Mitt Romney vows to restore America's promise

31 August 2012 Last updated at 14:48 GMT

 

Romney: 'Time to turn the page'

Mitt Romney pledges "to restore the promise of America" as he accepts the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention. 725

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Mitt Romney vows to restore America's promise

Mitt Romney: "I wish President Obama had succeeded, because I want America to succeed"

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Mitt Romney has pledged "to restore the promise of America", as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in Florida.

Mr Romney accused President Barack Obama of failing to deliver on his promises and presented his plan involving energy independence, cutting the budget deficit and creating jobs.
He also spoke of his Mormon faith.
The Obama campaign said Mr Romney had "no tangible ideas" and "would take our country backwards".
Mr Romney will challenge the Democratic president in November's election.
His speech was the climax of the three-day Republican convention, which correspondents saw as an attempt to show the human side of a candidate who is sometimes accused of being opaque and distant.
On Friday Mr Romney will visit Louisiana to tour areas damaged by Hurricane Isaac. He will visit LaFitte, some 16 miles (25km) from New Orleans, and a local command centre.
He will miss pre-planned campaign events in Florida and in Virginia to make time for his detour to the storm zone.
Family guy Mr Romney began the most important speech of his political career by accepting the nomination that he was overwhelmingly awarded on Tuesday by thousands of delegates at the gala in Tampa.
It secured him the position that eluded him in his first presidential bid in 2008, when Arizona Senator John McCain became the Republican nominee.

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“Start Quote

His speech set out to be a subtle and ambitious construct but came over as sometimes flat. It wasn't enthralling but it did the job”

Mark Mardell North America editor

• Read more from Mark

"I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed," Mr Romney said, in a speech that was watched by millions across the US.

Instead he told his audience: "You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him."
And he pledged to do things differently: "President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. My promise... is to help you and your family."
The 65-year-old presidential nominee recounted details of his Mormon upbringing, with anecdotes about his family life and his parents' loving marriage.
Mr Romney talked about his own experiences as a father, apparently becoming emotional as he talked about the times when he and his wife Ann would wake up to find "a pile of kids asleep in our room".
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'No apology'

Mr Romney vowed to create 12 million American jobs over the next four years and turn around an economy saddled with an 8.3% unemployment rate.

He also pledged to make the US energy independent by 2020, cut the national deficit and negotiate new trade agreements.
"I will begin my presidency with a jobs tour. President Obama began his presidency with an apology tour," he said.
He accused the president of having "thrown allies like Israel under the bus", while being too lenient with Iran.
"Under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty and Mr Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone," Mr Romney said.
He brought the crowd to its feet when he pledged to repeal Mr Obama's signature healthcare bill.

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US media reaction

The Washington Post's Jonathan Bernstein writes of "a generic speech and a generic convention for a generic Republican candidate", adding that "everything in it was perfunctory".
The Boston Globe describes the speech as "less of an emphatic statement of purpose than a direct challenge to President Obama". The ball is now firmly in Mr Obama's court and he will have a chance to return the volley next week, the editorial says.
The New York Times' Jim Rutenberg says Mr Romney worked hard to show he had a heart but still has to convince many Americans that Mr Obama's presidency did not work, and to let go of him and move on.
"Romney is very effective at puncturing Obama's grandiosity. If he does it half as well in person, the debates will be a blast," writes the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto.
Fox News' Douglas Schoen says that while Mr Romney's speech did not close the deal, he took a "giant step forward" and his speech began the process of "humanising" him.

• US media reacts to Romney speech

The event ended with the entire Romney family - his wife, five sons and their wives and most of his 18 grandchildren - on stage with him as thousands of balloons were released over the convention floor.

Republicans at the convention said they were confident of victory after the speech.
"It's been great. It's fired us up. We're going forward. We're going to make it happen," one delegate told the BBC.
"This is just the cherry on the whipped cream, on the ice cream, and we're going to win in November, and there's no stopping it now. This is the wind that's going to blow us into office," said another.
But Mr Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina said the address contained little substance.
"Much like the entire Republican Convention, Mitt Romney's speech tonight offered many personal attacks and gauzy platitudes, but no tangible ideas to move the country forward," he said.
"What he didn't share were his actual proposals, which would take our country backwards."
Attendees in tears Appearing on stage earlier to pledge his support for Mr Romney, Hollywood star Clint Eastwood raised eyebrows with an off-the-cuff monologue to an imaginary Mr Obama in an empty chair.
Referring to the president, the actor told a rapturous audience: "When somebody does not do the job, you've got to let 'em go."

Marco Rubio said "hope and change has become divide and conquer"

Democrats have sought to depict Mr Romney as a wealthy, elitist, tax-dodging, corporate raider and policy chameleon. Low favourability ratings have dogged him throughout his campaign and he trails Mr Obama in likeability.
To counter that image, the convention heard emotional testimonials about Mr Romney's work as a Mormon leader that left some attendees in tears.
One couple talked of how Mr Romney had befriended and comforted their dying teenage son.
A woman recalled how the Republican's "eyes filled with tears" when her premature baby daughter was close to death in hospital.
On Wednesday, Mr Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, pledged a "turnaround" for America, while attacking Mr Obama.
But fact-checkers said there were a number of inaccuracies in the Wisconsin congressman's address.
The job of softening Mr Romney's edges also fell to his wife, who brought down the house on Tuesday with a speech about their high-school romance. COPY http://www.bbc.co.uk

31 August 2012 Last updated at 12:51 GMT

 

Marikana murder charges: South Africa minister wants explanation

The shooting of the 34 miners led to comparisons with apartheid-era policing

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South Africa's justice minister has demanded an explanation after 270 miners were charged with the murder of their colleagues who were shot by police.

