White House says US is being ‘extremely vigilant’ after al-Qaida declares Bin Laden’s death a curse on the US Al-Qaida has vowed to carry out revenge attacks on the US and its allies over the killing of Osama bin Laden, warning that celebrations in the west would be replaced by sorrow and blood. The statement on a jihadist website was the first by al-Qaida since Bin Laden’s death, which it said would become “a curse that hunts the Americans and their collaborators, and chases them outside and inside their country”. The 11-paragraph statement, dated Tuesday, confirmed that Bin Laden was dead, damping down conspiracy theorists who refuse to believe he has been killed. The White House spokesman, Jay Carney, said of the al-Qaida statement: “We are aware of it. What it does, obviously, is acknowledge the obvious, which is that Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday night by US forces. “We’re being extremely vigilant. We’re quite aware of the potential for activity and are highly vigilant on that matter for that reason. “US security, both at home and at embassies and bases overseas, has been on high alert since Sunday.” The department of homeland security (DHS) has warned US train operators to be especially careful after officials said that among computers, hard discs and other material taken from the Abbottabad compound they found a vague plan to attack the US rail network on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. One proposal was to demolish part of a rail track so that a train would fall into a river or valley, according to US officials. The White House spokesman said: “One of the things we saw, I think, was the notice that DHS put out with regard to the information collected about the consideration at least of a terrorist plot against American railways back in February of 2010. The fact that the world’s most wanted terrorist might have been considering further terror plots against the United States is not a surprise, but it reminds us, of course, that we need to remain ever vigilant.” Carney was accompanying Barack Obama on a trip to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, home of fast-response special operations teams, where he was to meet the men who carried out the Abbottabad raid. Carney was guarded on the details of what the White House said would be a private meeting. “What I can say is that he is meeting with special operators, some special operators who were involved in that. But that is all I can say.” In its statement, al-Qaida said: “We stress that the blood of the holy warrior sheikh Osama bin Laden, God bless him, is precious to us and to all Muslims and will not go in vain. We will remain, God willing, a curse chasing the Americans and their agents, following them outside and inside their countries. “Soon, God willing, their happiness will turn to sadness their blood will be mingled with their tears.” It said Bin Laden’s death would not deflect al-Qaida from its war against the US and its allies, who include the Pakistan government. It called on Pakistan to rise up against the “traitors”. The discovery of Bin Laden’s hideaway so close to the capital, Islamabad, has strained relations between the US and Pakistan. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate armed services committee and a Democrat, ordered an investigation into whether the Pakistan government and intelligence services knew of his whereabouts. “We need these questions about whether or not the top level of the Pakistan government knew or was told by the ISI, their intelligence service, about anything about this suspicious activity for years in a very, very centralised place,” Levin said. Levin, who is usually guarded in his public statements, hinted that he believed some senior figures in Pakistani intelligence knew where Bin Laden was hiding – comments that will further inflame the Pakistan government. “I think at high levels – high levels being the intelligence service – they knew it,” Levin said. “I can’t prove it. I just think it’s counter-intuitive not to.” He raised doubts about continuing the billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan, which requires congressional approval. The Obama administration so far has been reluctant to criticise the Pakistani government and has opted instead to stress the positive aspects of their ties. The strategy seems to be to try to use Pakistan’s embarrassment to prise out other al-Qaida or Taliban figures who may be living in Pakistan, such as the Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. United Nations human rights investigators have called on Washington to disclose whether there had been any plan to capture Bin Laden. While they acknowledged the difficulties involved in such terrorist-related missions, they raised questions about the legality of the killing. The UN’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, and the special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin, said the US “should disclose the supporting facts to allow an assessment in terms of international human rights law standards”. “For instance, it will be particularly important to know if the planning of the mission allowed an effort to capture Bin Laden.” There has been relatively little debate in the US so far about the legality of the raid. Osama bin Laden al-Qaida Obama administration Global terrorism Barack Obama United States US politics Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Saddam Hussein “was a threat” to the US, Condoleezza Rice told Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC last night. While O’Donnell held that “Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th,” The former secretary of state argued that “after September 11th, of course you look at threats differently. Your country has just…
