ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - A 20-month-old Canadian boy with an incurable neurological disorder whose life was extended in the United States after a Canadian hospital declined further treatment, has died at his Ontario home, a family spokesman said on Wednesday.
The plight of the boy, known as Baby Joseph, drew attention in both countries, where end-of-life issues including abortion and euthanasia have stirred passions and political activism.
A Canadian hospital where the boy, Joseph Maraachli, had been treated, as well as several U.S. hospitals, refused further treatment of the child and had recommended allowing him to die at home.
Baby Joseph, who suffered from Leigh's disease, was brought to Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis by his father and Frank Pavone of the New York-based anti-abortion organization Priests for Life.
While in the U.S. hospital, the boy was given a tracheotomy to allow easier breathing and sent back to his home in Windsor, Canada, where he died on Tuesday evening.
"He passed away peacefully at home with his parents and family at his side. Praise God he had seven precious months with his family to be surrounded by love and was not put to death at the hands of doctors," family spokesman Brother Paul O'Donnell said in a Facebook posting.
"We want to thank God and everyone else for the support. I don't think he would have made it that long if there weren't those prayers from all over the world," Maraachli's aunt, Faith Nader, told Canadian television.
Doctors at the London Health Sciences Center hospital in London, Ontario, had recommended sending the baby home in March but allowed the transfer of the child to St. Louis "despite the strongest possible medical advice to the contrary."
Pavone issued a statement Wednesday from Amarillo, Texas, saying, "This young boy and his parents fulfilled a special mission from God. Amidst a culture of death where despair leads us to dispose of the vulnerable, they upheld a culture of life where hope leads us to welcome and care for the vulnerable."
Pavone was also involved in the case of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who went into a coma after a cardiac arrest. Schiavo's parents were opposed to her husband's efforts to disconnect her feeding tube and allow her to die after 15 years in a vegetative state.
The husband ultimately prevailed in court, and Terri Schiavo died in 2005. Pavone was an advocate on behalf of Schiavo's parents and was at her bedside as she was dying, according to the Priests for Life website.
According to the National Institutes of Health, Leigh's disease is an extremely rare inherited neurometabolic disorder that strikes the central nervous system and ultimately kills its victims by impairing their respiratory and kidney function.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Bank of America to charge $5 debit card fee
NEW YORK (AP) -- Bank of America plans to start charging customers a $5 monthly fee for using their debit card to make purchases. The fee will be rolled out starting early next year.
A number of banks have already either rolled out or are testing such fees. But Bank of America's announcement carries added weight because it is the largest U.S. bank by deposits.
Anne Pace, a Bank of America Corp. spokeswoman, said Thursday that customers will only be charged the fee if they use their debit cards for purchases in any given month. Customers won't be charged if they only use their cards at an ATM.
The fee will apply to basic accounts and will be in addition to any existing monthly service fees. For example, one of the bank's basic accounts charges a $12 monthly fee unless customers meet certain conditions, such as maintaining a minimum average balance of $1,500.
A fee for using debit cards is still a novel concept for many consumers and was unheard of before this year. But there are signs it may soon become an industry norm.
SunTrust, a regional bank based in Atlanta, began charging a $5 debit card fee on its basic checking accounts this summer. Regions Financial, which is based in Birmingham, Ala., plans to start charging a $4 fee next month.
Chase and Wells Fargo are also testing $3 monthly debit card fees in select markets. Neither bank has said when it will make a final decision on whether to roll out the fee more broadly.
The growing prevalence of the debit card fee is alarming for Josh Wood, a 32-year-old financial adviser in Amarillo, Texas.
Wood relies entirely on debit cards to avoid interest charges on a credit card. If his bank, Wells Fargo, began charging a debit card fee, he said he would take his business to a credit union.
If a debit fee became so prevalent that it was unavoidable, Wood said he's not sure how he'd react.
"I might use all cash. Or go back to writing checks," he said.
The debit card fee isn't the only unwelcome change for checking account customers are seeing either. The banking industry has been raising fees and scaling back on rewards programs as they adjust to new regulations that will limit traditional revenue sources.
Starting Oct. 1, a regulation will cap the fees that banks can collect from merchants whenever customers swipe their debit cards. Those fees generated $19 billion in revenue for banks in 2009, according to the Nilson Report, which tracks the payments industry.
There is no similar cap on the fees that banks can collect from merchants when customers use their credit cards, however. That means banks may increasingly encourage customers to reach for their credit cards, reversing a trend toward debit card usage in the past several years.
An increasing reliance on credit cards would be particularly beneficial for Bank of America, which is a major credit card issuer, notes Bart Narter, a banking analyst with Celent, a consulting firm.
"It's become a more profitable business, at least in relation to debit cards," Narter said.
This summer, an Associated Press-GfK poll found that two-thirds of consumers use debit cards more frequently than credit cards. But when asked how they would react if they were charged a $3 monthly debit card fee, 61 percent said they'd find another way to pay.
If the fee were $5, 66 percent said they would also change their payment method.
Bank of America's debit card fee will be rolled out in stages starting with select states in early 2012. The company would not say which states would be affected first.
Bank of America shares rose 9 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $6.25 in afternoon trading.
A number of banks have already either rolled out or are testing such fees. But Bank of America's announcement carries added weight because it is the largest U.S. bank by deposits.
Anne Pace, a Bank of America Corp. spokeswoman, said Thursday that customers will only be charged the fee if they use their debit cards for purchases in any given month. Customers won't be charged if they only use their cards at an ATM.
The fee will apply to basic accounts and will be in addition to any existing monthly service fees. For example, one of the bank's basic accounts charges a $12 monthly fee unless customers meet certain conditions, such as maintaining a minimum average balance of $1,500.
A fee for using debit cards is still a novel concept for many consumers and was unheard of before this year. But there are signs it may soon become an industry norm.
SunTrust, a regional bank based in Atlanta, began charging a $5 debit card fee on its basic checking accounts this summer. Regions Financial, which is based in Birmingham, Ala., plans to start charging a $4 fee next month.
Chase and Wells Fargo are also testing $3 monthly debit card fees in select markets. Neither bank has said when it will make a final decision on whether to roll out the fee more broadly.
The growing prevalence of the debit card fee is alarming for Josh Wood, a 32-year-old financial adviser in Amarillo, Texas.
Wood relies entirely on debit cards to avoid interest charges on a credit card. If his bank, Wells Fargo, began charging a debit card fee, he said he would take his business to a credit union.
If a debit fee became so prevalent that it was unavoidable, Wood said he's not sure how he'd react.
"I might use all cash. Or go back to writing checks," he said.
The debit card fee isn't the only unwelcome change for checking account customers are seeing either. The banking industry has been raising fees and scaling back on rewards programs as they adjust to new regulations that will limit traditional revenue sources.
Starting Oct. 1, a regulation will cap the fees that banks can collect from merchants whenever customers swipe their debit cards. Those fees generated $19 billion in revenue for banks in 2009, according to the Nilson Report, which tracks the payments industry.
There is no similar cap on the fees that banks can collect from merchants when customers use their credit cards, however. That means banks may increasingly encourage customers to reach for their credit cards, reversing a trend toward debit card usage in the past several years.
An increasing reliance on credit cards would be particularly beneficial for Bank of America, which is a major credit card issuer, notes Bart Narter, a banking analyst with Celent, a consulting firm.
"It's become a more profitable business, at least in relation to debit cards," Narter said.
This summer, an Associated Press-GfK poll found that two-thirds of consumers use debit cards more frequently than credit cards. But when asked how they would react if they were charged a $3 monthly debit card fee, 61 percent said they'd find another way to pay.
If the fee were $5, 66 percent said they would also change their payment method.
Bank of America's debit card fee will be rolled out in stages starting with select states in early 2012. The company would not say which states would be affected first.
Bank of America shares rose 9 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $6.25 in afternoon trading.
Libya's NTC retakes airport in Gaddafi home town
SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan interim government forces recaptured the airport in Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi's birthplace, on Thursday, amid mounting concern for civilians trapped inside the besieged city.
National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters took full control of Sirte airport, Reuters witnesses said. They had taken it two weeks ago, but then lost it again. Sirte's pro-Gaddafi defenders have used sniper, rocket and artillery fire to fight off two full-scale NTC assaults on the city in the past week.
Each side has accused the other of endangering civilians.
"They're shelling constantly. There's indiscriminate fire within individual neighborhoods and from one area to another," Hassan, a resident who escaped the city, told Reuters.
Civilians have been fleeing Sirte, a coastal city of 100,000 that is also under NATO aerial attack, and Libyan authorities have asked the United Nations for fuel for ambulances to evacuate wounded, a U.N. source in Libya said.
The United Nations is sending trucks of clean drinking water for civilians crammed into vehicles leaving Sirte for Benghazi in the west or Misrata in the east, the source said.
But fighting has prevented U.N. aid workers from reaching Sirte and Bani Walid, another town held by Gaddafi loyalists.
"There are two places we'd really like access to, Sirte and Ben Walid, because of concern on the impact of conflict on the civilian population," the source told Reuters in Geneva.
U.N. officials do not have any direct contact with pro-Gaddafi forces holed up in Sirte, where both sides accuse the other of cutting off water and electricity, he said.
Aid agencies said on Wednesday that a humanitarian disaster loomed in Sirte amid rising casualties and shrinking supplies of water, electricity and food.
Fighting on Sirte's eastern and western approaches was less intense on Thursday than on previous days, but the NTC said it had cleared a route between the two fronts, allowing its forces to link up -- a strategic boost along with retaking the airport.
INTERPOL ALERT
More than a month after NTC fighters captured the capital Tripoli, Gaddafi remains on the run, trying to rally resistance to those who ended his 42-year rule, although some of his family members have taken refuge in neighboring Algeria and Niger.
Interpol issued an alert calling for the arrest of Gaddafi's son Saadi who fled to Niger three weeks ago. The Lyon-based police agency said it was acting at the request of the NTC, which accuses Saadi of leading military units responsible for crackdowns on protests and of misappropriating property.
Interpol has already issued "red notices" for the arrest of Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, all wanted for the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
Gaddafi's former prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, who had fled to Tunisia, only to be arrested for illegal entry, has started a hunger strike in prison to protest a Libyan request for his extradition, his lawyer said.
Tunisian prosecutors say Mahmoudi will stay in jail pending an extradition decision, even though he won an appeal against a six-month prison sentence for entering Tunisia illegally.
Libya's new rulers are trying to get a grip on the whole country, rein in their own unruly militias and get on with reconstruction and democratic reform.