The decision had "induced a sense of shock, panic and confusion" among South Africans, Jeff Radebe said.
State prosecutors charged the miners under the apartheid-era "common purpose" doctrine.
The decision has already been condemned by constitutional lawyers.
In a statement, Mr Radebe said that under the constitution, the justice minister "must exercise final responsibility over the prosecuting authority".
He said he had therefore asked the head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) "to furnish me with a report explaining the rationale behind such a decision".
Police shot dead 34 miners two weeks ago during a strike at the Marikana mine, owned by Lonmin, the world's third largest platinum producer, sparking a national outcry.
Police said they opened fire after being threatened by a crowd of protesters who advanced towards them, armed with machetes.
The 270 miners, six of whom remain in hospital, were arrested during the protests.
They were charged on Thursday, with the prosecutors arguing they were part of the crowd whose actions provoked the police into opening fire.
'Outdated and infamous' Former African National Congress youth leader Julius Malema condemned the decision as "madness".

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Analysis

Ralph Mathekga South African political analyst

The justice minister's decision to ask for an explanation into the murder charges is a facade to create the impression that the NPA's decision has been made independently and government did not play a role.
The NPA is supposed to be independent from government, but this independence seems to be in doubt after recent cases of meddling. Since the Lonmin disaster began, the state has been criticised as aloof and insensitive to the plight of the miners at the Marikana mine and elsewhere.
The business relationship between some of the African National Congress (ANC) elites and the mining companies has also been questioned. Former youth league president Julius Malema continues to make a compelling case that this relationship compromises the state's ability to mediate in such labour conflicts.
By pursuing murder charges, the state is seen as choosing business over its people. This entire situation plays into the hands of President Jacob Zuma's critics who believe that his leadership style has become a liability for the ANC, that he is leading the party in a wrong direction and has to be replaced.

"The policemen who killed those people are not in custody, not even one of them. This is madness," said Mr Malema, who was expelled from the African National Congress (ANC) earlier this year following a series of disagreements with President Jacob Zuma.

South African lawyer Jay Surju told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that the "common purpose" doctrine was "outdated and infamous".
"It was discredited during the time of apartheid."
Constitutional lawyer Pierre de Vos also condemned the murder charges as "a flagrant abuse of of the criminal justice system".
The best known case of the use "common purpose" doctrine was that of the "Upington 14", who were sentenced to death in 1989 for the murder of a policeman.
The trial judge convicted the 14 activists, even though he acknowledged that they did not carry out the killing.
Anti-apartheid activists around the world protested against the ruling, which was overturned on appeal.
No police officers have been charged over the deaths of the 34 miners because a judicial inquiry and an internal police review are under way, but these are expected to take several months to complete.
The strike turned violent before the police shooting with the deaths of 10 people, including two police officers and two security guards, who were hacked to death.
The protests were triggered by demands for a huge pay rise and recognition of a new union.
Talks are continuing to resolve the dispute, which has shut the mine for the past three weeks.
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Summit Meeting in Iran Disrupted by Rebukes of Syria

Rauf Mohseni/European Pressphoto Agency

President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt, right, speaking on Thursday in Tehran with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center, and Ban Ki-moon also on the stage.

By THOMAS ERDBRINK and RICK GLADSTONE

Published: August 30, 2012 

TEHRAN — Iran’s triumphal stewardship of the Nonaligned Movement summit meeting here veered off script on Thursday when the two most prominently featured guest speakers — President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon — denounced the repression of the armed uprising in Syria, a close Iranian ally.

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Syria’s foreign minister walked out in protest over Mr. Morsi’s remarks at the meeting, the largest international conference in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian leaders have portrayed the meeting, attended by delegations from 120 countries, as a validation of Iran’s importance in the world and a rejection of Western attempts to ostracize it.

Mr. Ban added further embarrassment to the Iranian hosts by publicly upbraiding them in his speech for threatening to annihilate Israel and for describing the Holocaust as a politically motivated myth. “I strongly reject threats by any member state to destroy another or outrageous attempts to deny historical facts, such as the Holocaust,” Mr. Ban said.

In what appeared to signal Iran’s effort to avoid public friction over the Syrian conflict that would detract from the tone of the Nonaligned conference, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, opened the day with a welcoming speech that conspicuously avoided any mention of Syria. But the subsequent speeches by Mr. Morsi and Mr. Ban refocused attention on it.

Mr. Morsi, Egypt’s new Islamist president, whose decision to accept Iran’s invitation to attend the meeting was considered a major victory by the Iranians, likened the uprising in Syria to the revolutions that swept away longtime leaders in North Africa like Mr. Morsi’s own predecessor in Egypt, Hosni Mubarak.

“The Syrian people are fighting with courage, looking for freedom and human dignity,” Mr. Morsi said, suggesting that all parties at the gathering shared responsibility for the bloodshed. “We must all be fully aware that this will not stop unless we act.”

Mr. Morsi, pointedly, did not mention unrest in Bahrain, possibly to avoid offending Saudi Arabia, which has helped Bahrain’s monarchy suppress the uprising.

With the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sitting beside him, Mr. Morsi delivered a stinging rebuke of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, whom Mr. Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders have staunchly defended throughout the conflict.

“Our solidarity with the children of beloved Syria against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is a moral duty as much as a political and strategic necessity that stems from our belief in a coming future for the free proud Syria,” Mr. Morsi said.

“And we must all offer our complete, undiminished support for the struggle for freedom and justice in Syria, and to translate our sympathy into a clear political vision that supports peaceful transition to a democratic government,” he said.

Mr. Ban, in the Syria portion of his speech, aimed a clear rebuke at the Syrian government by saying “the crisis in Syria started with peaceful demonstrations that were met by ruthless force. Now, we face the grim risk of long-term civil war destroying Syria’s rich tapestry of communities.” While he urged all antagonists to stop the violence, Mr. Ban said, “The Syrian government has the primary responsibility to resolve this crisis by genuinely listening to the people’s voices.”

Iran stands isolated in the Islamic world in its support for President Assad, a status that became abundantly clear when it was the only nation to oppose the expelling of Syria as a member of the Organization of Islamic Countries on Aug. 14.

