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| Libyan leader says air raids amount to terrorism and vows to "equip people against aggressors". Last Modified: 20 Mar 2011 12:03 | |||
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Less than 24 hours after an international coalition launched air attacks on his forces, Muammar Gaddafi, the longtime Libyan leader, responded pugnaciously, vowing to defeat foreigners who he said had no right to interfere in the north African nation's internal affairs. In a roughly 15-minute address on Sunday, his second since the air raids began and during which he never appeared on screen, Gaddafi promised a "long war" that his forces would win. The promise to fight comes after Libyan foreign minister Musa Kousa responded to a United Nations resolution authorising force to protect civilians by promising to institute a cease fire. "We will fight for every square in our land," Gaddafi said. "We will die as martyrs." Promising that the Libyan "people are behind him and ready for all-our war," Gaddafi repeated his claim that his regime had "opened the depots" and distributed weapons among the populace.
He drew allusions to other US-led wars, including Vietnam, as well as the Crusades, saying that air attacks by French, US and British forces amounted to a "cold war" on Islam. He also promised retribution against Libyans who sided with the foreign intervention. "We will fight and we will target any traitor who is cooperating with the Americans or with the Christian Crusade," he said. Gaddafi mentioned the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, as well as the bloody US intervention in Somalia and the ongoing campaign to capture or kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. All, he said, were examples of the kind of defeat the US was about to endure in Libya. "You don't learn," he said. "You''re always going to be destroyed." Western bombardment The coalition against Gaddafi may include the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Conference, but the military assault has so far been a Western affair, featuring most prominently French, British and US hardware. French jets fired the first shots of Operation Odyssey Dawn on Saturday, hitting regime tanks and armoured vehicles on the road to the west of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold and Libya''s second-largest city. Destroyed military vehicles and at least a 14 dead fighters littered the road between Benghazi and Ajdabiya, witnesses said on Sunday. In the western city of Misrata, which regime forces have sieged for days, residents said snipers were positioned on rooftops in the centre of town, making people too afraid to walk in the streets. US and British warships and submarines followed the French attack with a barrage of more than 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles targeting more than 20 areas along Libya''s coast. An unnamed US national security official said Libya''s air defences had been "severely disabled." Odyssey Dawn is the largest military intervention in the Middle East since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The military strikes came more than a month after the outbreak of protests against Gaddafi''s 41-year regime led to a crackdown that has left hundreds of civilians dead. The United States appeared to give strong support to the effort only recently, after calls for help from the Arab League led the UN Security Council to act with rare speed and pass a resolution granting member states the authority to use force to protect civilians. Many Libyans have expressed rage at the length of time it took for the international community to intercede on their behalf, while Russia and China - both permanent Security Council members who abstained from the vote - expressed "regret" at the military action on Sunday. Libyan state television claimed that 48 people had been killed and 150 wounded during the attack and showed images of government officials visiting men in a hospital, but those reports could not be verified by independent media. Several thousand people gathered to form a human shield at the Bab al-Azizia, a Gaddafi compound and headquarters in Tripoli that was bombed in 1986 by the United States. But once word spread that cruise missiles were being fired in the the vicinity, all but a few dozen left, the Los Angeles Times newspaper reported. In an audio message broadcast on state television a few hours after the air raids began, Gaddafi said that the UN-sanctioned military action had made the Mediterranean and north Africa into a "battleground." | |||
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| Source: Al Jazeera and agencies |
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Gaddafi denounces foreign intervention
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Saudi’s $93 bln handouts can accelerate inflation: bank
But can be supported by strong oil prices
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Saudi Arabia’s 93.3 billion financial package can be supported by strong oil prices, but the hefty financial handouts by the king can accelerate inflation, Banque Saudi Fransi said.
Wage increases always have some inflationary pass-through effect as they can directly impact consumption, John Sfakianakis, the banks chief economist, wrote in an e-mailed report on Friday.
