• NTC forces launch major assault on Sirte • Gaddafi issues first audio message for two weeks • UN says 2,900 killed in Syrian crackdown 9.20am: Today’s assault on Sirte began at 6am, according to a report mentioned by BrownMoses reports below the line. Global Post’s James Foley, tweets: first time fighters leave at 6 am to go to front lines , cars streaming in from misrata side #sirte, lots of rumors of attack today Last night El Mundo’s Javier Espinosa had this update on the movement of Gaddafi loyalists: “Gaddafi forces moving just in circles around hospital, Ouagadougou (conference center) and university” one NTC commander #Sirte #Libya (I’ve added the location of the university to the Google Map embedded in the previous post.) 8.33am: Welcome to Middle East Live. The Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte has been reported to be on the brink of falling for two weeks and now forces loyal to the new government have launched another major new offensive against the city. Here are the main developments there and elsewhere in the region. Libya • This appears to be the “final push” against Sirte, according to the BBC. Forces loyal to Libya’s transitional government have launched a major assault on the city of Sirte, one of the last Gaddafi strongholds. Hundreds of vehicles have advanced on the city from both the east and the west and are close to the centre. The BBC’s Jonathan Head, on the city’s outskirts, says it is by far the biggest assault in recent days. • The battle for Sirte is a ramshackle affair, writes the Guardian’s Peter Beaumont. On the west side of the city, where the katibas [rebels] from Misrata launch almost daily attempts to take the Gaddafi stronghold of the Ougadougou conference centre, the fighters gathered for an impromptu breakfast outside a little field hospital. On Thursday they had poured in behind three tanks only to be driven back by missiles. A fighter said: “We want to get this thing finished quickly. We had a plan to try and open the road to the hospital to evacuate civilians, but there were too many snipers. Yesterday we tried many times to open the road.” • The International Committee of the Red Cross evacuated three wounded people from Ibn Sina hospital to a field hospital on the other side of the front line on Thursday. This map of Sirte shows the location of the hospital and Ougadougou conference centre where Gaddafi loyalists are holding out. • Fugitive leader Muammar Gaddafi has issued a new audio recording denouncing Libya’s new government and calling on his supporters to “raise our green flags” . In the new message, his first for more than two weeks, he said: “How did it [the National Transitional Council] get its legitimacy? Did the Libyan people elect them? Did the Libyan people appoint them?” • A Libyan dissident is launching legal action against the British government after secret documents discovered in Tripoli exposed the role played by MI6 in his rendition to one of Gaddafi’s jails. In a case that threatens to cause acute discomfort to some former ministers in the last Labour government as well as senior intelligence officers, Sami al-Saadi is claiming damages from the UK for the years of torture he subsequently suffered. Syria • The UN’s estimate of the number of people killed in the Syrian uprising has increased to 2,900, according to a list of individuals complited by the high commissioner for human rights. Previous estimates put the death toll at about 2,700. • Syrian forces have crossed into Lebanese territory and shot dead a Syrian man living in a border area, according to the BBC. The man killed was reportedly a farmer living in a remote area of Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa region. It was not clear why he was targeted. Egypt Egypt’s ruling military generals have unveiled plans that could see them retain power for another 18 months, increasing fears that the country’s democratic transition process is under threat. Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Egypt’s de facto ruler, said: “the armed forces have no interest in staying in power for a long time,” but he added, “we will not leave Egypt until we have fulfilled all we promised and do our duty towards the people.” Israel • Six Arab-Israeli towns in Israel’s southern Negev region have ground to a halt in protest at government plans to confiscate swathes of land from the Bedouin community. Schools, shops and municipal offices across the region closed for the day allowing more than 8,000 people to stage a demonstration in Beersheba rejecting the plan – the largest civil protest in the city’s history. • The Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni has avoided the possibility of prosecution in a British court for war crimes after the Foreign Office declared that she enjoys temporary diplomatic immunity. A private application for a warrant to arrest the former foreign minister during her visit to London was made on Tuesday and had been under consideration by the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC. But the announcement that the Foreign Office had issued a rarely heard of certificate that she was on a “special mission” infuriated Palestinian activists and human rights groups. Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia has made clear it will not tolerate unrest in its eastern province, where 14 people, 11 of them policemen, were injured in protests this week. Any further trouble would be crushed with “an iron fist,” the government warned, anxious to avoid any perception that the first green shoots of the Arab spring have started to emerge in the Gulf’s conservative heartland. Jordan Prince Hassan has joined Twitter, Global Voices reports. In his most recent update Hassan writes: Thank you all so much for the touching welcome over #twitter this week. I hope everyone enjoy’s their weekend. #Amman #JO Libya Muammar Gaddafi Syria Nato US foreign policy Bashar Al-Assad Turkey Saudi Arabia Bahrain Jordan Israel Protest Egypt Matthew Weaver guardian.co.uk
