As violence in Syria mounts, U.S. could call for al-Assad to step down

The international cries for Syria's government to end a bloody crackdown on civilians could intensify Wednesday as activist groups reported fresh onslaughts in several cities.

The United Nations Security Council is expected Wednesday to follow up on a statement last week that condemned the Syrian regime for attacks on peaceful protesters and called for both sides to end the violence.

Meanwhile, the United States is moving toward issuing an explicit call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, U.S. government sources told CNN Tuesday.

The move is expected to be announced in coming days after U.S. officials consult with the United Nations Security Council, the sources said. They said the question of whether to call for al-Assad to step down has been under discussion over the past few weeks, the sources said.

While international leaders mull their next steps, heavy gunfire, explosions and tanks permeated the eastern city of Deir Ezzor on Wednesday, an activist group and a resident said.

Businesses and homes belonging to known opposition organizers have been destroyed, said the resident, who did not want to be identified for safety reasons. He said at least 20 motorcycles belonging to residents were burned -- a move he suspects was an effort by security forces to hamper residents' resources.

Security forces were impounding and burning motorcycles in the Damascus suburbs of Zamalka, Irbeen and Hammouriya as well, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"There are also large scale arrests in those areas as mobile service and landline communications have been completely cut out in the areas since the start of the military operation" Wednesday morning, the observatory said in a statement.

The group also said gunfire from security forces killed one woman and injured three people in the northwestern town of Sirmeen Wednesday.

The conflict in Syria was fueled five months ago when Syrian forces swiftly suppressed protests in the southern city of Daraa. Anti-government fervor caught on nationwide as more protests were met with tougher crackdowns.

While activists blame government security forces for the violence and casualties, the al-Assad regime has consistently said "armed groups" are responsible.

By Wednesday, the death toll had reached 2,417 -- including more than 2,000 civilians, said the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of activists.

The number includes 84 deaths in the city of Deir Ezzor alone since Saturday, when pro-government forces began a military campaign in the area, the LCC said.

Syria has restricted international journalists' access to the country, and CNN was unable to independently confirm the death toll and details of the situation.

On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and al-Assad engaged in more than six hours of talks in Damascus.

"Our primary target is the bloodshed to stop," Davutoglu told reporters after the meetings. "We shared what needs to be done for the bloodshed to stop, for the civilian losses to end and for the political reform process, in line with the people's demands, to take place."

The Turkish diplomat added, "We discussed concrete issues that would not be right for me to give details of."

Al-Assad told Davutoglu that his country won't relent in chasing down the "armed terrorist groups" it blames for the violence that has engulfed the nation, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

Al-Assad briefed Davutoglu on the killing and terrorizing in some Syrian cities by the purported groups. At the same time, he indicated that Syria is committed to reform and is open to help from other countries, the news agency said.

Indian, South African and Brazilian envoys are also planning to meet with Syrian officials to deal with the crisis.

The Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council have publicly spoken out against the crackdown, and Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have recalled their ambassadors from Damascus.

Russia called on the Syrian government Tuesday "to stop the violence and to introduce deep political changes," the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on its website.

And Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has condemned violence in Syria in a rare rebuke directed at a fellow Arab leader, who leads a majority Sunni Muslim nation with a government dominated by minority Alawites, whose faith is a spinoff of Shiite Islam. Abdullah demanded an end "to the killing machine and the bloodshed."

Amnesty International urged world leaders to take more concrete action before a Wednesday Security Council debate at which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is to deliver a report on Syria.

Many groups and countries viewed last week's Security Council statement as ineffectual.

"Any honest examination of the facts of the horrific situation in Syria should be more than sufficient to persuade the Security Council to come up with a legally binding resolution, not just a meek statement," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"A mere diplomatic appeal to the Syrian authorities to end the ongoing violence against civilians will fall far short of what the situation demands."

Is FATA a forbidden word?

The Frontier Post
In the ongoing dinning discourse on new provinces, what is stunningly missing is the name Federally-Administered Tribal Areas. What? Is it a forbidden word? Why is this word not being spoken up loudly and resoundingly when the region merits a provincial status by every canon, unquestioningly? Bring up any criterion and the region emphatically makes for a compact province area-wise, population-wise, resources-wise, administration-wise, as well as ethnically and linguistically. Indeed, its credentials to become a fully-fledged province are so clear-cut, strong and decisive that it needs not even a national commission to decide the issue. Various demands presently being voiced for new provinces may be suffering from some debility. But the FATA’s case is very sound and incontrovertible. And if in spite of that the name FATA is not figuring up in the debate on creating new provinces, that makes a damning statement on the political partisans and the intellectual elites alike. It contemptibly bespeaks of their puritanical aversion of sucking the crucially-strategically-located region into the mainstream and keeping it out of their thoughts in the country’s political configurations. The political class is haggling over creation or non-creation of new provinces clearly with their political considerations dominating their minds. Those campaigning for new provinces obviously feel that that would stand in good stead politically. Those resisting or dithering think that this would hurt them politically one way or the other. But since FATA doesn’t occur at all in their discourse, that culpably states that this crucial region has astoundingly doesn’t exist even in their political calculuses. Indeed, the inanities they mumble out off and on about the region are a mere footling that would stand not for a minute in the broader picture of the region functioning as a province. Had it been a province, the contentious Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) definitely would been long buried in some ancient graveyard as its provincial legislature would have enacted the laws to govern the region in keeping with the wishes of its residents and in consonance with the codes, norms, customs and traditions of their collective lives. And there would have been no need at all for the extension of any enactments to enable the political parties to function there. The tribal people would have either floated the regional chapters of the mainstream parties; or they would have formed up their own political parties, which indeed appears a far potent possibility. But since the political class has throughout treated the region as an unworthy outcaste, such niceties cannot come any feelingly to it and it thus nonchalantly keeps blurting out such meaningless and inconsequential utterances about the region unthinkingly. True, the Quaid-e-Azam had pledged to the tribal people full respect to their tribal codes, customs, traditions and norms. But he had not decreed that they would be kept at bay from the national mainstream and away from modernity, development and advancement. His successors in fact latched on to what he had actually not envisioned about them at all. Had indeed they read into his pledge correctly, they would have made the region a province long time ago, where its legislators would have enacted laws in conformity with their social lives and fully responsive to their needs for economic development and advancement. That would have given not just an alleviating shape to the region but helped enormously in tapping its hugely untapped natural wealth for its people’s economic good. And that in turn would have given impetus to the social uplift of the region, as economic advancement admittedly works as a marvellous catalyst for social emancipation. The overall impact would have been the spawning of a polity wholly immune from alien influences and completely at peace with itself. Resultantly, it would have been a secure, calm and tranquil part of the country. Still, that is quite possible even now; not all is yet lost; only the region and its residents are to be given what is their due in every manner. FATA should become a fully-fledged province, at once. It is too precious a region to be thrown out like an unwanted burden to become part of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as some charlatans suggest.

Afghan president: Courts cannot change election

Afghanistan's president has issued a decree stating that the country's courts do not have the power to alter election results.

The ruling issued Wednesday by President Hamid Karzai appears to put an end to months of uncertainty about this year's parliamentary election. A special tribunal had called for the removal of 62 sitting parliamentarians, saying that they won their seats through fraud.

The decree says the Independent Election Commission holds the final authority on deciding vote counts and results. It says this commission will evaluate the court's findings and will decide if any candidates should be removed.

Baluchistan: ‘Pakistan needs to find political solution’

The Pakistan government needs to find a non-violent and political solution to the separatist problem of Baluchistan, experts attending a discussion on Baluchistan held on Tuesday in the national capital stated. They also advised the Indian government to not get involved in the struggle by proxy.

The discussion was held on the occasion of the launch of an autobiography of secretary-general of Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC) B.M. Kutty, 60 Years in Self Exile: No Regrets, which profiles his life and times and political activism across the border. The book was released by former foreign minister K. Natwar Singh at the India Islamic Cultural Centre late on Tuesday evening.
Speaking on the occasion, Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar said that the people in India supported a non-violent and political solution to the Baluchistan problem. “No one here can suggest any other means of obtaining a solution to the issue,” Mr Aiyar said. He also called for cooperation between the two nations in resolving all the pending issues.
Presenting the Pakistani government viewpoint, Pakistani high commissioner Shahid Malik said that the government had already initiated the process of devolution of power to the provinces. “We have also changed the resource allocation pattern from population-based to other parameters like backwardness and poverty as was demanded by several provinces,” Mr Malik said.
He stated high powered commissions had been established to look into the allegations of human rights violations in the region.
Meanwhile, calling for a further dialogue between the two countries, the author of the book stated that the citizens of both the countries wanted to communicate with each other. “The common people were never against each other. Some vested interests and external forces have kept us from mingling freely,” said 81-year-old Kutty.
The Kerala-born octogenarian migrated to Karachi 60 years ago and has since been actively involved in Pakistani politics and peace-building between the two countries. Calling it an autobiography of a political worker, Kutty termed the book as a truthful account of political events that have been witnessed by him over the past six decades in Pakistan. “Being a political activist and not a politician I am able to write the things more truthfully,” Kutty added.

