Chicago teen who performed at inaugural gunned down - The Seattle Times

CHICAGO — A 15-year-old girl who had performed in President Obama's inauguration festivities is the latest face of the increasing homicide toll in Obama's hometown, slain in a Chicago park by a gunman who apparently was not aiming at her.

Chicago police said Hadiya Pendleton was talking with friends in a park about a mile from Obama's home in a South Side neighborhood Tuesday afternoon when a man fired on the group. Pendleton was shot in the back as she tried to run away.

The Obama administration said it was a "terrible tragedy" any time a young person is struck down "with so much of their life ahead of them."

"The president and first lady's thoughts and prayers are with the family of Hadiya Pendleton," administration spokesman Jay Carney said. "All of our thoughts and prayers are with her family."

He added that while "we may not be able to prevent every act of gun violence ... we need to take action to reduce gun violence" and "make sure that we're doing everything we can in a responsible way to reduce this violence, to protect our children, including Hadiya Pendleton and others."

The details of her death also gave fuel to gun-control advocates in the running debate over firearms. The story traveled back to Washington on Wednesday, where Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., mentioned Pendleton during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about gun violence.

He noted that Pendleton, a majorette, had marched in the inaugural parade last week. "It was the highlight of her young life," he said.

"Just a matter of days after the happiest day of her life, she's gone," Durbin said.

The city's 42nd slaying is part of Chicago's bloodiest January in more than a decade, coming after 2012, which ended with more than 500 homicides for the first time since 2008. It also comes as Obama, spurred by the Connecticut elementary-school massacre in December, is pushing for tougher gun laws.

Hadiya's father, Nathaniel Pendleton, spoke Wednesday at a police news conference, which was held in the same park where his daughter died.

"He took the light of my life," Pendleton said. He then spoke to the killer: "Look at yourself, just know that you took a bright person, an innocent person, a nonviolent person." Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy consoled him, the girl's mother and 10-year-old brother.

Hadiya Pendleton was a bright kid who was killed just as she was "wondering about which lofty goal she wanted to achieve," said her godfather, Damon Stewart. She had been a majorette with the King College Prep band.

"She was a very active kid, doing dance, cheerleading, who felt like she could accomplish just about anything, a very good student who had big dreams about what she wanted to be, a doctor, an attorney," said Stewart, a Chicago police officer and attorney. "She was constantly getting good grades."

When students filled the halls of King College Prep on Wednesday, there was a sea of purple and red, purple because it was Pendleton's favorite color and red because of Pendleton's violent death.

"You don't think at 2 in the afternoon at a park you're going to lose the one you love and care about," said Klyn Jones, a friend who was with Pendleton at the park.

On Tuesday, Pendleton and about 12 friends were at a park on the city's South Side, not far from the University of Chicago campus. When it started to rain, they all took shelter under a canopy. Jones said she looked up from her phone and saw a man jumping a fence.

He ran toward the group and started shooting, then jumped into a vehicle, which drove away, according to the police.

"It is believed that the offender mistook the group for gang members and fired at them," said Joshua Purkiss, an officer with the Chicago Police Department. In Chicago, gangs routinely and often indiscriminately open fire.

Another boy was shot once in the leg but is in good condition. A third victim had a graze wound.

Jones said a friend cradled Pendleton's head in her lap as they waited for the ambulance. Jones held her hand. They thought she would pull through.

Pendleton's death also came up at a news conference by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Emanuel called her "what is best in our city" and urged anyone with information about the slaying to come forward.

"If anybody has any information, you are not a snitch, you're a citizen," the mayor said. "You're a good citizen in good standing if you help."

Compiled from The Associated Press, the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.

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Hagel to face grilling by Senate panel on Mideast, budget - Reuters

U.S. President Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Defense, former Senator Chuck Hagel (L), stands next to counterterrorism adviser John Brennan (R), the nominee for CIA Director, at the White House in Washington January 7, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed

By Patricia Zengerle and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON | Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:03am EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chuck Hagel will face tough questions on Pentagon spending cuts and U.S. relations with Israel and Iran on Thursday as he faces a deeply skeptical Senate panel considering his nomination to be President Barack Obama's next secretary of defense.

Another member of Obama's second-term national security team, Senator John Kerry, sailed through his confirmation before being receiving the Senate's overwhelming support on Tuesday.

But Hagel, a former Republican senator and decorated Vietnam War veteran who broke with his party over the Iraq War, can expect a much more confrontational hearing when he is grilled on a range of issues by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Although most observers expect Hagel will eventually be confirmed - barring unexpected fireworks at the hearing - Thursday's testimony will be contentious.

At least three Republican panel members, including James Inhofe, the party's leader on the committee, have said they did not support Hagel's nomination.

"We are simply too philosophically opposed on the issues for me to support his nomination," Inhofe said in a January 15 statement. Such comments have angered Hagel supporters, who say two-term senator, who would be the first former enlisted soldier to lead the Pentagon, deserves at least a hearing.

Hagel's confirmation hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT) on Thursday.

In the entire Senate, which would vote on Hagel if he is cleared by the committee, only one of the 45 Republicans - Mississippi's Thad Cochran - has come out in Hagel's favor.

He is expected to face tough questioning on Israel and Iran, his view of the Pentagon budget - Hagel is known as an advocate for tighter spending controls - and relations with China.

The Middle East, which has been the most intense focus of the anti-Hagel campaign, is likely to be the toughest issue.

"There's a lot of misleading information out there about the senator's views on Middle East policy. Senators are going to want to hear from Chuck Hagel directly on what his view is and what is the administration's view," said Mark Jacobson, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund and a former staffer on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

CHARM OFFENSIVE

Hagel, backed by the White House and Pentagon, has been on a charm offensive to win over recalcitrant senators since Obama nominated him this month to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Facing a public campaign against his appointment by critics seeking to portray him as soft on Iran, anti-Israel and uncommitted to equal rights for women and gays, Hagel has been pounding the halls of the Capitol to hold one-on-one meetings with 53 senators before his hearing.

Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican, said on Tuesday she had spoken with Hagel for 90 minutes and been satisfied on several issues, but stopped short of endorsing him.

"We had a good discussion, but it's obvious that we have very different views on some fundamental issues," she said.

Hagel also detailed his views in 112 pages of written responses to wide-ranging questions submitted by lawmakers.

In them, he said that if confirmed as the next defense secretary, he would ensure that the military is prepared to strike Iran if necessary but stressed the need to be "cautious and certain" when contemplating the use of force.

Hagel also voiced support for a steady U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan, pledged to ensure equal treatment for women and homosexuals in the military and assured the committee that the United States would maintain an "unshakeable" commitment to Israel's security.

Most observers expect Hagel will be confirmed by the committee, even if he is approved only 14-12, along party lines.

"I do think he'll be voted out of committee tomorrow and then it will be interesting to see where things go on the Senate floor," said Maren Leed, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In the face of intense lobbying by both Hagel supporters and opponents, many Republicans have said they will withhold judgment until after the hearing.

Democrats control 55 seats in the Senate and can approve Hagel with no Republican support, but they will need some backing from Hagel's party to overcome procedural hurdles that could stop the nomination.

One has already emerged. Senator Lindsey Graham, a committee member, has threatened to keep the nomination from going to the Senate floor if Panetta does not testify about a September attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

Democratic Senator Carl Levin, the committee's chairman, said Panetta is already due to testify, and that would take place before the full Senate voted on Hagel.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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Conn. Town Residents Urge Stricter Gun Control - ABC News

One after another, Newtown residents stepped to the microphone and urged Connecticut lawmakers to stop another tragedy like the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and take action, such as banning high-powered, military style rifles and high-capacity magazines.

While a General Assembly bipartisan task force heard Wednesday from some residents concerned about their Second Amendment rights, the vast majority of the several hundred people who turned out for the public hearing — including parents of children killed at Sandy Hook and local officials — appeared to support greater gun control.

"Make this the time that change happens. Don't give up because it's too hard or too difficult. Make a promise to honor the lives lost at Sandy Hook and elsewhere in America by turning this tragedy into the moment of transformation that benefits us all," said Nicole Hockley. Her 6-year-old son, Dylan, was among those killed by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who fatally shot his mother in their home before driving to the school to carry out the massacre before killing himself.

Jennifer Killin, a Newtown mother, said there's a national misperception that Newtown residents want to repeal the Second Amendment. Rather, she said, Newtown residents want to protect people's rights while also protecting children and their safety.

AP

Nicole and Ian Hockley, parents of Sandy Hook School shooting victim Dylan, testify during a hearing of a legislative task force on gun violence and children's safety at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn., Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. Connecticut lawmakers are in Newtown for the hearing, where those invited to give testimony include first responders and families with children enrolled at Sandy Hook Elementary. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill) Close

"It's in everyone's best interest to work together," she said, receiving loud applause from the crowd.

