens that offset their income.

—About 15 per cent get tax breaks for the working poor or low-income parents.

—Almost 3 per cent get tax breaks for college tuition or other education expenses.

Who they are:

—The vast majority have below-average earnings: Among all who don't owe, 9 out of 10 make $50,000 or less.

—But some of the wealthy escape taxes, including about 4,000 households earning more than $1 million a year.

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Associated Press Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

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Follow Connie Cass on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/ConnieCass

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/who+are+the+47+per+cent+the+3+groups+mitt+romney+called+out+in+his+controversial+remarks/6442718760/story.html
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US seeks $1 billion fine, long prison terms in LCD price-fixing case

SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Department of Justice is demanding that a Taiwanese company pay a $1 billion fine, and two former top executives each serve 10 years in prison for their role in what government officials call the most serious price-fixing cartel ever prosecuted by the U.S.

The proposed sentences would be the stiffest penalty ever meted out for price-fixing convictions if a federal judge adopts the DOJ's position today.

Prosecutors contend the sentences are necessary to punish a company that unfairly forced U.S. consumers to pay billions more than they should have for electronics and to deter others from engaging in price fixing.

A jury convicted Au Optronics Corp. and the executives with participating in conspiracy with seven other companies to fix the prices of LCD screens.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Strikers block trains, but protests against Indian gov't reforms only moderately successful

Samajwadi Party activists hold an effigy representing Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his cabinet colleagues before burning it during a protest along railway tracks in Allahabad, India, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012. Angry opposition workers have disrupted train services as part of a daylong strike in India to protest rising diesel prices and the government's decision to open the country's huge retail market to foreign companies. Placard reads "Take Walmart back." (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

NEW DELHI - Angry opposition supporters disrupted trains in India on Thursday but had only limited success in enforcing a national strike to protest a government decision to cut fuel subsidies and open the country's huge retail market to foreign companies.

Political backlash against the economic reform package presented by the Cabinet last week has left Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition scrambling to shore up its support and prevent early elections.

Some government allies have joined opposition parties in throwing their support behind the protests, which closed many schools and kept commercial trucks off the roads. However, many shops and businesses remained open, and the impact of the protest was barely felt in the main cities of Mumbai and New Delhi.

In a signal the government was on shaky ground, however, many of the protests in Uttar Pradesh state were led by the Samajwadi Party, which has been supporting the government from outside the fragile ruling coalition. The party said it would meet later Thursday to determine what action to take, but has been extremely critical of the reform package.

In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar state, protesters blocked railroad tracks. Some burned an effigy of Singh on the tracks, while others carried signs reading: "Go Back Wal-Mart," a reference to the U.S. retail giant that is expected to enter the Indian market under the new regulations.

Singh, who came under intense criticism in recent months for presiding over a corrupt and paralyzed government, stunned the country with last week's raft of reforms. The government announced a reduction in massive subsidies for diesel fuel and cooking gas. It also opened up the country's enormous retail sector to foreign competitors, allowed local airlines to sell stakes to foreign carriers and pledged to sell off chunks of four state-run companies.

"It's a very difficult decision for the government. We have tried to assure everybody that there was no other way except to take that decision to keep the economy on track," Information Minister Ambika Soni said.

Opponents said the fuel hike would spark higher inflation and hurt the country's poor. They said opening up the retail sector to foreign giants would crush the nation's millions of small retail shops.

"India is heading toward economic slavery," Rajnath Singh, a leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, said during a protest Thursday. He warned that the entry of Wal-Mart would flood India with Chinese-made goods, hurting local farmers, manufacturers and retailers.

The Trinamool Congress party announced it would pull out of the coalition Friday unless the economic package was withdrawn, leaving the ruling Congress party a few remaining hours to try to win it back. However, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the reforms would stand.

If the Trinamool Congress pulled out, India would be left with a minority government dependent on the outside support of either the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party. The BSP said it would not decide until next month what action to take.

Government officials said they remained confident the government would survive until the next scheduled elections in 2014.

___

Associated Press writer Ashok Sharma contributed to this report.

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Follow Ravi Nessman on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ravinessman

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/strikers+block+trains+but+protests+against+indian+govt+reforms+only+moderately+successful/6442718740/story.html
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Syrian TV says a military helicopter has crashed near Damascus

DAMASCUS, Syria - A Syrian military helicopter crashed Thursday near the capital, Damascus, state-run TV said.

The report said the helicopter went down southeast of Douma, a Damascus suburb. There were no further details.

The government increasingly has been using helicopters and other aircraft in its fight against an 18-month-old rebellion. Rebels have claimed to have shot down helicopters in the past, although President Bashar Assad's regime has blamed the problems on mechanical difficulties.

Mohammad Saeed, an activist in Douma, said Syrian MiG warplanes and helicopter gunships had been flying low over the area in the southeastern part of Douma before the crash.

"We heard the sound of several explosions and some gunfire, and few minutes later, we were told that a helicopter had crashed," Saeed said, speaking by Skype from Douma.

He said the helicopter crashed in a diistrict known as Tal Kurdi near a factory for household items.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/syrian+tv+says+a+military+helicopter+has+crashed+near+damascus/6442718737/story.html
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Space shuttle Endeavour makes pit stop in Houston en route to California for permanent display

Space shuttle Endeavour flies over Ellington Field atop the shuttle aircraft carrier Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012, in Houston. Endeavour is making a final trek across the country to the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it will be permanently displayed. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

HOUSTON - The space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to leave Houston early Thursday after giving locals a brief glimpse of what might have been.

Hundreds lined the streets and crowded the airport Wednesday to see the retired shuttle land before it was to head to California where it will be permanently displayed, a fact that doesn't sit well with many Houston residents who feel Space City was cheated out of an artifact that should have been theirs to keep.

"I think that it's the worst thing that they can do, rotten all the way," said 84-year-old Mary Weiss, clinging to her walker just before Endeavour landed after flying low over Gulf Coast towns, New Orleans and then downtown Houston and its airports.

Space City, partly made famous by Tom Hanks when he uttered the line "Houston, we have a problem" in the movie "Apollo 13," has long tied its fortune to a mix of oil and NASA. Astronauts train in the humid, mosquito-ridden city, and many call it home years after they retire. The Johnson Space Center and an adjacent museum hug Galveston Bay.

Houston's bid for a shuttle was rejected after the White House retired the fleet last summer to spend more time and money on reaching destinations, such as Mars and asteroids. Instead, Houston got a replica that used to be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center.

"The one we're getting is a toy. An important toy, but a toy nonetheless," said Scott Rush.

Still, people came out in droves Wednesday, waving American flags and toting space shuttle toys, cameras and cellphones.

