The U.N. mission in Ivory Coast reaffirmed its neutrality Tuesday despite a brewing conflict between government troops and a rebel movement that backs the internationally recognized winner of last year's election.
The statement from the U.N. mission, known as UNOCI, follows complaints from allies of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, who blame self-proclaimed President Laurent Gbagbo's forces for the recent killings of civilians in the West African country. The mission is "impartial and will remain so," said Axel Queval, the interim regional director for UNOCI.
"Don't get the impression that we support one candidate over the other," Queval said in a meeting with local officials in the north-central city of Bouake. "We are as concerned as you are by the violence and we are doing what we can to bring an end to it, in accordance with the mandate given to us."
The simmering conflict between forces loyal to Gbagbo and Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of November's presidential vote, has left at least 365 dead since December. At least seven women were killed during a peaceful demonstration by women in Abidjan last week, and at least one person was shot by Gbagbo's troops during new clashes Monday, according to witnesses.
The Security Council authorized an increase of 2,000 troops for the 9,000-strong UNOCI mission in January. But that reinforcement is "not imminent," as the additional troops need more equipment and training, an official at U.N. headquarters told CNN.
Member states have been slow to contributed forces to the expanded mission, the official said. The reinforcements will need a hospital unit and air support; two promised attack helicopters have arrived, but delivery of a third is still pending, the official said.
UNOCI's mission involves protecting civilians as well as enforcing the peace, and one diplomat said the troops are not currently armed for those duties.
The African Union is currently trying to mediate the brewing conflict, and the Security Council plans to give that effort until the end of the month before considering further action, the U.N. official said. The council issued a statement Thursday expressing concern about the increase in violence.
Gbagbo has had himself sworn in for a new term and has moved to nationalize the country's two main cash crops, coffee and cocoa, state-run television announced Monday. The Ivory Coast is the world's largest supplier of cocoa beans, and coffee and cocoa exports have provided the embattled leader with a source of revenue to pay loyal civil servants and military officers. In January, Ouattara called for a ban on cocoa and coffee exports in an effort to shut down that revenue stream and force Gbagbo out of office.
Last week's killings drew widespread condemnation and sparked a protest outside the United Nations on Tuesday. In Abidjan, Ivory Coast's largest city, they drew another march by women protesting the killings, as men supporting Ouattara marched alongside the women to protect them.
A mix of military and police forces patrolled the Treichville district, where the march took place, and burning tires were strewn about on the ground.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Defiant Gadhafi Calls for Countrymen to Defend Libya
In the face of relentless international pressure and a mounting death toll, a defiant Moammar Gadhafi stuck to his assertion that youths misled and drugged by al Qaeda were to blame for the spiraling civil war in Libya.
"For them, everybody's their enemy," Gadhafi said in a speech aired on Libyan state television Wednesday. "They know nothing other than killing."
The speech was pre-recorded Tuesday when Gadhafi addressed a youth group of tribal supporters, urging them to defend Libya from those who envy its standard of living.
"They want to take your petrol," he said. "This is what America, this is what the French, those colonialists, want."
Shortly before midnight Wednesday, Gadhafi arrived at a hotel in the capital city Tripoli where about 100 journalists had been waiting for nine hours.
Surrounded by his security detail, he strode into the lobby, waved at the throng of reporters, pumped his right fist several times into the air, retreated to a private room for an interview with a Turkish journalist, then left via a back door without addressing the reporters.
The interview was to air later Wednesday on Turkish television.
The brief appearance capped a day of confusion, which began with an opposition member first saying they were negotiating an exit deal with Gadhafi, and other members later denying it.
Gadhafi's regime, too, denied negotiations with a spokesman calling such reports "lies."
"We're in an atmosphere where facts are increasingly rare," David Kilpatrick, the Cairo bureau chief for the New York Times, told "AC 360" Tuesday night. "The Gadhafi state-run television seems far, far, far off base. It's also true that not everything the rebels say is iron clad either."
The confusion extended to the claims and counter-claims from the government and the opposition about gains each side made in controlling areas of the country.
Fierce battles rage on for control of key Libyan cities in the east and west. In the eastern oil city of Ras Lanuf, rebels used anti-aircraft guns to counter fresh raids by Libya's air force Tuesday.
"There is no one here with military experience, but have a strong heart," said medical student Yahya Ali, who was manning an antiaircraft battery in the eastern Libyan town of Al-Brega after four hours of training.
Fouad Ajami, a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said he has been communicating with worried members of rebel groups who say they need a no-fly zone over the country to prevent casualties inflicted by Gadhafi forces.
"They're telling us that they can't win this fight. They're telling us patriotism is not enough," Ajami said on "AC 360" Tuesday night. "That unless you have air cover and neutralize the advantages of Moammar Gadhafi, this rebellion will be crushed."
But Nicholas Burns, a former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, said implementing a no-fly zone is a complicated issue.
"There's no assurance that the imposition of even a no-fly zone would make a decisive difference in the battle," Burns told CNN. "Gadhafi has ground forces. He has artillery, he has a mercenary army. That's 95% of the fighting underway in Libya."
The head of the U.S. Marine Corps told lawmakers Tuesday that a no-fly zone would do little to thwart Libya's helicopters which he called "their greatest threat."
A no-fly zone would typically be enforced by fighter jets whose speed and altitude make it difficult to target helicopters, which move low and slow, said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James F. Amos.
For its part, Libya said it was not misusing its air force. Any no-fly zone would be tantamount to an act of war, said Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Karim on Tuesday.
The military, he said, "are taking purely defensive positions; they are not taking offensive ones." He said the Libyan government has asked for international monitors to verify that assertion.
The protests against the 68-year-old Gadhafi began February 15 as anti-government demonstrators sought his ouster after nearly 42 years of rule. In its fourth week now, the clashes show no sign of ending.
Death toll estimates have ranged from more than 1,000 to as many as 2,000. And the war has forced out 215,000 people, many of them poor migrant workers who have been stranded at both the Tunisian and Egyptian borders, the U.N. refugee agency has said.
While many countries chartered planes and dispatched ships to whisk away their citizens to safety, those stuck at the border are sheltered in cramped, unsanitary quarters with little to eat.
The U.N. World Food Programme has initiated a $39.2 million emergency operation intended to provide food to more than one million people in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia over a three-month period.
"For them, everybody's their enemy," Gadhafi said in a speech aired on Libyan state television Wednesday. "They know nothing other than killing."
The speech was pre-recorded Tuesday when Gadhafi addressed a youth group of tribal supporters, urging them to defend Libya from those who envy its standard of living.
"They want to take your petrol," he said. "This is what America, this is what the French, those colonialists, want."
Shortly before midnight Wednesday, Gadhafi arrived at a hotel in the capital city Tripoli where about 100 journalists had been waiting for nine hours.
Surrounded by his security detail, he strode into the lobby, waved at the throng of reporters, pumped his right fist several times into the air, retreated to a private room for an interview with a Turkish journalist, then left via a back door without addressing the reporters.
The interview was to air later Wednesday on Turkish television.
The brief appearance capped a day of confusion, which began with an opposition member first saying they were negotiating an exit deal with Gadhafi, and other members later denying it.
Gadhafi's regime, too, denied negotiations with a spokesman calling such reports "lies."
"We're in an atmosphere where facts are increasingly rare," David Kilpatrick, the Cairo bureau chief for the New York Times, told "AC 360" Tuesday night. "The Gadhafi state-run television seems far, far, far off base. It's also true that not everything the rebels say is iron clad either."
The confusion extended to the claims and counter-claims from the government and the opposition about gains each side made in controlling areas of the country.
Fierce battles rage on for control of key Libyan cities in the east and west. In the eastern oil city of Ras Lanuf, rebels used anti-aircraft guns to counter fresh raids by Libya's air force Tuesday.
"There is no one here with military experience, but have a strong heart," said medical student Yahya Ali, who was manning an antiaircraft battery in the eastern Libyan town of Al-Brega after four hours of training.
Fouad Ajami, a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said he has been communicating with worried members of rebel groups who say they need a no-fly zone over the country to prevent casualties inflicted by Gadhafi forces.
"They're telling us that they can't win this fight. They're telling us patriotism is not enough," Ajami said on "AC 360" Tuesday night. "That unless you have air cover and neutralize the advantages of Moammar Gadhafi, this rebellion will be crushed."
But Nicholas Burns, a former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, said implementing a no-fly zone is a complicated issue.
"There's no assurance that the imposition of even a no-fly zone would make a decisive difference in the battle," Burns told CNN. "Gadhafi has ground forces. He has artillery, he has a mercenary army. That's 95% of the fighting underway in Libya."
The head of the U.S. Marine Corps told lawmakers Tuesday that a no-fly zone would do little to thwart Libya's helicopters which he called "their greatest threat."
A no-fly zone would typically be enforced by fighter jets whose speed and altitude make it difficult to target helicopters, which move low and slow, said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James F. Amos.
For its part, Libya said it was not misusing its air force. Any no-fly zone would be tantamount to an act of war, said Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Karim on Tuesday.
The military, he said, "are taking purely defensive positions; they are not taking offensive ones." He said the Libyan government has asked for international monitors to verify that assertion.
The protests against the 68-year-old Gadhafi began February 15 as anti-government demonstrators sought his ouster after nearly 42 years of rule. In its fourth week now, the clashes show no sign of ending.
Death toll estimates have ranged from more than 1,000 to as many as 2,000. And the war has forced out 215,000 people, many of them poor migrant workers who have been stranded at both the Tunisian and Egyptian borders, the U.N. refugee agency has said.
While many countries chartered planes and dispatched ships to whisk away their citizens to safety, those stuck at the border are sheltered in cramped, unsanitary quarters with little to eat.
The U.N. World Food Programme has initiated a $39.2 million emergency operation intended to provide food to more than one million people in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia over a three-month period.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Gadhafi Faces Investigation for Crimes Against Humanity
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and some of his sons and closest advisers face investigation for alleged crimes against humanity, International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Thursday.
"I would like to use this opportunity to put them on notice," Moreno-Ocampo told CNN. "I want to be clear: If their troops commit crimes, they could be made criminally responsible."
It is the first time the court will be investigating allegations as an event is ongoing.
They include allegations of security forces killing unarmed protesters, forced displacement, illegal detention and airstrikes on civilians.
Investigators will look at the most serious accusations in Libya since February 15, the prosecutor said, when demonstrations against Gadhafi ramped up.
Moreno-Ocampo provided a map showing the locations where alleged crimes may have been committed.
He cautioned, however, that he needed more time to review the evidence.
"This is the beginning of the investigation. I can give no details," he said.
"We cannot confirm these allegations that these civilians were bombed by planes. But we have ... confirmation that civilians that were demonstrating were shot by security forces.
"We interview people and we will present the evidence to the judges. The judges will decide who should be prosecuted," he said.
But Moreno-Ocampo warned that anti-Gadhafi protesters would also be held accountable for criminal activity.
"Now, it's not just civilian demonstrations. Now, there are people opposing Gadhafi with weapons. And also we would like to warn them, you cannot commit crimes. Our business in Libya is (to) stop the crimes," he said.
The prosecutor will offer Gadhafi and others "any opportunity they want to provide their own version (of events). Because we have to be impartial. But also, we want to warn the other parties. No one can commit crimes in Libya."
Moreno-Ocampo emphasized it was the first time the ICC was able to respond in real time to allegations, partially due to social-networking sites such as Facebook.
"This triggered a very quick reaction. The (United Nations) Security Council reacted in a few days; the U.N. General Assembly reacted in a few days. So, now because the court is up and running we can do this immediately," he said.
"I think Libya is a new world. How we manage the new challenge -- that's what we will see now."
Moreno-Ocampo, who said he plans to finish his investigation within weeks and hopes to have the judge's decision within months, also announced the probe at a press conference Thursday.
"We identified some individuals with a factor of formal authority who have authority on the security forces who allegedly committed the crimes," he told reporters.
"They are Moammar Al Gadhafi, his inner circle including some of his sons who have a facto authority, but also there are some people with formal authority that should pay attention to the crimes committed by their people because if they are not preventing stopping and punishing these crimes they could be responsible in accordance with the law.
"They are minister of foreign affairs, the head of the regime security and intelligence, the head of Gadhafi personal security and the head of Libyan external security. So we would like to use this opportunity to put them on notice. If forces under their command commit criminal acts, they could be responsible.
"I would like to use this opportunity to put them on notice," Moreno-Ocampo told CNN. "I want to be clear: If their troops commit crimes, they could be made criminally responsible."
It is the first time the court will be investigating allegations as an event is ongoing.
They include allegations of security forces killing unarmed protesters, forced displacement, illegal detention and airstrikes on civilians.
Investigators will look at the most serious accusations in Libya since February 15, the prosecutor said, when demonstrations against Gadhafi ramped up.
Moreno-Ocampo provided a map showing the locations where alleged crimes may have been committed.
He cautioned, however, that he needed more time to review the evidence.
"This is the beginning of the investigation. I can give no details," he said.
"We cannot confirm these allegations that these civilians were bombed by planes. But we have ... confirmation that civilians that were demonstrating were shot by security forces.
"We interview people and we will present the evidence to the judges. The judges will decide who should be prosecuted," he said.
But Moreno-Ocampo warned that anti-Gadhafi protesters would also be held accountable for criminal activity.
"Now, it's not just civilian demonstrations. Now, there are people opposing Gadhafi with weapons. And also we would like to warn them, you cannot commit crimes. Our business in Libya is (to) stop the crimes," he said.
The prosecutor will offer Gadhafi and others "any opportunity they want to provide their own version (of events). Because we have to be impartial. But also, we want to warn the other parties. No one can commit crimes in Libya."
Moreno-Ocampo emphasized it was the first time the ICC was able to respond in real time to allegations, partially due to social-networking sites such as Facebook.
"This triggered a very quick reaction. The (United Nations) Security Council reacted in a few days; the U.N. General Assembly reacted in a few days. So, now because the court is up and running we can do this immediately," he said.
"I think Libya is a new world. How we manage the new challenge -- that's what we will see now."
Moreno-Ocampo, who said he plans to finish his investigation within weeks and hopes to have the judge's decision within months, also announced the probe at a press conference Thursday.
"We identified some individuals with a factor of formal authority who have authority on the security forces who allegedly committed the crimes," he told reporters.