U.S. Senator John McCain, visiting Tripoli, said Gaddafi's overthrow had set an example to people all over the world, adding that U.S. investors were keen to do business with oil-exporting Libya once fighting there had stopped.
"We believe very strongly that the people of Libya today are inspiring the people in Tehran, in Damascus, and even in Beijing and Moscow. They continue to inspire the world -- and let people know that even the worst dictators can be overthrown and be replaced by freedom and democracy," he told a news conference.
National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters took full control of Sirte airport, Reuters witnesses said. They had taken it two weeks ago, but then lost it again. Sirte's pro-Gaddafi defenders have used sniper, rocket and artillery fire to fight off two full-scale NTC assaults on the city in the past week.
Each side has accused the other of endangering civilians.
"They're shelling constantly. There's indiscriminate fire within individual neighborhoods and from one area to another," Hassan, a resident who escaped the city, told Reuters.
Civilians have been fleeing Sirte, a coastal city of 100,000 that is also under NATO aerial attack, and Libyan authorities have asked the United Nations for fuel for ambulances to evacuate wounded, a U.N. source in Libya said.
The United Nations is sending trucks of clean drinking water for civilians crammed into vehicles leaving Sirte for Benghazi in the west or Misrata in the east, the source said.
But fighting has prevented U.N. aid workers from reaching Sirte and Bani Walid, another town held by Gaddafi loyalists.
"There are two places we'd really like access to, Sirte and Ben Walid, because of concern on the impact of conflict on the civilian population," the source told Reuters in Geneva.
U.N. officials do not have any direct contact with pro-Gaddafi forces holed up in Sirte, where both sides accuse the other of cutting off water and electricity, he said.
Aid agencies said on Wednesday that a humanitarian disaster loomed in Sirte amid rising casualties and shrinking supplies of water, electricity and food.
Fighting on Sirte's eastern and western approaches was less intense on Thursday than on previous days, but the NTC said it had cleared a route between the two fronts, allowing its forces to link up -- a strategic boost along with retaking the airport.
INTERPOL ALERT
More than a month after NTC fighters captured the capital Tripoli, Gaddafi remains on the run, trying to rally resistance to those who ended his 42-year rule, although some of his family members have taken refuge in neighboring Algeria and Niger.
Interpol issued an alert calling for the arrest of Gaddafi's son Saadi who fled to Niger three weeks ago. The Lyon-based police agency said it was acting at the request of the NTC, which accuses Saadi of leading military units responsible for crackdowns on protests and of misappropriating property.
Interpol has already issued "red notices" for the arrest of Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, all wanted for the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
Gaddafi's former prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, who had fled to Tunisia, only to be arrested for illegal entry, has started a hunger strike in prison to protest a Libyan request for his extradition, his lawyer said.
Tunisian prosecutors say Mahmoudi will stay in jail pending an extradition decision, even though he won an appeal against a six-month prison sentence for entering Tunisia illegally.
Libya's new rulers are trying to get a grip on the whole country, rein in their own unruly militias and get on with reconstruction and democratic reform.
U.S. Senator John McCain, visiting Tripoli, said Gaddafi's overthrow had set an example to people all over the world, adding that U.S. investors were keen to do business with oil-exporting Libya once fighting there had stopped.
"We believe very strongly that the people of Libya today are inspiring the people in Tehran, in Damascus, and even in Beijing and Moscow. They continue to inspire the world -- and let people know that even the worst dictators can be overthrown and be replaced by freedom and democracy," he told a news conference.
Dengue fever infects over 12,000 in Pakistan
Already cursed by floods and suicide bombings, Pakistan now faces a new menace from an unprecedented outbreak of the deadly tropical disease dengue fever.
In less than a month, 126 people have died and more than 12,000 have been diagnosed with the virus, which has spread rapidly among both rich and poor in Pakistan's cultural capital Lahore.
Dengue affects between 50 and 100 million people in the tropics and subtropics each year, resulting in fever, muscle and joint ache.
But it can also be fatal, developing into haemorrhagic fever and shock syndrome, which is characterised by bleeding and a loss of blood pressure.
Caused by four strains of virus spread by the mosquito Aedes aegypti, there is no vaccine -- which is why prevention methods focus on mosquito control.
Pakistani authorities in Lahore have blamed the crisis on prolonged monsoon rains and unusually high seasonal temperatures.
But furious locals say the outbreak is yet another example of government inefficiency, citing a failure to take preventive measures to kill off the mosquitos and lengthy power cuts.
Saad Azeem, 45, is a police officer who should be out spraying the streets with insecticide, but he is laid up at home suffering from the fever and mourning the death of his elderly father.
"My father was 79 years old and a retired deputy superintendent of police. His death due to dengue fever really shocked us," Azeem told AFP.
"This dengue has become a calamity."
Of the more than 11,584 people afflicted, 10,244 come from Lahore alone, the provincial capital of Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province and the country's political heartland.
In northwestern province Khyber Paktunkhwa, at least 130 people have been diagnosed and six have died. Southern province Sindh has seen 400 suspected cases and six deaths.
Banners emblazoned with giant sketches of mosquitos and public warning messages such as "Eliminate dengue, Have peace" are hung across avenues and crossings in Lahore, a city of eight million.
The chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, whose party runs the local governing coalition and whose brother Nawaz is Pakistan's opposition leader, has urged doctors to do more to restore calm.
"You are doing a wonderful job, but we have to bring down the mortality rate so that the people will be calmed," he said at a workshop this week.
Hospitals are overwhelmed, treating around 1,113 people and having already sent home another 10,000 to recuperate, said Asif Nadeem, a member of a hastily set up anti-dengue task force.
At Lahore General Hospital, where most cases have been reported, the corridors were packed with patients and relatives making it difficult to breathe.
Outside, medics set up large tents to accommodate family members and patients waiting for treatment, offering some shelter in the sweltering heat.
"We have no complaints about the arrangements, but they are not going beyond giving out paracetamol," Rashid Hameed, 27, an accountant, told AFP.
Doctor Zafar Ikram said the hospital was working beyond capacity to deal with the influx of patients.
"I think more people are coming because there is greater awareness about dengue due to the media spotlight and people are scared, so anyone with a normal fever comes to hospital for the (dengue) test," Ikram told AFP.
At the Mayo hospital, hundreds of people queued up in front of registration counters, giving blood samples and collecting reports.
Although the Pakistan People's Party, the main governing party in the federal government, has used the dengue outbreak to try and score points against the Sharifs, local authorities insist they are on top of the menace.
Teams from the World Health Organisation and Sri Lanka are now helping with the efforts. Schools and colleges initially shut have since reopened.
"On the control side a huge effort is going on with a public awareness campaign," said Punjab provincial health secretary Jahanzeb Khan.
In much of Lahore, known for its rich cultural heritage and popular restaurants, life carries on as normal with some establishments as crowded as ever in the cooler evenings.
Others cannot afford to be ruffled.
Mohammad Naeem, a 50-year-old roadside telephone vendor, said he had no alternative but to brave the risk.
"No sir, we do not apply any lotion. It's very expensive. We can hardly buy a loaf of bread. They come to our doorsteps to beg for votes, but they do not come to spray," he complained.
In less than a month, 126 people have died and more than 12,000 have been diagnosed with the virus, which has spread rapidly among both rich and poor in Pakistan's cultural capital Lahore.
Dengue affects between 50 and 100 million people in the tropics and subtropics each year, resulting in fever, muscle and joint ache.
But it can also be fatal, developing into haemorrhagic fever and shock syndrome, which is characterised by bleeding and a loss of blood pressure.
Caused by four strains of virus spread by the mosquito Aedes aegypti, there is no vaccine -- which is why prevention methods focus on mosquito control.
Pakistani authorities in Lahore have blamed the crisis on prolonged monsoon rains and unusually high seasonal temperatures.
But furious locals say the outbreak is yet another example of government inefficiency, citing a failure to take preventive measures to kill off the mosquitos and lengthy power cuts.
Saad Azeem, 45, is a police officer who should be out spraying the streets with insecticide, but he is laid up at home suffering from the fever and mourning the death of his elderly father.
"My father was 79 years old and a retired deputy superintendent of police. His death due to dengue fever really shocked us," Azeem told AFP.
"This dengue has become a calamity."
Of the more than 11,584 people afflicted, 10,244 come from Lahore alone, the provincial capital of Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province and the country's political heartland.
In northwestern province Khyber Paktunkhwa, at least 130 people have been diagnosed and six have died. Southern province Sindh has seen 400 suspected cases and six deaths.
Banners emblazoned with giant sketches of mosquitos and public warning messages such as "Eliminate dengue, Have peace" are hung across avenues and crossings in Lahore, a city of eight million.
The chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, whose party runs the local governing coalition and whose brother Nawaz is Pakistan's opposition leader, has urged doctors to do more to restore calm.
"You are doing a wonderful job, but we have to bring down the mortality rate so that the people will be calmed," he said at a workshop this week.
Hospitals are overwhelmed, treating around 1,113 people and having already sent home another 10,000 to recuperate, said Asif Nadeem, a member of a hastily set up anti-dengue task force.
At Lahore General Hospital, where most cases have been reported, the corridors were packed with patients and relatives making it difficult to breathe.
Outside, medics set up large tents to accommodate family members and patients waiting for treatment, offering some shelter in the sweltering heat.
"We have no complaints about the arrangements, but they are not going beyond giving out paracetamol," Rashid Hameed, 27, an accountant, told AFP.
Doctor Zafar Ikram said the hospital was working beyond capacity to deal with the influx of patients.
"I think more people are coming because there is greater awareness about dengue due to the media spotlight and people are scared, so anyone with a normal fever comes to hospital for the (dengue) test," Ikram told AFP.
At the Mayo hospital, hundreds of people queued up in front of registration counters, giving blood samples and collecting reports.
Although the Pakistan People's Party, the main governing party in the federal government, has used the dengue outbreak to try and score points against the Sharifs, local authorities insist they are on top of the menace.
Teams from the World Health Organisation and Sri Lanka are now helping with the efforts. Schools and colleges initially shut have since reopened.
"On the control side a huge effort is going on with a public awareness campaign," said Punjab provincial health secretary Jahanzeb Khan.
In much of Lahore, known for its rich cultural heritage and popular restaurants, life carries on as normal with some establishments as crowded as ever in the cooler evenings.
Others cannot afford to be ruffled.
Mohammad Naeem, a 50-year-old roadside telephone vendor, said he had no alternative but to brave the risk.