Back-to-back delays in the ferry flight resulted in one day being cut from the Houston visit. After landing, the Endeavour rolled slowly in front of the cheering crowd. It circled and preened like a runway model, giving awed spectators an opportunity to take pictures from a variety of angles.

"I want to go on it," said 3-year-old Joshua Lee as he headed to the landing area with his mother and grandmother.

Joshua's mother, Jacqueline Lee, viewed the landing as an educational opportunity.

"I don't know if he'll get to see this again," Lee said.

Around sunrise Thursday, the shuttle was scheduled to leave Houston, riding piggyback on a jumbo jet. It's booked to stop at Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas, before heading to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, California. After spending a night there, the shuttle will head to Los Angeles International Airport on Friday.

In mid-October, Endeavour will be transported down city streets to the California Science Center, its permanent home.

NASA still plays a large role in Houston, and astronaut Clayton Anderson, who lived on the International Space Station from June to November 2007, encouraged people to focus on a new era of space exploration.

"The shuttles are a wonderful legacy, a huge part of Houston, but now it's time to look to the future," said Anderson, who lives in the Houston suburb of League City.

This is the last flight for a space shuttle. Atlantis will remain at Kennedy for display, and Discovery is already at the Smithsonian Institution, parked at a hangar in Virginia since April.

Endeavour — the replacement for the destroyed Challenger shuttle — made its debut in 1992 and flew 25 times before it was retired. It logged 123 million miles in space and circled Earth nearly 4,700 times.

___

Ramit Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/space+shuttle+endeavour+makes+pit+stop+in+houston+en+route+to+california+for+permanent+display/6442717938/story.html
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South African police kill 2 more in crackdown on mine strikes: councillor shot, miner run over

Miners sing and dance after accepting a pay rise in Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012. Striking miners have accepted a company offer of a 22% overall pay increase to end more than five weeks of crippling and bloody industrial action. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

RUSTENBURG, South Africa - South African police have killed two more people in a crackdown on striking miners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and a strike leader said Thursday.

COSATU condemned the brutality of police who have been harshly criticized for the Aug. 16 shootings of 112 striking miners that left 34 dead at London-registered Lonmin PLC platinum mine. The deaths have traumatized the nation that had not seen such state violence since the white minority apartheid regime was brought down in 1994.

COSATU said African National Congress councillor Paulina Masuhlo was shopping Saturday near the Never Die Tavern at the Wonderkop shantytown were Lonmin miners live when police firing from a speeding armoured car hit several women. Masuhlo was hit in the abdomen and leg and rushed to the hospital, where she died Wednesday, COSATU said.

Police spokesman Dennis Adriao said he was investigating the report of a death. He said police had reported to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate that several people were hit by rubber bullets in a raid to disarm strikers on Saturday, the day after the government ordered a crackdown.

The directorate already has opened 34 murder and 78 attempted murder charges against police in the Aug. 16 shootings.

But no action has been taken against any of the officers involved. The government has said it is awaiting the outcome of a judicial commission of inquiry that is supposed to report to the president in January.

COSATU called for "the immediate identification and suspension of the police officers involved in her (Masuhlo's) murder. "

"We are also extremely unhappy that, to date, none of the police officers involved in the massacre on 16 August 2012 has been identified or suspended - this is totally unacceptable and unlawful," said the unions body that is part of a governing tripartite alliance with the African National Congress party and the South African Communist Party.

Also on Wednesday, police said they fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to break up a march by thousands of strikers at Amplats mines near Rustenburg belonging to Anglo American Platinum, the world's largest platinum producer.

Amplats strike leader Evans Ramokga told The Associated Press that a miner was run over by a police armoured car and dragged several meters (feet) before it stopped. He said the man died overnight in the hospital.

Adriao said he was unaware of the incident but added the armoured cars weigh several tons.

The deaths at the two miners, both northwest of Johannesburg, bring the toll to 47 dead in violent strikes rooted in union rivalry.

Lonmin on Tuesday resolved its five-week strike by agreeing to pay raises of up to 22 per cent.

Union leaders warned that sets a precedent for other miners to join demands for better wages. The strike already has spread to several gold, platinum and chrome mines, damaging investor confidence in the country that produces 75 per cent of world platinum and is the No. 4 chrome producer and in the top 10 of gold producers.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/south+african+police+kill+2+more+in+crackdown+on+mine+strikes+councillor+shot+miner+run+over/6442718013/story.html
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Calif. prison riot leaves 13 wounded, with 1 shot by guards and 12 others stabbed or slashed

FOLSOM, Calif. - The injury toll in a California prison riot has risen to 13.

The riot occurred Wednesday at the California State Prison, Sacramento in Folsom.

Authorities say one of the injured was shot by correctional officers.

Corrections spokesman Terry Thornton says the disturbance inside a prison yard broke out shortly after 11 a.m.

In addition to the shot inmate, 12 others were treated at a hospital for stab and slash wounds. Authorities earlier said 11 inmates were injured.

Prison officials said 60 inmates were involved, but have not discussed what provoked it.

Thornton says officers tried to quell the riot by firing non-lethal rounds as well as firing six shots from a rifle. The state plans to investigate the decision to use potentially deadly force, which is a standard procedure.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/calif+prison+riot+leaves+13+wounded+with+1+shot+by+guards+and+12+others+stabbed+or+slashed/6442718724/story.html
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South African police kill 2 more in mine strikes: councillor shot, miner run over

Miners sing and dance after accepting a pay rise in Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012. Striking miners have accepted a company offer of a 22% overall pay increase to end more than five weeks of crippling and bloody industrial action. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

RUSTENBURG, South Africa - COSATU condemned the brutality of police who have been harshly criticized for the Aug. 16 shootings of 112 striking miners that left 34 dead at London-registered Lonmin PLC platinum mine.

COSATU said African National Congress councillor Paulina Masuhlo was shopping Saturday near the Never Die Tavern at the Wonderkop shantytown were Lonmin miners live when police firing from a speeding armoured car hit several women. Masuhlo was hit in the abdomen and leg and rushed to the hospital, where she died Wednesday, COSATU said. Police said they raided the township to disarm striking miners, a day after the government ordered a crackdown.

Also on Wednesday, police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to break up a march by thousands of strikers at Amplats mines near Rustenburg belonging to Anglo American Platinum, the world's largest platinum producer. Amplats strike leader Evans Ramokga told The Associated Press that a miner was run over by a police armoured car and dragged several meters (feet) before it stopped. He said the man died overnight in the hospital.

Police spokesmen did not immediately answer their phones early Thursday.

The deaths at the two miners, both northwest of Johannesburg, bring the toll to 47 dead in violent strikes rooted in union rivalry.