Police calm London, but riots flare across UK

Thousands of extra police officers flooded into London Wednesday in a bid to end Britain's worst rioting in a generation. An eerie calm prevailed in the capital, but unrest spread across England on a fourth night of violence driven by diverse and brazen crowds of young people.

Scenes of ransacked stores, torched cars and blackened buildings frightened and outraged Britons just a year before their country is to host the summer Olympic Games, bringing demands for a tougher response from law enforcement. Police across the country have made more than 1,100 arrests since the violence broke out over the weekend.

In London, where armored vehicles and convoys of police vans patrolled the streets, authorities said there would be 16,000 officers on duty — almost triple the number present Monday. They said a large presence would remain in the city through the next 24 hours at least.

The show of force seems to have worked.

"Without wishing to speak too soon it's been reasonably quiet for us so far tonight," London's Fire Brigade said in a message posted to Twitter earlier in the evening. "Let's hope it stays that way."

But outside the capital, chaos was spreading.

In the northwestern city of Manchester, hundreds of youths — some looking as young as 10 — rampaged through the city center, hurling bottles and stones at police and vandalizing stores. A women's clothing store on the city's main shopping street was set ablaze, along with a disused library in nearby Salford.

Manchester's assistant chief constable Garry Shewan said looting and arson had taken place there on an unprecedented scale.

"We want to make it absolutely clear — they have nothing to protest against," he said. "There is nothing in a sense of injustice and there has been no spark that has led to this."

Britain's riots began Saturday when an initially peaceful protest over a police shooting in London's Tottenham neighborhood turned violent. That clash has morphed into a general lawlessness in London and several other cities that police have struggled to halt.

While the rioters have run off with sneakers, bikes, electronics and leather goods, they also have torched stores apparently just for the fun of seeing something burn. They were left virtually unchallenged in several neighborhoods, and when police did arrive they often were able to flee quickly and regroup.

With police struggling to control the violence, some residents stood guard to protect their neighborhoods. Outside a Sikh temple in Southall, west London, residents stood guard and vowed to defend their place of worship if mobs of young rioters appeared. Another group marched through Enfield, in north London, aiming to deter looters.

In a potentially troublesome development, one far-right group said that about 1,000 of its members around the country were taking to the streets to deter rioters.

"We're going to stop the riots — police obviously can't handle it," Stephen Lennon, leader of the far-right English Defense League, told The Associated Press. He warned that he couldn't guarantee there wouldn't be violent clashes with rioting youths.

Anders Behring Breivik, who has confessed to the bombing and massacre that killed 77 people in Norway last month, has cited the EDL as an inspiration.

Meanwhile virtually every major city in England was seeing some form of unrest.

In the central England city of Nottingham, police said rioters hurled firebombs though the window of a police station, and set fire to a school and a vehicle outside a second police station — but there were no reports of injuries. A total of 90 people were arrested in attacks on stores, a college, a community center and cars.

Some 250 people were arrested after two days of violence in Birmingham — where police were investigating reports of shots fired in a restive inner-city neighborhood. "Officers are on the scene but there have been no injuries reported," the city's police department said in a statement.

In the northern city of Liverpool, about 200 youths hurled missiles at police and firefighters in a second night of unrest, and the area's police force reported 44 arrests.

There also were minor clashes for the first time in the central and western England locations of Leicester, Wolverhampton, West Bromwich, Bristol, and the western city of Gloucester — where police and firefighters tackled a blaze and disturbance in the city's Brunswick district.

In London, stores, offices and nursery schools had closed early Tuesday evening amid fears of fresh rioting. Several usually busy streets were quiet as cafes, restaurants and pubs also decided to shut down for the night.

Many shops had their metal blinds pulled down, while other business owners rushed to secure plywood over their windows before nightfall.

In east London's Bethnal Green district, convenience store owner Adnan Butt, 28, said the situation was still tense.

"People are all at home — they're scared," he said.

Senior officers said they were considering the possible use of plastic bullets — blunt-nosed projectiles designed to deal punishing blows to rioters without penetrating the skin. Such weapons, formally called baton rounds, still are used to quell riots in Northern Ireland but have never been used by police on Britain's mainland.

Prime Minister David Cameron's government rejected calls by Conservative lawmaker Patrick Mercer and some members of the public for strong-arm riot measures that British police generally avoid, such as tear gas and water cannons.

"They should have the tools available and they should use them if the commander on the ground thinks it's necessary," Mercer said.

The disorder has caused heartache for Londoners whose businesses and homes were torched or ransacked, and a crisis for police and politicians already staggering from a spluttering economy and a scandal over illegal phone hacking by a tabloid newspaper that has dragged in senior politicians and police.

"The public wanted to see tough action. They wanted to see it sooner and there is a degree of frustration," said Andrew Silke, head of the criminology department at the University of East London.

So far 768 people have been arrested in London and 167 charged — including an 11-year-old boy — and the capital's prison cells were overflowing. Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said it had teams of lawyers working 24 hours a day to help police decide whether to charge suspects, allowing them quickly clear police station cells.

A total of 111 officers and 14 members of the public have been hurt so far in the rioting, including a man in his 60s who was attacked as he attempted to put out a fire started by members of a mob.

Police said the injured man had been tackling a blaze in a garbage bin, when he was set upon by several rioters. "It was quite a grave assault and his condition is causing us some concern," said police commander Simon Foy.

The unrest has been Britain's worst since race riots set London ablaze in the 1980s.

A soccer match scheduled for Wednesday between England and the Netherlands at London's Wembley stadium was canceled to free up police officers for riot duty. Britain's soccer authorities said they were in talks with police to see whether this weekend's season-opening matches of the Premier League could still go ahead in London.

Prime Minister David Cameron cut short a holiday in Italy to deal with the crisis, reversing an earlier decision to remain on his vacation. He recalled Parliament from its summer recess for an emergency debate on the riots Thursday.

Cameron described the scenes of burning buildings and smashed windows as "sickening," but refrained from tougher measures such as calling in the military to help restore order.

"People should be in no doubt that we will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets and to make them safe for the law-abiding," Cameron told reporters after a crisis meeting at his Downing Street office.

Other politicians visited riot sites Tuesday — but for many residents it was too little, too late.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was booed by crowds who shouted "Go home!" in Birmingham, while London Mayor Boris Johnson — who flew back overnight from his summer vacation — was heckled on a shattered shopping street in Clapham, south London.

Johnson said the riots would not stop London from "welcoming the world to our city" for the Olympics.

"We have time in the next 12 months to rebuild, to repair the damage that has been done," he said. "I'm not saying it will be done overnight, but this is what we are going to do."

The violence had its genesis in the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was gunned down in Tottenham on Thursday under disputed circumstances.

Police said Duggan was shot dead when officers from Operation Trident — the unit that investigates gun crime in the black community — stopped a cab he was riding in. A protest demanding justice on Saturday devolved into a riot, which spread to neighboring parts of London on Sunday and by Monday had spread across the capital.

Duggan's death resonated in part because it stirred memories of the 1980s, when many black Londoners felt they were disproportionately stopped and searched by police. Their frustration erupted in violent riots in 1985.

But the rioters who've taken to the streets since Sunday have been extremely diverse — those in central England appeared to be mostly white and working class.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating Duggan's shooting, said a "non-police firearm" was recovered at the scene, but that there was no evidence it had been fired, or that Duggan had fired a weapon at police. An inquest into Duggan's death was opened Tuesday, but a full hearing will likely take several months.

Seeking explanations for the unrest, some pointed to rising social tensions in Britain as the government slashes 80 billion pounds ($130 billion) from public spending by 2015 to reduce the country's huge budget deficit, swollen after the country spent billions bailing out its foundering banks.

But many rioters appeared simply to relish the opportunity for unchecked violence Monday night. "Come join the fun!" shouted one youth as looters hit the east London suburb of Hackney.