"No sir, we do not apply any lotion. It's very expensive. We can hardly buy a loaf of bread. They come to our doorsteps to beg for votes, but they do not come to spray," he complained.
Libya's new rulers close in on Kadhafi clan
Libya's new rulers on Thursday stepped up the hunt for Moamer Kadhafi's inner circle, seeking the arrest of one of his sons, Saadi, and announcing the capture of his spokesman Mussa Ibrahim.
They also said another Kadhafi son, Mutassim, was in the deposed despot's birthplace of Sirte, where old regime loyalists fought pitched battles with combatants loyal to the ruling National Transitional Council.
Meanwhile, interim prime minister Mahmud Jibril said he will not be a part of the new government, the formation of which has been postponed until the end of the country's conflict.
"Misrata fighters contacted us and gave us the information that Mussa Ibrahim has been captured," said Mustafa bin Dardef, of the NTC's Zintan Brigade.
Another commander, Mohammed al-Marimi, said: "Mussa Ibrahim was captured while driving outside Sirte by fighters from Misrata."
He said there were reports that Ibrahim was dressed as a woman, but could not immediately confirm that.
Libya's Al-Hurra Misrata television also said Ibrahim had been caught outside Sirte and that he had been in a car and veiled, adding that it would soon broadcast footage of his capture.
Ibrahim was the public voice of the Kadhafi regime.
Since NTC fighters overran Tripoli on August 23, he has continued to issue statements through Syrian-based Arrai television from an unknown location, although not so frequently in recent days.
On Friday, he appealed for resolve against "agents and traitors," denounced what he called "genocide" by NATO and its "Libyan agents" and criticised the world community for "inaction."
Global police agency Interpol said, meanwhile, the NTC had requested an arrest notice against Saadi Kadhafi, who is believed to be in Niger.
It said the Libyan authorities wanted him "for allegedly misappropriating properties through force and armed intimidation when he headed the Libyan Football Federation."
Saadi, 38, was last seen in Niger and the red notice calls particularly on countries in the region to help locate and arrest him "with a view to returning him to Libya where an arrest warrant for him has been issued," Interpol said.
Niger's Prime Minister Brigi Rafini said later Thursday that his country had no plans to send Saadi home to face justice.
"Saadi Kadhafi is in safety, in security in Niamey, in the hands of the Niger government. There's no question of him being extradited to Libya for the moment," Rafini told AFP on a visit to France.
"We need to be sure he will be allowed a fair defence," he said. "Are those conditions in place today? No."
While the fugitive Kadhafi's whereabouts remain unknown, Libya's defence ministry spokesman Ahmed Bani has said that his most prominent son, Seif al-Islam, was in Bani Walid and that Mutassim was in Sirte.
An NTC field commander in Sirte also told AFP that Mutassim was in the Mediterranean city, which lies some 360 kilometres (225 miles) east of Tripoli.
"Mutassim is inside and he is commanding his forces. They are using heavy guns as well as snipers, which is making it difficult for us."
Along with his father and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, Seif is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
On the front in Sirte, meanwhile, anti-Kadhafi fighters returned to the fray after being forced to retreat during ferocious fighting on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean city that had raged through the night.
An AFP correspondent said the two sides shelled each other and traded heavy machine-gun fire around the port as well as near the Mahari Hotel.
The firefight intensified, with NTC tanks firing barrage after barrage of shells at loyalist positions and pro-Kadhafi snipers firing on the NTC fighters from rooftops, the reporter said.
NTC military chiefs said their forces remained in control of the hotel and the port, which they overran on Tuesday, but that the situation was fluid.
"The battle is fierce," said one field commander, who asked not to be identified.
"It is not going to be easy to capture Sirte. We thought we would be inside Sirte this Friday, but now I think it will not happen," he told AFP.
"The Misrata Military Council and our representatives will meet later today to discuss the next strategy for capturing Sirte," the NTC commander bin Dardef told AFP.
Meanwhile, residents of Sirte, caught in the crossfire and suffering without electricity, water and adequate food supplies, continued to flee the city.
NTC officials at a checkpoint 50 kilometres west of the city said another 500 people had registered on Thursday and that six suspected Kadhafi loyalists were among those in the crowd.
An AFP correspondent saw NTC fighters searching one car, in which they found a bag full of bullets, a hand grenade and a Kadhafi uniform.
The NTC said they catch about 10 Kadhafi loyalists a day.
Equally fierce resistance from loyalists in the desert town of Bani Walid, Kadhafi's other remaining bastion, has stalled a final assault by NTC fighters, said commanders, who urged NATO to increase its air support.
An AFP correspondent said that despite using tanks, rocket launchers and artillery, the NTC forces had not advanced from positions held for the past few days in Bani Walid, 170 kilometres southeast of Tripoli.
On the political front, Jibril was asked at a news conference in Tripoli about the timetable for the government's announcement.
"I hope that soon we will free Sirte and Bani Walid to begin negotiations on the formation of the transitional government, of which I will not be a part."
Jibril, known for his liberal leanings, heads the NTC's executive office and faces opposition from Islamists within the body.
He said the office will continue its work until the "total liberation" of Libya.
They also said another Kadhafi son, Mutassim, was in the deposed despot's birthplace of Sirte, where old regime loyalists fought pitched battles with combatants loyal to the ruling National Transitional Council.
Meanwhile, interim prime minister Mahmud Jibril said he will not be a part of the new government, the formation of which has been postponed until the end of the country's conflict.
"Misrata fighters contacted us and gave us the information that Mussa Ibrahim has been captured," said Mustafa bin Dardef, of the NTC's Zintan Brigade.
Another commander, Mohammed al-Marimi, said: "Mussa Ibrahim was captured while driving outside Sirte by fighters from Misrata."
He said there were reports that Ibrahim was dressed as a woman, but could not immediately confirm that.
Libya's Al-Hurra Misrata television also said Ibrahim had been caught outside Sirte and that he had been in a car and veiled, adding that it would soon broadcast footage of his capture.
Ibrahim was the public voice of the Kadhafi regime.
Since NTC fighters overran Tripoli on August 23, he has continued to issue statements through Syrian-based Arrai television from an unknown location, although not so frequently in recent days.
On Friday, he appealed for resolve against "agents and traitors," denounced what he called "genocide" by NATO and its "Libyan agents" and criticised the world community for "inaction."
Global police agency Interpol said, meanwhile, the NTC had requested an arrest notice against Saadi Kadhafi, who is believed to be in Niger.
It said the Libyan authorities wanted him "for allegedly misappropriating properties through force and armed intimidation when he headed the Libyan Football Federation."
Saadi, 38, was last seen in Niger and the red notice calls particularly on countries in the region to help locate and arrest him "with a view to returning him to Libya where an arrest warrant for him has been issued," Interpol said.
Niger's Prime Minister Brigi Rafini said later Thursday that his country had no plans to send Saadi home to face justice.
"Saadi Kadhafi is in safety, in security in Niamey, in the hands of the Niger government. There's no question of him being extradited to Libya for the moment," Rafini told AFP on a visit to France.
"We need to be sure he will be allowed a fair defence," he said. "Are those conditions in place today? No."
While the fugitive Kadhafi's whereabouts remain unknown, Libya's defence ministry spokesman Ahmed Bani has said that his most prominent son, Seif al-Islam, was in Bani Walid and that Mutassim was in Sirte.
An NTC field commander in Sirte also told AFP that Mutassim was in the Mediterranean city, which lies some 360 kilometres (225 miles) east of Tripoli.
"Mutassim is inside and he is commanding his forces. They are using heavy guns as well as snipers, which is making it difficult for us."
Along with his father and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, Seif is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
On the front in Sirte, meanwhile, anti-Kadhafi fighters returned to the fray after being forced to retreat during ferocious fighting on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean city that had raged through the night.
An AFP correspondent said the two sides shelled each other and traded heavy machine-gun fire around the port as well as near the Mahari Hotel.
The firefight intensified, with NTC tanks firing barrage after barrage of shells at loyalist positions and pro-Kadhafi snipers firing on the NTC fighters from rooftops, the reporter said.
NTC military chiefs said their forces remained in control of the hotel and the port, which they overran on Tuesday, but that the situation was fluid.
"The battle is fierce," said one field commander, who asked not to be identified.
"It is not going to be easy to capture Sirte. We thought we would be inside Sirte this Friday, but now I think it will not happen," he told AFP.
"The Misrata Military Council and our representatives will meet later today to discuss the next strategy for capturing Sirte," the NTC commander bin Dardef told AFP.
Meanwhile, residents of Sirte, caught in the crossfire and suffering without electricity, water and adequate food supplies, continued to flee the city.
NTC officials at a checkpoint 50 kilometres west of the city said another 500 people had registered on Thursday and that six suspected Kadhafi loyalists were among those in the crowd.
An AFP correspondent saw NTC fighters searching one car, in which they found a bag full of bullets, a hand grenade and a Kadhafi uniform.
The NTC said they catch about 10 Kadhafi loyalists a day.
Equally fierce resistance from loyalists in the desert town of Bani Walid, Kadhafi's other remaining bastion, has stalled a final assault by NTC fighters, said commanders, who urged NATO to increase its air support.
An AFP correspondent said that despite using tanks, rocket launchers and artillery, the NTC forces had not advanced from positions held for the past few days in Bani Walid, 170 kilometres southeast of Tripoli.
On the political front, Jibril was asked at a news conference in Tripoli about the timetable for the government's announcement.
"I hope that soon we will free Sirte and Bani Walid to begin negotiations on the formation of the transitional government, of which I will not be a part."
Jibril, known for his liberal leanings, heads the NTC's executive office and faces opposition from Islamists within the body.
He said the office will continue its work until the "total liberation" of Libya.
Syrian crowd stones U.S. envoy's convoy, U.S. condemns
AMMAN (Reuters) - Supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hurled rocks and tomatoes at U.S. ambassador Robert Ford's convoy as he visited an opposition figure in Damascus on Thursday in an attack the U.S. said was "wholly unjustified."
Ford and his party were not injured, the U.S. State Department said, but several embassy vehicles were damaged and the ambassador had to lock himself in an office to await help from Syrian security.
Syria, which has been irked by Ford's meetings with opposition figures, accused Washington of inciting violence and meddling in its affairs. Washington demanded that Syria take steps to protect U.S. diplomats.
