Maravot world news

News Headlines & Trends

02.03.12 Why the GOP should stop invoking Reaganomics
February 3 (By Bruce Barlett, a domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan) In their debates, ads and speeches, the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination are vying for the label of most Reagan-esque. On taxes, "I take the Reagan approach," former senator Rick Santorum said at a recent Florida debate. On the economy, "under Ronald Reagan, we had . . . the right laws, the right regulators, the right leadership," former House speaker Newt Gingrich said in a debate before his South Carolina primary victory. Judging from the candidates’ tax proposals, they seem to believe that the most Reagan-like candidate is the one with the biggest tax cut. But, as the person who drafted the 1981 Reagan tax cut, I think Republicans misunderstand the premises upon which Reagan’s economic policies were based, and why those policies can’t — and shouldn't — be replicated today.

I was the staff economist for Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) in 1977, and it was my job to draft what came to be the Kemp-Roth tax bill, which Reagan endorsed in 1980 and enacted the following year. Kemp and Sen. Bill Roth (R-Del.) proposed cutting tax rates across the board by about a third, lowering the top rate from 70 percent to 50 percent and reducing the bottom rate from 20 percent to 8 percent. (Though when the Reagan tax cut was enacted in 1981, the bottom rate was reduced to 11 percent.) While our aim was to increase growth and employment, we were intent on doing so in a way that did not exacerbate inflation, which was the nation’s top problem at that time. After all, growth was not particularly sluggish in the late 1970s — the economy grew at 5.4 percent in 1976, 4.6 percent in 1977 and 5.6 percent in 1978. (We haven’t seen three consecutive years as good since.) But people didn't feel very prosperous because inflation and unemployment were high. The unemployment rate was around 7 percent during those three years, and inflation accelerated, going from 4.9 percent in 1976 to an astonishing 13.3 percent in 1979.

...Keynesian economics, which was the dominant theory at the time, said that higher taxes would curb inflation by reducing people’s disposable income and spending, and that any tax cut would exacerbate inflation. Our thinking, by contrast, was that lower taxes would increase the incentive to work, save and invest; if that led to an increase in the supply of goods and services, then the impact would be anti-inflationary...Republicans like to say that massive growth followed the Reagan tax cut. But average real GDP growth during Reagan’s eight years in the White House was only slightly above the rate of the previous eight years: 3.4 percent per year vs. 2.9 percent.The average unemployment rate was actually higher under Reagan than it was during the previous eight years: 7.5 percent vs. 6.6 percent. [Full story>>washingtonpost.com]

02.03.12 Iran helping al-Qaeda? War 'hysteria' builds
February 3 - Reported concerns among some US officials that Iran may have essentially freed a group of al-Qaeda militants held for almost a decade under house arrest in the Islamic Republic are adding Friday morning to the escalating war-rhetoric pouring out of Washington and Israel. According to The Wall Street Journal, some government officials believe Iran's move to allow the men greater freedom - which may include permission to leave the country — suggests the nation's hardline rulers are trying to bolster a link between themselves and the radical Muslim terror group as Western pressure mounts on both entities. The report is particularly disconcerting as it follows closely on the heels of America's intelligence chief James Clapper warning US lawmakers that Iran is, "more willing to conduct an attack in the United States" as sanctions hit its economy and talk of Israel attacking its military and nuclear installations gains volume. Clapper offered no specific evidence in public to suggest Iran is looking to plan further attacks on the US after its highly flawed and failed plot to kill a Saudi official in Texas last year. But the war rhetoric is getting louder. US defense chief Leon Panetta believes, says CBS News national security correspondent David Martin, there's a strong likelihood Israel could strike Iran as early as April if diplomatic pressure fails to convince the Iranians to reveal — and dramatically reign-in — their controversial and secretive nuclear work. [More>>cbsnews.com; See related story,

alarabiya.net, February 3, "Iran's Khamenei threatens retaliation against oil embargo, military attack" : ...“Threatening Iran and attacking Iran will harm America ... Sanctions will not have any impact on our determination to continue our nuclear course ... In response to threats of oil embargo and war, we have our own threats to impose at the right time,” Khamenei told worshipers in a speech broadcast live on state television. "I have no fear of saying that we will back and help any nation or group that wants to confront and fight against the Zionist regime (Israel)."