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General who led Obama’s ‘surge’ strategy says even now the military does not have the local knowledge to end the conflict One of America’s most celebrated generals has issued a harsh indictment of his country’s campaign in Afghanistan on the 10th anniversary of the invasion to topple the Taliban. The US began the war with a “frighteningly simplistic” view of Afghanistan, the retired general Stanley McChrystal said, and even now the military lacks sufficient local knowledge to bring the conflict to an end. The US and Nato are only “50% of the way” towards achieving their goals in Afghanistan, he told the Council on Foreign Relations. “We didn’t know enough and we still don’t know enough. Most of us, me included, had a very superficial understanding of the situation and history, and we had a frighteningly simplistic view of recent history, the last 50 years.” McChrystal led the Obama administration’s “surge” strategy that started in 2009 and sent US troop levels in Afghanistan to more than 100,000. Widely acknowledged as a gifted military commander, he was forced to resign last year amid controversy over remarks he made to Rolling Stone magazine . The 10th anniversary of the war, marked on Friday, has prompted sober reflection in the US about a conflict that has passed Vietnam as the military’s longest war. Just over 2,750 foreign troops have been killed – 28% of them in Helmand – while between 14,000 and 18,000 civilians have died as a result of fighting, according to various estimates. Yet although the US entered Afghanistan to hunt down Osama bin Laden and topple the Taliban, its most prominent targets quickly slipped across the border into Pakistan. The al-Qaida leader was discovered in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad, last May, while the Taliban have used remote border bases in Pakistan’s tribal areas to launched a stiff resurgence. In his comments on Thursday night McChrystal also indirectly criticised the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003, saying it made success in Afghanistan more difficult to achieve. The invasion “changed the Muslim world’s view of America’s effort,” he said. “When we went after the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, there was a certain understanding that we had the ability and the right to defend ourselves and the fact that al-Qaida had been harboured by the Taliban was legitimate. I think when we made the decision to go into Iraq that was less legitimate [in the eyes of the Muslim world].” The 10th anniversary has also been marked in downbeat fashion in Afghanistan where talk of US-driven “nation building” has largely evaporated. Despite $57bn in international aid since 2001, aid agencies say most people remain mired in deep poverty. “There has been some important progress, especially in urban areas,” said Anne Garella of Acbar, an umbrella group of 111 foreign and local aid agencies. “But our research highlights the gap behind positive rhetoric and grim reality.” An Acbar study found that 80% of Afghans now have access to health services compared with 9% in 2001. The number of children in school has rocketed from barely one million a decade ago, 5,000 of them girls, to seven million today, one third of whom are girls. But Afghanistan still has been some of the world’s worst health indicators due to shoddy facilities, conflict and official corruption. Afghans have grown highly sceptical of western aid over the years, with a widespread perception – partly well founded – that much of the money finds its way back to western countries through security costs and inflated expatriate wages. But the greatest worry for most Afghans now is the consequence of the US drawdown planned for the end of 2014, which will see the vast majority of 150,000 foreign troops leave the country. The American plan is to hand power to the shaky Karzai-led government, which is plagued by corruption and enjoys diminishing credibility. McChrystal said that building a legitimate government that ordinary Afghans believed in, and which could serve as a counterweight to the Taliban, was among the greatest challenges facing US forces. Efforts are under way to bolster the government’s authority. Nato says it will have trained 325,000 Afghan soldiers by January 2015, and the US is likely to continue financial support, although exact levels have yet to be decided. But rising ethnic and political tensions could destabilise the country before then. And plans to bring the Taliban to peace talks were hit by the assassination of Karzai’s main peace envoy, Burhanuddin Rabbani , last month. Stanley McChrystal Afghanistan US military US foreign policy United States Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