King Abdullah has also ordered civil services to be paid two-month bonuses reaching up to $8.5 billion, Asharq al-Awsat reported Saturday, citing official estimates.
Annual inflation in Saudi, the Arab world’s largest economy, slowed to 5.3 percent in January, compared with 5.4 percent the previous month, according to official data.
Sfakiankis said he believed Saudi authorities are aware that expenditures of this magnitude if carried out over a short period would have significant inflationary pressures.
“We do believe inflationary pressures are on the increase due to global commodity price pressures that will be reflected later this year. Wage benefits and bonuses as well as an increase in the total civil service will add to some inflationary pressures,” he said.
The new package and a $36 billion package announced Feb. 23. amounts to 29.7 percent of the kingdoms GDP in 2010, according to the banks report.
Sfakianakis said high oil revenues could be used to support the announced spending as well as tapping into the country's $444.5 billion in foreign assets.
“The authorities are aware that both measures cannot be carried out in their totality over a year or two. Some are short term and others will take time to unfold. Due to the size of the announcements, we expect some measures to be carried out over some years,” he said.
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Bahrain arrests 6 opposition leaders after crackdown
Burning tents are seen in Pearl Square after Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) forces evacuated anti-government protesters, in Manama late March 16, 2011. Calm returned to the streets of the Gulf Arab island after Bahraini forces used tanks and helicopters to drive protesters off the streets and clear a camp that had become a symbol of their demand for more rights and powers on the Sunni-ruled island. Picture taken March 16, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Hamad I Mohammed
MANAMA |
MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahrain arrested at least six opposition leaders on Thursday, a day after its crackdown on protests by the Shi'ite Muslim majority drew rare U.S. criticism and raised fears of a regional conflict.
Bahraini forces used tanks and helicopters to drive protesters off the streets and clear a camp that had become a symbol of their demand for more democratic rights in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.
Three police and three protesters died in the crackdown.
The crackdown prompted sympathy protests from Shi'ites across the region and analysts said it might provoke a response from Iran, which supports Shi'ite groups in Iraq and Lebanon.
Pearl roundabout was a scene of devastation. Some tattered tents remained on the grass as diggers uprooted palm trees that surrounded the pearl statue where activists had been celebrating into the night only days before.
Troops were only allowing residents in and a long line of cars was backed up behind a checkpoint, waving through drivers heading to work in the financial district, where the protesters had tried to extend their sit-in early this week.
The military on Wednesday banned all protests and imposed a curfew from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. across a large swathe of Manama.
Bank branches and coffee shops in the commercial district prepared to open. "It's back to normal, I can see traffic on King Faisal Highway. We drove all the way to work," said a bank employee.
OPPOSITION DETAINED
Among those detained overnight were Haq leader Hassan Mushaima and Wafa leader Abdel Wahhab Hussein, who had led calls for the overthrow of the royal family, the largest opposition party Wefaq said.
More moderate Wefaq had limited its demands to wide-ranging political and constitutional reform. Also arrested was Ibrahim Sharif, head of the secular leftist party Waad that signed up to the same demands as Wefaq.
"Two of the thugs climbed over the fence to get in our yard, one went over and pointed a gun in Ibrahim's face and the other went to our garage to let everyone else in," Farida Ismail, Sharif's wife, told Reuters by telephone. "They were going around, wrecking things in the house."
The interior ministry could not immediately be reached for comment and the charges against those arrested were not known.
The unrest has brought an influx of troops to Bahrain from Sunni-ruled neighbors Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, which fear the uprising that began last month could play into the hands of non-Arab Shi'ite power Iran.
Washington's position appeared ambiguous.
Five dead as Bahrain police clear Pearl Square
AFP - Bahraini police firing shotguns and tear gas crushed the camp of a month-old pro-democracy protest in an operation that left five dead and sparked Shiite outrage across the region.
