http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/ World http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122972/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:28:04 +0200
Greece's coalition government is scrambling to push through a batch of emergency laws that will further cut incomes and state spending after eurozone countries demanded new austerity measures in return for the new rescue funds.

"The agreement is of historic importance because it binds Greece to the euro," Venizelos told private Mega television.

"It was not only the approval of the €130 billion in additional support for Greece. But this also comes with a European commitment ... of support for as long as in necessary for Greece to return to the markets."

He added: "This is a decisive and irreversible action by our partners: Greece is a member of the euro and will remain a member of the euro and there is no issue of bankruptcy, there is no issue of the country's financial collapse."

Earlier, around 6,000 protesters chanting "EU out, IMF out!" marched to parliament in a peaceful rally against the new austerity measures.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122956/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:24:43 +0200
The war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands has previously told Aisha, who is in Algeria, to seek information via Libya's new authorities. But Kaufman says no part of the new government has responded to her requests for basic information about her father's death usually accorded to relatives, and it is not clear where she should apply.

Kaufman said by telephone Wednesday, "who are the Libyan 'authorities?'"

The Hague court, which was authorized by the U.N. to investigate war crimes committed during Libya's civil war, dropped its case against Moammar Gadhafi after his death at the hands of opposing forces on Oct. 20.

However, the court, known by its acronym ICC, has not yet ruled on the new Libyan government's plans to try Seif and former Libyan intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senoussi in Libya. The ICC indicted the men for crimes against humanity, including multiple murders, allegedly committed during the former regime's crackdown on dissent.

Although the court only pursues war crimes cases a country itself cannot or will not try, Libyan authorities must still persuade international judges that the men will get a fair trial, on basically the same charges they would have faced in The Hague.

Judges have asked Libya whether Seif is being held incommunicado, as Kaufman asserts, and whether ICC officials can visit him to check on his health and ask him whether he has legal representation.

The transitional government's reply was filed confidentially in January.

Kaufman said Libya's reluctance to disclose the death certificate — copies of which have been widely circulated on the Internet — shows it is even less likely to turn over documents such as an autopsy report, which may contain incriminating evidence.

The court's prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told the United Nations last year there are "serious suspicions" Moammar Gadhafi's death was itself a war crime because he may have been summarily executed after being taken into custody.

Kaufman said Libya's new government has a moral and legal obligation to give Aisha information such as the death certificate, autopsy report and exact location of Moammar's grave.

"Why are the Libyan authorities claiming they are capable of trying Seif al-Islam when they can't take care of properly handling a single document?" Kaufman said.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122971/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:47:31 +0200
Details of Blair's claim were not immediately made public Wednesday. Atkins said he would not be commenting further on the case.

Murdoch was left with little choice but to close the News of the World tabloid in July following revelations that it had hacked into the phone of a missing schoolgirl who was later found murdered. Since then, police have made almost 40 arrests — including many well-known reporters — over phone hacking and in connection to related inquiries into the payment of bribes to public officials and email hacking.

Millions have been paid out by Murdoch's company so far in out-of-court settlements to about 60 victims of hacking.

Murdoch's News International did not immediately return a message seeking comment. A Blair spokesman also declined comment.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122969/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:29:59 +0200
French TV footage showed police containing reporters behind metal barriers as a tinted-window sedan carrying Strauss-Kahn left the police station in northern city of Lille.

Strauss-Kahn was a one-time French presidential hopeful whose political chances were derailed by a sexual assault accusation in New York City and his subsequent resignation from the IMF in May.

×èòàéòå îá ýòîì íà www.kyivpost.ua]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122961/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:06:36 +0200
Separately, Greece's private sector bondholders will be asked to forgive €107 billion ($141 billion) in Greek debt by taking a 53.5 percent loss on the face value of their bonds and accepting longer repayment periods and lower interest rates.

Though Greece's finance minister Evangelos Venizelos hailed the deal as "a significant development that gives our country a new opportunity," investors remained cautious, not least because Greece has to enact economic reforms in a very short space of time to get its hands on the money.

The package's lack of measures aimed at boosting economic growth also caused concern in the markets. Greece is entering its fifth year of recession and is forecast to contract a further 4 percent or so this year.

"There are still a lot of moving parts in order for Greece to actually achieve the bailout of course and doubts remain about their ability to keep to the terms and conditions over the medium term," said Gary Jenkins, managing director of Swordfish Research.

Those doubts weighed on markets Wednesday as did the decision by Fitch to downgrade Greece's credit rating further into junk status, from 'CCC' to 'C.' The agency said it would consider briefly placing Greece in "restrictive default" once the bond swap is completed — a warning it first issued in June.

Athens argues that the default rating would be a simple technicality, as the twin deals struck on Tuesday will allow the country to repay bonds maturing next month — thus avoiding a disorderly default — and remain in the common European currency it joined in 2001.

In Europe, Germany's DAX closed 0.9 percent lower at 6,843.87 and the CAC-40 in France lost 0.5 percent to 3,447.37. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares shed 0.2 percent at 5,916.55.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.3 percent at 12,922.06 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.4 percent to 1,356.52.

Markets will continue to monitor developments in Athens Wednesday as the country's lawmakers debate emergency legislation to approve the private debt relief deal and the promised spending cuts, while unions plan a new anti-austerity rally outside Parliament.

Unions are angry at two years of belt-tightening, and have called a rally for 4:00 p.m. Previous protests have turned violent, and rioters burnt and looted dozens of shops in central Athens during a rally on Feb. 12.

In the currency markets, the euro was up 0.1 percent at $1.3249 even after a surprisingly big 1.9 percent monthly increase in eurozone industrial orders in December. Analysts said the figures are prone to volatility.

The British pound was the big mover in the currency markets, falling 0.7 percent against the dollar to $1.5668 after minutes to the last rate-setting meeting of the Bank of England showed that two of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted for a 75 billion pounds monetary stimulus. The other seven backed a 50 billion pounds rise.

The disclosure that some on the MPC were arguing for a larger injection stoked speculation that the Bank is not done with its controversial strategy of pumping more money into the ailing British economy.

Earlier in Asia, stocks were generally buoyant despite another fairly weak Chinese manufacturing survey.

The preliminary reading of HSBC's China manufacturing index rose from 48.8 in January to 49.7 in February. But the number was still below the 50-level that signifies expansion, suggesting that the Chinese central bank may loosen credit — a move typically welcomed by markets.

Analysts at Barclays Capital in Hong Kong said the figure "will likely provide some comfort to the market" due to expectations that the People's Bank of China will undertake further monetary easing in order to try to stimulate growth.

The news helped spur mainland Chinese shares higher. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9 percent to 2,403.59 and the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index gained 2.2 percent to 954.23.

Elsewhere, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo added 1 percent to close at 9,554 — its highest finish in more than six months, as a weakening yen boosted the prospects of Japan's critical export sector. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3 percent to 21,549.28.

Oil prices were slightly lower, though near nine-month highs. Concerns over Iran's nuclear program have pushed oil prices higher in recent weeks. Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 3 cents to $106.22 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122958/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:26:53 +0200
VENEZUELA'S CHAVEZ:

- The 57-year-old socialist president declared himself free of cancer in October, four months after surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his pelvis.

He is due to return to Cuba for a new operation to remove a small lesion in the same place where the tumor was removed. Doctors have not disclosed the type of cancer he suffered from.

PARAGUAY'S FERNANDO LUGO:

- Lugo was diagnosed in August 2010 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that originates in the lymphatic system, the disease-fighting network throughout the body. The president underwent four months of chemotherapy and the cancer is in remission.

BRAZIL'S LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA:

- Brazil's popular former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 66, was hospitalized this month for exhaustion resulting from chemotherapy, complicating his swift recovery from throat cancer and casting doubts on when he might return to political life.

Lula led the country between 2003 and 2010, a period of robust economic growth in which more than 20 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty and joined the middle class.

BARBADOS' DAVID THOMPSON:

- Thompson was diagnosed in Sept 2010 with pancreatic cancer, an often fatal illness. The prime minister received medical treatment in the United States but died in October 2010. He was 48.

CZECH REPUBLIC'S VACLAV HAVEL:

- Vaclav Havel, a heavy smoker, had surgery in 1996 to remove part of his cancerous right lung. He was re-elected president two years later and stepped down in 2003 at the conclusion of his term. Havel died last December.

