NEWS,30.04.2012.

 

Obama and Clinton join forces for presidential campaign

Former United States President Bill Clinton gave a rousing endorsement of fellow Democrat Barack Obama in his first 2012 campaign appearance with the president today, and helped him raise more than $2 million.A white-haired and svelte Clinton, 65, pounded the podium and pointed at the crowd while addressing about 500 Obama supporters outside the Virginia home of his friend and Democratic adviser Terry McAuliffe."I think he's done a good job," he told the crowd in his signature raspy voice, warmly introducing the man who beat his wife, Hillary Clinton, to win the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and then made her US secretary of state. "We are going the right direction under President Obama's leadership."Clinton's support could be pivotal for Obama's efforts to raise money and to sell voters on his economic plans, which Republicans have denounced as fiscally reckless and rooted in populism instead of good business sense.Clinton oversaw one of the most prosperous times in recent American history and managed to balance the federal budget, something Democrats are keen to remind voters before the November 6 election.When he took the backyard podium, Obama, 50, noted Clinton's "remarkable" economic record in his two White House terms and referred frequently to the political powerhouse standing behind him, who stands to be a huge fundraising force in the final months of the presidential campaign."I didn't run for president simply to get back to where we were in 2007. I didn't run for president simply to restore the status quo before the financial crisis. I ran for president because we had lost our way since Bill Clinton was done being president," Obama said.The state of the US economy is expected to be the pivotal issue for voters in November.With unemployment still relatively high and growth showing signs of slowing, Obama is under pressure to defend his string of big budget deficits and prove the soundness of his proposals to keep spending on infrastructure, clean energy and education and to raise taxes on the very rich.Neither Obama nor Clinton referred to George W. Bush, the Republican who served two presidential terms in between their tenures, nor the presumptive Republican nominee for this year's White House race, Mitt Romney, by name in their outdoor remarks.But Clinton said Obama's likely White House opponent this year wanted to revert to the policies that plunged the United States into crisis, but "on steroids, which will get you the same consequences as before, on steroids."Clinton applauded Obama's efforts in healthcare, clean energy promotion and student loan reform, and argued that US employment levels were rebounding quickly from the financial and mortgage crises that took hold before Obama took office."Look, the man's not Houdini, all he can do is beat the clock. He's beating the clock," he said, comparing the pace of US recovery to Japan's extended weakness after its own crisis. "The last thing you want to do is to turn around and embrace the policies that got us into trouble in the first place."Fresh from the previous night's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, where he took several digs at Romney, Obama was clearly in good humor at the Virginia event.Turning to foreign policy, Obama said he and Hillary Clinton had "spent the last three and a half years cleaning up other folks' messes," and made fun of Romney's recent comment that Russia was the United States' "No. 1 geopolitical foe.""I'm suddenly thinking, 'What? Maybe I didn't check the calendar this morning. I didn't know we were back in 1975,'" he said. The comment echoed Vice President Joe Biden's criticism last week of Romney as being stuck in a Cold War mindset.Clinton had not appeared with Obama this election cycle. But last week the Obama campaign released a video of Clinton praising Obama for approving the commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last May.Tickets to Sunday's outdoor reception cost $1,000 and up, and Obama and Clinton later addressed a more exclusive dinner at McAuliffe's home for 80 people who paid $20,000 each.The money went to a fund supporting Obama's re-election, the Democratic National Committee and several state Democratic parties.