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• European shares rise for third day ahead of US non-farm payrolls • Moody’s downgrades 12 UK banks and building societies • US job figures set to show 60,000 increase • Today’s agenda 8.50am: Here is today’s agenda: • Eurozone industrial production figures for August • UK producer prices for September expected to show a pick-up in inflation (9.30am) • US non-farm payrolls for September likely to show a 55,000 to 60,000 gain in jobs (1.30pm) 8.53am: The FTSE is now up just over 20 points at 5312, a 0.4% gain. Lloyds Banking Group is the biggest loser, down 2.4% at 34.9p, while RBS is down 1.7% at 23.9p following downgrades by Moody’s . Lloyds said the downgrade would have a minimal impact on its funding costs. Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital, says: Equities are likely to remain stuck in a tight range and volumes low until 1.30pm, when the US Non-Farm Payroll numbers are announced. The market is expecting a rise of 55,000 jobs for the month of September, a marked improvement on August, but hardly enough to make a dent on unemployment numbers. Other European stock markets have also edged higher, with Spain’s Ibex and Italy’s FTSE MIB up nearly 0.8%. Germany’s Dax has climbed 0.6% while France’s CAC has gained 0.4%. 8.43am: George Osborne has insisted that Britain’s banks are well capitalised and liquid, adding that Moody’s decision to downgrade 12 UK financial institutions today merely reflects government moves to limit its support – to avoid having to rescue them again. Speaking on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, the chancellor said: People ask me ‘how are you going to avoid Britain and the British taxpayer bailout out banks in the future?’ This government is doing steps to do that, and therefore credit rating agencies and others will say ‘well, actually these banks have got to show that they can pay their way in the world. And I am confident that British banks are well capitalised, they are liquid, they aren’t experiencing the kind of problems that some of the banks in the eurozone are experiencing at the moment. Osborne also said a resolution of the eurozone debt crisis would provide a shot in the arm for the British economy. The single biggest boost for the British economy that can take place this autumn is nothing I can announce, it is the resolution of the euro crisis. 8.39am: Washington and Wall Street will be nervously awaiting official jobs figures today as President Obama pushes Congress to vote through his latest jobs plan and investors look for signs that recovery is taking hold, my colleague Dominic Rushe in New York reports. September’s non-farm payroll figures follow a week when Obama and senior Washington officials have called on Washington to act on the jobs crisis. Both Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner have warned that Washington needs to take swift action to address the US’s job crisis. Geithner urged politicians to pass Obama’s recently unveiled job plan, which is up for a vote in the Senate next week, while Bernanke called high unemployment a “national crisis.” The economy generated no net new jobs in August, the first time that had happened since the second world war. The figures triggered a sharp sell-off on the US stock exchanges. Read more here . 8.27am: The FTSE briefly turned negative when news broke that Moody’s had cut the ratings of 12 British banks and building societies, including Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB Bank. Britain’s bluechip index is positive again, trading up some 10 points at 5302, a 0.2% gain. My colleague Jill Treanor, the banking correspondent, says the Moody’s downgrades were “completely expected,” although the timing doesn’t help. It is completely to be expected. They warned three months they would do it. It’s because of attempts to withdraw government support. Clearly the timing doesn’t help. 8.13am: Credit rating agency Moody’s has cut its ratings on 12 UK banks and building societies, including Lloyds TSB Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland, saying it expects the UK government will have to continue to support “systemically important financial institutions”. Moody’s cut its rating on RBS by two notches to A2 from Aa3, and downgraded Lloyds TSB by one notch to A1 from Aa3. It also cut its ratings on Santander UK, Co-operative Bank, Nationwide Building and seven other smaller British building societies. The agency said in a statement : Moody’s believes that the government is likely to continue to provide some level of support to systemically important financial institutions, which continue to incorporate up to three notches of uplift. However it is more likely now to allow smaller institutions to fail if they become financially troubled. The downgrades do not reflect a deterioration in the financial strength of the banking system or that of the government. 