Protest movements teach economics to bankers

Al Jazeera

In order to avoid continued economic malaise, the European Central Bank should raise inflation rate targets.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is run by people who are not very good at economics. They continue to adhere to a fundamentally wrongheaded view of the economy and the central bank's role within it.

Unfortunately, there is no internal pressure for change because, like the Communist Party in the Soviet Union, acceptance of the ideology is the price for admission into the clique of economists who can influence the ECB.
The central tenet of ECB dogma is that the central bank should target a low inflation rate - two per cent - and pretty much ignore everything else in the economy.

In the past decade, this meant ignoring the massive housing bubbles that were driving the economies of Ireland and Spain. The bank was happy all through the period in which the bubbles were growing to ever-more-dangerous levels because it was hitting its inflation targets.

More recently, the ECB has been raising interest rates even as most of the eurozone economies remain mired in high unemployment. These interest rate hikes slow growth and job creation. Higher interest rates also exacerbate the fiscal problems facing heavily indebted countries, since they make it more expensive for them to service their debt.

In the firing line

In other lines of work, the disastrous consequences of the ECB's recent and current policies would get people fired. However, no one is really in a position to fire the ECB bank president and top staff, so they could in principle continue their failed policy approach indefinitely.

But there is hope. Because the people running the ECB are not very good at economics, they keep running into difficulty with their plans to "rescue" Greece, Spain, and the other eurozone countries facing fiscal crises. As a result, they have to continually run back to these countries and work out new loan packages. Each package involves new and more onerous conditions for the debtor countries.

What the ECB has failed to recognise is that its own policies are making it more difficult for these countries to make their loan payments. This is due both to the fact that the policies are contractionary for the eurozone as a whole, and also because the conditions imposed on debtor countries slow growth. With weaker growth, tax collections fall and more money is paid out in unemployment insurance and other transfers to the unemployed. The result is higher deficits.

This is where the popular movements like 15-M in Spain come in. While the governments may be willing to inflict upon their population whatever pain the ECB requests, the popular movements are making this an increasingly difficult process. The governments of these countries are being forced to recognise that they must consider public opinion and not just accept the dictates of the ECB.

The default position

In fact, since the ECB would never want to see one of the eurozone countries default, the popular movements could find themselves in a situation where they are effectively negotiating with the ECB, since they can set bounds on the conditions that their governments can accept. This will allow them to teach the ECB crew some basic economics.

First on the list of lessons is to tell the ECB that the days of worshipping two per cent inflation targets is over. That may have been cute policy before the downturn, but everyone knows now that it was boneheaded. Central banks have to take greater responsibility for maintaining stability and high levels of employment. Furthermore, a low rate of inflation - like two per cent - provides insufficient room for the adjustments that must be made in the sort of crisis the world economy now faces. The popular movements can assign the ECB staff this excellent paper on the topic by Olivier Blanchard, the IMF's chief economist.

The second item, which would be especially relevant to Spain, would be a requirement that governments take strong measures to get vacant homes back on the market. According to government data, Spain's building boom left the country with more than 1m vacant units. This is pure waste - what economists call "deadweight loss".

The government can give the builders or banks that own these properties a strong incentive to sell or rent them by imposing a large tax (eg five per cent of value) on units that are vacant for long periods of time. If the tax isn't paid, then it could seize the property and then make it available directly. It could even use sound free-market principles, like allowing people to take possession of property and then become the owners if they live in and maintain it for a long enough period of time. This would follow the example of the Homestead Act in the United States.

Finally, governments can take the lead from the United States in another area and adopt bankruptcy laws that make it easier to shed debt. As it stands, many people who bought homes at bubble-inflated prices stand to spend the rest of their working lives paying off their debts. In addition to being cruel to people who made a mistake, it also creates enormous disincentive to work or to work in the underground economy.

If a person has to commit 15 per cent of their income to paying off debt, it has the same effect on incentives as a 15 percentage point increase in the income tax. Economists understand that taxes can have a disincentive effect. They should be able to understand that debt repayments can also have a large disincentive effect.

This would be the start of a good economics lesson for the ECB. It will mean better policy, and maybe it can even help turn the people running the ECB into competent economists.

Dean Baker is an American macroeconomist and co-founder if the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

U.K. riots spread to 4th city

Violence and looting raged across London and spread to three other major British cities on Tuesday, as authorities struggled to contain the country's most serious unrest since race riots set the capital ablaze in the 1980s.

In London, a third straight night of disorder saw buildings, vehicles and garbage dumps set alight, stores looted and police officers pelted with bottles and fireworks, as groups of young people rampaged through neighborhoods. It was an unwelcome reminder of London's volatility for leaders organizing the 2012 Summer Olympics in less than a year.

As authorities struggled to keep pace with unrest unfolding at flashpoints across London, the violence spread to the central city of Birmingham, the western city of Bristol and the northwestern city of Liverpool. Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his summer vacation in Italy and was headed home for a meeting of the national crisis committee on Tuesday morning.

The riots appeared to have little unifying cause - though some involved in the violence claimed to be motivated by government cuts to public spending.

The government was aiming to toughen its stance against the violence, as some communities complained that stretched police were struggling to contain the unrest with rioters plundering from stores at will, menacing shocked customers at restaurants and attempting to invade homes. Stores shut early across London, fearful of violence and looting.

Violence first broke out late Saturday in London's northern Tottenham district when a peaceful protest over the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was gunned down in disputed circumstances Thursday, turned violent.

Two police cars and a double-decker bus were set alight, stores were looted and several buildings along Tottenham's main street - five miles (eight kilometers) from the site of the 2012 Olympics - were reduced to smoldering shells.

Duggan's death stirred old animosities and racial tensions which prompted riots in the 1980s, despite efforts by London police to build better relations with the city's ethnic communities after high-profile cases of racism in recent decades.

As the unrest spread, some pointed to rising social tensions in Britain as the government slashes 80 billion pounds ($130 billion) from public spending by 2015 to reduce the huge deficit, swollen after the country spent billions bailing out its foundering banks.

In south London, a massive blaze swept through a 100-year-old family run furniture store in the borough of Croydon and sent thick plumes of smoke into the air, forcing nearby homes to be evacuated. Police also confirmed they were investigating a nonfatal shooting in Croydon, but were unable to say whether the incident was linked to the chaos.

Dozens of people attacked shops in Birmingham's main retail district, and clashed with police in Liverpool and Bristol - spreading the chaos beyond London for the first time.

In the Hackney area of east London, hundreds of youths attacked shops and set fire to cars, leaving a trail of burning trash and shattered glass. Looters ducked into a small convenience store as the blackened shells of two cars burned nearby, filling plastic shopping bags with alcohol, cigarettes, candy and toilet paper.

"This is the uprising of the working class. We're redistributing the wealth," said Bryn Phillips, a 28-year-old self-described anarchist, as young people emerged from the store with chocolate bars and ice cream cones.

Phillips claimed rioters were motivated by distrust of the police, and drew a link between the rage on London's street and insurgent right-wing politics in the United States. "In America you have the tea party, in England you've got this," he said.

Police acknowledged Tuesday that major new bouts of violence had flared in at least five locations, badly stretching their resources. Many more neighborhoods saw mobs vandalize commercial streets or break into buildings - some acting with virtual impunity, as authorities struggled to deploy officers to every scene of unrest.

"The violence we have seen is simply inexcusable. Ordinary people have had their lives turned upside down by this mindless thuggery," police commander Christine Jones said, as she confirmed that 239 people had been arrested and 45 people charged with offenses.Though the unrest escalated through Sunday as disorder spread among neighboring areas, the crisis worsened Monday - with violence touching areas in the east and south of London previously untroubled by the chaos.

"There is significant disorder breaking out in a number of our communities across London," Tim Godwin, the acting London police commissioner said Monday, acknowledging that 1,700 extra officers had been deployed across London, but were struggling to halt the unrest.

Some residents called for police to deploy water cannons to disperse rioters, or call on the military for support.

About 100 young people clashed early Tuesday with police in the Camden and Chalk Farm areas of north London, while others tore through a department store in the busy south London suburb of Clapham.

The small groups of youths - most with their heads and faces covered - used SMS messages, instant messaging on BlackBerry smartphones and social media such as Twitter to coordinate their attacks and stay ahead of the police.

Once the preserve of businesspeople, BlackBerry handsets are popular with teenagers, thanks to their free, fast instant messaging system. Blackberry's manufacturer, Research in Motion, said in a statement that it was assisting authorities in their investigation and "feel for those impacted by the riots in London."

