Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Declaring a “new chapter in the relationship between the United States and Burma,” President Obama announced Thursday he is rewarding democratic progress by nominating the first U.S. ambassador to Burma in 22 years.
The U.S. will also ease its ban on new investment in Burma, Obama announced.
After her meeting with the foreign minister of Burma, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters that while the U.S. is suspending sanctions, it is not lifting them altogether. “We will be keeping relevant laws on the books as an insurance policy, but our goal and our commitment is to move as rapidly as we can to expand business and investment opportunities.”
Clinton stressed that the emphasis will be in responsible investment, and that U.S. companies will be held to “best practice” standards implementing transparency and worker’s rights. However, in a follow-up conference call senior administration officials admitted that the standards are still being hashed out and they will not be legally enforceable by U.S. law.
Human rights groups have complained that it’s still too early to ease sanctions on Burma, and that the U.S. should have worked out standards of conduct before opening up Burma for American business. Here is the president's full statement:
Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in the relationship between the United States and Burma. Since I announced a new U.S. opening to Burma in November, President Thein Sein, Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma have made significant progress along the path to democracy. The United States has pledged to respond to positive developments in Burma and to clearly demonstrate America's commitment to the future of an extraordinary country, a courageous people, and universal values. That is what we are doing.
Today, I am nominating our first U.S. Ambassador to Burma in 22 years, Derek Mitchell, whose work has been instrumental in bringing about this new phase in our bilateral relationship. We also are announcing that the United States will ease its bans on the exportation of financial services and new investment in Burma. Opening up greater economic engagement between our two countries is critical to supporting reformers in government and civil society, facilitating broad-based economic development, and bringing Burma out of isolation and into the international community.
Of course, there is far more to be done. The United States remains concerned about Burma’s closed political system, its treatment of minorities and detention of political prisoners, and its relationship with North Korea. We will work to establish a framework for responsible investment from the United States that encourages transparency and oversight, and helps ensure that those who abuse human rights, engage in corruption, interfere with the peace process, or obstruct the reform process do not benefit from increased engagement with the United States. We will also continue to press for those who commit serious violations of human rights to be held accountable. We are also maintaining our current authorities to help ensure further reform and to retain the ability to reinstate selected sanctions if there is backsliding.
Americans for decades have stood with the Burmese people in their struggle to realize the full promise of their extraordinary country. In recent months, we have been inspired by the economic and political reforms that have taken place, Secretary Clinton’s historic trip to Naypyidaw and Rangoon, the parliamentary elections, and the sight of Aung San Suu Kyi being sworn into office after years of struggle. As an iron fist has unclenched in Burma, we have extended our hand, and are entering a new phase in our engagement on behalf of a more democratic and prosperous future for the Burmese people.
Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(MOSCOW) -- An independent Russian polling group says President Vladimir Putin's decreasing popularity may be irreversible.
Putin remains Russia's most popular politician, but the independent Levada Center released a report on Thursday that found his ratings in key categories like professionalism have continued to drop.
That center is not alone in predicting that Russia's season of political unrest will continue as Putin's aura of invincibility fades. Citibank's chief economist in Russia recently predicted that the Kremlin will be constrained due to declining oil revenues and a persistent protest movement.
Tens of thousands of people marched against Putin on the eve of his inauguration earlier this month, and a smaller group has attempted to occupy a central Moscow square. At any given time between a few dozen to a few thousand people have camped out in silent protest. They've played a cat and mouse game with riot police who chase them from one location to another. Dozens have been arrested.
Putin's spokesman has dismissed the occupy campers, but the heavy-handed crackdown on opposition figures, many of whom were detained on inauguration day simply for wearing the opposition's iconic white ribbons, shows that Putin isn't taking any chances.
Opposition leaders have announced plans for a march in St. Petersburg, and another big rally in Moscow is scheduled for June.
File photo. (iStockphoto/Thinkstock)(TOKYO) -- A Humboldt penguin that made a daring escape from a Tokyo aquarium has resurfaced two months later.
The year-old feathered creature was spotted in a Japanese Coast Guard video, swimming in Tokyo Bay and looking healthy, even though it had been on its own for an extended period.
The bird, known only as Penguin Number 337, escaped Tokyo Sea Life Park in March by scaling a 13-foot rock wall and squeezing through a barbed wire fence. Keepers at Tokyo Sea Life Park launched a daily penguin-hunt, fearing the bird could get sick from the pollution in Tokyo Bay. They appealed to residents to look out for the rogue penguin. There were dozens of sightings reported, but none turned out to be true.