"We condemn this unwarranted attack in the strongest possible terms. Ambassador (Robert) Ford and his aides were conducting normal embassy business and this attempt to intimidate our diplomats through violence is wholly unjustified," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
"We immediately raised this incident with the Syrian government and we are demanding that they take every possible step to protect our diplomats according to their obligations under international law."
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Ford had been in touch with senior department officials. "He is calm. He is resolute. And he is determined to continue to carry out his duties," he said.
Assad's crackdown on six months of pro-democracy protests has envenomed relations with the United States, which has imposed fresh sanctions and rallied world pressure on Syria.
President Barack Obama took office in 2009 pledging to engage in dialogue with Damascus and named Ford as ambassador.
The diplomats were visiting Hassan Abdelazim, a centrist politician who has demanded an end to Assad's crackdown as a condition for any opposition dialogue with the president.
"Two embassy cars were damaged," said a witness, who asked not to be identified, adding that the demonstrators were chanting "Abu Hafez (father of Hafez)," a nickname for Assad.
Ford was already inside the building when about 200 Assad supporters attacked the embassy vehicles with large rocks and street signs with concrete bases. Embassy staff inside the vehicles were not harmed. Police later extracted the convoy.
The Syrian government said that once they were alerted to the confrontation, authorities "took all necessary procedures to protect the ambassador and his team and secure their return to their place of work."
The State Department said that when Ford and his aides arrived at the building housing Abdelazim's office, they were met by a "mob" of pro-government demonstrators who followed them to the office, shouting slogans. When Ford's group reached the office they shut themselves inside and called for assistance from Syrian security.
No one in the American part was injured, the State Department said, but several embassy vehicles were damaged.
Soon after the incident, the Syrian Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing the United States of "encouraging armed groups to practice violence against the Syrian Arab Army."
The attack was the second on U.S. diplomats since protests erupted in March. Assad supporters assaulted the U.S. embassy in July after Ford visited the flashpoint city of Hama, winning cheers from protesters who later faced a tank-led crackdown.
CONTACTS WITH OPPOSITION
Ford, who has angered Syria's rulers by cultivating links with the grassroots opposition, has also visited a protest hot spot in the southern province of Deraa, ignoring a new ban on Western diplomats traveling outside the Damascus area.
Two weeks ago he and several other Western envoys attended the wake of a prominent activist.
Ford arrived in Damascus in January, filling a diplomatic vacuum since Washington withdrew his predecessor in 2005. Obama had hoped the gesture would help convince Assad to reconsider his alliance with Iran and with Islamist militant groups.
Western powers are pushing for a United Nations resolution condemning Syria, although opposition from Russia and China means this is unlikely to impose immediate sanctions.
"The U.N. Security Council cannot stay quiet any longer facing the daily crimes being committed against the population by the Syrian regime," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. "We want to warn the Syrian regime. We want it stop the terror and repression."
Haitham al-Maleh, a Syrian opposition leader who is visiting France and meeting French government officials, said that during a stop in Geneva this week he had urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to prepare a file on Assad and his aides for a possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
"How can the international community continue to have a connection with this regime? The regime is using all types of weapons and if the international community continues to wait, you won't find anybody left but the children," the veteran human rights lawyer told reporters in Paris.
The United Nations says Assad's crackdown has killed at least 2,700 Syrians, including more than 100 children. Syrian authorities blame the violence on "armed terrorist gangs," which they say have killed 700 members of the security forces.
Maleh put the death toll at 5,250, saying 5,000 people had disappeared, more than 100,000 had been arrested and 20,000 had fled to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. He called for U.N. military protection zones for civilians to be set up on the borders.
France's human rights ambassador Francois Zimeray said his country was committed to bringing those responsible for abuses in Syria to justice. "It may take years, but the perpetrators will be judged," he told reporters.
ARMED RESISTANCE
Armed resistance has emerged in Syria after months of mostly peaceful protests, with battles in the last few days in the town of Rastan, 180 km (112 miles) north of Damascus.
Army deserters backed by armed villagers were holding out against tank fire, but Rastan was running short of supplies, activists and residents said.
"The more they (Assad loyalists) take casualties, the more they fire at civilians," said one resident, who gave his name as Sami, adding that defenders were holding up the tanks with boobytraps and rocket-propelled grenades.
"The wounded are not being taken to hospital because it is at the front line. Makeshift clinics in homes are running out of medical supplies," he added.
The Syrian Revolution General Commission, an umbrella for several activist groups, said the army assault had killed 41 people in Rastan in the last 72 hours, but that the figure was an estimate, with communications cut with the besieged town
Ford and his party were not injured, the U.S. State Department said, but several embassy vehicles were damaged and the ambassador had to lock himself in an office to await help from Syrian security.
Syria, which has been irked by Ford's meetings with opposition figures, accused Washington of inciting violence and meddling in its affairs. Washington demanded that Syria take steps to protect U.S. diplomats.
"We condemn this unwarranted attack in the strongest possible terms. Ambassador (Robert) Ford and his aides were conducting normal embassy business and this attempt to intimidate our diplomats through violence is wholly unjustified," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
"We immediately raised this incident with the Syrian government and we are demanding that they take every possible step to protect our diplomats according to their obligations under international law."
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Ford had been in touch with senior department officials. "He is calm. He is resolute. And he is determined to continue to carry out his duties," he said.
Assad's crackdown on six months of pro-democracy protests has envenomed relations with the United States, which has imposed fresh sanctions and rallied world pressure on Syria.
President Barack Obama took office in 2009 pledging to engage in dialogue with Damascus and named Ford as ambassador.
The diplomats were visiting Hassan Abdelazim, a centrist politician who has demanded an end to Assad's crackdown as a condition for any opposition dialogue with the president.
"Two embassy cars were damaged," said a witness, who asked not to be identified, adding that the demonstrators were chanting "Abu Hafez (father of Hafez)," a nickname for Assad.
Ford was already inside the building when about 200 Assad supporters attacked the embassy vehicles with large rocks and street signs with concrete bases. Embassy staff inside the vehicles were not harmed. Police later extracted the convoy.
The Syrian government said that once they were alerted to the confrontation, authorities "took all necessary procedures to protect the ambassador and his team and secure their return to their place of work."
The State Department said that when Ford and his aides arrived at the building housing Abdelazim's office, they were met by a "mob" of pro-government demonstrators who followed them to the office, shouting slogans. When Ford's group reached the office they shut themselves inside and called for assistance from Syrian security.
No one in the American part was injured, the State Department said, but several embassy vehicles were damaged.
Soon after the incident, the Syrian Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing the United States of "encouraging armed groups to practice violence against the Syrian Arab Army."
The attack was the second on U.S. diplomats since protests erupted in March. Assad supporters assaulted the U.S. embassy in July after Ford visited the flashpoint city of Hama, winning cheers from protesters who later faced a tank-led crackdown.
CONTACTS WITH OPPOSITION
Ford, who has angered Syria's rulers by cultivating links with the grassroots opposition, has also visited a protest hot spot in the southern province of Deraa, ignoring a new ban on Western diplomats traveling outside the Damascus area.
Two weeks ago he and several other Western envoys attended the wake of a prominent activist.
Ford arrived in Damascus in January, filling a diplomatic vacuum since Washington withdrew his predecessor in 2005. Obama had hoped the gesture would help convince Assad to reconsider his alliance with Iran and with Islamist militant groups.
Western powers are pushing for a United Nations resolution condemning Syria, although opposition from Russia and China means this is unlikely to impose immediate sanctions.
"The U.N. Security Council cannot stay quiet any longer facing the daily crimes being committed against the population by the Syrian regime," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. "We want to warn the Syrian regime. We want it stop the terror and repression."
Haitham al-Maleh, a Syrian opposition leader who is visiting France and meeting French government officials, said that during a stop in Geneva this week he had urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to prepare a file on Assad and his aides for a possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
"How can the international community continue to have a connection with this regime? The regime is using all types of weapons and if the international community continues to wait, you won't find anybody left but the children," the veteran human rights lawyer told reporters in Paris.
The United Nations says Assad's crackdown has killed at least 2,700 Syrians, including more than 100 children. Syrian authorities blame the violence on "armed terrorist gangs," which they say have killed 700 members of the security forces.
Maleh put the death toll at 5,250, saying 5,000 people had disappeared, more than 100,000 had been arrested and 20,000 had fled to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. He called for U.N. military protection zones for civilians to be set up on the borders.
France's human rights ambassador Francois Zimeray said his country was committed to bringing those responsible for abuses in Syria to justice. "It may take years, but the perpetrators will be judged," he told reporters.
ARMED RESISTANCE
Armed resistance has emerged in Syria after months of mostly peaceful protests, with battles in the last few days in the town of Rastan, 180 km (112 miles) north of Damascus.
Army deserters backed by armed villagers were holding out against tank fire, but Rastan was running short of supplies, activists and residents said.
"The more they (Assad loyalists) take casualties, the more they fire at civilians," said one resident, who gave his name as Sami, adding that defenders were holding up the tanks with boobytraps and rocket-propelled grenades.
"The wounded are not being taken to hospital because it is at the front line. Makeshift clinics in homes are running out of medical supplies," he added.
The Syrian Revolution General Commission, an umbrella for several activist groups, said the army assault had killed 41 people in Rastan in the last 72 hours, but that the figure was an estimate, with communications cut with the besieged town
IFAD lends Ghana $31.5m for Rural Enterprises Project Phase 3
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on September 27, 2011, announced that it will give the government of Ghana a loan of $31.5 million for the third phase of the Rural Enterprises Project (REP).
The loan is to enhance small businesses in the rural areas focused on women and youth and to extend the results of the first two successful phases of REP, which for the past 16 years has provided rural people with good-quality, easily accessible services such as affordable credit and cost-effective technology to improve productivity.
“This new loan for a third phase, known as the Rural Enterprises Programme, will focus on rural women and youth in all rural areas of Ghana and actively involve local business associations and their umbrella organizations in the planning and implementation of activities,” said the UN agency.
IFAD said rural people have been provided training in business development, project management, partnership building and policy dialogue.
The first phase of the project was implemented in 13 districts in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions while the second phase covered 66 districts nationwide.
Since 1980, IFAD said it has financed 16 programmes and projects in Ghana for a cumulated investment of $224.9 million, leveraging counterpart resources and co-financing of $452.4 million for a total investment portfolio of $677.3 million to reduce rural poverty benefiting 1,785,000 households.
By Ekow Quandzie
The loan is to enhance small businesses in the rural areas focused on women and youth and to extend the results of the first two successful phases of REP, which for the past 16 years has provided rural people with good-quality, easily accessible services such as affordable credit and cost-effective technology to improve productivity.