US President Barack Obama, whose country is a close ally of Bahrain, called King Hamad to express "deep concern," while British Prime Minister David Cameron urged the king to pursue "reform, not repression."
Early on Wednesday morning, hundreds of riot police backed by tanks and helicopters assaulted demonstrators in Manama's Pearl Square, clearing the symbolic heart of the uprising in the strategic Gulf kingdom.
The Shiite opposition, which has been the backbone of protests demanding political change, said three demonstrators were killed in the raid, while the government said two police died in hit-and-run attacks by opposition motorists.
The violence came a day after King Hamad, supported by troops who arrived on Tuesday along with armoured vehicles from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, declared a three-month state of emergency in his Sunni-ruled state.
In the wake of the violence, Obama telephoned King Hamad and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to express "deep concern," stressing the need for "maximum restraint" and "importance of a political process," his spokesman said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticised the Gulf deployment, in remarks to journalists in Cairo.
She said it was "the wrong track. And we believe that a long-term solution is only possible through a political process."
"What is happening in Bahrain is alarming, and it is unfortunately diverting attention and effort away from the political and economic track. That is the only way forward to resolve the legitimate differences of the Bahrainis themselves."
In London, a spokesman for Cameron said the British prime minister had "expressed his serious concern" in a telephone conversation with King Hamad.
"He called for restraint from all sides and said it was vital that the Bahrain authorities responded through reform, not repression," the spokesman added.
Police and troops on Wednesday fanned out across the city where protests and gatherings were banned and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was slapped on the business district, which had been under the protesters' control for three days.
Shiite villages around the city remained cut off by the security forces and phone lines were down. A curfew was announced in central Manama from 4:00 pm to 4:00 am.
Human rights activists said medics seeking to tend to wounded Shiites had been beaten by police while injured people were left untreated as security forces blocked access to hospitals.
Bahrain's Health Minister Nizar Baharna, a Shiite, announced his resignation after police burst into a Manama hospital and 12 Shiite judges also stepped down in protest at what they termed the "excessive use of force."
Police arrived at Pearl Square in tanks and buses before moving in on the mainly Shiite demonstrators, who had been camped out in the square for a month.
Thick clouds of back smoke mixed with tear gas over the area as the protesters' tents were set on fire.
With helicopters hovering overhead, troops then entered the nearby financial centre to clear it of demonstrators' roadblocks and the handfuls of protesters still remaining after clashes there on Sunday injured more than 200 people.
Shots were fired as troops escorted a bulldozer into the Financial Harbour business complex, the centre of a regional finance hub that hosts major international banks and multinational corporations.
The protesters are demanding reform from the Sunni dynasty that has ruled the strategic archipelago -- a US ally and home of the US Fifth Fleet -- for more than 200 years.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the intervention of Saudi-led Gulf forces to prop up the Al-Khalifa royal family as "foul and doomed."
Iran later withdrew its ambassador from Bahrain "in protest at the killing of the people of Bahrain by its government," a day after the Gulf state had recalled its top envoy in Tehran.
Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the Bahraini leadership had committed a "strategic and political" blunder and warned that the intervention would cost its "legitimacy."
"Such actions will increase tensions and undermine regional stability and security," said the defence minister of Shiite Iran.
The spiritual guide of Iraq's majority Shiites, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, "appealed to Bahraini authorities to stop violence against unarmed citizens."
In Beirut, hundreds of supporters of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah held a rally to denounce the Saudi intervention.
Around 16 people have been killed since the protests started in Pearl Square last month, as mainly Shiite activists took to the streets emboldened by revolts that toppled autocratic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.
Berlusconi denies paid sex with 'Ruby' 13 times
AFP - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has rejected "shocking accusations" from an inquiry linking him to a alleged prostitution ring, saying women only came to dine and dance at his house.
"I can't believe that the justice system is being used in such a barbaric away and so far from reality," Berlusconi said in an interview with La Repubblica issued on Wednesday, a day after details of the inquiry were leaked.
