Officers call off search after finding body of final victim, while more anti-Muslim internet postings by Breivik discovered Police in Norway released the identities of another 24 people killed by Anders Behring Breivik as they ended their search for bodies in the waters surrounding the island where he shot 68 of his 76 victims. The youngest victim was Johannes Buø, 14. All but one were shot by Breivik on Utøya. The other died in the bomb attack in Oslo. Officers called off their search after finding the body of a young Georgian woman, Tamta Liparteliani, who had been at the youth camp on Utøya. The girl’s parents had travelled to Norway in the hope of finding her alive but it was announced her body was found on the bottom of the lake with gunshot wounds in her back. The police have named 41 of those killed and say more names will be released every day at 5pm as identities are confirmed. Details of the latest victims emerged as anti-fascist organisation Searchlight said it had found more postings on anti-muslim and far-right forums thought to be from Breivik stretching back to 2008. In one, on the global far-right forum Stormfront, the author said it was “ironic” that “the only three racially pure countries in the world are Japan, Korea and Taiwan”. He went on to give a breakdown on the racial and ethnic make up of several European countries, a piece of work he says took “25 hours to create/research”. In another post he recommends a series of groups he hoped could deal with “60 MILLION Muslims in western and Eastern Europe” and claimed Britain or Denmark would be the first western countries to face “civil war due to Muslim immigration”. Complaining that the right wing in Europe and the US was “fractured”, Breivik wrote about how he hoped the various groups “can try and reach a consensus regarding the issue”, which he saw as the “Islamification of Europe/US”. He wanted these united groups to “overthrow governments which support multiculturalism”. The author discusses writing a book similar to the manifesto Breivik published online hours before the attack, which was titled 2083: A European Declaration of Independence. Many of the posts appear virtually unchanged in Breivik’s “manifesto” and the author uses the online identity “year2183″. Nick Lowles from Searchlight said: “In the modern internet age people are less likely to join organisations but instead flit between groups, causes and campaigns with a much looser affiliation. This is what Breivik appears to have done. It is clear he read, digested and disseminated information on a wide range of neo-Nazi, nationalist and anti-Muslim forums. Breivik went down a terrorist path but he shared a common ideology and hatred with the likes of the BNP and EDL.” Breivik sent the document to 1003 email addresses less than an hour and half before he launched his attack with a huge bomb blast in Oslo. The Guardian has obtained the list of recipients, which includes members of the British National party and the English Defence League. There is no evidence that any of those who received the email knew Breivik or had had any prior contact with him. In Norway detectives said they would interview Breivik again on Friday, but did not indicate what information they would be seeking from him. Breivik has confessed to the killings but claimed they were justified as part of a “war” and has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. Police have interviewed him once, in a seven-hour session the day after the attacks. A police lawyer, Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby, said Breivik, who is in solitary confinement, had no contact with the outside world apart from meetings with his lawyer and the police. Norway was “getting back to normality” and it was time to end restrictions on security, he added. He said there had been a number of bomb threats since the attacks but described them as “unspecific”, adding it was “normal” some people would seek to create more fear after such a tragedy. A senior EU counterterrorism official also said on Thursday there was a risk “somebody may actually try to mount a similar attack as a copycat attack”. Norway Anders Behring Breivik The far right Europe Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Nafissatou Diallo met with New York prosecutors for eight hours yesterday. On the agenda: listening to taped phone calls she had with an African immigrant inmate in an Arizona jail a short time after Dominique Strauss-Kahn allegedly sexually assaulted her, reports the Daily Beast . Diallo’s lawyer says that the recordings,…
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Naser Jason Abdo detained at a motel near Fort Hood military base after being absent without leave for over three weeks A US army soldier has been arrested after police found him in possession of possible bomb-making material at a motel near Fort Hood, Texas. FBI special agent Eric Vasys said the soldier, who was absent without leave from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was being held in a jail in the Texas town of Killeen, near Fort Hood, on an unrelated child pornography charge. The soldier was identified as 21-year-old Naser Jason Abdo, originally from the Dallas area. He disappeared from Fort Campbell over the 4 July weekend, Bob Jenkins, a spokesman at the base said. “Whatever threat Mr Nassar [sic Naser] posed yesterday or up until yesterday has been eliminated and mitigated, and there was nothing