Bill Sherlach, whose wife, Mary, a school psychologist, died in the rampage, said he respects the Second Amendment but it was written in a long-ago era where armaments were different.

"I have no idea how long it took to reload and refire a musket," he said. "I do know that the number of shots fired in the Sandy Hook Elementary School in those few short minutes is almost incomprehensible, even in today's modern age."

Wednesday's hearing was in sharp contrast to a legislative subcommittee hearing held Monday at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on gun laws, which lasted hours into the night and attracted hundreds of gun rights activists statewide. Many in the crowd at the Newtown High School auditorium, the site where President Barack Obama addressed residents after the shooting, wore stickers urging gun law changes.

Many voiced support for more background checks, annual gun permit renewals and increased availability of mental health services.

Michael Majeski of Newtown called it a "kneejerk reaction" to the shooting by focusing on gun laws. Rather, he said, they need to address mental illness, pointing out how the state has closed a nearby psychiatric hospital.

"If there is any commonsense or wisdom among the members of this committee, I would humbly ask you to focus on the underlying causes of these murders and not these symptoms," he said.

David Wheeler, whose 6-year-old son, Benjamin, was killed at Sandy Hook, said a more comprehensive system of identifying and monitoring individuals with mental distress needs to be created.

"That a person with these problems could live in a home where he had access to among the most powerful firearms available to non-military personnel is unacceptable," he said. "It doesn't matter to whom these weapons were registered. It doesn't matter if they were purchased legally. What matters is that it was far too easy for another mentally unbalanced, suicidal person who had violent obsessions to have easy access to unreasonably powerful weapons."

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2 dead, splintered debris, after storms rake South - The Seattle Times

ADAIRSVILLE, Ga. —

As rain pelted down, Kandi Cash trudged through the splintered debris of her grandparents' house, hoping to salvage photos and other prized family keepsakes after a day of violent storms raked the Southeast, leaving two people dead.

The demolished home was one of many in the Georgia city of Adairsville splintered by a massive storm front that tore across several states Wednesday, unleashing tornadoes and dangerous winds that easily flipped cars and trucks and smashed homes and businesses.

On the lot where Cash's grandparents had their house also was a mobile home where her aunt lived. The property also had another small house her cousin was fixing up to move into after a planned May wedding. All three homes were demolished: toys, Christmas ornaments, children's clothing, household items and just about everything else that makes up a home were strewn about.

"I'm just picking up pictures," the 28-year-old Cash said. "I've found the most important ones, like when my cousin was born and her late daddy, the ones that matter most."

Cash, who lives in nearby Cartersville, rode out the violent weather in a neighbor's basement. Once the worst had passed, she called her family in Adairsville and was relieved to hear they'd all made it to a cinderblock storm shelter under her grandparents' home.

"I just told them that the Lord was watching after them," she said. "The houses can be rebuilt. The most important thing was that they were safe."

WSB-TV in Atlanta aired footage of an enormous funnel cloud bearing down on Adairsville. Winds flattened homes and wiped out parts of a big manufacturing plant in the city about 60 miles northwest of Atlanta. Pieces of insulation dangled from trees and power poles. A bank lost a big chunk of its roof.

Anthony Raines, 51, was killed when a tree crashed down on his mobile home, crushing him on his bed, Bartow County Coroner Joel Guyton said. Nine other people were hospitalized for minor injuries, authorities said.

Elsewhere, one other death was reported in Tennessee when an uprooted tree fell onto a storage shed where a man had taken shelter.

Near Adairsville, the storms tossed vehicles on Interstate 75 onto their roofs, forcing the route to close for a time.

"The sky was swirling," said Theresa Chitwood, who owns the Adairsville Travel Plaza.

The storm decimated a building behind the plaza. Gusting winds knocked several tractor-trailers on their sides in a parking lot.

Danny Odum and Rocky Depauw, truckers from Marion, Ill., had stopped for breakfast when the suspected tornado hit. They ran for an inner room when they saw debris flying.

"I've been stopping here for probably 40 years," Odum said. "I just stopped and had breakfast this morning, and this happened."

Afterward, Odum found his truck with a haul of diapers flipped on its side with his Boston terrier Simon scared but unscathed in the overturned vehicle. Depauw's truck, anchored by a heavy load of cat litter, was still upright.

A shelter was set up at a recreation center as temperatures plummeted to the 30s and 40s overnight and people had no heat or power. About 12,000 customers statewide had no electricity.

Around the Southeast, meanwhile, authorities were investigating several reports of twisters from the system that had raked Missouri and Arkansas on Tuesday before heading eastward. Some tornado watches remained in effect early Thursday along Virginia's coast as the storm headed off.

In Tennessee, officials confirmed that a tornado with peak winds of 115 mph touched down in Mount Juliet. No serious injuries were reported even though the path of damage was about 150 yards wide. At least six other tornadoes were reported statewide.

At a shopping center in Mount Juliet, large sheets of metal littered the parking lot and light poles were knocked down. One wall of a Dollar General store collapsed, and the roof was torn off.

A distribution center for The Tennessean newspaper also had severe damage. Rick Martin, who bags the newspapers and helps his wife deliver them, was shocked when he saw what was left. The metal frame of the building still stood, but its cinderblock walls had crumbled.

"We feel real lucky," he said Wednesday morning as he looked at the damage. "I would have hated to be in here when this happened."

The deaths ended the nation's longest break between tornado fatalities since detailed records began being kept in 1950, according to the Storm Prediction Center and National Climatic Data Center. The last one was June 24 in Florida. That was 220 days ago as of Tuesday.

The last day with multiple fatalities was June 4, when three people were killed in Missouri.

---

Associated Press writers Kristin M. Hall in Mount Juliet, Tenn., and Phillip Lucas in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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Israeli Warplanes Strike Inside Syria - Voice of America

Russia is expressing concern about an alleged airstrike by Israeli warplanes inside Syria.

The Russian Foreign Ministry says such action, if confirmed, amounts to "unprovoked attacks" against a sovereign nation, in violation of the United Nations charter.

Differing accounts of the Wednesday airstrike have emerged, with Syrian authorities saying Israeli jets fired on a military research facility near Damascus, killing two people.

Israeli and Western news media reported an Israeli airstrike at a different location, close to the Syrian-Lebanese border. They say the target was a convoy delivering missile parts to Hezbollah, the strongly anti-Israel Shi'ite militia based in Lebanon.

Hezbollah condemned the attack in a statement Thursday and expresses its "full solidarity" with Syria.

The conflicting reports could not be resolved or independently confirmed by early Thursday and it remains unclear whether one or two separate strikes occurred. Israel routinely declines to acknowledge preemptive military actions and refused all comment Wednesday.

In recent weeks, Israeli officials have warned that they will not tolerate any transfer of Syrian weapons to militants such as Hezbollah.

The former head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, Amnon Sofin, says Israel's greatest concern is that Syrian chemical weapons could come under control of Hezbollah militants dug in along the Lebanese border.

Sofin told reporters Wednesday that Hezbollah already has rockets and launchers and there are fears that such missiles could be fitted to carry chemical warheads.

A statement from Syria's military command describes the early-morning Israeli attack as "a direct strike on a scientific research center." It says the strike followed months of "botched attempts" to seize control of the facility by "terrorist groups" - the government's label for rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad. The Israeli pilots are said to have flown into Syria at low altitude, to evade detection.

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Standoff drags into 3rd day as man holds 6-year-old in underground bunker - CNN International

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The sheriff says investigators do not believe the boy has been harmed
• Authorities cancel a news conference late Wednesday night
• A gunman is holding the 6-year-old hostage in an underground bunker
• Authorities get coloring books, crayons and medicine to the captive boy

Midland City, Alabama (CNN) -- Somewhere underneath this red Alabama dirt is a 6-year old boy.

A kindergartener, snatched from the safety of his school bus by a gunman and stashed in an underground bunker.

A 6-year-old who needs daily medication.

A child that this Bible Belt community of 2,300 is praying for.

Many details have been released about the boy's abductor.

How he was supposed to have been in court to face charges that he'd shot at his neighbors over a minor property dispute.

How he boarded a stopped school bus Tuesday and shot dead the bus driver.

How he worked on the bunker in the middle of the night for more than a year.

But as the sun rose again on Midland City on Thursday, many more questions remain.

How deep is the bunker?

What's in it beside the man and the boy?

How are they keeping warm when temperatures have dipped into the 30s in the area?

Is the boy safe?

And most importantly, why him?

The driver

The gunman stormed into the school bus Tuesday afternoon and demanded that the driver hand him a child.

The driver, 66-year-old Charles Poland Jr., was a gentle Bible-reading man who could not stand to discipline the children on his bus because it hurt his heart, the Dothan Eagle newspaper reported.