Aus billionaire to build Titanic II

Sydney - One of Australia's richest men, Clive Palmer, on Monday unveiled plans to build a 21st century version of the doomed Titanic in China, with its first voyage from England to New York set for 2016.Palmer, a self-made mining billionaire, said he had commissioned state-owned Chinese company CSC Jinling Shipyard to construct Titanic II with the same dimensions as its predecessor."It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems," Palmer said in a statement."Titanic II will sail in the northern hemisphere and her maiden voyage from England to North America is scheduled for late 2016."He added that he had invited the Chinese navy to escort the Titanic II to New York.The announcement comes just weeks after the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic, which went down on April 15 1912 after striking an iceberg on its first voyage, from Southampton to New York.Palmer said the new ship would be a tribute to the spirit of the men and women who worked on the original, which sank with the loss of 1 514 passengers and crew."These people produced work that is still marvelled at more than 100 years later and we want that spirit to go on for another 100 years," he said.Titanic was commissioned by White Star Line and was the largest liner in the world at the time.Palmer said he has established his own shipping company, Blue Star Line, with the new vessel having the same specifications as its predecessor - 270m long, 53m high and weighing some 40 000 tonnes.It will have 840 rooms and nine decks with design work in conjunction with an historical research team underway. No figure was given on how much it would cost.The only changes to the original would be below the water line including welding and not riveting, a bulbous bow for greater fuel efficiency, diesel generation and enlarged rudder and bow thrusters for increased manoeuvrability."Titanic II will be the ultimate in comfort and luxury with on-board gymnasiums and swimming pools, libraries, high class restaurants and luxury cabins," Palmer said.The ship would also include an exhibition room which will be located in the space of the original's coal boilers which will showcase his home state of Queensland.Palmer is estimated to be Australia's fifth richest person, worth more than Aus$5bn, thanks to his vast coal and other mining assets in Queensland and Western Australia.He has also branched out into tourism and owns the luxury Coolum resort on the Sunshine Coast, while recently saying he wants to move into the media industry, a sector dominated byFairfax and Rupert Murdoch's News Limited.His decision to commission a Chinese shipbuilding yard, which will also construct other luxury liners for the tycoon, reinforces his ties to the country, which is a key buyer of his coal and iron ore."The Chinese are renowned for building commercial cargo and container ships," he said."China currently produces around 2 to 3% of the world's luxury ships but is looking to challenge the Europeans who have around 75% of this market."The Chinese ship building industry with our assistance wants to be a major player in this market."The original Titanic was built in Belfast.

Head of UN mission urges peace in Syria

The head of the UN observer mission in Syria on Sunday called on President Bashar al-Assad and the country's opposition to stop fighting and allow a tenuous cease-fire to take hold.Major General Robert Mood spoke after arriving in the Syrian capital, Damascus, to take charge of an advance team of 16 UN monitors trying to salvage an international peace plan to end the country's 13-month-old crisis.Under the plan, a cease-fire is supposed to lead to talks between Assad and the opposition on a political solution to a conflict that has killed more than 9 000 people.On Sunday, Syrian troops killed at least 28 civilians, including 14 in a village in the central Hama province, said an activist group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Opposition fighters shot dead three Syrian soldiers in a clash and four soldiers were killed while handling explosives, the group said.The Observatory also said several explosions were heard in Damascus, but provided no details.Mood told reporters that the 300 observers the UN has authorised for the mission "cannot solve all the problems" in Syria, asking for co-operation from forces loyal to Assad as well as rebels seeking to end his rule."We want to have combined efforts focusing on the welfare of the Syrian people," he said, "true cessation of violence in all its forms".The cease-fire began unravelling almost as soon as it went into effect 12 April. The regime has kept up its attacks on opposition strongholds, while rebel fighters have continued to ambush government security forces. Defying a major truce provision, the Syrian military has failed to withdraw tanks and soldiers from city streets.Despite the violence, the truce still enjoys the support of the international community, largely because it views the plan as the last chance to prevent the country from falling into civil war — and because it does not want to intervene militarily.Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that while he is still hopeful, "unfortunately, I am also aware how much this plan is at risk"."That's why it's especially important for this mission to expand quickly," Kellenberger told the Swiss newspaper Der Sonntag. He met with Syrian leaders earlier this month.Most analysts say the plan has little chance of succeeding, though it could temporarily bring down the level of daily violence.That has largely been the case in Homs, Syria's third largest city, which has emerged as the heart of the uprising. Regime forces pounded parts of Homs for months, leaving large swaths of the city in ruins, before two UN monitors moved into an upscale hotel there last week.Since then, the level of violence has dropped, although gunbattles still frequently break out. "The shooting has not stopped in Homs," local activist Tarek Badrakhan said on Sunday.An amateur video posted online on Saturday showed the observers walking through a heavily damaged neighbourhood, where residents collected a body lying in the street and put it in the back of a pickup truck.Mood, a Norwegian, was appointed head of the observer mission by UN chief Ban Ki-moon. One hundred monitors should be in the country by mid-May, said mission spokesman Neeraj Singh. It is unclear when or if the full contingent of 300 monitors will deploy to Syria.Mood brings a wealth of Middle East experience to the job, including stints with UN peacekeepers in Lebanon in 1989-1990 and as the head of a UN peacekeeping mission known as UNTSO from 2009 to 2011. That mission was the UN's first-ever peacekeeping operation, starting after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war to monitor a cease-fire. It now watches cease-fires around the Middle East.The Syrian state news agency said observers visited the embattled Homs neighbourhood of Khaldiyeh on Sunday but provided no further information.The Observatory, an activist group monitoring the situation in Syria, said government snipers shot and killed two people in the neighbourhood of Joret al-Shayah, which borders Khaldiyeh.The group said an additional 26 civilians were killed by troops across Syria, including 14 in the village of Hamadi Omar in the central Hama province and a child in the southern province of Deir el-Zour.Ban has blamed the regime for widespread violations of the truce - prompting Syria to fire back that his comments were "outrageous" and accuse him of bias.The spat has further stoked concerns among the Syrian opposition and its Western supporters that Assad is merely playing for time to avoid compliance with a plan that - if fully implemented - would likely sweep him out of office.