to indicate he was acting with anyone else,” Vasys said. He did not elaborate on the apparent threat, or on the charges Abdo might face. Vasys said he had no knowledge of any other arrests of soldiers. Abdo was arrested on Wednesday after a “concerned citizen” reported that he had firearms and smokeless gunpowder in his Killeen motel room, Vasys said. “A search of his motel room revealed that he had some components which could be considered bomb-making materials.” In June, the US military designated Abdo a conscientious objector to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but that status was put on hold after he was charged over child pornography in Kentucky. Abdo applied for conscientious objector status in 2010 after he decided Islamic standards would prohibit his service in the US army in any war, military officials said. Fort Hood was the scene of a November 2009 massacre in which 13 people were killed and 32 others wounded. Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan was charged with the shootings and is expected to face a court martial in March 2012. US military United States guardian.co.uk
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Two firms leave rivals behind in race to sign up most broadband internet customers The race to connect UK households to the broadband network is being won by just two operators, leaving a swathe of competitors behind. BT Group and BSkyB are surging ahead of rivals, according to a series of updates this week from the major broadband suppliers. The former national monopoly capitalised on its large telephone customer base to pull in an extra 141,000 broadband subscribers in the last three months. The increase saw BT take 60% of all new customers in the quarter, consolidating its share of the 20m UK broadband homes at 29%. Sky, which reports tomorrow, is forecast to show an increase of 154,000 homes, having converted more of its 10m TV customers, and thanks to a new strategy of chasing broadband-only subscribers. However Virgin Media, the second-largest supplier with 21.5% of the UK’s 20m broadband-connected households, lost 18,600 customers after a swathe of students switched off their service for the summer. TalkTalk, which was created in 2009 when Carphone Warehouse merged its internet business with Tiscali and now controls 21% of the market, lost 27,000 customers in the quarter. The company has been concentrating on improving loyalty through better customer service rather than chasing new business. Of the mobile companies with the largest broadband followings, Orange has lost around 80,000 customers since last year, and O2 remains flat. “Obviously for Sky and BT, having an existing customer base, a captive audience, is a huge competitive advantage in terms of selling in other products,” said Chris Williams, of price comparer Simplifydigital. TalkTalk’s share price rose 3p to 141p as it announced half-year results, after investors saw progress in improving customer experience and a promised £40m in cost savings from the merger. Calls to its helplines have almost halved in a year, and three-quarters of new customers are connected within 20 days, compared with half six months earlier. “BT has benefited from the turmoil at TalkTalk,” said Mark James at broker Liberum Capital. But he cautioned: “As the market continues to grow, Sky will take share off BT and Virgin Media. And as TalkTalk gets its act together, we will see people making their decision based on price and BT’s copper is pretty expensive.” BT reported a revenue dip of 5% and a 20% increase in profits before tax during the three months to 30 June. Its Global Services division, which services corporate clients, won £1.6bn of business in the quarter, including its largest-ever contract with the Brazilian post office. BT Carphone Warehouse Technology sector Broadband Internet BSkyB Virgin Media Media business guardian.co.uk
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‘Baghdad-style’ car bomb attack planned in Addis Ababa, capital of neighbour and foe Ethiopia, which hosted 30 heads of state Eritrea planned a massive attack on an African Union summit in Ethiopia in January this year that was designed to “make Addis Ababa like Baghdad”, according to a new UN report. At the time, Ethiopia claimed it had foiled the large bomb plot by its tiny neighbour and foe, the latest in a series of accusations and counter-accusations by the two governments. Now an investigation by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea suggests that the plot was genuine, and says it represented “a qualitative shift in Eritrean tactics” in the Horn of Africa. According to the report, Eritrean intelligence services planned an operation to detonate a car bomb at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa at the end of January this year, when 30 of the continent’s leaders were meeting there. Separate bombs were to be placed between the Ethiopian prime minister’s office and the Sheraton Hotel, where most of the heads of state were staying, as well as in a giant open-air market in the hope of “kill[ing] many people”. “If executed as planned, the operation would almost certainly have caused mass civilian casualties, damaged the Ethiopian economy and disrupted the African Union summit,” the report said. The planned attack indicates the increasingly dangerous and very personal level of animosity between the Horn of Africa neighbours. Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, and the Eritrean president, Isiais Afewerki, were allies during their respective liberation struggles, but relations deteriorated soon after Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993. War erupted over a border dispute in 1998, ending two years later at a cost of tens of thousands of lives. An international boundary commission later found in favour of Eritrea, but Ethiopia refused to accept the ruling. While Afewerki had legitimate cause for anger – many independent observers have criticised Ethiopia’s intransigence over the border disagreement – his decision to wage proxy wars by funding rebel groups in neighbouring countries has made Eritrea a regional and international pariah. One of the Asmara-sponsored rebel groups is the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in Ethiopia, according to the monitoring group. It said that OLF members were recruited by Eritrea as far back as 2008 and given training in preparation for the planned attack on Addis Ababa. “Although ostensibly an OLF operation, it was conceived, planned, supported and directed by the external operations directorate of the government of Eritrea, under the leadership of General Te’ame”, the report said. General Te’ame Goitom, Eritrea’s external intelligence operations chief in the horn, allegedly told one of the would-be attackers that the intention was to “make Addis Ababa like Baghdad”. The monitoring group said it had an audio recording of a conversation between Te’ame and the attacker, as well as records of payments made to the bombing team by a senior Eritrean army official. In foiling the plot, Ethiopian security officials seized plastic explosives, gas cylinders, detonators and a sniper’s rifle. Eritrea has repeatedly denied funding foreign rebel groups, including the al-Shabab Islamist militia in Somalia. Afewerki’s government has not yet commented on the UN report, which concluded that his government’s geopolitical strategy was “no longer proportional or rational”. “Moreover, since the Eritrean intelligence apparatus responsible for the African Union summit plot is also active in Kenya, Somalia, the Sudan and Uganda, the level of threat it poses to these other countries must be re-evaluated,” the report said. Eritrea Ethiopia African Union United Nations Africa Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …You know how Project Runway daddy-dearest Tim Gunn hates to be nasty. But dish it out he will if he must. Take Jersey Shore : The fashion is vulgar!” he says on Lopez Tonight . “It’s all that stretch material—the Spandex, the Lurex, the tightness, the skin. It’s vulgar! I’m sorry!…
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Department for Education figures show average of 13 permanent exclusions a day, prompting concerns that schools are not taking special educational needs into account School suspensions and exclusions in England have fallen for the sixth year running but still see a daily average of 878 children taken out of class for abuse or assault on fellow pupils or teachers. Education groups are concerned that the level of violence, which leads to the permanent exclusion of 13 students a day, suggests a continuing failure to recognise special educational needs (SEN) among persistent offenders. The figures also prompted warnings that government plans to remove the right of independent appeal tribunals to order the reinstatement of expelled pupils may be an over-reaction. The Advisory Centre for Education, which handles many appeals, said: “The evidence is there to suggest that alternatives to exclusion and school partnerships to improve behaviour have contributed to this fall.” Department for Education figures show students were suspended on 166,900 occasions in 2010 for assault or abuse, with 2,460 expulsions. The data includes 1,210 suspensions and 20 permanent exclusions of children under five, where timely SEN intervention is seen as crucial and usually effective. The statistics coincide with separate forecasts from the department predicting an extra half million pupils in English state primary schools and nurseries by 2018. The 12% increase to 4.35 million, a total last seen in the 1970s, will add to stress on buildings, staff and pupils, with the highest rises in inner-city catchments. An average 5% fall in the number of students aged 15 and under at secondary schools will give some slack, but a department spokesman said the figures showed the need to target funds. He said: “We know that many schools across the country already face real concerns about how to provide every child with a school place when in some areas, school places far outweigh rising demand.” The disciplinary figures, including 3,020 suspensions and 40 expulsions of five-year-olds, show boys were three times more likely to be suspended than girls and four times more likely to be expelled. Physical attacks took place 80,400 times, threats or verbal abuse 82,600 and there were 3,900 records of specifically racist abuse. Permanent exclusions for all disciplinary offences were down by 810 on the previous year and there were 31,900 suspensions or limited-period exclusions. But the most common cause of exclusion remained persistent disruptive behaviour, which accounted for 23.8% of suspensions and 29% of expulsions. Edward Duff, of the Children’s Legal Centre at Essex University, said: “Every case of persistent disruption in my experience has led to SEN involvement