"They are Moammar Al Gadhafi, his inner circle including some of his sons who have a facto authority, but also there are some people with formal authority that should pay attention to the crimes committed by their people because if they are not preventing stopping and punishing these crimes they could be responsible in accordance with the law.
"They are minister of foreign affairs, the head of the regime security and intelligence, the head of Gadhafi personal security and the head of Libyan external security. So we would like to use this opportunity to put them on notice. If forces under their command commit criminal acts, they could be responsible.
North Korea Wants All of Its Citizens Returned
"The South Korean authorities should immediately halt their despicable unethical acts contrary to international practice and unpardonable from a humanitarian standpoint and send back home unconditionally and immediately all the unreasonably detained 31 inhabitants and their ship through the waters to which they had gone," KCNA said.
The defection of the four North Koreans could spark tensions on the peninsula, where joint U.S.-South Korea military drills kicked off this week.
The South will return the remaining 27 members of the group through Panmunjom, a truce village on the ground border between the two sides, and send the fishing boat back through the waters in the
There are currently more than 20,000 North Korean defectors in
Defectors who are forcefully repatriated to the North after attempting to cross over into third countries such as China , Mongolia or Southeast Asia are commonly sent to prison camps as a punishment. Many defectors who live in South Korea
South Korean Government Sites Targeted in Cyber Attack
A cyber attack Friday morning hit 40 South Korean websites, including those of several government agencies and major banks, the country's internet security agency said.
The government detected the first wave of the attack Thursday. It was coordinated from outside South Korea
Infected computers directed a giant traffic surge to targeted websites. That's called a DDoS attack, short for distributed denial-of-service -- and it's hard for most sites to defend against.
By Friday, South Korea
Software company AhnLab said it developed the anti-virus program after receiving reports of the attack from the South Korean government Thursday. The company warned that another attack would hit websites at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
Targeted sites include South Korea
No severe damage has been reported so far, but the government said it was monitoring the attack.
During a similar attack in 2009, 17 South Korean websites were hit over a three-day period.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Libya's Aerial Onslaught Steps Up Pressure for No-Fly Zone
The Libyan military bombed two key towns in the east again Thursday, stepping up efforts to reclaim a region lost to rebels.
The aircraft targeted al-Brega and Ajdabiya, both of which were hit with bombs Wednesday.
Opposition forces told CNN they were forging ahead, working to maintain their positions and fend off attacks by pro-Gadhafi forces. Rebels have armed themselves in some cases by raiding military installations and police stations.
Morale on the part of the opposition seems to be high, while morale among Gadhafi's forces -- which have seen defections as some members of the military have joined the protests -- seems low, CNN's Ben Wedeman reported from eastern Libya
Libyan jets Thursday dropped two bombs over al-Brega -- one near a military checkpoint and one near the main gate to a refinery, witnesses reported.
In Ajdabiya,a tribal leader said the military dropped two bombs on military camps. Witnesses told CNN one bomb was near an ammunition depot.
The situation in Libya is different from those in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt Libya
The more Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi uses aerial attacks, the more pressing discussions become in the West about imposing a no-fly zone over the country.
"If it's ordered, we can do it," Gates said, but imposing a no-fly zone "begins with an attack on Libya
U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday the United States Libya , he said, adding that he wants to be sure the United States
"Col. Gadhafi needs to step down from power and leave," Obama said. "It's the right thing to do." The president also warned that advisers to Gadhafi need to understand that they will be held accountable for any violence they perpetrate against civilians. "They should know history is moving against Col. Gadhafi," Obama said.
The Arab League Wednesday rejected foreign intervention, saying Libya
But the league cannot ignore the suffering of civilians and would consider the imposition of a no-fly zone in coordination with the African Union if fighting were to continue, said Hisham Yousef, chief of staff of the Arab League.
Gadhafi's regime Thursday sought to create an impression that it still controls the vast majority of the country, with rebels in charge of only pockets.
The government organized a trip for a CNN crew to visit a refinery in Zawiya controlled by the government. Rebels control the center of the city, but the refinery is on the outskirts.
The refinery, Libya
Protesters calling for the ouster of longtime leader Gadhafi have taken to the streets for a third week amid clashes with government forces. He has been in power for nearly 42 years.
Musa Ibrahim, a spokesman for Gadhafi's regime, told CNN, "We need tribal intervention, social intervention to help us convince these people to come to the negotiating table."
The government spokesman denied any attacks on peaceful protesters despite numerous reports from the country of unarmed demonstrators being shot indiscriminately.
More than 1,000 people are reported to have been killed and many more injured during the protests, according to the United Nations. Libya 's ambassador to the United States
The International Criminal Court Thursday said Gadhafi and some of his sons and advisers are under investigation for alleged crimes against humanity.
"I would like to use this opportunity to put them on notice," ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told CNN. "I want to be clear: If their troops commit crimes, they could be made criminally responsible."
It is the first time the court will be investigating claims as they are allegedly occurring.
Nations have scrambled to evacuate hundreds of citizens as the unrest continues.
The Netherlands
Libyan state TV said the personnel were in a fighter helicopter and did not have permission from Libyan authorities to enter. The state TV report showed pictures of those believed to be the crew, as well as the helicopter and images of weapons.
The U.N. refugee agency reported that nearly 150,000 people had crossed Libya 's borders into Egypt and Tunisia
Obama said he approved the use of U.S. military aircraft to help return to Egypt those Egyptian citizens who have fled to Tunisia to escape the unrest in Libya
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
New Wisconsin Budget Due As State Tries to Patch Old One
Facing a flood of red ink and embroiled in an effort to curb the collective bargaining rights of most public workers, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is scheduled to unveil his new state budget on Tuesday.
The spending plan is being rolled out as protesters enter a third week of demonstrations at the state capitol, and Democratic lawmakers stay as far away from the building as possible.
The state's 14 Democratic senators have fled to neighboring Illinois to prevent a quorum of 20 votes needed for a budget repair bill that would require public employees -- with the exception of police and firefighters -- to cover more of their retirement plans and health care premiums.
Passage of the budget repair bill, which would apply to the current spending plan, would limit collective bargaining to wages. Any pay increases beyond the rate of inflation would be subject to voter approval.
"There are plenty of states that do not have collective bargaining," Republican Gov. Scott Walker said Monday. "We have a right to do this with the statutes and that's what we're doing."
Union leaders have agreed to pay more for benefits, but oppose restricting bargaining rights that the governor argues is needed for meaningful fiscal reforms.
Wisconsin is confronted with a $137 million budget shortfall by June 30.
The embattled governor has defended his budget repair bill, saying the measures are needed to head off a $3.6 billion budget gap by 2013 that could result in thousands of layoffs.
The state had faced a suggested Friday deadline to balance the budget, but the crucial date is March 16, officials said.
The budget bill was passed by lawmakers in the state assembly early Friday and must still clear the Senate, where AWOL Democrats have stalled the legislative process.
Walker has called on the lawmakers to "come back and do their job," sending state patrol officers to Democrat homes in an effort to pressure their return.
"If we fail to pass this bill by Tuesday, we lose $165 million worth of savings. If we continue down that path we start seeing layoffs," he warned.
Meanwhile, some of the hundreds of demonstrators who had filled the Capitol building -- gathering inside the rotunda in daily protest of the proposed legislation -- had left the building by Monday at the request of state police, said state Department of Administration spokeswoman Jodi Jensen.
"Of those who remained, all but a few have voluntarily complied with the request of law enforcement to remain in a designed area of the building," Jensen said. "No additional protesters will be allowed into the building until this situation is resolved."
Hundreds gathered outside the Capitol building later on Monday, chanting, "Let us in!" Their yells were met by a group of protesters who remained inside, chanting, "Let them in!"
Representative Peter Barca, the Democratic leader in Wisconsin's state assembly, called the lock-down unacceptable.
"Politicians may not always enjoy hearing what the citizens of this state have to say, but it is wrong to block elected officials from their constituents," Barca said. "There are a number of scheduled meetings in the building today and the public has a right to attend them and visit their legislators."
A pro-union political action committee called "Defending Wisconsin" filed a lawsuit Monday in a U.S. District Court against the state of Wisconsin for not letting people to enter the capitol building, said the group's director Jeremy J. Ryan.
Authorities had initially given demonstrators until late Sunday afternoon to leave the building, saying it needed to be cleaned after roughly two weeks of protests.
And while many people left, others defied the order and remained inside. Some said they were willing to risk arrest to make their point.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers said Sunday that workers in Wisconsin have sent a message to Walker that "'we understand and we will do our fair share.'" But Walker is sending a different message, Weingarten said: "'I'm just taking away your voice at work.'"
In the long term, that message "is ridiculous because collective bargaining is the way to increase quality," she said.
President Barack Obama also weighed in on Monday, appearing to allude to the growing controversy by telling a group of governors that while "everybody should be prepared to give up something" in the face of new budget realities, "I don't think it does anybody any good when public employees are vilified" or their rights are infringed upon.
The president has publicly expressed support for those fighting to keep collective bargaining in Wisconsin.
Walker, in the meantime, is getting an assist from national Republicans.
The Republican Governors Policy Committee, a wing of the Republican Governors Association, will launch a new television ad Tuesday defending Walker's rigid stance on his budget bill.
The ad claims that Walker is simply trying to balance the budget without raising taxes and asking state employees to contribute more to their own benefits, "just like everyone else."
Several labor groups have already run ads attacking Walker.
The spending plan is being rolled out as protesters enter a third week of demonstrations at the state capitol, and Democratic lawmakers stay as far away from the building as possible.
The state's 14 Democratic senators have fled to neighboring Illinois to prevent a quorum of 20 votes needed for a budget repair bill that would require public employees -- with the exception of police and firefighters -- to cover more of their retirement plans and health care premiums.
Passage of the budget repair bill, which would apply to the current spending plan, would limit collective bargaining to wages. Any pay increases beyond the rate of inflation would be subject to voter approval.
"There are plenty of states that do not have collective bargaining," Republican Gov. Scott Walker said Monday. "We have a right to do this with the statutes and that's what we're doing."
Union leaders have agreed to pay more for benefits, but oppose restricting bargaining rights that the governor argues is needed for meaningful fiscal reforms.
Wisconsin is confronted with a $137 million budget shortfall by June 30.
The embattled governor has defended his budget repair bill, saying the measures are needed to head off a $3.6 billion budget gap by 2013 that could result in thousands of layoffs.
The state had faced a suggested Friday deadline to balance the budget, but the crucial date is March 16, officials said.
The budget bill was passed by lawmakers in the state assembly early Friday and must still clear the Senate, where AWOL Democrats have stalled the legislative process.
Walker has called on the lawmakers to "come back and do their job," sending state patrol officers to Democrat homes in an effort to pressure their return.
"If we fail to pass this bill by Tuesday, we lose $165 million worth of savings. If we continue down that path we start seeing layoffs," he warned.
Meanwhile, some of the hundreds of demonstrators who had filled the Capitol building -- gathering inside the rotunda in daily protest of the proposed legislation -- had left the building by Monday at the request of state police, said state Department of Administration spokeswoman Jodi Jensen.
"Of those who remained, all but a few have voluntarily complied with the request of law enforcement to remain in a designed area of the building," Jensen said. "No additional protesters will be allowed into the building until this situation is resolved."
Hundreds gathered outside the Capitol building later on Monday, chanting, "Let us in!" Their yells were met by a group of protesters who remained inside, chanting, "Let them in!"
Representative Peter Barca, the Democratic leader in Wisconsin's state assembly, called the lock-down unacceptable.
"Politicians may not always enjoy hearing what the citizens of this state have to say, but it is wrong to block elected officials from their constituents," Barca said. "There are a number of scheduled meetings in the building today and the public has a right to attend them and visit their legislators."
A pro-union political action committee called "Defending Wisconsin" filed a lawsuit Monday in a U.S. District Court against the state of Wisconsin for not letting people to enter the capitol building, said the group's director Jeremy J. Ryan.
Authorities had initially given demonstrators until late Sunday afternoon to leave the building, saying it needed to be cleaned after roughly two weeks of protests.
And while many people left, others defied the order and remained inside. Some said they were willing to risk arrest to make their point.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers said Sunday that workers in Wisconsin have sent a message to Walker that "'we understand and we will do our fair share.'" But Walker is sending a different message, Weingarten said: "'I'm just taking away your voice at work.'"
In the long term, that message "is ridiculous because collective bargaining is the way to increase quality," she said.
President Barack Obama also weighed in on Monday, appearing to allude to the growing controversy by telling a group of governors that while "everybody should be prepared to give up something" in the face of new budget realities, "I don't think it does anybody any good when public employees are vilified" or their rights are infringed upon.
The president has publicly expressed support for those fighting to keep collective bargaining in Wisconsin.
Walker, in the meantime, is getting an assist from national Republicans.
The Republican Governors Policy Committee, a wing of the Republican Governors Association, will launch a new television ad Tuesday defending Walker's rigid stance on his budget bill.
The ad claims that Walker is simply trying to balance the budget without raising taxes and asking state employees to contribute more to their own benefits, "just like everyone else."
Several labor groups have already run ads attacking Walker.
Fast-Moving Wildfire Engulfs 10,000 Acres in Florida
Firefighters along the Atlantic coast of Central Florida were battling a fast-moving wildfire early Tuesday that shut down roads and threatened neighborhoods, authorities said.
By midnight, the blaze had engulfed 10,000 acres and at least one residence, the Brevard County Emergency Management Office said.
Authorities shut down part of U.S. 1 and a 18-mile stretch of Interstate 95 in Volusia and Brevard counties.
Flames, fueled by heavy winds and dry conditions, were threatening a nearby neighborhood, Florida Division of Forestry spokesman Cliff Frazier said.
Heat from the fire was causing higher wind gusts late Monday, the National Weather Service reported.
Bright orange flames and blue police lights lit the night sky as residents evacuated from an RV park.
Harold Lacoste and his wife packed their car with pictures and family heirlooms as they prepared to evacuate their neighborhood Monday.
"It didn't look like it was going to hit us all afternoon, then all of a sudden it flared back up," Lacoste told CNN affiliate WFTV.
Lacoste told the station that he had been a victim of wildfires in the past and he didn't want to risk being trapped.