FRANCE'S FRANCOIS MITTERRAND:

- Mitterrand was diagnosed with cancer not long after being elected president in 1981. He did not reveal the information until after an operation in 1992. In 1994 Mitterrand underwent a second prostate operation followed by chemotherapy. He said he would resign if the pain became overwhelming.

Although forced to reduce his activities from September 1992 and very weak in his last nine months in office, Mitterrand remained in full possession of his mental faculties. He completed two seven-year terms in office to become France's longest-serving president.

UNITED STATES' RONALD REAGAN:

- In 1985, Reagan underwent surgery to remove cancerous polyps from his colon. This caused the first-ever invocation of the acting president clause of the U.S. Constitution's 25th Amendment. The surgery lasted just under three hours and Reagan resumed the powers of the presidency later that day.

In August 1985, he underwent an operation to remove skin cancer cells from his nose. In October, more skin cancer cells that were detected on his nose were removed. Reagan completed two four-year terms in office in 1989 and died in 2004.

IRAN'S SHAH MOHAMMAD REZA PAHLAVI:

- Rioting prompted the shah to leave Iran in January 1979. Gravely ill, he sought refuge abroad and later was treated for lymphatic cancer in the United States. The shah died in exile in Egypt in July 1980. Exiled cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran in triumph.

FRANCE'S GEORGES POMPIDOU:

- In April 1974, Pompidou died in office of a rare form of cancer called Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia. His death was a shock to the public, who had been told the president was suffering from recurrent bouts of flu. Pompidou died in an era when talk of the president's health was taboo.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122942/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:04:57 +0200
Federal Police Commissioner Nestor Rodriguez says the dead include 48 adults and one child.

That makes it Argentina's worst train accident since Feb. 1, 1970, when 200 a train smashed into another at full speed in suburban Buenos Aires, killing 200 people.

At least 550 people were injured, and emergency workers were slowly extracting dozens of people who were trapped inside the first car, said Alberto Crescenti, the city's emergency medical director. Rescuers carved open the roof and set up a pulley system to ease them out one by one.

The commuter train came in too fast and hit the barrier at the end of the platform at about 16 mph (26 kph), smashing the front of the engine and crunching the leading cars behind it; one car penetrated nearly 20 feet (six meters) into the next, Argentina's transportation secretary, J.P. Schiavi told reporters at the station.
Paramedics carry away wounded passengers from a commuter train after a collision in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday Feb. 22, 2012.


The conductors' union chief, Omar Maturano, told Radio 10 that the train might have come in as fast as 18 mph (30 kph)

Most damaged was the first car, where passengers make space for bicycles. Survivors told the TeleNoticias channel that many people were injured in a jumble of metal and glass.

Passengers said windows exploded as the tops of train cars separated from their floors. The trains are usually packed with people standing between the seats, and many were thrown into each other and to the floor by the force of the hard stop.

Many people suffered bruises, and many with lesser injuries were waiting for attention on the Once station's platforms as helicopters and more than a dozen ambulances took the most seriously injured to nearby hospitals.

There have been five serious train accidents in Argentina since Dec. 2010; the most deadly of these happened last Sept. 13, when a bus driver crossed the tracks in front of an oncoming train, killing 11.

"This machine left the shop yesterday and the brakes worked well. From what we know, it braked without problems at previous stations. At this point I don't want to speculate about the causes," Ruben Sobrero, train workers' union chief on the Sarmiento line, told Radio La Red.

The motorman has been hospitalized and the union hasn't been able to speak with him yet, Sobrero added.

×èòàéòå îá ýòîì íà www.kyivpost.ua]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122957/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:55:22 +0200
On Tuesday, the 17-country eurozone approved Greece's second financial lifeline in less than two years, worth €130 billion ($172 billion), and a €107 billion ($141 billion) debt writedown by banks and other private holders of Greek bonds.

In response to the writedown agreement, Fitch downgraded Greece's credit rating further into junk status, from 'CCC' to 'C.'

The agency said a Greek default "is highly likely in the near term" and added that it would briefly consider placing Greece in "restrictive default" once the bond swap is completed — a warning it first issued in June.

Athens argues that the default rating would be a simple technicality, as the twin deals struck on Tuesday will allow the country to repay bonds maturing next month — thus avoiding a disorderly default — and remain in the common European currency it joined in 2001.

Even then, the price of salvation for ordinary Greeks is only just starting to sink in.

Legislation tabled in Parliament late Tuesday outlines a total €3.2 billion ($4.2 billion) in extra budget cuts this year agreed by the Cabinet last week.

The measures include nearly €400 million ($530 million) in cuts to already depleted pensions. Health and education spending will be reduced by more than €170 million ($225 million), subsidies to the state health care system will be cut by €500 million ($661 million), and health care spending on medicine will fall by €570 million ($754 million). And some €400 million ($529 million) will be lopped off defense spending — three quarters of which will come from purchases.

The draft law also drastically revises the 2012 budget, changing the government deficit target to 6.7 percent of gross domestic product from an initial forecast of 5.4 percent. Even worse, plans for a modest primary surplus — which excludes debt servicing costs — have been scrapped and Greece will instead post a primary deficit of nearly €500 million ($661 million), or 0.2 percent of GDP.

Parliament is expected to vote on the cuts and budgetary revisions early next week.

On Wednesday, debate will start at committee level on a separate draft law on adopting the private debt writedown. Parliament's plenary session will vote on the draft law Thursday.

"The decisions that have been taken and those that will be made, create the conditions that will help the recovery and growth of the Greek economy," Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said after briefing President Karolos Papoulias on the eurozone decisions. "Much remains to be done in the coming weeks."

Both pieces of legislation are expected to be approved, as the interim governing coalition headed by Papademos, a former central banker, controls 193 of the House's 300 seats. But earlier this month the two coalition partners — the majority Socialists and the conservatives — were forced to expel a total 43 deputies who rebelled against new austerity cuts.

It remains uncertain whether even the combination of new bailout and writedown will be enough to save Greece, whose economy is in a fifth year of recession and could continue to shrink as the cutbacks cripple consumer spending and investment.

Greek stocks tumbled for a second day after the bailout deal, losing 5 percent shortly before market closing.

Even with the writedown, Greece's public debt will be reduced at best from €368 billion ($487 billion), or nearly 170 percent of GDP last year to 120 percent in 2020 — around the level it was in 2009.

Greek retailers said Wednesday the prolonged austerity and recession were expected to cost another 100,000 jobs in the sector in the first half of 2012 alone — following 65,000 job losses in June-December 2011. About one employee is hired for every seven laid off.

More than one million Greeks, or 21 percent of the work force, were out of work in November.

The government is also cutting private sector wages, with the minimum monthly salary being reduced 22 percent to €580 ($770) — and €510 ($675) for workers aged under 25, an age group that suffers from 50 percent unemployment. Salaries are even lower for part-time employees.

Dimitris Asimakopoulos, head of General Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants, GSEVEE, presented a new study showing that 180,000 businesses are at risk of closing in 2012, with at least 61,000 expected to fail.

"The study reveals, with facts and figures, that we are unfortunately stuck in the mire of recession," Asimakopoulos said. "We will not emerge from this with wishful thinking about competitiveness and €300 salaries."

Werner Hoyer, the new president of the European Investment Bank, told Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper that "Greece now needs, alongside the unavoidable austerity program, a Marshall plan too " — a reference to the U.S. aid plan that rescued an impoverished Europe after World War II.

Hoyer suggested that Greeks working in the European Commission and other EU bodies should be motivated to return home and help out, to avoid the impression that Greece "is under tutelage and directed by others."

But he said the structural reforms Greece needed could take up to two decades.

Angry Greek unions have called a protest rally against the new belt-tightening for this afternoon outside Parliament. Communist supporters will hold a separate march an hour later, while other protesters are planning a motorcycle rally. Previous protests have turned violent, and rioters burnt and looted dozens of shops in central Athens during a rally on Feb. 12.

Papademos, who is unelected, has a sole mandate to see through the twin bailout and debt relief deal, and is expected to step down by early April ahead of national elections. Polls show that conservative New Democracy would likely come first, but without a large enough majority to govern alone.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122954/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:10:22 +0200
Reached at his home Wednesday morning, May declined comment.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said his investigation is "absolutely not" finished but did not immediately comment further.