When he refused the demand, police said the gunman shot him several times as 22 horrified children scrambled for cover.

But the man was able to grab the boy, drag him to his underground bunker.

And the standoff began.

The suspect

Authorities have not released the name of the gunman. But neighbors and news outlets around Midland City identified him as 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes, a Vietnam veteran and a retired truck driver.

Neighbor Jimmy Davis told CNN Dykes began digging a hole on his property soon after he moved in down the road from him.

Davis, who works a night shift, said Dykes worked on his bunker in the middle of the night -- every other night, between 2 and 3 a.m., for a year-and-a-half.

He was friendly and welcoming and told Davis the hole would be a storm shelter.

But Tim Byrd, chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff's Office, told the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch that Dykes had "anti-America" views.

"His friends and his neighbors stated that he did not trust the government, that he was a Vietnam vet, and that he had PTSD," Byrd told the civil rights group. "He was standoffish, didn't socialize or have any contact with anybody. He was a survivalist type."

The court date

On Wednesday, the day before the standoff began, Dykes was supposed to appear in court to answer to charges that he'd shot at Davis during a December argument over the dirt road that separated their homes.

Davis was in the process of moving out when his truck -- hauling a trailer -- dug ruts into the dirt speed bump Dykes had built up across the road.

Dykes "got mad about what he saw" -- standing by the side of the road, yelling and cursing, said Davis' mother, Claudia.

He then ran to his van, got a pistol, and fired two shots at the truck, the Davises said.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, including Claudia Davis' 6-month-old daughter who was inside.

The Wednesday court date in nearby Ozark was for menacing, a misdemeanor that carries penalties of up to six months in jail.

The boy

Very little information has been released about the boy.

One thing is for certain: He didn't know Dykes, said State Rep. Steve Clouse.

Through a PVC pipe that extends into the bunker, authorities have pleaded with the suspect to let the boy go -- to no avail.

The man agreed to let police send down coloring books, crayons and the prescription medicine the little boy desperately needs for Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

But nothing else has changed.

As the standoff dragged into Thursday morning, the boy's parents were doing their best to hold it together.

They were "holding on by a thread," Clouse said.

The scene

Early Thursday morning, dozens of law enforcement vehicles clogged the dead-end dirt road that leads to Dykes' house. Local police, the FBI, even Homeland Security.

Authorities evacuated neighbors. Officials closed schools in three nearby districts for the week.

But with little movement, police have been loathe to share much with the media.

Authorities called off a planned news conference late Wednesday night saying there was nothing new to report.

At an earlier news conference Wednesday, Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said he had "have no reason to believe that the child has been harmed."

A reporter asked what the community could do to help.

"Pray," the sheriff said.

"Pray."

CNN's George Howell reported from Midland City and Lateef Mungin wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Tristan Smith, Marlena Baldacci and In Session's Jessica Thill contributed to this report.

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Man shoots Alabama bus driver, holds child hostage underground - CNN

By Lateef Mungin, CNN

updated 3:38 AM EST, Wed January 30, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Man tells CNN affiliate WSFA that bus driver was shot four times
• Man takes child hostage in underground bunker
• Incident happened in Midland City, Alabama

(CNN) -- A man boarded a school bus Tuesday, police said, shot the driver, took a 6-year-old boy hostage and is holding the boy in an underground bunker.

The incident, that started in the afternoon, continued late Tuesday evening with authorities still desperately trying to free the young child.

Late in the evening, the man had the child in some sort of underground bunker or storm shelter, and SWAT team members were communicating with him through a PVC pipe, CNN affiliate WSFA reported.

"We will continue to work diligently through the night in an effort to bring closure to this incident as quickly as possible," the Dale County Sheriff's Department said at 11 p.m. CT.

Two hours later, the hostage situation was still ongoing, WSFA reported. Some 10 hours after the ordeal had began, the child was still underground.

The incident started at about 3:40 p.m. CT near a church in Midland City, Alabama, in the southeastern corner of the state.

Michael Senn, a local pastor, told WSFA that he spoke to several students who had been on the bus.

He said a girl described the shooter getting aboard.

"He told most of them to get off the bus," Senn related. "And then he grabbed a little boy and shot the bus driver four times."

Local authorities did not give an update on the condition of the bus driver but said one person died after the shooting on the bus. WSFA and multiple other local media agencies reported that the bus driver died.

Mike Creel, the suspect 's neighbor, said he also talked to some of the children who escaped the bus. It was a terrifying scene, Creel told the affiliate.

The suspect had initially demanded two children, Creel told WSFA.

"The one child he got a hold of actually fainted," said Creel. "That was the reason he was able to grab him. And now he is hidden in his homemade bomb shelter."

Creel said the suspect had been living in the area for about two years and began building the "bomb shelter" right when he moved in.

Authorities have not released the name of the suspect.

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Judge rejects Apple's demand for higher Samsung damages - BBC News

30 January 2013 Last updated at 03:30 ET

A US judge has denied Apple's request for higher damages from South Korea's Samsung, saying the firms must abide by an earlier $1.05bn (£666m) ruling.

The court in California also denied requests from both firms for a retrial of the patent infringement case, saying it would not serve justice.

A jury found that Samsung had infringed six Apple patents, which included features of the iPhone and iPad.

Apple and Samsung are fighting to dominate the world's smartphone market.

As a result, they have a number of court battles outstanding and have launched tit-for-tat legal challenges.

The next patent trial is scheduled to take place in 2014, in the Northern District of California.

It stems from a lawsuit Apple filed on 8 February 2012, alleging that the more recent Galaxy line of products from Samsung contains Apple technology.

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Immigration reform: Obama pushes forward with warning to GOP - The Guardian

Obama hopes energy from the election will act as the fuel that will push immigration reform through the House. Photograph: Isaac Brekken/AP

Barack Obama has warned Republicans that if they attempt to block his drive towards comprehensive immigration reform he will send his own legislation to Congress and force them to vote on it.

In a speech that sounded at times more like a campaign rallying cry than a presidential address, the US president said lawmakers on Capitol Hill should move swiftly.

"The time has come for common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform. The time is now; now is the time," he said.

The speech underlined the game of poker he is playing with Republican leaders, particularly in the House of Representatives. If they fail to fall in line over immigration reform, he implied, they would reap the electoral consequences. "If Congress is unable to move forward in a timely fashion, I will send forward a bill based on my proposal and insist they vote on it right away," he said.

Obama is hoping that the energy he gained from that presidential election victory 10 weeks ago will act as the fuel that will push immigration reform through the House and onto the statute books by the end of this year.

Underscoring the message, Obama delivered his keynote immigration speech at Del Sol high school in Nevada, a state whose population is more than a quarter Latino. Their overwhelming support for Obama in the presidential election last November helped him win Nevada by a comfortable six points. Republicans' share of the Latino vote in the presidential election fell to an all-time low.

Obama did not, however, spell out any detail in his speech. Instead, he has decided to leave the heavy lifting in framing the detail of a comprehensive reform to the bipartisan group of eight senators who on Monday announced their own mission to introduce a bill to the US Senate. The four principles that the president outlined were identical to those adopted by the senators just a day earlier.

White House officials see the confluence of proposals from the administration and leading senators as a major sign that the gridlock on immigration can finally be broken. A senior administration official told reporters that the similarity of the proposals "gives us a great deal of encouragement that this is something we're going to be able to get done and get done quickly".

At the heart of both Obama and the senators' plans is a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants – most of whom are Latino – currently living within the US. "For comprehensive immigration reform to work, it must be clear from the outset that there is a pathway to citizenship," Obama said.

The precise details of that pathway – how direct and how difficult it is – is likely to be the stuff of fraught political battles ahead. To assuage Republican opposition, Obama emphasised that undocumented immigrants would have to go "to the back of the line, behind all the folks who are trying to come here legally". They would have to pass a background check, pay a penalty and taxes from the moment they were granted temporary work permits, as well as learn English.

As a further fillip to the conservatives, he adopted some of the language used by Mitt Romney on the presidential campaign trail last year. He said he would continue to insist on strengthened border security, and crack down on employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers.

White House officials indicated that the plan was to extend the E-Verify system, that allows employers to check on the immigration status of job applicants, across the country over the next five years. Introducing a national E-Verify law was one of Romney's main campaign pledges.

With the eight senators, who include senior Democratic figures such as Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin as well as prominent Republicans John McCain and Marco Rubio, taking the lead on drafting legislation, Obama confined most of his remarks to making the case for change.

The president said that it was easy to fall into the trap of thinking of immigration as an issue of "us" versus "them". "A lot of folks forget that most of 'us' used to be 'them'. It's really important to remember our history. Unless you're one of the first Americans, a Native American, you came from someplace else."