Leo Patterson said he was worried as he prepared to head to a shelter after authorities evacuated the Crystal Lake RV Park Monday night.
"Last year we were here and we had to worry about a tornado that went through, and now we have a fire going on, and a motor home sitting back there that's $180,000," he told WFTV.
The fire was first reported around 10 a.m. Monday, according to the station.
By midnight, the blaze had engulfed 10,000 acres and at least one residence, the Brevard County Emergency Management Office said.
Authorities shut down part of U.S. 1 and a 18-mile stretch of Interstate 95 in Volusia and Brevard counties.
Flames, fueled by heavy winds and dry conditions, were threatening a nearby neighborhood, Florida Division of Forestry spokesman Cliff Frazier said.
Heat from the fire was causing higher wind gusts late Monday, the National Weather Service reported.
Bright orange flames and blue police lights lit the night sky as residents evacuated from an RV park.
Harold Lacoste and his wife packed their car with pictures and family heirlooms as they prepared to evacuate their neighborhood Monday.
"It didn't look like it was going to hit us all afternoon, then all of a sudden it flared back up," Lacoste told CNN affiliate WFTV.
Lacoste told the station that he had been a victim of wildfires in the past and he didn't want to risk being trapped.
Leo Patterson said he was worried as he prepared to head to a shelter after authorities evacuated the Crystal Lake RV Park Monday night.
"Last year we were here and we had to worry about a tornado that went through, and now we have a fire going on, and a motor home sitting back there that's $180,000," he told WFTV.
The fire was first reported around 10 a.m. Monday, according to the station.
'Pizza Bomber' Conspirator Gets Life Behind Bars
Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years on Monday for her role in an Erie, Pennsylvania, bank robbery that led to the death of a pizza deliveryman who had a pipe bomb fastened around his neck, a prosecutor said.
Diehl-Armstrong was convicted on November 1 of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, armed bank robbery in which death resulted, and use of a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton.
"She was motivated by greed and completely characterized by evil," Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Piccinini said during Monday's sentencing.
Diehl-Armstrong appeared in federal court in Erie and was sentenced for aiding Kenneth Barnes, 55, in the deadly 2003 robbery, Hickton said in a written statement.
She said she was convicted unfairly and "was not part of this conspiracy."
"I am not a crazed killer," Diehl-Armstrong said in court. "The true killers are still out there."
Co-conspirator Barnes was sentenced to 45 years in prison for taking part in what the judge in the case described as an "incredibly bizarre" plot in which Brian Wells died when the bomb affixed to his neck exploded.
At Barnes' sentencing in December 2008, prosecutors repeated their contention that the pizza deliveryman was involved in planning the robbery attempt but wore a live bomb only after being threatened by his co-conspirators.
Prosecutors said Barnes and three co-conspirators -- one of whom was Wells -- planned to rob a PNC Bank on the outskirts of Erie.
On August 28, 2003, authorities said, Wells walked into the bank with the pipe bomb locked to his neck and gave a teller a note demanding money. The robbery netted about $8,700.
Wells died when the bomb exploded as he sat in a parking lot after being stopped by police shortly after the robbery.
The case drew national attention and was the subject of intense investigation and questions about whether Wells was a willing participant or a murder victim.
Prosecutors said after Barnes' sentencing that Wells was involved in planning the robbery but balked when he realized that the bomb he was supposed to wear was real. He was threatened with a gun to make him wear the bomb, according to prosecutors.
Diehl-Armstrong's case was delayed because she underwent treatment at a federal facility in Texas after the judge in the case found her mentally incompetent to stand trial.
The fourth suspect died of a drug overdose three days after the robbery, officials said.
Diehl-Armstrong was convicted on November 1 of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, armed bank robbery in which death resulted, and use of a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton.
"She was motivated by greed and completely characterized by evil," Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Piccinini said during Monday's sentencing.
Diehl-Armstrong appeared in federal court in Erie and was sentenced for aiding Kenneth Barnes, 55, in the deadly 2003 robbery, Hickton said in a written statement.
She said she was convicted unfairly and "was not part of this conspiracy."
"I am not a crazed killer," Diehl-Armstrong said in court. "The true killers are still out there."
Co-conspirator Barnes was sentenced to 45 years in prison for taking part in what the judge in the case described as an "incredibly bizarre" plot in which Brian Wells died when the bomb affixed to his neck exploded.
At Barnes' sentencing in December 2008, prosecutors repeated their contention that the pizza deliveryman was involved in planning the robbery attempt but wore a live bomb only after being threatened by his co-conspirators.
Prosecutors said Barnes and three co-conspirators -- one of whom was Wells -- planned to rob a PNC Bank on the outskirts of Erie.
On August 28, 2003, authorities said, Wells walked into the bank with the pipe bomb locked to his neck and gave a teller a note demanding money. The robbery netted about $8,700.
Wells died when the bomb exploded as he sat in a parking lot after being stopped by police shortly after the robbery.
The case drew national attention and was the subject of intense investigation and questions about whether Wells was a willing participant or a murder victim.
Prosecutors said after Barnes' sentencing that Wells was involved in planning the robbery but balked when he realized that the bomb he was supposed to wear was real. He was threatened with a gun to make him wear the bomb, according to prosecutors.
Diehl-Armstrong's case was delayed because she underwent treatment at a federal facility in Texas after the judge in the case found her mentally incompetent to stand trial.
The fourth suspect died of a drug overdose three days after the robbery, officials said.
One Person Dead, 130,000 Acres Burned in Texas Wildfires
Firefighters in Texas worked Monday to contain fast-moving wildfires that had destroyed at least 60 homes, burned more than 130,000 acres, and caused an accident that killed a 5-year-old child, state forestry officials said.
The fires broke out about noon on Sunday, said Lewis Kearney, a spokesman for the forest service's Texas State Lone Star Incident Management Team. Officials believe many were started by power lines that fell from high winds.
Since Sunday, forestry officials, who were called in to assist local fire departments, responded to 63 fires covering 132,854 acres, the Texas Forest Service said on its website. Most of the fires were across the Texas Panhandle, Kearney said.
Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas said a 61,000-acre fire in his county was ignited when a man cut pipe with a metal grinder in high wind Sunday. Austin Lynn Stephens, 52, was arrested and charged with criminal trespass because he was on private property when he was using the grinder.
Firefighters battled blazes in a dozen other counties including a 35,000-acre fire in Matador West in Motley County, and a 21,000-acre fire in Andrews County. They also fought fires in the counties of Haskell, Tom Green, Randall, Howard, Midland, Scurry, Motley, Crockett, Mitchell and Eastland.
Crews that worked through the night to douse the flames got a little help from the weather Monday. The wind that propelled the fires was somewhat calmer, although it was still breezy and parts of the area remained under a fire-weather watch.
Kearney said Sunday's high winds made it difficult for firefighters to use aircraft to battle the blaze.
Interstate 20 was shut down for several hours Sunday after heavy smoke from the fires limited visibility. Authorities in Midland County responded to numerous accidents along the highway, including an eight-vehicle crash in which a little girl died, according to Sgt. Pete Cordova.
One wildfire destroyed a dog kennel near Amarillo, said Capt. Wes Hall of the Amarillo Fire Department. Authorities were trying to account Monday for the animals missing or dead after the fire tore through the Willow Creek Kennel. Firefighters were able to open cages to free at least some of the dogs before the flames overtook the facility.
As many as 27 homes were destroyed in the area and "the fire was on the kennel in a matter of minutes," employee Chance Smith said, adding he did not have an exact number of dogs lost.
In the community of Matador, north of Lubbock, families could do nothing but watch as their homes burned to the ground.
The Segovias hadn't been gone 20 minutes when they returned to a panic-stricken neighborhood and found they had lost everything they owned.
"To know everything you worked so hard for, it's all gone," a tearful Juan Segovia told CNN affiliate KCBD. He and his wife, Rosemary, stared in disbelief at the blaze.
The family of seven is without a home, but grateful for what was not lost.
"I'm glad our family wasn't home when it happened," Rosemary Segovia said before falling into her husband's arms. "That's all I care about is I have my family."
One firefighter sustained second-degree burns battling a blaze near Colorado City, where a nursing home had to be evacuated before the fast moving flames swept through.
And a Potter County sheriff's deputy narrowly escaped the flames while searching homes after a mandatory evacuation was ordered for the Mesilla Park area. Deputy Kevin Parvin entered a home as the flames were bearing down on the neighborhood, Thomas said, and by the time he left the home, the smoke was so thick he couldn't find his patrol car.
Parvin had left the car running, and he followed the sound of a squeaking engine belt to find it and radio for assistance, Thomas said. He was treated for minor smoke inhalation.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Lawmaker Recommends 'All Work, No Play' Strategy for Wis. Senators Who Fled State
For all you Wisconsin senators in hiding, some advice from another lawmaker who's been there: Keep working and avoid the hotel bar.
At least that's the strategy Texas Rep. Pete Gallego and some 50 other Democratic representatives adopted in 2003, when they boarded a bus and fled to Ardmore, Oklahama, to block a Republican-drawn redistricting plan that would cost them five seats in Congress.The proposal, backed by former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, eventually passed, despite their efforts. But the stunt proved fruitful in other respects, Gallego says, as a bonding experience for the lawmakers and an opportunity for them to reassess their goals.
"A lot of us hadn't been on a bus trip since high school. We spent most of the time together, working and eating together, so a lot of members became close friends," says Gallego, who has represented Texas' District 74, the state's largest district, stretching nearly 39,000 square miles, since 1991.
The 14 Democratic senators from Wisconsin have fled to neighboring Illinois to prevent a quorum from voting on a bill that would strip most state workers of the bulk of their collective-bargaining rights.
But if their stay in Rockford, Illinois – a northern Illinois city which is attempting to capitalize on the lawmakers' presence with an "escape to Rockford" tourism campaign that uses Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen to lure visitors to its "hideaway hotspots" at "runaway rates" – resembles the Texas lawmakers' experience in Oklahoma, the senators will spend most of their time in a hotel conference room rather than enjoying the city's microbreweries and farm-to-table fine dining."We knew we had to be prepared for the worst things people would say about us. If someone says you're not doing your job, we elected you to be our representative in Austin and you're not there, if you're going to put career at risk, you want to be to explain in detail why you did what we did, and we spent a lot of time just on that," he said.
From the start of the excursion, Gallego says the group knew they had to keep busy and present a united front not only to the media blitz surrounding the Holiday Inn hotel that had become their temporary headquarters, but also to their constituents.
The lawmakers spent most of the four days in a hotel conference room, starting each morning with a prayer and a promise to stick with the cause.
"We looked around the table to make sure each one would commit to the others and promise that they weren't going to leave."
From there, the schedule consisted of various discussions. They'd vent frustrations over the proposed redistricting and discuss the calls they were getting from the outside, or break up into working groups to discuss blue-sky initiatives on topics such as education and energy. Members with expertise in certain areas presented seminars to the rest of the group.
"We got a lot done, and it was in stark contrast to the images you saw of people in the House chamber at the time, with beach balls flying around and music playing. Essentially, you'd see them hanging out while we were in seminars."
And, if anyone was tempted to have a drink at the bar or go to the gym, the others made sure such activities happened outside the presence of the media.
"The worst thing you can do is look like you're on vacation," Gallego says. "When you do something like this, you have to make sure you have thought of all the angles –the goal is to protect the members - and to make sure that the public knows and understands why this issue is so important, so at the end of day, the public sides with you."
Friday, February 25, 2011
Brazil Sues Ex-President, Ex-Minister Over Letters
Federal prosecutors in Brazil have filed suit against former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and a former Cabinet minister, charging them with misusing public funds to send more than 10 million letters to retirees telling them about low-interest payroll loans from Banco BMG, according to the state-run Agencia Brasil.
Prosecutor Luciana Loureiro Oliveira said the letters, sent in 2004, served no public interest and were sent 10 months after the law was passed allowing the loans, the news agency said.
"At the time of dispatch of letters, the only 'new thing' was the financial institution recently contracted and able to make the loans, namely, Banco BMG," the suit says, according to Agencia Brasil.
Oliveira told the agency that prosecutors believe the purpose of the letters was merely self-promotion, praising the law and at the same time benefiting Banco BMG, which was the only bank approved to provide the loans.
The prosecutors seek to compel Lula and former Social Security Minister Amir Lando to refund the amount spent on the letters, about $5.7 million (9.5 million Brazilian reais).
Agencia Brasil said that Lula's office said he is traveling and will not comment until his legal team has reviewed the lawsuit. The office for the former minister was not available for comment.
Prosecutor Luciana Loureiro Oliveira said the letters, sent in 2004, served no public interest and were sent 10 months after the law was passed allowing the loans, the news agency said.
"At the time of dispatch of letters, the only 'new thing' was the financial institution recently contracted and able to make the loans, namely, Banco BMG," the suit says, according to Agencia Brasil.
Oliveira told the agency that prosecutors believe the purpose of the letters was merely self-promotion, praising the law and at the same time benefiting Banco BMG, which was the only bank approved to provide the loans.
The prosecutors seek to compel Lula and former Social Security Minister Amir Lando to refund the amount spent on the letters, about $5.7 million (9.5 million Brazilian reais).
Agencia Brasil said that Lula's office said he is traveling and will not comment until his legal team has reviewed the lawsuit. The office for the former minister was not available for comment.
Cuban Hunger Striker Remembered on Anniversary of Death
When jailed Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo went on a hunger strike to demand better prisoner conditions, only a handful of government opponents knew who he was.
A bricklayer from eastern Cuba who became a political activist while in prison, Zapata fasted for more than 80 days.
On February 23, 2010 he died, setting off a chain of events that few could have predicted.
By July, Cuba had agreed to the biggest release of political prisoners in more than a decade.
Prominent dissident Angel Moya was freed earlier this month. He recently went to Mass with the Ladies in White, the wives, mothers and supporters of political prisoners.
"Zapata vive (lives)!" he shouted as he emerged sobbing from the Havana church.
"They got him, but Cuba is going to be free no matter what Fidel and Raul Castro want."
After Zapata's death, fellow activist Guillermo Farinas took up his cause, declaring he would starve himself to death unless Cuba released ailing political prisoners.
He spent months in the hospital on an IV drip.
