Conditions for remaining residents deteriorating in city still held by Gaddafi loyalists, says doctor Residents trapped in fighting for the Libyan coastal city of Sirte have run out of basic medical supplies and are resorting to drinking contaminated water to survive as conditions deteriorate, a Libyan doctor who was in the city at the weekend said. Dr Siraj Assouri, who was travelling from Sirte to nearby Misrata, said: “The conditions have been getting worse and worse. There is no medicine for heart disease or blood pressure or baby milk or nappies. There is very little water that is drinkable. The water is contaminated with waste oil. Our forces are close to the centre but there are other areas still under the control of Gaddafi loyalists where they have been putting up a very strong fight. They still control 40% of the city.” His comments came as a ceasefire announced by the new government’s forces brought a lull in the fighting and allowed hundreds of residents of the city, whose population is normally around 100,000, to leave via queues at checkpoints. The two-day truce is expected to be followed by an all-out attack on the positions still held by pro-Gaddafi loyalists in an attempt to bring the country’s war to a final conclusion. Residents, many of them supporters of the country’s former leader, confirmed the bleak account of life inside Sirte. Some blamed continuing Nato air raids on Sirte for causing civilian casualties. “The revolutionaries camping at the frontline of Sirte have given residents two days to leave the city, which will allow for the evacuation of large numbers of civilians,” said the National Transitional Council leader, Mustafa Abdel Jalil. The truce was declared by Libya’s new transitional authority, which says it had ordered a halt in operations to allow civilians to flee before it launched a final assault. The depiction of conditions in Sirte follows a warning at the weekend by an International Red Cross team of a humanitarian crisis. The team was able to deliver body bags and war wounded kits but was not able to enter the main hospital itself on Saturday – despite negotiating a safe passage from both sides – because of fighting that flared up. According to the Red Cross, some 10,000 people have fled Sirte. “The hospital is facing a huge influx of patients, medical supplies are running out and there is a desperate need for oxygen. On top of that, the water reservoir has been damaged,” the ICRC said in a statement. The rapidly deteriorating situation follows several weeks of fighting, with anti-Gaddafi fighters now holding positions about three miles from the city centre, according to commander Mustafa al-Rubaie. Last week, the Libyan defence ministry announced that Sirte’s port, airport and military base were all under its control. Rubaie added that fighters had seized control of Sirte’s first residential district and a hotel where Gaddafi’s snipers were based. “There is heavy fighting going on in the streets of Sirte right now,” he said. “The enemy is besieged from the south, east and west but it’s still in possession of highly sophisticated weapons and a large amount of ammunition.” But Rubaie said Gaddafi forces were in control of strategic positions inside the city, including high-rise buildings where snipers are positioned, making the revolutionary forces’ advance slow and hard.”The plan is that the eastern and western forces will meet in the middle of Sirte,” Rubaie said. “When we reach this point, we will celebrate the liberation of Sirte.” Capture of the city – as well as another loyalist stronghold Bani Walid — has become an increasingly urgent priority for Libya’s new rulers who have vowed not to push ahead with plans for new interim cabinet and elections until the country is fully liberated. Concerns have been growing that slow progress against the last holdouts is contributing to increasing frustration among ordinary Libyans and the vacuum of power as different factions and individuals have jostled for influence. Libya Middle East Africa Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