Earlier this month, Penguin 337 appeared near Tokyo’s Rainbow Bridge. The clip by the Coast Guard shows the bird happily splashing around in the waters, showing no signs of weakness. Directors at the Tokyo Sea Life Park confirmed it was theirs after they saw its facial patterns and a unique ring around its flipper.
The young creature remains in Tokyo Bay waters for now, but there are concerns about its long-term safety. People are worried about radiation levels in the bay, a year after the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
iStockPhoto/Thinkstock(JERUSALEM) -- The United States is militarily ready to carry out a strike on Iran to stop it from obtaining a nuclear weapon if international pressure fails, American ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said to an Israeli audience this week. The Obama administration has repeatedly insisted that "all options are on the table" to deal with an Iranian nuclear threat, but Shapiro's comments went a step further in discussing the military's preparations for the possibility.
"It would be preferable to solve this diplomatically and through the use of pressure, than to use military force," Shapiro told representatives of Israel's Bar Association on Tuesday.
"But that doesn't mean that option isn't fully available. Not just available, it's ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it's ready," he said.
The comments come just days before nuclear talks are due to take place in Baghdad between Iran and the so-called P 5+1 countries: the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany.
An embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv declined to elaborate on the comments, which aired on Israeli radio and television.
"We believe that there is some time, not an unlimited amount of time -- in practice, this is a brief window in which we can still use diplomacy to achieve our goals," Shapiro also said, according to Makor Rishon newspaper, which published some of Shapiro's remarks.
"At a certain stage we are going to have to decide whether diplomacy isn't going to work," he added. "We want to give it every chance of succeeding."
Shapiro pointed to President Barack Obama's increase of troop levels in Afghanistan and his order to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last year as examples of Obama's readiness to use force.
Israel and the United States agree that Iran is working towards a nuclear bomb, but hasn't yet entered the "breakout" phase of development. Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak often warns of a "zone of immunity" he believes is rapidly approaching, after which Iran could not be prevented from developing a nuclear weapon.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that Iran is "feverishly working to develop atomic weapons to achieve" the destruction of Israel. He and others in the country's civilian and military leadership have long warned that Israel would resort to a military strike against Iran if it becomes clear diplomatic pressure and sanctions aren't working. The result has been harsh international sanctions against Iran's financial and oil industries that are having a devastating impact on Iran's economy.
But despite some indications that Iran could make concessions in next week's talks, there is no evidence that the pressure has had an effect on its nuclear program. Israel says the international talks are evidence of Iran's stalling tactics and says that unless Iran stops enriching altogether, ships in enriched uranium out of the country and shuts down its underground enrichment facility near the city of Qom, the diplomatic measures and sanctions have failed.
Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes -- that it enriches to 3.5 percent for power and to 20 percent for medical isotopes at the Tehran Research Reactor. But analysts say going from 20 percent to weapons-grade 90 percent enrichment is a relatively simple process.
Israel's leadership calls Iran an existential threat, but a large majority of Israelis are against a strike if it's carried out by Israel alone. Most analysts agree that an Israeli strike could not end Iran's nuclear program, only set it back. And some argue an attack would cement Iran's determination to develop a nuclear weapon, which could start an arms race in the region.
The biggest critic of Israel's threats of a strike has been Meir Dagan, the former head of Israel's foreign security service, Mossad. He has argued that Iran is not an existential threat and that its leadership is rational. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Thursday, he and other former international intelligence and military officials argued that more comprehensive "total sanctions" can get Iran to change course.
"It's common sense that before undertaking military action against a country, we should first try to dissuade it from its current course by applying decisive economic pressure," they write. "Doing so will show the regime that the world is serious and committed, willing to do whatever it takes to stop Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons."
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(MOSCOW) -- Looking to expand your summer wardrobe? Well, the makers of the AK-47 assault rifle think they may have something in your size.
The owners of the Kalashnikov say their brand may be worth $10 billion, and they're looking to expand into new markets. There's already a Kalashnikov vodka and a failed attempt to make a Kalashnikov SUV, but now the company is exploring whether there is a market for Kalashnikov branded clothing.
Analysts are skeptical the brand will appeal to the average clothing shopper, but maybe it will be as popular with rebel groups as the company's weapons.
STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The world’s ‘Most Beautiful Woman’ is at the center of a growing controversy over fame, motherhood and baby fat.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, a former Miss World and one of India’s most beloved Bollywood stars, is getting slammed for taking too long to lose her post-pregnancy baby weight. “SHOCKING! Fat Aishwarya Rai!” and “Aishwarya’s Baby Fat Woes!” are just two examples of the headlines that have triggered an international debate over India’s perception of women and fame.