Police were also monitoring Twitter, and warned that those who posted messages inciting the violence could face arrest.

In the Peckham district of south London, where a building was set ablaze along with a bus - which was not carrying passengers - onlookers said the scene resembled a conflict zone. Cars were torched in nearby Lewisham, and shops looted in south London's Clapham district.

"There's been tension for a long time. The kids aren't happy. They hate the police," said Matthew Yeoland, a 43-year-old teacher watching the unrest in Peckham. "It's like a war zone and the police weren't doing anything. There were too many people and not enough police."

Police said Duggan was shot dead last week when police from Operation Trident - the unit that investigates gun crime in the black community - stopped a cab he was riding in.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the shooting, said a "non-police firearm" was recovered at the scene, and media reports said a bullet had been found in an officer's radio. However, the Guardian newspaper reported that the bullet in the radio was police-issue, indicating Duggan may not have fired at the officer.

Duggan's partner, Semone Wilson, insisted Monday that her fiance was not connected to gang violence and urged police to offer more information about his death. But she said the riots appeared to be no longer linked to the initial protests. "It got out of hand. It's not connected to this anymore. This is out of control," she said.

London riots: Violence erupts for third day

Violence has broken out for a third consecutive day in London, with riot police deployed and firefighters tackling blazes across the capital.

Shops were looted and buildings, among them a furniture store in Croydon, set alight as police clashed with youths.

Trouble first flared on Saturday after a peaceful protest in Tottenham over the fatal shooting of a man by police.

The prime minister is returning early from holiday to chair a meeting of the government's emergency committee Cobra.

Funny photo effects

Funny photo effects

China tells U.S. "good old days" of borrowing are over

China bluntly criticized the United States on Saturday one day after the superpower's credit rating was downgraded, saying the "good old days" of borrowing were over.

Standard & Poor's cut the U.S. long-term credit rating from top-tier AAA by a notch to AA-plus on Friday over concerns about the nation's budget deficits and climbing debt burden.

China -- the United States' biggest creditor -- said Washington only had itself to blame for its plight and called for a new stable global reserve currency.

"The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone," China's official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.

After a week which saw $2.5 trillion wiped off global markets, the move deepened investors' concerns of an impending recession in the United States and over the euro zone crisis.

Finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations will confer by telephone later on Saturday or on Sunday, a senior European diplomatic source said.

The source said the credit rating downgrade had added a global dimension on top of the euro zone debt issue, raising the need for international coordination.

"The G7 will confer by telephone. It's not yet confirmed whether it will be in one stage or in two stages, tonight and tomorrow," the source said.

French Finance Minister Francois Baroin, who would chair such a meeting under France's G7 and G20 presidency, said it was too early to say whether there would be an early G7 gathering.

In the Xinhua commentary, China scorned the United States for its "debt addiction" and "short sighted" political wrangling.

"China, the largest creditor of the world's sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China's dollar assets," it said.

It urged the United States to cut military and social welfare expenditure. Further credit downgrades would very likely undermine the world economic recovery and trigger new rounds of financial turmoil, it said.

"International supervision over the issue of U.S. dollars should be introduced and a new, stable and secured global reserve currency may also be an option to avert a catastrophe caused by any single country," Xinhua said.

In Washington, President Barack Obama urged lawmakers on Saturday to set aside partisan politics after the debt battle, saying they must work to put the United States' fiscal house in order and refocus on stimulating its stagnant economy.

S&P blamed the downgrade in part on the political gridlock in Washington, saying politics was preventing the United States from addressing its deficit and debt problems.

Obama called on Congress to back measures to give tax relief to the middle class, extend jobless benefits and pass long-delayed international trade pacts.

"Both parties are going to have to work together on a larger plan to get our nation's finances in order," he said.

"In the long term, the health of our economy depends on it...in the short term, our urgent mission has to be getting this economy growing faster and creating jobs."

STAY COOL

In contrast to the Chinese criticism, France's Baroin said France had faith in the United States' ability to get out of this "difficult period."

Friday's U.S. unemployment numbers were better than expected and so things were heading in the right direction, he said.

"Therefore, one should not dramatise, one needs to remain cool-headed, one should look at the fundamentals," he told France's iTele.

While the impact of the rating cut on financial markets when they reopen on Monday may be modest because the decision was expected, the shift may have a long-term impact for U.S. standing in the world, the dollar's status, and the global financial system.

"I think even if it was half-expected, the consequence will be far reaching," said Ciaran O'Hagan, fixed income strategist at Societe Generale in Paris.

"It will weigh on secure assets. The bigger reaction will be on risky assets, including equities and on agencies (Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae) and states backed directly by the federal government."

But he added: "U.S. Treasuries will remain a benchmark. This is a ship which takes a long time to turn around."

Norbert Barthle, a budget expert for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives said the downgrade would certainly provoke further turbulence in markets.

"I'm not surprised about the U.S. rating downgrade, rather I am astonished that for weeks, international rating agencies have focused their attention on the European debt situation but not the American one. For a while, there have been clear worries about America's economic woes but also the fact the U.S. is heavily indebted."

NO EARLY ITALIAN ELECTION

In Europe, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday ruled out calling early elections to stem market panic that has pounded Italian assets and forced his government to bring forward austerity measures.

Italy buckled on Friday to world pressure by pledging to bring forward cuts to balance the budget in 2013 in return for European Central Bank help with funding.

European policy makers are concerned that a debt emergency in the euro zone's third largest economy could completely overwhelm bailout mechanisms set up to help smaller troubled countries like Greece or Ireland.

Italy is due to go to the polls in 2013 but Berlusconi dismissed any suggestion of emulating Spain, where Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has called an early election to tackle the crisis.

"This has absolutely not been talked about," Berlusconi told reporters. "This has never been an option."

The European Union's top economic official praised Italy's decision to accelerate budget-balancing measures and structural economic reforms and said swift implementation was now crucial.

"I strongly support this announcement and call on the authorities to quickly translate it into concrete measures," European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"This will help to boost potential growth, secure budgetary retrenchment and bolster market confidence," Rehn said.

The European Central Bank sources said the bank remains divided over whether to buy Italian government bonds but even some of those who favor the move say Italy should do more to front-load austerity measures.

Two sources said they expected ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet to hold a teleconference of the bank's policy-setting Governing Council over the weekend to discuss how to respond to turmoil in financial markets and Italy's latest measures.

China and Japan have called for coordinated action to avert a new worldwide financial crisis. India's finance minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters: "There is no need to unnecessarily press the panic button."

Four People Killed During Anti-NATO Protest In Afghanistan

Afghan officials say Taliban fighters opened fire on Afghan police at an anti-NATO rally in southern Afghanistan today, sparking a gunbattle that killed three civilians and a police officer.

Officials said the insurgents infiltrated the protest in the town of Qalat in the southern province of Zabul and fired at police.

Police responded by firing at the insurgents in the crowd.

The demonstrators had gathered to protest the reported deaths of civilians during a NATO operation overnight.

2011 is bloodiest year for Karachi since 1995

At least 800 people have been killed in ethnic clashes and politically linked violence in Karachi this year, the bloodiest since 1995, Pakistan's human rights commission said Friday.

Zohra Yousuf who heads the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said the 800 people were victims of often targeted and violent shootings in the last seven months.

“The figures are a cause of great concern for every law abiding Pakistani," she said.

Previously the HRCP had put the figure of those killed in the violence in Karachi in the first six months of the year to around 500 but in one of the bloodiest months witnessed by the city another 300 people were killed in July.

Yousuf said the figures compiled by the HRCP staff also through police records showed that around 300 people were killed in July.

The figures represent a big challenge for the government which has already deployed an additional force of 1000 Frontier Constabulary (FC) soldiers in the city to assist the police and para-military rangers to control the violence.

'Baloch madrassa students cultivating poppy in Afghanistan'

Hundreds of madrassa students from Chaman and the adjoining tribal regions of Balochistan are reportedly being engaged by Afghan farmers for poppy cultivation in the two major heroin-producing provinces of Helmand and Kandahar for the past three months.

Local sources said these Pakistani madrassa students make a beeline for Taliban strongholds to make some money during their summer holidays, which start from the first week of June.

“It is a source of easy money for madrassa students,” a local social worker of Ziarat who is well acquainted with many in the poppy harvesting workforce, said, adding: Each student makes around15 to 20 dollars a day. They are being paid in the local Afghani currency which has gained strength against the Pakistani rupee in recent months.”