8.07am: The Dutch parliament approved the EFSF enlargement to €440bn yesterday, leaving only Malta and Slovakia to vote, on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Malta is expected to pass the measures, but it is less certain that Slovakia will agree to the changes. Gary Jenkins, head of fixed income at Evolution Securities, says: With the vote passed in the Netherlands all the major countries with the critical mass of guarantees are aboard and any upset in the last two countries will probably be worked around quietly. European Commission President Barroso is a very busy man isn’t he? Working on the plan on how to introduce eurobonds whilst at the same time he will soon be presenting his plans for European wide recapitalisations of the banks. And my wife says men can’t multi task… Markets continued to trade better on expectation of a European agreement on bank restructuring and were helped further by the ECB increasing liquidity support for the banks. 7.58am: There is growing nervousness in Whitehall that the government might have to inject more money into Royal Bank of Scotland, according to the Financial Times . My colleague Jill Treanor, the Guardian’s banking correspondent, says there is speculation that the UK’s banks, particularly RBS, could inadvertently get caught up in recapitalisation measures intended to shore up confidence in Europe’s banks. She writes on our business blog : Technically, Britain’s banks should not need another bail out and the Treasury keeps reminding everyone that there are better capitalised than many of their peers. The UK banks argue they have been required to bolster their capital and liquidity faster than eurozone rivals and taken more realistic mark downs on their holdings of sovereign bonds. RBS, for instance, has taken a 50% hit on its Greek holdings compared with 21% of many eurozone banks. However Jose Manuel Barroso, European Commission president is promising to draw up a EU-wide plan for a recapitalisation of the EU’s banks . He does not have the power to impose to any policies on banks ( and the UK’s would in any case fight hard against being drawn into any such plan). Even so, he is influential. RBS was adamant on Friday that it one of the most strongly capitalised banks in the world in response to concern it might need new capital. 7.33am: Good morning. Today’s main event are the US jobless figures for September, with expectations that employers took on more staff after August’s disappointing flat outcome. The consensus forecast on Wall Street is an increase of 60,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate is set to stay at 9.1%. The FTSE 100 index in London is expected to open nearly 30 points higher at 5317, extending the rally of the last two days, while Germany’s Dax is set to rise 25 points. Asian markets rallied overnight , with Japan’s Nikkei up nearly 1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbing 2.7%. On Thursday, the FTSE closed 3.7% higher at 5291.26 as investors were cheered by the Bank of England embarking on a second round of quantitative easing earlier than expected. It will be pumping £75bn into the economy in the next four months by buying government bonds, casting aside fears about inflation. The Bank’s governor Sir Mervyn King warned that Britain may be facing its “most serious financial crisis ever”. By contrast, the E uropean Central Bank resisted calls for a rate cut but announced a number of additional liquidity measures, which “could well have bought European governments extra time to deal with the banking crisis that is engulfing the region,” noted Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets. He added: By giving some degree of long term certainty on liquidity to the banking sector policymakers get time to arrive at a recapitalisation plan, starting with Dexia at the weekend, as Greece heads closer to a default. There was disappointment however at the stubborn refusal of the ECB to cut rates, but the door was left open to a cut next month when Trichet pointedly omitted to assert that monetary policy remained “accommodative”, especially given that the rate decision was arrived at by consensus, and not by unanimity. Shares in Dexia, the troubled Belgian-French bank, were suspended last night until Monday amid rumours nationalisation. European debt crisis Europe Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk
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Security forces discover bodies in Atlantic port after President Felipe Calderon launches fresh crackdown on drug barons Mexican security forces have found 32 bodies at several locations around the eastern city of Veracruz, according to the authorities, only two weeks after 35 corpses were dumped on a busy street in the Atlantic port. Just two days after the Mexican government unveiled a plan to lay down the law in the state of the same name, police and marines found the bodies in three different areas of the city, the navy said in a statement on Thursday. The bodies were discovered in homes around the port as the military conducted operations under the ‘Safe Veracruz’ programme, the statement said. Twenty bodies were found in one house that was searched following a tip from naval intelligence. More than 44,000 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched a military campaign