He name checked the Irish, the Germans and the Scandinavians, the Poles, the Russians and Italians, the Chinese, Japanese and West Indians. "The huddled masses who came through Ellis Island on one cast and Angel Island on the other. All those folks, before they were 'us', they were 'them'."

The received wisdom is that the White House must achieve an immigration reform act within the year. Once Congress enters 2014, thoughts and energies will turn to the mid-term elections and many Republican Congress members will become increasingly disinclined to risk incurring the wrath of the Tea Party by voting yes.

The calculation is that with elements included in the bill to please conservatives – notably the emphasis on border security and a federal E-Verify system – and with the threat of another rout of the Republicans in 2016 hanging over them, Congress will finally come on side.

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John Kerry confirmed as secretary of state in landslide senate vote - The Guardian

The Senate's approval sets in motion a special election for Kerry's Massachusetts Senate seat. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

John Kerry's nomination as President Barack Obama's new secretary of state sailed through the US Senate on Tuesday, as his fellow senators voted overwhelmingly to confirm him to replace Hillary Clinton as the country's top diplomat.

The vote was 94-3 in favor. The two senators from Texas, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, and Oklahoma senator James Inhofe, all Republicans, were the only no votes.

Three senators did not vote. Kerry, the senior Democratic senator from Massachusetts, voted "present".

Kerry's easy confirmation had been expected. The Senate agreed to vote quickly after his confirmation hearing last week. The Foreign Relations Committee had voted unanimously by voice vote earlier on Tuesday to back his nomination.

The Senate's approval sets in motion a special election for Kerry's Massachusetts Senate seat. The five-term senator and losing presidential candidate in 2004 is expected to be sworn later this week.

Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, said before the roll call that a heavy vote for Kerry would send a "strong message" to the rest of the world that he had the firm backing of the entire United States.

Senator Bob Corker, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations committee, praised Kerry's testimony on Thursday. "I thought that Senator Kerry acquitted himself exceptionally well in the hearings that we had last week," he said on the Senate floor.

Kerry, beaming, was warmly congratulated by his fellow senators after the vote.

At the hearing of the Foreign Affair Committee, which he has chaired for four years, Kerry was visibly moved by applause and praise from his fellow senators.

"I'm honored beyond words," he said, before making brief remarks about the importance of the committee going forward on issues like Middle East peace.

Kerry, who became a US senator 28 years ago, said he will make a final speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

"What a privilege to work with you and now to work with you in a different way. I thank you very, very much," Kerry said.

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On 3rd Try, South Korea Launches Satellite Into Orbit - New York Times

Yonhap/Reuters

The Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 launching from the Naro Space Center in Goheung on Wednesday.

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Wednesday succeeded in thrusting a satellite into orbit for the first time, achieving its ambition of joining an elite club of space technology leaders, seven weeks after the successful launching of a satellite by rival North Korea.

South Korea has attached an intense national pride to the 140-ton, 108-feet tall Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, or KSLV-1, which was built with the help of Russian technology. Feeling besieged by China and Japan, both of which have successful space programs, South Korea has sought a technological prowess of its own.

That task has gained more urgency after North Korean successfully placed a rocket into orbit on Dec. 12. Only a handful of countries have succeeded in  independently launching satellites into orbit, with Iran also recently joining the club. After studying the debris of the North Korean rocket that splashed into South Korean waters, officials here determined that North Korea, despite its backward economy, has locally built key components of its rocket.

With all major South Korean television stations airing a live broadcast of the countdown, the two-stage rocket blasted off from the newly built Naro Space Center in  Goheung, 200 miles south of Seoul. 

"After analyzing the data, we determined that our satellite entered its intended orbit," said Lee Ju-ho, the government's minister of education, science and technology, during a nationally televised news conference. "Today, we took a leap toward becoming a power in space technology. This is a success for all the people."

Although part of the two-stage rocket was built by the Russians, South Korea considered the successful launching on Wednesday an important toehold in the space technology, the latest high-tech market where the country has decided to become a player. By 2021, it says, it will launch a completely indigenous three-stage, liquid-fueled rocket capable of carrying a 1.5-ton payload into orbit.

KSLV-1 was the first space rocket to take off from South Korea. The country purchased its liquid-fueled first booster stage from the Russian company Khrunichev in a deal that included a transfer of technology to South Korean engineers. South Korea has built the rocket's solid-fueled second stage that carried a small, 100-kilogram "Naro" Science and Technology Satellite-2C, built by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.  

The satellite, which has a one-year operational lifespan, will mainly collect data on space radiation. Officials said they needed until early Thursday to conclude whether the satellite was functioning properly.

Before Naro, the country had five satellites in orbit, but all of them were launched abroad foreign rockets. 

The two Koreas, which remain technically at war after their 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, have recently taken their rivalry into a rocket race. They both have suffered  spectacular failures before a successful launching. South Korea had previously fired the KSLV-1 rocket twice from Goheung, first in 2009 and again in 2010, but each time, the rocket failed to put a satellite into orbit. The third attempt, initially scheduled for October, has been twice delayed at the last minute because of technical glitches. 

The government of President Lee Myung-bak eagerly awaited the rocket's successful launching before he ended his five-year term on Feb. 25. But the success came at a sensitive time on the Korean Peninsula.

The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution last week tightening  sanctions against North Korea as punishment for its December rocket launching. The council considered the North Korean launching a cover for testing  intercontinental ballistic missile technology and a violation of its earlier resolutions that banned the country from conducting such tests.

North Korea has vehemently rejected the U.N. resolution, vowing to launch more long-range rockets and conduct a third nuclear test. It accused the Security Council and Washington, which led international support for its resolution, of applying "double standards," noting that countries like South Korea were free to launch rockets.

South Korea said that its program, unlike North Korea's, was solely for commercial purposes.

North Korea's three-stage Unha-3 rocket   put a small refrigerator-size satellite into orbit in December. Though South Korean officials doubted that the North Korean satellite was  functioning properly, they said that the successful launching demonstrated that North Korea was acquiring the technology for an intercontinental ballistic missile that can fly more than 6,200 miles.

For years, South Korea's space ambitions have languished under the constraints of  agreements with the United States, which feared that a robust rocket program might be transferred to the building of missiles and help accelerate a regional arms race.

South Korea has spent $500 million on its  rocket project. It's a paltry sum compared to the billions of dollars in space development projects by such regional leaders as China, Japan and India.

Still, like North Korea, South Korea has bestowed its rocket program with a halo of  national pride.

"Students and youths! The Republic of Korea is expanding around the world and toward space!" Mr. Lee, the science minister, said during the news conference, using the official name of South Korea.

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French Forces Press Mali Campaign, as Relief and Anxiety Meld in Freed Towns - New York Times

Jerome Delay/Associated Press

In Gao on Tuesday, a Malian soldier pushed suspected Islamist radicals into the back of a truck.

BAMAKO, Mali — French troops took control overnight of the airport at the last major northern Mali town still in rebel hands, news reports said on Wednesday, after routing Islamist militants from two other principal settlements in the vast, desert region where relief and elation has given way to some measure of reprisal and frustration.

A French military spokesman in Paris, Col. Thierry Burkhard, was quoted as saying French troops reached the airport at Kidal, in the remote northeast of Mali, where one resident told Reuters that the French forces arrived in four military aircraft and some helicopters.

After punishing French airstrikes, French and Malian troops have launched a lightning campaign on the ground in recent days, entering the northern towns of Gao and Timbuktu without encountering resistance as the Islamist rebels who overran the region last year seem to have melted away to far-flung hide-outs.

But there were suggestions on Wednesday that Kidal, the capital of a desert region of the same name, offered other complexities both because secular Tuareg rebels claim to be in control of it and because a newly formed splinter group that broke with the main forces has its power base there.

The remote province surrounding it may also be offering sanctuary to Islamists who have fled Gao and Timbuktu, news reports said.

In Gao, groups of residents were reported on Tuesday to be hunting down suspected fighters who had not fled ahead of the French-Malian military forces who took control of the town over the weekend. Other residents expressed concern that Gao remained unsafe and was acutely short of food and fuel after a prolonged isolation.

"The city is free, but I think the areas close by are still dangerous," said Mahamane Touré, a Gao resident reached by telephone from Bamako, the capital. "These guys are out there."

Mr. Touré, who spent the evening watching soccer on television and listening to music with friends, said that although everyone was enjoying the new freedoms, the legacy of Islamist occupation was evident in the hardship of everyday life.

"The price of gasoline is almost double, and the price of food is very high," Mr. Touré said. "There are still things in the market, but no one has any money and there is no aid."

Reporters and photographers in Timbuktu, the storied desert oasis farther north that the French-Malian forces secured on Monday, saw looters pillaging shops and other businesses, with some saying the merchants were mainly Arabs, Mauritanians and Algerians who had supported the Islamist radicals who summarily executed, stoned and mutilated people they suspected of being nonbelievers during their 10-month occupation.