The Cuban government accuses dissidents of being mercenaries paid by Washington to destabilize the island.
In the case of Farinas, state media accused him of assaulting colleagues in the past and highlighted the top treatment he was getting from the state-run hospital despite his "counter-revolutionary" activities.
But faced with international pressure, President Raul Castro reached a deal with the Catholic Church and Spain to release 52 dissidents jailed in a notorious crackdown in 2003.
Farinas was detained on Wednesday for protesting, according to his mother.
Hector Maseda was also released earlier this month. He thanks Farinas' hunger strike for the deal.
"He convinced the Cuban authorities that there was going to be a second martyr at any moment," he told CNN. "And this was a martyr who was very well known as a political activist."
Dozens of prisoner who agreed to go into exile in Spain were freed. Others refused to leave, but Cuba recently began to free them as well. Only six of the 52 remain behind bars.
Still, some things haven't changed.
On Wednesday, police cordoned off the street where the Ladies in White were holding a candle-lit vigil in the center of Havana.
Hundreds of government supporters surrounded the house and shouted slogans like "This street belongs to Fidel!"
Human rights groups said dozens of people were detained on the eve of the anniversary and dozens more were ordered to stay in their homes or face arrest.
Amnesty International urged Cuba to stop harassing Zapata's family.
His mother, Reina Luisa Tamayo, says she is regularly attacked and intimidated by police and government supporters when she leads marches to the cemetery on Sundays.
But on Wednesday she told CNN that she and her family visited the cemetery without incident.
"There are police all around, but today nobody bothered us," she said.
A bricklayer from eastern Cuba who became a political activist while in prison, Zapata fasted for more than 80 days.
On February 23, 2010 he died, setting off a chain of events that few could have predicted.
By July, Cuba had agreed to the biggest release of political prisoners in more than a decade.
Prominent dissident Angel Moya was freed earlier this month. He recently went to Mass with the Ladies in White, the wives, mothers and supporters of political prisoners.
"Zapata vive (lives)!" he shouted as he emerged sobbing from the Havana church.
"They got him, but Cuba is going to be free no matter what Fidel and Raul Castro want."
After Zapata's death, fellow activist Guillermo Farinas took up his cause, declaring he would starve himself to death unless Cuba released ailing political prisoners.
He spent months in the hospital on an IV drip.
The Cuban government accuses dissidents of being mercenaries paid by Washington to destabilize the island.
In the case of Farinas, state media accused him of assaulting colleagues in the past and highlighted the top treatment he was getting from the state-run hospital despite his "counter-revolutionary" activities.
But faced with international pressure, President Raul Castro reached a deal with the Catholic Church and Spain to release 52 dissidents jailed in a notorious crackdown in 2003.
Farinas was detained on Wednesday for protesting, according to his mother.
Hector Maseda was also released earlier this month. He thanks Farinas' hunger strike for the deal.
"He convinced the Cuban authorities that there was going to be a second martyr at any moment," he told CNN. "And this was a martyr who was very well known as a political activist."
Dozens of prisoner who agreed to go into exile in Spain were freed. Others refused to leave, but Cuba recently began to free them as well. Only six of the 52 remain behind bars.
Still, some things haven't changed.
On Wednesday, police cordoned off the street where the Ladies in White were holding a candle-lit vigil in the center of Havana.
Hundreds of government supporters surrounded the house and shouted slogans like "This street belongs to Fidel!"
Human rights groups said dozens of people were detained on the eve of the anniversary and dozens more were ordered to stay in their homes or face arrest.
Amnesty International urged Cuba to stop harassing Zapata's family.
His mother, Reina Luisa Tamayo, says she is regularly attacked and intimidated by police and government supporters when she leads marches to the cemetery on Sundays.
But on Wednesday she told CNN that she and her family visited the cemetery without incident.
"There are police all around, but today nobody bothered us," she said.
Report: Thousands of Migrants Kidnapped in Mexico
In Mexico, a man who tried to journey illegally into the United States to seek work vows that he will never again leave his home.
His trip turned into a nightmare when he was kidnapped along the route, as happens to thousands of migrants crossing through Mexico each year.
"What they did to me doesn't matter. But what they did to all those women, that hurts more," he told Mexico's Commission on Human Rights.
For 17 days, the man recounts, he was held hostage. There were also 17 women among the group, and "each night they came back sadder, more hurt, beaten. I will never forget what I saw," he said.
Each day, between three and five new hostages arrived. There were beatings, and worse.
"Those who didn't pay the ransom were taken outside to, as those scumbags said, 'look at the stars from up close,'" the man said.
The journey across Mexico for those seeking to reach the United States is a treacherous one. People hang on to trains, pay shadowy smugglers, and risk kidnappings like the one the man described.
It's unclear whether the man was released or whether he escaped his captors. But his story is hardly unique.
In a six-month period in 2010, more than 11,000 migrants were kidnapped, the Mexican human rights commission found in a report published this week.
"This statistic reflects that there have not been sufficient government efforts to reduce kidnappings against the migrant population," the report said.
A total of 11,333 migrants were kidnapped in 214 separate incidents, the commission said. That's an average of 52 migrants kidnapped per incident.
The numbers, while staggering, match some news reports of mass kidnappings.
Last summer, 72 migrants who were traveling on the ground in Mexico were shot and killed in the border state of Tamaulipas. The migrants came from Central and South American countries including Honduras, El Salvador, Brazil and Ecuador.
In a separate incident, 50 Central American migrants who were apparently kidnapped in mid-December are still missing. The case was brought to the attention of authorities by Alejandro Solalinde, a Catholic priest who operates a shelter for traveling migrants in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.
The human rights commission's findings were based on information requests made to the federal government and all the Mexican states. In 2010, commission personnel made 2,705 trips to gather facts from migrants, both at regional offices and at places where migrants congregate.
In 2010, the commission aided 68,095 migrants.
In those trips, the organization collected 178 testimonies from victims, and a picture emerged of what victims endure.
Among the findings was that the organized crime groups who carry out the kidnappings sometimes have Central American migrants working with them. In the case of the 72 migrants who were killed, one of the possible motives was that the migrants refused to join the cartel, authorities said.
Even specially-designated migrant shelters are not safe, the report found. Some shelters have been attacked by kidnappers who come to chase those who escaped or to find new victims, the report said.
While the ways in which migrants are captured have evolved, their treatment remains the same, according to the report. In short, they are tortured until they give up the phone number of a relative in their home country or the United States, the report said. Once contact is made, the victims are made to tell their families what is necessary to obtain their freedom, the commission found.
Migrants also told the commission that the kidnappers threatened their guides, charging them a fee to cross through their territory. If the guides didn't pay, they were kidnapped, sometimes with the migrants they are guiding, the report said.
The commission "warns that the current migrant kidnapping situation in Mexico reflects a lack of coordinated action between the institutions charged with preventing and combating crimes at the federal, state and municipal level," the report said.
Of the 178 testimonies gathered by the commission, 44% of the victims were from Honduras, 16% Salvadoran, 11% Guatemalan and 10% Mexican. Cubans, Nicaraguans, Colombians and Ecuadorians made up smaller percentages. Nearly 16% of the testimonies came from women.
A majority -- about two-thirds -- of all kidnappings happened in southeast Mexico, the report found. About 30% happened in northern Mexico and a small percentage in the central part of the country.
The most kidnap-plagued states were Veracruz, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi and Chiapas.
About one in nine of the migrants interviewed said that authorities colluded with the kidnappers during the incidents.
His trip turned into a nightmare when he was kidnapped along the route, as happens to thousands of migrants crossing through Mexico each year.
"What they did to me doesn't matter. But what they did to all those women, that hurts more," he told Mexico's Commission on Human Rights.
For 17 days, the man recounts, he was held hostage. There were also 17 women among the group, and "each night they came back sadder, more hurt, beaten. I will never forget what I saw," he said.
Each day, between three and five new hostages arrived. There were beatings, and worse.
"Those who didn't pay the ransom were taken outside to, as those scumbags said, 'look at the stars from up close,'" the man said.
The journey across Mexico for those seeking to reach the United States is a treacherous one. People hang on to trains, pay shadowy smugglers, and risk kidnappings like the one the man described.
It's unclear whether the man was released or whether he escaped his captors. But his story is hardly unique.
In a six-month period in 2010, more than 11,000 migrants were kidnapped, the Mexican human rights commission found in a report published this week.
"This statistic reflects that there have not been sufficient government efforts to reduce kidnappings against the migrant population," the report said.
A total of 11,333 migrants were kidnapped in 214 separate incidents, the commission said. That's an average of 52 migrants kidnapped per incident.
The numbers, while staggering, match some news reports of mass kidnappings.
Last summer, 72 migrants who were traveling on the ground in Mexico were shot and killed in the border state of Tamaulipas. The migrants came from Central and South American countries including Honduras, El Salvador, Brazil and Ecuador.
In a separate incident, 50 Central American migrants who were apparently kidnapped in mid-December are still missing. The case was brought to the attention of authorities by Alejandro Solalinde, a Catholic priest who operates a shelter for traveling migrants in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.
The human rights commission's findings were based on information requests made to the federal government and all the Mexican states. In 2010, commission personnel made 2,705 trips to gather facts from migrants, both at regional offices and at places where migrants congregate.
In 2010, the commission aided 68,095 migrants.
In those trips, the organization collected 178 testimonies from victims, and a picture emerged of what victims endure.
Among the findings was that the organized crime groups who carry out the kidnappings sometimes have Central American migrants working with them. In the case of the 72 migrants who were killed, one of the possible motives was that the migrants refused to join the cartel, authorities said.
Even specially-designated migrant shelters are not safe, the report found. Some shelters have been attacked by kidnappers who come to chase those who escaped or to find new victims, the report said.
While the ways in which migrants are captured have evolved, their treatment remains the same, according to the report. In short, they are tortured until they give up the phone number of a relative in their home country or the United States, the report said. Once contact is made, the victims are made to tell their families what is necessary to obtain their freedom, the commission found.
Migrants also told the commission that the kidnappers threatened their guides, charging them a fee to cross through their territory. If the guides didn't pay, they were kidnapped, sometimes with the migrants they are guiding, the report said.
The commission "warns that the current migrant kidnapping situation in Mexico reflects a lack of coordinated action between the institutions charged with preventing and combating crimes at the federal, state and municipal level," the report said.
Of the 178 testimonies gathered by the commission, 44% of the victims were from Honduras, 16% Salvadoran, 11% Guatemalan and 10% Mexican. Cubans, Nicaraguans, Colombians and Ecuadorians made up smaller percentages. Nearly 16% of the testimonies came from women.
A majority -- about two-thirds -- of all kidnappings happened in southeast Mexico, the report found. About 30% happened in northern Mexico and a small percentage in the central part of the country.
The most kidnap-plagued states were Veracruz, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi and Chiapas.
About one in nine of the migrants interviewed said that authorities colluded with the kidnappers during the incidents.
Trial for American Jailed in Cuba Set for March 4
American aid worker Alan Gross will face trial in Cuba on March 4, according to the U.S. Interest Section in Havana, in a case that is seen as one of the major obstacles to improving relations between the long-estranged countries.
Gross was arrested in December 2009 but only charged earlier this month. He could face up to 20 years in prison for "acts against the independence and territorial integrity" of Cuba.
Gross, a subcontractor for USAID, was working on a democracy promotion program that is illegal in Cuba. Authorities have said Gross was distributing illegal satellite equipment to help dissidents connect to the internet.
The U.S. State Department has said Gross was helping Jewish communities with their communication.
The Cuban government has said Gross' family and U.S. officials can attend the trial, although the venue is still not known.
Gross was arrested in December 2009 but only charged earlier this month. He could face up to 20 years in prison for "acts against the independence and territorial integrity" of Cuba.
Gross, a subcontractor for USAID, was working on a democracy promotion program that is illegal in Cuba. Authorities have said Gross was distributing illegal satellite equipment to help dissidents connect to the internet.
The U.S. State Department has said Gross was helping Jewish communities with their communication.
The Cuban government has said Gross' family and U.S. officials can attend the trial, although the venue is still not known.
Gunmen Kill 3 Children While Looking for The Father of Two of Them
Three children were killed Wednesday night by a group of armed men who were looking for the father of two of the girls, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office said Thursday.
Earlier, Mexico's state-run Notimex news agency reported that six children were shot and that two died, but the prosecutor's spokesman, Arturo Sandoval, said that was incorrect.
"The intended target of the attack was the father of two of the minors," Sandoval said. "The father was involved in drug sales, and the group of armed men came to the house to kill him. That was the motive for the attack."
"All three minors died. There were no survivors."
One of the girls was 12-years-old, Sandoval said, and the other two were teenagers.
Juarez is one of the deadliest cities in Mexico and one of the front lines on the government's war against the drug cartels. It is a territory contested by the Juarez cartel and Sinaloa cartel, who are fighting for lucrative smuggling routes into the United States.
Earlier, Mexico's state-run Notimex news agency reported that six children were shot and that two died, but the prosecutor's spokesman, Arturo Sandoval, said that was incorrect.
"The intended target of the attack was the father of two of the minors," Sandoval said. "The father was involved in drug sales, and the group of armed men came to the house to kill him. That was the motive for the attack."
"All three minors died. There were no survivors."
One of the girls was 12-years-old, Sandoval said, and the other two were teenagers.
Juarez is one of the deadliest cities in Mexico and one of the front lines on the government's war against the drug cartels. It is a territory contested by the Juarez cartel and Sinaloa cartel, who are fighting for lucrative smuggling routes into the United States.
Feds Indict 22 in Alleged Fake Document Ring
Twenty-two people allegedly involved in a "highly sophisticated and violent" Mexico-based ring that sold fake documents in the United States were indicted by a federal grand jury in Richmond, Virginia, federal officials said Thursday.
The group is accused of "kidnapping, beating and -- at least on one occasion -- murdering competitors and using violence to discipline its own members," according to a statement from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
"Document fraud doesn't just involve paperwork," ICE Director John Morton said. "The business of document fraud, which can be ugly and involve violence and the use of deadly weapons, warrants the attention of Homeland Security Investigations."
The group, uncovered during "Operation Phalanx," had cells in 19 cities in 11 states, including three cells in Virginia, ICE said.