Lonmin on Tuesday resolved its five-week strike by agreeing to pay raises of up to 22 per cent.

Union leaders warned that sets a precedent for other miners to join demands for better wages. The strike already has spread to several gold, platinum and chrome mines, damaging investor confidence in the country that produces 75 per cent of world platinum needs and is the No. 4 chrome producer and in the top 10 of gold producers.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/south+african+police+kill+2+more+in+mine+strikes+councillor+shot+miner+run+over/6442718013/story.html
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Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom back in court as US appeals against releasing millions of emails

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom is back in court as the United States appeals against releasing millions of emails in its case against him.

The founder of the file-sharing website watched Thursday from the public benches of New Zealand's appeals court. U.S. authorities accuse Dotcom of racketeering and money laundering by facilitating massive copyright piracy on his website. They are seeking his extradition.

Dotcom's legal team won an earlier ruling in which a lower court concluded the U.S. needed to release a wide range of its evidence. Appealing the ruling, the U.S. argued it should be compelled to disclose only limited evidence because the extradition hearing doesn't amount to a full trial. The US says its evidence includes millions of emails.

The court will likely rule in the coming weeks.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/megaupload+founder+kim+dotcom+back+in+court+as+us+appeals+against+releasing+millions+of+emails/6442718718/story.html
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South African activist shot by police at mine strike dies, unions condemn police brutality

Miners sing and dance after accepting a pay rise in Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012. Striking miners have accepted a company offer of a 22% overall pay increase to end more than five weeks of crippling and bloody industrial action. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

MARIKANA, South Africa - The Congress of South African Trade Unions says a governing party councillor shot by police firing rubber bullets at the scene of a mine strike has died.

COSATU condemned the brutality of police who have been harshly criticized for the Aug. 16 shootings of 112 striking miners that left 34 dead.

It said African National Congress councillor Paulina Masuhlo was shopping Saturday near the Never Die Tavern at the miners' shantytown of Lonmin platinum mine when police firing from a speeding armoured car hit her and other women. Authorities have said the police were there to disarm striking miners.

COSATU said Masuhlo was rushed to the hospital after being shot and died there Wednesday. She is the 46th fatality in the violent strike rooted in union rivalry that Lonmin resolved Tuesday by agreeing to pay raises of up to 22 per cent.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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North Korea uses "Gangnam Style" to mock conservative SKorean presidential candidate

SEOUL, South Korea - Even North Korea is paying attention to PSY's globally popular "Gangnam Style" song and the South Korean rapper's memorable horse-riding dance.

The North has posted a video on its official Uriminzokkiri website of a horse-dancing PSY character that has a photo of conservative South Korean presidential candidate Park Geun-hye's face transposed on it.

The lyrics have the character satirically defending Park's late dictator father, Park Chung-hee.

Park is a front-runner in polls ahead of December presidential elections. But she has faced liberal criticism that she hasn't adequately addressed her father's legacy.

Park Chung-hee was a harsh autocrat. But he is seen by supporters as an important factor in South Korea's economic rise from the Korean War.

The original "Gangnam Style" video has 220 million YouTube views and counting.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Letterman tells Romney he doesn't hate him for appearing on Leno - then adds dig at old rival

President Barack Obama talks with David Letterman on the set of the "Late Show With David Letterman" at the Ed Sullivan Theater, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

NEW YORK, N.Y. - David Letterman is reassuring Mitt Romney that he doesn't hate him — and getting in a dig at Jay Leno in the process.

The Republican presidential candidate said in a private speech to donors made public this week that Letterman "hates me because I've been on Leno more than him."

Letterman said on the "Late Show" Wednesday that Romney and his wife are welcome on his CBS late-night show. Romney has been on three times but hasn't made any appearances since he became Republican nominee. Democratic President Barack Obama was on Letterman on Tuesday.

Letterman says he certainly doesn't hate Romney for going on Leno's NBC show. Says Letterman: "I mean, why hate a guy who's suffered through that?"

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/letterman+tells+romney+he+doesnt+hate+him+for+appearing+on+leno++-++then+adds+dig+at+old+rival/6442718667/story.html
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China investigates protest around US ambassador's car as anti-Japan demonstrations fade

A small group of Chinese protesters march with national flags and an anti-Japan banner that reads "Chinese have guts, won't buy Japanese goods forever." in front of the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, China, Wednesday Sept. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

BEIJING, China - China said Wednesday it was investigating an incident where about 50 protesters surrounded the car of the U.S. ambassador, tried to block him from entering the embassy compound and ripped the car's flag.

Chinese police cleared roadblocks and some Japanese businesses reopened after days of large, sometimes violent protests in many cities over Japan's recent purchase of islands also claimed by Beijing.

In Beijing, the bitterness spilled over from the Japanese Embassy to the nearby U.S. Embassy. Video posted on YouTube showed a small number of protesters throwing small objects at U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke's car on Tuesday before Chinese security forces moved in to break up the crowd.

Locke told reporters Wednesday that Chinese authorities were "very quick" to move the demonstrators away. "It was all over in a matter of minutes, and I never felt in any danger," he said.

The U.S., a close ally of Japan, has said it is staying out of the dispute over the islands.

The incident came amid heightened vigilance for American diplomats following violent attacks on U.S. embassies in Libya, Yemen and Egypt. The embassy in Beijing said it has asked China's government to do everything possible to protect American facilities and personnel.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. has registered its concern with China both in Washington and Beijing, and Chinese authorities have expressed regret over the incident.

Nuland said the preliminary U.S. assessment was that the car was "a target of opportunity" for protesters who had gathered outside the nearby Japanese Embassy.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular news briefing Wednesday that the incident was "an individual case," but that China was investigating it.

The protests over the weekend were triggered by the Japanese government's decision last week to purchase some disputed East China Sea islands from their private Japanese owners. More demonstrations followed Tuesday, the 81st anniversary of Japan's invasion of China, an emotional remembrance that stoked the outrage.

Though the anti-Japan demonstrations have wound down, at least temporarily, there has been no progress in resolving the territorial dispute bedeviling relations between the two Asian economic powerhouses.

The rhetoric on both sides has remained uncompromising.

China's future leader, Xi Jinping, told visiting U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday that Japan's purchase of the islands was a farce, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

"Japan should rein in its behaviour and stop any words and acts that undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

In Tokyo, former Japanese Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba said losing a piece of Japan would mean "losing the whole country."

The islands — called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China — are tiny rock outcroppings that have been a sore point between China and Japan for decades. Japan has claimed the islands since 1895. The U.S. took jurisdiction after World War II and turned them over to Japan in 1972.