Continue reading …After months of street fighting, shelling, and blockades, corpses are one of the few things the battered Libyan city of Misrata isn’t short of. Dozens of volunteers from among the rebels seeking to oust Moammar Gadhafi have volunteered for the grim task of finding and burying the dead from more…
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Watchdog to consult on how tweets can be brought under its remit, asking each newspaper to draw up a ‘Twitter policy’ Reporter and newspaper Twitter feeds are expected to brought under the regulation of the Press Complaints Commission later this year, the first time the body has sought to consolidate social media messages under its remit. The PCC believes that some postings on Twitter are, in effect part of a “newspaper’s editorial product”, writings that its code of practice would otherwise cover if the same text appeared in print or on a newspaper website. A change in the code would circumvent a loophole that – in theory – means that there is no form of redress via the PCC if somebody wanted to complain about an alleged inaccuracy in a statement that was tweeted. Last year the PCC found it was unable to rule in a complaint made against tweets published by the Brighton Argus. Its plan, though, is to distinguish between journalists’ public and private tweets. Any Twitter feed that has the name of the newspaper and is clearly an official feed – such as @telegraphnews or @thesun_bizarre – will almost certainly be regulated. However, that principle could be further extended to cover a reporter’s “official” work account, whilst leaving personal accounts that discuss conversations over breakfast and weekend exploits as outside its ambit. Some journalists – such as the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones – already maintain multiple accounts in an effort to preserve professional and personal distinctions. The PCC wants each newspaper to develop a “Twitter policy”, to tell its reporters which accounts are considered part of its editorial product and which are not. But with many newspapers, including the Guardian, republishing tweets on their site, many journalist musings are likely to be drawn in. An online working group of the PCC has already recommended that the body undertake a “remit extension”, the formal mechanism by which the self-regulatory body takes on a new area of responsibility, after consulting with the newspaper industry as to how Twitter regulation can be implemented. That consultation is due to finish in the summer and the new rules are likely to be in place by the end of the year. Publication on Twitter is already subject to libel laws and court orders – the internet, of course, does not exist in a legal vacuum. Last week, for example, journalists at the Guardian were reminded that tweets that hinted at the identity of individuals covered by injunctions would be a breach of the injunction itself. In February the PCC ruled that information posted on Twitter should be considered public and publishable by newspapers after it cleared the Daily Mail and Independent on Sunday of breaching privacy guidelines. Both newspapers had reported on tweets posted by Sarah Baskerville, a Department for Transport employee, in November last year. Baskerville, who had around 700 Twitter followers at the time, described a course leader as “mental” and posted links to tweets attacking government “spin” and Whitehall waste. Baskerville complained to the press regulator, arguing that she could have a “reasonable expectation” of privacy and that the reporting was misleading. The Daily Mail and Independent on Sunday argued that the messages were public and could be read by anyone. The PCC decided in favour of the newspapers, in what is the regulator’s first ruling on the republication of information posted on Twitter. •