and we need to find out more about how much screening for behavioural difficulties and special needs is going on. We also need to keep a special eye on ‘zero tolerance’ discipline, which some of the new academies make much of, to be sure that checking for special needs and other problems is part of the approach.” The schools minister, Nick Gibb, said: “Weak discipline remains a significant problem in too many of our schools and classrooms, and tackling poor behaviour and raising academic standards are key priorities for the coalition government. We will back headteachers in excluding persistently disruptive pupils, which is why we are removing barriers which limit their authority. “We have already introduced a series of measures to put headteachers and teachers back in control of the classroom – including clearer guidance and increased search powers. Through the education bill we are introducing further measures to strengthen teacher authority and support schools in maintaining good behaviour.” Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said the figures showed schools were using exclusion where appropriate and it was “disingenuous and worrying” for Gibb to claim that the coming bill would empower schools to use exclusion more. She said: “Whilst it is absolutely right that teachers and support staff should be able to do their jobs without fear of assault, exclusion should always be a last resort. “There needs to be far more support and resources provided by government to prevent such serious incidents from occurring, investment in staff development and support for pupils so that behaviour problems are dealt with effectively rather than allowed to escalate into serious incidents.” Sara Gadzik, of the Association for School and College Leaders, said: “The figures prove that schools are already tough on discipline and that poor behaviour is not tolerated in classrooms. Pupils who disrupt the learning of their classmates are dealt with firmly and, in many cases, a short suspension is an effective way of nipping bad behaviour in the bud.” Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said: “It’s what lies behind the figures, rather than the figures themselves, which should be the focus of attention. There is a danger that exclusion will be used more and more by schools as local authority behaviour support and pupil support services and early intervention strategies are savagely cut and school budgets are reduced.” Schools Classroom violence Teaching Pupil behaviour Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk
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• Libyan rebels plan major offensive in the Nafusa mountains • Libya: embassy expulsions ‘stain on the forehead of UK’ • Activists say 2,918 ‘forcibly disappeared’ in Syria • Read the latest summary 4.22pm: Here’s a summary of today’s events: • Libyan rebels launched a major offensive in the Nafusa mountains. Early indications were the campaign was going well, but Gaddafi’s forces later pushed the fighter out of the town of Al-Jawsh. Amateur footage of the campaign showed a rag tag army of scores of fighters moving to the front in pick-up trucks. • Confusion surrounds the fate of Libyan rebels military commander Abdel Fatah Younis. According to some reports he was arrested after an investigation into unauthorised trips to Tripoli, but Younis himself has dismissed the story as a rumour spread by the Gaddafi regime. • In a new video message Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri praise protesters in Syria hailing them as of an Islamic jihad. It is feared president Assad’s regime will use the video to give credence to its claim that violence in the Syria is work of armed terrorist groups. Britain’s foreign office Zawahiri’s statement highlighted al-Qaida’s desperation and increasing irrelevance. Syrian activists also condemned the statement. • Egypt’s ousted president Hosni Mubarak is healthy enough to stand trial next week, the justice ministry announced. 4.17pm: Rebel commander Abdel Fatah Younis AP has been arrested, according to AP. The rebels said they had detained their own top military commander for questioning on suspicion his family might still have ties to regime. Rebel military spokesman Mohammed al-Rijali said the commander, Abdel Fatah Younes, was taken from his operations room near the front to the main rebel stronghold, the eastern city of Benghazi, for interrogation. Younes, who served as Gadhafi’s interior minister but defected at the beginning of the fighting, was being questioned about suspected secret ties of his family to the Libyan regime, said two rebel security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue with the media. On today’s fighting in the Nafusa mountains, AP said the rebels had seized three small towns and advancing on others to secure a major supply route near the Tunisian border. Four rebel fighters were killed and several wounded in what the spokesmen described as the biggest push in the area since the start of Libya’s civil war five months ago. They said rebels captured 18 government soldiers, as well as weapons and ammunition. In Thursday’s fighting, hundreds of rebels descended from their stronghold in the Nafusa mountains at dawn and advanced in several areas along a stretch of more than 100km, said Badees Fessato, a rebel spokesman. 