to crush Mexico’s powerful drug cartels in late 2006. The killings have damaged support for Calderon’s ruling conservatives, who face a major struggle to hold on to power in presidential elections due next July. However, Calderon said there could be no turning back from the fight against the gangs. “Part of the problem is that we didn’t fight (gangs) before like we should have done,” he said in a speech. On September 20, 35 bodies were dumped in broad daylight in the Boca del Rio area of Veracruz. A vigilante-style group later claimed responsibility for the deaths. Calling themselves the Zeta Killers, the group said it was targeting one of the most notorious of Mexico’s drug gangs, which has stirred fears of the emergence of paramilitary violence. Founded by renegade special forces soldiers, the Zetas have made a name for themselves as one of the bloodiest gangs in the country with countless killings and kidnappings. Mexico Drugs trade guardian.co.uk
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Former US commander of allied occupation force says operation is only ‘a little better than’ 50% of the way to its goals The US began the war in Afghanistan with a “frighteningly simplistic” view of the country and even 10 years later lacks the knowledge that could help bring the conflict to a successful end, a former top commander has said. Retired US army general Stanley McChrystal said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations that the US and its Nato allies were only “a little better than” 50% of the way to reaching their war goals. Of the remaining tasks to be accomplished, he said, the most difficult may be to create a legitimate government that ordinary Afghans could believe in and that could serve as a counterweight to the Taliban. McChrystal, who commanded coalition forces in 2009-10 and was forced to resign in a flap over a magazine article, said the US entered Afghanistan in October 2001 with too little knowledge of Afghan culture. “We didn’t know enough and we still don’t know enough,” he said. “Most of us, me included, had a very superficial understanding of the situation and history, and we had a frighteningly simplistic view of recent history, the last 50 years.” US forces did not know the country’s languages and did not make “an effective effort” to learn them, he said. McChrystal said the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq less than two years after entering Afghanistan made the Afghan effort more difficult. “I think they were made more difficult, clearly,” he said, because the Iraq invasion “changed the Muslim world’s view of America’s effort. When we went after the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 there was a certain understanding that we had the ability and the right to defend ourselves and the fact that al-Qaida had been harboured by the Taliban was legitimate. “I think when we made the decision to go into Iraq that was less legitimate” in the eyes of much of the Muslim world, he said. Iraq also diverted military resources that could have been put to good use in Afghanistan, he said. Afghanistan Stanley McChrystal United States Taliban US foreign policy US military guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Former US commander of allied occupation force says operation is only ‘a little better than’ 50% of the way to its goals The US began the war in Afghanistan with a “frighteningly simplistic” view of the country and even 10 years later lacks the knowledge that could help bring the conflict to a successful end, a former top commander has said. Retired US army general Stanley McChrystal said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations that the US and its Nato allies were only “a little better than” 50% of the way to reaching their war goals. Of the remaining tasks to be accomplished, he said, the most difficult may be to create a legitimate government that ordinary Afghans could believe in and that could serve as a counterweight to the Taliban. McChrystal, who commanded coalition forces in 2009-10 and was forced to resign in a flap over a magazine article, said the US entered Afghanistan in October 2001 with too little knowledge of Afghan culture. “We didn’t know enough and we still don’t know enough,” he said. “Most of us, me included, had a very superficial understanding of the situation and history, and we had a frighteningly simplistic view of recent history, the last 50 years.” US forces did not know the country’s languages and did not make “an effective effort” to learn them, he said. McChrystal said the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq less than two years after entering Afghanistan made the Afghan effort more difficult. “I think they were made more difficult, clearly,” he said, because the Iraq invasion “changed the Muslim world’s view of America’s effort. When we went after the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 there was a certain understanding that we had the ability and the right to defend ourselves and the fact that al-Qaida had been harboured by the Taliban was legitimate. “I think when we made the decision to go into Iraq that was less legitimate” in the eyes of much of the Muslim world, he said. Iraq also diverted military resources that could have been put to good use in Afghanistan, he said. Afghanistan Stanley McChrystal United States Taliban US foreign policy US military guardian.co.uk