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Cuba authorities bring back coffee mixed with peas in response to rising global coffee prices For some it had the acrid smack of austerity, for others it was a delicious brew that tasted just right. Either way, coffee mixed with roasted peas is returning to Cuba. Authorities have announced the resumption of the special blend, a venerable money-saving tactic, in response to rising global coffee prices and Cuba’s economic crunch. “It has been decided to once again produce coffee mixed with peas for the rationed quota,” a trade ministry note said in the communist party newspaper Granma. In the past year Robusta coffee prices had jumped 69% to $2,904 a tonne, it said, while peas had climbed merely 30%, to $500 a tonne. With President Raul Castro trying to shake up the centrally planned economy so that “two plus two equals four”, the conclusion was inescapable: bring back the peas. Cuba had long mixed coffee with roasted peas to stretch supplies after coffee production slumped, and then collapsed, following the 1959 revolution. The brew is less potent and more bitter than pure coffee, which Cubans tend to drink with lots of sugar. “It’s got a thin, sharp taste. I never liked it,” said Isa Morena, a guesthouse owner in Havana. “It didn’t help that we had no choice. It was that or nothing.” But when the pure stuff returned to the monthly ration book in 2005, amid an economic upturn, some complained it was unfamiliar and tasted funny. “I like it better with peas,” Juan Hernandez Pedroso, a street sweeper, told AP. “I don’t know, maybe it’s because it’s what I’m used to.” Some Cubans in the US have shunned Starbucks and continued to home-brew the pea version. As an additional cost-saving measure the trade ministry cut the monthly coffee ration for young children. “The rationed quota issued to consumers up to six years of age will be terminated. These measures will be applied as of this month.” The measures mean that the government can keep distributing 115g bags of coffee, at a subsidised price of 17 cents each, to the population. The island used to produce 60,000 tonnes of beans annually and was reputedly the world’s top exporter in the 1940s, but output shrivelled after the plantations were nationalised. Labour shortages, negligence, incompetence and lack of incentives due to low prices all played a part. After a record low of 5,500 tonnes in 2009 a modernisation effort boosted production to around 6,700 tonnes last year. That still left a big shortfall filled with $47m worth of imports, Castro told the national assembly last December. The island could not afford that this year, said the president, and it was an “unavoidable necessity” to once again blend coffee with peas. He hoped the measure would inspire productivity. “If we want to continue drinking pure, unrationed coffee, the only solution is to produce it in Cuba, where it is proven that all the conditions exist for its cultivation, in sufficient quantities that satisfy our demand and enable us even to export it.” Cuba Global recession Economics Global economy Rory Carroll guardian.co.uk
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Blog by half-American ‘ultimate outsider’ describes dangers of political and sexual dissent She is perhaps an unlikely hero of revolt in a conservative country. Female, gay and half-American, Amina Abdullah is capturing the imagination of the Syrian opposition with a blog that has shot to prominence as the protest movement struggles in the face of a brutal government crackdown. Abdullah’s blog, A Gay Girl in Damascus, is brutally honest, poking at subjects long considered taboo in Arab culture. “Blogging is, for me, a way of being fearless,” she says. “I believe that if I can be ‘out’ in so many ways, others can take my example and join the movement.” Her blog really took off two weeks ago with a post entitled My Father the Hero, a moving account of how her father faced down two security agents who came to arrest her, accusing her of being a Salafist and a foreign agent. Abdullah’s family is well-connected – she has relatives in the government and the Muslim Brotherhood whom she prefers not to name – and she says being politically active was a “natural thing”. “Unfortunately, for most of my life being aware of Syrian politics means simply observing and only commenting privately.” That changed when protests broke out and Abdullah joined them, blogging about her experiences. “Teargas was lobbed at us. I saw people vomiting from the gas as I covered my own mouth and nose and my eyes burned,” she wrote after one demonstration. “I am sure I wasn’t the only one to note that, if this becomes standard practice, a niqab is a very practical thing to wear in future.” The blend of humour and frankness, frivolity and political nous comes from an upbringing that straddles Syria and the US. “I’m the ultimate outsider,” she says. “My views are heavily informed by being both a member of a small marginal minority as an Arab Muslim in America and as a part of a majority as a Sunni in Syria, and of course as a woman and as a sexual minority.” Homosexuality is illegal in Syria and a strict taboo, although the state largely turns a blind eye. “It’s tough being a lesbian in Syria, but it’s certainly easier to be a sexual than a political dissident,” she says. “There are a lot more LGBT people here than one might think, even if we are less flamboyant than elsewhere.” Writing in her blog, she said was terrified when she realised at 15 that she was gay, becoming a devout Muslim and getting married. She came out aged 26 and returned to Syria, where she taught English until the uprising closed classes. Her posts vividly describe falling for other women, finding a Damascene hair salon full of gay women