“Most students returned home with 1,500 to 2,000 dollars after the harvesting season last year,” The Express Tribune quoted him, as saying.

Gunman killed near Saudi prince's palace

Saudi security forces killed a gunman on Saturday morning after he fired at a checkpoint near the Interior Minister's palace in Jeddah, the state news agency said.

"At 1 a.m. on Saturday, a person carrying a gun fired at a checkpoint in Abdulrahman Al-Malki Street in Jeddah. He was dealt with swiftly and was killed. The event is still under investigation," the statement said.

Around the same time two years ago the Interior Minister's son, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef Al-Saud, who oversees the country's counter-terrorism program, survived an attempt on his life by a suicide bomber posing as a repentant militant.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Mansour al-Turki referred a call for comment to Jeddah police spokesperson Mesfer Aljoayed, who was not immediately available.

The world's biggest oil producer, Saudi Arabia, is an absolute monarchy without an elected parliament or political parties.

Interior Minister Prince Nayef, who is believed to be in his late 70s, was appointed as second deputy prime minister in 2009. He spearheaded the country's crackdown on al-Qaeda militants who aimed to destabilize the country between 2003- 2006.

US urges citizens to leave Syria immediately

State Department warns that given the "ongoing uncertainty and volatility" American citizens are urged to leave immediately while transportation is still available.
Americans in Syria are encouraged to leave and travel to the country should be postponed, the US State Department said on Friday following widespread violence that has pitted thousands of protesters against the government.

The State Department warned that given the "ongoing uncertainty and volatility" US citizens are urged to leave immediately while transportation is still available. The advisory also encouraged Americans who remain to limit any nonessential travel within the country.The advisory expands a travel warning issued in late April that ordered eligible family members of US government employees and certain non-emergency personnel to leave.

Syrian security forces on Friday killed at least 18 protesters in attacks on tens of thousands of protesters who poured into the streets to demonstrate against the rule of President Bashar Assad on the first Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.The four-month-old uprising has grown increasingly violent in recent days as tanks have launched an attack on the central city of Hama in an effort to quell pro-democracy protesters. An estimated 300 people have been killed since the military assault began on Sunday on the city of 700,000 people in central Syria.

The Syrian protesters are defying a bloody military crackdown on uprisings that began in March against some 41 years of Assad family domination.

The White House said US President Barack Obama and leaders from France and Germany have agreed to take measures to pressure Assad over his crackdown, but so far they have not outlined what those steps might be.

Israel braces for Saturday demos

Israelis are planning to stage massive protests against Tel Aviv's housing and economic policies over the weekend, the organizers have announced.

The organizers say they hope the demonstrations will bring over 200,000 people onto the streets on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post reported on Friday.

On Wednesday and Thursday, hundreds of people protested against the parliament's approval of a new housing bill, saying the new law will not resolve the housing crisis in Israel.

The demonstrations were held in the cities of al-Quds (Jerusalem), Tel Aviv, Kiryat Shmona, Beersheba, and Haifa, with angry protesters blocking a total of 10 major junctions across Israel.

The protesters said that the new law will only favor the rich by encouraging big developers to build luxury projects rather than affordable housing.

They have also called for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli protesters are calling for measures to curb the high cost of living, which has jumped by 50 percent in recent years.

United States loses AAA credit rating from S&P

The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday in an unprecedented reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy.
S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about the government's budget deficits and rising debt burden. The move is likely to raise borrowing costs eventually for the American government, companies and consumers.
"The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics," S&P said in a statement.
The decision follows a fierce political battle in Congress over cutting spending and raising taxes to reduce the government's debt burden and allow its statutory borrowing limit to be raised.
On August 2, President Barack Obama signed legislation designed to reduce the fiscal deficit by $2.1 trillion over 10 years. But that was well short of the $4 trillion in savings S&P had called for as a good "down payment" on fixing America's finances.
The White House maintained silence in the immediate aftermath of S&P downgrade.
The political gridlock in Washington and the failure to seriously address U.S. long-term fiscal problems came against the backdrop of slowing U.S. economic growth and led to the worst week in the U.S. stock market in two years.
The S&P 500 stock index fell 10.8 percent in the past 10 trading days on concerns that the U.S. economy may head into another recession and because the European debt crisis has been growing worse as it spreads to Italy.
U.S. Treasury bonds, once undisputedly seen as the safest security in the world, are now rated lower than bonds issued by countries such as Britain, Germany, France or Canada.
'DAUNTING' IMPLICATIONS
As the focus for investors shifted from the debate in Washington to the outlook for the global economy, even with the prospect of a downgrade, 30-year long bonds had their best week since December 2008 during the depth of the financial crisis.
Yields on 10-year notes, a benchmark for borrowing rates throughout the economy fell as far as 2.34 percent on Friday -- their lowest since October 2010 -- also very low by historical standards.
"To some extent, I would expect when Tokyo opens on Sunday, that we will see an initial knee-jerk sell-off (in Treasuries) followed by a rally," said Ian Lyngen, senior government bond strategist at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Connecticut.
The outlook on the new U.S. credit rating is "negative," S&P said in a statement, a sign that another downgrade is possible in the next 12 to 18 months.
"The long-term implications are daunting. Short-term, Treasuries remain a premier safe-haven refuge," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago.
BORROWING COSTS COULD RISE
The impact of S&P's move was tempered by a decision from Moody's Investors Service earlier this week that confirmed, for now, the U.S. Aaa rating. Fitch Ratings said it is still reviewing the rating and will issue its opinion by the end of the month.
"It's not entirely unexpected. I believe it has already been partly priced into the dollar. We expect some further pressure on the U.S. dollar, but a sharp sell-off is in our view unlikely," said Vassili Serebriakov, currency strategist at Wells Fargo in New York.
"One of the reasons we don't really think foreign investors will start selling U.S. Treasuries aggressively is because there are still few alternatives to the U.S. Treasury market in terms of depth and liquidity," Serebriakov added.
S&P's move is also likely to concern foreign creditors especially China, which holds more than $1 trillion of U.S. debt. Beijing has repeatedly urged Washington to protect its U.S. dollar investments by addressing its budget problem.
Obama administration officials grew increasingly frustrated with the rating agency through the debt limit debate and have accused S&P of changing the goal posts in its downgrade warnings, sources familiar with talks between the administration and the ratings firm have said.
The downgrade could add up to 0.7 of a percentage point to U.S. Treasuries' yields over time, increasing funding costs for public debt by some $100 billion, according to SIFMA, a U.S. securities industry trade group.
S&P had placed the U.S. credit rating on review for a possible downgrade on July 14 on concerns that Congress was not adequately addressing the government fiscal deficit of about $1.4 trillion this year, or about 9.0 percent of gross domestic product, one of the highest since World War II.
The unprecedented downgrade of the nation's AAA credit rating by a major ratings agency comes only 15 months before the next presidential election where the downgrade and the debt will be top issues for debate.
Bitter political battles remain over the ideologically fraught issues of spending cuts and tax reform.
The compromise reached by Republicans and Democrats this week calls for the creation of a bipartisan congressional committee to find $1.5 trillion of deficit cuts by late November, beyond the $917 billion already identified.

Pakistan's Deadly drinks

Editorial:The News

The rise in sales of bottled water is no surprise given the poor quality of tap water where it is available. Bottled water is a big business – unfortunately some of it is as unsafe as that which comes out of our taps. The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has announced that 12 out of the 77 brands of bottled water on sale are unfit for human consumption. Arsenic and sodium have been found in greater quantities than are deemed safe. Sodium is a cause of hypertension and there is a linkage between arsenic and a range of cancers. Bacterial contamination by human bodily wastes was also present in some of the samples. The only way such a contaminant could have got into the bottle is by poor hygiene at the point of production, and that the contaminated bottles have not been picked up by a quality controller before it reaches the retail market. This amounts to an act of criminal irresponsibility on the part of the producer – not that producers are likely to care or do much about remedying things.

People buy bottled water because they believe it to be safe. It is worth reminding ourselves that 45 percent of infant deaths occur as a result of diarrhoea, and overall 60 percent of infants that die, die of infectious water-borne diseases. Any infant fed with water from a contaminated source is at risk of illness and perhaps death. The bottled water industry needs to look closely at how it regulates itself and exercise considerably more corporate social responsibility. Bottled water is an essential part of our lives today and the public has a right to expect that it is purchasing a safe product – but this is not a ‘safety-first’ culture. Unsafe production practices are rife and not just in the bottled water sector. The PCRWR report is a timely reminder that we should be careful about what we drink, and that some of what is in the market may be deadly.