"They were cheerful, elegant dinners. The women went for a little dance in the disco. On their own because I've never liked dancing," Berlusconi said.
"I will go on television to explain everything -- to defend myself and defend these women. And I will take part in all my trial hearings," he said.
Prosecutors investigating three Berlusconi associates for allegedly hiring prostitutes for the prime minister found the Italian leader had sex 13 times with a then 17-year-old starlet known as "Ruby the Heart Stealer".
The inquiry documents, which were published by Italian media, also said 33 women including Ruby were involved and it detailed orgies at his home near Milan in which women "touched or were touched intimately by Silvio Berlusconi."
The 74-year-old Berlusconi faces a separate trial starting on April 6 on charges of paying for sex with underage Ruby -- real name Karima El Mahroug -- and then using the power of his office to try and cover up the alleged crime.
Berlusconi and El Mahroug deny having sex and he has denied all charges.
The results of the inquiry revealed on Tuesday said the parties held at Berlusconi's villa involved "masks, stripteases and erotic dances" and the prime minister chose "one or more women for the night for intimate relations."
The Berlusconi associates under investigation are celebrity agent Lele Mora, television anchor Emilio Fede and Nicole Minetti, a former showgirl who is now a local lawmaker for Berlusconi's People of Freedom party in Milan.
Fede first spotted El Mahroug at a beauty contest in Sicily in 2009 when she was just 16, the inquiry documents were quoted as saying.
Fede and Mora "selected... young women who were open to prostituting themselves", while Minetti arranged transport and payments, it said.
Prosecutors have made a formal request that the three be put on trial.Regime berated for 'extreme brutality'
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Activists urge ‘No’ vote in poll
Egypt will vote on Saturday on whether to approve amendments to the country’s constitution ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections.
The changes were drafted by a closed committee over ten days and they were open to public discussion for only three weeks.
And now some 40 million Egyptians are expected to vote on measures that will have a profound effect on their country's future.
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The changes do not, however, curb the president's powers.
Speaking on Egyptian television last week, Mohamed ElBaradei, a presidential candidate and former head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, branded the proposed text "a dictator’s constitution".
His view has been echoed by many of the young web-savvy militants who led the revolution that toppled Egypt's long-time president, Hosni Mubarak.
They argue that the constitution needs to be rewritten from scratch – and that in its current state it is too similar to the one that upheld Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year dictatorship.
To make their point, they are planning a "million man" march for Friday in protest at the proposals.
He told FRANCE 24 that the amendments were “cosmetic” and that the army, which dominates Egypt’s caretaker government, was rushing the country into premature elections “in a very undemocratic fashion”.
He said: “The amendments were done without any national dialogue by a small committee of eight people who were not chosen by the people. The army is not legitimate to propose amendments. There is no discussion.”
Asked if a “Yes” vote would put the brakes on the revolution, he replied that it would “reignite it”.
But not all opposition forces agree. The powerful Muslim Brotherhood has called for a “Yes” vote. Critics say that is purely because it would give them an advantage, given that the Brotherhood is the largest and most organised political group outside of Mubarak’s own NDP party.
Despite Mubarak's fall, the NDP remains the country's biggest and richest party, with the largest number of seats in parliament.
According to Aalam Wassef, the Brotherhood and the NDP are hoping to share power in the future, with the army's blessing. "They are accelerating the process so that alternate parties may not form and take part meaningfully in the election," he said.
She said she feared that because the altered constitution stipulates early elections, the popular and well organised Muslim Brotherhood would take a large number of seats and then begin drafting a new constitution for their own benefit.
Sharaf El Din argued that a constitution should be written in partnership with all segments of Egyptian society – including, but not dominated by, the Islamists.
“But the coming parliament will be controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood,” she said. “And they will form the committee that will write the new constitution."
She added: " It [a Yes vote] would be disastrous. It is against everything the revolution stands for.”
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