Alex Crawford, a television correspondent for Britain's Sky News, said, "This is months and months of frustration and repression finally erupting."

The rapidly shifting developments came less than three weeks into the military effort by France, the former colonial power in Mali, to reverse the spread of Islamist extremism in the northern half of the desert country, which had threatened to engulf the south, topple the weak central government and destabilize a vast area of northern Africa.

French troops, helicopters and warplanes began arriving here at the Malian government's invitation on Jan. 11. Since then other West African countries have started to send troops. Britain is preparing to send more than 300 military trainers, and the United States is providing aerial cargo and refueling help.

In Washington, Pentagon officials said that as of Tuesday 17 sorties by United States Air Force C-17 cargo jets had flown 500 French troops and 390 tons of equipment into Bamako. In addition, there has been one aerial refueling operation by an American KC-135 tanker aircraft, which provided 33,000 pounds of fuel to several French warplanes, the officials said.

At the same time, a meeting of international donors was getting under way on Tuesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as part of an effort to provide more than $450 million in long-term financing for the military intervention in Mali.

The French-led effort has met surprisingly little resistance from the array of Islamist militias that occupied the northern part of Mali, an area about twice the size of Germany, in the spring of 2012 in the midst of a national political crisis.

It remains unclear how long the foreign military occupation will last. Most of the Islamist fighters have melted into the desert and could be regrouping to fight again.

In a bid to consolidate the gains, troops from Mali and neighboring Niger arrived Tuesday in the small town of Ansongo, about 50 miles south of Gao, one day after President François Hollande of France urged African countries to take a more prominent role in the operations.

Just as in Gao two days before, residents filled the streets there to greet the arrival of the African troops as they toured Ansongo and its environs.

"Everyone is very, very, very happy," said Ibrahim Haidara, an Ansongo resident reached by phone. "They chanted, 'Vive la France!' and 'Long live African armies!' "

But like his counterparts in Gao, he worried that the fighters might not have gone very far.

"They are in the bush. They are hiding," he said. "One must be careful."

Peter Tinti reported from Bamako, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Scott Sayare contributed reporting from Paris, John F. Burns and Alan Cowell from London, and Elisabeth Bumiller from Washington.

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Floods Put Strain on Australia's Economy - Wall Street Journal

Article Excerpt

BY ENDA CURRAN

SYDNEY—Heavy flooding along Australia's eastern coast led the country's insurers to declare a "catastrophic event" Tuesday as days of torrential rain accompanied by tornadoes added to the strain on the nation's economy.

The second major flooding disaster to hit Australia in two years has already wreaked havoc across southeastern parts of Queensland state, an important coal-producing region. The Bureau of Meteorology said the storm—dubbed ex-tropical cyclone Oswald—had moved toward the neighboring state of New South Wales.

Four people have died and hundreds were forced to evacuate as wild weather cut power supplies to about 165,000 residents. The military has deployed ...

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Boy Scouts may reverse policy, allow gays - Philadelphia Inquirer

Miriam Hill and Sam Wood, Inquirer Staff Writers

Posted: Tuesday, January 29, 2013, 3:01 AM

The Boy Scouts of America on Monday said it was considering admitting gay members and leaders, a policy reversal that would have special resonance in Philadelphia, where the city and local scouts are fighting the issue in court.

The national group, which has been under heavy pressure from gay leaders and financial backers to end its ban, said the change could be announced as early as next week, after the BSA's national board concludes a regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 6. The meeting will be closed to the public.

"Currently, the BSA is discussing potentially removing the national membership restriction regarding sexual orientation," Deron Smith, a spokesman for the national organization, said in a statement.

Any change would still give local scouting groups final say on who can belong and lead, according to the statement.

"The Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members or parents. Under this proposed policy, the BSA would not require any chartered organization to act in ways inconsistent with that organization's mission, principles or religious beliefs," the statement said.

The Boys Scouts, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010, has long excluded both gays and atheists. Smith said that a change in the policy toward atheists was not being considered, and that the BSA continued to view "duty to God" as one of its basic principles.

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Protests over the no-gays policy gained momentum in 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the BSA's right to exclude gays. Scout units lost sponsorships by public schools and other entities that adhered to nondiscrimination policies.

More recently, amid petition campaigns, shipping giant UPS Inc. and drug-manufacturer Merck announced that they were halting donations to the Boy Scouts from their charitable foundations so long as the no-gays policy was in force.

Philadelphia played a central role in the debate. In 2008, the Boy Scouts' Cradle of Liberty Council, which serves Philadelphia, Montgomery and Delaware Counties, sued the City of Philadelphia after it threatened to evict the scouts from the landmark, city-owned building off the Benjamin Franklin Parkway that they have occupied since 1928.

The city maintained that an organization discriminating against any group could not receive municipal benefits.

Though Cradle of Liberty had a nondiscrimination policy, the national organization threatened to dissolve the Philadelphia group if it allowed "avowed homosexuals."

In 2010, the suit went to trial. The jury sided with Cradle of Liberty and required the city to pay $877,000 of the council's legal fees, an amount that has since risen to more than $1 million as the case has continued. Philadelphia proposed selling the building to the council for $500,000, about half its assessed value, as payment for bills, but that deal fell through, and the city is appealing.

"We're watching what happens at the national scout level like everyone else," said Mark McDonald, a spokesman for Mayor Nutter. "And we'll watch it very closely." A representative for the Cradle of Liberty Council declined comment.

Many associated with area scouting applauded the news but wanted to know more.

Thomas Ferrari, an Eagle Scout who returned his medal and badge to protest the national organization's policy, said he was encouraged.

"I believe it's a step in the right direction," said Ferrari, 30, who is an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 48 in Berlin, Camden County. "I still strongly believe in the program."

He said he hopes the Boy Scouts will go further than giving local councils and troops an option.

"I think eventually - hopefully sooner rather than later - it won't even be an option, and just anyone is accepted," he said.

Ferrari is among more than 200 Eagle Scouts who have renounced their award on a website called Eagle Scouts Returning Their Badges (http://eaglebadges.tumblr.com/) in the last year.

He said he would wait to see what the Boy Scouts do before considering requesting the return of his award.

Troy Stevenson, chief executive of Garden State Equality, a gay rights organization, said a possible change in policy by the scouts was "amazing news."

"We would applaud the Boy Scouts for finally being inclusive" if the organization approves the change, he said.

Lisa Baskin, committee chair for Cub Scout Pack 581 in Penn Valley, said her group has always accepted everyone.

"As far as I know, we have never turned down anybody, nor would we ever. That's the way we feel locally," she said. "We don't ask."

The national policy has driven some people away, she said.

"We would love that [change] because I know that there is one or two Cub Scouts who recently dropped out - not in our pack, but in one of the other packs - because the parents felt very strongly about the ban."

Tom Dintaman, assistant scout executive for the BSA's Chester County Council, said the national policy might not alter local decisions, which are made by the churches, community organizations and others that partner with the scouts to create troops.

"We have partners who are strongly against the Boy Scouts' current stand, and we have partners that are strongly in favor of the Boy Scouts maintaining their current policies," Dintaman said. "There is nothing that our national council can do that will please everyone."

---

Contact Staff Writer Miriam Hill at hillmb@phillynews.com or 215-854-5520. Follow her on Twitter @miriamhill.

Staff writers Carolyn Davis and Joseph Gambardello contributed to this article, which also contains information from the Associated Press.

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Immigration reform: Obama to lay out package to dovetail with senators' plan - The Guardian

US politicians on both sides of the aisle are gearing up for what promises to be a bruising battle over immigration reform, with Barack Obama and senior senators unveiling separate but related plans for comprehensive reform.

Obama travels to Nevada on Tuesday to lay out his package of proposals that would extend to 11 million undocumented immigrants – most of whom are Latino – the hope of finding a way out of the state of limbo in which they are currently trapped. The president has promised to make immigration reform a priority of the coming year.

Obama's plan will play second fiddle to an initiative from eight US senators that, in a careful act of choreography, was launched on Monday to give maximum sense of momentum. The senators' proposals will form the basis of a bill that its backers hope will be introduced to the Senate by March, gain approval of the chamber by late spring or summer and then spend the autumn in the House of Representatives before being sent for the president's signature by the end of the year.

In a five-page draft outline of the principles behind such a bill, the senators said they would create "a tough but fair path to citizenship for unauthorised immigrants currently living in the US that is contingent upon securing our borders and tracking whether legal immigrants have left the country when required".

The senators, who include leading Republicans such as John McCain and Marco Rubio, as well as leading Democrats Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin, said they hoped to fix a broken immigration system. McCain, who has spearheaded previous failed attempts at reform, said the aim was to "create a tough but fair path to citizenship for those who are here illegally".