Arabs gripped by Mubarak trial

The dramatic images of ailing Hosni Mubarak in the defendants' cage has captivated the Arab world, where the murder trial of Egypt's former president has been hailed as a lesson for those clinging to power.

Footage of the ailing 83-year-old, lying on a hospital bed behind the wire mesh of the cage on Thursday, was broadcast across the Arab world. From Morocco to Jordan, Arabs were fixed to their television screens or following the live updates of the trial on Facebook and Twitter, dumbfounded.

"This day has transformed into what feels like a dream because no one imagined that an autocrat would sit behind bars answering the judge's questions and listening to a long list of charges," said Palestinian newspaper 'Al Quds' in an editorial.

"Each and every Arab hopes that this historic case will be a lesson for all those clinging to their chairs to listen to the demands of peoples who ask for freedom, democracy and social justice," it said.

In Damascus, the state-owned press avoided commenting on the trial, except for Al Baath, the ruling party's mouthpiece, which only made brief mention of the fact that the hearing was adjourned until Aug.15.

"We will probably not witness a (Ben Ali trial) and Tunisia still hasn't suspended relations with Saudi Arabia," said Tunisian activist Amira Yahyaoui in a tweet.

There was no official reaction from Riyadh, but the Saudi press, which usually reflects the kingdom's official stance, welcomed the "civilised" proceedings.

Under the headline "The rule of the judiciary", daily 'Al Jazira' wrote that "there are no exceptions" to justice.

"Illness does not prevent the defendant from being held accountable for his mistakes, neither does his long national work and public service," the paper said.


'Al Riyadh' daily described the trial as "a civilised trial in which conditions were met by both prosecution and defence, in addition to the presence of witnesses," hailing Egypt's judiciary as "independent and impartial."

"The historic trial of Mubarak is great proof that the people of Egypt have defeated dictatorship," wrote Taher Adwan, in the independent Jordanian daily 'Al Arab Al Yawm.'

"The trial will give Arab revolts a great boost to overcome obstacles," wrote Mohammed Abu Rumman in Jordan's 'Al Ghad' independent daily.

In Morocco, the press described the trial as a triumph.

"This trial is a victory for the will of the people in the region who want democratisation," said Moroccan daily 'Al Tajdid.'

But some commentators were more tempered in their enthusiasm.

"It's very nice that the people were able to remove and prosecute a whole regime, but it should be done without vengeful feelings that will cause future grudges," wrote Hafez Al Barghuti in the Palestinian 'Al Hayat Al Jadida.'

‘High dropout rate among Emiratis studying nursing’

There is a high dropout rate among Emiratis studying nursing as many people perceive the profession as inferior, a recent study from the Emirates Nursing Association (ENA) has pointed out.

Long hours, few financial returns and low levels of education are some of the reasons that citizens do not perceive nursing as an ideal career choice, the study noted.

Seventy-five per cent of all the nurses working at the Ministry of Health hold nursing diploma and 24 per cent hold bachelor of nursing degree, while only five graduates have master and one PhD degrees.

The study highlighted the challenges in the nursing field, including low salaries and financial incentives, inflexible shifts, transfer of majority of citizen nurses to administrative jobs, while the foreigners occupy leadership positions.

The study recommended that students in high school should be encouraged to take up nursing courses in school and thereafter in university as a specialised course.

It suggested that males be encouraged to go to nursing schools of the Ministry of Health, and given financial help through scholarships.

Fresh graduates should also be offered better financial incentives, it noted. The study pointed out that there is a shortage of nurses globally and many states bring in immigrant labour to meet this need.

However, it added that a shortage of nurses locally can result in a gap in the medical sector and closure of medical wards and sections.

The increasing need leads to dependence on foreign and unqualified workers to cover the shortage, which affects the level of nursing care and medical services.

It pointed out that some youngsters are reluctant to take up nursing as a profession due to lack of courses at public universities and also because students lack awareness about the profession.

Apart from the low salary, the study found that there is a perception among men that it is a profession of women, and it hinders them from joining the field.

Why get after Ms Hina Rabbani Khar

Naeem Tahir
Daily Times

A handshake is no flirtation. It is a gesture of goodwill. Women politicians avoid even normal courtesies because men have scared them. It is the macho man who makes it hard to respect a woman in a position of authority. Such men see women as objects required for procreation only

Pakistanis and Indians saw the recent goodwill visit of our foreign minister as a success — generally. But a TV anchorperson in Pakistan got carried away. Some years ago, male chauvinists got after Ms Nilofar Bakhtiar in the same way. It seems to be Ms Khar’s turn now. Is this a continuity of criticising efforts in building foreign relations or undermining women working on important assignments?

It was hard to believe the way a known anchorperson, Dr Danish did everything possible to find fault with Ms Khar and prompted his programme participants to follow his thinking although Mr Mujeebur Rehman Shami, a very senior journalist and a sombre person also, did not oblige. Dr Danish has been conducting his programme for some years. He is loud, and sometimes waves papers in his hand at the audience to convince them that he has some sort of documentary evidence. Who knows?

In the case of Foreign Minister Ms Khar, he got carried away and repeatedly recalled that she represented the ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan’. What does this mean? Was he trying to say that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan forbids women to take positions of responsibility? Was he trying to appeal to and activate an extremist ‘right’ lobby? Does he believe in male superiority? Incidentally, the concept of male superiority comes from the Aryans. It is not Islamic. Our religion teaches respect for women.

Ms Khar is a well-educated, well-groomed and politically experienced person. She conducted herself with grace and received a good response from Indian diplomats. So what if Kashmir was not mentioned in the talks? What have those who have mentioned Kashmir again and again ever achieved? She was more successful in the sense that her Indian counterpart mentioned Kashmir and agreed with Pakistan’s proposal.

In my experience, I have found Ms Khar to be very businesslike and efficient. Maybe she is a little too businesslike but that is an asset in a ‘man’s world’. She also has administrative know-how, which is why Mr Mujeebur Rehman Shami acknowledged her experience at the ministerial level. No fault could be found in her personal conduct. She dressed elegantly and also kept her head covered with a dupatta. Mr Shami found only the handshake with the Indian minister unusual because women politicians in Pakistan avoid shaking hands with men. So what? A handshake is no flirtation. It is a gesture of goodwill. Women politicians avoid even normal courtesies because men have scared them. It is the macho man who makes it hard to respect a woman in a position of authority. Such men see women as objects required for procreation only.

Also what is this hullabaloo over the cost of the apparel and accessories? Have a heart, how do you know the prices? Mr Shami rightly refused to venture a guess. It is irrelevant if the ‘state’ did not buy the dresses and accessories. In the present cabinet, Ms Khar is one of the few well groomed, educated and competent individuals. Irrespective of anyone’s political alliances, we must learn to be fair. It is maturity that is needed, not just grey hair.

This attitude towards women needs to be seriously examined. More loose talk is carried on about women than men, particularly working women. Jokes about wives are always present. All this speaks of an unhealthy state of mind. Particularly, an anchorperson must bear the social responsibility of maintaining a balance. It would be fine if a person’s work output were examined objectively but targeting the individuality of a person is totally unfair.

I hope that these comments are taken in good spirit and some introspection is done. It is a laudable attitude to look at one’s own shortcomings and shed prejudices. Was Dr Danish pressurised by some lobby? He generally conducts his programme efficiently.

I hope Ms Khar has the strength to brush aside negative comments. The Indian lobbies did not sabotage the talks this time. Historically, Indian extremists have been sabotaging these talks by acts of terror. A Samjhota train-like blast or the Mumbai issue were not used this time to block steps towards peace. Some concrete and positive measures have been agreed upon. These include improved trade facilities and people to people contact by reviewing visa regimes. We do need to support the just cause of Kashmir but our foreign policy cannot be so highly Kashmir-centric that it becomes a hostage. India and Pakistan must live as neighbours who respect each other and work for the welfare of their people. There are challenges for both countries, and perhaps more so for Pakistan.

This is the time when a serious review of our foreign policy should be made. Our traditional ally, the US, has been unhappy about some issues. Pakistan, too, has some reservations. The US’s popularity in the masses is at its lowest and it is unfair because a lot of good is also being done by the support of the American people. Our relations with Iran, China, Afghanistan and other neighbouring countries are important and must be seen in correct perspective. Foreign relations are closely tied to economic strategy. Ms Khar has that background and hopefully she should be able to make a significant contribution.