“This new loan for a third phase, known as the Rural Enterprises Programme, will focus on rural women and youth in all rural areas of Ghana and actively involve local business associations and their umbrella organizations in the planning and implementation of activities,” said the UN agency.
IFAD said rural people have been provided training in business development, project management, partnership building and policy dialogue.
The first phase of the project was implemented in 13 districts in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions while the second phase covered 66 districts nationwide.
Since 1980, IFAD said it has financed 16 programmes and projects in Ghana for a cumulated investment of $224.9 million, leveraging counterpart resources and co-financing of $452.4 million for a total investment portfolio of $677.3 million to reduce rural poverty benefiting 1,785,000 households.
By Ekow Quandzie
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Libyan convoy enters Niger, Kadhafi rumoured aboard
A Libyan military convoy with Moamer Kadhafi rumoured aboard has crossed into Niger, a military source said, as new regime fighters were poised to strike at one of the toppled strongman's last bastions.
Kadhafi's spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, however, insisted the fugitive dictator is in top health and planning his country's defence, and that he and his sons were ready to fight to the death, though he gave no clue of their whereabouts.
"I saw an exceptionally large and rare convoy of several dozen vehicles enter Agadez from Arlit... and go towards Niamey" late Monday, the Niger military source said, referring to the northern Niger city of Agadez.
"There are persistent rumours that Kadhafi or one of his sons are travelling in the convoy," the source added.
A journalist from a private radio station in Agadez said he saw "a convoy of several dozen vehicles crossing the city and heading towards Niamey", the Niger capital.
Another Nigerien government source earlier said prominent regime officials had fled across the border on Sunday. They included Kadhafi's internal security chief Mansour Daw, who was earlier reported to be in the loyalist stronghold Bani Walid with at least two of the fallen strongman's sons.
Anti-Kadhafi fighters were ready on Tuesday to strike at Bani Walid, an oasis town southeast of Tripoli, at the slightest provocation.
Kamal Hodeisa, a Libyan defence ministry official, told AFP in Tripoli that anti-Kadhafi fighters would "move if there is an act of aggression by Kadhafi's forces against our rebels inside Bani Walid or if they attack civilians.
"There is debate among rebels whether to go forward or to stay but I think in the end they will respect the deadline," he said, referring to a truce until September 10 to try to negotiate the surrender of the last Kadhafi strongholds.
Abdullah Kenshil, the chief negotiator for Libya's new government, said civilians were being held hostage in the centre of the town, in administrative buildings and in five or six nearby villages.
"Kadhafi's soldiers have also closed the gates of the town and are not letting families leave," he said. "That worries us, we don't want to kill civilians in the attack."
Negotiations for the surrender of Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli, broke down late Sunday but there was little movement on that front on Monday despite concerns that local families could be held as human shields.
Operational commander Abdulrazzak Naduri told journalists at Shishan, north of Bani Walid, that the National Transitional Council (NTC) does not "want any more bloodshed."
Kadhafi spokesman Ibrahim insisted however that the toppled leader was busy planning to re-take Libya.
Kadhafi is "in excellent health and planning and organising Libya's defence," Ibrahim told Syria's Arrai television channel on Monday.
"We are still powerful," he said, adding that the sons of the fugitive dictator "had assumed their role in the defence of and sacrifice for" their country. He however did not name them.
Pledging "a fight to the death or until victory," Ibrahim, who is thought to be in Bani Walid, said: "We will fight and resist for Libya and for all Arabs."
Branding the new rulers "NATO agents," he accused them of "committing crimes, above all rape, murder and looting."
He said: "Libya will never fall and the worthy tribes are defending and will continue to defend each of the free town and recapture those that have been raped."
Local officials said most senior figures had fled Bani Walid with Kadhafi's most prominent son, Seif al-Islam, who according to Naduri left a few days before for Sabha, further south, that is still in the hands of regime loyalists.
Two other sons of Kadhafi, Saadi and Mutassim, were also reported to be in Bani Walid and it is suspected that the strongman himself crossed through the oasis town although it is unclear when.
No clashes were reported on Monday in Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte or the southern oases of Sabha and Al-Jufra.
China meanwhile denied reports of offering Kadhafi arms at the fag end of his regime. In Beijing, the foreign ministry acknowledged Libyan officials had visited in July for talks with "interested companies" but insisted no arms contracts had been signed nor any direct or indirect exports made.
"Chinese companies did not sign arms sales contracts and they did not export military products to Libya," spokeswoman Jiang Yu told journalists, adding her country "does not allow any actions that contravene UN resolutions."
Citing secret documents it had obtained, The Globe and Mail reported that state-controlled Chinese arms companies were ready to sell weapons and ammunition worth at least $200 million to Kadhafi in late July.
Britain on Monday re-established its diplomatic mission in Tripoli.
The UN Security Council is on Friday to discuss the launch of a wide-ranging mission to Libya to help tackle police reform, justice and election preparations, a UN diplomat told AFP on Monday
Kadhafi's spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, however, insisted the fugitive dictator is in top health and planning his country's defence, and that he and his sons were ready to fight to the death, though he gave no clue of their whereabouts.
"I saw an exceptionally large and rare convoy of several dozen vehicles enter Agadez from Arlit... and go towards Niamey" late Monday, the Niger military source said, referring to the northern Niger city of Agadez.
"There are persistent rumours that Kadhafi or one of his sons are travelling in the convoy," the source added.
A journalist from a private radio station in Agadez said he saw "a convoy of several dozen vehicles crossing the city and heading towards Niamey", the Niger capital.
Another Nigerien government source earlier said prominent regime officials had fled across the border on Sunday. They included Kadhafi's internal security chief Mansour Daw, who was earlier reported to be in the loyalist stronghold Bani Walid with at least two of the fallen strongman's sons.
Anti-Kadhafi fighters were ready on Tuesday to strike at Bani Walid, an oasis town southeast of Tripoli, at the slightest provocation.
Kamal Hodeisa, a Libyan defence ministry official, told AFP in Tripoli that anti-Kadhafi fighters would "move if there is an act of aggression by Kadhafi's forces against our rebels inside Bani Walid or if they attack civilians.
"There is debate among rebels whether to go forward or to stay but I think in the end they will respect the deadline," he said, referring to a truce until September 10 to try to negotiate the surrender of the last Kadhafi strongholds.
Abdullah Kenshil, the chief negotiator for Libya's new government, said civilians were being held hostage in the centre of the town, in administrative buildings and in five or six nearby villages.
"Kadhafi's soldiers have also closed the gates of the town and are not letting families leave," he said. "That worries us, we don't want to kill civilians in the attack."
Negotiations for the surrender of Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli, broke down late Sunday but there was little movement on that front on Monday despite concerns that local families could be held as human shields.
Operational commander Abdulrazzak Naduri told journalists at Shishan, north of Bani Walid, that the National Transitional Council (NTC) does not "want any more bloodshed."
Kadhafi spokesman Ibrahim insisted however that the toppled leader was busy planning to re-take Libya.
Kadhafi is "in excellent health and planning and organising Libya's defence," Ibrahim told Syria's Arrai television channel on Monday.
"We are still powerful," he said, adding that the sons of the fugitive dictator "had assumed their role in the defence of and sacrifice for" their country. He however did not name them.
Pledging "a fight to the death or until victory," Ibrahim, who is thought to be in Bani Walid, said: "We will fight and resist for Libya and for all Arabs."
Branding the new rulers "NATO agents," he accused them of "committing crimes, above all rape, murder and looting."
He said: "Libya will never fall and the worthy tribes are defending and will continue to defend each of the free town and recapture those that have been raped."
Local officials said most senior figures had fled Bani Walid with Kadhafi's most prominent son, Seif al-Islam, who according to Naduri left a few days before for Sabha, further south, that is still in the hands of regime loyalists.
Two other sons of Kadhafi, Saadi and Mutassim, were also reported to be in Bani Walid and it is suspected that the strongman himself crossed through the oasis town although it is unclear when.
No clashes were reported on Monday in Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte or the southern oases of Sabha and Al-Jufra.
China meanwhile denied reports of offering Kadhafi arms at the fag end of his regime. In Beijing, the foreign ministry acknowledged Libyan officials had visited in July for talks with "interested companies" but insisted no arms contracts had been signed nor any direct or indirect exports made.
"Chinese companies did not sign arms sales contracts and they did not export military products to Libya," spokeswoman Jiang Yu told journalists, adding her country "does not allow any actions that contravene UN resolutions."
Citing secret documents it had obtained, The Globe and Mail reported that state-controlled Chinese arms companies were ready to sell weapons and ammunition worth at least $200 million to Kadhafi in late July.
Britain on Monday re-established its diplomatic mission in Tripoli.
The UN Security Council is on Friday to discuss the launch of a wide-ranging mission to Libya to help tackle police reform, justice and election preparations, a UN diplomat told AFP on Monday
Monday, September 5, 2011
China seizes 13 million illegal goods in crackdown
BEIJING (AP) — China says it seized about 13 million illegal video, music and print products over the past year in a campaign to tackle fakes and copyright theft.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday that 663 shops producing pirated products, including movies, music CDs, software and books, were shut down from late last year to June.
China has struggled to deal with rampant piracy and the widespread production of bogus goods. Cracking down on such violations has long been a key demand from foreign businesses in China.
Trade groups say illegal Chinese copying of music, designer clothing and other goods costs legitimate producers billions of dollars a year in lost sales.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday that 663 shops producing pirated products, including movies, music CDs, software and books, were shut down from late last year to June.
China has struggled to deal with rampant piracy and the widespread production of bogus goods. Cracking down on such violations has long been a key demand from foreign businesses in China.
Trade groups say illegal Chinese copying of music, designer clothing and other goods costs legitimate producers billions of dollars a year in lost sales.
Philippines contacts missing Kadhafi maids
Philippine authorities said Sunday they have made contact with four Filipina maids employed by deposed Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's family, who went missing amid the chaos of the rebellion.
A special Philippine envoy to Libya, Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, was able to speak to one of the four maids, the foreign department said in a statement.
"The (women) said they are safe and secure where they are now but signified their desire to leave their employ and come back home as soon as possible," it said, without elaborating.
It added that the Philippine embassy in Libya will assist in the "safe release" of the four women, whose location was not stated.
A diplomatic source told AFP that releasing further details on the four could jeopardise their safety.
Last week, Vice-President Jejomar Binay, who also acts as a special adviser on Filipino overseas workers, reported that the four were missing and had made a tearful call to a relative at home for help in getting out of Libya.