NEWS,29.04.2012

Strauss-Kahn makes dramatic return to French election

 Disgraced ex-IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, once tipped to win France's presidential vote, made a dramatic incursion into the campaign Saturday with a claim Nicolas Sarkozy orchestrated his downfall.The accusation came as the battle between Sarkozy and Francois Hollande grew ever more bitter, with the incumbent accusing the front-running Socialist of subjecting him to a "Stalinist trial" over his bid to woo the far right.Strauss-Kahn, in his first major newspaper interview since his disgrace a year ago, told Britain's The Guardian newspaper that his spectacular fall was orchestrated by opponents to prevent him standing as Socialist candidate.The ex-International Monetary Fund boss had been favoured to win the vote until May last year, when he was arrested in New York and accused of sexually assaulting hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo. The charges were later dropped.Strauss-Kahn said that although he did not believe the incident was a setup, the subsequent escalation of the event into a criminal investigation was "shaped by those with a political agenda"."Perhaps I was politically naive, but I simply did not believe that they would go that far -- I didn't think they could find anything that could stop me," he told the British daily.The Guardian said it was clear that the "they" refers to people working for Sarkozy and his UMP party.A New York lawyer representing Diallo in an ongoing civil lawsuit against Strauss-Kahn dismissed the claim as "utter nonsense", while Sarkozy himself flatly rejected the accusation."Enough is enough! I would tell Mr. Strauss-Kahn to explain himself to the law and spare the French his remarks," he said in central France while on the campaign trail to get himself re-elected on May 6.Opinion polls say Hollande will win the run-off against Sarkozy. Strauss-Kahn said he was sure he would now be in Hollande's shoes had it not been for the events at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan on May 14 last year."I planned to make my formal announcement on 15 June and I had no doubt I would be the candidate of the Socialist Party," said Strauss-Kahn, who refused to discuss with The Guardian a separate sex scandal that has erupted in France.Sarkozy said that when he thought of all the "scandalous, shameful episodes" that Strauss-Kahn had allegedly been involved in in the United States and France, he was shocked that the ex-IMF chief should dare to speak out now."Mr. Strauss-Kahn starts giving lessons in morality and saying I am the only one responsible for what happened to him, well, that really is too much!", he said.Sarkozy was again under pressure Saturday over the financing of his 2007 campaign after a news website reported late Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi's regime had agreed to fund the election bid to the tune of 50 million euros.His campaign spokeswoman Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet dismissed the latest report as "ridiculous" and a "clumsy diversion" orchestrated by Hollande's camp.She said Sarkozy's 2007 campaign funds had been cleared by the Constitutional Council after the elections with no queries.Hollande and Sarkozy were expected to call a brief truce later Saturday when both head for a soccer match at the Stade de France in Paris to watch third-tier outsiders Quevilly battle Lyon for the French Cup.But the gloves have come off in recent days, with Hollande accusing his rival of "transgression" in his bid to secure the votes of the 6.5 million who plumped for far-right leader Marine Le Pen in last Sunday's first round.