Bachchan, Miss World in 1994, has long been an icon of beauty and source of great pride for her country. In the U.S., she has charmed the likes of Oprah, David Letterman and Julia Roberts. She has high profile cosmetic contracts with L’Oreal, among others. Add to all of this her high-profile wedding in 2007 to the Indian actor Abhishek Bachchan, the son of the highly revered actor Amitabh Bachchan, and the result is a woman who has been an undisputed national treasure -- until now.
In November 2011, Bachchan gave birth to a little girl named Aaradhya. Recently, she started stepping out in public again. Pictures show a woman who has clearly gained weight, but does not appear unhealthy or abnormal for a new mother. Yet, online criticism of her body was swift, harsh and carried an undeniably snarky tone.
The boiling point appears to have come with the release of a report by “Bollywood CIA” posted on Youtube. The video, titled “SHOCKING! Fat Aishwarya Rai!” shows before and after pictures of the star set to the sound of an elephant trumpeting in the background. The commentary snidely describes her as “rather plump” and includes the following:
“Instead of losing some of her flab after her delivery the Bachchan Bahu has gained 5 or 6 kilos…we think it is time she hire a good trainer to help her sweat it out in the gym.”
The idea that her role as a public figure makes her weight gain unacceptable has led many to question India’s obsession with beauty and perception of women. It has put Bachchan at the center of a discussion on the standards India sets for all women.
Professor Rachel Dwyer, the professor of Indian Culture and Cinema at SOAS, University of London, sees the criticism as a western import.
“I think this baby weight thing is a western obsession with pulling stars down,” she wrote in an email exchange on the topic. “Women who lose weight are congratulated and those who don’t are seen as letting themselves go. I’ve not heard of it in India before.”
Professor Dwyer points out that as she got older it took longer for Bachchan to find suitable roles, a challenge well documented for women in film, theater and fashion around the world. She cited Karishma Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit as two older women who are trying to make a comeback into Bollywood now that their children are a little older.
Bachchan is not shying away from her weight. She is expected to walk the red carpet in Cannes. Reports are she is bringing her new daughter with her, as she has done for all of her work related trips since becoming a mother.
Khalid Mohammed-Pool/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- A protest of Iraq war veterans at the NATO summit being held in Chicago this weekend is intended to send a strong message to Washington and the European alliance.
Some members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War plan to return their medals to NATO generals on Sunday, claiming they were given their honors for bravery or suffering for "a war based on lies and failed policies."
The group said on its blog the Global War on Terror "has killed hundreds of thousands, stripped the humanity of all involved, and drained our communities of trillions of dollars, diverting funds from schools, clinics, libraries, and other public goods."
Following the rally, the vets are expected to march to the convention center to give back their medals. If they are unable to meet with the NATO generals, they said they would throw their medals at the building.
About 30 to 50 veterans are expected to participate in the protest.
Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) -- With information being everything these days, Syria's embattled leader says his government is losing the propaganda war to the West.
With no sign of the violence ending after 14 months despite a United Nations-crafted ceasefire agreement in place, President Bashar al-Assad told the Russian state TV channel Rossiya 24 in an interview that he blamed the West for releasing "a large amount of false information."
According to al-Assad, Western nations have sympathized with his political opponents and "outplayed us... at the very beginning of the crisis -- invented stories."
Al-Assad ordered a crackdown in March 2011 against rebels seeking his ouster, alleging they were terrorists being driven by foreign agitators. An estimated 9,000 to 11,000 people have died during the fighting although a true death toll is impossible to verify because of a news blackout set up by the Syrian government.
The president said the West was guilty of spreading "lies, or rumors, or false accusations -- call them what you will -- all these are soap bubbles, they have a short life."
However, al-Assad said, "The main thing is to win in real life," predicting his supporters would ultimately prevail.
Comstock/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- An output of 5,000 barrels of oil a day doesn't sound like much but it could be the beginning of a bonanza for Afghanistan, one of the poorest nations in the world.
Afghan Mining Ministry spokesman Jawad Omar announced on Wednesday that oil production is expected to start by October with the assistance of China's National Petroleum Corporation.
It would mark the first time Afghanistan has drilled for oil in its history. The plan is to start with 5,000 barrels and work up to 45,000 barrels daily.
The initial drilling will take part in the "Afghan-Tajik" zone of northern Afghanistan, one of the areas that is relatively unscathed by war and where major oil deposits lie.
An estimated 87 million barrels of oil exist underground in that particular zone alone. Tapping it would help Afghanistan rely less on the crude it imports from Iran and Central Asia and add to its revenues.
Six oil deposits have been found so far in Afghanistan in the northern, western and southern parts of the country.
AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that she welcomes the new French president, Francoise Hollande, and is looking forward to working with him. In an interview with USA Today, Clinton said even though Hollande, who is a socialist, will have very different policies from conservative predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, she believes the strong relationship between France and the United States will continue.
“Different voices may be louder on growth than they have been, but the overall approach of how we support Europe’s recovery hasn’t changed,” Clinton told USA Today. “It’s been our view that there needed to be some adjustments to just austerity, so that there could be growth, both for economic reasons and for political reasons.”
As the two largest and most stable economies in the eurozone, France and Germany have been the stalwarts during the ongoing economic crisis. Both have helped bail out other eurozone countries in trouble, but also set strict austerity requirements for countries to remain part of the euro. Some, such as Greece, have balked at the forced cuts, causing domestic political turmoil and sending global markets into a tailspin.
The Obama administration has taken the position that Europe cannot solve its economic problems with austerity measures alone. Similar to the U.S. with its stimulus packages, Europe should also have a plan for growth that will stimulate the economy and provide jobs for the continent’s unemployed youth, which makes up more than 22 percent of the 18- to 24-year-old population. "We’ve been delivering that message, publicly and privately, for some time,” said Clinton.
It’s a message that’s likely to resonate with Hollande, who beat incumbent president Sarkozy by campaigning against Sarkozy’s deeply unpopular economic cuts.
Hollande reiterated his "pro-growth” economic plans in his acceptance speech last week and warned that France and Europe are headed for a shift. “Europe is watching us,” he said to cheering crowds. “Austerity can no longer be the only option.”
Stockbyte/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- It’s not the one you might expect. Expedia’s summer travel survey posed the question on nude sunbathing to 8,600 people around the world and found that only two percent of Americans were likely to shed their clothing on the beach -- no big surprise there. The Brits also came in at two percent, as did New Zealanders and Argentineans. Only the Japanese were less likely than Americans to sunbathe nude.
Germans, on the other hand, were far more likely to take it all off. At 15 percent, they’re the most likely of all the 21 nations surveyed to bare it all.
The French, although still in the top quarter, were far more modest than one might guess, given the tradition of topless sunbathing on the Riveria. But only five percent said they took it all off on the beach.
Here are the tallies:
Germany: 15 percent
India: 8 percent
Spain: 8 percent
France: 5 percent
Italy: 5 percent
Sweden: 6 percent
Denmark: 6 percent
Australia: 5 percent
Canada: 5 percent
Singapore: 5 percent
Mexico: 6 percent
Netherlands: 6 percent
Brazil: 5 percent
Ireland: 4 percent
South Korea: 4 percent
Norway: 3 percent
Argentina: 2 percent
New Zealand: 2 percent
United States: 2 percent
United Kingdom: 2 percent
Japan: 1 percent
The survey also found that Americans spend 40 percent of their allotted vacation days at the beach. Turns out we’d rather be at the beach (26 percent) than doing pretty much anything else, including visiting family (22 percent.
And what about those naked Germans? Turns out their love of the beach surpasses that of any other country. They must have a tricks for keeping sand out of places it doesn’t belong.
GUILLAUME BAPTISTE/AFP/GettyImages(PARIS) -- Valerie Trierweiler, France's new first lady, has covered French politics as a journalist for more than 20 years. So she likely anticipated how being the first unmarried French first lady to occupy the Elysee Palace -- and one who plans to continue to work -- might mean new uncharted territory, and how the press might respond.
What the twice married and twice divorced mother of three likely didn't expect, however, was just how much a protocol conundrum her relationship with the newly minted French president, Francois Hollande, would create.
Concerns about just how she will travel to places such as the Vatican or Saudi Arabia -- a conservative society where unmarried couples living together isn't accepted -- have already begun to arise at the French foreign ministry, according to several reports. And just how she will be addressed at official palace functions is also presenting some unique yet thorny issues.
Would "Madame Valerie Trierweiler, companion of the president" or "Madame Valerie Trierweiler-Hollande, the president's spouse" be appropriate?
Trierweiler said she didn't expect her unmarried status to pose problems, telling an interviewer recently that she's "not sure it will come up all that much."
"Frankly, it really is not an aspect that bothers me," she told the daily Le Figaro. "This question of marriage is above all a part of our private life."
A French foreign ministry official quoted in Canada's National Post said most countries to which a French president travels are happy to accommodate his wishes and in the 21st century, being unmarried does not pose a major problem.
"If we tell them 'treat this person as the president's wife,' then they will do so," said the official, who asked not be named.
Trierweiler and Hollande have been together since 2005, when Hollande's relationship with fellow Socialist Segolene Royal, who ran for president but lost to Nicolas Sarkozy, publicly ended. The couple is currently living in an apartment in Paris's 15th arrondissement but is expected to move into the Elysee Palace for security reasons. They have apparently ruled out getting married purely for diplomatic reasons, according to several French media reports.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama has signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against anyone who threatens to undermine the political transition in Yemen.
