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الأحد، 5 فبراير 2012

Lincoln Tribune

Tens of thousands rally across Russia to demand free elections
Syrian army ‘massacres hundreds’ in Homs, activists say
UN expresses concern as death toll from raids in South Sudan reach 78
U.S. unemployment rate drops to 8.3 percent, lowest in almost 3 years
US actor Ben Gazzara dead at 81

Tens of thousands rally across Russia to demand free elections

Posted: 04 Feb 2012 06:32 PM PST

MOSCOW (BNO NEWS) -- Tens of thousands of Russians on Saturday participated in rallies across the country both in support and against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, local news agencies reported.

Protesters gathered in downtown Moscow to express their opposition to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's expected return to the Kremlin next month, despite the Artic-like cold that has gripped the capital. The protests came exactly a month before the March 4 presidential polls.

A crowd, estimated at approximately 120,000 by organizers but given as a little over 35,000 by police, chanted "Russia without Putin!" People of all ages and political affiliations protested against Putin, who was barred by the Constitution from standing for a third consecutive term in 2008 and handed over power to his hand-picked successor Dmitry Medvedev.

Rallies also took place in about 30 other Russian cities. Police estimated that 5,000 people rallied against Putin in St. Petersburg, but local organizers put the number at more than 20,000.

Opposition figurehead Alexei Navalny, the man who instigated the current protests, attended the rally but did not speak. No arrests were reported on Saturday amid a heavy police presence, RIA Novosti reported.

Meanwhile, Putin supporters rallied to urge an end to the protests and demanded political stability. Police said 140,000 people were at the pro-Putin rally in Moscow, but a RIA Novosti correspondent said attendance was far lower.

Reports on Friday said state employees were being coerced into attending the rally, and Putin acknowledged that this was possible. Russian news agencies said police figures of the number of protesters were believed to be false.

State-run pollster VTSIOM said on Friday that support for Putin is at 52 percent, with Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov and Liberal Democratic party head Vladimir Zhirinovsky tying for second with 8 percent. A poll by the independent Levada Center, however, said that a mere 49 percent of Russians believed the elections would be fair.

On December 4, Russia held parliamentary elections which many Russian voters and international observers said were marred by large-scale fraud. The ruling United Russia party won more votes than any of the other three parties, but it still suffered a significant drop from the two-thirds constitutional majority it has enjoyed for the past four years.

Throughout December, huge demonstrations took place across the country to criticize the elections which they claim were rigged in favor of Vladimir Putin's governing United Russia party. Some of the demonstrations were the largest since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Syrian army ‘massacres hundreds’ in Homs, activists say

Posted: 04 Feb 2012 11:28 AM PST

DAMASCUS (BNO NEWS) -- Syrian security forces have killed more than 200 people in the city of Homs, opposition groups claimed on Saturday. The killings occurred on the thirtieth anniversary of the Hama massacre which left thousands killed.

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said at least 260 civilians were killed over the past day after government forces bombarded the city. However, Syrian state-run media denied the accusations, saying the reports were part of a media campaign to cover "the crimes and aggressions of the armed terrorist groups in Syria."

"During the attack, residential buildings and homes were randomly and heavily bombed," the SNC said. An activist identified as Danny said the assault on Homs started after a few dozen members of the Syrian army defected and fled to a part of the city.

"The civilians went down to welcome (the defectors) to thank them for their bravery," Danny said, as quoted by CNN. "When the army found out, it started randomly bombarding with tank shells, mortar bombs. It's like they're killing animals."

For its part, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SABA) said the reports were part of "the ongoing distortion, falsification and instigation media campaigns by some satellite channels." "Such campaigns are viewed by many observers and analysts as a sinister bid to negatively affect the ongoing UN Security Council discussions about Syria," it added.

U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the "brutal killings" and urged the international community to protect the Syrian people. "Thirty years after his father massacred tens of thousands of innocent Syrian men, women, and children in Hama, Bashar al-Assad has demonstrated a similar disdain for human life and dignity," Obama said.

"Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now," he added in a statement released by the White House. "He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately."

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague also condemned the violence, adding that he was "horrified" at the reports. "I condemn unequivocally the use of tanks, mortars and artillery in civilian areas," he said in a statement. "It is all the more chilling that these events occurred on the thirtieth anniversary of the Hama massacre, in which it is estimated that 20,000 people were killed."

The UN Security Council on Saturday voted on a draft resolution to end the situation in Syria, where thousands of people have been killed over the past 10 months in a government crackdown against a popular uprising. The resolution called for an immediate cessation of violence by all parties and progress towards national dialogue that leads to a peaceful political resolution of the crisis.

However, Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council and a trade partner with Syria, has been reluctant to sign on to any plan that could be seen as a mandate for regime change in Damascus. Russia, joined by China, have opposed previous draft resolutions on Syria and used its veto on Saturday, drawing worldwide condemnation.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Russian TV that a "scandal" would arise at the UN Security Council if the draft resolution went for a vote on Saturday. Russia, which counts Syria as a major weapons client, has said it is concerned about the prospect of a Syrian civil war and does not want al-Assad pushed from power.