Syria derides UN chief

Syria has derided UN chief Ban Ki-moon as biased and called his comments "outrageous" after he blamed the regime for widespread cease-fire violations - the latest sign of trouble for an international peace plan many expect to fail.In new fighting on Saturday, activists said regime forces battled army defectors near President Bashar Assad's summer palace in a coastal village and shelled a Damascus suburb in pursuit of gunmen. State media said government troops foiled an attempt by armed men in rubber boats to land on Syria's coast, the first reported attempt by rebels to infiltrate from the sea.The regime's verbal attack on the UN secretary general raised new concerns that Assad is playing for time to avoid compliance with a plan that could eventually force him out of office.Under special envoy Kofi Annan's six-point road map, a ceasefire is to be followed by the deployment of as many as 300 UN truce monitors and talks between Assad and the opposition on Syria's political future. The head of the observer team, Norwegian Major General Robert Mood, is to arrive in Damascus on Sunday to assume command, said spokesman Neeraj Singh.Annan's April 12 ceasefire deadline has been widely ignored. The regime continues to attack opposition strongholds, while rebel fighters keep targeting security forces with roadside bombs and shooting ambushes. Defying a major truce provision, the Syrian military failed to withdraw tanks and soldiers from the streets.Ban and Annan have cited violations by both sides, but generally portrayed the regime as the main aggressor. On Friday, Ban said Syria's repression of civilians reached an "intolerable stage" and demanded that the regime "live up to its promises to the world." His comments came just hours after a suicide bombing the regime blamed on anti-government "terrorists" killed 10 people in Damascus.An editorial on Saturday in the state-run Tishrin newspaper said Ban has avoided discussing rebel violence in favour of "outrageous" statements against the Syrian government. The editorial said the international community has applied a double standard, ignoring "crimes and terrorist acts" against Syria and thus encouraging more violence, according to excerpts carried by the state-run news agency SANA.Mass protests against Assad erupted in March 2011, but gradually turned into an insurgency in response to a violent regime crackdown. Assad's regime denies it faces a popular uprising, claiming it is being targeted by a foreign-led terrorist conspiracy.Saturday's comments were the regime's harshest against the UN since Syria announced last month it would abide by the Annan plan. The Syrian opposition and its Western backers argue Assad is not sincere and just buying time to consolidate his hold on Syria.The regime "wants to make the UN a party to the conflict, rather than a mediator, and to stretch out the process to prevent any kind of serious change," Rami Khoury, an analyst at the American University of Beirut, said of Saturday's editorial.However, the regime and its supporters argue that the world intentionally ignores rebel ceasefire violations, such as targeted killings of security officials, said Peter Harling of the International Crisis Group think tank who has travelled in Syria."In the regime's narrative, its use of force is only a reaction to such assaults," he said. "Officials and sympathisers cling to the idea that they are fighting a legitimate struggle against a fifth column of extremists."Russia, Syria's main ally, repeatedly has demanded that more attention be paid to rebel violations of the Annan plan.In fighting on Saturday, government troops exchanged fire with about 30 soldiers after they defected at a military base near Assad's summer palace in the coastal village of Burj Islam, according to Syria-based activist Mustafa Osso and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group.

