Rookie Henley wins by three shots at Waialae

Sony Open golf tournament in Honolulu, Hawaii January 13, 2013. REUTERS/Hugh …more
(Reuters) - American Russell Henley, remarkably unflappable for a PGA Tour rookie, became the youngest ever champion at the Sony Open in Hawaii when he won his maiden title on the U.S. circuit by three shots on Sunday.
Aged just 23, the fresh-faced Web.com Tour graduate displayed ice-cool nerves as he stormed home with five consecutive birdies to fire a seven-under-par 63 on the tree-lined layout at Waialae Country Club.
Co-leader overnight with fellow rookie and good friend Scott Langley, Henley mixed eight birdies with a lone bogey to post a record 24-under total of 256 in the PGA Tour's first full-field event of the season.
When he rolled in an eight-footer to birdie the par-five last, one of several stunning clutch putts he made on the day, he gave a roundhouse sweep with his right arm in celebration.
"I don't really even know what just happened," a smiling Henley told Golf Channel after becoming the event's youngest winner, eclipsing compatriot Ben Crenshaw who was aged 24 when he triumphed in 1996.
"This is the most nervous I have ever been and that's the hardest thing I have ever done, what I just did. I had to battle Tim (Clark) and I am just kind of speechless right now."
With his spectacular triumph, Henley earned an invitation to the Masters and became the first rookie to win on his debut as a PGA Tour member since compatriot Garrett Willis at the 2001 Tucson Open.
South African Tim Clark, bidding for his second title on the circuit, signed off with birdies on the last four holes for a matching 63 to secure second place.
First-round leader Langley faded with three bogeys on the back nine, carding a 70 to finish in a tie for third at 17 under with fellow American Charles Howell III (66).
TWO-SHOT SWING
Henley began another warm day at Waialae tied at the top with playing partner Langley and he benefited from a two-shot swing at the par-four first to move two strokes clear.
While Henley birdied the hole after hitting a superb approach to within three feet, Langley wound up with a bogey after finding the right rough off the tee and also with his second shot.
Langley missed birdie putts from inside six feet at the second and sixth before duffing a chip from greenside rough to bogey the par-three seventh and slip three strokes off the pace.
Henley dropped his first shot in 51 holes at the par-four eighth, where he pulled his drive into the left rough and ended up in tangly grass behind the green with his approach.
However, he immediately recovered with a two-putt birdie at the par-five ninth to reach the turn two strokes in front of the chasing pack.
Henley rolled in a nine-foot birdie putt at the 10th to maintain his cushion and did well to save par from a similar distance at the par-four 11th after pulling his tee shot on to a cart path.
He delivered a dagger blow by draining a 45-footer to birdie the 14th and stretch his lead to three strokes, then sank 12-footers at the 15th and 16th to keep the charging Clark at bay.
Remarkably Henley birdied the last two holes for good measure.

Read More..

Pats' Gronkowski needs surgery on arm

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski needs surgery on his broken left arm, a person with knowledge of the injury told The Associated Press.
Gronkowski was injured on the Patriots' eighth offensive play of Sunday's 41-28 victory over Houston. He previously missed five regular-season games and is done for these playoffs.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has not released details of the injury.
"I'm not sure," coach Bill Belichick said after the game when asked if Gronkowski had broken his arm.
Asked if Gronkowski had been taken to a hospital, Belichick said, "Look, I just walked off the field."
He also said "he wouldn't have played if he wasn't ready" and that "the doctors handle the medical decisions."
The Patriots also lost running back Danny Woodhead for the game when he hurt his thumb carrying the ball on their first offensive play. The club provided no update on his condition.
Rookie defensive end Chandler Jones hurt his ankle later in the game.
The Patriots will be home against the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game next Sunday with the winner advancing to the Super Bowl two weeks later.
Gronkowski had broken his left forearm while blocking for an extra point near the end of New England's 59-24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 18 and underwent surgery. He missed five games and returned for the regular-season finale, a 28-0 win over the Miami Dolphins.
He was reinjured just 6:44 into Sunday's game on a deep pass down the right sideline from Tom Brady. Gronkowski fell out of bounds as the pass dropped incomplete.
He sat on the bench, writhing in pain, while talking to team doctor Thomas Gill before heading to the locker room.
Brady provided no information on the condition of one of his most important teammates.
"I don't know anything about that," Brady said. "I haven't heard anything."
Gronkowski's teammates said that the team would miss him but that other players have to contribute.
"It's hard to replace a player like him because he's a freak of nature," tight end Aaron Hernandez said, "but everyone has to step up and everyone has to keep making plays so we can keep it rolling. (He) definitely helps me out because so much attention is on him.
"It's a big loss and you can't replace a player like him."
Last season, Gronkowski's status was listed as questionable for the Super Bowl just 48 hours before the New York Giants 21-17 victory. He had suffered a high sprain to his left ankle two weeks earlier in the Patriots' 23-20 win over the Ravens in the AFC championship game. That hampered him in the Super Bowl in which he had just two catches for 26 yards after a season in which he had 105 receptions, 15 of them in the other two postseason games.
After the season, he had arthroscopic surgery on the ankle.
On Sunday, backup tight end Michael Hoomanawanui got more action once Gronkowski left.
"I just saw him a little bit ago," Hoomanawanui said. "A guy with that much talent, it stinks. There's no other way to put it. I went down with a knee injury last year that ended my season and you never want to see that for anyone, for an opponent, but let alone a guy that you spend a lot of time with each and every day."
Asked if Gronkowski would miss the rest of the postseason, Hoomanawanui said, "I haven't heard yet. He looks like he was hurting. I'm sure we'll find out here soon enough.

Read More..