Local Iranian news media did not report the comments on Syria by Mr. Ban or Mr. Morsi, which strongly conflict with Iran’s official line; a top military commander recently declared Mr. Assad’s government the “winner” over the “U.S.- and Israel-backed terrorists.”

Such remarks have made it increasingly complicated for more pragmatic Iranian politicians to offer alternative ideas when it comes to Syria, with state television stressing daily the line of no compromise on Iran’s support for Mr. Assad.

Mr. Morsi, the new leader of an Egypt re-emerging as a regional player, and Ayatollah Khamenei, as the head of the Middle East’s only Islamic republic, predicted the coming of a new world order in which the power of the West fades as developing countries demand more influence. The revolutions in the region are a clear sign of more changes to come, they said.

In their separate speeches, Mr. Morsi and Ayatollah Khamenei both said that the makeup of the United Nations Security Council, in which the five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain — can veto decisions, should be altered.

“We need comprehensive changes so that the Security Council will be more representative of the 21st century,” Mr. Morsi said in Arabic, speaking through an interpreter.

Ayatollah Khamenei, who repeatedly lashed out against the United States, said the composition of the Security Council had led to a “flagrant form of dictatorship,” and he accused Washington of abusing “this mechanism in order to impose its will on the world.”

Both leaders called for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East. Ayatollah Khamenei said that the United States and its Western allies had “equipped the usurper Zionist regime with nuclear weapons, which now pose a great threat to all of us.”

They also called for an independent Palestinian seat in the United Nations.

Mr. Ban, making his first visit to Iran as United Nations secretary general, called upon Iran to comply with a set of five Security Council resolutions demanding that the country stop enriching uranium. But Ayatollah Khamenei made clear that Iran would never compromise on the nuclear issue.

“The Islamic Republic is not after nuclear weapons,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “But we will never give up on our right to nuclear energy.”

Thomas Erdbrink reported from Tehran, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Mayy El Sheikh contributed reporting from Cairo, and Kareem Fahim from Beirut, Lebanon.

A version of this article appeared in print on August 31, 2012, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Summit Meeting in Iran Disrupted by Rebukes of Syria.

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Threat to Syrian Civilians Is Growing, Officials Say

By KAREEM FAHIM and RICK GLADSTONE

Joseph Eid/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

At a Damascus hospital on Thursday, an honor guard waited next to a coffin draped with the Syrian flag before a group funeral.

Top United Nations officials attending a special Security Council session reported alarming new data on the severity of the crisis, including a doubling in the number of civilians who need emergency aid.

• IHT Rendezvous: Lebanon, Syria and the Missing Imam 8:17 AM ET
• Video Feature: Watching Syria’s War | Times Topic: Syria

  Threat to Syrian Civilians Is Growing, Officials Say

  By KAREEM FAHIM and RICK GLADSTONE

  Published: August 30, 2012

  
  
  BEIRUT, Lebanon — Human rights workers and diplomats said Thursday that Syria’s military was increasingly relying on indiscriminate air power to crush the insurgency, as top United Nations officials attending a special Security Council session reported alarming new data on the severity of the crisis, including a doubling in the number of civilians who need emergency aid.
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  Joseph Eid/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

  At a Damascus hospital on Thursday, an honor guard waited next to a coffin draped with the Syrian flag before a group funeral.

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  “The cohesion of Syria’s diverse society is in danger,” Jan Eliasson, the deputy secretary general, told the Council members in a meeting convened by France, which holds the rotating presidency. Mr. Eliasson also said the emergency United Nations relief operations marshaled for Syria were already under financial strain, and “as the conflict intensifies, the number of people in need clearly exceeds our capacity to assist.”
  He recited a litany of updated statistics on the conflict, noting that the number of refugees in neighboring countries now exceeded 220,000, fewer than half of Syria’s hospitals are functional and food prices have tripled in some areas. Moreover, Mr. Eliasson said that more than 2.5 million people were now in “great need of assistance and protection inside Syria” — roughly double the number reported by the United Nations in March.
  The foreign minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu, whose country has absorbed more than 80,000 of the Syrian refugees in an exodus that has grown drastically just in the past few weeks, exhorted the Security Council to establish safety zones inside Syria to help mitigate the crisis, which he and others said was threatening to destabilize the region.
  “Now the regime is deploying fighter jets against the people,” Mr. Davutoglu said. “How long are we going to sit and watch while an entire generation is being wiped out by random bombardment and deliberate mass targeting?”
  Safety zones inside Syria, which would require an armed intervention, were unlikely to be approved by the Security Council, which has repeatedly deadlocked over how to achieve a political solution to the 18-month-old conflict. There has been little appetite for a direct military intervention, and Russia and China, which are veto-wielding members and allies of the Syrian government, have objected to any resolution that they regard as an infringement on Syria’s sovereignty. In an interview on Wednesday, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria also dismissed the talk of safety zones as unrealistic.
  But the foreign ministers of France and Britain, who attended the emergency Security Council session, told reporters they were not ruling out Turkey’s suggestion.
  All three are members of NATO, which established safety zones for civilians in Kosovo during the Serbia conflict in the 1990s.
  “We are excluding no options for the future,” said William Hague, Britain’s foreign secretary. “We do not know how this crisis will develop over coming months. It is steadily getting worse.”
  Mr. Hague also said “anything like a safe zone requires military intervention and that of course is something that has to be weighed very carefully.”
  In Syria on Thursday, rebel fighters claimed to have shot down a government warplane flying over the northern Idlib Province, the third report of an insurgent assault on Mr. Assad’s air force this week. The intensifying effort by antigovernment fighters to target the Syrian military’s airpower reflected the increasing use of warplanes and helicopters by the government.
  On Wednesday, fighters in Idlib said they had attacked a military airport and destroyed 5 to 10 government helicopters parked there, and on Monday, opposition fighters said they had downed an attack helicopter that was flying over the Damascus suburbs.
  This month, rebels in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour said they had shot down a Russian-made MIG of the Syrian Air Force and had captured the pilot.
  The government disputed the details of all those attacks, saying that it had repelled the assault on the airport and that helicopters and airplanes in its aging fleet had suffered mechanical failures.
  On Thursday, Human Rights Watch charged that some of the military’s strikes seemed intended to harm civilians; the group detailed what it said was a government policy of attacking bread lines in Aleppo.
  Saying at the very least the attacks were “recklessly indiscriminate,” the group reported the bombing or shelling on or near at least 10 bakeries in Aleppo over the last three weeks.
  On Aug. 20, the group said, a jet dropped a bomb near the Kanjou bakery, killing 12 people, including 6 people who had run away from the bakery when they heard the roar of the jet.
  On its way down, the bomb hit the home of the Hidani family, killing four members.
  In another attack, on a bakery in the Bab al-Hadid neighborhood on Aug. 21, at least 23 people were killed by two bombs dropped from a helicopter, the group said.
  A 44-year-old volunteer at the bakery interviewed by the group said that when he heard the helicopter, he told people in line that there was no bread left, hoping they would leave.
  He told Human Rights Watch that the bombing decapitated a 16-year-old boy named Rafat Halak.
  The strike claimed by insurgents on the warplane on Thursday could not be independently verified. Several videos said to show the aftermath included images of what appeared to be the pilot parachuting to the ground, and the wreckage of a wing.
  In one clip, men stand over what appears to be a man’s body clothed in a military uniform, with blood trailing from his head, possibly from a gunshot, and a parachute strapped to his back.
  A second parachute on the ground could be seen in the distance. The plane crashed near the Abu Zuhour air base, which was also attacked by insurgent fighters on Thursday, according to a local rebel commander. COPY http://www.nytimes.com