In March, the Philippines said it received reports that four Filipina maids working for a relative of Kadhafi were asking to be allowed to go home, but their employer had refused.
The four were initially employed at a Kadhafi family house in Tripoli, but were later transferred to Sirte, the deposed dictator's hometown in mid-March, the foreign department said at the time.
The department could not say if the four maids were the same ones reportedly trapped in March.
As of late August, around 1,600 Filipinos were still believed to be in Libya, many of them nurses treating casualties of the months-long uprising against Kadhafi.
About nine million Filipinos work around the world, earning more money in a wide range of skilled and unskilled sectors abroad than they could in their impoverished homeland
A special Philippine envoy to Libya, Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, was able to speak to one of the four maids, the foreign department said in a statement.
"The (women) said they are safe and secure where they are now but signified their desire to leave their employ and come back home as soon as possible," it said, without elaborating.
It added that the Philippine embassy in Libya will assist in the "safe release" of the four women, whose location was not stated.
A diplomatic source told AFP that releasing further details on the four could jeopardise their safety.
Last week, Vice-President Jejomar Binay, who also acts as a special adviser on Filipino overseas workers, reported that the four were missing and had made a tearful call to a relative at home for help in getting out of Libya.
In March, the Philippines said it received reports that four Filipina maids working for a relative of Kadhafi were asking to be allowed to go home, but their employer had refused.
The four were initially employed at a Kadhafi family house in Tripoli, but were later transferred to Sirte, the deposed dictator's hometown in mid-March, the foreign department said at the time.
The department could not say if the four maids were the same ones reportedly trapped in March.
As of late August, around 1,600 Filipinos were still believed to be in Libya, many of them nurses treating casualties of the months-long uprising against Kadhafi.
About nine million Filipinos work around the world, earning more money in a wide range of skilled and unskilled sectors abroad than they could in their impoverished homeland
West Bank mosque hit after partial outpost demolition
QUSRA, West Bank (Reuters) - Jewish settlers set fire to a mosque in the occupied West Bank on Monday, Palestinians said, in a likely reprisal for Israel's dismantling of three buildings in an unauthorized settlement outpost hours earlier.
Abdel Azeem Wadi, a member of the village council in Qusra near the Palestinian city of Nablus, said settlers threw burning tires into the mosque, damaging the entire first floor.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounced the attack as an act of terrorism.
"These acts are what threaten to pull the region into a cycle of violence," Fayyad's office said in a statement, adding that the Palestinians themselves would not revert to violence.
An Israeli police spokesman said police and army personnel had entered the village to inspect the damage to the mosque and that the investigation was ongoing.
Earlier on Monday, Israeli authorities enacted a court order and demolished three houses in Migron, a Jewish hilltop outpost.
The names of Migron and a second outpost were written in Hebrew on the mosque walls.
Some settlers have threatened to exact a price on Palestinians in response to Israeli government actions against unauthorized settlements.
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that Israel must evacuate the entire Migron outpost by the end of March 2012, a spokeswoman for the court said.
Six people who scuffled with police during the demolition were arrested, police said.
Migron is one of about 100 small outposts that settlers built without government approval on land that Israel captured in a 1967 war and which Palestinians want for a future state.
The World Court deems all Israeli settlements illegal under international law -- a ruling that Israel rejects.
Settler-related incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries and damage to property are up more than 50 percent this year, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which documents violence in the Palestinian territories.
Palestinian authorities say settlers have attacked at least six mosques in the West Bank in the past two years. Fayyad's office criticized the Israeli police for failing to track down those behind previous such violence.
"The prime minister holds Israel completely responsible for the continuation of these terrorist acts because of its failure to pursue the perpetrators of this type of attack on previous occasions and bring them to account," its statement said.
Settler and military officials said last week that Israel's military has been training Jewish settler security units to cope with any eruption of Palestinian
protests alongside a planned bid for statehood at the United Nations this month.
Abdel Azeem Wadi, a member of the village council in Qusra near the Palestinian city of Nablus, said settlers threw burning tires into the mosque, damaging the entire first floor.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounced the attack as an act of terrorism.
"These acts are what threaten to pull the region into a cycle of violence," Fayyad's office said in a statement, adding that the Palestinians themselves would not revert to violence.
An Israeli police spokesman said police and army personnel had entered the village to inspect the damage to the mosque and that the investigation was ongoing.
Earlier on Monday, Israeli authorities enacted a court order and demolished three houses in Migron, a Jewish hilltop outpost.
The names of Migron and a second outpost were written in Hebrew on the mosque walls.
Some settlers have threatened to exact a price on Palestinians in response to Israeli government actions against unauthorized settlements.
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that Israel must evacuate the entire Migron outpost by the end of March 2012, a spokeswoman for the court said.
Six people who scuffled with police during the demolition were arrested, police said.
Migron is one of about 100 small outposts that settlers built without government approval on land that Israel captured in a 1967 war and which Palestinians want for a future state.
The World Court deems all Israeli settlements illegal under international law -- a ruling that Israel rejects.
Settler-related incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries and damage to property are up more than 50 percent this year, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which documents violence in the Palestinian territories.
Palestinian authorities say settlers have attacked at least six mosques in the West Bank in the past two years. Fayyad's office criticized the Israeli police for failing to track down those behind previous such violence.
"The prime minister holds Israel completely responsible for the continuation of these terrorist acts because of its failure to pursue the perpetrators of this type of attack on previous occasions and bring them to account," its statement said.
Settler and military officials said last week that Israel's military has been training Jewish settler security units to cope with any eruption of Palestinian
protests alongside a planned bid for statehood at the United Nations this month.
No new treaty for U.S. tax deal: Swiss bankers group
ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland must solve a dispute with the United States over wealthy citizens using secret Swiss accounts to dodge taxes under existing laws and should continue to protect bank secrecy, the Swiss Bankers Association head said on Monday.
The association's president, Patrick Odier, made the comments after newspapers reported on Sunday that the United States has given an ultimatum to Switzerland, saying that unless detailed information on tax evaders using Swiss accounts is handed over this week Credit Suisse and nine other banks will face charges.
"The cross-border problems with the United States can and will be solved. But the United States must understand that Swiss laws must be respected," Odier told a news conference.
"Bank client secrecy protects wealth and does not hide it. This protection remains important."
Odier said Switzerland must avoid a repeat of the deal it made to settle a U.S. investigation against UBS, allowing it to bend the country's banking secrecy laws and reveal the details of around 4,450 clients to avoid criminal charges.
He said an accord should be possible under the terms of the existing UBS deal and a new double taxation agreement with the United States that Switzerland approved in 2009 but is still awaiting ratification by the U.S. Senate.
"The United States should take note of the example of the tax agreements with Germany and Britain. Bilateral problems between friendly states should be able to be solved in an amicable way," Odier said.
Last month Switzerland struck deals with Germany and Britain to tax money kept by their residents in secret Swiss accounts and also introduce a withholding tax on future interest earned, a proposal rejected by Washington.
A long tradition of bank secrecy has helped Switzerland build up a $2 trillion offshore financial industry, but the country has agreed in recent years to do more to help hunt tax cheats amid a global crackdown on tax havens.
The government is keen to find a solution that would avoid needing the approval of parliament which only reluctantly agreed to the UBS treaty under emergency law last year.
But the United States seems to be pushing for more than current Swiss law would allow, seeking details of all U.S. clients with accounts worth at least $50,000 between 2002 and 2010 at banks including Credit Suisse, private banks Julius Baer and Wegelin as well as the Zurich and Basel cantonal banks.
Two Swiss Sunday papers said a letter sent by U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole on August 31 demands detailed figures on tax evasion at Credit Suisse by Tuesday.
Mario Tuor, a spokesman for the Swiss department for international financial affairs, would only say that talks are underway and that Bern wants a solution based on the existing laws.
The association's president, Patrick Odier, made the comments after newspapers reported on Sunday that the United States has given an ultimatum to Switzerland, saying that unless detailed information on tax evaders using Swiss accounts is handed over this week Credit Suisse and nine other banks will face charges.
"The cross-border problems with the United States can and will be solved. But the United States must understand that Swiss laws must be respected," Odier told a news conference.
"Bank client secrecy protects wealth and does not hide it. This protection remains important."
Odier said Switzerland must avoid a repeat of the deal it made to settle a U.S. investigation against UBS, allowing it to bend the country's banking secrecy laws and reveal the details of around 4,450 clients to avoid criminal charges.
He said an accord should be possible under the terms of the existing UBS deal and a new double taxation agreement with the United States that Switzerland approved in 2009 but is still awaiting ratification by the U.S. Senate.
"The United States should take note of the example of the tax agreements with Germany and Britain. Bilateral problems between friendly states should be able to be solved in an amicable way," Odier said.
Last month Switzerland struck deals with Germany and Britain to tax money kept by their residents in secret Swiss accounts and also introduce a withholding tax on future interest earned, a proposal rejected by Washington.
A long tradition of bank secrecy has helped Switzerland build up a $2 trillion offshore financial industry, but the country has agreed in recent years to do more to help hunt tax cheats amid a global crackdown on tax havens.
The government is keen to find a solution that would avoid needing the approval of parliament which only reluctantly agreed to the UBS treaty under emergency law last year.
But the United States seems to be pushing for more than current Swiss law would allow, seeking details of all U.S. clients with accounts worth at least $50,000 between 2002 and 2010 at banks including Credit Suisse, private banks Julius Baer and Wegelin as well as the Zurich and Basel cantonal banks.
Two Swiss Sunday papers said a letter sent by U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole on August 31 demands detailed figures on tax evasion at Credit Suisse by Tuesday.
Mario Tuor, a spokesman for the Swiss department for international financial affairs, would only say that talks are underway and that Bern wants a solution based on the existing laws.
World stocks slide on economy and debt fears
LONDON (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Monday and the euro hit a three-week low versus the dollar as worries about Greek and Italian fiscal deficits and a regional election rout for Germany's ruling party cast more doubt on the euro zone's ability to solve its debt crisis.
Data on Friday showing U.S. employment growth halted in August fueled concerns that the world's biggest economy is slipping back into a recession, sending Wall Street sharply lower on Friday before a long weekend.
The euro zone faces a week packed with political and legal risks, beginning with the German Federal Constitutional court ruling on Wednesday on claims that Berlin is breaking German law and European treaties by contributing to bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
The yield premiums investors demand to hold Italian and Spanish 10-year government bonds rather than benchmark German Bunds hit their highest in a month.