"This Executive Order will allow the United States to take action against those who seek to undermine Yemen’s transition and the Yemeni peoples’ clear desire for change," the White House said in a statement released by the Press Secretary on Wednesday. "The President took this step because he believes that the legitimate aspirations of the Yemeni people, along with the urgent humanitarian and security challenges, cannot be addressed if political progress stalls."
The order gives the Treasury Department the authority to freeze the U.S.-based assets of those who “threaten the peace, security and stability of Yemen,” the White House said.
Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(MOSCOW) -- A week-long opposition protest against President Vladimir Putin has been broken up by police after authorities raided the demonstration early Wednesday morning in central Moscow.
Police carried out the raid after a court ruled the protest was disturbing nearby neighbors. A few dozen people were forced out of the square just as dawn was breaking and several others were detained as they resisted, police said. Within hours after the raid, however, organizers had already regrouped at another square nearby.
The camp was set up a week ago in a silent protest against President Putin, but authorities said they had no basis to arrest them since they weren't chanting or carrying signs.
STR/AFP/GettyImages(BEIJING) -- Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng could be in the U.S. by next week, as the Chinese dissident who escaped house arrest in April and his family are expected to receive their passports on Monday, May 21.
According to Chinese regulations, travel documents take 15 days to be processed. Bob Fu, the Texas-based advocate for human rights in China, says the Chen family applied for their passports on May 6.
Fu said that if the passports are held up, there will be cause for real concern. All paperwork on the U.S. side is in order, as confirmed by State Department Spokesman Victoria Nuland on Tuesday.
When Chen leaves China, he will also leave family and friends behind who continue to suffer abuse inflicted primarily by the local government in his hometown province of Shandong. A Shanghai-based lawyer representing his nephew, Chen Kegui, says that he has been refused permission to meet with his client.
Chen Kegui is accused of attempted homicide, charges Chen Guangcheng says are completely false. He says his nephew was defending himself against local authorities who broke into his home following his uncle’s escape from house arrest.
Several other Chinese lawyers attempting to represent Chen Kegui say they have either been threatened or are suddenly unable to renew their legal licenses.
There are no signs Beijing is spearheading what is happening in Shandong. But it also does not appear the government is making any effort to investigate or stop the reported abuse, despite the fact the U.S. claimed the Chinese government agreed to do just that in the initial deal it brokered for Chen’s release.
Dissidents, who ask to remain anonymous out of concern for their safety, say it is all too common for Beijing to silently allow abuse by local authorities similar to those Chen’s story has highlighted to continue, as the government sees it as an effective way of containing unrest.
When Chen does leave China, he is expected to travel to New York where he has been offered a visiting scholarship to study law at New York University.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Gen. John Allen is reportedly leaving his post as commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Rumors were swirling around Washington Tuesday that the White House will assign Allen to take over as head of U.S. European Command early next year.
If President Obama makes that decision, it would still have to be confirmed by the Senate.
For now, the Pentagon is downplaying reports about Allen's move, with spokesman Capt. John Kirby telling the Washington Post, "No final decisions have been made regarding a follow-on assignment for Gen. Allen or the future of European Command."
In July 2011, Allen replaced retired Gen. David Petraeus in Afghanistan, who went on to become director of the CIA.
Allen has been serving a dual role in Afghanistan, overseeing the continued coalition offensive against the Taliban while managing the withdrawal of one-third of U.S. soldiers. By the end of this summer, troops levels will stand at about 68,000, down from 100,000 last year.
Stockbyte/Thinkstock(DAMASCUS, Syria) -- Syria's parliamentary elections nearly 10 days ago spurred just over half of all eligible voters to head to the polls, government officials in Damascus claimed Tuesday.
Syrian election committee chairman Khalaf al-Izzaoui boasted that about five million Syrians voted to elect a new parliament although there was no way of verifying this figure since independent monitors were not allow to observe polling stations.
Opposition groups had called for a boycott of the May 7 election, contending that it was a sham attempt by President Bashar al-Assad to claim he brought political reform to Syria.
For instance, while several new parties took part in the election aside from the usual ruling Baathist bloc, activists alleged they were simply creations of the authoritarian government.
Critics also said there was virtually no voting in cities and towns that have been under siege since al-Assad instituted a crackdown on his political foes in March 2011 that has been responsible for between 9,000 and 11,000 deaths.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday the Syrian vote was "neither free, fair, transparent or representative of the Syrian people" since it occurred in an atmosphere of ongoing violence.