At a Washington press conference, McCain said: "What's going on now is unacceptable. In reality, what's been created is de facto amnesty."

Speaking for the Democratic senators, Chuck Schumer said: "We believe this will be the year Congress finally gets this done. The politics of immigration reform had been turned upside down: for the first time ever, there's more political risk [to] opposing immigration reform than supporting it."

The combination of the senators' initiative and Obama's White House push promises to be the most significant attempt at meaningful immigration reform since 2007, when President Bush's effort foundered in the Senate. That the two main parties are even talking again about the subject at a senior level points to a seismic shift in the political plates, particularly for the Republicans.

In the wake of the Tea-Party fuelled Republican takeover of the House in 2010, the GOP grew averse to the idea of immigration reform, which was denounced as a reward for unlawful behaviour. But the drubbing that Mitt Romney received in the November presidential election, in which 71% of Latinos swung behind Obama in evident protest at the anti-immigrant tone adopted by the Republicans, has given many prominent conservatives pause.

McCain was blunt in his assessment of what was shifting opinion within his own party: "Elections. Elections. The Republican party is losing the support of our Hispanic citizens."

Carlos Gutierrez, who led Romney's outreach to the Hispanic community during the presidential election, told the Guardian that the changing stance of many conservatives was palpable. "There is increasing interest among Republicans, and not just for purely political purposes. As a party we have sent some very wrong signals to people we should be helping and celebrating and welcoming."

Gutierrez said that the devil would be in the detail of the Senate bill, and he predicted that despite the new mood of compromise on the Republican side, the battle ahead would be hard. "The details are difficult: that's one of the reasons why nothing has so far been done. But with every day that passes, the human drama gets worse and it's not fair to anyone to ignore this problem any longer."

A potential sticking point for the Republican-dominated House is how precisely to devise a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants already inside the country. Rubio, a senator for Florida who is seen as a Republican presidential hopeful for 2016, has voiced the anxieties of many in his party by saying that undocumented immigrants should not be allowed to "jump the queue" and get ahead of those who have applied through normal legal routes to reside in the US.

The senators' proposals follow Rubio's lead by creating two ring-fenced stages in the transition to citizenship. First, an undocumented immigrant would have to register with the US authorities and pass stringent tests – including a background check to weed out anyone with a criminal record and payment of fines and back taxes – to be awarded a right to work in the US on a probationary basis.

Then, in an entirely separate process, they would be allowed to apply for citizenship. But in doing so they would have to go to the back of the line, learn English and basic American history, and could have to wait for years before earning a green card.

"There are 11 million human beings in this country today who are undocumented," Rubio said at the launch of the senators' plan. "That's not something anyone is happy about, but it is the situation, and we need to find a way of addressing it in a way that is fair to those people who are waiting in line the legal way."

The other area emphasised by the bipartisan senators in their plans, with an eye to undermining Republican resistance in the House, is on tightening security controls at the US border with Mexico to prevent new undocumented immigrants arriving. The proposals call for an increase in the use of drones and surveillance equipment over the border, and a boost in the number of border patrol agents, before any pathway to citizenship would begin.

The idea of pumping in millions of dollars of additional federal spending on border security, following vast investment over the past 10 years, is causing unease among civil liberties groups. The number of border patrol agents has been doubled since 2003, and there are now 10 for every mile of border.

Vicki Gaubeca, a border rights expert with the ACLU, said Obama's first presidential term had committed itself to "border enforcement on steroids". Gaubeca said that the US border with Mexico had seen the introduction of hi-tech wizardry developed in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, such as unmanned drones, ground motion sensors, thermal imaging and night-vision goggles.

"The fact is there's a 40-year low in migrant apprehensions at the border, and now it's time to move on to more pressing issues, such as: what happens to the undocumented people who are already in the country, and how do we devise an immigration policy for the future?" Gaubeca said.

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Julian Ponder jailed for six years for Bali drug possession - BBC News

29 January 2013 Last updated at 03:33 ET

A British man has been jailed for six years in Bali for drug offences.

Julian Ponder, 43, from Brighton, was cleared of smuggling but was convicted of possessing 23g of cocaine which carried a maximum sentence of life.

Ponder was one of three Britons detained after Lindsay Sandiford, 56, from Cheltenham, was arrested for smuggling cocaine into Bali last year.

Sandiford was sentenced to death and is suing the UK Foreign Office for not supporting her appeal.

Prosecutors in Bali had sought a seven-year prison term for Mr Ponder.

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta said Ponder's defence lawyers said they would advise him not to appeal.

The two other Britons were also cleared of trafficking and received sentences of four years and one year each.

Sandiford, 56, from Cheltenham, was arrested on drugs charges in May 2012 and sentenced to death by firing squad last week by a panel of judges at the district court in Denpasar, Bali.

She claimed she had been coerced into carrying a suitcase into the country by criminals who threatened her family.

Legal charity Reprieve said the UK government was in breach of its obligations to Sandiford as a British citizen.

Reprieve said Sandiford, originally from Redcar, Teesside, had no money for an appeal after exhausting her family's finances to pay for a lawyer for her trial.

Charitable donations

The charity said the appeal involved filing a complicated legal document in Indonesian, which she does not speak, by 12 February.

Reprieve, and solicitors Leigh Day & Co, have filed a judicial review in the UK on Ms Sandiford's behalf against the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

This argues that: "In failing to make arrangements for an adequate lawyer to represent the claimant's interests the defendant is acting unlawfully, in breach of its obligations as a matter of EU law, to take all reasonable steps to ensure that she does not face the death penalty, is not subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment, is not tortured and receives a fair trial."

Reprieve said Sandiford was relying on charitable donations for basic provisions such as food and water.

Sandiford was sentenced to death despite the prosecution seeking a 15-year sentence.

Harriet McCulloch, from Reprieve, said: "Everyone knows that capital punishment means that those without the capital get the punishment. Lindsay's poverty means that she has ended up sentenced to death after a manifestly unfair trial."

Sandiford's MP, Martin Horwood, called on the Foreign Office to review its policy on Britons facing the death penalty abroad.

The Foreign Office said the UK government did not fund legal representation abroad but Sandiford's case was being dealt with through diplomatic channels.

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Egyptian protesters defy curfew order as new clashes erupt - CNN International

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Troops push back an attempt to storm a prison in Port Said
• Clashes break out between dissidents and forces in Suez
• Protesters ignore Morsy's curfew order, part of a limited state of emergency
• An opposition leader issues demands before agreeing to a dialogue

(CNN) -- It didn't take long for the defiance to spread.

Anti-government protesters ignored Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy's curfew order in cities along the Suez Canal and clashed with police and troops in Port Said, state-run media reported Tuesday.

It's the latest in the see-saw struggle between Egypt's first democratically elected president and dissidents who say his tenure is a throwback to the loathsome days of dictatorship.

The most recent furor stems from Morsy's declaration of a limited state of emergency for violent hot spots. On Sunday, he announced a 30-day nighttime curfew for the provinces of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia.

Those areas have seen a spate of bloodshed in recent days, starting with the two-year anniversary of the Egyptian revolution on Friday.

Dissidents angry with the slow pace of change fought with Morsy supporters and police. At least seven people were killed in those clashes.

The tumult intensified a day later, when a judge issued death sentences for 21 Port Said residents for their roles in a deadly football riot last year.

Port Said, which has had a difficult relationship with Cairo over the past six decades, erupted in chaos. At least 38 people were killed in the two days following the verdicts.

A new round of rebellion

Twenty minutes after the 9 p.m. Monday curfew began, protesters amassed and chanted, "With our souls, with our blood, we will sacrifice for you, Port Said," state-run television reported.

Egyptian troops beat back an attempt by a half-dozen armed gunmen to storm a prison in Port Said, according to EgyNews.

West of Port Said, in the coastal city of Alexandria, protesters sat on train tracks, disrupting rail travel.

Anti-government protests also sprouted up in Cairo, and demonstrators in Suez fought with security forces, state-run Nile TV reported.

State of emergency leads to state of turmoil

In a speech Sunday night, Morsy decried the behavior of "criminals," saying recent violence "does not have anything to do with the Egyptian revolution. ... In fact, it is against the revolution."

But he acknowledged the legitimate dissent in Egypt, saying "dialogue is the only way to bring about stability and security."

To this end, he invited representatives from 11 political parties to a meeting.

But a key opposition leader issued conditions before accepting Morsy's call for dialogue.

"Without accepting his responsibility as a president for the latest bloody events, promising to form a government of national salvation and commissioning a balanced committee to amend the constitution, any dialogue will be a waste of time," said Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Constitution Party and a member of the opposition National Salvation Front.

Protests could drag on indefinitely

The National Salvation Front held the president responsible "for the excessive violence used by security forces against protesters" and called for peaceful demonstrations, according to a statement posted on the state-run Al-Ahram news website.