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Conditions for remaining residents deteriorating in city still held by Gaddafi loyalists, says doctor Residents trapped in fighting for the Libyan coastal city of Sirte have run out of basic medical supplies and are resorting to drinking contaminated water to survive as conditions deteriorate, a Libyan doctor who was in the city at the weekend said. Dr Siraj Assouri, who was travelling from Sirte to nearby Misrata, said: “The conditions have been getting worse and worse. There is no medicine for heart disease or blood pressure or baby milk or nappies. There is very little water that is drinkable. The water is contaminated with waste oil. Our forces are close to the centre but there are other areas still under the control of Gaddafi loyalists where they have been putting up a very strong fight. They still control 40% of the city.” His comments came as a ceasefire announced by the new government’s forces brought a lull in the fighting and allowed hundreds of residents of the city, whose population is normally around 100,000, to leave via queues at checkpoints. The two-day truce is expected to be followed by an all-out attack on the positions still held by pro-Gaddafi loyalists in an attempt to bring the country’s war to a final conclusion. Residents, many of them supporters of the country’s former leader, confirmed the bleak account of life inside Sirte. Some blamed continuing Nato air raids on Sirte for causing civilian casualties. “The revolutionaries camping at the frontline of Sirte have given residents two days to leave the city, which will allow for the evacuation of large numbers of civilians,” said the National Transitional Council leader, Mustafa Abdel Jalil. The truce was declared by Libya’s new transitional authority, which says it had ordered a halt in operations to allow civilians to flee before it launched a final assault. The depiction of conditions in Sirte follows a warning at the weekend by an International Red Cross team of a humanitarian crisis. The team was able to deliver body bags and war wounded kits but was not able to enter the main hospital itself on Saturday – despite negotiating a safe passage from both sides – because of fighting that flared up. According to the Red Cross, some 10,000 people have fled Sirte. “The hospital is facing a huge influx of patients, medical supplies are running out and there is a desperate need for oxygen. On top of that, the water reservoir has been damaged,” the ICRC said in a statement. The rapidly deteriorating situation follows several weeks of fighting, with anti-Gaddafi fighters now holding positions about three miles from the city centre, according to commander Mustafa al-Rubaie. Last week, the Libyan defence ministry announced that Sirte’s port, airport and military base were all under its control. Rubaie added that fighters had seized control of Sirte’s first residential district and a hotel where Gaddafi’s snipers were based. “There is heavy fighting going on in the streets of Sirte right now,” he said. “The enemy is besieged from the south, east and west but it’s still in possession of highly sophisticated weapons and a large amount of ammunition.” But Rubaie said Gaddafi forces were in control of strategic positions inside the city, including high-rise buildings where snipers are positioned, making the revolutionary forces’ advance slow and hard.”The plan is that the eastern and western forces will meet in the middle of Sirte,” Rubaie said. “When we reach this point, we will celebrate the liberation of Sirte.” Capture of the city – as well as another loyalist stronghold Bani Walid — has become an increasingly urgent priority for Libya’s new rulers who have vowed not to push ahead with plans for new interim cabinet and elections until the country is fully liberated. Concerns have been growing that slow progress against the last holdouts is contributing to increasing frustration among ordinary Libyans and the vacuum of power as different factions and individuals have jostled for influence. Libya Middle East Africa Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Dr. Nada Dhaif, and Dr. Fatima Hajji discuss the sentences and give their shocked reactions to them. These doctors, and eighteen more, were sentenced simply for providing aid to injured protesters, the rest of the charges fictitious. It should also be noted that while the U.S. State Department is “deeply disturbed” by these sentences, Bahrain is home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, and thus a key ally in the region. The U.S. has provided the tiny island nation of Bahrain nearly $100 million in aid since Barack Obama became president. Iran’s PressTV is only too happy to provide (accurate) figures on the contradiction: The Pentagon has cut deals with Bahrain in arms trade, sending dozens of American tanks, armored personnel carriers, helicopter gunships, thousands of .38 caliber pistols and millions of rounds of ammunition, from .50 caliber rounds used in sniper rifles and machine guns to bullets for handguns, some of which were undoubtedly used against protesters. In addition to all these gifts of weaponry, ammunition, and fighting vehicles, the Pentagon in coordination with the State Department oversaw Bahrain’s purchase of more than $386 million in defense items and services from 2007 to 2009, the last three years on record. From the CNN report: (CNN) — A group of 20 doctors who were detained during this year’s protests in Bahrain have been