"The indictment portrays a deadly criminal organization that uses brutal violence to eliminate rivals, protect its turf and enforce discipline against its own members," said U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride.
The 12-count indictment accuses Israel Cruz Millan, a 28-year-old Raleigh, North Carolina, man -- also known as "El Muerto" -- of heading the group's U.S. operations that produced high-quality false identification cards to illegal aliens.
Millan allegedly placed a manager in each city, with a number of "runners" who handed out business cards advertising the fake document services and selling them to customers, the indictment said.
A counterfeit resident alien and Social Security card typically sold for $150 to $200, it said.
The indictment says the group sent more than $1 million to Mexico from January 2008 through November 2010.
Also, the group apparently tried to put competitors out of business by posing as customers and attacking them when they delivered the documents, the indictment said.
"These attacks allegedly included binding the victims' hands, feet and mouth; repeatedly beating them; and threatening them with death if they continued to sell false identification documents in the area," ICE said. "The victims were allegedly left bound at the scene of the attack, and the indictment states that at least one victim died from the beatings."
Members who violated group rules were disciplined by having their eyebrows shaved, being forced to wear weights, beatings and other violence, the indictment said.
The defendants were among 28 people arrested last November on a previous indictment. Five of those later entered guilty pleas.
The group is accused of "kidnapping, beating and -- at least on one occasion -- murdering competitors and using violence to discipline its own members," according to a statement from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
"Document fraud doesn't just involve paperwork," ICE Director John Morton said. "The business of document fraud, which can be ugly and involve violence and the use of deadly weapons, warrants the attention of Homeland Security Investigations."
The group, uncovered during "Operation Phalanx," had cells in 19 cities in 11 states, including three cells in Virginia, ICE said.
"The indictment portrays a deadly criminal organization that uses brutal violence to eliminate rivals, protect its turf and enforce discipline against its own members," said U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride.
The 12-count indictment accuses Israel Cruz Millan, a 28-year-old Raleigh, North Carolina, man -- also known as "El Muerto" -- of heading the group's U.S. operations that produced high-quality false identification cards to illegal aliens.
Millan allegedly placed a manager in each city, with a number of "runners" who handed out business cards advertising the fake document services and selling them to customers, the indictment said.
A counterfeit resident alien and Social Security card typically sold for $150 to $200, it said.
The indictment says the group sent more than $1 million to Mexico from January 2008 through November 2010.
Also, the group apparently tried to put competitors out of business by posing as customers and attacking them when they delivered the documents, the indictment said.
"These attacks allegedly included binding the victims' hands, feet and mouth; repeatedly beating them; and threatening them with death if they continued to sell false identification documents in the area," ICE said. "The victims were allegedly left bound at the scene of the attack, and the indictment states that at least one victim died from the beatings."
Members who violated group rules were disciplined by having their eyebrows shaved, being forced to wear weights, beatings and other violence, the indictment said.
The defendants were among 28 people arrested last November on a previous indictment. Five of those later entered guilty pleas.
Airline Apologizes for Carrying Pork on Israeli Flight
A United Kingdom budget airline has apologized to its Jewish customers after loading ham and bacon baguettes on to the flight instead of the standard kosher food.
EasyJet said it made the mistake on a flight from Israel to London.
Some passengers were forced to go hungry during the 4 1/2-hour trip from Tel Aviv.
An airline spokeswoman said incorrect food canisters were loaded onto the aircraft, though pork was not served to passengers.
EasyJet's standard practice is to offer kosher and vegetarian sandwiches onboard Israeli flights, the spokeswoman said.
She said the airline also offers nonkosher products but its policy is not to load any pork products.
"We would like to apologize to the passengers, and can confirm we have done everything we can to ensure that this does not happen again," the airline said.
EasyJet said it made the mistake on a flight from Israel to London.
Some passengers were forced to go hungry during the 4 1/2-hour trip from Tel Aviv.
An airline spokeswoman said incorrect food canisters were loaded onto the aircraft, though pork was not served to passengers.
EasyJet's standard practice is to offer kosher and vegetarian sandwiches onboard Israeli flights, the spokeswoman said.
She said the airline also offers nonkosher products but its policy is not to load any pork products.
"We would like to apologize to the passengers, and can confirm we have done everything we can to ensure that this does not happen again," the airline said.
Prince William and Kate Launch Lifeboat in First Official Engagement
Britain's Prince William and fiancee Kate Middleton made their first official engagement as a couple Thursday, launching a lifeboat in Wales.
The pair, who are due to marry in April, officially named the "Hereford Endeavour" lifeboat in a ceremony at the Trearddur Bay Lifeboat Station in Anglesey, North Wales.
Middleton, wearing a Vivien Sheriff black-feathered beret, three-quarter length cream coat and suede boots, poured a bottle of champagne over the lifeboat after Prince William made a speech commending the efforts of the volunteers and rescue crew.
"We effectively have two launches today," said CNN royal contributor Mark Saunders. "The launch of the lifeboat by William and Catherine and, at the same time, the launch of William and Catherine into this celebrity saturated world they are going to be living in."
Despite the modest nature of the event, hundreds of people turned out to watch the royal couple conduct their first official duty together.
"In 20 years of royal reporting I've never witnessed quite such excitement for such a single job," said Saunders.
One onlooker told CNN: "It's lovely... I would have thought more people would have brought flowers and things for them but it's lovely... It's low key which is what he (Prince William) wanted."
It's the first public appearance the couple has made since they announced their engagement last November.
"It's a very low-key event, launching a lifeboat on the island where they both live...it's a very good debut event for them," said Saunders.
"They have a very good relationship with the locals here, they are often seen at the local supermarket and buying wine from the local off-license. So for a first event, they couldn't have picked a better one."
The reason for such a low-key ceremony, says Saunders, is to prepare Middleton for life as a royal.
"(The royal family) have learnt many lessons from when Princess Diana first joined the royal family.
"Diana was just thrown in the deep end and absolutely given no guidance whatsoever. They're making sure this time round Catherine is well prepared," he said.
After naming the new Atlantic 85 lifeboat, Prince William and Middleton met members of the charity's lifeboat crew along with fundraising volunteers and were given a demonstration of the vessel's capabilities.
In a statement issued before the ceremony, Lifeboat's Operations Manager, Aubrey Diggle said: "It's an honor to have Prince William and Miss Middleton at our naming ceremony.
"Naming a new lifeboat is always a special occasion for the charity where we can thank our supporters and fundraisers. Having the royal couple there will make the day even more memorable for the whole community."
The couple currently reside in Anglesey while Prince William serves as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot.
The pair, who are due to marry in April, officially named the "Hereford Endeavour" lifeboat in a ceremony at the Trearddur Bay Lifeboat Station in Anglesey, North Wales.
Middleton, wearing a Vivien Sheriff black-feathered beret, three-quarter length cream coat and suede boots, poured a bottle of champagne over the lifeboat after Prince William made a speech commending the efforts of the volunteers and rescue crew.
"We effectively have two launches today," said CNN royal contributor Mark Saunders. "The launch of the lifeboat by William and Catherine and, at the same time, the launch of William and Catherine into this celebrity saturated world they are going to be living in."
Despite the modest nature of the event, hundreds of people turned out to watch the royal couple conduct their first official duty together.
"In 20 years of royal reporting I've never witnessed quite such excitement for such a single job," said Saunders.
One onlooker told CNN: "It's lovely... I would have thought more people would have brought flowers and things for them but it's lovely... It's low key which is what he (Prince William) wanted."
It's the first public appearance the couple has made since they announced their engagement last November.
"It's a very low-key event, launching a lifeboat on the island where they both live...it's a very good debut event for them," said Saunders.
"They have a very good relationship with the locals here, they are often seen at the local supermarket and buying wine from the local off-license. So for a first event, they couldn't have picked a better one."
The reason for such a low-key ceremony, says Saunders, is to prepare Middleton for life as a royal.
"(The royal family) have learnt many lessons from when Princess Diana first joined the royal family.
"Diana was just thrown in the deep end and absolutely given no guidance whatsoever. They're making sure this time round Catherine is well prepared," he said.
After naming the new Atlantic 85 lifeboat, Prince William and Middleton met members of the charity's lifeboat crew along with fundraising volunteers and were given a demonstration of the vessel's capabilities.
In a statement issued before the ceremony, Lifeboat's Operations Manager, Aubrey Diggle said: "It's an honor to have Prince William and Miss Middleton at our naming ceremony.
"Naming a new lifeboat is always a special occasion for the charity where we can thank our supporters and fundraisers. Having the royal couple there will make the day even more memorable for the whole community."
The couple currently reside in Anglesey while Prince William serves as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot.
Google Faces Fresh EU Search Complaint
A fresh complaint accusing Google of abusing its dominant position in the online search market and blocking the development of rival search businesses has been filed with the European Union's antitrust watchdog.
It comes from a French company, 1plusV, related to Ejustice.fr, one of three companies that originally filed complaints against Google with the European Commission last year.
These prompted Brussels to open an in-depth probe against Google, looking at whether the search company gave preferential treatment to its own services when ranking results and whether its contractual relationships with advertisers may also have breached competition rules.
1plusV, which was formed in 2004 and is controlled by Bruno Guillard, is alleging Google illegally "tied" its search engine and its Adsense advertising service -- which allows advertisers to buy a keyword that, when typed in as a search query, produces a commercial link alongside the search results.
Mr Guillard said on Tuesday that in order to secure some revenue from the vertical search engines that 1plusV had developed it was necessary to use Adsense, and that this, in turn, proved technically impossible without using Google's own search engine.
The complaint -- described by 1plusV as a "follow-up" to the first Ejustice.fr complaint -- alleges this tying "kills off" competing search technologies. "1plusV accuses Google of pursuing a strategy of foreclosure against vertical search engines," it claims. The complaint also details other alleged competition breaches, including discrimination in favour of Google's services in search results, and "apparent retaliatory" actions against other sites run by 1plusV after the Ejustice.fr complaint was filed.
It comes at a sensitive time. In another sign of the growing pressure on regulators to subject Google to greater antitrust scrutiny, a prominent US lawmaker has called on the Department of Justice to take a close look at the company's proposed acquisition of travel search company ITA.
John Conyers, lead Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to Christine Varney, head of antitrust enforcement at the agency, urging that the proposed deal be reviewed "carefully to ensure competition and transparency will be protected in the online travel industry".
Mr Conyers also highlighted issues raised last week by the American Anti-trust Institute, which had claimed the deal highlighted broader problems with Google's growing dominance of the search market, even if it was not clear the ITA acquisition would harm the online travel business. Google said the AAI's grounds for broadening the regulatory investigation were "vague new standards [with] no basis in the law".
On Tuesday, 1plusV said it was not pressing for a disclosure of Google's search algorithm, but believed there were other changes the commission could impose on Google.
Google has consistently denied dominating the online search market, and contested individual allegations made against it. It said its behaviour was driven by the desire to give users of its search facilities the best results.
Google on Tuesday said: "We continue to work co-operatively with the European Commission, explaining many aspects of our business. We believe there is always room for improvement."
It comes from a French company, 1plusV, related to Ejustice.fr, one of three companies that originally filed complaints against Google with the European Commission last year.
These prompted Brussels to open an in-depth probe against Google, looking at whether the search company gave preferential treatment to its own services when ranking results and whether its contractual relationships with advertisers may also have breached competition rules.
1plusV, which was formed in 2004 and is controlled by Bruno Guillard, is alleging Google illegally "tied" its search engine and its Adsense advertising service -- which allows advertisers to buy a keyword that, when typed in as a search query, produces a commercial link alongside the search results.
Mr Guillard said on Tuesday that in order to secure some revenue from the vertical search engines that 1plusV had developed it was necessary to use Adsense, and that this, in turn, proved technically impossible without using Google's own search engine.
The complaint -- described by 1plusV as a "follow-up" to the first Ejustice.fr complaint -- alleges this tying "kills off" competing search technologies. "1plusV accuses Google of pursuing a strategy of foreclosure against vertical search engines," it claims. The complaint also details other alleged competition breaches, including discrimination in favour of Google's services in search results, and "apparent retaliatory" actions against other sites run by 1plusV after the Ejustice.fr complaint was filed.
It comes at a sensitive time. In another sign of the growing pressure on regulators to subject Google to greater antitrust scrutiny, a prominent US lawmaker has called on the Department of Justice to take a close look at the company's proposed acquisition of travel search company ITA.
John Conyers, lead Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to Christine Varney, head of antitrust enforcement at the agency, urging that the proposed deal be reviewed "carefully to ensure competition and transparency will be protected in the online travel industry".
Mr Conyers also highlighted issues raised last week by the American Anti-trust Institute, which had claimed the deal highlighted broader problems with Google's growing dominance of the search market, even if it was not clear the ITA acquisition would harm the online travel business. Google said the AAI's grounds for broadening the regulatory investigation were "vague new standards [with] no basis in the law".
On Tuesday, 1plusV said it was not pressing for a disclosure of Google's search algorithm, but believed there were other changes the commission could impose on Google.
Google has consistently denied dominating the online search market, and contested individual allegations made against it. It said its behaviour was driven by the desire to give users of its search facilities the best results.
Google on Tuesday said: "We continue to work co-operatively with the European Commission, explaining many aspects of our business. We believe there is always room for improvement."
Anonymous Vows to Take Leaking to The Next Level
WikiLeaks could have one foot in the online grave.
It's been months since its last major leak, and its staff members -- former and current -- say it's so thinly staffed and broke that it can't dissect a massive file a whistle-blower handed over, allegedly naming rich and influential global players guilty of tax crimes.
Founder Julian Assange, described as a megalomaniac in a tell-all book by the group's former spokesman, is facing extradition to Sweden on sex crime charges. Many observers predict he'll face extradition to the United States next.
That could mean time is running out to pay for Assange to appear at your dinner party (via video message), but it's a reason to purchase a "Free Assange" T-shirt, now available from WikiLeaks' online store.
It may take more than a few shirts to pull WikiLeaks out of the red. Financial institutions stopped doing business with the site after it published a trove of confidential U.S. diplomatic cables late last year, and donations have been stymied.
Assange, out on bond in London Wednesday, set up a Facebook page this month with a PayPal link and a plea: "I need your help. Please give." Last week, he told the Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve that WikiLeaks is losing about $600,000 a week. A judge Thursday ordered that Assange can be extradited to Sweden.