4.11pm: The Local Coordination Committees in Syria have condemned al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri for praising for the protest movement in Syria as part of Islamic jihad. Mohammad Al-Abdallah, the spokesman of Local Coordination Committees in Syria, said: Zawahiri is trying to convince the world that he has supporters in Syria, which will provoke the international public opinion against us and give the regime the right to commit crimes against our people. We condemn such statements that are irrelevant to the revolution, Syrians chose the non-violent way for their revolution and they won’t change it, they refuse any practices or speeches containing sectarian or violent properties. 4.01pm: Bell Pottinger, the British public relations firm, is working for the government of Yemen, the company’s chairman Lord Bell confirmed to Robert Booth. The PR firm is carrying out communications work for an unnamed special entity that has been created within the Yemen government to ensure a transition to newly elected government. It is unclear which part of the government the firm, but the goal of the communications campaign appears to be in line with a proposal by the Saudi-led Gulf Co-operation Council for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down in return immunity from prosecution. The firm is understood not to be working for Saleh, who is recovering in Saudi Arabia following a bomb attack on his compound last month. Bell stressed that the objective of his firm’s contract is to assist the government through negotiations and within the Yemeni constitution to achieve a peaceful transition to a new government. Bell Pottinger recently worked with US PR firm Qorvis to handle a visit by Yemen’s finance minister to the US. “All appropriate authorities are aware of the work we are doing in Yemen,” said Lord Bell, who declined to comment further. Bell denied reports that the firm was involved in producing recent televised appearances by Saleh , or that it was involved in helping arrange pro-government demonstrations. 3.48pm: Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is healthy enough to stand trial next week, Egypt’s justice minister announced today, AP reports. Earlier this week hospital official said Mubarak was frail and refusing food. 3.37pm: Confusion reigns on Younis. A source in Benghazi claims he has been arrested and that special forces loyal to him are threatening to use guns to get him out of jail. Again this is unconfirmed. 3.02pm: Hold fire on that Younis story for now. Younis told the rebel site Thawralibya.com [Arabic] that reports of his arrest are false rumours being spread by Gaddafi’s forces. “They are trying to falsify the truth… the Libyan people will not be fooled by such nonsense,” he said in a telephone call. 2.33pm: The commander of the rebel Libyan forces, Abdel Fatah Younis, has been arrested, according to unconfirmed reports by al-Jazeera’s James Bays and Ali Hashem . It is unclear why, but is reported to have followed an investigation into unauthorized trips by Younis to Tripoli. Younis is a former interior minister in the Gaddafi regime who defected at the beginning of the uprising. Hashem provided these Twitter updates: Btw when i was in Benghazi i was told by a senior military source that Gen. Younis is under suspition. i made a tweet then #libya #feb17 Military source in Benghazi told us the story i tweeted about Gen. Younis #libya #feb17 He was arrested today morning by a military force headed by Gen. Jala Dogheili in benghazi. #libya #feb17 Gen. Abdulfatah Yunis is under arrest, i dont know why but this piece of news was confirmed to me by sources in Benghazi. #libya 2.19pm: Attitudes to gender equality are radically shifting amid the fighting in Misrata, Chris Stephen discovered from nurses at the city’s main hospital. For parallels, think of England on the outbreak of the first world war. With the men at the front women were pressed into service, earning status they fought to keep after the guns went silent. Something of the same is happening in Misrata. Before the war, the city was prosperous enough to have foreign nurses, mostly from the Philippines. When Gaddafi sent in the tanks they fled, along with local nurses who lived in nearby towns. The authorities scrambled to fill the gaps, offering an undreamed of chance for female medical students. The result has been a mini-revolution. Normally, female medical students are not allowed near a patient for the first three years of study, unlike their male counterparts. All that has now changed. “When I came here I didn’t know anything, not the names of the instruments, nothing,” said Hannin Mohammed, 21. “Now I know so much. I am working with the patients.” War has brought other benefits. “Before the war we could not go to a café. Big trouble,” explains 21-year-old student Faten Abd. “If you went to a café there would be too many eyes looking at you. They would be talking bad things. Now we can do it, nobody minds.” 1.57pm: Syrian activists are preparing a response to al-Qaida’s praise for anti-government protests against the Assad regime. In a video message, the terrorist network’s new leader Ayman al-Zawahiri claimed protesters were part of an Islamic jihad. Syrian activists, who have been keen to stress the secular and peaceful nature of the protests, say they fear the video will be used by the regime both to justify its crackdown and blame more of its own violence on activists. Assad’s government has repeatedly accused “terrorist groups” of causing the bloodshed. A spokeswoman for the Local Co-ordination Committee of Syria, which is publicising the protests, said a statement would be issued within the next two hours. Earlier the Foreign Office said Zawahiri’s message highlighted al-Qaida’s desperation and increasing irrelevance ( see 12.01pm ). 