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March 20, 2011

Bahrain’s two main hospitals remain surrounded by masked soldiers despite demands from America that the kingdom must ease its violent crackdown on demonstrators and the medical workers treating them. Soldiers also continue to patrol all main roads in the capital Manama and have cordoned off access to the former hub of the protest movement, Pearl Roundabout, which was destroyed under government orders on Friday, denying the restive demonstrators a focal point. The tiny Gulf state has the feel of a nation under siege as it approaches a second week of martial law imposed for three months by its besieged rulers. In addition to the troop presence, neighbourhoods remain largely empty; large, glitzy shopping malls have been virtually abandoned and helicopters regularly buzz over the debris-strewn scenes of recent street clashes. Hospitals, particularly the Salmaniya medical clinic near the centre of town, have received extra attention, largely because of the significance they have taken on since the protests began in January.

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March 20, 2011

Egyptians have strongly backed constitutional changes that will allow the country to move quickly on to elections. Official results show that 77% of voters in Saturday’s referendum backed the changes. Under former President Hosni Mubarak, elections were stage-managed affairs with pre-determined results and turnout was very low. A parliamentary vote may now take place as early as September. Mohammed Ahmed Attiyah, the head of the supreme judicial committee who supervised the vote, said 18.5 million people who voted supported the changes. Turnout was 41.2 % of the 45 million eligible voters.

The changes include:

• Installing new criteria for presidential candidates, including a rule that they must be over 40 years old and not married to a non-Egyptian

The country’s two main political groups, Mr Mubarak’s National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood, backed the proposals. But pro-democracy activists said the changes did not go far enough and wanted the constitution to be entirely rewritten before elections could be held. Activists have argued that the established parties stand to gain the most from holding an election quickly. For many people Saturday was the first time they had ever voted.

>>> More News and Video on Egypt Page <<<

March 20, 2011

French jets have launched a second day of operations over Libya to enforce a no-fly zone against Col Muammar Gaddafi’s forces. The 15 planes patrolled Libyan airspace but did not open fire because they met no resistance, a spokesman said. TV pictures from the capital, Tripoli, later showed anti-aircraft fire. Some of it was near Col Gaddafi’s residence, the AFP news agency reported. France also says Qatar is to about to deploy four planes to the operation. The move would make Qatar the first Arab country to play an active part in the campaign against Col Gaddafi, who has been battling a month-long revolt. Spain, Italy, Denmark and Norway have also committed more military assets. Allied forces fired more than 120 missiles against Libyan targets, mostly air defences, on Saturday night. Policy criticised The head of the Arab League, who supported the idea of a no-fly zone, has criticised the severity of the bombardment. “What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians,” said Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.

>>> continued on libya page <<<

The US has also launched cruise missiles from ships based in the Mediterrannean Sea, and has taken the lead in military operations during the first phase, Kimberly Halkett, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Washington DC reported. The action marks the first international military moves against the Libyan leader, and it comes a day after the UN Security Council authorised a no-fly zone over the North African country. In the first phase of the operation, named “Odyssey Dawn”, the US will target Libyan Integrated Missile Defence Systems, mainly near Tripoli and Misurata, officials said. French aircraft had initiated operations by targetting Libyan air fields. It is not clear when the second wave of operations will begin, but Al Jazeera’s Halkett reported that it would target Gaddafi’s ground forces and tanks. Other countries involved in military operations at this stage include Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Italy.

>>> continued on libya page <<<

March 19, 2011

Mohammad Nabbous citizen reporter shot and killed during gaddafi attack on Benghazi

Wife’s stetement

http://www.livestream.com/libya17feb/video?clipId=pla_9745ec21-c64d-440f-abe7-a412e7db456d&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

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March 19, 2011

Pro-Gaddafi tanks are inside Libya’s rebel stronghold of Benghazi, a BBC journalist has witnessed, as the city came under attack. A jet appears to have been shot down over the city in spite of a declared ceasefire and a UN no-fly resolution. World leaders are due to meet in Paris to discuss military action. The rebel leader has appealed to the international community to stop the pro-Gaddafi bombardment, but the government denies claims of attacks. “Now there is a bombardment by artillery and rockets on all districts of Benghazi,” Mustafa Abdul Jalil told Al Jazeera television. “There will be a catastrophe if the international community does not implement the resolutions of the UN Security Council.