Japan's government sees its purchase of some of the islands as a way to thwart a potentially more inflammatory move by the governor of Tokyo, who had wanted not only to buy the islands but also develop them. But Beijing sees Japan's purchase as an affront to its claims and its past calls for negotiations.

Beijing has sent patrol ships inside Japanese-claimed waters around the islands, and some state media have urged Chinese to show their patriotism by boycotting Japanese goods and cancelling travel to Japan.

The islands are important mainly because of their location near key sea lanes in the East China Sea. They are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and as-yet untapped underwater natural resources.

Chinese state media have also reported that boats were headed to the waters around the disputed islands for seasonal fishing.

Hong, the foreign ministry spokesman, said such activities were within China's rights.

"The Diaoyu Islands have belonged to China since ancient times," he said. "It is totally legitimate and reasonable for Chinese fishing vessels to fish in relevant waters."

___

Associated Press writers Lolita Baldor in Beijing, Malcolm Foster in Tokyo and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Italy court upholds convictions of 23 Americans in Egyptian terror suspect abduction

ROME - Italy's highest criminal court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of 23 Americans in the abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect from a Milan street as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, paving the way to possible extradition requests by Italian authorities.

The ruling by the Court of Cassation marks the final appeal in the first trial anywhere in the world involving the CIA's practice of abducting terror suspects and transferring them to third countries where torture is permitted.

The Americans were convicted in absentia following a three-and-a-half-year trial, and have never been in Italian custody. They risk arrest if they travel to Europe and one of their court-appointed lawyers suggested that the final verdict would open the way for the Italian government to seek their extradition.

"It went badly. It went very badly," lawyer Alessia Sorgato said after the court announced its decision after a day of deliberations. "Now they will ask for extradition."

Milan Prosecutor Armando Spataro, one of Italy's top anti-terrorism magistrates who shaped the prosecution, hailed the top court's decision, saying it was tantamount to a finding that extraordinary rendition "is incompatible with democracy."

The CIA declined to comment.

The court will make public its reasoning behind the decision in a written document in about 90 days.

"We will see if the minister of justice intends to request extradition, since the final verdict poses this issue," Spataro said.

The Americans and two Italians were convicted in November 2009 of involvement in the kidnapping of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, on Feb. 17, 2003 — the first convictions anywhere in the world against people involved in the CIA's practice of abducting terror suspects and transferring them to third countries where torture was permitted. The cleric was transferred to U.S. military bases in Italy and Germany before being moved to Egypt, where he says he was tortured. He has since been released.

Those convicted include the former Milan CIA station chief, Robert Seldon Lady, whose original seven-year sentence was raised to nine years on appeal. The other 22 Americans, all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents, also saw their sentences stiffened on appeal, from five to seven years.

Previous Italian governments, both from the centre-left and from the centre-right had declined to act on prosecutors' requests during trial to extradite the American suspects, most of whom had court-appointed lawyers the defendants never met. While some of the defendants in the case were known figures attached to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in Milan, many of those named in the trial are believed to have been aliases, which would hinder extradition efforts.

Premier Mario Monti, an economist from outside of politics, is leading a government of technocrats concentrated on saving Italy from financial disaster. Since any extradition request can take months to run its course, and elections are due in spring, it could conceivably be a new government to have the final say on whether to press for extradition of the Americans.

Among those whose sentence was upheld was U.S. Air Force Col. Joseph Romano, who was security chief at Aviano Air Force base where the Egyptian cleric was driven from Milan before being taken by plane to Germany and eventually Egypt.

Romano's lawyer, Cesare Bulgheroni, said he would appeal the verdict to the EU human rights court in Strasbourg on the basis that Romano was never formally notified of the charges against him, and that lower courts had rejected some witnesses. Romano was one of only two Americans who received permission to hire his own lawyer during the original trial.

The court also ordered new appeals trials for five Italian intelligence agents, including the former head of military intelligence, Nicolo Pollari. They had been acquitted by lower courts because of state secrets. But the Cassation Court's ruling indicates that the lower appellate court, which will hear their case again, needs to give more scrutiny to the state secrecy line of defence.

Prosecutor Spataro said the ruling on the five Italian secret services agents "seems to agree with what we said, that state secrets cannot be cause for impunity, and that a judge needs to decide case by case what evidence can be submitted" to the trial court.

During the original trial, three other Americans were acquitted: the then-Rome CIA station chief Jeffrey Castelli and two other diplomats formerly assigned to the embassy due to diplomatic immunity. Prosecutors appealed the acquittal, as they can in Italy. That appeal is still pending in Milan.

However, the courts did not accept the defence for Sabrina de Sousa, who was a foreign service officer at the U.S. Consulate in Milan facing a seven-year sentence.

Italian prosecutors contended that de Sousa, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in India, was a CIA officer working under diplomatic cover and was one of four main U.S. officials responsible for co-ordinating the kidnapping. De Sousa denies having been a CIA agent and said she was on vacation at the time of Nasr's abduction and had no role in it. She hired a lawyer to represent her in the final months of the Milan trial, and later unsuccessfully sued the U.S. government in Washington for diplomatic immunity.

De Sousa, who said she left the foreign service under pressure in 2009, said she was disappointed in the ruling because her team felt strongly that the case was circumstantial. She said the real push now should be to find out the officials in Washington ordered the extradition of an Egyptian cleric in the middle of an Italian investigation.

"I have been fighting this on my own. I have nothing to hide. I have been repeatedly saying I had nothing to do with the planning and execution. I have been by myself and most importantly I have been trying to engage Congress," de Sousa said by telephone. "The whole trial has focused on lower level officials and really took away the focus on who should be accountable, the State Department officials and the CIA officials around in 2003."

"The United States has now buried a really bad chapter that has tarnished U.S. history," she said. "This is exactly what creates anti-American sentiment around the world."

Her U.S. lawyer, Mark Zaid, said in a statement that the decision harms the integrity of the system regarding diplomatic immunity. "Diplomats around the world should consider themselves at greater risk today," Zaid said in an emailed comment.

The American Civil Liberties Union in New York, which has challenged the U.S. government's rendition policy, said the ruling by Italy's top criminal court highlights "lack of accountability" in U.S. courts for crimes committed by government officials in the name of national security. "Though legal questions remain, such as the validity of trials in absentia, American officials would be wise to heed the Italian court's message that those who violate the law will be called to answer," Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU Human Rights Program, said in statement.

___

Colleen Barry reported from Milan.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Seattle police launch campaign to generate tips, help solve killings

SEATTLE - The Seattle Police Department launched a new advertising campaign on buses and billboards Tuesday in hopes of generating tips about unsolved killings.