Patriots beat Texans 41-28, Ravens up next

  
View Photo
New England Patriots running back …
View Photo
New England Patriots quarterback …
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Brady is so good at this playoff thing he seems to be going for a championship every year.
He gets another chance to lead the Patriots to the Super Bowl after earning his record 17th postseason victory in New England's 41-28 victory over Houston Sunday. Brady even outdid his childhood hero, Joe Montana, and a fourth NFL championship would equal Montana's haul.
"I love playing, I love competing, I love being a part of this organization," said Brady, who threw for three touchdowns and 344 yards. "I think I've just been fortunate to play on some great teams over the years. I never take it for granted."
Next up is Baltimore, which stunned top-seeded Denver in double overtime Saturday, and lost 23-20 at Gillette Stadium last January in the last step before the Super Bowl. But the Ravens beat the Patriots in Week 3 this season at Baltimore.
"I think the two best teams are in the final," Brady said. "Baltimore certainly deserves to be here and so do we."
Seldom-used Shane Vereen scored three times, twice on pinpoint throws from Brady, as New England (13-4) beat Houston (13-5) for the second time in a month.
Brady was missing some key helpers, including tight end Rob Gronkowski, who broke his left arm and is out for the rest of the playoffs, a person with knowledge of the injury told The Associated Press.
However, he got the usual outstanding performance from Wes Welker, his favorite target the last six years. The AFC's top receiver with 118 catches this season, Welker looked like he might reach that total against Houston's befuddled defense. He caught six in the first half for 120 yards, including a 47-yarder, and wound up with eight for 131.
And the AFC East champion Patriots got more than anyone could have predicted from third-string running back Vereen, who scored their first two TDs on a 1-yard run and an 8-yard pass. He capped his biggest pro performance with an over-the-shoulder 33-yard catch early in the fourth period.
It was Brady's 41st postseason TD pass, behind only Brett Favre (44) and, you guessed it, Montana (45).
Nice company to be keeping.
"I grew up a 49ers fan," Brady said after throwing for three touchdowns in the AFC divisional playoff. "Joe Montana and Steve Young ... those guys are in another class.
"I hope I am around for a few more years," the 35-year-old Brady added with a smile.
The boost from Vereen offset the loss of not only Gronkowski, but running back Danny Woodhead (thumb) in the first quarter.
"Shane had a great game, just a huge growing up moment for him, very special," Brady said. "There were a lot of guys who made a lot of plays."
New England's defense helped put away the Texans. Rob Ninkovich's leaping third-quarter interception stopped a drive, and six plays later, Brady hit Brandon Lloyd for a 6-yard score.
Although the Texans got two fourth-quarter TDs on passes by Matt Schaub, their season ended with four defeats in their last six games. That slump cost the AFC South champions the top seed in the playoffs, forcing a trip to New England after they beat Cincinnati in the wild-card round.
The Texans couldn't measure up.
"Whenever the season ends, no matter when, it's really hard," tight end Owen Daniels said. "The farther along you get, the harder it is to take. It's one we wanted to win really bad. It's tough to swallow ... but one team gets to have a smile on their face at the end of the season, and it's not us this year."
Unlike their 42-14 loss here a month ago, the Texans didn't fold early. J.J. Watt, their dominating defensive end, bothered Brady, and when they fell behind 17-3, they had the fortitude to climb back.
Arian Foster did all the work after Danieal Manning's second big kickoff return, this one a 35-yarder that had 15 yards tacked on when kicker Stephen Gostkowski brought down Manning with a horse-collar tackle. The Pro Bowl runner covered all 47 yards on a five-play drive and his 1-yard run — he barely squeezed into the end zone — made it 17-10.
Houston forced a three-and-out, and a short punt gave the Texans another shot just before halftime. They got close enough for Shayne Graham to kick a 55-yard field goal as the half ended.
But the Patriots pulled away in the third quarter for coach Bill Belichick's 17th postseason win, third behind Tom Landry (20) and Don Shula (19).
Now come the Ravens.
"It's sweet just playing in the AFC championship," defensive tackle Vince Wilfork. "It's a team that beat us earlier this year at their house, and a team that's riled up for us."
Needing a quick jolt after being blown out by the Patriots on Dec. 10, the Texans got it on the opening kickoff from Manning. He took the ball 6 yards in his end zone and never hesitated in returning it. He broke free at the Houston 30 and wasn't run down until reaching the New England 12.
That spark didn't even last one play, though, and Houston wound up with Graham's 27-yard field goal 63 seconds in.
And when the Texans closed the first half with a 10-point spurt, they wasted the momentum by allowing a quick touchdown drive to open the third period. Brady went to the familiar (Welker and tight end Aaron Hernandez) on that series before second-year back Stevan Ridley scored on an 8-yard burst.
New England lost Gronkowski and Woodhead almost immediately. Gronkowski missed five regular-season games with a broken left forearm, but returned for the finale. Eight Patriots plays on offense and he was gone again.
So Brady found other targets; he probably could complete passes to Belichick for big gains.
Vereen was an unlikely star. After gaining 400 yards overall during the season, he picked up 124 against the Texans. He had four touchdowns in the regular season.
"I don't come into the game knowing how much anyone is going to play," Vereen said. "I come into the game ready to go, and if my number is called, I do my best for the team."
NOTES: Brady is 3-2 in Super Bowls and if he reaches a sixth, he'll join a club that currently totals one player: defensive tackle Mike Lodish. ... New England has played in eight AFC championship games, going 7-1, including 5-1 with Brady and Belichick. ... Brady threw for 344 yards, and Schaub threw for 343. Schaub's TD passes were 25 yards to DeVier Posey and 1 to Foster. ... Foster had 90 yards rushing, the first time in four playoff games he did not reach 100. But his 515 tie for most in a player's first four playoff games with Denver's Terrell Davis.

Read More..

Northern Irish militants seen hijacking flag protests

Pro-British militant groups are instigating riots that have rocked the Northern Irish capital Belfast in the past month, a police officers' representative said on Sunday as officers came under attack again.
The violence stems from protests over the removal of the British flag over Belfast City Hall. It has been among the province's worst since a 1998 peace accord ended 30 years of conflict in which Catholic nationalists seeking union with Ireland fought British forces and mainly Protestant loyalists.
Fireworks, bottles and bricks were flung at officers for a fourth successive night on Sunday although a police spokeswoman said the trouble was not on the scale of the previous night, when police came under attack with petrol bombs and gunfire.
By Sunday, 70 people had been arrested, including a 38-year-old man detained on Saturday on suspicion of attempted murder over the shooting.
Police had said that members of pro-British militant groups helped to orchestrate and had taken part in the first wave of violence in early December. The Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI) said the recent attacks showed this was now clearly the case.
"What it quite clearly demonstrates is the fact that paramilitaries have hijacked this flags protest issue and they have now turned their guns on the police," federation chairman Terry Spence told BBC radio.
"It is very clear that there are leading members of the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) who are exploiting this and are organizing and orchestrating this violence against police officers who are out there trying to uphold the law and prevent anarchy on our streets."
Both the UVF and Northern Ireland's other main loyalist militant group, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, ceased hostilities in 2007 and decommissioned their stocks of weapons following the signing of the peace deal.
At least 3,600 people were killed in the 30 years of violence before the 1998 peace deal.
In scenes that recalled that earlier strife, pro-British loyalists began rioting in early December after a vote by mostly nationalist pro-Irish councilors to end the century-old tradition of flying Britain's Union flag from the city hall.
"NO STOMACH FOR THIS"
Analysts said that, although the violence was worrying, the small numbers of protesters indicated they might be unable to develop any strength.
"Clearly the violence is a step up in terms of what's happened more recently but they're simply not getting people out on the street," said Peter Shirlow, a professor at Queen's University who has spoken with protesters in recent days.
"Protestants are annoyed about the flag but they're even more annoyed about the violence. There's no stomach for this, that mass mobilization is just not there anymore."
The police federation's Spence said, however, that it was the most challenging time for police in a decade. Church leaders and community workers held talks behind the scenes on Sunday to try to quell the violence.
Militant Irish nationalists, responsible for the killings of three police officers and two soldiers since an increase in tensions from 2009, have also not reacted violently to the flag protests, limiting any threat to the 15 years of peace.
The British-controlled province's first minister, Peter Robinson, said on Friday that rioters were playing into the hands of nationalist groups who would seek to exploit every opportunity "to further their terror aims".
The moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) party said on Sunday that shots had been fired using a ball-bearing gun at the house of one its councilors in Belfast, shattering windows.

Read More..