and having a frank conversation with her father about her sexuality. “For my family it is a preferable outcome than a promiscuous heterosexual daughter,” she jokes. Born in Virginia to an American southerner mother and a father from an old Damascene family, Abdullah moved to Syria at six months and grew up between the two countries. She spent a long period in the US after 1982, when an Islamist uprising in Syria was being brutally quashed. Despite facing prejudice– in both the US and Syria – Abdullah sees no conflict in being both gay and Muslim. “I consider myself a believer and a Muslim: I pray five times a day, fast at Ramadan and even covered for a decade,” she says. “I believe God made me as I am and I refuse to believe God makes mistakes.” Having family members in high places and dual nationality has, as some blog comments have pointed out, made her more able to speak. But on Wednesday Abdullah and her elderly father went into hiding in separate places after the security forces came round again. She has refused to go to Beirut with her mother, and is blogging when she can, moving from house to house with a bag of belongings. Abdullah is also writing a book, in the hope that a revolution will bring more freedoms, both sexual and political. “The Syria I always hoped was there, but was sleeping, has woken up,” she says. “I have to believe that, sooner or later, we will prevail.” Katherine Marsh is a pseudonym for a journalist who lives in Damascus Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Protest Katherine Marsh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Blog by half-American ‘ultimate outsider’ describes dangers of political and sexual dissent She is perhaps an unlikely hero of revolt in a conservative country. Female, gay and half-American, Amina Abdullah is capturing the imagination of the Syrian opposition with a blog that has shot to prominence as the protest movement struggles in the face of a brutal government crackdown. Abdullah’s blog, A Gay Girl in Damascus, is brutally honest, poking at subjects long considered taboo in Arab culture. “Blogging is, for me, a way of being fearless,” she says. “I believe that if I can be ‘out’ in so many ways, others can take my example and join the movement.” Her blog really took off two weeks ago with a post entitled My Father the Hero, a moving account of how her father faced down two security agents who came to arrest her, accusing her of being a Salafist and a foreign agent. Abdullah’s family is well-connected – she has relatives in the government and the Muslim Brotherhood whom she prefers not to name – and she says being politically active was a “natural thing”. “Unfortunately, for most of my life being aware of Syrian politics means simply observing and only commenting privately.” That changed when protests broke out and Abdullah joined them, blogging about her experiences. “Teargas was lobbed at us. I saw people vomiting from the gas as I covered my own mouth and nose and my eyes burned,” she wrote after one demonstration. “I am sure I wasn’t the only one to note that, if this becomes standard practice, a niqab is a very practical thing to wear in future.” The blend of humour and frankness, frivolity and political nous comes from an upbringing that straddles Syria and the US. “I’m the ultimate outsider,” she says. “My views are heavily informed by being both a member of a small marginal minority as an Arab Muslim in America and as a part of a majority as a Sunni in Syria, and of course as a woman and as a sexual minority.” Homosexuality is illegal in Syria and a strict taboo, although the state largely turns a blind eye. “It’s tough being a lesbian in Syria, but it’s certainly easier to be a sexual than a political dissident,” she says. “There are a lot more LGBT people here than one might think, even if we are less flamboyant than elsewhere.” Writing in her blog, she said was terrified when she realised at 15 that she was gay, becoming a devout Muslim and getting married. She came out aged 26 and returned to Syria, where she taught English until the uprising closed classes. Her posts vividly describe falling for other women, finding a Damascene hair salon full of gay women and having a frank conversation with her father about her sexuality. “For my family it is a preferable outcome than a promiscuous heterosexual daughter,” she jokes. Born in Virginia to an American southerner mother and a father from an old Damascene family, Abdullah moved to Syria at six months and grew up between the two countries. She spent a long period in the US after 1982, when an Islamist uprising in Syria was being brutally quashed. Despite facing prejudice– in both the US and Syria – Abdullah sees no conflict in being both gay and Muslim. “I consider myself a believer and a Muslim: I pray five times a day, fast at Ramadan and even covered for a decade,” she says. “I believe God made me as I am and I refuse to believe God makes mistakes.” Having family members in high places and dual nationality has, as some blog comments have pointed out, made her more able to speak. But on Wednesday Abdullah and her elderly father went into hiding in separate places after the security forces came round again. She has refused to go to Beirut with her mother, and is blogging when she can, moving from house to house with a bag of belongings. Abdullah is also writing a book, in the hope that a revolution will bring more freedoms, both sexual and political. “The Syria I always hoped was there, but was sleeping, has woken up,” she says. “I have to believe that, sooner or later, we will prevail.” Katherine Marsh is a pseudonym for a journalist who lives in Damascus Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Protest Katherine Marsh guardian.co.uk