convicted of attempting to overthrow the government and hit with lengthy prison sentences, authorities and a human rights group said Thursday. Thirteen of the physicians were sentenced to 15 years in prison, two for 10 years and five for five years, said military prosecutor, Col. Yussef Rashid Flaifel. The U.S. State Department, “deeply disturbed” by the sentences, said the Bahraini government should provide fair trials, access to attorneys and judicial transparency. Deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said the United States was “concerned about trials of civilians, including medical personnel, in military courts and the fairness of those proceedings.” Charges against the doctors included possession of unlicensed weapons, inciting the overthrow of the government, provoking sectarian hatred and forceful occupation of a public building, officials said. Prosecutors have alleged that, at the height of the protests earlier this year, the accused medical personnel refused to help patients at Salmaniya Medical Complex, the main hospital in the capital city, Manama. Amnesty International called the charges “ludicrous” in their press release . “These are simply ludicrous charges against civilian professionals who were working to save lives amid very trying circumstances,” said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. “It appears that the real reason for targeting these health workers was the fact that they denounced the government crackdown on protesters in interviews to international media.” “We’ve repeatedly said that Bahraini authorities should never have used military courts to prosecute ordinary civilians, including doctors, teachers and human rights activists.
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Click here to view this media Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Sunday that if elected, he would “change the mood” of “Hail to the Chief” by adding a gospel vibe. “It’s traditional and that’s all well and good, but I happen to believe there comes a time when you need to change the mood of it just a little bit, not drastically,” Cain told Fox News’ Chris Wallace. “It’s kind of like in marketing. Periodically, companies that have been successful at branding might modify their logos just a little bit to give it a fresher look. I think ‘Hail to the Chief’ needs a little bit fresher sound.” “Hip hop?” Wallace asked. “I might put some gospel beats into ‘Hail to the Chief,’ OK?” Cain explained. Cain’s three-years-old gospel album “Sunday Morning” was released online in July. “Hail to the Chief” was first played in association with a U.S. president in 1815 to honor George Washington. In 1829, Andrew Jackson became the first living president to be honored with the march.
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Click here to view this media Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Sunday that if elected, he would “change the mood” of “Hail to the Chief” by adding a gospel vibe. “It’s traditional and that’s all well and good, but I happen to believe there comes a time when you need to change the mood of it just a little bit, not drastically,” Cain told Fox News’ Chris Wallace. “It’s kind of like in marketing. Periodically, companies that have been successful at branding might modify their logos just a little bit to give it a fresher look. I think ‘Hail to the Chief’ needs a little bit fresher sound.” “Hip hop?” Wallace asked. “I might put some gospel beats into ‘Hail to the Chief,’ OK?” Cain explained. Cain’s three-years-old gospel album “Sunday Morning” was released online in July. “Hail to the Chief” was first played in association with a U.S. president in 1815 to honor George Washington. In 1829, Andrew Jackson became the first living president to be honored with the march.
Continue reading …Click here to view this media Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Sunday that if elected, he would “change the mood” of “Hail to the Chief” by adding a gospel vibe. “It’s traditional and that’s all well and good, but I happen to believe there comes a time when you need to change the mood of it just a little bit, not drastically,” Cain told Fox News’ Chris Wallace. “It’s kind of like in marketing. Periodically, companies that have been successful at branding might modify their logos just a little bit to give it a fresher look. I think ‘Hail to the Chief’ needs a little bit fresher sound.” “Hip hop?” Wallace asked. “I might put some gospel beats into ‘Hail to the Chief,’ OK?” Cain explained. Cain’s three-years-old gospel album “Sunday Morning” was released online in July. “Hail to the Chief” was first played in association with a U.S. president in 1815 to honor George Washington. In 1829, Andrew Jackson became the first living president to be honored with the march.