Where that money is going, or what it's paying for, is unclear.
"WikiLeaks could well be a flash in the pan. It's not exactly a site with an apparent solid business plan or stable group of founders," said Jonathan Zittrain, an internet law and computer science professor at Harvard University.
"But the idea that leaks can happen, whether by a turncoat employee or an Exxon Valdez-sized spill of data due to a hack, is more enduring."
So, if WikiLeaks wilts, what will grow in its place?
Several leak-loving sites claim to be WikiLeaks' heir apparent. Greenleaks.org and GreenLeaks are battling to become the top site for whistle-blowers with dirt on environmental issues.
WikiLeaks' ex-spokesman and Assange's former right-hand man, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, has launched OpenLeaks, a secret information catch-all.
His memoir, out this month, "Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website," describes WikiLeaks as an organization that lost its original goal to reveal small, important leaks and instead became wrapped up in Assange's pursuit of big leaks like the Afghanistan and Iraq war diaries and the cables.
Watch Domscheit-Berg describe Assange as a megalomaniac OpenLeaks says it will be more transparent than WikiLeaks about the way it operates. Most significant, it wouldn't openly publish information but rather would give it to reporters and human rights organizations to disseminate.
But perhaps the most controversial incarnation of the WikiLeaks model comes from Anonymous, the hacker collective globally infamous for disrupting the websites of MasterCard, Visa and PayPal in December.
The hackers said the attacks were revenge after the companies cut ties to WikiLeaks. Since then, Anonymous has grown more sophisticated, and experts say it's reasonable to fear that they could do more than wait for someone to give them secret documents. They could hack into highly sensitive military and corporate computer systems themselves.
This month, Anonymous launched anonleaks.ru, a site that features a searchable database of what appear to be tens of thousands of internal e-mails from a U.S.-based internet security firm whose website was also defaced.
Reportedly, the CEO of HBGary Federal told reporters his Twitter account was hijacked, and his home address and Social Security number appeared in his Twitter feed.
A message to HBGary Federal from Anonymous appeared on the company's hacked website: "Let us teach you a lesson you'll never forget: You don't mess with Anonymous."
A letter from Anonymous directly to HBGary Federal was posted on the Web's largest pirate site. "We feel it's time we took the game to the next level," it said.
The information posted on anonleaks.ru, which CNN cannot authenticate, suggests that HBGary Federal offered to attack or undermine adversaries of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Bank of America, including spreading bogus information about Anonymous.
Assange has said that WikiLeaks is planning a "megaleak" about a major bank, and there's been much speculation that Bank of America is the target.
Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri said it has no relationship with HBGary Federal. A senior U.S. Chamber of Commerce official said the same. The New York Times, USA Today and Salon have detailed the battle between Anonymous and HBGary.
HBGary Federal's site is down, and phone numbers to its Colorado office are not working.
But HBGary Federal's sister company, HBGary Inc., based in Sacramento, California, also had its servers hacked. Content from HBGary Inc. appears on anonleaks.ru as well.
"What has happened here is a crime. We were hacked," said Jim Butterworth, a vice president at HBGary Inc. "But it's more than that. Our employees are getting calls from (Anonymous) making physical threats. People were concerned about their physical safety."
Butterworth, who says he's been placed in charge of determining what left the company vulnerable to hacking, said HBGary is working with law enforcement.
Continually over the past two weeks, Anonymous has "pounded" HBGary Inc.'s servers, trying to again to gain access, he said. Office fax machines have been clogged with faxes touting the Anonymous mantra: "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. ..."
"This is thuggery at this point," Butterworth said.
The only time CNN has been able to engage with anyone claiming to be Anonymous came in December, around the time of the Master Card and Visa attacks, via two instant messages that appeared to be from different people.
One wrote that Anonymous considered its actions to be a "demonstration against all things people were unable to change using legal means."
"Our primary goal is freedom of information. Any and all information."
Read more about Anonymous
Since December, Boston-based hacker Gregg Housh has been the only public face associated with Anonymous. He says he's not part of the hackers' current activities but merely monitors their chat portals.
"Anonymous is going to keep doing whatever they want to do to people who piss them off," Housh said of anonleaks.ru.
Anonleaks.ru is using "ru" because the domain is less easily tracked by the U.S. government, Housh said. The domain is not meant to imply that anonleaks is run from Russia.
The site's hackers also want the world to understand this: "Anonleaks is not trying to be WikiLeaks," Housh said. "They are trying to be a new kind of site."
Chris Ridder, lawyer and fellow with Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society, agrees.
"It's definitely a new kind of site, you can say that. Like, possibly illegal-kind-of-new," Ridder said.
Although few people may have heard of HBGary, that's no reason to dismiss anonleaks.ru.
"Today it's a small firm hardly anyone has heard of," Ridder said. "What would make anyone think that they wouldn't (next) hack into the military's database or a corporation that matters to a wide group of people? The question is one of intent. What will Anonymous do down the road?"
There's no doubt Anonymous has the technology to do what it wishes, said Jose Nazario, an analyst with Massachusetts Arbor Networks, a firm that monitors activity on the Web for private clients, mostly businesses trying to deter hacking. He has been watching Anonymous' users gather in chat channels for months.
"Their army is so much bigger," he said, thanks to Anonymous' own redesigned hacking tools and beefed-up Web applications.
Anonymous has made it easier for anyone to give them permission to log in remotely to computers and use the machines in a large-scale hacking effort, Nazario said. "I was watching a (chat) channel recently where thousands (of users) were present, laughing, debating what to do. It used to be hundreds."
The thought of an army of prankster hackers breaking into your e-mails, credit card records or business is disturbing. But it would be a mistake to portray members of Anonymous as cackling evil-doers, Ridder and Zittrain said.
Instead, Ridder said, Anonymous is driving Web culture. "They are making a significant mark on what it means to put information online."
Improvement in technology is a given, and access to data will become increasingly more flexible, Zittrain said. Efforts to stop the group, whether through a lawsuit or an indictment, will have implications that go far beyond one company's battle with a group of hackers.
They say it could forever hamper what has always been the cornerstone of the Web: anonymity.
It's been months since its last major leak, and its staff members -- former and current -- say it's so thinly staffed and broke that it can't dissect a massive file a whistle-blower handed over, allegedly naming rich and influential global players guilty of tax crimes.
Founder Julian Assange, described as a megalomaniac in a tell-all book by the group's former spokesman, is facing extradition to Sweden on sex crime charges. Many observers predict he'll face extradition to the United States next.
That could mean time is running out to pay for Assange to appear at your dinner party (via video message), but it's a reason to purchase a "Free Assange" T-shirt, now available from WikiLeaks' online store.
It may take more than a few shirts to pull WikiLeaks out of the red. Financial institutions stopped doing business with the site after it published a trove of confidential U.S. diplomatic cables late last year, and donations have been stymied.
Assange, out on bond in London Wednesday, set up a Facebook page this month with a PayPal link and a plea: "I need your help. Please give." Last week, he told the Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve that WikiLeaks is losing about $600,000 a week. A judge Thursday ordered that Assange can be extradited to Sweden.
Where that money is going, or what it's paying for, is unclear.
"WikiLeaks could well be a flash in the pan. It's not exactly a site with an apparent solid business plan or stable group of founders," said Jonathan Zittrain, an internet law and computer science professor at Harvard University.
"But the idea that leaks can happen, whether by a turncoat employee or an Exxon Valdez-sized spill of data due to a hack, is more enduring."
So, if WikiLeaks wilts, what will grow in its place?
Several leak-loving sites claim to be WikiLeaks' heir apparent. Greenleaks.org and GreenLeaks are battling to become the top site for whistle-blowers with dirt on environmental issues.
WikiLeaks' ex-spokesman and Assange's former right-hand man, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, has launched OpenLeaks, a secret information catch-all.
His memoir, out this month, "Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website," describes WikiLeaks as an organization that lost its original goal to reveal small, important leaks and instead became wrapped up in Assange's pursuit of big leaks like the Afghanistan and Iraq war diaries and the cables.
Watch Domscheit-Berg describe Assange as a megalomaniac OpenLeaks says it will be more transparent than WikiLeaks about the way it operates. Most significant, it wouldn't openly publish information but rather would give it to reporters and human rights organizations to disseminate.
But perhaps the most controversial incarnation of the WikiLeaks model comes from Anonymous, the hacker collective globally infamous for disrupting the websites of MasterCard, Visa and PayPal in December.
The hackers said the attacks were revenge after the companies cut ties to WikiLeaks. Since then, Anonymous has grown more sophisticated, and experts say it's reasonable to fear that they could do more than wait for someone to give them secret documents. They could hack into highly sensitive military and corporate computer systems themselves.
This month, Anonymous launched anonleaks.ru, a site that features a searchable database of what appear to be tens of thousands of internal e-mails from a U.S.-based internet security firm whose website was also defaced.
Reportedly, the CEO of HBGary Federal told reporters his Twitter account was hijacked, and his home address and Social Security number appeared in his Twitter feed.
A message to HBGary Federal from Anonymous appeared on the company's hacked website: "Let us teach you a lesson you'll never forget: You don't mess with Anonymous."
A letter from Anonymous directly to HBGary Federal was posted on the Web's largest pirate site. "We feel it's time we took the game to the next level," it said.
The information posted on anonleaks.ru, which CNN cannot authenticate, suggests that HBGary Federal offered to attack or undermine adversaries of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Bank of America, including spreading bogus information about Anonymous.
Assange has said that WikiLeaks is planning a "megaleak" about a major bank, and there's been much speculation that Bank of America is the target.
Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri said it has no relationship with HBGary Federal. A senior U.S. Chamber of Commerce official said the same. The New York Times, USA Today and Salon have detailed the battle between Anonymous and HBGary.
HBGary Federal's site is down, and phone numbers to its Colorado office are not working.
But HBGary Federal's sister company, HBGary Inc., based in Sacramento, California, also had its servers hacked. Content from HBGary Inc. appears on anonleaks.ru as well.
"What has happened here is a crime. We were hacked," said Jim Butterworth, a vice president at HBGary Inc. "But it's more than that. Our employees are getting calls from (Anonymous) making physical threats. People were concerned about their physical safety."
Butterworth, who says he's been placed in charge of determining what left the company vulnerable to hacking, said HBGary is working with law enforcement.
Continually over the past two weeks, Anonymous has "pounded" HBGary Inc.'s servers, trying to again to gain access, he said. Office fax machines have been clogged with faxes touting the Anonymous mantra: "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. ..."
"This is thuggery at this point," Butterworth said.
The only time CNN has been able to engage with anyone claiming to be Anonymous came in December, around the time of the Master Card and Visa attacks, via two instant messages that appeared to be from different people.
One wrote that Anonymous considered its actions to be a "demonstration against all things people were unable to change using legal means."
"Our primary goal is freedom of information. Any and all information."
Read more about Anonymous
Since December, Boston-based hacker Gregg Housh has been the only public face associated with Anonymous. He says he's not part of the hackers' current activities but merely monitors their chat portals.
"Anonymous is going to keep doing whatever they want to do to people who piss them off," Housh said of anonleaks.ru.
Anonleaks.ru is using "ru" because the domain is less easily tracked by the U.S. government, Housh said. The domain is not meant to imply that anonleaks is run from Russia.
The site's hackers also want the world to understand this: "Anonleaks is not trying to be WikiLeaks," Housh said. "They are trying to be a new kind of site."
Chris Ridder, lawyer and fellow with Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society, agrees.
"It's definitely a new kind of site, you can say that. Like, possibly illegal-kind-of-new," Ridder said.
Although few people may have heard of HBGary, that's no reason to dismiss anonleaks.ru.
"Today it's a small firm hardly anyone has heard of," Ridder said. "What would make anyone think that they wouldn't (next) hack into the military's database or a corporation that matters to a wide group of people? The question is one of intent. What will Anonymous do down the road?"
There's no doubt Anonymous has the technology to do what it wishes, said Jose Nazario, an analyst with Massachusetts Arbor Networks, a firm that monitors activity on the Web for private clients, mostly businesses trying to deter hacking. He has been watching Anonymous' users gather in chat channels for months.
"Their army is so much bigger," he said, thanks to Anonymous' own redesigned hacking tools and beefed-up Web applications.
Anonymous has made it easier for anyone to give them permission to log in remotely to computers and use the machines in a large-scale hacking effort, Nazario said. "I was watching a (chat) channel recently where thousands (of users) were present, laughing, debating what to do. It used to be hundreds."
The thought of an army of prankster hackers breaking into your e-mails, credit card records or business is disturbing. But it would be a mistake to portray members of Anonymous as cackling evil-doers, Ridder and Zittrain said.
Instead, Ridder said, Anonymous is driving Web culture. "They are making a significant mark on what it means to put information online."
Improvement in technology is a given, and access to data will become increasingly more flexible, Zittrain said. Efforts to stop the group, whether through a lawsuit or an indictment, will have implications that go far beyond one company's battle with a group of hackers.
They say it could forever hamper what has always been the cornerstone of the Web: anonymity.
Countries Scramble to Get Citizens Out of Libya
TURKEY
Two ferry boats carrying more than 3,000 Turks left the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi early Wednesday morning, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Two more ferry boats -- each capable of carrying 1,200 people -- are headed to the North African nation. A third ferry is expected to arrive in Benghazi Thursday.
The boats will carry food and medical supplies for Libyans as demanded by the Turkish prime minister, the ministry said. The ministry added that in addition to the daily scheduled flights by Turkish Airlines to Tripoli, seven more planes are on standby in case it is permitted to fly to Benghazi airport or make additional flights to Tripoli. Since Saturday, Turkey has evacuated 2,100 citizens from Libya, the ministry said.
BRITAIN
The British Foreign Office said a charter flight is leaving Gatwick Airport early Wednesday afternoon for Tripoli, and will be carrying supplies of food and water for British nationals at the airport in the Libyan capital. A second flight will leave the U.K. as soon as possible, the Foreign Office said. A third flight will leave Thursday morning if needed. "The safety of British nationals in Libya remains our top priority," Foreign Secretary William Hague said.
A consular team from the British Embassy is already on the ground at Tripoli's airport and is in place to assist British nationals. That team will be reinforced by two specialist consular teams, one of which has already arrived in Libya. The other is on the charter flight from Gatwick, the Foreign Office said.