Generally, it is a strange thing that the media gets after our foreign ministers. The former foreign minister was not spared either and the media enjoyed insinuating his intentions during his visit to the US. The foreign office has, indeed, a very serious responsibility towards the country. It needs support to improve our image. Their work is made hard when we, the people of Pakistan, belittle them or treat them as show persons. Mr Shami correctly said that we should not expect our foreign ministers to be dressed poorly. The key word is ‘decently’ not ‘extravagantly’. Let us all try to create a good environment for the women and men who are contributing towards national well being and avoid pulling their legs.

The writer is a culture and media management specialist, a researcher, author, director and actor

Karzai has wounded himself politically: Crisis Group

Afghan President Hamid Karzai “shot himself in the foot and wounded himself politically” at the first place by forming special tribunal and cutting off communications with the parliament. ”Karzai has shot himself in the foot and wounded himself politically by cutting off his communications with parliament, by building the special court in order to prosecute people who may or may not have committed crimes along the way with the election process,” Candace Rondeaux, a senior analyst to Crisis Group based in Kabul, said.The International Crisis Group analyst based in Kabul warns that if disputes between executive and legislative branches continue, Afghan President Hamid Karzai would announce state of emergency.State of emergency would even add to the complexity of the situation in Afghanistan and then international troops should come up with a decision whether to support the president or the House of Representatives, she said.Candace Rondeaux called the special electoral tribunal unconstitutional saying it has stopped the parliament to carry out it obligations.”We all know, I think even Karzai understands that the special court is an unconstitutional body, it is an illegal body and should have never been formed to the first place. Now the problem is that you have 62 people who are waiting for seats, that may never be given to them and parliament could not do its work. The country is at a standstill, because the government is unable to work,” Candace Rondeaux said.She said that the work of the special tribunal has produced obstacles to the parliament.”I think if this paralysis continues, it could end up with a high state of emergency declared by the president and that is very dangerous, because it will eventually force, I think, Isaf to make a choice between backing the president and backing the parliament and that is the last thing anybody wants to see,” she said.Meanwhile, Speaker of the Afghan House of Representatives has said the special tribunal has accepted that its final decision should be announced by President Karzai.House Speaker Abdul Raouf Ebrahimi recently said that President Karzai had promised him to bring an end to parliamentary disputes.President Karzai’s Office and the government’s media and information centre could not be reached for comment.

International Beer Day

Sure, it's unlikely that Ben Franklin ever really said “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy,” but that doesn’t make the sentiment any less true. Virtually anywhere you go in the world, even where they only have the non-alcoholic kind, you won't have a problem finding a cold one. So International Beer Day probably isn’t necessary, strictly speaking.
But it sure doesn’t hurt.
International Beer Day is the brainchild of Jesse Avshalomov and established by Avshalomov, Evan Hamilton, Aaron Araki, and Richard Hernandez. It’s billed as a “celebration of beer and the people who provide it.” There’s even an International Beer Day web site detailing the hundreds of events taking place at bars and restaurants worldwide.

Syria claims progress in crushing Hama uprising

Syria's government proclaimed Friday that it was succeeding in crushing the uprising in the city of Hama, the epicenter of anti-regime protests, showing TV images of burned buildings and rubble-strewn streets. Under a suffocating siege, residents of the city warned that medical supplies were running out and food rotting after six days without electricity.
Across the country, tens of thousands of protesters marched through cities, chanting their solidarity with Hama and demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad. They were met by security forces who opened fire, killing at least 13 people, activists said.
Their numbers were lower than previous Fridays, when hundreds of thousands nationwide turned out for protests — likely because this was the first Friday in the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn until dusk and go outside less, particularly in the summer heat. That could augur disappointment for protest leaders, who had hoped to escalate the uprising during the month and even mark a turning point in the quest to topple the 40-year Assad family dynasty's rule.
Government forces began their siege on Hama on Sunday, cutting off electricity, phone services and internet and blocking supplies into the city of 800,000 as they shelled neighborhoods and sent in ground raids. It appeared to be an all-out attempt to take back the city — which has a history of dissent — after residents all but took over, barricading it against the regime. Rights group say at least 100 people have been killed so far while some estimates have put the number as high as 250.
The tolls could not be verified because of the difficulty reaching residents and hospital officials in the besieged city, where journalists are barred as they are throughout Syria.
Tanks shelled residential districts starting around 4 a.m. Friday, just as people were beginning their daily fast — mirroring a round of bombardment the evening before at sunset when they were breaking the fast, one resident told The Associated Press.
"If people get wounded, it is almost impossible to take them to hospital," the resident said by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Syrian state media on Friday proclaimed that army units are "working to restore security, stability and normal life to Hama" after it was taken over by "terrorists."
For the first time since the siege began, government-run TV and the state news agency aired images of ravaged streets in the city, strewn with debris, damaged vehicles and makeshift barricades set up by protesters. One image showed a yellow taxi with a dead man in the driver's seat and bloodstains on the door. A tank cleared away a large cement barrier and a bus with shattered windows.
There were no reports of protests in the city during the day Friday — a contrast to previous weeks when hundreds of thousands in the city participated in the biggest marches in the country.
A citizen journalist from Hama working with Avaaz, an online global activist group with a network of activists inside Syria, told AP that people were now too afraid to go to the mosques, which were being targeted by the military.
The man who identified himself as Sami described the humanitarian situation as "catastrophic." Everything was closed, including bakeries and pharmacies, he said.
"There are sick people, people with diabetes who have run out of insulin ... the food has spoiled because there's no electricity," he said. "You cannot imagine how tired and terrified people are," he said.
Hama has seen government crackdowns before. In 1982, Assad's father, Hafez Assad, ordered the military to quell a rebellion by Syrian members of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood movement there. Hama was sealed off and bombs dropped from above smashed swaths of the city and killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights groups say.
Although there has been a near-total communications blackout in Hama, witnesses have painted a grim picture of life in the city. "People are being slaughtered like sheep while walking in the street," a resident said Thursday, speaking by phone on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
There were also fears of an intensified assault on a second city, the oil center of Deir el-Zour in the east, where tanks have been deployed at entrances since earlier this week. Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the London-based Observatory for Human Rights in Syria, said a quarter of the city's population of 600,000 have fled recently.
Friday has become the main day for protests in Syria, despite the near-certainty that tanks and snipers will respond with deadly force. Protests on Friday spread from the capital, Damascus, to the southern province of Daraa, the central city of Homs and in Qamishli, near the Turkish border. Some 20,000 people protested in Deir el-Zour, lower than the hundreds of thousands of previous weeks, likely due to the flight of a large part of the population.
"Hama, we are with you until death," a crowd marching through Damascus' central neighborhood of Midan shouted, clapping their hands as they chanted, "We don't want you Bashar" and "Bashar Leave," according to amateur videos from Friday posted on line by activists.
In another district of the capital, Qadam, protesters carried a banner reading, "Bashar is slaughtering the people and the international community is silent."
Security forces opened fire with live ammunition and tear gas in several cities, activists said. At least ten people were killed in the Damascus suburbs of Arbeen, Moaddamiya and Dumeir and three others in Homs, according to the London-based Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, a group that tracks protests.
One man who had been arrested earlier was found dead outside his home in the Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun with torture marks on his body, the Observatory said.
Activists also said about 50 people were wounded in Friday's protests.
State-run TV said reported that two policemen were killed and 8 wounded when they were ambushed in the northern town of Maarat al-Numan.
The uprising, now in its fifth month, has proved remarkably resilient, continuing daily and even expanding despite a bloody crackdown that has killed at least 1,700 people. But protesters have so far failed to mobilize the middle class and Muslim Sunni elite to form a real threat to Assad's minority Alawite rule. Organizers had hoped to garner the increased religious fervor of Ramadan to give the protests a further boost. But so far that has yet to materialize. Since the start of Ramadan on Monday, many anti-government protesters were choosing instead to stage nightly protests, usually numbering in the thousands, following special Ramadan nighttime prayers.
Assad has largely brushed off international pressure on his regime.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday he has warned Syria's leader that he will face a "sad fate" if he fails to introduce reforms in his country and open a peaceful dialogue with the opposition.
The U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, returned to Damascus on Friday after several days in Washington holding confirmation hearings at Congress and meeting with President Barack Obama. Some lawmakers had urged the administration to recall Ford permanently as a further show of displeasure with the Assad regime. Italy this week recalled its ambassador and urged others to do the same.
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Yemeni troops clash with powerful tribe in capital