1.42pm: Lawyers have filed papers in Belgium accusing Nato of killing 13 civilians, including 3 children, by bombing a residence in Libya, AP reports. Marcel Ceccaldi, a Paris-based lawyer, said Thursday he also has asked the Brussels District Court to send two experts to Libya to assess the physical and psychological damages of the attack near Tripoli in June so that he can determine what monetary compensation to seek from Nato. Nato is based in Brussels, and its spokeswoman, Carmen Romero, said that all Nato air strikes in Libya are aimed at military targets and that great care is taken to avoid civilian casualties. 12.55pm: Rebels fighters in the Nafusa mountains appear to have been forced out of the town of al-Jawsh by Gaddafi’s rockets and snipers, according to the latest battle tweets from al-Jazeera’s James Bays . LIBYA opp fighters say they did not retreat from Al Jawsh. It was “a strategic withdrawal” #LIBYA opp fighters now in a position close to Al Jawsh, but Grads landing nearby. #LIBYA Fighters say in the town they were prevented from fighting back because of “human shields” #LIBYA opp fighters have all pulled out of Al Jawsh. They say they were targeted by snipers. 12.42pm: Guma el-Gamaty, the UK coordinator of the national transitional council [NTC], hit out this morning at what he called the “silly” idea that Muammar Gaddafi might be able to stay in Libya, writes Lizzy Davies. “I think we are coming to the end of all these silly political initiatives and all this talk about Gaddafi staying in Libya,” he said at a briefing for reporters. He added: “Will he be allowed to stay in Libya, will he not be allowed, will he resign, will he not resign? All these political initiatives, if they are not based on Gaddafi and all his sons leaving power and leaving Libya, these are political initiatives that are not even worth talking about.” El-Gamaty said the idea of Gaddafi staying in Libya and willingly giving up power was a “contradiction in terms”. On Monday the British foreign secretary William Hague suggested that Britain was prepared to agree to a settlement that would allow Gaddafi to stay in the countr y after giving up power. But, he added, it was “ultimately” a question for Libyan people to decide. El-Gamaty said that Hague had recognised correctly that such a question should not be “dictated” by another country. “You know if a foreign minister of a foreign country starts saying that ‘Gaddafi cannot stay in Libya’ or ‘Gaddafi can stay in Libya’ it will sound like dictating to another country, to another people, and I think even in diplomatic talk, in political talk that doesn’t sound right…So what he said was that it was up to the Libyan people.” He did acknowledge that there were possibly differences of opinion within the NTC on the thorny issue of Gaddafi’s fate. Earlier this week the Libyan rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil told the Wall Street Journal that Gaddafi and his family could stay in the country if they gave up power. But he appeared to withdraw the offer on Wednesday, saying the deadline for acceptance had passed. El-Gamaty said the offer was valid “only for a limited period” and would only be workable under strict conditions akin to house arrest. But he added that Jalil and he might disagree on the subject. “He might say it’s conceivable, I say it’s not conceivable that Gaddafi would accept that. And that would be a difference of opinion which happens in any political organisation. It’s healthy. That’s what democracy’s all about.” 12.21pm: The NTC UK spokesman Guma el-Gamaty has repeated his opposition to allowing Gaddafi to remain in Libya as part of a negotiated settlement. Speaking to journalists in London he said the idea was silly and unworkable, according to AP. El-Gamaty says he and rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the head of the rebels’ council, probably disagreed on whether it was realistic to expect that Gaddafi would take up an offer to stay in the country after stepping down. But he says such differences were a part of any healthy democracy. Jalil, appeared to withdrawn his offer to allow Gaddafi to stay in Libya by saying on Wednesday that the deadline for acceptance had now passed . 12.01pm: The Foreign Office has accused the new head of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahri, of desperation by claiming anti-government protesters in Syria were part of an Islamic jihad. Syrian activist have repeatedly stressed the secular nature of the protests, but in his first video message since the death of Osama bin Laden, Zawahri praised Syria protesters as “the sons of the Levant, the front for jihad and martyrdom” . A spokesman for the Foreign Office told the Guardian that said Zawahri was “clutching at straws”. He said: This is yet another example of how al-Qaida is grasping to remain relevant in light of the Arab Spring. We have seen al-Qaida struggle to show that its message of violent jihad is relevant to the Arab Spring where people have found a different voice and a different way to bring about change they desire. People are demonstrating that there is no place for al-Qaida’s brand of violence and murder of people of any faith. 