Britain's coalition leaders seek to regain voters' trust

LONDON (Reuters) - The leaders of Britain's fractious coalition pledged on Monday to cap the cost of long-term care for the elderly and to improve state pensions in an effort to re-engage with electors midway into their five-year government.
Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and his Liberal Democrat deputy, Nick Clegg, have seen popular support fall away as voters suffer squeezed incomes and the economy fails to stage a stable recovery from the 2008/2009 financial crisis.
Despite trailing behind the opposition Labour party in polls, the two leaders said their alliance remained "steadfast and united" on its key aim of cutting Britain's deficit and restoring the economy to health.
In a joint statement to mark the halfway point of Britain's first coalition government since World War Two, Cameron and Clegg set out a series of domestic policy initiatives designed to quash talk that the partnership had run out of steam.
"Our mission is clear: to get Britain living within its means and earning its way in the world once again," they wrote in a review of the government's actions since it came to power in May 2010.
Without giving details, they promised to limit the amount the elderly pay for long-term healthcare, to reform state pensions, build more houses, help parents with childcare costs and find ways to boost investment in transport infrastructure.
Labour dismissed the mid-term review as "another relaunch" of the coalition, seen by many at its birth as an unstable marriage between the center-right Conservatives and the smaller center-left Liberal Democrat party.
In spite of sharp differences over issues such as political reform and Britain's relationship with the European Union, the alliance has held together, bound by a joint commitment to an austerity programme that has kept interest rates low.
Political reality has also proved an effective bond, with Clegg's party at risk of a wipeout if they force an early election, after losing the backing of left-leaning voters angry at a partnership that returned the Conservatives to government.
Later on Monday the two leaders will address media at Cameron's Downing Street residence in London, in what is likely to be a somber echo of their relaxed joint appearance in the garden of the same building after sealing the coalition deal.
They will be speaking a day before a parliamentary vote to approve a real-terms cut in unemployment and tax-credit benefits, condemned by Labour, which the coalition believes will enjoy popular support at a time of low or frozen pay rises.
At the weekend, Cameron said he wanted to be re-elected in 2015 and serve another five-year term as prime minister, a move seen as dismissing suggestions that he was tiring of his role, and putting a lid on the ambitions of potential rivals.

Read More..

Egypt Copts mark Christmas with fear of future

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's minority Christians were celebrating their first Christmas after the election of an Islamist president and a new pope — and following adoption of a constitution many argue has an Islamist slant.
Christians gathered in Cairo's main cathedral Sunday for Midnight Mass on the eve of Orthodox Christmas led by their new pope. Pope Tawadros II was elected in November to replace longtime Pope Shenouda III, who died in March after 40 years as the leader of the church.
Islamist President Mohammed Morsi called Tawadros with Christmas greetings and sent one of his aides to the Christmas mass.
Concerned for their future and their ancient heritage in Egypt, some Copts are reportedly considering leaving the country.
As Egypt struggles with the role of religion in society, many Copts are aligning themselves with moderate Muslims and secular Egyptians who also fear the rise of Islamic power.
Amir Ramzy, a Coptic Christian and a judge in Cairo's court of appeals, said Christmas is a chance to retreat and pray for a "better Egypt."
"Christians are approaching Christmas with disappointment, grief and complaints, fearing not only their problems but Egypt's situation in general," Ramzy said. "During the reign of (ousted President Hosni) Mubarak and the (military rulers), mainly Christians were facing problems, but now with the Muslim Brotherhood leaders, each and every moderate Egyptian is facing problems."
In one of his first public messages after his enthronement, Tawadros said the ouster of Mubarak opened the way for a larger Coptic public role, encouraging them to participate in the nation's evolving democracy.
Egypt's Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 85 million people, have long complained of discrimination by the state and the country's Muslim majority. Clashes with Muslims have occasionally broken out, sparked by church construction, land disputes or Muslim-Christian love affairs.
Following the ouster of Mubarak in 2011, sectarian violence rose, and attacks on churches sent thousands of Coptic protesters into the streets. A protest in October 2011 was violently quelled by the country's military rulers, leaving 26 people dead and sparking further outrage.
Ereny Rizk, 34, whose brother George died in that incident, said it was the second Christmas without him, but that the election of a new pope has raised her spirits.
"I felt like he's my father. Having him lessened the severity of my grief," she said. "I definitely thought about leaving the country, but two things stopped me. First the churches and the monasteries in Egypt, our heritage that I'll be missing. Also, I decided not to let my brother's blood go in vain."
The violence has abated, and 2012 was characterized more by the struggle for political and religious rights, said Hossam Bahgat, the director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
"It is not actual frequent sectarian violence, it is fear of further marginalization and second class citizenship," he said, adding that Egypt has been deeply polarized as it drafted the constitution. Christians and liberals walked out of the committee writing it, complaining that their concerns were not being addressed by the Islamist majority.
Youssef Sidhom, the editor of Egypt's main Coptic newspaper, Watani, said Christians are more concerned for the identity of Egypt, saying that legislation based on the new constitution will be focus of attention out of fear of restrictions on the way of life of Christians and their freedom of worship and expression.
"Egypt is stepping into 2013 split and divided between Copts and moderate Muslims on one side confronting political Islam and fundamentalists on the other side," Sidhom said. "It will only be (resolved) through reconciliation, and this is the challenge that we will have to meet."
Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher with EIPR who monitors religious freedom cases in Egypt, said Coptic Christians are facing two new sets of problems: cases of insulting Islam and fear for their life style because of increasingly assertive radical Islamists.
In October, two Coptic boys were put in a juvenile detention after locals accused them of urinating on pages of the Quran, Islam's holy book. It was one in a series of cases against Coptic Christians in the same period, following the fury over an anti-Islam film produced in the United States. The case against the boys was later dropped after mediation.
Ibrahim said some wealthy Copts, who have connections abroad, have temporarily sought to leave Egypt.
"But the majority (of Christians) are also less fortunate," he said. "Like most Egyptians, they are with little education and have difficult economic conditions."
Verna Ghayes, a 21-year old arts student, also noted the deteriorating economic situation. Her father, an architect, lost his job because of a tight market. She felt the hardships, have, in turn, encouraged Christians to seek relief from God.
"With all the unfortunate events that are happening to Egypt, Christians came closer to God, they started to pray more, believing that only God could handle it," she said. "For me that's the good thing, and everything is according to God's plan," she said.

Read More..