Hemera/Thinkstock(BAGHDAD) -- The Iraqi government Tuesday began the trial of Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, who is accused of running death squads that have allegedly killed dozens of Shiite officials.
Al-Hashemi, on the lam since being indicted last December, is believed to have taken refuge in Turkey for medical treatment.
Despite his absence, prosecutors called former bodyguards of the country's highest-ranking Sunni leader to the witness stand to deliver testimony against their old boss.
Some of the witness accused al-Hashemi of ordering the murders of up to 150 people.
Former bodyguard Ahmed Shawqi told the court that the Iraqi vice president "asked me to plant a car bomb near Buratha mosque, and I carried out the operation."
Al-Hashemi and his Sunni supporters maintain the charges are politically motivated and are an attempt by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to consolidate power as he tries to marginalize Sunnis and Kurds.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(DAMASCUS, Syria) -- Government forces fired on a funeral procession in central Syria Tuesday, human rights activists charged, leaving 20 people dead.
What's more, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights alleged that the "massacre" took place right in front of United Nations observers who are deployed in Syria to monitor the progress of the five-week-old ceasefire plan that appears to have done little to stave off 14 months of violence.
The U.N. monitors were also put in danger as a bomb reportedly exploded near their convoy following the shooting close to the city of Hama.
Later, Norwegian Gen. Robert Mood, who is in charge of the U.N. delegation, said that none of the monitors were harmed in the assault.
Mood also reported that 200 of the 300 monitors designated to verify the compliance of the ceasefire pact crafted by U.N. special emissary Kofi Annan were now in Syria.
Despite the scattered reports of violence, Mood said his observers were having a "calming effect" in parts of the country and that cooperation from both government forces and rebels was improving.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(ATHENS, Greece) -- Ten days after the general election held on May 6, Greek President Karolos Papoulias has decided to quit trying to cobble together a coalition government as no combination of parties with the required minimum of 151 MPs in the 300-seat Greek Parliament could be found. The president has announced that another general election should take place Sunday, June 10 or June 17.
This is bad news for the European Union and United States, since Greece will be without political leadership for a month, and private markets have long lost patience with the unending crisis.
Greece, a NATO member and long-time U.S. ally, could even be pushed out of the European Union and its financial Eurozone. That could trigger a crash in the markets in Spain, where the economy is five times bigger than Greece’s.
The economic recovery of all of Europe is jeopardized, and, as President Obama has repeated on numerous occasions, the U.S. economy needs a strong Europe -- the number one buyer of American exports.
At 2 p.m. Tuesday, Papoulias had organized a meeting in the presidential palace in Athens, with leaders of almost all the major Greek political parties. Only the leaders of the Communist and Neo-Fascist parties were left out. Two hours later, the politicians came out without a word for journalists.
Fifteen minutes later came a communique from the presidency, announcing the calling of new elections. From this point, the constitution explicitly sets the course. The senior judge in the highest rank temporarily assumes the office of prime minister.
The meeting called for May 16 at the presidency is intended solely for the appointment of three ministers to handle the transitional electoral process.
The bone of contention remains the famous “memorandum” of fiscal and structural reforms that the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Union have imposed on Greece in exchange for some 240 billion euros worth of subsidized loans, to be released in installments, depending on progress made.
The socialist PASOK and conservative ND parties, who had accepted the terms of this memorandum at the beginning of the year, reiterated that the country should stick to them; all other parties campaigned to reject it, and they still refuse the terms.
The problem is that the last election dealt huge losses to both PASOK and ND, leaving them with only 149 seats in total. The two parties alternately ruled Greece since the fall of a military regime in 1974.
Saying that Greece must honor its signature to avoid exclusion from the euro area, PASOK and ND have already begun negotiations to form a front that can win the required majority in Parliament. The various small liberal parties, who accept global capitalism and who believe that no country can live beyond the wealth it produces are being targeted.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(MOMBASA, Kenya) -- Local police in the coastal city of Mombasa say the latest grenade attack in the country since it sent troops into Somalia last year killed one and injured three others Tuesday night at a restaurant and sports bar. Kenya’s Daily Nation reports there were warnings in the last few months that the Bella Vista restaurant would be targeted. A witness said the attackers in two cars opened fire first in the parking lot before lobbing three grenades toward the entrance of the building, killing a security guard.
Kenya police blame Somalia’s Al Shabab insurgents and sympathizers for the series of grenade attacks in Nairobi, Mombasa, and near the border with Somalia since last October. Al Shabab has vowed reprisal attacks on Kenya. Most of the attacks have been targeted at local Kenyans, though the U.S. Embassy recently warned of a possible attack on hotels or government buildings in Nairobi.