11.40am: New amateur footage from Nalut gives an idea of the scale of the rebel offensive in the Nafusa mountain , but also how poorly equipped the fighters are. NTC spokesman Guma el-Gamaty said this was the biggest offensive in two months ( see 9.50am ) and he claimed the rebels were armed with tanks and cannon. There’s is no sign of such weapons in this five minute clip – it shows scores of casually-dressed fighters making their way to the front line in trucks and on quod bikes. The nearest thing to a tank is a gun turret welded on to a pick-up. _ 11.18am: Gaddafi’s forces in the Nafusa mountains appeared to have launched a counter offensive in Al-Jawsh , according to the latest update from al-Jazeera’s James Bays. But the rebels claim grad missile are being fired as Gaddafi’s forces retreat from the area, Bays reports. _ Reuters has more on the battle: At a checkpoint outside the nearby rebel-held town of Nalut, they sounded optimistic as the fighting began. “We are confident we can beat Gaddafi now, we have captured more weapons from the Libyan army, mostly AK-47s,” said Mohammed Ahmed, 20, a market trader turned fighter. Basim Ahmed, a fighter coming back from the front, said rebels had taken control of parts of three villages and many government troops had fled, but this was not possible to verify. As sustained bombardments could be heard in the distance, an ambulance raced to Nalut hospital. A rebel with a gunshot wound to the shoulder was brought into the emergency room, where he lay semi-conscious. Minutes later a commotion could be heard in the parking lot. A government soldier who had been captured was led to a hospital bed a few feet away from the rebel. He was missing a hand and was barefoot. The soldier, who gave his name as Hassan, told Reuters that the army was losing the will to fight. “We don’t want to keep fighting. Everybody is against us.” he said. Blood seeped through the bandage bound around the stump of his missing hand but a rebel nonetheless tried to interrogate him, asking him his unit and where he was from. Eight wounded combatants lay in the hospital in total – four rebels and four Gaddafi soldiers. Six other Gaddafi soldiers had been taken prisoner, witnesses said. _ 10.48am: China’s ambassador to Damascus took a parting swipe at his US counterpart as he was garlanded by Assad’s regime at the end of his term in Syria . Li Huaxin didn’t mention US ambassador Robert Ford by name, but the diplomatic dig was clear. Ford infuriated the Assad regime by travelling to the rebellious city of Hama to show solidarity with the protesters. Ambassador Li has sided firmly with the regime. He is quoted by the Syrian state news agency Sana as saying: What is happening in Syria is an internal affair, and it has been one of our principles in foreign relations not to interfere in the internal affairs of countries, which is also a primary principle in the international law.” We believe that the Syrian people are the most capable of addressing these events without foreign interference. Hence, we disapprove of foreign interference or imposing anything on Syria…We hope that security and stability will return to Syria as soon as possible. Such sentiments earned him the “Syrian Order of Merit”. Ford won’t get the same treatment when he leaves, but he seems to have become something of a hero in the US. Bloomberg praised his “creative diplomacy ” and use of the US Embassy’s Facebook page to criticise the regime. Ford has doggedly reached out to the Syrian opposition. Although his recall would demonstrate US disapproval of Assad’s crackdown, it would prevent using him as a symbol of US support for the Syrian people. To get his message out, Ford has bypassed the government-controlled news media, using his Facebook page to condemn the government’s killing of prisoners, expose its lies and endorse what he describes as “the right of all Syrians — and people of all countries — to express their opinions freely and in a climate of mutual respect. Ford’s creative diplomacy and bravery have become symbols of US opposition to Assad. 10.19am: Gaddafi’s intelligence chief, Abdullah Senussi, who is wanted for war crimes , appeared on Libyan state TV on Wednesday . _ Last week some Libyan opposition figures claimed Senussi had been killed . His TV appearance is a reminder to treat claims from Libyan activists with caution. 10.13am: More war reporting on Twitter from al-Jazeera’s James Bays in the Nafusa mountains. Here are his last five updates on the battle from the last 50 minutes: #LIBYA opp forces are on edge of Badr, but still battles in al Jawsh. They say they are “cleaning it” #LIBYA Just seen four Gaddafi prisoners captured – all Libyans – not injured. Taken on edge of Badr. #LIBYA Grads came in close to our truck. Temporarily retreated, but mainly to catch our breath. #LIBYA Just seen a body of opposition fighter on back of truck leaving Al Jawsh. But no idea yet of overall casualty figures. #LIBYA Grads being fired back by Gaddafi forces. 