02.03.12 More deaths reported in Syria as Russia says it cannot support amended draft
February 3 - Protesters flooded towns and cities across Syria defying a brutal government crackdown on Friday to commemorate the notorious 1982 massacre in the city of Hama that killed tens of thousands. As many as 34 people have been killed by the gunfire of Syrian security forces across the country, Al Arabiya reported citing Syrian activists. UN Security Council envoys awaited a decision by Moscow on Friday on the latest version of a European-Arab draft resolution endorsing an Arab League plan for Syria, and some diplomats said the Kremlin may go along with it. A senior Western envoy said the council’s 15 ambassadors had agreed the new text on Thursday, but that the final decision rested with national capitals. “The Russians said ... on ambassadorial level ... they stand by the text ... and the Chinese said the same thing,” the envoy said, according to Reuters. However, Russia said it cannot support a Western-Arab draft UN Security Council resolution on Syria despite changes that took some of its concerns into account, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying on Friday. [More>>alarabiya.net]

02.03.12 Kuwaiti Islamist-led opposition wins majority
February 3 - Opposition secures 34 out of 50 seats in snap parliamentary elections held after anti-corruption protests in December. Kuwait's Islamist-led opposition has won a landslide majority in snap polls, securing 34 seats in the 50-member parliament, officials results showed. The snap polls were held after the ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state dissolved parliament following youth-led protests in December over alleged corruption and bitter disputes between opposition MPs and the government. Sunni Islamists took 23 seats compared with just nine in the dissolved parliament, while liberals were the big losers, winning only two places against five previously. No women were elected, with the four female MPs of the previous parliament all losing their seats. Sixty-two percent of Kuwaitis cast their ballots on Thursday, up slightly from 58 per cent in the previous election in 2009. Voters punished pro-government MPs, reducing them to a small minority, especially 13 former members who were questioned by the public prosecutor over corruption charges. The opposition scored strongly in the two tribal-dominated constituencies, winning 18 of the 20 available seats. [More>>aljazeera.com]

02.03.12 Street battle rages near Egypt's Interior Ministry
CAIRO (Reuters) February 3 - Rock-throwing protesters fought riot police through clouds of teargas to within meters of Egypt's Interior Ministry on a second day of clashes triggered by the deaths of 74 people in the country's worst soccer disaster. A demonstrator and an army officer were reported dead in Cairo and in the city of Suez two people were killed as police used live rounds to hold back crowds trying to break into a police station and fought in front of the state security headquarters, witnesses and the ambulance authority said. Most of those killed in the Port Said football stadium on Wednesday night were crushed in a stampede and the government declared three days of mourning, but protesters hold the military-led authorities responsible. It was country's deadliest incident since an uprising ousted Hosni Mubarak almost a year ago and it gave fresh impetus to regular street protests against Egypt's ruling generals. "We will stay until we get our rights. Did you see what happened in Port Said?" said 22-year-old Abu Hanafy, who arrived from work Thursday evening and decided to join the protest. [More>>thestar.com.my]

02.02.12 Egypt football riot: Port Said officials sacked
February 2 - Senior officials in the Egyptian city of Port Said and the Egyptian football association have been sacked in the wake of riots on Wednesday at a football match in which 74 people died. The governor of Port Said resigned, while two senior security officials have been suspended and are in custody. Security forces fired tear gas as thousands of protesters marched towards the interior ministry in Cairo. Three days of national mourning have been declared. Protesters in Cairo chanted slogans against the police and Egypt's military rulers. [More>>bbc.co.uk]

02.02.12 Philippines: Most-wanted terror leaders killed
Manila, Philippines (AP) February 2 - The Philippine military said it killed Southeast Asia’s most-wanted terrorist and two other senior militants Thursday in a US-backed airstrike marking one of the region’s biggest anti-terrorism successes in recent years. The dawn strike targeting a militant camp on a southern Philippine island killed Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, a top leader of the regional, al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, said military spokesman Col. Marcelo Burgos. The US had offered a $5 million reward for the capture of Marwan, a US-trained engineer accused of involvement in a number of deadly bombings in the Philippines and in training new militants. Also killed were the leader of the Philippine-based Abu Sayyaf militants, Umbra Jumdail, and a Singaporean leader in Jemaah Islamiyah, Abdullah Ali, who used the guerrilla name Muawiyah, Burgos said. The strike significantly weakens a regional militant network that has relied on the restive southern Philippines — sometimes called Southeast Asia’s Afghanistan — as a hideout, a headquarters for planning bombings and a base for training and recruitment. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