Eight of the 23 homicides in the city this year remain unsolved, and there are about 60 unsolved killings dating back to 2000. Detectives hope publicizing the cases will prompt people to come forward with information and help eradicate a "no-snitching" culture that has hindered some investigations, The Seattle Times reported (http://is.gd/lLR77V).

The ads, unveiled Tuesday, each feature the photos of three or four of the 18 victims killed in Seattle since the beginning of 2010. Above the photos is a simple question: "Who Killed Me?"

"I think the worst thing we could do is allow these cases to be forgotten," said Lt. Steve Wilske, who oversees the department's homicide and crime scene investigations units. "If somebody gets killed, if somebody gets murdered, you shouldn't forget about them."

Some of this year's killings have been random, including that of Nicole Westbrook, a 21-year-old culinary student who was walking home to her apartment in Pioneer Square in April when she was shot. Those cases can be harder to solve, and Westbrook's remains open.

"What's different this year is that we have a number of random victims or victims who were in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Detective Rolf Norton. "They were completely innocent in their actions.

"This year, we have people walking down the street or driving through an intersection catching random bullets."

Wilske hopes the campaign will generate the kinds of tips that will help his detectives arrest suspects and clear cases. Anonymous tips have some value, but witnesses willing to come forward and testify in court are more valuable because they can help win a conviction.

ClearChannel Outdoor is contributing billboard space worth about $60,000. Titan Outdoor, the company behind the ads that will run on Metro buses, donated approximately $11,000 worth of work. The Seattle Police Department spent $6,700 and the U.S. Department of Justice contributed $5,600.

Gazelle Williams is one of three community members on a police department committee that planned the campaign. She says she's still waiting for the gunman who killed her 22-year-old great-nephew, Desmond Jackson, to be caught. The Seattle Central Community College student was shot four times in the chest outside a nightclub in February.

"It's driving me crazy, the thought this person who killed Des is still walking around, going to parties and doing whatever he wants," she said.

___

Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Congressional Republicans fear Romney's gaffes are hurting their Nov. 6 prospects

WASHINGTON - Republicans are in apparent panic mode in the wake of Mitt Romney's very bad summer, particularly over the latest firestorm engulfing his campaign after he was secretly filmed deriding almost half of Americans as government mooches.

Several Senate Republicans in tight battles against Democrats were quick to publicly distance themselves from Romney's four-month-old remarks that the 47 per cent of Americans who don't pay income tax are freeloaders who expect Uncle Sam to take care of them.

In fact, most of those 47 per cent don't make enough money to pay income tax or are seniors or military veterans on government assistance. They also pay payroll and other taxes.

Romney was attempting to explain to the US$50,000-a-plate fundraiser why a certain segment of Americans won't vote for him.

On the campaign trail on Wednesday, Romney once again took pains to explain himself.

"(Obama) really believes in what I'll call a government-centred society," he said in Atlanta, accusing Obama of advocating the redistribution of wealth in America.

"I know there are some who believe that if you simply take from some and give to others, then we'll all be better off. It's known as redistribution. It's never been a characteristic of America ... I believe the way to lift people, and help people have higher incomes, is not to take from some and give to others but to create wealth for all."

Nonetheless the silence was deafening on the Senate floor on Wednesday when Democrats maligned Romney for his latest public relations disaster. Republican senators offered up no defence of their candidate for the White House.

"This week we learned that Mitt Romney only wants to be president of half of the United States," said Senate majority leader Harry Reid, a thorn in Romney's side ever since he alleged in the same chamber earlier this summer that the millionaire presidential hopeful didn't pay income tax for 10 years.

"He'll only worry about how the other half lives, I guess."

Romney's apparent disdain for his fellow citizens impeaches his candidacy, Reid added before renewing his call on Romney to release more tax returns.

"For all we know, Mitt Romney could be one of those who has paid no federal income tax," he said.

"We'll never know since he refuses to release his tax returns for the years before he was running for president ... We can only imagine what new secrets would be revealed if he showed the American people a dozen years of tax returns, like his dad did."

Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democratic party whip, recited a lengthy list of some of Romney's "greatest hits."

"We remember the highlights: 'Corporations are people, my friend,' he said. 'I like being able to fire people,' he said. 'I'm not concerned about the very poor,' Romney said. 'I'm also unemployed,' Romney said.'"

Republicans did not respond.

Instead, Mitch McConnell, Senate minority leader, made a statement about Burma. Other Republicans focused on the Democrats' failure to pass a budget.

Outside the august chamber, however, Capitol Hill was abuzz with speculation among fearful Republicans that Romney's gaffes are seriously jeopardizing the party's efforts to wrest the Senate back from Democrats on Nov. 6.

Tea Party leaders who helped propel Republicans to big gains in 2010's mid-term elections are urging their supporters to keep the faith.

As always, the media was cast as the biggest villain in Romney's struggles.

"Several people mentioned to us that the media seems to be trying to make them believe we have no hope," Ron and Kay Rivoli, faith-based singer/songwriters on the Tea Party Express bus tour, wrote in an email to supporters.

"Folks, the liberal media is lying. They are trying to make you feel defeated so you won't bother going to the polls to vote. But there is hope and that hope is in Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan."

They urged voters to "take back our White House and end the socialist agenda of Barack Obama."

Another Tea Party adherent urged supporters not to give up hope, using particularly dramatic language that took aim not just at "socialists" but at fellow Republicans.

"Over the last several weeks, I have received emails from some of our supporters who say they think the system is so broken it cannot be fixed and our efforts are futile," Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, said in her email.

"They are angry at the Republican nominee who does not fight hard enough for our core values. They are angry at the Republican 'leadership' in the House who are spineless and unable to make any real spending cuts."

Martin urged her group to stay focused on defeating Obama and to ensure "our country's voters choose the future of freedom on November 6."

It's not all doom and gloom for Republicans this week, however.

A spate of new polls suggest Obama's post-convention bounce in public opinion surveys has all but evaporated over the past week.

According to most surveys, he and Romney are once again running neck and neck nationally, although a Pew Research Center poll had Obama at 51 per cent nationally compared to Romney at 43.

But a handful of other polls released Wednesday also show Obama leading in key battleground states, including Virginia, Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin. The president has also managed to erase Romney's lead in Colorado, with the men now in a statistical tie.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/congressional+republicans+fear+romneys+gaffes+are+hurting+their+nov+6+prospects/6442718495/story.html
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France ramps up embassy security after magazine caricatures Prophet Muhammad amid new protests(2)

PARIS - France stepped up security Wednesday at its embassies across the Muslim world after a French satirical weekly revived a formula that it has already used to capture attention: Publishing crude, lewd caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

Wednesday's issue of the provocative satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, whose offices were firebombed last year, raised concerns that France could face violent protests like the ones targeting the United States over an amateur video produced in California that have left at least 30 people dead.