The British Embassy is in contact with about 300 British nationals in and around Tripoli and was giving them instructions on how to catch the charter flights, the office explained.
Britain said its citizens who don't have "a pressing need to remain in the country should leave by commercial means if it is safe to do so." The government was advising Britons who want to leave Libya but can't buy tickets online "to travel to the airport carrying sufficient cash to buy tickets."
British Airways and BMI canceled its flights to and from Tripoli for Wednesday, and was reviewing flights scheduled to depart later in the week.
FRANCE
The foreign ministry in France said that it had sent three planes to Libya to help repatriate French citizens and that its embassy in Tripoli was helping to get citizens to the airport.
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia said it is sending a special passenger plane to Tripoli Wednesday morning.
SYRIA
Syria said it will send two flights Wednesday morning and had sent two others Tuesday to run between Damascus and Tripoli. The Syrian Arab News Agency said the country is ready to launch an "unlimited number of flights if necessary." It added that Syria may also send a ship to the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to help evacuate Syrians.
THE NETHERLANDS
The government in the Netherlands said a military plane and a Dutch frigate would help evacuate its nationals in Libya.
THE UNITED STATES
The U.S. State Department was not able to land charter planes in Tripoli to fly out U.S. citizens because Libyan authorities did not give permission for those aircraft to land, a senior administration official said Tuesday. So, the State Department was chartering a ferry to take travelers from central Tripoli's As-shahab port to Valletta, Malta, on Wednesday.
The American embassy in Libya confirmed that the ferry was anchored near the harbor of the As-shahab Port in central Tripoli. The ferry would be leaving at about 1:30 p.m. ET, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. The ferry was delayed coming into Tripoli because of a storm. It can hold 575 people, he said. Those onboard include U.S. citizens, embassy staff, and some third-country nationals. Once the ferry departs, the State Department will say how many are onboard.
Earlier, the department advised that travelers should have all proper travel documents and may bring one suitcase and one carry-on item. Pets are allowed, but must meet stringent EU requirements once they reach Malta. The passengers will be required to reimburse the U.S. government later. U.S. military forces have not been requested to assist in the evacuation of American citizens from Libya, Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said.
OIL COMPANIES
Oil companies, such as Total, BP and OMV, said they would or planned to evacuate people some staff and families.
EXODUS
The U.N. refugee agency is urging neighboring countries not to turn away asylum-seekers and refugees should they flee the upheaval. A spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said reports she has received have been worrying. "A journalist has passed information to us from Somalis in Tripoli who say they are being hunted on suspicion of being mercenaries. He says they feel trapped and are frightened to go out, even though there is little or no food at home," Melissa Fleming said.
Meanwhile, about12,000 people have crossed into Egypt from Libya, officials say, in an effort to flee the violence engulfing the North Africa nation. "There is no security over there," said Esat Abubakr, an Egyptian living in Benghazi said Tuesday after he arrived in Sollum, Egypt. He described widespread violence and a climate of fear with no security. He said people drove to the border and then walked across. "Every Egyptian I know is trying to come back to Egypt," he said.
Two ferry boats carrying more than 3,000 Turks left the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi early Wednesday morning, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Two more ferry boats -- each capable of carrying 1,200 people -- are headed to the North African nation. A third ferry is expected to arrive in Benghazi Thursday.
The boats will carry food and medical supplies for Libyans as demanded by the Turkish prime minister, the ministry said. The ministry added that in addition to the daily scheduled flights by Turkish Airlines to Tripoli, seven more planes are on standby in case it is permitted to fly to Benghazi airport or make additional flights to Tripoli. Since Saturday, Turkey has evacuated 2,100 citizens from Libya, the ministry said.
BRITAIN
The British Foreign Office said a charter flight is leaving Gatwick Airport early Wednesday afternoon for Tripoli, and will be carrying supplies of food and water for British nationals at the airport in the Libyan capital. A second flight will leave the U.K. as soon as possible, the Foreign Office said. A third flight will leave Thursday morning if needed. "The safety of British nationals in Libya remains our top priority," Foreign Secretary William Hague said.
A consular team from the British Embassy is already on the ground at Tripoli's airport and is in place to assist British nationals. That team will be reinforced by two specialist consular teams, one of which has already arrived in Libya. The other is on the charter flight from Gatwick, the Foreign Office said.
The British Embassy is in contact with about 300 British nationals in and around Tripoli and was giving them instructions on how to catch the charter flights, the office explained.
Britain said its citizens who don't have "a pressing need to remain in the country should leave by commercial means if it is safe to do so." The government was advising Britons who want to leave Libya but can't buy tickets online "to travel to the airport carrying sufficient cash to buy tickets."
British Airways and BMI canceled its flights to and from Tripoli for Wednesday, and was reviewing flights scheduled to depart later in the week.
FRANCE
The foreign ministry in France said that it had sent three planes to Libya to help repatriate French citizens and that its embassy in Tripoli was helping to get citizens to the airport.
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia said it is sending a special passenger plane to Tripoli Wednesday morning.
SYRIA
Syria said it will send two flights Wednesday morning and had sent two others Tuesday to run between Damascus and Tripoli. The Syrian Arab News Agency said the country is ready to launch an "unlimited number of flights if necessary." It added that Syria may also send a ship to the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to help evacuate Syrians.
THE NETHERLANDS
The government in the Netherlands said a military plane and a Dutch frigate would help evacuate its nationals in Libya.
THE UNITED STATES
The U.S. State Department was not able to land charter planes in Tripoli to fly out U.S. citizens because Libyan authorities did not give permission for those aircraft to land, a senior administration official said Tuesday. So, the State Department was chartering a ferry to take travelers from central Tripoli's As-shahab port to Valletta, Malta, on Wednesday.
The American embassy in Libya confirmed that the ferry was anchored near the harbor of the As-shahab Port in central Tripoli. The ferry would be leaving at about 1:30 p.m. ET, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. The ferry was delayed coming into Tripoli because of a storm. It can hold 575 people, he said. Those onboard include U.S. citizens, embassy staff, and some third-country nationals. Once the ferry departs, the State Department will say how many are onboard.
Earlier, the department advised that travelers should have all proper travel documents and may bring one suitcase and one carry-on item. Pets are allowed, but must meet stringent EU requirements once they reach Malta. The passengers will be required to reimburse the U.S. government later. U.S. military forces have not been requested to assist in the evacuation of American citizens from Libya, Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said.
OIL COMPANIES
Oil companies, such as Total, BP and OMV, said they would or planned to evacuate people some staff and families.
EXODUS
The U.N. refugee agency is urging neighboring countries not to turn away asylum-seekers and refugees should they flee the upheaval. A spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said reports she has received have been worrying. "A journalist has passed information to us from Somalis in Tripoli who say they are being hunted on suspicion of being mercenaries. He says they feel trapped and are frightened to go out, even though there is little or no food at home," Melissa Fleming said.
Meanwhile, about12,000 people have crossed into Egypt from Libya, officials say, in an effort to flee the violence engulfing the North Africa nation. "There is no security over there," said Esat Abubakr, an Egyptian living in Benghazi said Tuesday after he arrived in Sollum, Egypt. He described widespread violence and a climate of fear with no security. He said people drove to the border and then walked across. "Every Egyptian I know is trying to come back to Egypt," he said.
CTV Reporter 'Torn with Grief' Over Lost Colleagues
I was just leaving Newstalk ZB's building for the day when all hell broke loose. Fast-footing it in the middle of Worcester Street, I watched in raw terror as the Christchurch Club collapsed in front me.
A blood-soaked woman emerged out of the storm of dust and debris and after I assisted her to Latimer Square, it soon dawned on me that much of the city center was raining down on its citizens.
Gazing to the south of Latimer Square, a billowing column of dust blocked any view of the CTV building. It wasn't until later in the day that I was confronted with the brutal reality that the dust wasn't blocking the view, but it was the dust of the building's remains.
After frantically ensuring my family members were all safe, and taking stock of my own smashed-up house, my thoughts and prayers have been transfixed on my CTV family.
For the past 10 years, the regional television channel has been a trusty employer for me, broadcasting my weekly current affairs program. At the time of writing, it would be inappropriate for me to name all of the staff that have been killed in this mass tragedy. My heart has been torn by the unwieldy weight of grief, as I reflect on 17 much-loved workmates who I will never share a TV studio with again. Seventeen passionate, resolute workmates who believed in regional television and made it work.
CTV was not just "a shopping channel," as some people have scoffed. It served as a mirror on our region and that mirror has been so grotesquely shattered. And CTV has been the career launch-pad for dozens and dozens of TV journalists, who now appear on our nightly network news programs.
CTV was the longest-running television channel in New Zealand, and although it will never be the same, it will rise again to serve our region. It must.
One day at a time.
Like many Cantabs, my mind is haunted with the apocalyptic scenes of our devastated city. I am sick to the pit of my stomach at the wrenching loss of life and casualty toll. Why did so many modern buildings implode? In hindsight, were we too impatient and "she'll be right" in agitating for the city center to return to "business as usual" so soon? How long should it be closed for now? What will it take before people trust our city center, and feel safe in the buildings that remain? How many people will trust the land they have lived and worked on?
I know many Cantabs who simply cannot take it anymore and have abandoned the city they love, indefinitely.
There are no fast solutions. For tens of thousands of folk, even securing basic services like power, water and sewage is going to be a marathon wait.
Just as the Ellerslie Flower Show has been understandably cancelled, Christchurch's share of the Rugby World Cup does not look viable. Where will people stay? How fast can AMI Stadium be repaired? Should resources be diverted from key infrastructure work for the sake of this rugby tournament? There are so many questions and clouds of doubt.
As much as we are exhorted to uphold our plucky, resilient spirit, I have huge fears about how much repair and rebuilding work can be done in time for winter. Can our viciously wounded city continue to support and sustain 400,000 people while major infrastructure and rebuilding work is undertaken? How can we seriously house everyone?
I suspect a substantial portion of our population will need to relocate out of Christchurch, in the medium term, while the large-scale reconstruction work is carried out. Christchurch will rise again, Christchurch will shine again. But the slow road to recovery is going to be herculean.
A blood-soaked woman emerged out of the storm of dust and debris and after I assisted her to Latimer Square, it soon dawned on me that much of the city center was raining down on its citizens.
Gazing to the south of Latimer Square, a billowing column of dust blocked any view of the CTV building. It wasn't until later in the day that I was confronted with the brutal reality that the dust wasn't blocking the view, but it was the dust of the building's remains.
After frantically ensuring my family members were all safe, and taking stock of my own smashed-up house, my thoughts and prayers have been transfixed on my CTV family.
For the past 10 years, the regional television channel has been a trusty employer for me, broadcasting my weekly current affairs program. At the time of writing, it would be inappropriate for me to name all of the staff that have been killed in this mass tragedy. My heart has been torn by the unwieldy weight of grief, as I reflect on 17 much-loved workmates who I will never share a TV studio with again. Seventeen passionate, resolute workmates who believed in regional television and made it work.
CTV was not just "a shopping channel," as some people have scoffed. It served as a mirror on our region and that mirror has been so grotesquely shattered. And CTV has been the career launch-pad for dozens and dozens of TV journalists, who now appear on our nightly network news programs.
CTV was the longest-running television channel in New Zealand, and although it will never be the same, it will rise again to serve our region. It must.
One day at a time.
Like many Cantabs, my mind is haunted with the apocalyptic scenes of our devastated city. I am sick to the pit of my stomach at the wrenching loss of life and casualty toll. Why did so many modern buildings implode? In hindsight, were we too impatient and "she'll be right" in agitating for the city center to return to "business as usual" so soon? How long should it be closed for now? What will it take before people trust our city center, and feel safe in the buildings that remain? How many people will trust the land they have lived and worked on?
I know many Cantabs who simply cannot take it anymore and have abandoned the city they love, indefinitely.
There are no fast solutions. For tens of thousands of folk, even securing basic services like power, water and sewage is going to be a marathon wait.
Just as the Ellerslie Flower Show has been understandably cancelled, Christchurch's share of the Rugby World Cup does not look viable. Where will people stay? How fast can AMI Stadium be repaired? Should resources be diverted from key infrastructure work for the sake of this rugby tournament? There are so many questions and clouds of doubt.
As much as we are exhorted to uphold our plucky, resilient spirit, I have huge fears about how much repair and rebuilding work can be done in time for winter. Can our viciously wounded city continue to support and sustain 400,000 people while major infrastructure and rebuilding work is undertaken? How can we seriously house everyone?
I suspect a substantial portion of our population will need to relocate out of Christchurch, in the medium term, while the large-scale reconstruction work is carried out. Christchurch will rise again, Christchurch will shine again. But the slow road to recovery is going to be herculean.
South Korea Trying to Get Almost 1,400 Workers Out of Libya
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak held a special meeting Thursday morning to discuss an urgent plan to evacuate South Korean construction workers in Libya. There are 1,398 South Koreans in the country working on almost 300 building sites.
The presidential office tells CNN it's sending an Egypt Air plane to Tripoli on Thursday. The first flight will evacuate 260 workers and their families. Officials are looking into chartering more planes to speed up the process. Plans were also discussed to move personnel out of the country by land and sea routes.
Lee told ministers to "use all possible measures for Koreans and Korean construction workers' security." An emergency response team is already on the ground helping workers of 24 construction firms operating in Libya.
A spate of attacks and violent break-ins have been reported at some construction sites in Libya amid growing anti-government protests and violence. An attack Monday left 17 workers injured. Two workers from Bangladesh suffered serious wounds after being stabbed, according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry.
The Middle East is a substantial and important market for South Korean construction companies. Firms have been working in the region for around three decades. Projects in the Middle East are worth $257 billion, according to the International Contractors Association of Korea.
The association says ongoing projects in Libya are worth $36.4 billion. Companies are asking the South Korean government not only to ensure the safety of their workers but also to give support if the violence is prolonged and work is stalled indefinitely.
Exports from South Korea to Libya are also expected to be hit hard. Almost 600 companies rely on business in Libya, exporting goods such as ships, cars and heavy industries, a lucrative market worth $1.4 billion last year.
A poll taken by the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency estimates exports will take an $18.7 million hit this year.