The group made several demands before it would urge people to stop protesting, including the formation of a new government and making changes to what it called the "distorted constitution" that voters passed, in a referendum, last month.

Morsy's supporters warned the opposition against such demands.

"We would like for the political forces, especially the National Salvation Front, to realize how important this defining moment is and to put the interest of the nation above all," said Gamal Tag, senior leader of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

"They need to know that President Morsy's call for dialogue is not out of weakness, but it is out of his responsibility as president. ... Some forces are still putting conditions and obstacles before this national dialogue in order to make it fail. These people do not put forward the national interest. They are looking for personal gains."

CNN's Yasmin Amer and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

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Fleeing Islamists leave legacy of destruction in Timbuktu - Reuters

Tue Jan 29, 2013 2:30am EST

(Repeats with no change to text)

* Fears for historic texts as library burned

* Ancient city bears brunt of Islamist destruction

* United Nations "horrified"

By Pascal Fletcher and Giles Elgood

Jan 28 (Reuters) - The burning of a library housing thousands of ancient manuscripts in Mali's desert city of Timbuktu is just the latest act of destruction by Islamist fighters who have spent months smashing graves and holy shrines in the World Heritage site.

The United Nations cultural body UNESCO said it was trying to find out the precise damage done to the Ahmed Baba Institute, a modern building that contains priceless documents dating back to the 13th century.

The manuscripts are "uniquely valuable and testify to a long tradition of learning and cultural exchange," said UNESCO spokesman Roni Amelan. "So we are horrified."

But if they are horrified, historians and religious scholars are unlikely to have been surprised by this gesture of defiance by Islamist rebels fleeing the ancient trading post on the threshold of the Sahara as French and Malian troops moved in.

"It was one of the greatest libraries of Islamic manuscripts in the world," said Marie Rodet, an African history lecturer at London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

"It's pure retaliation. They knew they were losing the battle and they hit where it really hurts," she told Reuters.

Turban-swathed Tuareg rebels first swept into Timbuktu back in April 2012 to plant the flag of their newly declared northern Mali homeland.

Before the occupation, Timbuktu and its ancient mosques and burial grounds had become an obligatory stop for budget backpackers seeking the desert experience and scholars looking for historical wisdom from rare Islamic texts.

Written in ornate calligraphy, these manuscripts form a compendium of learning on everything from law, sciences, astrology and medicine to history and politics, which academics say prove Africa had a written history at least as old as the European Renaissance.

For years, people came to experience what locals called "the mystery of Timbuktu". They also came for camel rides at the gates of the desert, boat rides on the Niger river to spot hippos, and to visit the city's famous mud-built mosques with their distinctive turrets and protruding timber beams.

But soon after the Tuareg invasion, the city of the 333 Saints fell under the sway of Islamist radicals. Bars and hotels closed and the tourists, already spooked by earlier incidents of abduction and murder by al Qaeda linked militants, stayed away.

CAMPAIGN OF DESTRUCTION

It was not long before the Islamists imposed severe Sharia law and set about a campaign of destruction of centuries-old Sufi sites that prompted international outrage.

Shrines, graves and mausoleums were attacked with pick-axes, shovels and even bulldozers. The bones of Sufi saints were dug up, and the hard-liners tore down a mosque door that locals believed had to stay shut until the end of the world.

The militants from the Malian Ansar Dine militant group that occupied Timbuktu (the name means Defenders of the Faith in Arabic) espouse an uncompromising version of Islam that rejects what it sees as idolatry and aims to destroy all traces of it.

In Timbuktu, their targets have been sites revered by Sufis, a mystical school of popular Islam which honours its saints with ornate shrines. At least half of 16 listed mausoleums in the city have been destroyed, along with a substantial part of the history of Islam in Africa.

A spokesman for Ansar Dine, asked to comment last year on the smashing of Sufi mausoleums in Timbuktu, said their actions were ordained by faith. "We are subject to religion and not to international opinion," the spokesman said.

Similar episodes have been recorded in Libya following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, when Islamists used a bulldozer to dig up Sufi graves in a cemetery in the city of Benghazi.

Most notoriously, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban blew up two giant 6th century statues of Buddha at Bamiyan in 2001, despite outcry from around the world.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova has made appeals for the warring parties to spare "Timbuktu's outstanding earthen architectural wonders". These include the Sankore, Sidi Yahia and Djingarei-ber mosques, the last Timbuktu's oldest, built from mud bricks and wood in 1325.

The origins of Timbuktu - the name is believed to derive from the words Tin-Boctou (meaning the place or well of Boctou, a local woman) - date back to the 5th century.

The site on an old Saharan trading route that saw salt from the Arab north exchanged for gold and slaves from black Africa to the south, blossomed in a 16th century Golden Age as an Islamic seat of learning, home to priests, scribes and jurists.

A 15th century Malian proverb proclaims: "Salt comes from the north, gold from the south, but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom are only to be found in Timbuctoo."

RUMOURS OF GOLD

It was rumours of gold that drove European explorers to cross the trackless sands of the Sahara to search for the legendary city, already known for centuries to local inhabitants who traversed the deserts on camelback and navigated the muddy brown waters of the Niger by canoes.

Some of these foreign explorers died of thirst in the desert or were robbed and slain by fierce Tuareg warriors, while Timbuktu's mirage-like renown - no doubt enhanced by thirst-crazed, feverish imaginations - reached glittering proportions in the consciousness of 19th century Europe.

Scottish explorer Gordon Laing was the first European to arrive in Timbuktu in 1826, but he did not live to tell the tale, perishing at the hands of desert robbers.

It was not until two years later that Frenchman Rene-Auguste Caillie became the first European to see Timbuktu and survive to recount what he saw. "I have been to Timbuktu!" he is said to have breathlessly told the French consul in Tangier after he staggered back from his epic Saharan journey.

But after all his dreams of glittering minarets and palaces filled with gold, Caillie was disappointed to find in Timbuktu what it has largely remained for centuries: a dun-coloured town in a dun-coloured desert.

"I had a totally different idea of the grandeur and wealth of Timbuctoo," he wrote. "The city presented, at first view, nothing but a mass of ill-looking houses, built of earth. Nothing was to be seen in all directions, but immense quicksands of yellowish white colour," he added.

This initial sense of disappointment for outsiders, the myth not matching reality, seems to have traversed the centuries.

Normally loquacious Irish rocker and anti-famine campaigner Bob Geldof is reported to have been somewhat underwhelmed when he arrived in Timbuktu during the 1980s. "Is that it?" he said. (Reporting by Bate Felix and Maria Golovnina, writing by Giles Elgood, editing by Peter Millership)

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Hillary Clinton coy about White House ambitions on 60 Minutes - The Guardian

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton coyly batted away questions over any White House succession plan during a mutually appreciative interview on Sunday.

The rare double appearance in front of the cameras gave ample opportunity for the once bitter rivals to bury any lingering doubts that the acrimony of the 2008 primary campaign was long behind them.

During the course of CBS's 60 Minutes interview, recorded on Friday but aired on Sunday, the president referred to Clinton as a friend, who will go down as "one of the finest secretaries of state" America had known.

It sounded like an official stamp of approval for Clinton, who may or may not be eyeing a run at the White House in 2016.

But asked directly over whether the warm words were tantamount to an endorsement and if so how long it would last, both interviewees laughed away any such suggestion, without dismissing the idea out of hand.

"You guys in the press are incorrigible. I was literally inaugurated four days ago, and you're talking about the elections four years from now," offered Obama.

Clinton likewise gave an answer that could be interpreted any number of ways: "Obviously the president and I care deeply about what's going to happen for our country in the future. And I don't think, you know, either he or I can make predictions about what's going to happen tomorrow or the next year," she said.

The comment will do little to either bolster or knock down speculation that Clinton's upcoming hiatus from Washington politics will end with a run at the top job in 2016. But they will continue to fuel the rumours.

Clinton's last presidential campaign finished in defeat to Obama, in circumstances that were less than amicable.

But both participants in that primary battle seemed to be over the sniping and briefings that marked that race out as being particularly bitter.

Indeed, Obama gushed over the achievements of his top diplomat in the course of a tireless four years selling his foreign policy overseas.

"I'm going to miss her," he said of the outgoing cabinet member. He then added, somewhat tantalizingly given the persistent rumours of a 2016 Clinton-led ticket, that he didn't begrudge her taking it easy "for a little bit".

It was all smiles in front of the camera. But Clinton did at least allude to the past problems between their two camps.

Asked why she agreed to the rare joint interview, the 65-year-old politician replied: "A few years ago it would have been seen as improbable because we had that very long, hard primary campaign.

"But you know, I've gone around the world on behalf of the president and our country, and one of the things that I say to people, because I think it helps them understand, I say look, in politics and in democracy sometimes you win elections and sometimes you lose elections."