02.02.12 US 'no-fly' list of suspected terrorists doubles in 12 months
February 2 - Classified log of individuals banned from flying into or within America as they are considered a threat stands at 21,000. The size of the US government's secret list of suspected terrorists who are banned from flying to or within the country has more than doubled in the past year. The no-fly list jumped from about 10,000 known or suspected terrorists one year ago to about 21,000, according to government figures. About 500 are US nationals. The flood of new names began after the failed Christmas 2009 bombing of a Detroit-bound jetliner when the US government lowered the standard for putting people on the list and scoured its files for anyone who qualified. "We learned a lot about the watch-listing process and made strong improvements, which continue to this day," said Timothy Healy, director of the Terrorist Screening Center, which produces the no-fly list. Among the most significant new standard[s] is that a person doesn't have to be considered only a threat to aviation to be placed on the list. People considered a broader threat to domestic or international security or who attended a terror training camp are also included, said a US counter-terrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity. As agencies complete the reviews of their files, the pace of growth is expected to slow, the counter-terrorism official said. The American Civil Liberties Union has previously sued the US government on behalf of Americans who believe they are on the no-fly list and have not been able to travel by air for work or to see family. [More>>guardian.co.uk]

02.02.12 Kidnapped aid workers released in Yemen, 5 militants dead
(Reuters) February 2 - Six kidnapped foreign aid workers have been released in Yemen, the defense ministry said on Thursday, and a military source said separately that five Islamist militants were killed in clashes with the armed forces in the country's south. "The six aid workers were released...after mediation efforts led by Energy Minister Saleh Samee," the defense ministry said in a statement. "They are in good health." It said the aid workers were of Yemeni, German, Palestinian, Iraqi, and Colombian origin. A UN source said the six worked for its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Kidnappings, which come against the backdrop of relentless anti-government protests, have become common in Yemen where hostages are often used by disgruntled tribesmen to press their demands on authorities, and are usually freed unharmed. One of the kidnappers told Reuters the release was under way after a delay earlier when one of the hostages had fallen ill. He said the hostage was now well after receiving medical treatment, adding the government had agreed to release a tribesman in exchange for the hostages. [More>>alarabiya.net]

02.01.12 Iran says 11 more pilgrims kidnapped in Syria
TEHRAN (AFP) February 1 - Eleven Iranian pilgrims were kidnapped on Wednesday in Syria, in the latest such incident in the unrest-swept Arab state, the state news agency IRNA reported. It said the latest case raised to 29 the number of Iranians abducted in Syria since December. The foreign ministry has urged Damascus "to use all means ... to release" Iranian nationals. Iran’s consul at the embassy in Damascus, Abdolmajid Kamjou, quoted by IRNA, said the latest batch was snatched in the central city of Hama after the mission had warned Iranian pilgrims to avoid road trips in Syria. "Armed people are trying to take advantage of our pilgrims in order to propagate that Iran is sending forces to Syria, but this is just a pretext. All of the Iranians kidnapped so far are civilians," he said. Syria is Iran’s main ally in the Arab world. Anti-regime circles have accused Tehran of aiding the regime’s crackdown on dissent. Last Friday, the rebel Free Syrian Army claimed to have captured five Iranian military officers in the restive city of Homs and urged Tehran to "immediately" withdraw any other troops it may have in Syria. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Tuesday warned against US “interference” in Syria’s internal affairs while saying he backed reform for the Syrian people. [>khaleejtimes.com]