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Child facing time in adult prison if convicted of carrying 7g of marijuana, which is treated like heroin under Indonesian law Australia is trying to secure the return of a 14-year-old boy arrested in Indonesia for alleged marijuana possession, the Australian foreign minister has said. The boy has been held at Denpasar police headquarters in Bali since he was arrested on Tuesday accused of buying a small quantity of marijuana from a man on Kuta beach. His lawyer, Muhammad Rifan, said he faced a maximum sentence of six years in an adult prison if convicted of possessing 7g of marijuana, which under Indonesian law is treated the same as heroin or cocaine. Kevin Rudd, the Australian foreign minister, said he had sent Australia’s ambassador to Denpasar. “I’ve indicated to him that his number one priority in the immediate period ahead is how we support this young boy and his family and do everything we can to obtain his early return to Australia,” Rudd told reporters in Sydney. The boy, from Morrisset Park north of Sydney, was on holiday with his parents when he was arrested. Rifan said Julian McMahon, an Australian lawyer representing two Australians on death row in Bali for smuggling heroin in 2005, said the boy might only get a few months’ jail or avoid prison if he could prove he had a drug problem for which he had received counselling. Australian media have reported the boy is the youngest Australian to be arrested under Indonesia’s tough drug laws. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the boy told police he bought the marijuana because he felt sorry for the alleged dealer who said he had not eaten for a day. McMahon said most foreigners were arrested in these circumstances when they bought drugs from police informants. Indonesia has some of the world’s strictest drug laws and people convicted of smuggling or possessing drugs can be executed by firing squad. More than 140 prisoners are on death row in Indonesia, including more than 50 foreigners. Australia Bali Indonesia Drugs trade guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Child facing time in adult prison if convicted of carrying 7g of marijuana, which is treated like heroin under Indonesian law Australia is trying to secure the return of a 14-year-old boy arrested in Indonesia for alleged marijuana possession, the Australian foreign minister has said. The boy has been held at Denpasar police headquarters in Bali since he was arrested on Tuesday accused of buying a small quantity of marijuana from a man on Kuta beach. His lawyer, Muhammad Rifan, said he faced a maximum sentence of six years in an adult prison if convicted of possessing 7g of marijuana, which under Indonesian law is treated the same as heroin or cocaine. Kevin Rudd, the Australian foreign minister, said he had sent Australia’s ambassador to Denpasar. “I’ve indicated to him that his number one priority in the immediate period ahead is how we support this young boy and his family and do everything we can to obtain his early return to Australia,” Rudd told reporters in Sydney. The boy, from Morrisset Park north of Sydney, was on holiday with his parents when he was arrested. Rifan said Julian McMahon, an Australian lawyer representing two Australians on death row in Bali for smuggling heroin in 2005, said the boy might only get a few months’ jail or avoid prison if he could prove he had a drug problem for which he had received counselling. Australian media have reported the boy is the youngest Australian to be arrested under Indonesia’s tough drug laws. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the boy told police he bought the marijuana because he felt sorry for the alleged dealer who said he had not eaten for a day. McMahon said most foreigners were arrested in these circumstances when they bought drugs from police informants. Indonesia has some of the world’s strictest drug laws and people convicted of smuggling or possessing drugs can be executed by firing squad. More than 140 prisoners are on death row in Indonesia, including more than 50 foreigners. Australia Bali Indonesia Drugs trade guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …I’m doing the rounds! Above is my segment on David Pakman’s show today. I’ve been down at Occupy LA twice now and while I still grumble that all the satellite vans are pointed at the Michael Jackson’s doctor trial – there are cameras down at the protest and I’ve managed to be in front of a couple of them. With various hats on, apparently, in extreme (for LA) weather. Here’s one with no embed from one of our local NPR stations, KPCC . The other one was a local Korean show and I’ll update this post with it once they send it to me.
Continue reading …Uniquely among the broadcast network evening newscasts, the NBC Nightly News on Thursday took a moment to recount an appearance by Brandeis University Professor Anita Hill commemorating the 20th anniversary of her Senate testimony accusing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her in the 1980s.
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