The South Korean government has advised its citizens to cancel all nonurgent travel to Libya.
Lee also asked his government to "closely monitor the oil price and the impact to the economy." Lee stressed the importance of domestic energy conservation.
The presidential office tells CNN it's sending an Egypt Air plane to Tripoli on Thursday. The first flight will evacuate 260 workers and their families. Officials are looking into chartering more planes to speed up the process. Plans were also discussed to move personnel out of the country by land and sea routes.
Lee told ministers to "use all possible measures for Koreans and Korean construction workers' security." An emergency response team is already on the ground helping workers of 24 construction firms operating in Libya.
A spate of attacks and violent break-ins have been reported at some construction sites in Libya amid growing anti-government protests and violence. An attack Monday left 17 workers injured. Two workers from Bangladesh suffered serious wounds after being stabbed, according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry.
The Middle East is a substantial and important market for South Korean construction companies. Firms have been working in the region for around three decades. Projects in the Middle East are worth $257 billion, according to the International Contractors Association of Korea.
The association says ongoing projects in Libya are worth $36.4 billion. Companies are asking the South Korean government not only to ensure the safety of their workers but also to give support if the violence is prolonged and work is stalled indefinitely.
Exports from South Korea to Libya are also expected to be hit hard. Almost 600 companies rely on business in Libya, exporting goods such as ships, cars and heavy industries, a lucrative market worth $1.4 billion last year.
A poll taken by the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency estimates exports will take an $18.7 million hit this year.
The South Korean government has advised its citizens to cancel all nonurgent travel to Libya.
Lee also asked his government to "closely monitor the oil price and the impact to the economy." Lee stressed the importance of domestic energy conservation.
India Offers 'Hands of Our Friendship' to Pakistan
Full growth of the Asian subcontinent hinges on normalization of ties between New Delhi and Islamabad, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday as the two arch-foes prepared to resume their dialogue frozen by the 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai.
In his address to parliament, Singh extended what he called his country's hand of friendship to its western neighbor.
"I sincerely hope and believe that the new ruling classes of Pakistan would grasp the hands of our friendship and recognize that, whatever are our differences, terror, as an instrument of state policy, is something that no civilized society ought to use," he said.
Singh acknowledged that talks were the only means to resolving lingering issues between the two nuclear-capable nations, which have fought three wars since the blood-soaked partition of the sub-continent into Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan in 1947.
"After meeting of the two foreign secretaries in Thimphu (earlier this month), they have agreed to resume the process of dialogue and that is the only way in which we can resolve our problems," Singh said.
The Indian leader insisted that terrorist elements derailed attempts aimed at normalizing relationship between the two countries.
The atmosphere, he said, was now conducive for talks to move forward. Singh, however, reiterated that discussions on all outstanding issues can be held if Pakistani territory is not allowed to be used for anti-India terror activities.
In 2004, both countries agreed to a peace process that covers eight issues, including Kashmir, terrorism and Pakistan's concerns over river dams on the Indian side, which it sees as a threat to its water supplies.
Successive governments on both sides have held talks in an attempt to end their historical acrimony.
Singh and Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari hailed results from the negotiations in September 2008 as the countries completed four rounds of diplomatic meetings.
But talks were suspended two months later, in November 2008, after the terror raid on Mumbai blamed on Pakistani militants.
"I have maintained and I still maintain that full development of this subcontinent of ours will not be realized unless India and Pakistan relations are normalized," Singh told federal parliament in New Delhi.
In his address to parliament, Singh extended what he called his country's hand of friendship to its western neighbor.
"I sincerely hope and believe that the new ruling classes of Pakistan would grasp the hands of our friendship and recognize that, whatever are our differences, terror, as an instrument of state policy, is something that no civilized society ought to use," he said.
Singh acknowledged that talks were the only means to resolving lingering issues between the two nuclear-capable nations, which have fought three wars since the blood-soaked partition of the sub-continent into Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan in 1947.
"After meeting of the two foreign secretaries in Thimphu (earlier this month), they have agreed to resume the process of dialogue and that is the only way in which we can resolve our problems," Singh said.
The Indian leader insisted that terrorist elements derailed attempts aimed at normalizing relationship between the two countries.
The atmosphere, he said, was now conducive for talks to move forward. Singh, however, reiterated that discussions on all outstanding issues can be held if Pakistani territory is not allowed to be used for anti-India terror activities.
In 2004, both countries agreed to a peace process that covers eight issues, including Kashmir, terrorism and Pakistan's concerns over river dams on the Indian side, which it sees as a threat to its water supplies.
Successive governments on both sides have held talks in an attempt to end their historical acrimony.
Singh and Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari hailed results from the negotiations in September 2008 as the countries completed four rounds of diplomatic meetings.
But talks were suspended two months later, in November 2008, after the terror raid on Mumbai blamed on Pakistani militants.
"I have maintained and I still maintain that full development of this subcontinent of ours will not be realized unless India and Pakistan relations are normalized," Singh told federal parliament in New Delhi.
Saudis Seek to Calm Oil Panic
Saudi Arabia moved to calm mounting global fears of an oil supply crisis after panic buying sent crude prices to a 2½-year peak of almost $120 a barrel.
Indicating that Opec's biggest producer is prepared to increase supplies, the kingdom entered "active talks" with European oil companies on how to meet the shortfall caused by the turmoil in Libya.
Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, have risen as much as $17 since violence broke out in Libya last week. Saudi Arabia has asked "what quantity and what quality of oil" European refiners want, a senior Saudi oil official told the Financial Times on Thursday.
Oil traders fear the disruption of Libya's oil industry could leave the market with a minimal supply cushion if another big Middle East producer became engulfed incrisis. "It is fear of the unknown. The risks are all to the upside," said one senior oil trader. "Saudi Arabia needs to respond."
Vladimir Putin, Russia's premier, said that the surging oil price was "a serious threat to economic growth in the world", echoing concerns voiced by other leaders.
Economists fear the price rise could deliver a shock to sentiment comparable to last year's sovereign debt crisis in Europe. The shortfall caused by Libya means the market is seeing its biggest supply disruption since hurricane Katrina destroyed most US production in 2005.
Saudi oil mapPrices softened to $114 a barrel after the FT reportedthe Saudi talks, but investors still sought safe havens for assets with the Swiss franc hitting a record against the dollar and gold nearing a record high.
Governments are also involved in the discussions with Saudi Arabia, according to a European official familiar with the talks. "This goes beyond companies' supplies, it involves governments worried about security of supplies."
Saudi Arabia is considering two options, according to the Saudi official.
The first would be to boost production and send more crude through the east-west pipeline, linking the country's largest oilfields in Eastern province with the Red Sea port of Yanbu, for shipment to Europe.
Another possibility would be a swap arrangement, whereby West African oil intended for Asian buyers is redirected to Europe, with Saudi Arabia stepping in to supply Asia.
"Right now, there are active talks in order to implement what is needed," the Saudi official said. He stressed that the kingdom retains spare capacity of some 4m barrels a day -- more than double Libya's entire output, which totalled 1.58m b/d in January, according to the International Energy Agency.
Saudi Arabia has not yet decided whether to increase production If it proved necessary to produce more, "then that will happen, there's no problem at all", the official said.
Austan Goolsbee, chair of the White House council of economic advisers, said the US was monitoring developments in the Middle East but that the economy had become less sensitive to fuel prices.
Energy used per dollar of real US gross domestic product has halved since the 1970s, but energy intensity is much higher in emerging economies.
Indicating that Opec's biggest producer is prepared to increase supplies, the kingdom entered "active talks" with European oil companies on how to meet the shortfall caused by the turmoil in Libya.
Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, have risen as much as $17 since violence broke out in Libya last week. Saudi Arabia has asked "what quantity and what quality of oil" European refiners want, a senior Saudi oil official told the Financial Times on Thursday.
Oil traders fear the disruption of Libya's oil industry could leave the market with a minimal supply cushion if another big Middle East producer became engulfed incrisis. "It is fear of the unknown. The risks are all to the upside," said one senior oil trader. "Saudi Arabia needs to respond."
Vladimir Putin, Russia's premier, said that the surging oil price was "a serious threat to economic growth in the world", echoing concerns voiced by other leaders.
Economists fear the price rise could deliver a shock to sentiment comparable to last year's sovereign debt crisis in Europe. The shortfall caused by Libya means the market is seeing its biggest supply disruption since hurricane Katrina destroyed most US production in 2005.
Saudi oil mapPrices softened to $114 a barrel after the FT reportedthe Saudi talks, but investors still sought safe havens for assets with the Swiss franc hitting a record against the dollar and gold nearing a record high.
Governments are also involved in the discussions with Saudi Arabia, according to a European official familiar with the talks. "This goes beyond companies' supplies, it involves governments worried about security of supplies."
Saudi Arabia is considering two options, according to the Saudi official.
The first would be to boost production and send more crude through the east-west pipeline, linking the country's largest oilfields in Eastern province with the Red Sea port of Yanbu, for shipment to Europe.
Another possibility would be a swap arrangement, whereby West African oil intended for Asian buyers is redirected to Europe, with Saudi Arabia stepping in to supply Asia.
"Right now, there are active talks in order to implement what is needed," the Saudi official said. He stressed that the kingdom retains spare capacity of some 4m barrels a day -- more than double Libya's entire output, which totalled 1.58m b/d in January, according to the International Energy Agency.
Saudi Arabia has not yet decided whether to increase production If it proved necessary to produce more, "then that will happen, there's no problem at all", the official said.
Austan Goolsbee, chair of the White House council of economic advisers, said the US was monitoring developments in the Middle East but that the economy had become less sensitive to fuel prices.
Energy used per dollar of real US gross domestic product has halved since the 1970s, but energy intensity is much higher in emerging economies.
Suspected Drone Strike Kills 5 Militants in Pakistan
A suspected U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal region killed five suspected militants on Thursday, intelligence officials told CNN.
Two intelligence officials said the drone fired two missiles on the militant's hideout in the area of Data Khel in North Waziristan, one of the seven districts of Pakistan's volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
The intelligence officials asked not be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Based on a count by the CNN Islamabad bureau Thursday's suspected drone strike was the eleventh this year.
Two intelligence officials said the drone fired two missiles on the militant's hideout in the area of Data Khel in North Waziristan, one of the seven districts of Pakistan's volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
The intelligence officials asked not be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Based on a count by the CNN Islamabad bureau Thursday's suspected drone strike was the eleventh this year.
China Plans Airport Building Spree
China will build another 45 airports over the next five years, the industry regulator said on Thursday, raising fresh questions about the potential for overcapacity in the transport sector.
Li Jiaxing, the head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said that the new investments would take the total number of airports in the country to 220, even though most of the existing airports were losing money.
Although demand for air travel has grown rapidly in recent years as the purchasing power of Chinese consumers has risen, the expansion in airport infrastructure, which accelerated during the stimulus programme over the past two years, has become one of a number of potential sources of over-investment across the economy.
Mr Li, who used to run Air China, the country's biggest airline before moving to the regulator, said that the government would invest Rmb1500bn ($228bn) in the aviation sector in the period to 2015, although he did not say how much of that would go to airports.
According to Reuters, Mr Li, who is also a vice minister for transport, admitted on Thursday that 130 of the country's 175 existing airports were currently lossmaking, with the combined loss amounting to Rmb1.68bn.
While large new airports in some of China's major cities have quickly found themselves operating near to capacity because of rising traffic, industry officials say that there are a string of new airports in smaller cities which operate only a handful of flights a week. Goldman Sachs forecasts that passenger demand will rise by 15 per cent this year, as the growing middle class in China travels more.
The rapid expansion in China's high-speed rail network has also raised questions about over-investment, a concern that could have been connected to the news 10 days ago that the minister of railways Liu Zhijun is being investigated for "a severe violation of discipline".
While some think high ticket prices will limit the demand for high-speed rail, supporters of the investment argue that the new expanded passenger network will free up space on the existing network for transporting cargo such as coal, much of which is currently delivered by truck. However, the new high-speed rail routes, such as the Wuhan-Guangzhou line, which cut the journey time from 10 hours to three hours, are also a strong competitor for the aviation sector.
One potential boon for China's new airports could come from smaller aircraft, after the government announced in November that civilian aircraft could fly in airspace below 4000m. The decision could prompt a big increase in the use of helicopters and light aircraft. Sinolink Securities, a Chinese brokerage, estimates that purchases of helicopters over the next decade in China will reach 3,300.
Li Jiaxing, the head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said that the new investments would take the total number of airports in the country to 220, even though most of the existing airports were losing money.
Although demand for air travel has grown rapidly in recent years as the purchasing power of Chinese consumers has risen, the expansion in airport infrastructure, which accelerated during the stimulus programme over the past two years, has become one of a number of potential sources of over-investment across the economy.
Mr Li, who used to run Air China, the country's biggest airline before moving to the regulator, said that the government would invest Rmb1500bn ($228bn) in the aviation sector in the period to 2015, although he did not say how much of that would go to airports.
According to Reuters, Mr Li, who is also a vice minister for transport, admitted on Thursday that 130 of the country's 175 existing airports were currently lossmaking, with the combined loss amounting to Rmb1.68bn.
While large new airports in some of China's major cities have quickly found themselves operating near to capacity because of rising traffic, industry officials say that there are a string of new airports in smaller cities which operate only a handful of flights a week. Goldman Sachs forecasts that passenger demand will rise by 15 per cent this year, as the growing middle class in China travels more.
The rapid expansion in China's high-speed rail network has also raised questions about over-investment, a concern that could have been connected to the news 10 days ago that the minister of railways Liu Zhijun is being investigated for "a severe violation of discipline".
While some think high ticket prices will limit the demand for high-speed rail, supporters of the investment argue that the new expanded passenger network will free up space on the existing network for transporting cargo such as coal, much of which is currently delivered by truck. However, the new high-speed rail routes, such as the Wuhan-Guangzhou line, which cut the journey time from 10 hours to three hours, are also a strong competitor for the aviation sector.
One potential boon for China's new airports could come from smaller aircraft, after the government announced in November that civilian aircraft could fly in airspace below 4000m. The decision could prompt a big increase in the use of helicopters and light aircraft. Sinolink Securities, a Chinese brokerage, estimates that purchases of helicopters over the next decade in China will reach 3,300.
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