Although other mine disasters have led to criminal charges, they've typically targeted low-ranking employees and have largely been misdemeanor offenses. A conviction on the federal fraud charge could result in fines and up to five years in prison.

It's a rare, if not unprecedented legal strategy that appears to be aimed at moving up the corporate ladder.

Last week, Goodwin urged a federal judge to make an example of the only other person charged so far, former security chief Hughie Elbert Stover. Goodwin is demanding the maximum possible sentence of 25 years in prison for actions he says contributed to the April 2010 disaster.

Stover is to be sentenced Feb. 29 for lying to federal investigators and attempting to destroy documents.

Official reports about the explosion have concluded that Virginia-based Massey Energy — which has since been bought by Alpha Natural Resources — allowed methane and coal dust to accumulate and failed to properly maintain and repair the cutting equipment that eventually created the spark that fuel needed to explode.

Clogged and broken water sprayers then allowed what could have been a minor flare-up to become an epic blast that traveled seven miles (11 kilometers) of underground corridors, doubling back on itself and killing men instantly.

The information filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston accuses May of conspiring with others to conceal many dangers in the mine through an elaborate scheme that included code words to alert miners underground when inspectors were on the property, the deliberate alteration of approved ventilation plans and the deliberate disabling of a methane gas monitor on the continuous mining machine.

Other employees of the mine have told investigators there was never enough fresh air to sweep out the highly explosive methane and coal dust that regularly accumulated — the fuel that three separate investigations have concluded powered the chain-reaction blast.

The information says Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co. and its managers routinely violated a host of federal mine safety laws for fear that violations would cut into production time.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122952/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:59:55 +0200
"Both countries are quickly rising stars. One of them is a global power. The other is a regional power," said Murat Bilhan, a former Turkish ambassador and chairman of the foreign policy platform at Istanbul Kultur University. "This, of course, gives them some kind of look toward each other and they need to cooperate."

There are challenges.

Trade between Turkey and China soared over the past decade to $24 billion a year, though Chinese exports account for most of it. Turkish officials want to address this imbalance by securing more Chinese investment and tourism, as well as joint ventures in Turkey or other locations, such as Africa.

"This is a very huge problem between Turkey and China," said Selcuk Colakoglu, head of Asia-Pacific studies at USAK, a research center based in Ankara.

Zafer Caglayan, the Turkish economy minister, alluded to the trade imbalance at a Turkish-Chinese business forum in Istanbul when he said, in a pointed joke, that China was the recipient of "unrequited love" from Turkey. At the same time, the economic powerhouses have ambitious plans to increase trade fourfold by the end of the decade.

Prior to the revolts in the Middle East and North Africa, Turkey stepped up efforts to develop alliances with regional neighbors, including authoritarian regimes such as Libya and Syria. But Turkey has aligned closely with the West in calling for democratic change, and says Syrian President Bashar Assad should stop military assaults on the opposition and quit.

China, which carried out a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1989, has refused to condemn Syria over the violence. Along with Russia, China vetoed two U.N. Security Council resolutions backing Arab League plans aimed at ending the conflict and condemning Syria's military campaign against the opposition, though it later said it supported the league's plans.

Colakoglu said Turkey, a democracy with its own shortcomings, had settled on a policy of advocating "open and free elections," while China sees the Syrian case as "a kind of destabilization" in which the West is maneuvering for influence.

In 2009, violence between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese left nearly 200 dead in the worst riots in China's far west in more than a decade. Turkey is home to a large Uighur community, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had described China's use of overwhelming force against anti-government protesters as "almost genocide."

Tension eased after China invited Turkish businesses to invest in the Xinjiang region, where most of China's Uighurs live, and Chinese airlines started flights last year that link Istanbul to Beijing and Shanghai with stopovers in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi.

This week, officials announced deals worth $1.4 billion (€1.05 billion) between companies from the two countries as well as a three-year currency swap deal worth $1.6 billion (€1.2 billion) to enable bilateral trade in local currencies.

Altay Atli, coordinator of the Asian Studies Center at Bogazici University in Istanbul, said disputes over Syria and the Uighurs were unlikely to disrupt the pragmatic, economy-oriented relationship between China and Turkey. They were once linked by the Silk Road, the ancient trade network between Asia and Europe. The two countries stood on opposite sides in the Cold War and began to open up to investment at around the same time in the 1980s.

"Turkey wants to be a more assertive player in the region and in the world," Atli said. "This requires close relations with China. For China, on the other hand, Turkey is more important than ever because of China's growing interest in the Middle East."

Atli said he believes Vice President Xi wanted to "set his foot on the stage" in the energy-rich region before becoming, as expected, president of China next year.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122946/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:56:42 +0200
More than 800 people were killed during the uprisings, many of them demonstrators shot dead by security forces.

Egyptians have closely followed the case, and many see its slow progress as an indictment of the council of ruling army generals who took power when Mubarak stepped down.

Critics of the military's handling of the transition to democracy say the trial's pace reflects a wider lack of justice for those killed in the uprising. Egyptian courts have so far not punished any police officers for the protester deaths.

Others have criticized the prosecution's handling of the case, saying it has failed to present strong enough evidence to support a murder charge.

The prosecution is asking for the death sentence for Mubarak, usually carried out by hanging in Egypt. Mubarak's defense team argues that he is still president, and thus can only be tried for treason or in a special court. The judge was expected to set a date for the verdict and sentencing later in the session.

"I have no comment," Mubarak told the judge Wednesday. "What the lawyer said is enough."

Mubarak's Interior Minister at the time, however, spoke for an hour and a half, saying the uprising was the result of a foreign plot to destabilize Egypt.

"I reaffirm before you that there were foreign saboteurs who desecrated Egypt's pure land and were supported by internal criminal elements with the aim of undermining Egypt's international and regional standing and attempting to destabilize its political, security and economic stability," said Habib el-Adly. He ran Mubarak's security services and faces the same charge.

El-Adly said the plot involved "killing peaceful protesters, storming prisons to free terrorist and criminal elements, vandalizing public and private properities and burning policemen inside their vehicles."

Dozens of policemen men were also killed during the uprising.

El-Adly offered his condolences to the families of those killed, prompting laywers in the room to shout, "Butcher! Execution!"

Six other ranking security officers are being tried in the same case. Mubarak, his sons Gamal and Alaa and a close associate are being tried in a separate case on corruption charges.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122941/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:34:46 +0200
It did not identify the two, but only one child's name was on the list of the missing, 5-year-old Dayana Arlotti. She was on the Mediterranean cruise with her father and his girlfriend.

The girlfriend survived; the father is listed among the missing.

The Concordia, which was carrying some 4,200 passengers and crew, struck a reef near the Tuscan island of Giglio on Jan. 13 and capsized.

With Wednesday's development, 21 bodies have now been found and 18 of those have been identified. Another 11 people are still missing.

Most of the victims were found on the capsized ship in the days after the accident. Three corpses were recovered from the water a few hours after it grounded.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122937/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:07:06 +0200
French law lets police question Strauss-Kahn for up to 96 hours with a judge's approval.

French police are probing a suspected prostitution ring that has implicated police and other officials. They have questioned prostitutes who said they had sex with Strauss-Kahn during 2010 and 2011 at a luxury hotel in Paris, a restaurant in the French capital and also in Washington, D.C., where he lived while working for the Washington-based IMF.

Strauss-Kahn is a one-time French presidential hopeful whose political chances were derailed by a sexual assault accusation in New York City and his subsequent resignation from the IMF in May. New York police said he made a hotel maid perform oral sex then dropped the charges when prosecutors said the maid's testimony was unreliable. Strauss-Kahn has said the sexual encounter was "inappropriate" but not violent.

In France, two men with ties to Strauss-Kahn have been put under preliminary investigation on charges including organizing a prostitution ring and misuse of corporate funds.

Strauss-Kahn's name surfaced in the investigation last fall and his lawyer has asked that his client be allowed to tell his side of the story. One of Strauss-Kahn's lawyers has said that his client never knew that the women at orgies he attended were prostitutes.