NEWS,28.04.2012.

Dutch judge upholds foreigner pot ban

Long famous for "coffee shops" where joints and cappuccinos share the menu, the Netherlands' famed tolerance for drugs could be going up in smoke.A judge on Friday upheld a government plan to ban non-Dutch residents from buying marijuana by introducing a "weed pass" available only to residents.The new regulation reins in one of the country's most cherished symbols of tolerance - its laissez-faire attitude to soft drugs - and reflects the drift away from a long-held view of the Netherlands as a free-wheeling utopia.For many tourists visiting Amsterdam the image endures - and smoking a joint in a canal-side coffee shop ranks high on their to-do lists along with visiting cultural highlights like the Van Gogh Museum.The city's left-leaning Mayor Eberhard van der Laan is hoping to hammer out a compromise with the national government.Coffee shops also have not given up the fight. A week ago they mustered a few hundred patrons for a "smoke-in" in downtown Amsterdam to protest the new restrictions.A lawyer for owners, Maurice Veldman, said he would file an appeal against the ruling by a judge at The Hague District court, which clears the way for the weed pass to be introduced in southern provinces on May 1.The pass will roll out in the rest of the country - including Amsterdam - next year. It will turn coffee shops into private clubs with membership open only to Dutch residents and limited to 2 000 per shop.The most recent figures from the government's statistics bureau says the country has more than 650 coffee shops, 214 of them in Amsterdam. The number has been steadily declining as municipalities have imposed tougher regulations, such as shuttering ones close to schools.But the new membership rules are the most significant rollback in years to the traditional Dutch tolerance of marijuana use.The government argues that the move is justified as a way of cracking down on so-called "drug tourists", effectively couriers who drive over the border from neighboring Belgium and Germany to buy large amounts of marijuana and take it home to resell. They cause traffic and public order problems in towns along the Dutch border.Such issues do not exist in Amsterdam, where most tourists walk or ride bikes and buy pot purely for their own consumption.The weed pass "doesn't solve any problems we have here and it could create new problems", said city spokesperson Tahira Limon.It is not just hardcore potheads taking a toke in the city. Limon said four to five million tourists visit Amsterdam each year and around 23% say they visit a coffee shop during their stay.Amsterdam argues that the reasons coffee shops were first tolerated decades ago are still relevant today - they are well-regulated havens where people can buy soft drugs without coming into contact with dealers of hard drugs like heroin and cocaine.Coffee shops also are banned from serving alcohol and from selling drugs to people under 18.The government in The Hague said on Friday there would be no exceptions to the new rules."Amsterdam will also have to enforce this policy," said Job van de Sande, a spokespersonfor the ministry of security and justice.The conservative Dutch government introduced the new measures saying it wants to return the shops back to what they were originally intended to be: small local stores selling to local people.However the Dutch government collapsed this week and new elections are scheduled for September. It is unclear whether the new administration will keep the new measures in place.Coffee shop lawyer Veldman called Friday's court ruling a political judgment."The judge completely fails to answer the principal question: Can you discriminate against foreigners when there is no public order issue at stake?" he asked.Coffee shop owners in the southern city of Maastricht have said they plan to disregard the new measures, forcing the government to prosecute one of them in a test case.

Syria accuses UN chief of encouraging militants

 

 A Syrian government newspaper says UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon is encouraging militant attacks by focusing his criticism on the government.Saturday's editorial in the state-run Tishrin daily comes a day after Ban said Syrian President Bashar Assad's continued crackdown on protests has reached an "intolerable stage".Tishrin says Ban has avoided talks about rebel violence in favour of "outrageous" attacks on the Syrian government.The Syrian capital was hit by four explosions on Friday that left at least 11 people dead and dozens wounded.Assad's government blamed the blasts on "terrorists", the term the government uses to describe opposition forces that it says are carrying out a foreign conspiracy.