State looking into options to improve decades-old bottleneck that connects 3 expressways.

Circle Interchange may get $375 million makeover

State looking into options to improve decades-old bottleneck that connects 3 expressways.

Vehicles maneuver through the Circle Interchange, which connects the Eisenhower, Dan Ryan and Kennedy expressways along with Congress Parkway in the Loop. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune / August 31, 2012

9:30 a.m. CDT, August 31, 2012

A roomful of highway engineers along with commuters frustrated over wasting time and fuel in traffic doodled with colored markers on maps of the Circle Interchange to highlight scary and dangerous merges and stew over possible solutions to congestion.
The focus of their attention was five preliminary concepts, which could be expanded to dozens of variations when all is said and done, to redesign the Circle Interchange, which is a spaghetti bowl of ramps where the Kennedy, Dan Ryan and Eisenhower expressways converge, along with Congress Parkway, near downtown Chicago.
The preliminary concepts ranged from adding lanes and widening ramps to and from some of the expressways to an ambitious four-level interchange that would include building a tunnel under existing infrastructure and building ramps that soar several stories higher than today's concrete ribbons.
The Illinois Department of Transportation hopes to reach a final decision on a preferred alternative by next year and begin construction in 2014 or 2015 if money becomes available, said Steve Schilke, IDOT's project's manager for the Circle.
The cost will depend on the complexity of the chosen design, but Schilke threw out a ballpark figure of $375 million. IDOT hopes the federal government pays for 90 percent, he said.
The Circle, considered one of the worst bottlenecks in the nation, is operating over capacity with an average of more than 300,000 vehicles and three crashes daily, traffic data show. Delays caused by the interchange average almost 10 minutes a day per vehicle, for a combined 25 million hours annually, according to IDOT.
State transportation officials are conducting preliminary engineering and environmental studies to rehabilitate the Circle for the first time since it was built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, during the same time the Kennedy (originally named the Northwest Expressway) was constructed.
On Thursday, an open house was held at a hotel on South Ashland Avenue near the Eisenhower to inform the public about the planning process. The meeting also gave officials a chance to collect feedback from drivers ranging from commuters to trucking companies as well as business owners and residents of the downtown, Greektown, West Loop, University of Illinois at Chicago and Medical District communities.
As the connector artery between the three expressways, the interchange serves national freight traffic as well as local and regional trucking. It is the slowest and most congested highway freight bottleneck in the U.S., according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Its high traffic volumes, single-lane ramps and tight curves contribute to almost constant congestion and more than 1,100 crashes on average per year, officials said.
The redesign will look for ways to increase vehicle capacity and correct short traffic merges and short weaving distances within the tight footprint of the interchange, which is squeezed next to the CTA Blue Line's Halsted Street station and tunnel, the Cermak water pumping station and the Haberdasher Square Lofts, officials said.
Officials would not rule out acquiring private property for the project. But Schilke said: "Our goal is to not impact any buildings in this area.''
Truck traffic in the vicinity of the Circle has grown over the years to nearly 1 in 6 vehicles, officials said. The westbound Eisenhower carries an average of 9,900 trucks a day and the northbound Dan Ryan serves 16,000 trucks a day on average.
Traffic experts described a series of problems they would like to address.
Eastbound Eisenhower traffic encounters a triple decision point at the exit ramp to the Kennedy and Dan Ryan. Rapid lane changes contribute to rear-end and sideswipe crashes, officials said.
Traffic exiting the northbound Ryan has two lanes. The inside lane leads to the westbound Eisenhower, and the outside lane leads to eastbound Congress Parkway. Traffic congestion along the westbound Eisenhower ramp lines up into this area, and aggressive drivers use the outside lane intended for eastbound Congress to bypass the backup of westbound vehicles, officials said. Collisions occur when motorists cutin to the westbound Eisenhower.
The preliminary engineering work is expected to be finished by next spring, officials said. After the design for the interchange is approved, detailed construction plans will be developed. The timeline for construction will depend on funding.
IDOT and the Federal Highway Administration are the lead agencies for the project.
A joint venture of the AECOM and TranSystems companies is conducting the $40 million engineering analysis to identify possible improvements, the potential cost and a construction schedule, officials said.
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Assad's foes need safe haven in Syria: Kodmani

Catherine Bremer Reuters

9:16 a.m. CDT, August 31, 2012

PARIS (Reuters) - Opponents of President Bashar al-Assad need a foreign-protected safe haven in Syria if they are to form a credible transitional authority, a Syrian opposition figure said on Friday.