"He could easily not have known, because as you can imagine, at these kinds of parties you're not always dressed, and I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman," Henri Leclerc told French radio Europe 1 in December.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, has been married for two decades to journalist Anne Sinclair, who recently was named editor of the French version of the Huffington Post.

French newspapers have dubbed the prostitution investigation "The Carlton Affair" after the name of the expensive Lille hotel where some encounters took place.

Investigators are seeking to discover if prostitutes were paid using corporate funds from a large French construction company, Eiffage.

"If these parties and these trips across the Atlantic were being financed by a major French group for purposes of prostitution obviously that puts a lot of people in deep trouble because it is a misuse of corporate money," said Christopher Mesnooh, a legal expert not linked to the Strauss-Kahn case.

The case is unconnected to the now-dropped attempted rape accusations in New York. Despite prosecutors' doubts, the New York hotel maid still insists she was truthful about the encounter. She is pursuing claims against Strauss-Kahn in a civil lawsuit.

In a separate case last October, French prosecutors refused to pursue an allegation by a young French writer of attempted rape by Strauss-Kahn during an 2003 interview with him for a book she was writing when she was 23.

The Paris prosecutor's office said Strauss-Kahn admitted during questioning to actions amounting to sexual assault in the 2003 case but said it couldn't send the case to trial because it happened too long ago.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122933/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:23:00 +0200
Jeffrey Franks's visit comes as the state-owned railway company said it will lay off 1,100 employees next month as part of the IMF austerity demands.

Thousands of Romanians took to the streets last month amid widespread anger over salary cuts and tax increases.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122930/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:55:45 +0200
Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, used to be a province of Serbia. Serbia has vowed to never recognize Kosovo, but the two sides have been in regular talks for the past year on normalizing ties.

Kosovo insists it should be represented in international forums as an independent state. But Serbia maintains that whenever Kosovo's officials participate in international conferences, their nameplates must include a reference to a United Nations' resolution that did not mention Kosovo's independence.

EU officials have expressed cautious optimism that the two sides will agree on a compromise solution.

The European Union wants Belgrade to make new progress in the talks and to implement previous agreements before backing its bid to join the bloc. EU foreign ministers will meet next week to consider whether Serbia has fulfilled conditions required to be a candidate for membership.

Officials said they expected this round of talks — the ninth — to conclude Thursday.

The talks have been restricted to basic issues designed to make life easier for citizens, avoiding bigger issues such as mutual recognition. The two sides have already struck deals on a series of practical issues, including freedom of movement, acceptance of school and university diplomas, and civil registry.

Kosovo has been recognized by more than 80 nations, including 22 of the EU's 27 member states. But Serbia — which considers Kosovo the cradle of its statehood and religion — has blocked its membership in the U.N., where many countries also reject unilateral declarations of independence by separatist regions.

The United States and many in the EU insist Kosovo's statehood is a special case because it is the result of a brutal Serbian ethnic cleansing campaign against Albanian separatists that led to an international administration in 1999, when NATO ejected Serb forces.

NATO still maintains about 5,000 troops in Kosovo to provide security more than a decade after that war.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122927/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:08:22 +0200
A 19-year-old Serbian man was kicked out of his home last year after he publicly said he was gay. Stefan Radovic says his family has cut all ties with him and he has nowhere to live.

Serbia has pledged to protect gay rights as it seeks to join the European Union. But the gay community still faces threats and attacks, and attempts to hold gay pride marches have resulted in clashes with extremists.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122924/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:28:49 +0200
Euro zone finance ministers approved the rescue deal on Tuesday after forcing Greece to make cuts and commit to reforms to make the economy more competitive and by agreeing private bondholders would have to take larger losses.

The Greek parliament will debate a bill, called Collective Action Clauses (CACs), that will force all investors to accept the debt swap once a threshold of two-thirds participation in the transaction is reached.

The debt swap, in which private investors swap their bonds for lower-value debt, is a vital part of the rescue plan aimed at cutting Greece's liabilities from 160 percent of gross domestic product to 120.5 percent by 2020, according to the terms of the deal.

Greece's technocrat prime minister, Lucas Papademos, said on Tuesday the swap had to be completed by March 10 at the latest, 10 days before 14.5 billion euros in debt repayments fall due.

Police placed metal barriers in front of the national assembly to try to prevent a repeat of riots on Feb. 12 when hooded youths torched and looted buildings across central Athens as lawmakers adopted more than 3 billion euros in cuts to wages, jobs and pensions - the price of the bailout.

SURVEILLANCE

The complex deal reached on Tuesday buys time to stabilise the 17-nation currency bloc and strengthen its financial protection against a Greek default, but it leaves deep doubts about Greece's ability to avoid difficulties in the longer term.

It has also angered Greeks by calling for the deployment of a permanent team of foreign inspectors to make sure Athens sticks to the terms of the new bailout, the country's second in less than two years.

The plan reflects the mistrust between Greece and foreign lenders - in particular EU paymaster Germany - after years of backsliding by Athens, but it has riled Greeks whose sense of national pride has been hurt by the threat of bankruptcy.

In an editorial on Wednesday, the conservative daily Eleftheros Typos said default had been avoided "for now".

But the bailout will fail, it said, "as long as the policy of extreme austerity - which has led the country into a vicious circle of recession, driven unemployment to unprecedented levels, cut dramatically the income of workers and pensioners and killed the market - continues".

Parliament must also adopt more than 3 billion euros in budget savings for 2012, already endorsed in principle by lawmakers this month.

The cuts have driven Greece deeper into a recession now in its fifth year, driving unemployment up to almost 21 percent and fuelling unrest.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122923/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:15:33 +0200
A witness reached by Reuters from Amman said shells hit the house in which they were staying and a rocket hit them when they were escaping.

Both were veteran correspondents of wars in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Colvin was a fearless reporter who lost an eye when she suffered a shrapnel wound while working in Sri Lanka in 2001. In public appearances after that attack, she wore a black eye patch.

The Syrian conflict is especially dangerous for journalists to cover as opposition and rebel forces are for the most part bottled up in enclaves.

Pro-opposition areas of Homs have been under a sustained bombardment from government forces since Feb.3. Several hundred people have been killed, activists say.

Last week New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid died of an asthma attack while trying to reach an opposition zone.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122920/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:44:35 +0200
Debt-crippled Greece on Tuesday secured a second international bailout worth €130 billion ($172 billion), as well as the private debt writedown, in exchange for new austerity measures.

Unions are angry at two years of belt-tightening, and have called a protest rally for 4.00 p.m. Previous protests have turned violent, and rioters burnt and looted dozens of shops in central Athens during a rally on Feb. 12.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122911/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:06:21 +0200
Rudd's supporters have called on Gillard to hold a leadership ballot, believing only he can stem haemorrhaging voter support, but a move back to Rudd risks losing the backing of independents who give the minority Labor government a one-seat majority.

"If they go down this stream it is a very high risk strategy and it would more than likely lead to an early election," said Tony Windsor, one of the independents.

Rudd told a news conference in Washington he would return to Australia this week before deciding his future, but ended his announcement asking his ruling Labor party colleagues "who is best placed to defeat (opposition leader) Tony Abbott at the next election?".

The latest leadership turmoil has been fuelled by an ongoing poll slump, with Rudd's backers saying he remains more popular with voters and would help revive party support ahead of the next election, due in late 2013.

But while Rudd is more popular with voters, he is not as well liked within the Labor Party and he alienated may colleagues with imperious style when he was prime minister.

Labor insiders say Gillard has the strong support of the ruling Labor Party, with Rudd supporters numbering around 30 of the 103 Labor Party lawmakers.

Earlier, Gillard was reportedly considering sacking Rudd from the ministry in order to reassert her authority over the government.

While Rudd would be unlikely to win a leadership vote, any surprise Rudd victory could force a snap election as he would need to re-negotiate support from the Greens and independents.

Opposition leader Abbott has vowed to scrap the government's proposed taxes on carbon emissions and mining profits if he wins the next election.

Senior government ministers have in the past week urged Gillard to sack Rudd from the ministry due to the bitter and ongoing speculation that he wants to return as prime minister.

"The simple truth is I cannot continue to serve as foreign minister if I do not have Prime Minister Gillard's support," Rudd said. "The only honourable course of action is for me to resign."