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Greece denies claims by Der Speiegel but markets react quickly after report of emergency meeting in Luxembourg The euro has fallen sharply on the foreign exchange markets in late trading after reports Greece is preparing to leave the eurozone. Athens has denied the reports. The Greek deputy finance minister, Filippos Sachinidis, told Reuters: “The report about Greece leaving the eurozone is untrue. Such reports undermine Greece and the euro and serve market speculation games.” The euro has had its worst week since January, and has fallen 1% to below $1.4400 after a report on the Der Spiegel website that a secret crisis meeting is being held in Luxembourg on Friday evening to discuss the situation of the heavily indebted Greek nation. The report said that the Greek prime minister George Papandreou felt he had no option but to leave the eurozone and that Germany intended to prevent the country tearing up the decade-old single currency. Quoting a document which it said was prepared by the German finance minstry, Der Speigel said that the euro could lose as much 50% of its value if Greece pulls out of the Eurozone, leading to an explosion in Greek national debt and crippling its banking system. A German government source told Reuters after the report that: “An exit is not planned and was not planned.” A spokesman for French finance minister Christine LaGarde refused to comment. Greece has been surrounded by rumours for weeks that its considering ways to restructure its debts – which its government has repeatedly denied – and last month its finance ministry launched an investigation into a trader at Citigroup after rumours swirled of an imminent debt restructuring . Greece has already agreed a €110bn (£96bn) bailout by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union . The country’s debt is expected to hit 160% of GDP in 2012, although the report in Der Spiegel said it would reach 200% if the country exited the single currency. Euro Euro Greece European Union Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Greece denies claims by Der Speiegel but markets react quickly after report of emergency meeting in Luxembourg The euro has fallen sharply on the foreign exchange markets in late trading after reports Greece is preparing to leave the eurozone. Athens has denied the reports. The Greek deputy finance minister, Filippos Sachinidis, told Reuters: “The report about Greece leaving the eurozone is untrue. Such reports undermine Greece and the euro and serve market speculation games.” The euro has had its worst week since January, and has fallen 1% to below $1.4400 after a report on the Der Spiegel website that a secret crisis meeting is being held in Luxembourg on Friday evening to discuss the situation of the heavily indebted Greek nation. The report said that the Greek prime minister George Papandreou felt he had no option but to leave the eurozone and that Germany intended to prevent the country tearing up the decade-old single currency. Quoting a document which it said was prepared by the German finance minstry, Der Speigel said that the euro could lose as much 50% of its value if Greece pulls out of the Eurozone, leading to an explosion in Greek national debt and crippling its banking system. A German government source told Reuters after the report that: “An exit is not planned and was not planned.” A spokesman for French finance minister Christine LaGarde refused to comment. Greece has been surrounded by rumours for weeks that its considering ways to restructure its debts – which its government has repeatedly denied – and last month its finance ministry launched an investigation into a trader at Citigroup after rumours swirled of an imminent debt restructuring . Greece has already agreed a €110bn (£96bn) bailout by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union . The country’s debt is expected to hit 160% of GDP in 2012, although the report in Der Spiegel said it would reach 200% if the country exited the single currency. Euro Euro Greece European Union Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Three of the four women taken into custody after the US raid on Osama bin Laden’s hideout are Mrs. bin Ladens and all three widows are undergoing “firm but nonviolent” questioning, Pakistani intelligence officials tell ABC News . One of the wives, Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, has told interrogators that her husband…
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