Basma Kodmani, who quit the Syrian National Council (SNC) this week saying it was out of touch with forces on the ground, said such a body should include the SNC, the Free Syria Army and representatives of all Syria's religious and ethnic groups.

"Such a provisional government needs to be based inside Syria in the liberated areas," she told Reuters in an interview.

"That requires a safe area where it can be based. For the moment the dangers are too high for such a government to operate from inside Syria," Kodmani said, adding that with foreign protection, the authority could be set up within three months.

Western powers are reluctant, however, to supply weapons to Syrian rebels or to send warplanes to protect safe havens without a U.N. Security Council mandate, which cannot be obtained because China and Russia oppose any intervention.

Kodmani, who had headed the Istanbul-based SNC's foreign affairs bureau, was speaking as French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius laid out French plans to channel aid to rebel-held areas in northern and southern Syria.

Kodmani blamed lack of Western support for the problems besetting the fractured SNC. "The council was victim of an international response that was simply not there."

She contrasted the West's response to the Syria crisis with its action on Libya last year, when a transitional council swiftly gained world recognition and NATO enforced a no-fly zone with a U.N. mandate and bombed Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

A U.N. Security Council meeting on Thursday on aid for Syria highlighted the group's paralysis in the 17-month conflict, although Britain, France and Turkey said military action to secure civilian safe zones was still an option.

Kodmani, a Paris-based academic, said protecting such zones was vital to show regions that have suffered huge loss of life and made gains against Assad's army that the West supports them.

"The protection of these areas is now a compelling responsibility for the international community, whether (they are) protected directly by a no-fly zone, or the Free Syrian Army is provided with the means to ensure the regime cannot fly over these cities and bomb them with total impunity," she said.

An opposition body based in Syria could liaise better with smaller groups scattered over the country, making it more effective and legitimate than the SNC, she argued.

Kodmani said it was too early to say who should head a new authority, but that it should include Christians, Alawites and government ministers and heads of state institutions who had not been involved in Assad's crackdown on the opposition.

"The process of identifying who these people are is the most important task at this stage," she said. "There's no time to waste, this has to be done now and quickly."

(Editing by Alistair Lyon) COPY http://www.chicagotribune.com

Report on Iran Nuclear Work Puts Israel in a Box

By JODI RUDOREN and DAVID E. SANGER

Published: August 30, 2012 

JERUSALEM — For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday offered findings validating his longstanding position that while harsh economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation may have hurt Iran, they have failed to slow Tehran’s nuclear program. If anything, the program is speeding up.

Enlarge This Image

Abir Sultan/European Pressphoto Agency

Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama differ on a timetable for confronting Iran.

May

2010

Jan.

2011

Jan.

2012

Aug.

KG.

150

100

50

189.4

2,140

1,064

696

412

0

OPERATING

INSTALLED

Sept.

2011

Nov.

’11

Feb.

’12

May

’12

Aug

’12

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency

ENRICHED URANIUM Total Iranian stockpile that is enriched to 20 percent purity, close to bomb grade.

CENTRIFUGES Number at the Fordow complex, built deep inside a mountain near Qum.

Growth of a Nuclear Program

• Document: International Atomic Energy Agency Report on Iran

Related

• Inspectors Confirm New Work by Iran at Secure Nuclear Site (August 31, 2012)

But the agency’s report has also put Israel in a corner, documenting that Iran is close to crossing what Israel has long said is its red line: the capability to produce nuclear weapons in a location invulnerable to Israeli attack.

With the report that the country has already installed more than 2,100 centrifuges inside a virtually impenetrable underground laboratory, and that it has ramped up production of nuclear fuel, officials and experts here say the conclusions may force Israel to strike Iran or concede it is not prepared to act on its own.

Whether that ultimately leads to a change in strategy — or a unilateral attack — is something that even Israel’s inner circle cannot yet agree on, despite what seems to be a consensus that Iran’s program may soon be beyond the reach of Israel’s military capability.

“It leaves us at this dead end,” said a senior government official here, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he is involved in the decision-making process. “The more time elapses with no change on the ground in terms of Iranian policies, the more it becomes a zero-sum game.”

The report accentuates the tension with Washington during the hot-tempered atmosphere of a presidential election. President Obama and Mr. Netanyahu often say they have a common assessment of the intelligence about Iran’s progress. What they do not agree on is the time available.

American officials have repeatedly tried to assure the Israelis that they have the country’s back — and to remind them that Israel does not have the ability, by itself, to destroy the facility, built beneath a mountain outside Qum. The United States does have weaponry that it believes can demolish the lab, but in Mr. Obama’s judgment there is still what the White House calls “time and space” for diplomacy, sanctions and sabotage, a combination the Israelis say has been insufficient.

“They can’t do it right without us,” a former adviser to Mr. Obama said recently. “And we’re trying to persuade them that a strike that just drives the program more underground isn’t a solution; it’s a bigger problem.”

The report comes at a critical moment in Israel’s long campaign to build Western support for stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, which virtually every leader here regards as an existential threat. Military professionals concede the potential effectiveness of an Israeli strike is decreasing as Iran moves more of its operations underground. (Already, the best Israel might be able to accomplish, they say, is to close the tunnel entrances around the underground plant, called Fordow, rather than destroy what is inside.)

Politically, Israeli leaders are concerned they will lose leverage after the November presidential election — regardless of the result — but are also worried about a pre-election strike that angers Washington, whose support would be all the more critical in its aftermath.