Weeks of leadership instability now undermines Labor's chances of holding power in the state of Queensland at a March 24 poll -- the resource-rich state is also crucial for the national government's re-election.

The Gillard government would be thrown from office if a general election was held now. Australia's next national election is due in 2013.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122910/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:54:48 +0200
The investigation is focused on allegations that a prostitution ring supplied clients of Lille's luxury Carlton Hotel. Police want to establish whether Strauss-Kahn knew that women at parties he attended in Paris and Washington were prostitutes.

He could be deemed free of suspicion, or may be placed under formal investigation for benefitting from misappropriated company funds if investigators conclude that he attended sex sessions with prostitutes that company executives used expense accounts to pay for.

Either way, he could face an uncomfortably timed release from custody on Thursday, with President Nicolas Sarkozy, who he once dreamed of ousting from power, due to arrive in Lille that day for a pre-planned election campaign visit.

Strauss-Kahn made no comment to a crush of reporters and photographers as he arrived by car for questioning early on Tuesday at Lille police station.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, quit his International Monetary Fund post after he was accused last May of trying to rape a New York chambermaid, although criminal charges were later dropped.

Linked later to the Lille affair, Strauss-Kahn asked to speak to police about the case.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyer Henri Leclerc has said his client had no reason to think the women were prostitutes.

"People are not always clothed at these parties. I challenge you to tell the difference between a nude prostitute and a classy lady in the nude," Leclerc told French radio in December.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122905/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:06:45 +0200
Abdul-Jalil said the governing National Transitional Council has made mistakes, but he also criticized former rebels who have formed powerful militias and local governments that have emerged as rivals to the Tripoli-based central government that assumed power after Gadhafi was ousted.

"Both are to blame," he said. "The governmental program to integrate the militias is slow and the revolutionaries don't trust it."

Libya is celebrating the first anniversary of the Feb. 17 start of the revolution last year when peaceful anti-government protesters took up weapons in the face of a deadly crackdown by Gadhafi's forces against their rallies. Libya declared liberation after Gadhafi was captured and killed in October and is getting ready for national assembly elections in June. The new assembly will form a government and set up a panel to draft a constitution.

However, the country has been plagued by revenge attacks by those who suffered at the hands of Gadhafi's forces during the brutal civil war. Human rights groups have documented reports of widespread torture and killings of detainees.

Hundreds of armed militias that fought against Gadhafi's forces are the real power on the ground in the country, wielding control over cities, neighborhoods and borders while the transitional government has been unable to rein in fighters, rebuild decimated institutions or stop widespread corruption.

Underscoring the turmoil, some 50 civilians have been killed in the past 24 hours in tribal warfare in southern Libya, witnesses said Tuesday. But there were conflicting accounts about the cause of the conflict.

Abdul-Jalil said Gadhafi's regime loyalists were "seeding sedition" in Kufra but declined to elaborate on which of the tribes are connected to the former regime.

Salem Samadi, who heads a revolutionary militia and has tried to mediate a truce between the two sides, blamed the outbreak of violence on a fight over smuggling.

Abdul-Jalil, 60, who has led the NTC since it was formed in opposition, said Libyans need years to overcome a culture of corruption, mistrust and build state institutions and rule of law.

"What Gadhafi left for us in Libya after 40 years is a very, very heavy heritage," he said, speaking in his office in Tripoli. "It is very heavy and will be hard to get over it in one or two years or even five years."

He also said that Gadhafi's relatives and loyalists remain a danger because they are hosted by countries that don't have control over them. He didn't name the countries but said that Libya's future relations with neighbors will be determined by how they respond to Libyan demands to hand over former regime forces on their territories.

As the Libyan capital of Tripoli fell to rebel forces, Gadhafi's daughter, Aisha, her mother and two of her brothers fled to neighboring Algeria, while another son Al-Saadi and dozens of senior military officers went to Niger.

"We have to take a strong stance with neighbors," he said.

Libyan officials were angered earlier this month when Al-Saadi Gadhafi, who Niger says is under house arrest, warned in a television interview that his homeland was facing a new uprising. Gadhafi's son told Al-Arabiya TV in a telephone interview that supporters of his father's ousted regime "are suffering tremendously" in Libyan prisons at the hands of the country's new rulers. He also said his return to Libya was imminent.

Abdul-Jalil also said that Gadhafi loyalists have infiltrated revolutionary forces and even formed their own militia.

"We call them the revolutionaries after the revolution," he said.

With regard to the upcoming national assembly elections, Abdul-Jalil said the council will issue a new law banning foreign funding for political parties. Islamists in Libya have been linked to oil-rich gulf country of Qatar, which was a favorite exile for top Libyan Islamists, including those from the Muslim Brotherhood.

"Within 10 days, we will issue rules ... banning receiving funds from outside the country," he said. Abdul-Jalil has said he won't run in the presidential race or seek a future political role.

Abdul-Jalil, who was justice minister under Gadhafi when he defected to the rebels' side, said the NTC has been paralyzed by the need for consensus in decision making and that has stopped it from carrying out much-needed reforms.

"We committed many mistakes," he said. "Democracy and taking votes to make decision in many, many incidents led us to these mistakes," he said. "My vote as someone who entered the council last year is considered equal to a vote of a member who joined the council this February."

Abdul-Jalil enjoys a great amount of popularity in Libya, but he has increasingly been criticized for lacking leadership skills and the inability to take decisive measures.

Mohammed Abdullah, a leading member of Libya National Salvation front, a longtime opposition movement that is transforming itself into a political party, said that was true of all members of the NTC.

"The way the NTC is run is just similar to the old regime with no vision," he said.

Despite his complaints about the inability to rein in armed fighters, Abdul-Jalil paid homage to the sacrifices of fighters in cities that suffered most during the revolution, particularly Misrata.

He said the failure to seriously investigate Gadhafi-era war atrocities as well as the absence of police and courts has left the door open for individuals to take matters into their own hands. Even families who were not linked to Gadhafi regime but fled during the war have been tagged as traitors and forced to leave their houses when they returned.

"Misrata suffered the most, more than any other city but it is also going too far in enmity and expulsions," he said. "Dealing with victorious soldiers is much harder than dealing with the ones defeated."]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122904/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:52:11 +0200
Far from falling, debt burdens are rising fastest in European countries that have enacted the most draconian austerity programs, according to The Associated Press' Global Economy Tracker, which monitors the performance of 30 major economies.

The numbers back up what many analysts say: Austerity isn't just painful. It can be counterproductive and even make a country's debt load grow.

Many fear the cutbacks will cause Europe to sink into a self-defeating spiral: Higher debt leads to harsher austerity, growing social instability and deeper economic problems. Governments could find it even harder to pay their bills.

The pain is already intense. Portugal's unemployment rate hit a record 14 percent at the end of last year. Ireland's economy contracted a worse-than-expected 1.9 percent in the July-September quarter of 2011. And Greece reported that its already basket-case economy shrank 7 percent in the October-December quarter of last year.

"This isn't a healthy situation," says Peter Morici, an economist at the University of Maryland.

Under a deal approved Tuesday by the 17 countries that use the euro and the International Monetary Fund, Greece will get a $172 billion bailout in exchange for accepting another dose of austerity that includes laying off 15,000 civil servants and slashing the minimum wage by 22 percent.

Progress has been made in the bond market, where interest rates on government bonds have declined. That's made it cheaper for some indebted countries to borrow.

But the drop in rates might not last. And the lower rates probably have less to do with budget cutting than with what the countries' central banks are doing: They're buying bonds, which pushes down rates, and providing low-cost loans for banks to do the same.

Borrowing costs haven't eased for every country: The yield on Portugal's 2-year government note is near a painful 13 percent, up from under 5 percent a year ago.

The best way to compare debt burdens among countries is to look at the debt as a percentage of gross domestic product. When it exceeds 90 percent, it's considered bad for an economy's health. GDP is the broadest gauge of economic output.

The AP's Global Economy Tracker illustrates how countries that have imposed austerity measures to slash costs have actually ended up with bigger debt problems:

— Portugal cut pensions, reduced public servants' wages and raised taxes starting in 2010. Yet in the third quarter of 2011, government debt equaled 110 percent of GDP. That was up from 91 percent a year earlier.