Israelis being fooled on Iran: ex-security chief

Israel's former security chief Yuval Diskin on Saturday accused top ministers of misleading the public about the chances any pre-emptive military action against Iran's nuclear facilities succeeding.Diskin singled out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak for criticism over their increasingly bellicose comments in the standoff with Iran over its nuclear programme."My major problem is that I have no faith in the current leadership, which must lead us in an event on the scale of war with Iran or a regional war," Diskin said in comments carried by army radio and the Haaretz newspaper."I don't believe in either the prime minister or the defence minister. I don't believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings," he said."Believe me, I have observed them from up close ... They are not people who I, on a personal level, trust to lead Israel to an event on that scale and carry it off. These are not people who I would want to have holding the wheel in such an event."They are misleading the public on the Iran issue. They tell the public that if Israel acts, Iran won't have a nuclear bomb. This is misleading. Actually, many experts say that an Israeli attack would accelerate the Iranian nuclear race."Diskin, who stepped down as head of Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service last year after six years in the post, was addressing a public meeting in Kfar Saba in the Tel Aviv suburbs.In March, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan also spoke out publicly against a military option on Iran. He told US network CBS an Israeli attack would have "devastating" consequences for Israel and would, in any case, be unlikely to put an end to the Iranian nuclear programme.On relations between Israeli Jews and other groups, Diskin said: "Over the past 10-15 years, Israel has become more and more racist. All of the studies point to this. This is racism toward Arabs and toward foreigners, and we are also becoming a more belligerent society."Diskin also said he believed another political assassination, like that of then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 by a Jewish extremist, could occur in the future."Today there are extremist Jews, not just in the territories but also inside the Green Line - dozens of them - who, in a situation in which settlements are evacuated, would be willing to take up arms against their Jewish brothers," he said.

NEWS,27.04.2012.

EU rebukes UK over freedom of movement laws

 

 

The European Commission gave Britain an ultimatum on Thursday to respect the freedom of movement of EU citizens, threatening court action should it fail to abide by EU laws within two months."As one of the EU's larger member states, the UK is home to around two million citizens from other EU countries. It is therefore important that UK laws respect their rights," the European Union's executive arm said in a statement.Under the rules, foreign family members of an EU citizen can travel to any country in the 27-nation bloc without an entry visa when they are accompanied by the citizen and hold a residence card issued by an EU state."The UK laws do not grant this important right which lies at the heart of free movement," the commission said.Another issue raised by the commission was the treatment of Bulgarian and Romanian workers.Britain is not issuing workers from Romania and Bulgaria the same residence documents given to those from the 25 other EU states during the first 12 months of living there, the EU executive said.London has yet to apply EU rules in two other areas, including on health insurance for EU citizens and residency applications for extended family members of EU nationals.EU states can face big fines if they lose cases before the European Court of Justice.

 

 

UN chief troubled by Syria's failing ceasefire

 UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the Syrian government has not complied with its commitment to a UN-backed peace plan because it has not withdrawn heavy weapons and troops from Syrian cities and towns."The Secretary-General remains deeply troubled by the continued presence of heavy weapons, military equipment and army personnel in population centers, as reported by United Nations Military Observers," Ban's press office said in a statement.It said Ban considered this a "contravention of the Syrian Government's commitments to withdraw its troops and heavy weapons from these areas" and demanded that Damascus comply with its pledge without delay.The Syrian government and rebels traded blame for a huge explosion which killed 16 people in the city of Hama, as the two-week-old UNceasefire looks increasingly fragile.Syria blamed "terrorist" bomb-makers for Wednesday's blast.Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud also accused rebel militiamen of repeated violations of the ceasefire and said Damascus was "reserving the right to respond to any violation or attack", state news agency SANA reported.The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the cause of the explosion was unclear, but also gave a death toll of 16.The Local Coordination Committees, a grassroots opposition group, said more than 50 people had been killed by what it said was a military rocket.The blast in Hama, a centre of unrest against President Bashar-al-Assad, has added to doubts about a ceasefire brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who has said Assad failed to order his troops and tanks back to barracks as promised.But outside powers are deeply divided on how to shore up the ceasefire, which has led to only a small reduction in violence in the 13-month uprising, during which the United Nations estimates Syrian forces have killed 9000 people.