Yemeni government forces clashed with supporters of a powerful tribe in central Sanaa on Friday, forcing residents to flee the area in fear of further fighting, witnesses said.
The clashes in the Hassaba district reflect the still tense standoff between forces loyal to ailing President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Yemen's most powerful tribal confederation, the al-Ahmar clan. Fighting between the two side in late May threatened to escalate into all-out war.
Witnesses said the government's elite Republican Guards were heavily deployed in Hassaba, positioning armored vehicles on one of the district's main roads and taking over the Communication Ministry. Supporters of the powerful tribal chief Sheik Sadeq al-Ahmar were also on alert.
The al-Ahmar family has come out in support of the protest movement calling for Saleh to step down after 33 years in power. The protests began in earnest in February, but Saleh has clung to power.
The fighting erupted late Friday afternoon and lasted about half an hour. Residents reported hearing the crackle of machine-gun fire and a few explosions. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Fathi al-Azab, a district resident, said many families fled the area as clashes began at sundown, when Muslims break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
A government official said the country's vice president, Saleh's powerful son Ahmed, who heads the Republican Guards, and the U.S. ambassador immediately made contact to mediate a troop pullout and prevent the violence from escalating. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
In late May, the government and al-Ahmar fighters battled in Sanaa's streets for nearly two-weeks after government troops were accused of attacking the compound of the al-Ahmar's leader. A negotiated truce brought an end to those clashes.
But relations remain tense. A June attack on Saleh's presidential compound left the Yemeni leader badly injured, and the government initially blamed al-Ahmar. Saleh is still recuperating from his injuries in Saudi Arabia.
Saleh's absence and the continued street protests calling for his ouster have dealt a serious blow to security in Yemen. Further aggravating the tense relations between al-Ahmar and the president's supporters, al-Ahmar announced last week a new tribal alliance that includes members of another powerful tribe, and is supported by a senior defecting military general, who was once one of Saleh's closest aides.
Al-Ahmar said the alliance no longer accepts Saleh as Yemen's ruler , and said the tribal forces will fill the security void in everyday life the has opened up as Saleh's forces focus on maintaining the regime's grip on power. He also said the tribes will provide protection to the protesters against the government crackdown, pitting the tribes against the government forces.

Egypt military police break up Tahrir 'iftar'

Egyptian military police used force to break up an "iftar" traditional evening meal for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday, witnesses said.
Activists and families were taking part in the iftar which breaks the daytime fast during Ramadan.
"We were about 150 people, gathered near Omar Makram mosque, when military police with batons dispersed us and started hitting us," a participant, Ahmed Fares, told AFP.
"After the iftar, some people started calling for the hanging of (ousted president Hosni) Mubarak. The police intervened with batons, forcing us to run away down into the metro station," said activist Ahmed Naim.
A woman also at the scene said an officer told her that security forces took action because some participants had hurled rocks.
According to another militant, Nur Nur, several arrests were made.
On Monday, security agents fired shots in the air and used their batons in a clash with dozens of protesters who had refused to leave Tahrir Square, a day after most activists suspended a daily sit-in.
The government said "several thugs" were arrested.
Activists have said they will return in large numbers to the square, which was the epicentre of mass street protests that toppled Mubarak in February, to push for reforms once Ramadan is over.

Wall Street retreats again in wildly volatile day

Stocks slipped back into the red late on Friday after fluctuating between big gains and losses in a wildly volatile session with trading volume in equities and options on track to set another record.
That was a turnabout from early afternoon, when investors saw a buying opportunity following the sharp sell-off that took the S&P 500 down 10 percent over the last 10 sessions.
In early afternoon trading, the stock market had extended its rebound after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said his country will introduce a constitutional principle of a balanced budget, adding that: "We will accelerate measures" in an austerity program, with the "aim of a balanced budget in 2013."
Helping the market during that rebound, sources said the European Central Bank was ready to buy Italian and Spanish bonds if Berlusconi commits to bringing forward specific reforms.
"We've had a correction, but it's not a huge correction at this point. If we have a very large correction, that might push us into a double dip," said Natalie Trunow, chief investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment Management in Bethesda, Maryland.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 5.83 points, or 0.05 percent, at 11,377.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 5.32 points, or 0.44 percent, at 1,194.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 29.84 points, or 1.17 percent, at 2,526.55.
At Thursday's close, the S&P 500 was down about 10 percent for the last 10 trading sessions.
Trading volume was at 12.7 billion shares by late afternoon trade, significantly higher than the daily average of about 7.5 billion.
Trading in options through mid-afternoon was about 25 million contracts -- nearly twice the expected pace and putting it on track to set a daily record near 40 million contracts, according to Trade Alert President Henry Schwartz.
Exchange-traded funds tracking Italian and Spanish stocks rose. The iShares MSCI Italy Index jumped 4.6 percent, while the iShares MSCI Spanish Index advanced 6.1percent.
Stocks had been lower for much of the day as worries about slower global growth remained firmly intact despite stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data.
Thursday's intense selling -- taking both the Dow and the S&P 500 down 4 percent and the Nasdaq down 5 percent --
reflected frustration with politicians' inability to address pressing concerns over high public debt in Europe and the United States as growth in the world's large industrial economies shows signs of stalling.
Slower growth in manufacturing and services in the United States also have renewed concern about another U.S. recession.
U.S. non-farm payrolls data showed a gain of 117,000 jobs in July compared with a forecast for an increase of 85,000, while the country's unemployment rate dipped to 9.1 percent last month from 9.2 percent in June, the Labor Department reported.
Also affecting stocks was talk of a possible S&P downgrade of U.S. debt after the close.
The recent steep sell-off has put all three major indexes in negative territory for the year.
Credit Suisse on Friday reduced its year-end view on the S&P 500 to 1,350 from 1,450, citing weaker-than-expected growth.
Reflecting the market's volatility, the CBOE Volatility Index or VIX rose 7.3 percent to 33.97. The index had touched an intraday high at 39.25, its highest level since May 2010.

Unemployment rate dips, economy adds 117K jobs

Hiring picked up slightly in July and the unemployment rate dipped to 9.1 percent. The modest improvement may quiet fears of another recession after the worst losses on Wall Street in nearly three years.
Employers added 117,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday. That's better than the past two months, which were also revised higher.
The gains gave the stock market a small lift one day after the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 500 points. Stock future turned positive Friday after the report was released. The report "should lessen fears that the recovery is truly faltering," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global.
Still, the economy needs twice as many net jobs per month to rapidly reduce unemployment. The rate has topped 9 percent in every month except two since the recession officially ended in June 2009.
Businesses added 154,000 jobs across many industries. Governments cut 37,000 jobs last month. Still, 23,000 of those losses were almost entirely because of the shutdown of Minnesota's state government.
The unemployment rate fell from 9.2 percent in June partly because some unemployed workers stopped looking for work. That means they are no longer counted as unemployed.
As a result, the number of unemployed people fell to 13.9 million, down from 14.1 million. Still, that's nearly double the total before the recession.
The participation rate, which measures the percentage of people working or searching for jobs, fell to 63.9 percent, the lowest in 27 years.
The report follows a string of gloomy data that shows the economy has weakened since last year.
The economy expanded at a meager 0.8 percent annual rate in the first six months of this year, the slowest pace since the recession officially ended. Manufacturers are barely growing. Service companies are growing at the weakest pace in a year and a half. Consumers cut spending in June for the first time in 20 months, and they saved more.
High gas prices and scant wage increases have squeezed U.S. consumers this year. And consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.
Businesses have responded by cutting hiring after a strong start in which they added an average of 215,000 jobs a month from February through April.
But the government revised the previous two months' totals to show hiring wasn't as weak as first estimated.
The economy added 53,000 in May, up from an earlier estimate of 25,000, and 46,000 in June, up from 18,000. June's total was still the weakest in nine months.
Hiring in July was broad-based. Manufacturers added 24,000 jobs in July, as auto companies laid off fewer workers in July than usual. Retailers hired a net total of 26,000 employees. Employment in health care grew 31,000. Hotels and restaurants added 17,000.
Workers did see some pay gains last month. Average hourly wages rose 10 cents to $23.13.
The number of people working part-time who would prefer full-time work declined, while those who've given up looking increased. Including both groups, the under-employment rate declined to 16.1 percent.