— In Ireland, middle-class wages have been reduced 15 percent and the sales tax boosted to 23 percent (the highest in the European Union). But its debt amounted to 105 percent of economic output in the third quarter of last year; a year earlier, it was 88 percent.

— In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron staked his political future on his austerity plan. Government debt ratios, though, reached 80 percent in third-quarter 2011, up from 74 percent a year earlier. And Moody's this month cut its outlook on Britain's prized AAA credit rating from "stable" to "negative."

— In Greece, two years of austerity programs have devastated the economy and triggered riots. Still, the government's debt equaled an alarming 159 percent of the country's GDP in the July-September quarter of 2011. That was up from 139 percent a year earlier.

— Norway, by contrast, has a strong economy and has avoided painful austerity measures. And its debts dropped to 39 percent of GDP in the third quarter, from 43.5 percent in the same quarter of 2010.

Economic conditions deteriorated at the end of last year, suggesting that Europe's government debt likely grew even heavier. Many economists question whether the latest rescue plan can succeed over the long run.

"The Greek debt deal puts off the day of reckoning," says Eswar Prasad, senior professor of trade policy at Cornell University. "We can breathe a sigh of relief for the next few weeks. But a lot of trouble is still coming."

Simple math explains why austerity can worsen government debt: If spending cuts and tax increases tilt a country into recession, GDP shrinks. So debt doesn't even have to grow to become a bigger burden on a contracting economy.

"You can't fix the debt-to-GDP problem if GDP is falling," says David Kelly, chief market strategist for JP Morgan Funds.

Recession also adds strains to the budget. Tax revenue dries up. Spending on unemployment benefits and other social services rises.

Bond investors tend to favor austerity programs, and here's why: The narrower the gap between what a government spends and what it collects in taxes, the likelier it will repay its debts. Countries that strive to balance their budgets are rewarded with lower interest rates on their debt.

That's one reason the yield on Britain's 2-year notes has dropped from 1.5 percent to 0.4 percent over the past year. Likewise, yields on Italian government bonds fell after the country's new technocratic prime minister, Mario Monti, unveiled plans to get the country's finances in order.

But the Bank of England and the European Central Bank can also claim much of the credit for the lower rates. The Bank of England has pushed yields down by actively buying bonds, a policy known as "quantitative easing."

The ECB in December provided hundreds of commercial banks with nearly $640 billion in low-interest three-year loans. The banks used some of this money to buy Spanish and Italian government bonds, pushing yields lower. The central bank intends to make more bank loans later this month.

But the bond-market exuberance may not last.

Olivier Blanchard, chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, has said even bond investors can rebel against austerity, once they realize that government cutbacks can squeeze growth and cause debt burdens to rise.

"There's no doubt that the strategies pursued in Greece, Portugal and Ireland have contributed to a dramatic increase in those countries' overall debt burdens," says Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London.

"Strengthening public finances is a marathon, not a sprint, and it can only take place across a backdrop of reasonably healthy economic activity."

The United States is taking the marathon approach, putting off serious budget cuts until the economy is stronger.

What Europe needs, says Paul Christopher, chief international investment strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors, "is not austerity but economic reforms."

Across Europe, economic growth is constrained by inefficiencies, such as rules that protect favored businesses from competition and generous retirement plans that cost too much and pull productive workers out of the labor force.

But reform takes time that Europe can't spare.

Analysis by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany suggests the outlook is hopeless for Greece. Researchers at the think-tank estimate that Greece would have to turn its annual budget deficit — now about 5 percent of GDP before debt payments — into a daunting surplus of around 30 percent of GDP to return to financial health.

"Greece will most likely not be able to get grip on its debt," write the institute's analysts David Bencek and Henning Klodt. Portugal, too, faces long odds, they found.

The only way out, the University of Maryland's Morici says, is a breakup of the eurozone. Weak countries like Greece and Portugal must abandon the euro and reintroduce their old, less valuable currencies. The return of the weak Greek drachma and Portuguese escudo would make Greek and Portuguese products less expensive in foreign markets and allow them to get a rejuvenating economic boost from growing exports.

The alternative, he says, is deepening pain and social instability.

"The stakes are enormous," Morici says. "Unemployment could easily rocket above 30 percent in Greece for years. With the government having no real means to ease the pain, revolutionary conditions will prevail. Even now Greece is little more than a barn full of straw in the middle of a summer drought."]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122903/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:40:41 +0200
"If they don't die in the shelling, they will die of hunger," activist and resident Omar Shaker told The Associated Press after hours of intense shelling concentrated on the rebel-held neighborhood of Baba Amr that the opposition has extolled as a symbol of their 11-month uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime.

Another 33 people were killed in northern Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya region when government forces raided a town in pursuit of regime opponents, raising Tuesday's overall death toll to 63, activists said. The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group, said more than 100 were killed Tuesday, but the report could not immediately be confirmed by others.

Russia, one of Assad's remaining allies, urged the United Nations to send a special envoy to Syria to help coordinate security issues and delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Assad's forces showed no sign of easing their assault on Homs, Syria's third-largest city, whose defiance has become an embarrassing counterpoint to the regime's insistence that the opposition is mostly armed factions with limited public support.

The rebel defenses in Homs are believed to be bolstered by hundreds of military defectors, which has possibly complicated attempts by Syrian troops to stage an offensive. On Monday, reinforcements of Syrian tanks and soldiers massed outside the city in what could be a prelude to a ground attack.

"Government troops have been unable to advance because of stiff resistance from defectors inside," an activist in Homs told the AP on condition of anonymity, because of fears of government reprisal. Another activist in Homs said the shelling started after repeated attempts by troops to storm the edges of Baba Amr, which the opposition has dubbed "Syria's Misrata" after the Libyan city that refused to fall to withering government attacks last year.

One Homs resident, communicating with the AP by Internet chat, said many people are unable or too scared to go to the hospital for treatment. Some are bleeding to death at home.

"My cousin is a doctor and he said they've given up on treating serious wounds. The numbers are too many to cope with especially with so little supplies," said the resident, who has provided reliable information in the past. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity because of the fear of reprisal.

The resident, who lives just outside Baba Amr, said people in the neighborhood were surviving mostly on stocks of rice and canned corn and tuna, but those supplies also were running out fast after several weeks of attacks.

Some people go without bread for days, and when grocery stores and bakeries reopen during a lull in the shelling, long lines form quickly, the resident said, adding that shortages exist of all kinds of foodstuffs and vegetables.

The Red Cross said it has been negotiating with Syrian authorities and members of the opposition to agree a temporary cease-fire so emergency aid can reach beleaguered parts of the country.

"The current situation requires an immediate decision to implement a humanitarian pause in the fighting," said Jakob Kellenberger, the president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross. "In Homs and in other affected areas, entire families have been stuck for days in their homes, unable to step outside to get bread, other food or water, or to obtain medical care."

Kellenberger said the cease-fire should last at least two hours daily, so that Red Cross staff and Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers have enough time to deliver aid and evacuate the wounded.

Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, the ICRC's head of operations for the Middle East, described Homs as "sort of a ghost city," adding that other parts of Syria also were badly affected by the fighting.

White House spokesman Jay Carney backed a Red Cross call for a daily cease-fire in Syria in order to deliver humanitarian aid.

"The reprehensible actions perpetrated by the Syrian regime, the brutal violence perpetrated by the Syrian leader against his own people, has led us to this situation where basic supplies, humanitarian supplies are very scarce and therefore action needs to be taken," Carney said.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington was focused on "increasing the international isolation and the international pressure on the Assad regime to stop the violence altogether, so that we can move on to a democratic transition."

In the northern province of Aleppo, the government said a Syrian businessman, Mahmoud Ramadan, was shot to death in front of his home in what appeared to be the latest in a series of targeted killings. The attacks, which include the slaying of an Aleppo city council member Saturday, suggest that rebel factions are increasing turning to arms to strike back at members of Assad's ruling system.

Residents and activists say a monthslong siege and stepped up attacks on Baba Amr recently have left the district without enough food, water, medicine and electricity.

"They bombed all the water tanks on the roofs of buildings. There's no water. Some people have gone without bread for days," said Shaker, who estimated the shells fell at a rate of about 10 per minute at some points in the attack. More than 200 people were wounded, he said, adding that two children were among the dead.