02.01.12 Clashes rage in Syria as Russia delays UN vote
(AFP) February 1 - The latest wave of violent clashes in Syria left dozens dead on Wednesday as Russia told Western powers and the Arab League that a UN vote on a tough resolution against President Bashar al-Assad would need more time. Fresh bloodshed swept Syria on Wednesday after Western powers and the Arab League demanded immediate UN action to stop the regime's "killing machine" but holdout Russia said any vote needed more time. Wrangling at the United Nations came as fierce clashes raged across Syria's powder keg regions between President Bashar al-Assad's security forces and rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army. At least eight civilians and 15 soldiers were killed during fierce fighting in the central Syrian city of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Activists said the unrest had killed nearly 200 people nationwide over the previous three days. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, backed by her French and British counterparts and Qatar's premier, led the charge on Tuesday for a tough UN resolution that would call on Assad to end the bloodshed and hand over power. "We all know that change is coming to Syria. Despite its ruthless tactics, the Assad regime's reign of terror will end," Clinton told the UN Security Council. "The question for us is: how many more innocent civilians will die before this country is able to move forward?" [More>>france24.com]

02.01.12 London Stock Exchange bomb plot admitted by four men
February 1 - Four men inspired by al-Qaeda have admitted planning to detonate a bomb at the London Stock Exchange. Mohammed Chowdhury, Shah Rahman, Gurukanth Desai and Abdul Miah pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism. The men, from London and Cardiff, were arrested in December 2010 and were set to stand trial at Woolwich Crown Court. Five other men have pleaded guilty to other terrorism offenses and all nine will be sentenced next week. The men, who are all British nationals, had been inspired by the preachings of the recently-killed radical extremist Anwar Al-Awlaki. [More>>bbc.co.uk]

02.01.12 Iran warns currency speculators as rial continues to fall
TEHRAN, February 1 - Faced with a plummeting currency in the wake of toughened international sanctions, Iran is cracking down on black-market money changers and warning that major speculators could face execution. The crackdown comes as Iranian authorities are struggling to stabilize the rial, which has nosedived amid announcements of new US and European sanctions against Iran’s central bank and oil exports. As a warning to speculators, several money changers working on the streets of central Tehran have been arrested by undercover police officers pretending to be desperately seeking foreign currency. In addition, the hard-line chief of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani, threatened Wednesday to seek the death penalty for major speculators. Speaking about the unrest in the foreign-exchange markets, he warned that “depending on the importance of their crimes, some of the economic corrupted can face execution,” the semiofficial Mehr News Agency quoted him as saying in a meeting with judicial officials on the currency crisis. [More>>washingtonpost.com]

02.01.12 Taliban 'poised to retake Afghanistan' after NATO pullout
KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) February 1 - A secret US military report says that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control over Afghanistan after NATO-led forces withdraw from the country, The Times newspaper reported on Wednesday. Lt. Col Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), confirmed the document's existence but said it was not a strategic study of operations. "The classified document in question is a compilation of Taliban detainee opinions," he said. "It's not an analysis, nor is it meant to be considered an analysis." Nevertheless, it could be interpreted as a damning assessment of the war, now dragging into its eleventh year and aimed at blocking a Taliban return to power, or possibly an admission of defeat. It could also reinforce the view of Taliban hardliners that the group should not negotiate peace with the United States and President Hamid Karzai's unpopular government while in a position of strength. The document cited by Britain's The Times said that Pakistan's powerful security agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was assisting the Taliban in directing attacks against foreign forces. The allegations drew a strong response from Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit. "This is frivolous, to put it mildly," he told Reuters. "We are committed to non-interference in Afghanistan." The Times said the "highly classified" report was put together by the US military at Bagram air base in Afghanistan for top NATO officers last month. The BBC also carried a report on the leaked document. [More>>timesofindia.indiatimes.com; See related stories,