NEWS,25.04.2012.

Annan alarmed at Syria military action

 

 New York - International envoy Kofi Annan told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the situation in Syria is "bleak" and expressed alarm at reports that government troops are still carrying out military operations in towns where the UN observers are not present.He expressed particular concern at media reports that government troops entered the central city of Hama on Monday after the UN observers departed, firing automatic weapons and killing a significant number of people. Activists said more than 30 people were killed."If confirmed, this is totally unacceptable and reprehensible," he said.Annan echoed the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who called the current situation "unacceptable", and urged President al-Bashar Assad's government to immediately implement his six-point peace-plan, which would culminate with Syrian-led talks between the government and opposition aimed at reaching a peace settlement.The joint UN-Arab League envoy said the speedy deployment of the 300-strong UN observer force authorised by the council on Saturday is "crucial" to verify what is happening on the ground and potentially "change the political dynamics". The observer force also would provide the international community with "incontrovertible" information to increase pressure for a cease-fire by the government and opposition, he said.Annan briefed the Security Council by videoconference hours after his spokesperson, Ahmad Fawzi, told the UN Television in Geneva that satellite imagery and other credible reports show that, despite its claims, Syria has failed to withdraw all of its heavy weapons from populated areas as required by the cease-fire deal it accepted. Fawzi also cited credible reports that "people who approach the observers may be approached by security forces or Syrian army and harassed or arrested or even worse, perhaps killed".Annan did not mention either the satellite photos or the harassment and possible killing of people who talked to the observers in the text of his closed briefing, which was obtained by The Associated Press, but he stressed that "the government cannot cease action in one area to resume it in another".He told the council the Syrian foreign minister had informed him in a letter on 21 April of the withdrawal of troops and heavy equipment from populated areas and the handover of responsibility to police for maintaining law and order. He said he replied that this means troops should be back in barracks and weapons placed in storage "rather than operationally deployed," and that civilians should not be endangered by police actions.Annan said the minister's letter is "encouraging" and would make "a real difference ... if it is scrupulously applied". But he added pointedly, "It should be understood that the only promises that count are the promises that are kept."US Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters after the briefing that "several council members expressed their skepticism on the Syrian government's intentions and the veracity of statements contained in the Syrian foreign minister's letter".Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, whose country is Syria's most important ally, noted that some council members said "they have information" that Syria has not withdrawn its troops and heavy weapons."If this is the case, if the promise in the letter has not really been carried out, that would mean it is a breach of the promise they have made on Saturday," Churkin told reporters. "I'm certainly going to bring it to the attention of Moscow that there is an issue that needs to be looked at."US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters in Washington that "the responsibility rests with Assad and with his supporters and his military to demonstrate a commitment to the Annan plan by silencing the guns"."Unfortunately, the Assad regime has broken its commitments time and again," she said. "So even as we work to help deploy the monitors, we are preparing additional steps in case the violence continues or the monitors are prevented from doing their work."Annan said that in addition to the reported military attacks, Syria's implementation of the other points in his peace plan — including unrestricted access for journalists and humanitarian workers and allowing peaceful demonstrations — "remains partial".Annan welcomed the council's initial authorisation of a 30-member advance team of the UN observers, and its approval of a 300-strong UN observer team, stressing the importance of getting "eyes and ears on the ground" with the ability to move freely and swiftly.Rice said the UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the council that 11 observers are currently in Syria including two in Homs and two in Hama. He predicted 30 observers will be on the ground by April 30 and 100 observers within a month, she said.Ladsous reported that the Syrian government refused at least one observer based on his nationality and stated that it will not accept any observers or civilians for the mission from countries that are members of the Friends of Democratic Syria, Rice said. The group includes more than 70 countries including the US, many European countries and a number of Mideast nations."He underscored that from the UN's point of view, this is entirely unacceptable," Rice said.Annan said available reports suggest the level of violence has decreased since 12 April  with the exception of the spike on Monday.He said the reported events in Hama on Monday "are a reminder of the risks that Syrians face if our effort to create a sustained cessation of violence does not succeed"."But we have also seen events change — at least temporarily — in Homs, where violence has dropped significantly in response to the presence of a very small number of observers," Annan said.