The drawings, some of which depicted Muhammad naked and in demeaning or pornographic poses, were met with a swift rebuke by the French government, which warned the magazine could be inflaming tensions, even as it reiterated France's free speech protections.

The principle of freedom of expression "must not be infringed," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said, speaking on France Inter radio.

But he added: "Is it pertinent, intelligent, in this context to pour oil on the fire? The answer is no."

Anger over the film, "Innocence of Muslims," has sparked violent protests from Asia to Africa, and in the Lebanese port city of Tyre, tens of thousands of people marched in the streets Wednesday, chanting "Oh America, you are God's enemy!"

Worried France might be targeted, the government ordered its embassies, cultural centres, schools and other official sites to close on Friday — the Muslim holy day — in 20 countries. It also immediately shut down its embassy and the French school in Tunisia, the site of deadly protests at the U.S. Embassy last week.

The French Foreign Ministry issued a travel warning urging French citizens in the Muslim world to exercise "the greatest vigilance," avoiding public gatherings and "sensitive buildings."

The controversy could prove tricky for France, which has struggled to integrate its Muslim population, Western Europe's largest. Many Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad should not be depicted at all — even in a flattering way — because it might encourage idolatry.

Violence provoked by the video, which portrays the prophet as a fraud, womanizer and child molester, has left at least 30 people dead in seven countries. It began with a Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, then quickly spread to Libya, where an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi left the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans dead.

In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the Obama administration believed the French magazine images "will be deeply offensive to many and have the potential to be inflammatory."

"We don't question the right of something like this to be published," he said, pointing to the U.S. Constitution's protections of free expression. "We just question the judgment behind the decision to publish it."

In a statement, Arab League chief Nabil Elarabi called the cartoons "provocative and disgraceful" and said their publication added complexity to an already inflamed situation in the Muslim world. He said the drawings arose from ignorance of "true Islam and its holy prophet."

A lawsuit was filed against Charlie Hebdo hours after the issue hit newsstands, the Paris prosecutor's office said, though it would not say who filed it. The magazine also said its website had been hacked.

Riot police took up positions outside the magazine's offices, which were firebombed last year after it released an edition that mocked radical Islam.

Chief editor Stephane Charbonnier, who publishes under the pen name "Charb" and has been under police protection for a year, defended the Muhammad cartoons.

"Muhammad isn't sacred to me," he told The Associated Press. "I don't blame Muslims for not laughing at our drawings. I live under French law. I don't live under Quranic law."

He said he had no regrets and felt no responsibility for any violence.

"I'm not the one going into the streets with stones and Kalashnikovs," he said. "We've had 1,000 issues and only three problems, all after front pages about radical Islam."

The cartoonist, who goes by the name Luz, also was defiant.

"We treat the news like journalists. Some use cameras, some use computers. For us, it's a paper and pencil," he said. "A pencil is not a weapon. It's just a means of expression."

A small-circulation weekly, Charlie Hebdo often draws attention for ridiculing sensitivity around the Prophet Muhammad. It was acquitted in 2008 by a Paris appeals court of "publicly abusing a group of people because of their religion" following a complaint by Muslim associations.

The magazine has staked out a sub-genre in France's varied media universe with its cartoons. Little is sacred, and Wednesday's issue also featured caricatures of people as varied as Clint Eastwood, an unnamed Roman Catholic cardinal who looked a bit like Pope John Paul II and French President Francois Hollande, a staple.

At the demonstration in Lebanon, Nabil Kaouk, deputy chief of Hezbollah's Executive Council, warned the United States and France not to anger Muslims.

"Be careful of the anger of our nation that is ready to defend the prophet," he said. "Our hearts are wounded and our chests are full of anger."

Nasser Dheini, a 40-year-old farmer, said instead of boosting security at its embassies, France should close down the offending magazine.

"Freedom of opinion should not be by insulting religions," said Dheini, carrying his son 4-year-old son Sajed.

Outside the magazine's Paris offices, a passer-by wearing a traditional Muslim tunic said he was neither surprised nor shocked by the cartoons. He criticized France's decision to close embassies and schools for fear of protests by extremists.

"It gives legitimacy to movements that don't have any," said Hatim Essoufaly, who was walking his toddler in a stroller.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

20 Sep, 2012

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Syrian rebels seize Turkey border crossing; Assad says fighting targets axis of 'resistance'

AKCAKALE, Turkey - Syrian rebels seized control of a border crossing on the frontier with Turkey on Wednesday, ripping down the Syrian flag as the rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad expand their control of the country's north.

Assad, meanwhile, told Iran's visiting foreign minister that the fight against his government "targets resistance as a whole, not only Syria," an apparent reference to countries and groups opposed to Israel's existence. The "axis of resistance" includes Syria and Iran, along with the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group in Lebanon and the Palestinian militant Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Iranian visitor, Ali Akbar Salehi, arrived in Syria after a visit to Cairo as part of an Egyptian-sponsored Syria peace initiative grouping Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt — all supporters of the rebels — with Iran.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi warned Iran on Tuesday that its support for the Syrian regime was hurting chances of better relations between Iran and Egypt. The promise of greater rapprochement with Egypt is part of a package of incentives and efforts by Morsi to lure Iran, Syria's staunchest regional ally, away from Damascus and find an end to the bloodshed.

After meeting with Assad on Wednesday, the Iranian foreign minister pledged his country's "unwavering support" to Syria to end the fighting, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. Although 18 months of bloodshed prompted international sanctions that have isolated Assad's government, the regime still has the support of Russia, Iran and China.

Assad, in turn, said "the success of any initiative is the truthful intention to help Syria," SANA said. It quoted Assad as saying that the "current battle targets resistance as a whole not only Syria." Syria is Iran's key ally in the Arab world, and a collapse of the Assad regime would be a major blow to attempts by Shiite-run Iran to expand its influence in the region.

In Washington, the Obama administration identified 117 Iranian aircraft it said are ferrying weapons to the Syrian regime. The planes operated by Iran Air, Mahan Air and Yas Air are delivering weapons and Iranian forces under the cover of "humanitarian" shipments, the Treasury Department said.

The airlines are already subject to U.S. sanctions: Americans cannot do business with them and any assets they have in the U.S. are frozen. But the U.S. is now listing planes individually, partly to pressure Iraq to crack down on Iranian weapons shipments to Syria via Iraqi airspace.