9.50am: The rebel offensive in the Nafusa mountains is aimed at taking out Gaddafi’s missile launchers as well as opening up supply routes, the UK’s spokesman for national transitional council ,Guma el-Gamaty, said in an Audioboo interview . “If the freedom fighters make victory today and take over all these towns and villages then it will be a significant strategic shift,” he said. It is the biggest offensive in the last two months el-Gamaty claimed, but he declined to say how many fighters were involved. The attack started around five hours ago, and the earlier reports bode well for the rebels, el-Gamaty claimed. It is going very well, they have already captured one or two of these villages … by the end of the day we could see a major victory for the freedom fighters … It is not wishful thinking, the freedom fighters have put together a massive force in terms of numbers of fighters and arms. They have multi-rocket launchers, they have tanks, they have heavy cannon and they are well prepared and have put together a very detailed plan. _ 9.30am: The Libyan rebel offensive today is the largest so far in the Nafusa mountains , according to al-Jazeera. It has footage of hundreds troops gathering for what it reports to be a wave of attacks from Yifrin in the east to Nalut in the west. The aim is to open up a supply route from Ghezai near the Tunisia border to al-Jawash, the TV network says. _ 9.11am: More on that offensive in the Nafusa mountains. • Reuters reports: Libyan rebels launched on Thursday an offensive against a strategic government-held town near the Tunisian border, a spokesman said. “We have started attacking Ghezaia with rockets and tanks,” Mohammed Maylud told Reuters, adding that rebels had also hit four other villages along Libya’s western mountains. • NTC UK spokesman Guma el-Gamaty tweeted: Breaking news Libya heavy fighting now by FF 2 liberate AlGazaya & Tkut towns near Nalut west mountain if FF win they get closer 2 tripoli! • Al-Jazeera’s James Bays photographed a group rebel fighters heading towards the frontline in vans and pick-ups . • This Google Map (via @FromJoanne ) marks the positions of Nalut (A), Takut (B) and Ghezaia (C). _ 8.21am: Welcome to Middle East Live. Here’s a round-up of the latest developments: Libya • Libyan rebels fighting in the western mountains are preparing a major offensive in the Nafusa mountains. “We are reinforcing the position around Nalut and we will attack Ghezaia [on Thursday] or the next day for sure. We plan to take it,” Omar Fakkan, a rebel commander, told Reuters. Al-Jazeera’s James Bays recorded this AudioBoo on the way to the frontline of the battle . _ • Mahmoud al-Nakou, the man being lined up as the new Libyan ambassador to London talked to the Guardian following the expulsion of Muammar Gaddafi’s eight remaining diplomats. “They all knew me … I think they chose me because of my history (as an anti-Gaddafi dissident) and because … of what I offer to my country,” he said. He was ready, he said, to see “a new stage in the history of Libya” marked by “freedom of thinking, freedom of political parties and freedom for journalists.” • Libyan government spokesman Khaled Kaim condemned the UK for recognising the NTC as the “sole governmental authority” in Libya. He said the decision was “unprecedented in diplomatic history” and that he considered it “a stain on the forehead of Britain” . • News of the diplomatic expulsions spread fast through the networks of radio stations in the besieged city of Misrata, Chris Stephen reports from the besieged port. “When I heard about London I was screaming in my house, I felt so good,” said rebel fighter Ahmed Laga. • NTC president, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, appears to have withdrawn his offer to allow Gaddafi to stay in Libya as a free man if he agreed to leave power. Jalil issued a new statement on Wednesday, saying that his offer of what amounted to immunity had come with a timeline, and that the deadline for acceptance had now passed. Syria • A sweep by government forces has seized one person every hour during the five-month Syrian uprising and detained them in secret, leaving their families no way to locate them, says a human rights group. The group, Avaaz, claims 2,918 people have been “forcibly disappeared” since anti-government demonstrations began in Syria on 15 March. Most are accused of being involved in the rebellion that continues to undermine a regime long renowned as the Middle East’s most formidable police state. • Around 20 people were killed in a a series of raids against suspected anti-government protesters in and around the capital Damascus . The renewed clampdown came just days before the start of Ramadan on Monday when protests are expected to intensify. Two 10-year-olds were among those killed. • A rare coalition of Republican and Democratic members of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee criticised the US State Department for failing to call for Bashar al-Assad to go, the LA Times reports. “How many must die before we have the courage to stand up and say that Assad is illegitimate and he must go?” asked Republican Steve Chabot the subcommittee’s chairman. Iran A senior commander of Iran’s revolutionary guards, who is subject to comprehensive international sanctions, has been nominated as the country’s oil minister, a position that currently includes the presidency of Opec . Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, sent a list of four ministers, including Rostam Ghasemi, commander of the revolutionary guards’ Khatam al-Anbia military and industrial base, to the parliament for approval, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Libya Muammar Gaddafi Syria Bashar Al-Assad Egypt Bahrain Yemen Nato US foreign policy Iran Matthew Weaver guardian.co.uk
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