Monti says he is open to leading next government

After keeping Italians, and the rest of Europe, in suspense for weeks, caretaker Premier Mario Monti on Sunday ruled out campaigning in February elections, but said he would consider leading the next government if politicians who share his focus on reform request it.
The decision positions him to take the helm again without having to get into the political nitty-gritty of an election — preserving his image as someone above the fray who can make tough decisions on imposing austerity. His previous measures have boosted confidence in Italy's finances, and fellow European leaders have made no secret they want to keep them in place.
Silvio Berlusconi, the scandal-tainted ex-premier considering another run, commented scathingly on Monti's openness to another term.
"I had a nightmare — still having a government with Monti," the media mogul said in an interview on state TV. He has said in the past that he would run again if Monti did not, but made no commitment Sunday about his own political future.
Monti, who after his resignation Friday is continuing in a caretaker role, ruled out heading any ticket — even a center-right grouping that Berlusconi said he would be willing to back.
But the 69-year-old economist made it clear he was willing to take another turn in power.
"If one or more political forces is credibly backing (my) agenda or even has a better one, I'd evaluate the offer," Monti said during a news conference.
"To those forces who demonstrate convincing and credible adherence to the Monti agenda, I am ready to give my appreciation, encouragement, and if requested, leadership, and I am ready to assume, one day, if the circumstances require it, the responsibility that would be entrusted to me by Parliament."
Monti refused to head any ticket himself, saying "I have no sympathy for 'personal' parties."
Italy is struggling to shore up its finances and emerge from recession, a challenge made harder by its volatile politics. The country has had dozens of governments over the years that let tax evasion spread, avoided unpopular reforms like raising the retirement age, and allowed public spending to balloon.
Monti was appointed in November 2011 to head a non-elected government with the goal of saving Italy from a Greece-style debt debacle after financial markets lost faith in his populist predecessor, Berlusconi.
Berlusconi triggered Monti's resignation last week, a few months ahead of the term's end, when he yanked his Freedom Party's support in Parliament for the government. Parliament was then sent packing last week by Italy's president, and elections scheduled for Feb. 24-25.
Monti's announcement Sunday pleased some parties but irked others.
"Yet again, Monti shows himself to be arrogant and (Pontius) Pilate-like," said Antonio Borghesi, a leader of the small center-left party that refused to back him during Monti's 13 months at the head of a non-elected government. "He won't directly commit himself, but he doesn't rule out that his name be used by others who share his agenda and he gives his willingness, if asked, to again be leader the country."
The tiny centrist Italy Future party, meanwhile, hailed Monti as a "great political leader and international statesman," and said in a statement: "We reiterate our willingness to back with pride the agenda of Premier Monti."
The party's leaders include pro-Vatican politicians and industrialists, notably Luca di Montezemolo, president of Ferrari, the Italian Formula One racing team.
Monti said he was spurning Berlusconi's offer to sit out the election if Monti would head a center-right ticket. He expressed bewilderment at Berlusconi's sharp condemnation of his economic policies and his seemingly contradictory offer to back another Monti-led government.
"Yesterday, we read that he assessed the work of the (Monti) government to be a complete disaster. A few days earlier I read flattering things," Monti said of his predecessor. The logic "escapes me" Monti said, drawing chuckles.
Berlusconi has said he would try for a fourth term as premier if Monti doesn't run, even though he continues to face several legal and sex-related scandals.
Monti praised Parliament for backing his government's recipe of spending cuts, new taxes and pension reform, which he said saved Italy from the debt crisis.
"Italians as citizens can hold their heads up high in Europe," Monti said, noting Italy had avoided the bailouts that Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus have had to take.
Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved Parliament after Monti resigned Friday following approval of the country's national budget law. Monti noted that as a senator-for-life, he remains in Parliament and doesn't need to run for a seat in the legislature.
Voter opinion polls indicate a centrist ticket backing Monti would take about 15 percent of the vote, meaning any government he heads would need support from either of Italy's two largest political groupings: the center-right, led by Berlusconi, or the center-left, led by Pier Luigi Bersani.
After Monti's announcement Sunday, Bersani, whose forces turned out to be Monti's staunchest proponent this past year, vowed to keep up the premier's anti-crisis efforts.
By declining to directly campaign for February's balloting, Monti avoids a direct clash with him. On Sunday, Monti would only would say that Bersani is a highly "legitimate candidate for premier of a coalition."
In an interview on state TV later Sunday, Monti declined to say if he thought his agenda would get more backing from Bersani's or from Berlusconi's supporters.
Some had speculated that Monti had his sights set on the Italian presidency, since Napolitano's term ends this spring. But Monti ruled that out.

Read More..

UK 'plebgate' scandal becomes police crisis

 The "plebgate" scandal started with an angry exchange over a bicycle in front of Downing Street. The controversy over what a senior politician did or didn't say to officers guarding the prime minister's official residence has now grown into a full-blown crisis which is raising new questions about the ethics of Britain's largest police force.
Scotland Yard's reputation has already been battered over its failure to curb law-breaking journalists and police corruption exposed in the phone hacking scandal which exploded last year.
The force faces renewed scrutiny after Andrew Mitchell, formerly the Conservative Party's chief whip, said a police report quoting him as abusing officers as "morons" and "plebs" — a term of abuse for working-class people — was based on lies.
"For the next three weeks, these awful phrases were hung round my neck in a concerted attempt to toxify the Conservative party and destroy my political career," Mitchell wrote in The Sunday Times, describing the period which followed the leak of a police report into the incident.
"I never uttered those phrases; they are completely untrue."
Mitchell has long acknowledged losing his temper and swearing as he tried to maneuver his bike into Downing Street on the evening of Sept. 19. He was running late and officers were refusing to open the main gate, he said. But he has long denied using the term "pleb" or telling officers to "learn your place," words which he described on Sunday as "a bad caricature of what an ill-mannered 1930s upper-class lout might say."
In Britain, a country very sensitive to issues of social class, the story dominated the headlines for weeks. Some police constables, or PCs, walked around with T-shirts bearing the words "PC Pleb." Political opponents called for Mitchell to lose his job. When an email from what appeared to be an independent witness emerged to corroborate the police account, Mitchell found himself with little choice but to resign in October.
The police account, however, has now been challenged; the independent witness was allegedly a policeman who wasn't even at the scene. Security camera footage taken from Downing Street and broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 didn't seem to line up with the officers' accounts. Two people have been arrested as Scotland Yard has pledged to get to the bottom of what happened.
"The allegations in relation to this case are extremely serious," Scotland Yard chief Bernard Hogan-Howe said in a statement Sunday. "For the avoidance of doubt, I am determined there will be a ruthless search for the truth — no matter where the truth takes us."
If it turned out that officers conspired to frame Mitchell, it would be another dark chapter for the respected force, which has already seen several high-profile resignations and arrests and a wrenching police corruption probe spawned by the phone hacking scandal. Politicians are already talking of the need for reform.
Britain's former policing minister, Nick Herbert, said journalists and public servants might reflect on whether they jumped to conclusions about Mitchell, but added that "it is the police service which above all must take stock and examine its own culture."
The scandal, meanwhile, has revived Mitchell's political fortunes, with many calling for him to be reinstated to Prime Minister David Cameron's Cabinet.

Read More..

UK household finances worsen sharply in December - Markit

 Britons suffered the biggest deterioration in their finances in seven months in December and turned more downbeat about 2013, a survey showed on Monday.
The Markit Household Finance Index fell to 36.8 - the lowest since May - from November's near two-year high of 39.3, sinking further below the 50 level that would mark no change in the financial situation compared with a month ago.
Around a third of respondents said their finances had worsened in December, while only 6 percent reported an improvement. Overall, households also felt less secure in their jobs than in November.
"The latest survey suggests that domestic consumer demand will remain under pressure in the near term, especially since inflation perceptions remain elevated and job insecurities are prevalent across the UK," said Markit economist Tim Moore.
Three quarters of respondents expected their finances to worsen or to show no improvement next year.
In a further worrying sign for policymakers, inflation expectations for the year ahead picked up slightly from the three-month low posted in November.
The survey of around 1,500 people was conducted between December 13 and December 17.

Read More..

Russian opposition leader faces new probe

 A prominent Russian opposition leader faces his third investigation in five months as authorities intensify pressure on the opposition.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement on Monday that they launched a new probe against Alexei Navalny, who was already charged with theft and with fraud and money laundering in two separate cases.
Investigators now say they also suspect Navalny of defrauding the Union of the Right Forces, a now defunct liberal party, of 100 million rubles ($3.2 million) in 2007.
Navalny, a charismatic 36-year-old lawyer, made his name exposing corruption in state-controlled companies. Last winter, he spearheaded a series of street rallies in Moscow that drew up to 100,000 people before March's vote that handed Putin a third presidential term.
In July, the lawyer was charged with the theft of half a million dollars from a state-owned timber company. Earlier this month, Navalny and his brother were charged with defrauding a transportation company of about $1.8 million.
The opposition leader dismissed the accusations as politically motivated, and pointed to the fact that there was no injured party in either of the cases.
Leonid Gozman, a former senior figure at the Union of the Right Forces, was quoted by the Interfax news agency, as denying reports of fraud at his party.
"This is another provocation, total nonsense," he said.
Navalny tweeted "that's enough," referring to the slew of criminal cases against him.