NEWS,20.2.2012

Iranian ships reach Syria, Assad allies show support

Russia, China and Iran showed support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad today, days before an international meeting likely to pile more pressure on him to step down in the face of an increasingly bloody uprising. Assad met a senior Russian politician in Damascus, who reiterated Moscow's support for his self-styled reform programme and spoke out against any foreign intervention in the conflict, Russian and Syrian news agencies reported. China accused Western countries of stirring up civil war in Syria, and two Iranian warships docked at a Syrian naval base, underscoring rising international tensions over the near year-long crisis. Government forces pressed on with their crackdown on the anti-Assad uprising, with opposition activists reporting five people killed in renewed shelling of an opposition-held district of Homs and troops and militia blockading Hama. Both cities have been in the forefront of the revolt.The crisis is entering an important week, with Western and Arab powers due to meet at a conference in Tunisia on Saturday to pressure Assad to give up power, while Assad forges ahead with plans for a referendum on Monday for a new constitution. The referendum, which would lead to multi-party elections within 90 days, is part of what Assad describes as a reform programme to address demands for more democracy. Syria's official SANA news agency said about 14,600,000 people are eligible to take part in the referendum. The West and Syrian opposition figures have dismissed the plan as joke, saying it is impossible to have a valid election amid the continuing repression. Alexei Pushkov, head of the international affairs committee of Russia's lower house of parliament, met Assad in Damascus today and affirmed Russia's support for the plan. Moscow is Syria's main arms supplier and an ally dating back to the Cold War.Pushkov also stressed the need "to continue working for a political solution to the crisis based on dialogue between all concerned parties, without foreign intervention," SANA said.Assad, who shows no inclination to relinquish power, told Pushkov Syria was being targeted by armed terrorist groups supported by foreign elements aiming to destabilize Syria.China, which sent an envoy to Damascus this weekend, also backs Assad's idea of a political solution and has appealed to the government and opposition alike to halt the violence. China’s Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily, took the West to task in a commentary today, saying: "If Western countries continue to fully support Syria's opposition, then in the end a large-scale civil war will erupt and there will be no way to thus avoid the possibility of foreign armed intervention.” The West has so far ruled out any Libya-style military action but the Arab League, led by Saudi Arabia, has indicated some of its member states were prepared to arm the opposition. A more immediate concern for the West is the plight of civilians caught up in the offensive against the opposition and a nascent rebel army. Activists in embattled cities such as Homs say food supplies are running out and doctors lack medicine to treat the wounded. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in Geneva it was negotiating with Syrian authorities and opposition fighters for a ceasefire to bring life-saving aid to civilians. Diplomatic sources said the ICRC was seeking a two-hour ceasefire in hotspots including Homs.Opposition activists said five people had been killed in government shelling of Homs's Baba Amro district today, adding to a reported death toll of several hundred since the operation began on February 3.Activists in the western city of Hama said troops, police and militias had set up dozens of roadblocks, isolating neighbourhoods from each other."Hama is cut off from the outside world. There are no landlines, no mobile phone network and no internet. House to house arrests take place daily and sometimes repeatedly in the same neighbourhoods," an opposition statement said. Rebel fighters have been attacking militiamen, known as shabbiha, while avoiding open confrontations with armoured forces that had amassed around Hama, a city north of Homs on the Damascus-Aleppo highway. The government restricts foreign media access in Syria, making it hard to independently verify the activists' reports.