Baghdad insists it will not allow its airspace for arms shipments from Iran to Syria. Earlier this month, the Iraqi government said Iran had assured it that the flights to Syria were delivering only humanitarian aid, and called on the United States to prove otherwise.

The conflict in Syria began with peaceful protests that were attacked by government security forces and has since evolved into a civil war. Activists say at least 23,000 people have been killed. Rebel factions have also been accused of summary executions and other abuses.

In recent weeks, Syria's military has stepped up air attacks on rebel-held areas, but has failed to drive opposition fighters out of territories they have seized, particularly in Syria's north, near the border with Turkey.

Wednesday's capture of a border crossing with Turkey was a strategic boost for the rebels, allowing them to ferry supplies into the country as the fighters try to tip the balance in the civil war.

Syria's rebels have captured several other crossings into Turkey, as well as one on the border with Iraq. The seizure on Wednesday is believed to be the first time they have overrun a frontier post in the northern province of Raqqa, which could help in the fight for control of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) away.

"I am a free Syrian!" Zisha Bargash shouted, throwing his hands in the air as he watched the takeover from the Turkish side. "This is the beginning of the end Assad. Game over."

Bargash was among a dozen people — some jubilant, some wounded — who managed to crawl under a barbed wire barrier between the countries. Some replaced the national flag with a rebel banner, sparking loud cheers and applause.

Turkish officials cordoned off the area on the Turkish side of the border, and police prevented a crowd of people from trying to storm the area and cross into Syria.

Rebel fighter Sheikh Ahmed said rebels would push back against any Syrian army attempts to retake the crossing. "We're staying here no matter what," Ahmed said, speaking on the Syrian side of the border. "We are free."

Although the rebels appeared firmly in control of the crossing, scattered gunfire was heard on the Syrian side and a government flag was flying in the distance, suggesting government forces were not far away.

The takeover of the Tal Abyad crossing came after a day of fierce clashes as rebels and regime forces fought for its control.

Civilians fleeing the violence reported that several people were killed in the fighting around Tal Abyad, the private Turkish news agency Dogan reported. Several others were wounded in the battles and were taken to Turkey for treatment, the report said without giving specific numbers.

The conflict in Syria has sent refugees pouring into neighbouring countries. Some 83,000 refugees have found shelter in 12 camps along the Turkish border with Syria.

In other developments, two bombs exploded Wednesday in a Damascus suburb, causing civilian casualties, according to SANA. The first blast went off near a secondary school in the Damascus suburb of Qudsayya, followed by a second explosion about 200 metres (yards) away, SANA said. The agency said school students were not among those hurt but had no further details.

Syrian opposition groups said at least 75 Syrian civilians were killed in fighting on Wednesday, with heavy casualties reported in and around Damascus and in Aleppo, Syria's largest city. There has been a spike in casualties since the Assad regime stepped up airstrikes over the summer, with Syrian activists saying nearly 5,000 people were killed in August, the highest monthly total since the crisis began in March 2011. Activists' reports of casualties cannot independently be confirmed.

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Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus contributed to this report.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

19 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/syrian+rebels+seize+turkey+border+crossing+assad+says+fighting+targets+axis+of+resistance/6442717848/story.html
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Italy high court upholds convictions of 23 Americans in Egyptian terror suspect abduction

ROME - Italy's highest criminal court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of 23 Americans in the abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect from a Milan street as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, paving the way to possible extradition requests by Italian authorities.

The ruling by the Court of Cassation marks the final appeal in the first trial anywhere in the world involving the CIA's practice of abducting terror suspects and transferring them to third countries where torture is permitted.

The Americans were convicted in absentia following a three-and-a-half-year trial, and have never been in Italian custody. They risk arrest if they travel to Europe and one of their court-appointed lawyers suggested that the final verdict would open the way for the Italian government to seek their extradition.

"It went badly. It went very badly," lawyer Alessia Sorgato said after the court announced its decision after a day of deliberations. "Now they will ask for extradition."

Milan Prosecutor Armando Spataro, one of Italy's top anti-terrorism magistrates who shaped the prosecution, hailed the top court's decision, saying it was tantamount to a finding that extraordinary rendition "is incompatible with democracy."

The court will make public its reasoning behind the decision in a written document in about 90 days.

"We will see if the minister of justice intends to request extradition, since the final verdict poses this issue," Spataro said.

The Americans and two Italians were convicted in November 2009 of involvement in the kidnapping of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, on Feb. 17, 2003 — the first convictions anywhere in the world against people involved in the CIA's practice of abducting terror suspects and transferring them to third countries where torture was permitted. The cleric was transferred to U.S. military bases in Italy and Germany before being moved to Egypt, where he says he was tortured. He has since been released.

Those convicted include the former Milan CIA station chief, Robert Seldon Lady, whose original seven-year sentence was raised to nine years on appeal. The other 22 Americans, all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents, also saw their sentences stiffened on appeal, from five to seven years.

Previous Italian governments, both from the centre-left and from the centre-right had declined to act on prosecutors' requests during trial to extradite the American suspects, most of whom had court-appointed lawyers the defendants never met. While some of the defendants in the case were known figures attached to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in Milan, many of those named in the trial are believed to have been aliases, which would hinder extradition efforts.

Premier Mario Monti, an economist from outside of politics, is leading a government of technocrats concentrated on saving Italy from financial disaster. Since any extradition request can take months to run its course, and elections are due in spring, it could conceivably be a new government to have the final say on whether to press for extradition of the Americans.

Among those whose sentence was upheld was U.S. Air Force Col. Joseph Romano, who was security chief at Aviano Air Force base where the Egyptian cleric was driven from Milan before being taken by plane to Germany and eventually Egypt.

Romano's lawyer, Cesare Bulgheroni, said he would appeal the verdict to the EU human rights court in Strasbourg on the basis that Romano was never formally notified of the charges against him, and that lower courts had rejected some witnesses. Romano was one of only two Americans who received permission to hire his own lawyer during the original trial.

The court also ordered new appeals trials for five Italian intelligence agents, including the former head of military intelligence, Nicolo Pollari. They had been acquitted by lower courts because of state secrets. But the Cassation Court's ruling indicates that the lower appellate court, which will hear their case again, needs to give more scrutiny to the state secrecy line of defence.

Prosecutor Spataro said the ruling on the five Italian secret services agents "seems to agree with what we said, that state secrets cannot be cause for impunity, and that a judge needs to decide case by case what evidence can be submitted" to the trial court.

During the original trial, three other Americans were acquitted: the then-Rome CIA station chief Jeffrey Castelli and two other diplomats formerly assigned to the embassy due to diplomatic immunity. Prosecutors appealed the acquittal, as they can in Italy. That appeal is still pending in Milan.