According to the most recent figures released by the United Nations in January, at least 5,400 people have been killed as a result of violence during the uprising. Syrian human rights and opposition activists say the figure has since surpassed 7,000 and includes hundreds of children.

The Syrian government has repeatedly claimed that violent acts against protesters have been carried out by 'terrorists dressed as soldiers,' although international observers have rejected these claims. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad previously admitted that mistakes were made, but claimed protesters were no longer being targeted.

UN expresses concern as death toll from raids in South Sudan reach 78

Posted: 04 Feb 2012 11:18 AM PST

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN/GENEVA (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) on Saturday expressed its concern after at least 78 people were killed during massive cattle raids in South Sudan. Several others remain missing, while dozens have been injured.

The attack happened on January 28 when an armed group of men from the neighboring state of Unity attacked several communities in Tong East County, which is located in remote Warrap State. The group, armed with machetes, stole more than 70,000 cattle.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at least 78 people are believed to have been killed in the attack while nine others remain missing. Most of the victims were women and children. Another 72 people were wounded in the early morning attack.

OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville called on all relevant authorities to ensure that urgent measures are taken to help secure the economic and social rights of those affected by the attack. "This is extremely worrying because an exclusively pastoralist economy means that around 40,000 people have now been left without a livelihood," Colville said, stressing that those displaced by the attack, mostly members of the Luac Jang tribe, are now facing shortages of water, food, shelter and medicine.

The details of the incident are still unclear as the attack occurred in a remote area of Warrap. Colville, however, said the OHCHR and the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) will continue their investigations.

In a separate incident in Unity state's Mayendit county on Wednesday, a shooting took place during a mediation meeting that had been held in a bid to calm ongoing ethnic tensions. A member of the UNMISS was injured in the shooting and an unknown number of people were killed, according to UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky who spoke with reporters in New York.

Seven UNMISS staff members, along with a series of state officials, had been meeting with the Mayendit county commissioner to investigate recent inter-communal violence along the border between Warrap and Unity. During the meeting, a group of armed men arrived in four pick-up trucks and started shooting indiscriminately.

A UN staff member was wounded in the crossfire and is now in Juba, the national capital, to undergo medical treatment. UNMISS has urged the South Sudanese government to investigate the incident and to bring the perpetrators of the attack to account.

Despite the recent attacks in Warrap and Unity, the UN said they appear to be unrelated to recent incidents in Jonglei state, where tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in the past two months due to deadly clashes between the Lou Nuer and Murle ethnic communities.

In August 2011, at least 600 people were killed and more than 750 others were injured when tribal clashes erupted in Jonglei. The clashes originated between the Murle and Lou Nuer communities following large-scale cattle raids by members of the two groups, leading to the theft of between 26,000 and 30,000 cattle.

South Sudan became the world's newest country when it broke away from Sudan on July 9, 2011, as a culmination of a six-year peace process which began in January 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

More than two million people, most of them civilians who died due to starvation and drought, were killed during the 20-year civil war in Sudan. Although there were hopes that South Sudan secession would lead to peace, violence has continued both on a local level as well as with the Sudanese forces.

U.S. unemployment rate drops to 8.3 percent, lowest in almost 3 years

Posted: 04 Feb 2012 10:03 AM PST

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The United States unemployment rate for the month of January dropped to 8.3 percent, the lowest number in nearly three years, the U.S. Labor Department (DoL) announced.

In its January 2012 Employment Situation report, which was released on Friday, the DoL said the country's labor market posted strong gains, adding approximately 257,000 private sector jobs in January. According to revised numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. private sector has created 3.7 million jobs over the last 23 months.

The numbers well exceed overall expectations, dropping the national unemployment rate from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent, the lowest level since February 2009.

"January's job growth was the strongest in nine months," U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said, noting that the national unemployment rate has fallen by 0.8 percent in the last five months as employment gains have remained constant.

The DoL report also noted that the manufacturing industry added 50,000 jobs in January and, over the past year, the country's economy has added 235,000 manufacturing jobs. Meanwhile, the construction sector has added 52,000 jobs over the last two months, the largest increase in construction jobs since 2007.

As January's employment numbers exceeded all forecasts, Solis said the accelerated growth in the U.S. labor force is seen across almost every industry. "More products are rolling off the assembly line marked 'made in the USA.'," she said.

"Our economic recovery is on track," Solis underlined. "We can build on this encouraging trend if Congress acts on the president's proposals to remove tax incentives for companies that ship American jobs overseas and invests in training programs so our workers can fill existing openings in advanced manufacturing."

US actor Ben Gazzara dead at 81

Posted: 04 Feb 2012 08:21 AM PST

US actor Ben Gazzara, who enjoyed a long and successful career on Broadway and in Hollywood, died of pancreatic cancer in Manhattan, his attorney said. He was 81.

The lawyer told reporters that the actor died on Friday at a Manhattan hospital.

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الأحد، 5 فبراير 2012

Lincoln Tribune

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