Also Tuesday, at the Dadaab refugee camp near the border with Somalia, a police officer was killed while escorting aid workers when his car was hit by an improvised bomb. Security challenges in Dadaab are making it difficult for aid organizations working at the world’s largest refugee camp that most people now associate with last year’s famine in the Horn of Africa.
Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- As President George W. Bush quietly returned to Washington Tuesday, he brought along a slew of global democracy activists known mostly for never being quiet.
Tuesday’s lineup at the George W. Bush Presidential Center-sponsored event, “A Celebration of Human Freedom,” included Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian activist living in Washington; Bob Fu, a native Chinese pastor; and Normando Hernandez, a former political prisoner in Cuba.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, joined the conference via Skype from her living room in Myanmar, formerly Burma.
“These are extraordinary times in the history of freedom,” Bush said. “In the Arab Spring, we have seen the broadest challenge to authoritarian rule since the collapse of Soviet communism. Great change has come to a region where many thought it impossible. The idea that Arab people are somehow content with oppression has been discredited forever.”
“America does not get to choose if a freedom revolution should begin or end in the Middle East, or elsewhere. It only gets to choose what side it is on,” he added.
Abdulhamid, founder of the Tharwa Foundation and one of the earliest dissident voices behind the Syrian uprising, introduced Bush Tuesday, emphasizing the importance of fearless activism.
“The price of activism could be the death of the human body. But the price of silence could result in the death of human spirit, a far greater price to pay,” Abdulhamid said.
“All of us here today join you in hoping and praying for the end of violence and the advance of freedom in Syria,” Bush told Abdulhamid as he took the stage.
When Suu Kyi appeared on the big screen above the stage, she too offered her support to Abdulhamid’s home country.
“I would like to say to the people of Syria, we are with you in your struggle for freedom,” she said.
Asked if she had a solution to the violence in Syria that has claimed more than 12,000 lives in the last 15 months, Suu Kyi replied, “If there was an easy answer, I think Syria would be at peace now.”
But Suu Kyi said she’s hopeful about peace abroad and at home.
Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would begin to ease sanctions in Myanmar, and on Monday, Sen. John McCain advocated for the suspension of sanctions, echoing the recent move by the European Union.
“I am not against the suspension of sanctions, as long as the people of the United States feel that this is the right thing to do at the moment,” Suu Kyi said Tuesday.
“I do advocate caution, though,” she said. “I sometimes feel that people are too optimistic about what we are seeing in Burma. You have to remember that the change in Burma is not irreversible.”
And there is reason for optimism. Suu Kyi was sworn in on May 2 as a member of parliament and will soon make her first trip abroad in more than two decades, to London and then Oslo, Norway, to finally accept her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
In one final word, Suu Kyi offered advice to her fellow activists: “Persevere. You’ll get there in the end. Don’t lose hope. There are many people who are with you in mind and in spirit.”
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images (MEXICO CITY) -- Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican writer whose powerful mix of deep political and social commitment with bold stylistic innovation made him among the most prominent figures in Latin American writing in the 1960s and ’70s, has died in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83.
He may be best known in the United States for his 1985 novel The Old Gringo, about the disappearance of the American writer Ambrose Bierce in Mexico during the revolution. The book became a U.S. bestseller and was made into a movie starring Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda. But it was with his earlier novels that Fuentes made his most profound mark on world literature.
Though he was perennial contender for the Nobel Prize, he never won. He still received worldwide recognition for his work. Terra Nostra received the Venezuelan Romulo Gallegos Prize; in 1987 he won the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world’s highest literary honor. In 1994 Spain gave him a Prince of Asturias Award for literature. In 1997 he was named a commander of the National Order of Merit, France’s highest civilian award given to a foreigner.
He also received the Four Freedom Awards for Freedom of Speech and Expression in 2006, in Middelburg, the Netherlands.
He taught courses at Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania and Brown, and twice served as Mexican ambassador, first to England and then to France. He resigned both posts in protests related to the 1968 slaughter of Mexican students.
Fuentes was born in Panama City on Dec. 11, 1928 to Mexican parents. His parents were both diplomats, so Fuentes moved frequently in his early years, living in Montevideo, Uruguay; Rio de Janeiro; Washington, D.C.; Santiago, Chile; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. He later divided his time between homes in Mexico City and London, where he did most of his writing.
He married actress Rita Macedo in 1959, and the couple had a daughter, but they divorced in 1973. Fuentes was romantically linked to the actresses Jeanne Moreau and Jean Seberg.