However, the courts did not accept the defence for Sabrina de Sousa, who was a foreign service officer at the U.S. Consulate in Milan facing a seven-year sentence.

Italian prosecutors contended that de Sousa, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in India, was a CIA officer working under diplomatic cover and was one of four main U.S. officials responsible for co-ordinating the kidnapping. De Sousa denies having been a CIA agent and said she was on vacation at the time of Nasr's abduction and had no role in it. She hired a lawyer to represent her in the final months of the Milan trial, and later unsuccessfully sued the U.S. government in Washington for diplomatic immunity.

Her U.S. lawyer, Mark Zaid, expressed disappointment over Wednesday's decision. "This is not an American-Italian issue. It is a concern regarding the integrity of the international system governing diplomatic immunity. Diplomats around the world should consider themselves at greater risk today," Zaid said in an emailed comment.

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Colleen Barry reported from Milan.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

19 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/italy+high+court+upholds+convictions+of+23+americans+in+egyptian+terror+suspect+abduction/6442718216/story.html
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US home sales jump to highest level in more than 2 years, builders start work on more homes

This Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012, photo, shows an exterior view of a home sold in Palo Alto, Calif. U.S. sales of previously occupied homes jumped in August to the highest level in more than two years, adding momentum to the housing recovery. The National Association of Realtors says sales rose 7.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million. That's the most since May 2010, when sales were fueled by a federal home-buying tax credit. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

WASHINGTON - A jump in sales of previously occupied homes and further gains in home construction suggest the U.S. housing recovery is gaining momentum.

The pair of reports Wednesday follows other signs of steady progress in the housing market after years of stagnation. New-home sales are up, builder confidence has reached its highest level in more than six years and increases in home prices appear to be sustainable.

Sales and construction rates are still below healthy levels, economists caution. But the improvement has been steady.

And the broader economy is likely to benefit. When home prices rise, Americans typically feel wealthier and spend more — a point Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made last week after the Fed unveiled a plan to lower mortgage rates. Consumer spending drives 70 per cent of the economic growth.

"We have a real housing recovery taking root, and that has positive implications for the broader economy," said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. "If home prices continue to rise, so, too, will household wealth and consumer confidence."

Sales of previously occupied homes rose 7.8 per cent in August from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That's the highest level since May 2010, when sales were aided by a federal home-buying tax credit.

U.S. builders broke ground on 2.3 per cent more homes and apartments in August than July. The Commerce Department said the annual rate of construction rose to a seasonally adjusted 750,000. The increase was driven the best rate of single-family home construction since April 2010.

Even with the gains, the market has a long way back to full health. Sales of previously occupied homes remain below the more than 5.5 million that's consistent with a thriving market. In better economies, homebuilders start twice as many homes.

Strict credit standards and bigger down payment requirements have made it harder for many first-time buyers — who are critical to a housing rebound — to qualify for mortgages. The number of first-time homebuyers made up just 31 per cent of the market in August. In healthier markets, the percentage is more than 40 per cent.

For those who can qualify, the market is tempting. Mortgage rates are just above record lows. Prices, on average, are much lower than they were six years ago.

The Fed plans to spend $40 billion a month to buy mortgage bonds for as long as it thinks necessary to make home buying more affordable. Bernanke said the Fed will keep buying the bonds until the job market improves "substantially."

Many buyers today are investors who see a great opportunity in the improving sales trends and rising prices.

Count Chad Shade as one of them.

Shade, 27, a homeowner in Brea, Calif., wants to buy a condo for around $150,000 that he can turn into a rental property. He's made offers on as many as six homes in the last three months. But he lost out every time to a rival paying cash.

"They seem to be selling like hotcakes," he said. "I just don't see prices going much lower. It seems the housing market is starting to trend upward, and I don't want to miss that train."

One challenge for buyers now is the limited number of homes on the market. There were 2.47 million homes available for sale in August, or 18 per cent fewer than the same month in 2011.

Homes are selling more quickly than a year ago. The median amount of time that a home spent on the market was 70 days in August, the Realtors' group said. A year ago, the median timeframe was 92 days a year ago.

And the limited supply has helped lift home prices. The median home price in August was $187,400, according to the Realtors' group said. That's slightly lower than July but 9.5 per cent higher than August 2011 — the largest year-over-year price increase since January 2006.

Other surveys have also shown sustainable gains in prices, albeit much smaller. Core Logic, a private real estate data provider, said home prices rose 3.8 per cent in the 12 months ending in July. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index said last month that home prices rose in June on a year-over-year basis, the first time in nearly two years.

One reason prices are rising is there have been fewer foreclosures and short sales. A short sale is when the seller owes more on the mortgage than the home is worth. Distressed properties made up just 22 per cent of sales in August, down from 31 per cent a year ago. Those sales occur at steep discounts, which drag down overall home prices.

Chris Jones, an economist with TD Economics, said more foreclosures and short sales are likely. But rising prices should make homeowners with stable properties more willing to put their houses on the market. That will likely offset the drag on prices.

"The market is picking up. There are a lot of non-distressed homes that are coming on the market," Jones said.

In the meantime, the lower supply of homes has boosted demand for new homes. That has made builders more confident in future sales.

Applications for building permits, a good sign of future construction, dipped in August to an annual rate of 803,000. Still, that's down only slight from July when permits reached a four-year high of 811,000.

"Since builders are not taking out permits because it is fun to visit their local government office and pay fees, we can conclude that there should be a solid rise in construction in the months to come," said Joel Naroff, chief economist for Naroff Economics Advisors.

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AP Real Estate Writer Alex Veiga contributed from Los Angeles to this report.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

19 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/us+home+sales+jump+to+highest+level+in+more+than+2+years+builders+start+work+on+more+homes/6442718352/story.html
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US identifies 117 Iranian aircraft it says are involved in arming Syria's Assad regime

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has identified 117 Iranian aircraft it says are ferrying weapons to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

The Treasury Department says the planes operated by Iran Air, Mahan Air and Yas Air are delivering weapons and Iranian forces under the cover of "humanitarian" shipments.

The airlines are already subject to U.S. sanctions: Americans cannot do business with them and any assets they have in the U.S. are frozen.

But it is now listing planes individually, partly to pressure Iraq to crack down on Iranian weapons shipments to Syria via Iraqi airspace.

Washington also set sanctions Wednesday on a Syrian army bureau, the director of a Syrian military research centre and a Belarusian arms exporter for their roles in weapons of mass destruction proliferation.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

19 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/us+identifies+117+iranian+aircraft+it+says+are+involved+in+arming+syrias+assad+regime/6442718280/story.html
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