A month after a blitz of visits by high-ranking American security officials, the frenzy of public discussion here over the imminence of an attack has quieted, as Israelis have returned from summer vacation and begun preparing for the High Holy Days. But several high-ranking government officials said the study, debate and lobbying in the tight circle of decision-makers has intensified, and Israel has taken steps to shore up the home front and prepare its citizens.

Many inside the government, along with independent analysts, say the status quo is not sustainable. Unless the international community finds new ways to apply diplomatic pressure, or the United States issues a clear ultimatum to Iran about its intentions to act militarily, they say, the chances of an Israeli attack this year will climb.

“If the U.S. makes it clear to the Iranians that they may go to war, there will be no need for anyone to go to war,” one top Israeli official said.

Asked about the report, Mr. Obama’s spokesman, Jay Carney, said, “The president has made clear frequently he is determined to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” But he set no deadlines, and officials said Mr. Obama was not likely to specify a date or exact set of conditions that would provoke a military response.

Several leaders and analysts in Israel are pinning their hopes on a possible meeting between Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu when the prime minister travels to the United Nations General Assembly in late September.

“The tragedy is the failure of these two to get over their grudges and the bad blood and work in an intimate, serious way together,” said Ari Shavit, a columnist for the left-leaning newspaper Haaretz. “Rather than the great democracy and the small democracy working together, they seem to be working with deep suspicion of each other.”

The critical difference between the American and Israeli views of the situation has long been one of timing. In Jerusalem, the clocks are ticking — and, as a senior government official put it, “all of them are now ticking at a higher speed.”

“Every week they get closer,” this official said of Iran, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he, too, is involved in the high-level deliberations. “While our side can, every week, seem to be in the same place, their side every week gets closer to this target.” (Iran contends its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes.)

Though Mr. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are crucial to making the final call, attention has turned to a group of 14 ministers known as the inner cabinet, or security cabinet. Yossi Melman, an author of “Spies Against Armageddon,” a history of Israeli intelligence, said military actions typically required “a solid majority” of 12 or 13 members of this group, which is currently divided.

Three or four of the ministers are believed to be opposed to an independent Israeli strike, while six seem to be in favor. Two big unknowns are Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who both declined to be interviewed.

Mr. Netanyahu has been wooing Mr. Yaalon, including him in a small dinner when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was here in July. In a recent Twitter post, Mr. Yaalon warned, “History will judge whether the U.S. faced up to the Shiite threat in time to prevent Iran from acquiring a military nuclear capability.” But further posts indicated some wiggle room: “Anyone who wants to prevent the exercise of military power must see that additional biting sanctions are applied,” he wrote.

Mr. Lieberman, who frequently diverges from Mr. Netanyahu, said on television last week, “There is no situation in which Israel can accept a nuclear Iran.”

The divisions in the cabinet — and more broadly in Israel — are not along the usual left-right or hawk-dove lines. The disputes are mainly over how best to engage the United States.

“Remember, it’s whether to attack now or attack later; it’s not between peaceniks and warmongers,” Mr. Melman said. “The argument against is don’t hurt the U.S. relationship, don’t risk relations with the president just for the satisfaction of conducting an attack before the election.”

David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who spent more than a decade in Israel, said “the center of political gravity could shift very quickly” if the Obama administration does not do something more.

Martin S. Indyk, a former United States ambassador to Israel who is now foreign policy director of the Brookings Institution, said he was struck that Israel had in recent weeks begun to distribute gas masks, examine bomb shelters and enact a text-messaging warning system.

Uzi Arad, a former national security adviser for Israel, recalled accompanying Mr. Netanyahu — then the leader of the opposition — to a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney in 2007. The Israelis argued that the only thing with “sufficient punch” to stop Iran from developing a weapon, Mr. Arad said, was crippling sanctions, including measures against the energy sector, “coupled with a clear and present credible military option that continuing the program would not succeed because inevitably it will bring military action.”

Five years later, those around Mr. Netanyahu are saying much the same thing, and may be growing tired of waiting.

Jodi Rudoren reported from Jerusalem, and David E. Sanger from Washington. Myra Noveck contributed reporting from Jerusalem. copy http://www.nytimes.com

Fed Chairman Pushes Hard for New Steps to Spur Growth

By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

Published: August 31, 2012

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, delivered on Friday a detailed and forceful argument for the benefits of new steps to stimulate the economy, reinforcing earlier indications that the Fed is on the verge of action.

Mr. Bernanke said that the Fed’s policies over the last several years have provided significant benefits, but that a clear need remained for the Fed to do more and that, in his judgment, the likely benefits of such actions outweighed the potential costs.

“It is important to achieve further progress, particularly in the labor market,” Mr. Bernanke said in his prepared remarks. “Taking due account of the uncertainties and limits of its policy tools, the Federal Reserve will provide additional policy accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in labor market conditions in a context of price stability.”

Mr. Bernanke did not announce any new steps in his speech, delivered before an annual monetary policy conference organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Nor did he offer a timetable, although many analysts expect the Fed to act at the next meeting of its policy-making committee on Sept. 12 and 13.

Some of those analysts expect that the Federal Open Market Committee will announce a new round of asset purchases, further expanding its holdings of Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities to reduce borrowing costs and spur investment. Others expect instead it will announce its intent to keep its benchmark interest rate near zero beyond its current forecast of late 2014.

Mr. Bernanke devoted much of his speech to asset purchases. He said past rounds of purchases had produced “economically meaningful” benefits, contributing to lower borrowing costs for corporations and the general rise in stock prices. He cited one study finding the combined effect of the Fed’s three rounds of asset purchases raised output by 3 percent and increased employment by 2 million jobs.

He offered a shorter description of the benefits of forecasting the Fed’s intentions to hold down interest rates, although he said this too has been beneficial.

And importantly, after reviewing the costs of existing actions, and the potential consequences of doing more, he rendered a clear verdict on the balance.

“The costs of nontraditional policies, when considered carefully, appear manageable, implying that we should not rule out further use of such policies if economic conditions warrant,” Mr. Bernanke told the audience of central bankers, fiscal policy-makers and academic economists gathered at the Jackson Lake Lodge in the middle of the Grand Teton National Park for the annual conference.