Read More..

Pope lights Christmas candle in his Vatican window

 Pope Benedict XVI has lit a Christmas peace candle set on the windowsill of his private studio.
Pilgrims, tourists and Romans gathered below in St. Peter's Square for the inauguration Monday evening of a Nativity scene and cheered when the flame was lit.
Later, he will appear in St. Peter's Basilica to lead Christmas Eve Mass. The ceremony begins at 10 p.m. (2100 GMT) instead of the midnight start time, which was changed at the Vatican years ago to let the pontiff rest before a Christmas Day speech to be delivered from the basilica's central balcony.

Read More..

Japanese chef dishes on North Korean leader and missile launch

The Japanese chef who cooked for North Korean leaders for 13 years – before finding a pretext to return to Japan – believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has no desire to upset other countries by sanctioning the firing of a long-range missile later this month.

“It’s hard to understand why surrounding countries are so sensitive,” says Kenji Fujimoto, who left North Korea in 2001 but returned for several weeks last summer at Kim Jong-un’s invitation. “Even if a nuclear warhead were attached,” he says, “North Korea would never actually push the button.” North Korea’s nuclear program is “only a deterrence” he believes, to attack by other countries.

Mr. Fujimoto offered the rationale for North Korea’s plan to launch the missile sometime between next Monday and Dec. 22 during a barrage of questions by journalists after he talked here about his return to North Korea in July. His sanguine view contrasts with that of officials in Japan, the United States, and South Korea who see the plan to launch the missile as a hostile move that can only exacerbate tensions in the region.

QUIZ How well do you know North Korea's leaders? Take the Kim challenge

Earlier in the day, for instance, Lt. Gen. Salvatore Angelella, commander of the 50,000 US troops in Japan, characterized the plan as possibly creating “a very dangerous situation.” And in Seoul, South Korea’s unification ministry said the South would “sternly deal” with what it called “a direct and serious security threat to us.”

Fujimoto, who served as a chef specializing in preparing sushi for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il from 1988 to 2001, is convinced this response misses the central reason why North Korea plans to launch the missile.

“I do not believe Kim Jong-un is acting aggressively,” he says. Rather, “he has the idea somewhere in his heart to shoot off something to honor his father” on the first anniversary of his death on Dec. 17. “It’s unavoidable to have the launching of the rocket on that day,” he goes on. Moreover, he adds, “he feels he must do this as a demonstration of his future.”

That remark suggests Kim Jong-un’s need to prove his strength against the background of a power struggle in which a number of top generals have lost their jobs. Fujimoto accepts the widespread view that Kim Jong-un's uncle by marriage, Jang Song-thaek, husband of Kim Jong-il’s younger sister, is the country’s second most powerful leader – “in the background” possibly making the key decisions.

Fujimoto believes Kim Jong-un actually would like to improve relations with the US, South Korea, and Japan.

“Though on the surface, it seems North Korea is taking a very adversarial position,” he says, “there is the feeling North Korea wants to clasp hands as soon as possible.” He adds, for emphasis, “that feeling exists toward Japan as well.”

Japanese leaders, however, clearly do not subscribe to this view.

The central government has sent detailed confidential messages to local officials outlining how to respond “if flying objects should drop on the mainland” as a result of the missile shot. The message states that North Korea has said the missile will fly over the Yellow Sea on a trajectory past the Philippine islands but outlines precautions in case it veers over Japan. (Read more about North Korea's prep for a rocket launch, despite international warnings)

Fujimoto says Kim Jong-un invited him back to North Korea with warm memories of their friendship from when Kim Jong-un was a child. In answer to a question about Kim Jong-un's age, the topic of much speculation, he says's he's 29 and will turn 30 on Jan. 8.

Fujimoto married a North Korean woman, but she remained in the North when he returned to Tokyo in 2001 on what was to have been a mission to purchase food to satisfy the tastes of Kim Jong-il.

Kim Jong-un greeted Fujimoto with a hug and a handshake in July and hosted a welcome banquet attended by Mr. Jang and North Korea's ambassador to Switzerland, where Kim Jong-un had gone to school for several years, he says. Fujimoto gives the impression, however, that he did not discuss policy issues deeply with his host.

Although the visit seemed to have been a success, Fujimoto's access remains uncertain. He was to have gone again in September but delayed the trip for a week at the request of Japan's foreign ministry.

He said that an official had asked him to wait while the government prepared a letter for him to carry on behalf of Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. At the end of the week, however, the official said Mr. Noda had decided not to send a letter, and the North Korean Embassy in Beijing then turned him down when he showed up expecting to get a visa.

Read More..

Human rights report names names in Kashmir, invokes international law

Two prominent human rights groups in India-administered Kashmir Thursday accused New Delhi  of institutionally blocking justice in thousands of cases of crimes like enforced disappearance, killings, rape, and torture allegedly committed by its forces in the disputed region during the past two decades.

A report "Alleged Perpetrators: Stories of impunity in Jammu and Kashmir" released by the groups analyzes 214 cases and for the first time names 500 specific perpetrators including 469 military, paramilitary, and police officials besides 31 government-backed militants and associates.

The report, which took two years to prepare by International People’s Tribunal for Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir, or IPTK, and the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, paints a grim climate of impunity under which Indian forces are operating in the territory controlled by India and also claimed by Pakistan.

“Beyond naming the alleged perpetrators, the report explains that the Indian state has not failed but succeeded in its policy of maintaining control [over the disputed region] through absolute impunity accorded to perpetrators of crimes,” says Kartik Murukutla, an author of the report who has worked in a UN tribunal on Rwanda for five years.

Kashmir 101: Decoding Kashmir's conflict

Residents of the Kashmir Valley and resistance leaders opposed to Indian rule of the region have long accused the Indian government of using its institutions to meet the ends of control rather than address issues of justice and political rights.

In a shift in strategy, armed rebellion against Indian rule has been largely replaced with massive rock throwing street protests since 2008, but India has not countered with meaningful legal reforms or political initiatives.

Analysts say this latest report adds urgency to calls for an international legal intervention by bodies like the International Criminal Court (ICC) as well as movement toward a political resolution for the long-running Kashmir dispute. “This report should be sent to the prosecutor of ICC who can take suo moto cognizance on the basis of the evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity it contains and persuade the court for proceedings on the subject,” says Professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain, who teaches international law at the Central University here.

TWO MAJOR GENERALS, THREE BRIGADIERS, AND MORE

The accused perpetrators include two major generals and three brigadiers of the Indian Army, besides nine colonels, three lieutenant colonels, 78 majors, and 25 captains. A recently retired director general of police and a serving inspector general are also named along with 37 senior officials of the federal paramilitary forces.

The 354-page report contains significant evidence against the government forces’ personnel named but notes that any institutional or political will was absent for “a trial where the crime and the guilt of a perpetrator can be proven beyond reasonable doubt.”

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, an emergency military law extended to Kashmir in 1990 in the wake of a full blown armed rebellion against Indian rule, requires New Delhi’s permission for prosecuting federal armed forces personnel accused of crimes like extra-judicial murder. Not a single such sanction has been granted despite dozens of requests by the local authorities.

Based on the information gleaned mostly from official state documents, the authors of the report insist that crimes “have not been committed, despite the Indian state, but because of it” accusing the government of “willfully putting in place structures specifically meant to carry out these crimes.”

