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

-
Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/congressional+republicans+fear+romneys+gaffes+are+hurting+their+nov+6+prospects/6442718495/story.html
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

15.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

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

-
Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/france+ramps+up+embassy+security+after+magazine+caricatures+prophet+muhammad+amid+new+protests2/6442718508/story.html
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

15.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

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.

___

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

© The Canadian Press, 2012

19 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/syrian+rebels+seize+turkey+border+crossing+assad+says+fighting+targets+axis+of+resistance/6442717848/story.html
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

12.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

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.

___

Colleen Barry reported from Milan.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

19 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/italy+high+court+upholds+convictions+of+23+americans+in+egyptian+terror+suspect+abduction/6442718216/story.html
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

12.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

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.

___

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

© The Canadian Press, 2012

19 Sep, 2012

-
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
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

12.22 | 0 komentar | Read More

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

-
Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/us+identifies+117+iranian+aircraft+it+says+are+involved+in+arming+syrias+assad+regime/6442718280/story.html
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

11.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pakistan businessman accused by film protesters of blasphemy for not closing shops

Pakistani lawyers chant anti-U.S. slogans during a demonstration, near an area that houses the U.S. Embassy and other foreign missions in Islamabad, Pakistan on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012. The demonstration in Islamabad followed three days of violent protests against an anti Islam film in Pakistan in which two people were killed. Over two dozen more have been killed in protests in other parts of the Muslim world over the past week, including the U.S. ambassador in Libya. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

ISLAMABAD - Demonstrators angry over an anti-Islam film accused a local businessman in southern Pakistan of blasphemy, forcing the police to open a case and driving him and his family into hiding, following an argument that broke out when he refused to join their protest, officials said Wednesday.

The incident demonstrates the potential for abuse of the country's strict blasphemy laws as well as the intense feelings the film, which denigrates Islam's Prophet Muhammed, has unleashed in Pakistan.

At least two people have died in protests against the film, which has generated widespread animosity across the Muslim world.

The incident in the city of Hyderabad began when hundreds of protesters rallied Saturday. Some protesters demanded that businessman Haji Nasrullah Khan shut his roughly 120 shops in solidarity, said police officer Munir Abbasi.

When Khan refused, one of his tenants said his decision supported the film, the officer said.

The protesters claimed Khan insulted the Prophet while arguing with them, said city police chief Fareed Jan. But he said there was no evidence to suggest the insults really occurred and that police only opened a blasphemy case because they were pressured by the mob. Opening such a case doesn't mean the person is necessarily charged with the crime but that police are investigating him or her.

Protesters ransacked Khan's house, and surrounded a police station, refusing to go away until officials opened a blasphemy case, Abbasi said.

The situation became even more inflamed when religious leaders from one of the biggest mosques in the city issued an edict calling for Khan's death and announced from the mosque's loudspeakers that he should be killed, Abbasi said.

The police officer said Khan and his family members had gone into hiding in fear for their lives.

Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of defiling the holy book, or Qur'an, or insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad can face life in prison or death.

Critics say the laws are often abused to harass non-Muslims or to settle personal rivalries. Radical Islamist groups have also been behind some of the blasphemy accusations.

In this case, Abbasi said, police suspect some of the complaints against Khan by other shopkeepers may have been sparked more by his desire to evict some of them for late payment as opposed to any actual insults.

Abbasi said a prominent pro-Taliban religious party, Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan, and an al-Qaida linked militant group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, had been advocating against the shopkeeper.

Despite the potential for abuse, efforts to amend or repeal the blasphemy laws have failed in the past.

Last year, a minister and a governor were assassinated when they spoke out about misuse of the laws and suggested changing them. The governor was shot and killed by his own guard.

Rights activists and critics of the laws had hoped that the recent case of a 14-year-old girl charged with insulting the Qur'an would help bring about changes in the laws, or at least help curb abuse.

The case gained widespread attention and sympathy both in Pakistan and internationally due to her young age and questions about her mental capacity.

She was granted bail after a religious cleric was accused of planting evidence to incriminate her, and her lawyers have said they will move to throw the case out entirely.

But a blasphemy accusation, even an unproven one, can be a death sentence in Pakistan.

A report by the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies said that since 1990, 52 people have been killed by vigilantes after being implicated in blasphemy cases.

Earlier this summer a mob in one Pakistani city dragged an accused blasphemer from a police building, beat him to death and burned the body.

___

Associated Press Writer Adil Jawad in Karachi contributed to this report.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

19 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/World/pakistan+businessman+accused+by+film+protesters+of+blasphemy+for+not+closing+shops/6442718080/story.html
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

10.49 | 0 komentar | Read More