Continue reading …‘Niggerhead’: Washington Post Publishes Racially Charged Front Page Hit Piece on Rick Perry
October 2, 2011 No Comment
In 2006, the Washington Post lead a racially charged smear campaign against former Senator George Allen (R-Va.) involving the previously unknown word “macaca.” On Sunday, the Post prominently featured a 3000-word, racially charged, front page hit piece involving Texas governor Rick Perry and a decades old bit of graffiti reading “Niggerhead”: In the early years of his political career, Rick Perry began hosting fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family’s secluded West Texas hunting camp, a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance. “Niggerhead,” it read. Ranchers who once grazed cattle on the 1,070-acre parcel on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River called it by that name well before Perry and his father, Ray, began hunting there in the early 1980s. There is no definitive account of when the rock first appeared on the property. In an earlier time, the name on the rock was often given to mountains and creeks and rock outcroppings across the country. Over the years, civil rights groups and government agencies have had some success changing those and other racially offensive names that dotted the nation’s maps. But the name of this particular parcel did not change for years after it became associated with Rick Perry, first as a private citizen, then as a state official and finally as Texas governor. Some locals still call it that. As recently as this summer, the slablike rock — lying flat, the name still faintly visible beneath a coat of white paint — remained by the gated entrance to the camp. “There is no definitive account of when the rock first appeared on the property.” Which means the Perrys were not responsible for placing it there. Quite the contrary, as author Stephanie McCrummen relays over 3000 words, Perry and his family routinely painted over the offensive graffiti and eventually turned the rock it was painted on over so that it was completely hidden from view. So why would the Post give so much print space to such an article? He grew up in a segregated era whose history has defined and complicated the careers of many Southern politicians. Perry has spoken often about how his upbringing in this sparsely populated farming community influenced his conservatism. He has rarely, if ever, discussed what it was like growing up amid segregation in an area where blacks were a tiny fraction of the population.
Continue reading …‘Niggerhead’: Washington Post Publishes Racially Charged Front Page Hit Piece on Rick Perry
October 2, 2011 No Comment
In 2006, the Washington Post lead a racially charged smear campaign against former Senator George Allen (R-Va.) involving the previously unknown word “macaca.” On Sunday, the Post prominently featured a 3000-word, racially charged, front page hit piece involving Texas governor Rick Perry and a decades old bit of graffiti reading “Niggerhead”: In the early years of his political career, Rick Perry began hosting fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family’s secluded West Texas hunting camp, a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance. “Niggerhead,” it read. Ranchers who once grazed cattle on the 1,070-acre parcel on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River called it by that name well before Perry and his father, Ray, began hunting there in the early 1980s. There is no definitive account of when the rock first appeared on the property. In an earlier time, the name on the rock was often given to mountains and creeks and rock outcroppings across the country. Over the years, civil rights groups and government agencies have had some success changing those and other racially offensive names that dotted the nation’s maps. But the name of this particular parcel did not change for years after it became associated with Rick Perry, first as a private citizen, then as a state official and finally as Texas governor. Some locals still call it that. As recently as this summer, the slablike rock — lying flat, the name still faintly visible beneath a coat of white paint — remained by the gated entrance to the camp. “There is no definitive account of when the rock first appeared on the property.” Which means the Perrys were not responsible for placing it there. Quite the contrary, as author Stephanie McCrummen relays over 3000 words, Perry and his family routinely painted over the offensive graffiti and eventually turned the rock it was painted on over so that it was completely hidden from view. So why would the Post give so much print space to such an article? He grew up in a segregated era whose history has defined and complicated the careers of many Southern politicians. Perry has spoken often about how his upbringing in this sparsely populated farming community influenced his conservatism. He has rarely, if ever, discussed what it was like growing up amid segregation in an area where blacks were a tiny fraction of the population.