Fuentes later married journalist Silvia Lemus and they had two children together. Their son Carlos Fuentes Lemus died from complications associated with hemophilia in 1999, and Natasha Fuentes Lemus died in 2005 after a cardiac arrest.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Gray whales are starting to make a strong comeback in the Pacific thanks, in part, to Mexico’s aggressive eco-tourism program, where whale-watching is regulated, but a new threat is emerging some 10,000 miles away.
Hunters once pushed these gentle giants to the brink of extinction -- at one point, there were only 500 gray whales left. Now there are an estimated 20,000 of them and they are the first marine mammal to be removed from the endangered species list. In Baja, Mexico, researchers monitor the whales’ movements and growth, and even use crossbows to gather small samples of flesh to test how healthy they are.
But while the gray whales may be protected in the Baja lagoons where they mate and raise their young, environmentalists are concerned about a looming danger to the animals’ feeding grounds in the Arctic, where Shell Oil is scheduled to begin exploratory drilling this summer.
“Shell’s oil and gas leases exactly overlap with the critical feeding area of the gray whale,” World Wildlife Fund spokeswoman Leigh Henry said.
The process of looking for oil means sending sonic booms, or shockwaves, into the sea floor, and environmentalists worry the noise might affect the whales’ survival. These animals make deep sounds to do almost everything -- navigate, find food, find mates -- and the deafening booms could make the whales become disoriented and mothers could even be separated from their calves, Henry said.
Shell declined Nightline’s request for an interview, but said in a statement that their data shows whales are “generally undisturbed by industry activity.” The company pointed to another whale species, the bowhead, whose population has grown despite drilling in their feeding grounds.
“We would not consider working in the Alaska offshore if we were not confident in our ability to do so without negatively impacting...marine mammals,” Shell said in the statement.
But it’s not just the noise Henry is worried about. She said Shell is not prepared if a massive oil spill were to happen, and pointed to the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico last year.
“It’s a little unreasonable to think that we’re going to be prepared to clean up an oil spill in the Arctic,” she said. “Obviously, Shell has insurmountable resources to do this work and we would like them to step up and take responsibility and ensure that any operations they undertake in the Arctic have minimal impact on the whales.”
Shell argues that it has taken responsibility, engineering a containment system like the one that was ultimately successful in stopping the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. The company added that it has also “assembled an...oil spill response fleet that is second to none in the world.”
Environmentalists remain skeptical, and they hope to generate enough public support to delay or even halt the drilling, but the Obama administration has already approved it.
“What are we going to do after we drill in the Arctic?” Henry said. “It’s a short-term solution to a long-term problem and we need to be looking at alternative fuel sources.”
State Department photo/ Public Domain(WASHINGTON) -- In a letter written directly to Chinese President Hu Jintao, a bipartisan group of five senators urges the Chinese government to take steps to protect the safety and well-being of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, his family and associates. Guangcheng captured international headlines earlier this month after escaping house arrest and seeking refuge at the U.S. embassy in Beijing.
“We strongly urge your government to take all necessary measures to cease the harassment of Mr. Chen, his relatives and associates,” the letter says, “and to guarantee their safety and security while respecting their right to travel freely within and outside China.”
The letter was penned by Senators Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., Jim DeMint, R-S.C., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
But, Sen. Marco Rubio, a potential contender to be Romney’s vice president candidate, took the lead, his office says -- a move potentially intended to beef up the junior senator’s foreign policy chops and leadership in the Senate.
Rubio argued earlier this month on Fox News Sunday that the incident shows the administration’s “unwillingness to forcefully assert America’s values.”
“This crisis is a reminder of what we’re dealing with in China, and we hope that there are reformers in that government that are pushing for a more open system, but what we know for a fact we’re dealing with now are people who are paranoid and are control freaks in a totalitarian system,” he said earlier this month.
Earlier Tuesday, Guangcheng called into a congressional hearing Tuesday to tell the American people, “I am not a hero.”
It’s the second time that Chen, who was arrested in 2005 for condemning China’s one child per couple law, has called into a hearing in the past two weeks after he phoned into a Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing May 3.
“I want to extend my gratitude and thankfulness to all those who care and love my family and myself, and our situation, especially the American people who show their care about the quality of justice as a universal value and I’m very grateful to all of you,” Chen, 41, said on the call Tuesday. “I am not a hero. I’m just doing what my conscience asks me to do. I cannot be silent when facing these evils against women and children.”
After hiding out in the U.S. embassy for a few days, Chen eventually sought medical treatment at Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing after being told that Chinese officials would have killed his wife if he had remained at the embassy.
Chen is still awaiting an exit permit to study in the United States after accepting an invitation from New York University. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that visas for Chen and his family have already been approved and the hang-up is apparently in the hands of the Chinese.