Phone lines with Homs have been cut, making it difficult to get firsthand accounts from residents.

One amateur video posted on the Internet showed thick smoke and shells slamming behind a building in Baba Amr. Another showed a shop on the ground floor of a building on fire as a narrator cries: "We are dying. Where are the Arabs?"

The Arab League has tried to pressure Assad into a peace process with the opposition, but he has refused.

In another possible shift away from Assad, about 500 Palestinians gathered in Gaza at a Hamas-authorized demonstration in solidarity with Syrian protesters.

Assad has long hosted and supported leaders of the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules Gaza. But as the body count in Syria continues to rise, Hamas has been trying to distance itself from Damascus. Hamas has forged closer ties with rich Gulf states that oppose the Syrian regime and seeks to undercut Iran's influence.

A planned international meeting later this week in Tunisia will seek ways to help the Syrian people.

"People don't care if it's the devil intervening to save us from Bashar. We need the world's help," Shaker said.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Tuesday it will not attend the planned "Friends of Syria" meeting because organizers did not invite Syrian government representatives.

Russia and China have vetoed two U.N. Security Council resolutions backing Arab League plans aimed at ending the conflict and condemning Assad's crackdown on protests that killed 5,400 people in 2011 alone, according to the U.N. Hundreds more have been killed since, activist groups say. One of the groups puts the toll at more than 7,300.

Lukashevich said the meeting wouldn't help a dialogue, saying that the global community should act as friends of all the Syrian people, not just one part.

"It looks like an attempt to forge some kind of international coalition like it was with the setting up of a 'Contact Group' for Libya," he said.

Russia has said it will block any U.N. resolution that could pave the way for a replay of what happened in Libya. In that case, Russia abstained from a vote, which cleared the way for months of NATO airstrikes that helped Libyans end Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

In Jerusalem, Sen. John McCain condemned Russia and China for vetoing sanctions against Syria, saying their action was "not the behavior of mature nations." He suggested that weapons should be sent to those fighting the regime.

Iran — Syria's other strong ally — sent two warships through the Suez Canal on Tuesday on their way back from the Syrian port of Tartus. The ships had reportedly docked in Syria over the weekend on a mission to provide training for Syria's naval forces, according to Iranian media reports.

The Pentagon disputed those reports, saying there was no indication the ships had docked or delivered any cargo. U.S. Defense Department spokesman George Little said the Iranian ships now appear to be going back through the Suez Canal again.

Assad has announced a Feb. 26 referendum on a new constitution. The charter would allow a bigger role for political opposition to challenge Assad's Baath Party, which has controlled Syria since a 1963 coup. But leaders of the uprising have dismissed the referendum as an attempt at superficial reforms that do nothing to break the regime's hold on power.

In Jordan, Bernardino Leon, the EU's representative for the Southern Mediterranean, said Assad's regime missed the opportunity for reforms. "Syria is definitely not in a transition despite announcements of changes, despite plans for a referendum," Leon told reporters.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122902/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:31:15 +0200
"I'm not going to be able to continue with the same rhythm," Chavez told state TV via telephone Tuesday night, adding that he would need to "rethink my personal agenda and take care of myself, confront what must be confronted."

The announcement thrust Venezuelan politics into new uncertainty because the socialist leader is seeking re-election this year, hoping to extend his more than 13 years in power with a new six-year term.

Initialy announcing the lesion in an afternoon state TV appearance from his home state of Barinas, Chavez said the lesion was about "two centimeters (less than one inch) in diameter, very clearly visible."

He said it would be removed by the same surgeons who excised a tumor from his pelvic region last June, and expected the new operation would be less complicated.

Chavez, 57, did not say when he would depart for Cuba. He said he would attend to government business Wednesday, including signing papers, meeting with the Cabinet and armed forces leaders.

He said he would head for Havana "without haste. All in good time."

A leading Colombian oncologist, Dr. Carlos Castro, said that if Chavez undergoes radiation therapy that typically means a minimum of 10 daily sessions, which means Chavez would need to name a temporary replacement while undergoing treatment.

From July to September, Chavez received four rounds of chemotherapy, both in Cuba and in Venezuela, and subsequently said tests showed he was cancer-free.

On Tuesday, Chavez denied rumors that the cancer had spread aggressively.

"I completely deny what's going around that I have metastasis in the liver or I don't know where, that the cancer has spread all over my body and that I'm already dying," he said.

He has never specified the cancer's exact nature or location, and critics have repeatedly accused Chavez of a lack of transparency.

Analyst Cynthia Arnson of the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington said Tuesday's announcement seriously complicates Chavez's prospects for re-election on Oct. 7.

"It's now clear that Chavez's cancer is far from cured. Chavez's illness — his ability to campaign as well as to govern — is a major factor in the race. It erodes the aura of invincibility as well as inevitability that Chavez has always tried to create," she said.

The governing party will also be vexed as it lacks an alternative with Chavez's charisma and popular following, Arnson said. She predicted "a tight race (will get) even tighter" against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, a 39-year-old state governor.

He said rumors, including that the cancer has been spreading, prompted him to go public. He had been out of public sight since Friday, not announcing his trip to Cuba.

His government's handling of unconfirmed reports that he spent the weekend there undergoing medical tests turned out to be ham-fisted. On Monday, repeated attempts by The Associated Press to confirm the reports went unanswered, and Communications Minister Andres Izarra vehemently denied them online.

"Regarding the rumors, dirty war from the gutter," Izarra tweeted.

Also Monday, an employee of the Venezuela Embassy in Havana said there was no indication Chavez had gone to Cuba or planned to do so. The person did say that some members of the presidential family were in Cuba but had already left. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity, lacking authorization to discuss the matter publicly.

Chavez, whose approval ratings have topped 50 percent in recent polls, has in recent weeks recovered the hair he shaved off during chemotherapy and appeared vigorous, albeit puffy around the face and neck. He had returned to a full schedule of activities including marathon television appearances.

"I am in good physical shape to confront this new battle," Chavez said on Tuesday afternoon.

He later choked up, reflecting on mortality in the phone call.

"I ask for life," he said. "I want to live with you and fight with you until the last moment of this life that God gave me."

He called on his backers to "accelerate the (electoral) battle."

Doctors consulted by the AP said it was difficult to assess Chavez's prognosis.

But Dr. Javier Cebrian, a colorectal specialist and chief surgeon at University Hospital in Caracas, said news that the lesion was in the very place the initial tumor was removed was not good.

"A local recurrence is a bad symptom because it means the illness is growing again," he said.

"It's an ominous sign," said Dr. Michael Pishvaian, a Georgetown University oncologist. He said doctors often use the term lesion to refer to a new tumor, which appears to fit Chavez's description.

He said such a reappearance, particularly when a patient has undergone surgery then chemotherapy, suggests cancerous cells have resisted the treatments.

Many Venezuelans have been impressed by Chavez's fortitude.

"It's already established that Chavez is a superman because he was sick and he didn't delegate to anyone," said Luis Montilla, a 51-year-old lawyer.

Capriles' campaign coordinator, Armando Briquet, said he and his team wish Chavez "a complete recovery" and "a long life although we have always been critical about the lack of real information about the president's health."

Capriles claims Chavez has exploited his lengthy rule to balance the scales against a fair election, taking advantage of government money and slanted coverage in state media.

He is a strident critic of Chavez's expropriations of hundreds of businesses, apartment buildings and farms over the past decade.

The government's generous spending has made Chavez a hero to many of his supporters, which make up a large segment of Venezuela's poor.

Opponents say Chavez has done nothing to combat Venezuela's rampant violent crime and blame him for 26 percent inflation. His opponents also criticize the former paratroop commander for his strident anti-U.S. rhetoric and defense of Iran and its nuclear program.

The U.S. Embassy in Caracas has been without an ambassador since July 2010.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122901/ World Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:15:57 +0200
Under a deal reached Tuesday after a 12-hour negotiating marathon in Brussels, Greece will get 130 billion euros ($172 billion) from other European nations and the International Monetary Fund to meet its immediate debt obligations. That was Greece's second bailout following a 110 billion euros ($146 billion) rescue in 2010.

Separately, private investors in Greek bonds will be asked to forgive 107 billion euros in debt — a 53.5 percent loss on the face value of their bonds. Such action could dampen any willingness for future investments in debt-mired Greece.