“We call for international humanitarian intervention when the Indian state has failed to deliver justice and instead works its institutions for crimes with impunity in Kashmir,” says Pervez Imroz, a prominent human rights lawyer and another author of the report.

Government officials said they were studying the report. “We will have first to go through the contents of the report and then we will respond,” the region’s law minister, Ali Mohammed Sagar told the Associated Press Thursday.

SECURITY STATE

The report comes at a time when militant violence in the region has significantly dropped. However, India maintains a presence of an estimated 700,000 soldiers stationed in camps dotting its held territory and along the de facto border with Pakistan dividing the former kingdom between the nuclear armed South Asian neighbors.

International rights bodies like Amnesty International have long maintained that Indian forces have routinely operated with impunity in the region calling for impartial investigations into numerous violations blamed on them in the past. (Read more on the issue)

“The defining feature of human rights violations here is that in the name of countering militant violence the Indian State authorizes armed forces to carry out every kind of operation, often without adherence to laws and norms,” the report says. “In a majority of cases crimes are not noted or investigated at all.”

INDIA: 'ABERRATIONS'

India has often responded to allegations of widespread human rights violations against its forces as “aberrations” saying a handful of military personnel have been punished after military trials found them guilty.

However, Thursday’s report alleges that perpetrators of crimes are “assisted by a system where impunity is available right from the commission of the crime to the ultimate cover up.” Its authors indict the Indian judiciary for “lowering the standards of justice delivery system” to ensure impunity and by highlighting the fact that India has not legislated for crimes of torture and enforced disappearance.

“Even if the state wanted to prosecute the guilty, what will it prosecute them for in absence of the required legislation?” Murukutla asked pressing for the need to invoke international law.

The report recommends, among other things, that international rights bodies such as those of the United Nations be allowed free access to Kashmir to investigate specific allegations under the international human rights laws.

New Delhi has consistently declined requests for international intervention in Kashmir even in matters like forensic investigations into more than 6,000 unmarked and mass graves in the region that are suspected to be linked to the thousands of cases of enforced disappearances. However, the government has also said that it does not possess the capacity for such wide scale investigations itself.

Earlier this year, the Indian government allowed, for the first time, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, and Arbitrary Executions, Christof Heyns, to visit the region. However, the groups say the visit was a “regulated one, being confined by the authorities.”

Read More..

McAfee's rise and downfall via technology

Computer protection guru John McAfee’s high-profile run from the law is over, and it may have been a simple slip in digital security that helped lead to his downfall.

Mr. McAfee, on the run for nearly a month since his neighbor in Belize turned up dead, was arrested Wednesday in Guatemala for crossing into the Central American country illegally. He is being held in a detention center with other migrants, authorities say.

Guatemalan authorities say he will be sent back to Belize, where he is wanted for questioning related to his neighbor's death. Fernando Lucero, spokesman for Guatemala’s immigration office, tells the Monitor that the timetable for doing so was not clear.

“This is a matter in the hands of the courts,” Mr. Lucero says. “At this time, we have no court order.”

For a man on the run, McAfee has been in the public spotlight frequently in recent days, granting interviews with television reporters and writing regularly on a blog WhoIsMcAfee.com. All the while, he was doing so from a concealed location.

RELATED: Think you know Latin America? Take our geography quiz!

Among those to reach him were video journalists from the magazine and website Vice who are planning an “epic” documentary about the ordeal. But in promoting their access, the journalists accidentally revealed McAfee’s location.

AN IPHONE PHOTO

In an update on the Vice website titled “We are with John McAfee right now, suckers,” the journalists released an iPhone photo with metadata that included the exact coordinates of McAfee’s location. They were in Rio Dulce, a small town near Guatemala’s Caribbean coast not far from the Belize border.

After initially suggesting the co-ordinates were manipulated to hide his location, McAfee later wrote on his blog: “Yesterday was chaotic due to the accidental release of my exact co-ordinates by an unseasoned technician at Vice headquarters.”

A day later, McAfee was in Guatemala City, where he was planning a press conference until he was arrested. On his blog, he wrote, “I am in jail in Guatemala. Vastly superior to Belize jails. I asked for a computer and one magically appeared. The coffee is also excellent.”

It was an unexpected turn for McAfee, who amassed a fortune building software to prepare against security threats. (He sold the company in 1994.)

In hiding, McAfee has displayed a streak of paranoia fitting for a man who built a fortune in security. Belizean authorities have said he’s not a suspect in the murder of Gregory Faull, a neighbor on the small island of Amergris Caye who was found dead on Nov. 11.

Yet, McAfee has claimed Belizean authorities would kill him once in custody. He left the country, slipping through a porous border into a lightly populated area of Guatemala.

Mr. Faull had reportedly complained about McAfee’s rowdy lifestyle and his pack of dogs that occasionally bit passersby. On Nov. 9, four of the dogs died of poisoning. Two days later, Faull was shot in the head in his home.

McAfee has insisted he has nothing to do with the death and authorities have said they only want to question him. It looks like they’re about to get their chance.

Read More..

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood's 'trial of power'

This morning I stumbled across a long story I wrote about the Muslim Brotherhood's struggles with the Mubarak regime  in June 2005 and found plenty of resonance for events today (as well as some personal chagrin in the fact that I'd used the phrase "Arab spring" back then).

Egypt is now finding out something that had been an object of speculation for decades: What the Muslim Brotherhood would actually do if it ever came to power. The prospect long horrified many Egyptian secularists and Christians. As I wrote at the time: "Both Arab regimes and secular opposition groups say the stated support for democracy by Islamists is a chimera."

In the first half of 2005, the Bush administration was still pursuing its "Freedom Agenda" in the Middle East (more or less abandoned after electoral successes for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt made possible by US pressure and a stirring victory for Hamas in Palestinian legislative elections) and the Brothers sensed an opening. They began to openly demonstrate and organize, insisted they were committed to democracy, and argued that any friend of freedom should champion their cause.

Think you know the Middle East? Take our geography quiz.

The Mubarak regime pushed back hard and in June 2005, over 800 Brotherhood activists were in jail. Some of them were tortured.

The debate then, was much as it is now. If democracy came to Egypt would the Brothers win? And if they did, would it fulfill the old cliche of "one man, one vote, one time?" Now many of the people who warned of what would happen then are saying, "I told you so." Tanks have been deployed in Cairo to stop protests against a power grab by President Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader freely and fairly elected in June. In November, he decreed himself sweeping powers and has been trying to force through a new constitution that has ignited a political and social crisis in his country.

FALSE HOPE?

Hossam Baghat, a prominent Egyptian human rights campaigner who has generally avoided hyperbole in the years that I've known him, summed up the mood in two written statements today.

"I know it may look to outsiders like the beginning of civil strife in Egypt," he wrote of the protests and violence in Cairo yesterday that claimed five lives. "But in fact it is many great Egyptians uniting to prevent the establishment of modern day fascism in their country." He followed that up with: "I can't count how many times I said 'being in government would certainly have a moderating effect on Egypt's Islamists.' I was wrong."

That assumption, or hope, that governance would force the Brothers to compromise, was grounded in a difficult reality confronted by all knowledgeable advocates for democracy in Egypt: The Muslim Brotherhood, even though it had been technically outlawed for decades, was the most popular and organized political force in the country. Free elections in Egypt were always going to give them a major share of political power, and the choice for critics of their agenda was to either decide that dictatorship was better than democracy, or find a way to believe the Brothers when they told them that an Islamist imposition on society would not be the result.