The Fed has sent clear signals in recent months that it is preparing to take new action to stimulate the economy. The Fed’s policy-making committee said after its most recent meeting in early August that it “will provide additional accommodation as needed,” an unusually strong statement in the language of central banks.

An account of that meeting, which the Fed released last week, said that “Many members judged that additional monetary accommodation would likely be warranted fairly soon unless incoming information pointed to a substantial and sustainable strengthening in the pace of the economic recovery.”

Since that meeting, economic data has continued to reflect mediocre growth. The depressed housing market, which the Fed describes as a key factor restraining the economy, has shown signs of modest revival. But worries about the Washington standoff over fiscal policy have intensified, and Europe remains on a low boil.

“The economic situation obviously is far from satisfactory,” Mr. Bernanke said Friday, in remarks that appeared to reflect that the Fed’s basic assessment of the economic outlook has not been substantially altered by the recent data.

The government will release one more important estimate, of job growth in August, before the Fed’s policy-making committee convenes in two weeks.

In addition to asset purchases and forward guidance, the account of the most recent meeting mentioned two other options. The Fed could cut the interest rate it pays banks on reserves kept at the Fed, which might push some money into circulation. It also could seek to provide low-cost funding for certain kinds of lending, like mortgage loans, emulating a program recently debuted by the Bank of England.

Some members of the committee also have said publicly that they would like to replace that time horizon with a trigger tied to economic data, for example declaring that the Fed is likely to keep interest rates near zero until unemployment falls below a specified level, or until economic output exceeds a certain threshold.
copy  http://www.nytimes.com

Data de reinício de refinaria venezuelana ainda é incerta

quinta-feira, 30 de agosto de 2012 07:43 BRT

 

CARACAS, 30 Ago (Reuters) - O reinício da produção na maior refinaria de petróleo da Venezuela, que está fechada desde sábado em consequência de um incêndio que matou 48 pessoas, pode levar mais dois ou três dias, disseram autoridades, mas a data exata ainda não foi estabelecida.
O ministro da Energia, Rafael Ramírez, disse na quarta-feira que o fogo na refinaria Amuay foi finalmente apagado e que os operários estão prosseguindo com os preparativos para retomar a produção.
O processo "gradual" pode possivelmente levar "dois ou três dias", disse Ramírez em comentários transmitidos pela TV, apesar de autoridades da refinaria terem dito à Reuters que o momento exato para o reinício da operação não pode ser determinado enquanto partes do local ainda precisam ser resfriadas.
"Enquanto os esforços de resfriamento continuam, não podemos saber uma data exata", disse um funcionário da estatal de petróleo PDVSA, que administra a refinaria com capacidade para 645.000 barris por dias.
Enquanto isso, as autoridades continuam investigando as causas do vazamento de gás que provocou a explosão.
Além dos quase 50 mortos, a explosão ocorrida durante a madrugada destruiu centenas de casas nas redondezas. O acidente foi o pior da indústria de petróleo no mundo nos últimos anos, aproximando-se dos 56 mortos em consequência de um incêndio na refinaria de Visakhapatnam, na Índia.
Diante da eleição presidencial em outubro, adversários do presidente Hugo Chávez aproveitaram a explosão para criticar o governo pelo que dizem ser uma manutenção ruim da industria do petróleo, que é o motor da economia da Venezuela.
(Reportagem de Marianna Párraga, Sailú Urribarrí e Eyanir Chinea)

COPIADO :  http://www.reuters.com

Desemprego na Alemanha sobe diante da crise da zona do euro

quinta-feira, 30 de agosto de 2012 07:40 BRT

 

Por Michelle Martin
BERLIM, 30 Ago (Reuters) - O desemprego na Alemanha subiu pelo quinto mês seguido em agosto, o mais recente de uma série de dados decepcionantes que ampliam as evidências de que a maior economia da Europa está sentindo os efeitos da crise da zona do euro.
O desemprego ainda permanece perto de uma mínima pós-reunificação, mas o Escritório Federal do Trabalho admitiu que a desaceleração do crescimento está começando ter efeitos sobre o que era considerado um dos mais resilientes mercados de trabalho da Europa.
O crescimento do Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) se desacelerou para 0,3 por cento no segundo trimestre conforme as empresas, nervosas em relação à crise de dívida que devasta países do sul da zona do euro, reduzem os investimentos.
Muitos economistas acreditam que o PIB cairá no terceiro trimestre do ano, com a Alemanha possivelmente entrando em uma recessão técnica --definida como dois trimestres consecutivos de contração-- no segundo semestre de 2012.
O Escritório do Trabalho informou que o desemprego total ajustado sazonalmente subiu em 9 mil em agosto, em linha com as expectativas, elevando o número de pessoas sem trabalho para 2,901 milhões, o maior nível desde novembro do ano passado.
Dados divulgados em agosto mostraram que as importações, exportações e encomendas industriais diminuíram, enquanto pesquisas de sentimento empresarial e do investidor recuaram e o setor privado do país encolheu pelo quarto mês seguido

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Confiança da zona do euro recua; expectativa de inflação sobe

quinta-feira, 30 de agosto de 2012 07:33 BRT

 