It remains uncertain whether the deal will give Greece enough time to enact economic reforms and get back on the path to growth. Many hurdles remain.

"The positive reaction to the Greek bailout deal failed to gain traction leaving risk assets under a degree of pressure. The fact that the deal was highly expected played a role in the unenthusiastic reaction but markets may also be cautious given the major tasks that still (lie) ahead," said analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.

Budget cuts could keep Greece's economy in deep recession instead of returning to growth in 2013, as the deal assumes. That would undermine chances of paying even the reduced debt load. Spending cuts could reduce tax revenue and possibly worsen the government's finances.

The deal also doesn't directly address the debt problems in other struggling countries that use the euro.

In Asian trading, Hong Kong-listed Alibaba.com soared 42.5 percent after its parent said it wants to take the Chinese e-commerce company private for $2.5 billion, part of a shift in business strategy that also includes plans to buy back a stake from Yahoo Inc.

Benchmark oil for April delivery was down 44 cents to $105.81 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose by $2.65 to finish at $106.25 per barrel on Tuesday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3226 from $1.3244 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar rose to 79.84 yen from 79.71 yen.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122896/ World Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:16:38 +0200
"If they don't die in the shelling, they will die of hunger," activist and resident Omar Shaker told The Associated Press after hours of intense shelling concentrated on the rebel-held neighborhood of Baba Amr, which the opposition has extolled as a symbol of their 11-month uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime.

Another 33 people were killed in northern Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya region when government forces raided a town in pursuit of regime opponents, raising Tuesday's overall death toll to 63, activists said. The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group, said more than 100 were killed Tuesday, but the report could not immediately be confirmed by others.

Russia, one of Assad's remaining allies, urged the United Nations to send a special envoy to Syria to help coordinate security issues and delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Assad's forces showed no sign of easing their assault on Homs, Syria's third-largest city, whose defiance has become an embarrassing counterpoint to the regime's insistence that the opposition is mostly armed factions with limited public support.

The rebel defenses in Homs are believed to be bolstered by hundreds of military defectors, which has possibly complicated attempts by Syrian troops to stage an offensive. On Monday, reinforcements of Syrian tanks and soldiers massed outside the city in a possible prelude to a ground attack.

"Government troops have been unable to advance because of stiff resistance from defectors inside," an activist in Homs told the AP on condition of anonymity, because of fears of government reprisal. Another activist in Homs said the shelling started after repeated attempts by troops to storm the edges of Baba Amr, which the opposition has dubbed "Syria's Misrata" after the Libyan city that refused to fall to withering government attacks last year.

One Homs resident, communicating with the AP by Internet chat, said many people are unable or too scared to go to the hospital for treatment. Some are bleeding to death at home.

"My cousin is a doctor and he said they've given up on treating serious wounds. The numbers are too many to cope with especially with so little supplies," said the resident, who has provided reliable information in the past. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity because of the fear of reprisal.

The Red Cross said it has been negotiating with Syrian authorities and members of the opposition to agree a temporary cease-fire so emergency aid can reach beleaguered parts of the country.

"The current situation requires an immediate decision to implement a humanitarian pause in the fighting," said Jakob Kellenberger, the president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross. "In Homs and in other affected areas, entire families have been stuck for days in their homes, unable to step outside to get bread, other food or water, or to obtain medical care."

Kellenberger said the cease-fire should last at least two hours daily, so that Red Cross staff and Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers have enough time to deliver aid and evacuate the wounded.

Asked about the Red Cross' cease-fire call, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland insisted the violence "needs to stop completely."

But, she added, "if a pause is the best we can do, then obviously we want to be able to get humanitarian aid and we want international organizations to be able to get humanitarian aid to those who are suffering from Assad's onslaught."

Nuland said Washington was focused on "increasing the international isolation and the international pressure on the Assad regime to stop the violence altogether, so that we can move on to a democratic transition."

In the northern province of Aleppo, the government said a Syrian businessman, Mahmoud Ramadan, was shot to death in front of his home in what appeared to be the latest in a series of targeted killings. The attacks, which include the slaying of an Aleppo city council member Saturday, suggest that rebel factions are increasing turning to arms to strike back at members of Assad's ruling system.

Residents and activists say a monthslong siege and stepped up attacks on Baba Amr recently have left the district without enough food, water, medicine and electricity.

"They bombed all the water tanks on the roofs of buildings. There's no water. Some people have gone without bread for days," said Shaker, who estimated the shells fell at a rate of about 10 per minute at some points in the attack. More than 200 people were wounded, he said, adding that two children were among the dead.

Phone lines with Homs have been cut, making it difficult to get firsthand accounts from residents.

One amateur video posted on the Internet showed thick smoke and shells slamming behind a building in Baba Amr. Another showed a shop on the ground floor of a building on fire as a narrator cries: "We are dying. Where are the Arabs?"

The Arab League has tried to pressure Assad into a peace process with the opposition, but he has refused.

In another possible shift away from Assad, about 500 Palestinians gathered in Gaza at a Hamas-authorized demonstration in solidarity with Syrian protesters.

Assad has long hosted and supported leaders of the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules Gaza. But as the body count in Syria continues to rise, Hamas has been trying to distance itself from Damascus. Hamas has forged closer ties with rich Gulf states that oppose the Syrian regime and seeks to undercut Iran's influence.

A planned international meeting later this week in Tunisia will seek ways to help the Syrian people.

"People don't care if it's the devil intervening to save us from Bashar. We need the world's help," Shaker said.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Tuesday it will not attend the planned "Friends of Syria" meeting because organizers did not invite Syrian government representatives.

Russia and China have vetoed two U.N. Security Council resolutions backing Arab League plans aimed at ending the conflict and condemning Assad's crackdown on protests that killed 5,400 people in 2011 alone, according to the U.N. Hundreds more have been killed since, activist groups say. One of the groups puts the toll at more than 7,300.

Lukashevich said the meeting wouldn't help a dialogue, saying that the global community should act as friends of all the Syrian people, not just one part.

"It looks like an attempt to forge some kind of international coalition like it was with the setting up of a 'Contact Group' for Libya," he said.

Russia has said it will block any U.N. resolution that could pave the way for a replay of what happened in Libya. In that case, Russia abstained from a vote, which cleared the way for months of NATO airstrikes that helped Libyans end Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

Iran — Syria's other strong ally — sent two warships through the Suez Canal on Tuesday on their way back from the Syrian port of Tartus. The ships had reportedly docked in Syria over the weekend on a mission to provide training for Syria's naval forces, according to Iranian media reports.

The Pentagon disputed those reports, saying there was no indication the ships had docked or delivered any cargo. U.S. Defense Department spokesman George Little said the Iranian ships now appear to be going back through the Suez Canal again.

Assad has announced a Feb. 26 referendum on a new constitution. The charter would allow a bigger role for political opposition to challenge Assad's Baath Party, which has controlled Syria since a 1963 coup. But leaders of the uprising have dismissed the referendum as an attempt at superficial reforms that do nothing to break the regime's hold on power.

In Jordan, Bernardino Leon, the EU's representative for the Southern Mediterranean, said Assad's regime missed the opportunity for reforms. "Syria is definitely not in a transition despite announcements of changes, despite plans for a referendum," Leon told reporters.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122895/ World Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:34:51 +0200
The signatures are then made public.

Le Pen, who enjoys strong support in opinion polls, says the signature rule works against her anti-immigrant party, which has argued that the rule violates the constitution.

The Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that the public signatures are constitutional and aimed at increasing political transparency.

The deadline for submitting signatures is March 16 and the first round of elections is April 22.]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122873/ World Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:31:57 +0200 Dominique Strauss-Kahn was questioned by police on Tuesday over his dealings with an alleged prostitution ring that was run from the northern French city of Lille and organised sex parties in Paris, Brussels and Washington.]]> www.kyivpost.ua]]> http://www.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/122892/ World Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:36:49 +0200
The funds are from a human resources program that invests in vocational training, trade associations, non-governmental groups and companies that hire disadvantaged groups such as Gypsies, or Roma. Romania joined the EU in 2007.

President Traian Basescu says Romania has a very poor absorption of EU money due to public workers who are either incompetent or corrupt.]]>