With the developing reality in Cairo, and with signs that Morsi and the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, are cutting deals with the Egyptian military to cement their position, far more secular Egyptians are in the camp of fear than seven years ago. Suddenly, the young revolutionaries who triumphed in Tahrir Square in Feb. 2011 are on the side of former regime figures like Amr Moussa and Ahmed Shafiq, the Mubarak-era general and cabinet minister who was defeated for the presidency by Morsi in June. The tanks that were defending Mr. Shafiq and Mubarak in early 2011 are now defending President Morsi.

In 2005, the Mubarak government's official stance towards the strength of the Brothers was denial. The then Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazief promised democratic reforms that had been demanded by the Bush administration, but insisted that the Brothers would not be allowed to play a direct political role. Asked if the Brotherhood would ever be legalized he said "never," and added that the group had at most the support of 10 percent of Egypt's population.

TALK OF FREEDOM

Mahdi Akef, the Brother's then Supreme Guide, told me then there was nothing to worry about. "For the Brotherhood, the issue of freedom is at the top of our agenda now. Freedom is at the heart - it's the principal part - of Islamic law."

Not everyone was buying it. "I'm not ready to sacrifice my nation to these people,'' Said al-Kimmi, an author and historian of Islam, said then. "They may say to you they support democracy, but if you look at the history of their beliefs, democracy really doesn't fit with Islam. The sharia is antidemocratic – the rights of women would be attacked and they'd cut people's throats. If my choices are Mubarak's corrupt regime or them, I'll stick with what we have now."

Ali Abdel Fatah, the Brothers' chief organizer in Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, laughed off concerns back then: "The Brotherhood should be the ones who are afraid. We haven't had the trial of power, we aren't the ones who've formed military courts to jail opponents, executed peaceful activists, destroyed Egypt's civil society, or transformed the state into a series of personal fiefdoms. All we want is an open and fair system."

Well, the trial of power has arrived. And so far, the Brothers are failing it. The man I quoted to end that long ago article illustrates the point:

Ibrahim El Houdaiby, a Brotherhood member whose grandfather and great-grandfather ran the organization until their deaths, is a student at American University in Cairo. The movement's democracy rhetoric is no trick, he says, and that the Brotherhood is unlikely to push for more open conflict with the government.

"Revolutions don't really lead to democracies, just look at Iran,'' he says. "The Brotherhood really wants a democracy in Egypt, and it's willing to wait to make that happen peacefully."

Well, Egypt has had its revolution. As for Mr. Houdaiby? He broke with the Brotherhood a few years ago and is now a frequent critic. He told NPR's Leila Fadel a few days ago that the choice Morsi has forced on the Egyptian public – either improve an unpopular constitution or to leave him in a position of unchecked power – "means that we are not only creating a pharaoh, but the equivalent of a god."

Read More..

Merkel meets Netanyahu as Israel and Germany hit rocky patch

With German-Israeli relations unusually tense, Chancellor Angela Merkel is scrambling today in an apparent effort to assure Israel that the two are still friends as usual.

When Germany abstained in last week’s vote to change the Palestinian Authority's status at the United Nations to a non-member observer state, rather than vote against it, Israel took it poorly.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained about Germany’s “lack of consistency” toward the Middle East peace process and attacked Chancellor Merkel personally: “I am disappointed in her,” he told German newspaper Die Welt before he went to meet the chancellor for dinner on Wednesday.

“Israel’s security is part of Germany’s raison d’etre,” said Merkel today.

Taking responsibility for the Holocaust has turned Germany into one of the strongest allies of the Jewish state, next to the United States.

But the German public seems to be saying it is not so sure it wants to support Israel as unconditionally as it has in the past. Any criticism, perceived or intended, from Germany is a big deal, as Berlin has solidly backed Israel in recent decades, leaving observers wondering if that support is changing now.

QUIZ How well do you know Europe? Take this quiz.

Even though it is not officially confirmed, Germany’s UN vote is widely seen here as a reaction to Israel’s latest settlement announcement, which the Germans got wind of early.

“Israel has undermined the trust in its willingness to negotiate,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert said of the settlement plans, adding that they led to the “further shrinking of the geographical space for a future Palestinian state which has to be the basic requirement for a two state solution.”

Emerging from the German-Israeli government consultations today, a regular meeting of both cabinets, Merkel and Netanyahu were keen to stress the good state of relationships at all levels between the two countries.

“Thank you, Angela, for the warm welcome,” said Netanyahu.

“What a pleasure it is that we can communicate in this way today, given our history,” said Merkel. And the settlement issue? Quickly dealt with for reporters: “We agreed to disagree.”

'SURPRISED AND HURT'

Germany is not only one of Israel’s most important trade partners, it also provides arms and military equipment at very generous terms, such as submarines specifically developed for the Israeli Navy and capable of launching missiles with nuclear warheads.

“Israel has got used to unconditional support from Germany,” says Avi Primor, Israeli ambassador to Germany between 1993 and 1999. “So it was surprised and hurt by the official criticism.”

But the chemistry between Merkel and Netanyahu has deteriorated over the past months, according to Mr. Primor, and Merkel needs to reconsider her support for Israel against a backdrop of critical German public opinion toward Israel’s role in the Middle East.

“I think Germans are losing patience with our settlement policy and our treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. It’s a factor the German government can’t ignore,” says Primor.

This would not translate into an immediate policy change on the German side. But if after the Israeli elections in January the new government continues a confrontational course toward the Palestinians, there is a possibility that Germany might actually join the chorus of rather strong critics within the European Union, Primor believes.

Earlier this year, German pollster Forsa published a study showing that 70 percent of Germans thought Israel was behaving recklessly and without taking the interests of its neighbors into consideration, 59 percent called Israel “aggressive.” Both figures had risen by about 10 percentage points in comparison with a similar study carried out in 2009.

Observers like Martin Kloke, a Berlin-based specialist on German-Israeli relations and author of “Israel and the German Left – The History of a Difficult Relationship,” think the reasons for this development are found not so much in Israel’s policy, but in a German desire to rewrite history.

“On the surface it is often ignorance,” Mr. Kloke says. “People see the pictures of Gaza being turned to rubble by Israeli helicopter gunships, and they side with what they perceive as the underdog in this uneven fight.”

But in Kloke’s eyes the coverage of the conflict already betrays a bias in the German media, which hardly covered the week-long rocket attacks by Hamas on Israeli communities.

And that bias is the reflection of a sentiment in wider German society, says Kloke. “Every Palestinian killed by Israeli shells minimizes German guilt. German protest against the mistreatment of Palestinians is not about the Palestinians really, it is about showing that the Israelis aren’t so different from our Nazi grandfathers,” says Kloke.

The government and the political elites in Germany are well aware of the risk that any criticism of Israel can be misused. This is why such criticism from officials is very rare, says Kloke. “But sometimes the Israelis make it quite difficult for Merkel.”

Read More..

Egypt's anti-Morsi protests spread beyond Cairo

Violence erupting in the capital between supporters of President Mohamed Morsi and his political opposition is being mirrored outside of Cairo, revealing the extent of divisions across the country as the political crisis over a proposed new constitution continued to spiral today.

Clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi demonstrators broke out in Suez, the port city at one end of the famed canal of the same name, and in the industrial Nile Delta city of Mahalla Wednesday night. In Ismailia, near Suez, protesters stormed the Muslim Brotherhood office, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported. Similar attacks on Brotherhood offices were reported in smaller towns across the country.

In Alexandria, Muslim Brotherhood figure Sobhi Saleh was attacked by opponents of Mr. Morsi, landing the politician in an intensive care unit, the Brotherhood said on its website.