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The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda. A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with United States Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop what is described as an “online persona management service” that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world. The project has been likened by web experts to China’s attempts to control and restrict free speech on the internet. Critics are likely to complain that it will allow the US military to create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives. The discovery that the US military is developing false online personalities – known to users of social media as “sock puppets” – could also encourage other governments, private companies and non-government organisations to do the same. The Centcom contract stipulates that each fake online persona must have a convincing background, history and supporting details, and that up to 50 US-based controllers should be able to operate false identities from their workstations “without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries”.

In his evidence to the Senate committee, Gen Mattis said: “OEV seeks to disrupt recruitment and training of suicide bombers; deny safe havens for our adversaries; and counter extremist ideology and propaganda.” He added that Centcom was working with “our coalition partners” to develop new techniques and tactics the US could use “to counter the adversary in the cyber domain”. According to a report by the inspector general of the US defence department in Iraq, OEV was managed by the multinational forces rather than Centcom. Asked whether any UK military personnel had been involved in OEV, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said it could find “no evidence”. The MoD refused to say whether it had been involved in the development of persona management programmes, saying: “We don’t comment on cyber capability.” OEV was discussed last year at a gathering of electronic warfare specialists in Washington DC, where a senior Centcom officer told delegates that its purpose was to “communicate critical messages and to counter the propaganda of our adversaries”. Persona management by the US military would face legal challenges if it were turned against citizens of the US, where a number of people engaged in sock puppetry have faced prosecution.

Last year a New York lawyer who impersonated a scholar was sentenced to jail after being convicted of “criminal impersonation” and identity theft. It is unclear whether a persona management programme would contravene UK law. Legal experts say it could fall foul of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, which states that “a person is guilty of forgery if he makes a false instrument, with the intention that he or another shall use it to induce somebody to accept it as genuine, and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to his own or any other person’s prejudice”. However, this would apply only if a website or social network could be shown to have suffered “prejudice” as a result.

March 17, 2011

Engineers at Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant have managed to lay a cable to reactor 2, the UN’s nuclear watchdog reports. Restoring power should enable engineers to restart the pumps which send coolant over the reactor. Workers at Fukushima have been battling to prevent fuel in the reactors from overheating since Friday’s magnitude 9.0 quake and subsequent tsunami. The confirmed death toll from the disaster has risen above 5,600. More than 9,500 people are missing and tens of thousands of people are living in temporary shelters. US President Barack Obama has said he is confident the “strong, resilient” people of Japan will recover from the crisis and that the country will emerge stronger than before. The atomic crisis was triggered when the power supply to Fukushima was damaged by the natural disaster and back-up generators failed. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which runs the plant, has been attempting to connect it to the main grid via a 1-km (0.6-mile) electricity cable. Once power is restored, engineers should be able to re-activate the pumps which send coolant through the reactors and the pools where spent fuel rods are stored.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the cable had reached the site by 1730 local time (0830 GMT) on Thursday, and that engineers planned to reconnect power to the reactor once workers have finished spraying seawater over reactor 3. Tepco warned the process of reconnecting power could take up to 15 hours. Helicopters and water cannon have been dumping seawater over the Fukushima reactors, to try to prevent fuel rods melting. Video footage had suggested most of the water had been falling outside the target buildings, but a Tepco spokesman said it appeared the operation had had some success. “When we poured water, we monitored steam rising from the facility. By pouring water, we believe the water turned down the heat. We believe that there was a certain effect,” he said. Another spokesman said on Thursday that aerial observations of reactor 4 indicated it did contain some water. “We have not confirmed how much water was left inside but we have not had information that spent fuel rods are exposed,” he said. Earlier, senior IAEA official Andrew Graham said the situation at Fukushima had not deteriorated, but could yet do so. He described the situation at “reasonably stable”. The head of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, is heading to Tokyo to be briefed by Japanese officials.

Fukushima workers labour round the clock in effort to avert catastrophe

March 17, 2011

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March 17, 2011

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council on Thursday approved a no-fly zone over Libya and authorized “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from attacks by Moammar Gadhafi’s forces. The action came as the Libyan leader was poised to make a final push against rebels holding out in Bengazhi, Libya’s second largest city. The vote in the 15-member council was 10-0 with five abstentions, including Russia and China. The United States, France and Britain had pushed for speedy approval. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said if the resolution was approved, France would support military action against Gadhafi within hours. The U.S. said it was preparing for action. Several Arab nations were expected to provide backup. Gadhafi vowed to launch a final assault on Benghazi and crush the rebellion as his forces advanced toward the city and warplanes bombed its airport Thursday.

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