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• Press F5 or hit the auto-update for the latest • Email simon.burnton@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Click here for all today’s latest scores • Follow Simon on Twitter, if that’s your thing 3.58pm: The players are running out, and that can only mean one thing – an ad break. 3.57pm: “I think he runs to the touchline and hugs Wenger à la Balotelli-Mancini last weekend,” suggests Ryan Wakefield. I would love to see Adebayor running down the touchline attempting to embrace Wenger, while Wenger runs down the touchline attempting to evade him. 3.54pm: Interesting if not-that-surprising-when-you-think-about-it stat from Sky: this is the first time in the history of the world Premier League that Tottenham have gone into a North London derby as favourites. 3.50pm: “Hello, Simon!” Hello, Ryan Dunne! “Is it fair to say that most neutrals, like me, are hoping for an Adebayor hat-trick and some ‘get it right up ye!’ fist-pumping aimed at the Arsenal fans? I admired Barry Glendenning for stating last year, in the midst of much Old Firm sixth-form moralistic hand-wringing, that the on-pitch fiery hi-jinks make it more, not less, of a compelling spectacle, and Adebayor’s past triumphant wind-up surely falls within the same category. And, based on past form, he’ll probably stop playing well in a couple of months anyways, so Arsenal fans will surely get the last laugh.” Well I’m all for hi-jinks on principle, and as public as possible, but do feel that there could be public order issues if Adebayor doesn’t control himself today (and heaven knows Tottenham – the area rather than the club – have had enough of those recently). 3.49pm: So, readers, how will Emmanuel Adebayor celebrate when he inevitably scores? 3.42pm: Meanwhile, elsewhere in London: Fulham 3 (Andrew Johnson 38) QPR 0. 3.35pm: Elsewhere, right now, Fulham are 2-0 up on QPR and Swansea are a Scott Sinclair penalty to the good against Stoke. 3.33pm: One change each for our rival combatants, then – Arsenal bring in Francis Coquelin for the injured Laurent Koscielny (Theo Walcott and Gervinho both having passed fitness tests), and jugular-seeking Tottenham replacing Sandro with Jermain Defoe. 3.32pm: Enough of yesteryear, though – here are today’s teams! Tottenham: Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto, Van der Vaart, Parker, Modric, Bale, Adebayor, Defoe. Subs: Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Giovani, Bassong, Corluka, Livermore, Sandro. Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Song, Gibbs, Ramsey, Arteta, Coquelin, Walcott, van Persie, Gervinho. Subs: Fabianski, Park, Andre Santos, Arshavin, Jenkinson, Frimpong, Benayoun. Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral). 3.30pm: Hello world! So, the north London derby then. A fixture that has produced all sorts of breathless excitement in the past. So you want examples, do you? Well, here’s a list I made earlier (not exactly by myself, as you’ll notice). The Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal match kicks off at 4pm BST and Simon will be here with commentary from 3.30pm BST. If you get here before him, read Kevin McCarra’s preview: It is far too early to declare that there has been a shift in power in north London, but a win for Tottenham at White Hart Lane would have an impact. Harry Redknapp’s side would then lead Arsenal by five points, with a game in hand. visitors did not impress in the narrow Champions League win over Olympiakos and the quality of the squad is open to debate. Nonetheless, three wins in a row for Arsène Wenger’s team must have come as a relief, even if those matches were at the Emirates, with Shrewsbury among the defeated teams. Match pointers • Tottenham have kept only one clean sheet in 31 matches in all competitions against their north London rivals • Arsenal have won only two of their last 16 games away from the Emirates Stadium in all competitions • Emmanuel Adebayor scored eight goals in nine games for Arsenal against Spurs • Robin van Persie has scored four times in his last four starts against the hosts • These sides have drawn 17 times in the Premier League, the most ties of any fixture in the competition’s history Premier League 2011-12 Tottenham Hotspur Arsenal Simon Burnton guardian.co.uk
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“A refrigerator has never been hacked. An on-line virus has attacked a cork board.” — from United States Postal Service TV commercial urging people to use mail.
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