"I worked very hard, but I lost," she added.

But if a week is a long time in politics, then four and a half years is an eternity. And the once bitter rivals were now great pals, they both agreed.

"I consider Hilary a strong friend," Obama said. "I mean very warm, close," Clinton chipped in.

So much so that it "sometimes doesn't even take words, because we have similar views".

If taken at face value, such closeness may be a key asset to Clinton if, as many believe, she is preparing to mount a presidential bid.

Already popular amongst the party base and Democratic colleagues, a campaign from the former first lady would be formidable. Some Republican bigwigs have expressed concerns that such a run would be hard to counter.

Newt Gingrich, former House speaker and foe of then-president Bill Clinton, said in an interview last month: "If the competitor in '16 is going to be Hillary Clinton, supported by Bill Clinton and presumably a still relatively popular president Barack Obama, trying to win that will be truly the Super Bowl … and the Republican party is incapable of doing that."

But the state secretary's recent hospitalisation has led to some observers questioning if, after four years of an exhausting schedule, Clinton may be preparing to exit Washington politics for good.

Clinton herself has alluded to the toll that the constant travel has taken, telling staff last year that after 20 years in politics "it would probably be a good idea to just find out how tired I am".

Addressing concerns over her health, Clinton told 60 Minutes that she still had some lingering effects from the concussion that led to her blood clot, but that the doctors had told her that they would recede. "Thankfully I'm, you know, looking forward to being at full speed."

But in an indication that Clinton has in no way lost the energy and fight needed to stick around in the Beltway, last week saw the recuperated secretary of state take on her detractors in a fiery exchange with Republican congressmen over her handling of the deadly September attack on the Benghazi consulate in Libya.

In Sunday's interview she again defended the State Department's response. After stating that she deeply regretted what happened, she added: "we did fix responsibility appropriately."

As to wider question over foreign policy, and whether the US was guilty of an abdication of responsibility on the world stage, Obama responded: "Muammar Gaddafi probably does not agree with that assessment, or at least if he was around, he wouldn't agree with that assessment."

He also took the opportunity to again heap praise on Clinton's role in shaping US foreign policy.

Obama had said at the beginning of the interview that he had agreed to the joint appearance because he wanted to "publicly say thank you" to his outgoing state secretary.

While the words he uttered were thank you, there was no "and goodbye" to bookend the remark. Indeed many will have switched off their TV set convinced that they heard an endorsement in the lines he spoke.

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French-led forces in Mali take Timbuktu airport, enter city - CNN International

From Andrea de Georgio, for CNN

January 28, 2013 -- Updated 0828 GMT (1628 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• French forces are fighting the remaining Islamists in Timbuktu
• Militants are reported to be fleeing to another city farther northeast
• Malian and French forces recaptured a former Islamist stronghold last week

On the road to Timbuktu, Mali (CNN) -- French-led troops in Mali have seized control of the airport in Timbuktu from Islamist militants and are fighting their way into the city center, a spokesman for the Malian military said Monday.

Malian and French forces have together been battling the Islamists to loosen their grip on the country's north, which the militants have controlled for months.

The United States has also stepped up its involvement in the conflict by conducting aerial refueling missions on top of the intelligence and airlift support it was already providing.

Malian and French soldiers scored a key victory last week, taking control of Gao, a city east of Timbuktu that for months had been a militant stronghold. And the flushing the Islamists out of Timbuktu, Mali's historic cultural center, would be a big symbolic gain.

The Islamists were reported to be fleeing Timbuktu to the city of Kidal, more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) to the northeast.

The quickening advance of the government forces has brought them to the heart of the territory held by the militants.

Covering the fighting up close is almost impossible for journalists, who are prevented from gaining access to the front line. Journalists are only allowed to enter after a town after it has been freed and its security guaranteed by French and Malian troops.

French forces are involved in the fight in Mali, a former French colony that retains close ties with Paris, in an effort to prevent the Islamists from turning the once-peaceful democracy into a haven for international terrorists.

France has 2,150 soldiers on Malian soil, with 1,000 more troops supporting the operation from elsewhere.

The Islamic extremists carved out a large haven in northern Mali last year, taking advantage of a chaotic situation after a military coup by the separatist party MNLA. The militants banned music, smoking, drinking and watching sports on television. They also destroyed historic tombs and shrines.

Refugees have told harrowing stories of life under the Islamist militants. But human rights groups have also raised concerns over reports that Malian soldiers are themselves carrying out extrajudicial killings and abuses as they counterstrike.

The restrictions on journalists makes it harder for them to gauge the realities on the ground.

The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, has called for an increase in international aid for the hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced by the fighting in the country.

More than 150,000 refugees have fled Mali into neighboring countries, and another 230,000 are displaced inside Mali, the agency said.

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Q&A: What's behind the latest wave of violence in Egypt? - CNN

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

Clashes in Egypt after court sentencing

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Protests on the two-year anniversary of the revolution left seven people dead Friday
• Chaos erupted after 21 people were sentenced to death after a football riot in Port Said
• Critics have accused Morsy of becoming a new dictator
• Morsy announces a temporary curfew in three places and a meeting among different parties

(CNN) -- Two years ago, Egyptians toppled a longtime dictator and reveled in the hope of a new future. But frustration over the new leadership and controversial court verdicts have ignited clashes regularly.

Here's what's behind the most recent unrest, which flared up on the two-year anniversary of the revolution.

What sparked this latest rash of violence?

Two seemingly unrelated developments.

Read: Egypt's Morsy declares curfew in 3 cities

Friday was the two-year anniversary of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Protesters who have been angry with the slow pace of change and with some of the steps President Mohamed Morsy has taken clashed with his supporters and police in the cities such as Suez and Ismailia.

At least seven people were killed in those clashes, including several by gunfire. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.

Then on Saturday, a judge issued death sentences for 21 people from Port Said for their roles in a football game riot last year.

The court rulings sparked deadly clashes between security forces and relatives of the convicted. Over the course of two days, at least 38 people -- including civilians and soldiers -- were killed in Port Said. `

Dubbed the "massacre at Port Said" by Egyptian media, the riot broke out on February 1, 2012, after Port Said-based Al-Masry defeated Cairo's Al-Ahly, 3-1. The riot left 74 people dead and 1,000 injured.

Fans from both sides bashed each other with rocks and chairs. It was unclear whether intense sports rivalries or political strife sparked the melee.

What's the back story of tensions between Port Said and Cairo?

Port Said residents say they have grievances that date back six decades.

Over the past 60 years, residents of Port Said have felt betrayed by Egyptian security forces during a series of wars with Israel.

Thousands of residents were displaced several times because of the Suez War, the Six-Day War of 1967, the War of Attrition with Israel, and the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

Residents of Port Said, in northeastern Egypt, believed security forces did not adequately defend their city.

In addition, some say Cairo has not invested enough in Port Said's infrastructure, and that their city doesn't reap enough tax benefits from trade with international ships that pass though Port Said via the critical Suez Canal.

Some also say Port Said is still getting the cold shoulder from Cairo after a 1999 assassination attempt of then-President Hosni Mubarak, who was visiting the city.

Why are some Egyptians angry with Morsy?

Morsy, Egypt's first democratically elected president, came to power last June following Mubarak's ouster a year earlier.

But accusations of power hoarding soon followed.

Morsy issued a sweeping presidential decree in November, which prevented any court from overturning his decisions until a new, post-Mubarak constitution was passed. The ruling essentially gave him unchecked power, protecting from judicial review any decisions he has made since assuming office.

Protesters decried the "birth of a new pharaoh" and "Morsy the dictator."

But Morsy defended his move, saying it was only temporary until a new constitution is put in place. He said it was intended to safeguard the revolution, in part by preventing courts from interfering with the work of Egypt's Constituent Assembly, the body charged with drafting a new constitution.

The judges, many of whom were holdover loyalists from the government of Mubarak, are widely viewed as hostile to the Islamists who now dominate the assembly that has been charged with framing a new constitution.

The constitution eventually passed with a nearly two-thirds majority.

What happens now?

During a speech Sunday night, Morsy declared a limited state of emergency for violent hot spots and announced a 30-day nighttime curfew for the provinces of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez.

Morsy said some protesters' violent behavior "does not have anything to do with the Egyptian revolution. ... In fact, it is against the revolution."

But he acknowledged the legitimate dissent in Egypt, saying "dialogue is the only way to bring about stability and security."

To this end, he invited representatives from 11 political parties to a meeting Monday.

The meeting "is meant to address problems in Egypt, as opposed to express anger," Morsy's spokesman told state-run TV.

But for a country that has seen rounds of change, dissent, celebration and violence, it's unclear what the next chapter will be.

CNN's Reza Sayah and Tim Hume contributed to this report.

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