"Not a great start to the week. There is a lot going on for banks, especially in the light of a low-growth environment and the backdrop in the euro zone not improving," said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin.
The MSCI world equity index fell 1.5 percent on the day. It is just over 4 percent above an 11-month low hit during market turmoil in early August and has lost nearly 10 percent since January.
European stocks fell 2 percent while emerging stocks lost 2.2 percent.
U.S. crude oil fell 1.6 percent to $85.07 a barrel.
The dollar rose 0.4 percent to set a one-month high against a basket of major currencies.
The euro had fallen to a three-week low of $1.4111 before trimming losses.
As many European financial institutions are saddled with losses on bond holdings, traders are also worried that their funding could face more strains, putting pressure on the euro.
Bund futures rose 100 ticks to a record high. Italian 10-year yields rose to their highest since August 9 at 5.467 percent, dragged away from the 5 percent level to which European Central Bank buying had eased them.
Besides the German court ruling, a meeting of finance ministers of Germany, the Netherlands and Finland will also be closely eyed as they discuss the nagging issue of collateral for loans to Greece.
Debate over the effectiveness of ECB bond-buying is likely intensify at the bank's monthly policy meeting on Thursday.
"We will probably get the ... assertion that 'all euro zone countries must stick to their fiscal plans as agreed with the euro zone authorities'," Richard McGuire, rate strategist at Rabobank, said.
"Singling out Italy -- there is a risk that that would be counterproductive because it would put Italian yields under significant pressure and therefore undo much of the work that the ECB has done."
Data on Friday showing U.S. employment growth halted in August fueled concerns that the world's biggest economy is slipping back into a recession, sending Wall Street sharply lower on Friday before a long weekend.
The euro zone faces a week packed with political and legal risks, beginning with the German Federal Constitutional court ruling on Wednesday on claims that Berlin is breaking German law and European treaties by contributing to bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
The yield premiums investors demand to hold Italian and Spanish 10-year government bonds rather than benchmark German Bunds hit their highest in a month.
"Not a great start to the week. There is a lot going on for banks, especially in the light of a low-growth environment and the backdrop in the euro zone not improving," said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin.
The MSCI world equity index fell 1.5 percent on the day. It is just over 4 percent above an 11-month low hit during market turmoil in early August and has lost nearly 10 percent since January.
European stocks fell 2 percent while emerging stocks lost 2.2 percent.
U.S. crude oil fell 1.6 percent to $85.07 a barrel.
The dollar rose 0.4 percent to set a one-month high against a basket of major currencies.
The euro had fallen to a three-week low of $1.4111 before trimming losses.
As many European financial institutions are saddled with losses on bond holdings, traders are also worried that their funding could face more strains, putting pressure on the euro.
Bund futures rose 100 ticks to a record high. Italian 10-year yields rose to their highest since August 9 at 5.467 percent, dragged away from the 5 percent level to which European Central Bank buying had eased them.
Besides the German court ruling, a meeting of finance ministers of Germany, the Netherlands and Finland will also be closely eyed as they discuss the nagging issue of collateral for loans to Greece.
Debate over the effectiveness of ECB bond-buying is likely intensify at the bank's monthly policy meeting on Thursday.
"We will probably get the ... assertion that 'all euro zone countries must stick to their fiscal plans as agreed with the euro zone authorities'," Richard McGuire, rate strategist at Rabobank, said.
"Singling out Italy -- there is a risk that that would be counterproductive because it would put Italian yields under significant pressure and therefore undo much of the work that the ECB has done."
Canadian authorities probing employees of SNC-Lavalin Group
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canadian authorities are investigating employees of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc for possible corruption involving a $1.2 billion World Bank bridge project in Bangladesh, a bank spokesman said on Friday.
The World Bank said it had been informed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had raided several locations as part of their investigation. SNC-Lavalin confirmed it was cooperating with Canadian authorities, but gave no details.
Canadian authorities launched the probe following a referral from World Bank officials about alleged corruption in the bidding process for the Padma Bridge, a bank spokesman said. He said the bank was continuing its own investigation.
The World Bank approved financing for the Padma Bridge project in April, but had not disbursed any funds given the ongoing investigation, said the spokesman.
"We commend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for its robust response to the World Bank referral and look forward to the outcome of its investigation," said the spokesman.
Leslie Quinton, a spokeswoman for SNC-Lavalin, said the company was assisting Canadian authorities with an investigation on a specific case, but gave no further details.
"We are complying fully with their requests and are not aware of any reason that would warrant such an investigation," Quinton said. "Because the situation is under investigation, we cannot comment any further."
Constable Julie Morel, spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, confirmed that the police agency had executed search warrants at several locations as part of an investigation of SNC-Lavalin employees on Thursday.
She declined to identify which locations or to provide any further details since the investigation was still under way.
The World Bank signed a 40-year deal in April to loan $1.2 billion to Bangladesh to build a bridge linking its underdeveloped south with the capital, Dhaka, and the country's main port, Chittagong.
An international consortium, led by the World Bank, last year agreed to lend Bangladesh up to $2.9 billion for the 6-km (4-mile) multi-purpose bridge over the river Padma.
The bridge, about 50 km (30 miles) south of Dhaka, is expected to be completed by 2014, improving transportation between Bangladesh and other countries, and establishing a missing link along the longest corridor under the Asian Highway Network that connects Tokyo to Istanbul.
The World Bank last week outlined its increased efforts to prevent and deter fraud and corruption. Over the past year, the bank said its new Preventive Services Unit (PSU) had helped build precautions against fraud into 48 high-risk projects in 29 countries with a total value of $14.1 billion.
The bank said it had trained over 2,700 government officials and bank staff on how to conduct forensic audits and identify suspicious transactions.
The World Bank said it had been informed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had raided several locations as part of their investigation. SNC-Lavalin confirmed it was cooperating with Canadian authorities, but gave no details.
Canadian authorities launched the probe following a referral from World Bank officials about alleged corruption in the bidding process for the Padma Bridge, a bank spokesman said. He said the bank was continuing its own investigation.
The World Bank approved financing for the Padma Bridge project in April, but had not disbursed any funds given the ongoing investigation, said the spokesman.
"We commend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for its robust response to the World Bank referral and look forward to the outcome of its investigation," said the spokesman.
Leslie Quinton, a spokeswoman for SNC-Lavalin, said the company was assisting Canadian authorities with an investigation on a specific case, but gave no further details.
"We are complying fully with their requests and are not aware of any reason that would warrant such an investigation," Quinton said. "Because the situation is under investigation, we cannot comment any further."
Constable Julie Morel, spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, confirmed that the police agency had executed search warrants at several locations as part of an investigation of SNC-Lavalin employees on Thursday.
She declined to identify which locations or to provide any further details since the investigation was still under way.
The World Bank signed a 40-year deal in April to loan $1.2 billion to Bangladesh to build a bridge linking its underdeveloped south with the capital, Dhaka, and the country's main port, Chittagong.
An international consortium, led by the World Bank, last year agreed to lend Bangladesh up to $2.9 billion for the 6-km (4-mile) multi-purpose bridge over the river Padma.
The bridge, about 50 km (30 miles) south of Dhaka, is expected to be completed by 2014, improving transportation between Bangladesh and other countries, and establishing a missing link along the longest corridor under the Asian Highway Network that connects Tokyo to Istanbul.
The World Bank last week outlined its increased efforts to prevent and deter fraud and corruption. Over the past year, the bank said its new Preventive Services Unit (PSU) had helped build precautions against fraud into 48 high-risk projects in 29 countries with a total value of $14.1 billion.
The bank said it had trained over 2,700 government officials and bank staff on how to conduct forensic audits and identify suspicious transactions.
Cuban defense minister dies at 75
HAVANA (AP) — Gen. Julio Casas Regueiro, an accountant who fought in Cuba's revolution, then used his training to run the military's lucrative economic enterprises for two decades before becoming defense minister, has died, state television reported. He was 75.
Casas was the most important figure from the revolution to die since Juan Almeida Bosque in 2009, and his death on Saturday of heart failure was sure to focus renewed attention on the fragility of the island's aging leadership, many of whom are in their 80s.
State television announced three days of national mourning in honor of Casas, who besides being defense minister was also a vice president of the Council of State, Cuba's supreme governing body.
Casas served under Raul Castro in the rebel army that ultimately pushed out the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in early 1959. Trained as an accountant, he later ran the financial operations of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces.
"In the past 50 years I don't remember ever criticizing comrade Julio Casas, save that, as we Cubans say, he's very cheap," Raul joked on Feb. 24, 2008, after he was elected to replace his ailing brother Fidel as president.
Among the first things the younger Castro did in the top job was to name Casas defense minister, the post the new leader had held for nearly a half-century under Fidel. In April, Casas was also elected a member of the Communist Party's powerful 15-member Politburo, which is led by Raul.
Casas' financial discipline was the source "of his successes on the economic front, among other activities" in the armed forces, Raul Castro said. Casas also effectively led the ministry in the 19 months that the younger Castro served as Cuba's interim president after Fidel Castro underwent emergency intestinal surgery and temporarily ceded power.
Born in eastern Cuba on Feb. 18, 1936, Casas was an accountant working in a food warehouse when he joined the rebel forces.
Under Raul Castro's command in the eastern Sierra Maestra mountains, Casas fought numerous battles against Batista's troops.
He received additional military training in the Soviet Union and fought in Ethiopia during the years that Cuba sent troops to support African struggles for independence.
Beginning in 1990, Casas ran the Defense Ministry's Business Administration Group, which includes a host of efficient and profitable enterprises designed to generate the hard currency Cuba has needed to buy critical imports.
One key company imports computers and other electronics. The armed forces also manage a chain of hundreds of small consumer goods stores and a tourism company that runs more than 30 hotels, with subsidiaries that provide domestic tourist travel by air and land. The military also has a large operation producing basic foods for the general population.
The military's role in the economy has only grown during Raul's presidency, with trusted generals placed in command of several large state enterprises. In 2010, a military-run company paid some $700 million to buy out Telecom Italia's stake in state phone company Etecsa, a move that raised eyebrows because it came even as the government complained it was desperately short on funds.
The armed forces are one of the island's strongest and most respected institutions and historically have been solidly loyal to the Castro brothers. Cuba under the Castros, unlike many Latin American countries, has never experienced a military coup or rebellion.