Think you know the Middle East? Take our geography quiz.

Though troops were mobilized in Cairo and other cities today after Wednesday's clashes and the situation was calmer, the simmering hostility of Egypt's political divide remains perilously close to boiling over. The day was spent waiting to see how Morsi would shape his next steps. This evening, he addressed the nation, and the response of political activists was one of fury and disappointment. Morsi spoke of the crimes of protesters and of "black money" being used to bribe them to undermine the state, but offered little in way of concessions over a draft constitution he hopes to put to a national referendum on Dec. 15.

“Things will get out of control unless the president tries to break this vicious cycle and reaches out for the other camp and tries to reach a compromise,” said Mazen Hassan, a political science lecturer at Cairo University, shortly before Morsi's address. “Basically what happened yesterday somehow changed the whole scene and… things can slip away very easily.”

If Mr. Hassan is right, Egypt has a dangerous few days ahead of it, since Morsi's speech appeared to double down on his commitment to the draft constitution. Egyptian activists were darkly warning that the tone of his speech was straight out of the Mubarak era, and that they expected imminent arrests of political figures as his next step. There did appear to be one concession in his speech: A revocation of a decree that removed him and the constitutional committee, packed with Islamists who drafted the document, from judicial oversight, if the constitution failed to be approved.

“[Morsi] is setting us up for another dictatorship and taking control of all powers by himself without taking anyone’s opinion on this constitution,” says Esma El-Hagrassi, an accountant who protested Wednesday in front of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party office in Zagazig, another city in the Nile Delta. “He’s just a leader of a group of people with beards."

But if the referendum is held on Dec. 15, it may well pass, leaving Egypt with a constitution rejected by a sizable proportion of the nation. Ms. El-Hagrassi says she is a minority in the city, where many people – as in other rural parts of Egypt – support the Muslim Brotherhood. “But recently we have been hearing people protesting against the Brotherhood in the streets,” she says.

On Thursday, clashes between security forces and protesters erupted near Morsi’s home in Zagazig (until recently he was on the engineering faculty at the university there), and 20 people were hospitalized due to tear-gas inhalation, local press reported.

POPULAR ENOUGH?

“People who support Morsi outside Cairo are much [greater in number] than people against him,” says Ahmed Roushid, an engineer and member of the Brotherhood’s political party. A resident of Mansoura, north of Cairo, Mr. Roushid echoes many Morsi supporters when he says they comprise Egypt’s majority. The Muslim Brotherhood's backers have praised Morsi’s decree as a key to moving toward stability and protecting democracy.

In parliamentary elections earlier this year (a judicial ruling later dissolved parliament), Islamists won almost 75 percent of the seats, gaining much of their support from rural regions where people are generally more religiously and socially conservative than those in the cities. People in rural areas comprise more than 78 percent of Egypt’s poor, the World Bank says, and there is great desire for stability.

“Most Egyptians, not only outside Cairo but also inside Cairo, don’t care about anything but living in a quiet country, having a sort of stability, and their daily income is the first priority for them,” Mr. Roushid says. That desire for an end to turmoil could lead many to vote "yes" in the upcoming referendum.

While some pro-Morsi demonstrators have rallied outside Cairo, protests in rural areas against Morsi and his constitutional decree have been staged by a relative minority who are eager to show they can speak against the president, says Hassan at Cairo University. They typically choose places that draw attention although protests have been small in size compared to those in Cairo.

Even so, the fact that some protests are taking place is indicative of how things have grown worse and the nation is really split in this period, he says. “This means divisions are getting deeper and deeper and the polarization that this country is going through is basically unprecedented as I can see it."

The January and February 2011 revolution against Mubarak reached its breaking point when protests erupted outside the capital, and there is fear that this might happen again, Hassan says. The current extent of unrest, however, does not compare to the 18 days that ended Mubarak's nearly 30 years in power.

ECONOMIC COSTS

Many Egyptians in and outside Cairo are finding it difficult to make a living alongside unrest that has come in waves since early 2011. That is the case for some in Aswan, a sleepy city in Upper Egypt that like Luxor – home to Valley of the Kings – relies on the tourism industry.

“It’s almost dead since the revolution started, and things are going from bad to worse,” says Hassan Abdel Rahim, a tour guide in Aswan, on the Nile River. “The latest clashes killed the season as it was about to start. I have heard about so many reservations being cancelled.”

But even Aswan saw a small protest on Wednesday evening and groups are planning for a larger demonstration on Friday.

“Aswan is an extension of Tahrir Square,” says Ashraf Mekkawi, the local head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, a liberal group. “We feel we have lots of people who are having the same feelings or ideas against the regime and sympathize with us.”

Further north and in Egypt’s east, the lower half of the Sinai Peninsula hosts a slew of vacation resorts in Sharm El Sheikh and elsewhere along the Red Sea coast. Here some are also struggling from unrest that hinders business.

“I just want tourism to come back and things to keep calm,” says Bedouin Mohammad Hassein, who doesn’t support any of the protesters.

Bedouin here complain of being disregarded in political decisions. Some considered having protests, says Sheikh Sleiman El-Sakhan, a community leader in Nuweiba. “But what is the benefit?” he asks. “We are too far removed from politics so we won’t get anything out of this. People in North and South Sinai… are just waiting for their own daily income.”

“It’s as if we don’t exist on the map,” he added.

Read More..

How deadly would chemical weapons in Syria be?

Serious concerns have been raised about chemical weapons in Syria as unnamed US officials on Wednesday told NBC News that Syrian forces have loaded sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into bombs that can be dropped by planes.

The officials said the bombs had not been loaded onto planes and there was not yet a decision from Syria's leader to use them.

President Obama has said the use of chemical weapons in Syria is a “red line” that would draw the US into the war. Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has denied that he’s planning to use them, unless international forces intervene. And Syrian officials have called recent accusations a “pretext for intervention.”

The international community is now debating if and how to respond to this latest development.

Think you know the Middle East? Take our geography quiz.

As the situation unfolds, for many unfamiliar with sarin gas there may be some question as to what it is and just how deadly it can be. Though it’s classified as a weapon of mass destruction and is extremely lethal, it is not in the same league as nuclear weapons.

“Chemical weapons are not nuclear weapons. In order to produce a lot of damage they have to be distributed very efficiently. The problem with them is that they can be very deadly and efficient if used in population centers and their effects are indiscriminate,” says Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.

“The explosion of a single chemical shell would not necessarily be a catastrophe if it went off accidentally at one of these storage sites, but the deliberate use of one chemical shell in a population center could be very deadly,” adds Mr. Kimball.

Sarin is a colorless and odorless nerve agent that can be attached to missiles and artillery rounds and is primarily lethal when inhaled but can also penetrate skin and clothing.

It evaporates quickly, though under the right conditions it can linger for up to five days. As a result, a sarin attack requires little clean up and areas affected by sarin can be quickly reoccupied, making it a desirable weapon for military units looking to advance without destroying infrastructure and equipment.

It was first developed in Germany in 1938, but there was no known use of it as a weapon, until 1988 when Iraq used it against the Kurdish town of Halabja. The Iraqi military is also believed to have used sarin against Iran during the war between the two countries that spanned from 1980 to 1988.

Most recently, it was used by the Japanese group Aum Shinrikyo which manufactured their own form of impure sarin gas and released it on the Tokyo subway in 1995. The attack killed 12 and injured at least 5,500 people.

Read More..