BRUXELAS, 30 Ago (Reuters) - A desaceleração da economia da zona do euro fez o sentimento econômico da região piorar em agosto mais do que o previsto, e as expectativas de inflação entre os consumidores saltaram, mostraram nesta quinta-feira dados da Comissão Europeia.
A pesquisa mensal da CE mostrou que o indicador de sentimento econômico caiu para 86,1 em agosto ante 87,9 em julho, contra expectativa de economistas de uma queda para apenas 87,5.
O declínio se deveu principalmente à forte deterioração do sentimento em construção no setor de varejo e serviços e entre consumidores. A queda do otimismo na indústria foi a menor.
A pesquisa da CE também mostrou que as expectativas do consumidor para a inflação 12 meses à frente saltou para 26,1 em agosto ante 21,6 em julho.
As expectativas de crescimento dos preços entre manufatureiros também subiu para -0,4 ante -1,9.
Os dados foram divulgados uma semana antes de uma reunião para determinação da taxa de juros pelo Banco Central Europeu (BCE). Economistas estão divididos sobre se o banco vai reduzir sua principal taxa de refinanciamento de 0,75 por cento para uma nova mínima recorde de 0,5 por cento na próxima semana.
O BCE quer manter a inflação abaixo, mas perto, de 2 por cento no médio prazo e o crescimento do preço ao consumidor registrou variação de 2,4 por cento na comparação anual em maio, junho e julho. A primeira estimativa para agosto será publicada na sexta-feira.
(Por Jan Strupczewski) COPIADO :  http://www.reuters.com

Nova Orleans resiste bem à tempestade tropical Isaac

quarta-feira, 29 de agosto de 2012 18:03 BRT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 de 1Versão na íntegra

Por Scott Malone e Kathy Finn
NOVA ORLEANS, 29 Ago (Reuters) - O furacão Isaac lançou água sobre um dique na periferia de Nova Orleans nesta quarta-feira, mas as barreiras de bilhões de dólares construídas para proteger a cidade após o desastre do Katrina em 2005 não foram rompidas, disseram autoridades.
O Isaac, que enfraqueceu para tempestade tropical nesta tarde, ameaçava inundar refinarias e cidades no Mississippi e Louisiana, provocou enchentes de até 3,7 metros e ventos sustentados de até 113 quilômetros por hora.
"O sistema de diques federal... é bom", afirmou o prefeito de Nova Orleans, Mitchell Landrieu, a uma rádio local.
"Não há riscos. Ele está segurando exatamente como se esperava e está exatamente com o desempenho que deveria. Não há pessoas em telhados por causa de inundações que sequer se aproximam ao que aconteceu durante o Katrina", disse ele.
Policiais e unidades da Guarda Nacional, muitos armados com fuzis automáticos, patrulhavam o centro praticamente vazio da cidade portuária, que normalmente se agita com os turistas atraídos para seus bares de jazz, culinária e a arquitetura colonial francesa.
Galhos de árvores e placas enchiam as ruas e a energia foi cortada de forma intermitente por toda a cidade, mas as autoridades não relataram problemas de segurança.
"Até agora tem sido muito fácil", disse o capitão Jeremy Falanga, da Guarda Nacional da Louisiana, que estava posicionado com soldados na frente do centro de convenções da cidade. "Poucas pessoas estão do lado de fora."
Em Plaquemines Parish, que se estende a sudeste de Nova Orleans, autoridades de emergência relataram o transbordamento de um dique de 2,4 metros de altura entre os distritos de Braithwaite e White Ditch. 
O chefe do distrito de Plaquemines, Billy Nungesser, disse que cerca de 2.000 moradores da área foram ordenados a deixar o local, mas apenas metade saiu antes da chegada do Isaac na noite de terça-feira.
Pelo menos 118 pessoas foram resgatadas em Plaquemines, incluindo 25 isoladas em telhados ou presas depois que a água subiu 4,3 metros, segundo autoridades.
BLECAUTES
O Isaac foi o primeiro teste para o sistema de defesa de inundações de 14,5 bilhões de dólares composto por muros, comportas, diques e bombas construído após a passagem do furacão Katrina. O Katrina deixou grande parte de Nova Orleans inundada, matou 1.800 pessoas e foi o desastre natural mais caro da história do país.
Centenas de pessoas dentro e ao redor de Nova Orleans se afogaram em 2005, e muitos sobreviventes esperaram dias para serem resgatados de seus telhados por helicópteros. Nova Orleans resistiu a dias de desordem e saques generalizados.
Apesar de não ser tão forte como o Katrina --um furacão de categoria 3 quando bateu em Nova Orleans em 29 de agosto de 2005-- o Isaac era uma ameaça que as autoridades haviam alertado repetidamente para não subestimá-lo.
Cerca de 409 mil clientes da companhia de energia elétrica de Louisiana Entergy Corp ficaram sem energia até a manhã desta quarta-feira, informou a empresa. A Entergy alertou que não conseguiria começar a restaurar a energia até que os ventos diminuíssem para menos de 48 quilômetros por hora.
Áreas afetadas por cortes de energia incluíam cerca de 60 por cento de Nova Orleans.
Embora só tenha alcançado a força de furacão na terça-feira, o Isaac matou pelo menos 23 pessoas e causou inundações e danos significativos no Haiti e na República Dominicana antes de contornar a ponta sul da Flórida, no domingo, e atravessar as águas quentes do Golfo do México.

O furacão poupou Tampa, na Flórida, onde a Convenção Nacional Republicana está sendo realizada, mas forçou os líderes do partido a abandonarem a maior parte do programa de segunda-feira, e a suavizarem o que alguns poderiam encarar como celebração em excesso sobre a nomeação presidencial de Mitt Romney no momento em que residentes da costa do Golfo enfrentam perigo.
Segundo o Centro Nacional de Furacão dos Estados Unidos, o Isaac enfraqueceu para uma tempestade tropical às 15h (16h em Brasília), com ventos de cerca de 110 quilômetros por hora. O centro da tempestade estava localizado a 80 quilômetros oeste-sudoeste de Nova Orleans.
As empresas de energia ao longo do centro de refino de petróleo na costa do Golfo prepararam-se para o impacto da tempestade, fechando algumas instalações e utilizando outras em menor escala antes de Isaac atingir o continente.
Louisiana geralmente processa mais de 3 milhões de barris de petróleo por dia em produtos como a gasolina.
(Reportagem adicional de Ben Gruber, Emily Le Coz, Kristen Hays, Erwin Seba, Chris Baltimore, Ellen Wulfhorst e Robin Pomeroy)  COPIADO :  http://www.reuters.com