Casas' death is sure to renew questions about the health of the rest of the Cuban leadership. Raul Castro turned 80 this year, and No. 2 Jose Ramon Machado Ventura is the same age. Fidel Castro, who has retired from all public roles, is 85 and has not made a public appearance since April.
State television said that Casas' body was cremated in accordance with his wishes, and that his remains would be placed in the Defense Ministry headquarters on Havana's Revolution Plaza for public viewing on Monday. A large procession of people was expected to turn out. It was not clear if Raul or Fidel Castro planned to attend.
Gbagbo supporters call for ousted I.Coast ruler's release
Supporters of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo gathered to call for his release Sunday, almost five months after his arrest during the country's bloody post election crisis.
Hundreds of followers of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party gathered in the Koumassi district of the economic capital Abidjan to lobby for his freedom.
"We need to break the fear amongst us," said Jules Yao Yao, an organiser of the first public demonstration by Gbagbo supporters since the former strongman's capture.
"We call on the head of state Alassane Ouattara to free Gbabgo, because without him there is no point in a reconciliation in Ivory Coast," said Yao Yao, a member of the FPI's executive.
Asked about rumours of instability affecting the current regime, he said the party would only seek power by the ballot box.
"We prefer the force of arguments to the argument of force," he said.
Gbagbo was arrested on April 11 by pro-Ouattara forces aided by France and the UN after a four-month conflict sparked by his refusal to cede power following last November's election.
He and his wife Simone, in detention in the north of the country, were last month charged with economic crimes following the unrest during which an estimated 3,000 people died.
Bodies of two missing Germans found in Afghanistan
PARWAN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The bodies of two German citizens who went missing in a province north of Kabul last month were found on Monday, the provincial governor said.
"The bodies were found today in an open area and they appeared to have been killed by gunshots," Parwan provincial governor Baseer Salangi told Reuters.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in late August that two German citizens were missing in Afghanistan and may have been kidnapped.
Westerwelle declined to give any details about their identity. Afghan officials said at the time they had been exploring the region.
Kidnapping is a lucrative business in impoverished Afghanistan and scores of locals and foreigners have been abducted by criminals with financial motives and by Taliban-linked insurgents in recent years.
Salangi said the bodies were found in a desert frequented by Kuchi nomads, and he suspected they were involved in the killings.
He did not say how the authorities had identified the victims to be Germans.
Violence has risen to its worst levels in Afghanistan since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government and the insurgency has now spread to the once peaceful north, in addition to the south and east.
Germany has around 5,200 soldiers deployed as part of NATO's mission in Afghanistan, most of them in the north.
"The bodies were found today in an open area and they appeared to have been killed by gunshots," Parwan provincial governor Baseer Salangi told Reuters.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in late August that two German citizens were missing in Afghanistan and may have been kidnapped.
Westerwelle declined to give any details about their identity. Afghan officials said at the time they had been exploring the region.
Kidnapping is a lucrative business in impoverished Afghanistan and scores of locals and foreigners have been abducted by criminals with financial motives and by Taliban-linked insurgents in recent years.
Salangi said the bodies were found in a desert frequented by Kuchi nomads, and he suspected they were involved in the killings.
He did not say how the authorities had identified the victims to be Germans.
Violence has risen to its worst levels in Afghanistan since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government and the insurgency has now spread to the once peaceful north, in addition to the south and east.
Germany has around 5,200 soldiers deployed as part of NATO's mission in Afghanistan, most of them in the north.
Rebels say not ready to resume peace with Philippines
CAMP DARAPANAN, Philippines (Reuters) - The Philippines' largest Muslim rebel group is not ready to return to peace talks with the government next week after disagreements over proposals to end 40 years of conflict, the leader of the separatist group said on Monday.
Al haj Murad Ebrahim said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had asked Malaysia, which has been hosting talks since 2001, to help move the negotiations forward after the rebels rejected Manila's peace proposal last month.
"We feel there is no point of discussion between the two panels," Murad told a news conference at the MILF base on the southern island of Mindanao, confirming Manila's invitation for another round of talks next week in Kuala Lumpur.
"The drafts are too far apart, there was even an impression it was heaven and earth. That is why the necessity for a facilitation in order to have the two positions of the panels nearer each other."
He said further delays in the talks could increase the risks on the entire peace process, giving radicals within the rebel movement enough reason to reject negotiations and fight for an independent and separate Islamic state in the south.
Still, Murad said the ceasefire between government forces and the MILF's guerrilla units would hold for now, saying that while both proposals were far apart, there was a desire for a solution.
The conflict has killed 120,000 people, displaced 2 million and hobbled growth in resource-rich but poor Muslim communities in the south of the largely Catholic state in Southeast Asia.
China says didn't know of arms sales talks with Gaddafi forces
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese arms firms held talks with representatives of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi's beleaguered forces in July over weapons sales, but behind Beijing's back, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
The revelation is nonetheless likely to deal a fresh blow to China's already delicate relations with Libyan rebel forces that have ousted Gaddafi.
The ministry confirmed the gist of reports in the Globe and Mail and the New York Times that documents found in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, indicated that Chinese companies offered to sell rocket launchers, anti-tank missiles and other arms with a total of some $200 million to Gaddafi's forces, despite a U.N. ban on such sales.
A ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said members of Gaddafi's government had come to China and held talks with a "handful" of Chinese arms company officials without the knowledge of the government.
"We have clarified with the relevant agencies that in July the Gaddafi government sent personnel to China without the knowledge of the Chinese government and they engaged in contact with a handful of people from the companies concerned," Jiang told a news briefing in Beijing.
"The Chinese companies did not sign arms trade contacts, nor did they export military items to Libya," Jiang said. "I believe that the agencies in charge of the arms trade will certainly treat this seriously."
Even if the arms talks were behind Beijing's back, the controversy could intensify mistrust between Beijing and the rebels seeking to defeat Gaddafi's shrinking forces and claim control of all Libya.
"We have hard evidence of deals going on between China and Gaddafi, and we have all the documents to prove it," a rebel military spokesman, Abdulrahman Busin, told the Times.
The arms issue comes on the heels of tensions between Beijing and the Libyan rebels over frozen funds.
On the weekend, the head of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said China had obstructed the release of some of Libya's frozen assets.
Although China agreed with other powers last week to unfreeze $15 billion of Libyan assets abroad, it opposed handing control of more to the interim ruling council, according to Libyan rebel spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah.
"In principle, we don't have a problem" with unfreezing funds, said the Chinese spokeswoman Jiang.
"But out of a responsible attitude, we and some members of the Security Council want further explanation and information from the applicant countries about the uses of the funds and oversight of them," she said.
Libya's interim council has promised rewards for those who took a leading role in backing the revolt against Gaddafi, and that has raised concerns that China could be disadvantaged.
China is the world's second-biggest oil consumer and last year obtained 3 percent of its imported crude from Libya.
China did not use its U.N. Security Council veto power in March to block a resolution that authorized the NATO bombing campaign against Gaddafi's forces, but it condemned the expanding strikes and repeatedly urged compromise between his government and the rebels.
By the time of the visit by Gaddafi's officials, China was already courting the Libyan rebels. But China has not joined Western powers in formally recognizing the NTC as the legitimate authority in Libya, but has acknowledged its "important role" after Gaddafi's ousting.
The reports said Libyan security officials visiting China in July were received by three arms companies, including Norinco and the China Xinxing Import and Export Corporation.
Norinco has faced sanctions from the United States, which accused it of selling missile parts to Iran, in spite of Beijing's arms control rules.
Asked if the Chinese companies or their personnel could be punished over the talks with Gaddafi's officials, Jiang said: "I'm sure that the agencies in charge of Chinese arms (sales) will deal with this in a serious and conscientious way."
The revelation is nonetheless likely to deal a fresh blow to China's already delicate relations with Libyan rebel forces that have ousted Gaddafi.
The ministry confirmed the gist of reports in the Globe and Mail and the New York Times that documents found in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, indicated that Chinese companies offered to sell rocket launchers, anti-tank missiles and other arms with a total of some $200 million to Gaddafi's forces, despite a U.N. ban on such sales.
A ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said members of Gaddafi's government had come to China and held talks with a "handful" of Chinese arms company officials without the knowledge of the government.
"We have clarified with the relevant agencies that in July the Gaddafi government sent personnel to China without the knowledge of the Chinese government and they engaged in contact with a handful of people from the companies concerned," Jiang told a news briefing in Beijing.
"The Chinese companies did not sign arms trade contacts, nor did they export military items to Libya," Jiang said. "I believe that the agencies in charge of the arms trade will certainly treat this seriously."
Even if the arms talks were behind Beijing's back, the controversy could intensify mistrust between Beijing and the rebels seeking to defeat Gaddafi's shrinking forces and claim control of all Libya.
"We have hard evidence of deals going on between China and Gaddafi, and we have all the documents to prove it," a rebel military spokesman, Abdulrahman Busin, told the Times.
The arms issue comes on the heels of tensions between Beijing and the Libyan rebels over frozen funds.
On the weekend, the head of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said China had obstructed the release of some of Libya's frozen assets.
Although China agreed with other powers last week to unfreeze $15 billion of Libyan assets abroad, it opposed handing control of more to the interim ruling council, according to Libyan rebel spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah.
"In principle, we don't have a problem" with unfreezing funds, said the Chinese spokeswoman Jiang.
"But out of a responsible attitude, we and some members of the Security Council want further explanation and information from the applicant countries about the uses of the funds and oversight of them," she said.
Libya's interim council has promised rewards for those who took a leading role in backing the revolt against Gaddafi, and that has raised concerns that China could be disadvantaged.
China is the world's second-biggest oil consumer and last year obtained 3 percent of its imported crude from Libya.
China did not use its U.N. Security Council veto power in March to block a resolution that authorized the NATO bombing campaign against Gaddafi's forces, but it condemned the expanding strikes and repeatedly urged compromise between his government and the rebels.
By the time of the visit by Gaddafi's officials, China was already courting the Libyan rebels. But China has not joined Western powers in formally recognizing the NTC as the legitimate authority in Libya, but has acknowledged its "important role" after Gaddafi's ousting.
The reports said Libyan security officials visiting China in July were received by three arms companies, including Norinco and the China Xinxing Import and Export Corporation.
Norinco has faced sanctions from the United States, which accused it of selling missile parts to Iran, in spite of Beijing's arms control rules.
Asked if the Chinese companies or their personnel could be punished over the talks with Gaddafi's officials, Jiang said: "I'm sure that the agencies in charge of Chinese arms (sales) will deal with this in a serious and conscientious way."
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