indianexpress.com, February 1, "NATO report rips open Pakistan 'double game' in Afghanistan" : Exposing the ISI's "manipulation" of Taliban's senior leadership and its "massive double game," a damning NATO report says that Pakistan government remains "intimately" involved with the Afghan-based terror group. The report leaked out on a day when Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar arrived in Kabul on a one-day visit for talks with Afghan leadership. The NATO report contains accusations that Pakistan is playing a massive double game with the West as it publicly claims to seek a political solution to the Afghan conflict, while still supporting fighters who have killed thousands of international troops. Many of the reports most serious revelations concern the scale of support to the Taliban provided by Pakistan and the influence of ISI agency. "The Pakistan government remains intimately involved with the Taliban," The Telegraph quoted the report as saying. The report was first leaked to The Times newspaper and the BBC. Reacting to the report, Khar was quoted as saying, "We can disregard this as a potentially strategic leak... This is old wine in an even older bottle." The report — on the state of the Taliban — fully exposes for the first time the relationship between the ISI and the Taliban, the BBC said. The report is based on material from 27,000 interrogations with more than 4,000 captured Taliban, al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters and civilians. It notes: "Pakistan's manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership continues unabatedly." It says that Pakistan is aware of the locations of senior Taliban leaders. "Senior Taliban representatives, such as Nasiruddin Haqqani, maintain residences in the immediate vicinity of ISI headquarters in Islamabad," it said...

timesofindia.indiatimes.com, February 1, "Cut off ISI-Taliban links, US tells Pakistan" :
WASHINGTON - The US today said it has "long standing concerns" over ISI's links with the Taliban and wants Pakistan to "cut-off" those ties, hours after a NATO report blew the lid off the intelligence agency's "manipulation" of Afghan Taliban's senior leadership. Pentagon spokesperson Navy Capt John Kirby told reporters during an off-camera briefing that the facts laid bare by the damning report were "not a new notion" and these concerns have been raised earlier as well. "This is not a new notion, we made those concerns clear and the Secretary has been very clear about the ongoing problem of safe havens inside Pakistan for these groups," Kirby said referring to a new NATO report on Taliban which says that the ISI continues to help the extremist group, which wants to come back to power in Afghanistan. "We have made it clear already that Pakistan needs to act against safe heavens. We would like ties between some elements of ISI and Taliban to be cut-off," he said. Kirk said the US had "longstanding concerns" about the ties between the elements of the ISI and the Taliban but did not give details on what elements of the ISI he was referring to. Without going into the specific of the classified report, Kirby said the US does has information that the Taliban is becoming splintered and is not a monolithic organization. For instance, he said, a couple of weeks ago about 50 Taliban came in and asked to be reintegrated. The reason they gave was that they can't sleep at one place for more than a day and that they do not want to kill their own Afghan countrymen, he said. So the US pressure on the Taliban is yielding results, Kirby said. [end]

alarabiya.net, February 1, "Islamabad rejects report it backs Afghan Taliban; Pakistan raid kills 20 militants" : ...But Pentagon spokesman George Little said: “We have long been concerned about ties between elements of the ISI and some extremist networks.” Little said US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta "has also been clear that he believes that the safe havens in Pakistan remain a serious problem and need to be addressed by Pakistani authorities." Meanwhile, Pakistani warplanes pounded militant hideouts in the northwestern tribal area before dawn on Wednesday, killing at least 20 Taliban insurgents, security officials said, according to AFP. The jets targeted hideouts in the tribal Orakzai district and at least four compounds were hit, they said, in the latest surge of fighting between government security forces and Islamist militants in the Afghan border areas. "At least 20 Taliban militants were killed in the bombing," a military official in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar said. Local intelligence officials confirmed the air strikes. The hideouts belonged to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commanders Mulla Tufan and Commander Moheyuddin, a security official said. There are reports that Moheyuddin may have been killed in the bombing, he said. A military official in Peshawar said "four hideouts have been destroyed and the death toll may go up. [end]

thenews.com.pk (AFP) February 1, "Taliban deny plan for Saudi talks with Karzai" :

KABUL - The Taliban militia leading a 10-year insurgency in Afghanistan on Wednesday denied that they would soon hold talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government in Saudi Arabia. "There is no truth in these published reports saying that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate would meet with representatives of the Karzai government in Saudi Arabia in the near future," the Taliban said on their website. [end]

02.01.12 Threat from new virus-infected emails which take over your PC even if you don't open their attachments
February 1 - A new class of cyber attack is threatening PCs - emails which infect PCs without the user having to open an attachment. The user will not even be warned this is happening — the only message that appears is "loading." The email automatically downloads malicious software into your computer from elsewhere the moment a user clicks to open it. The mails themselves are not infected — and thus will not 'set off' many web-security defense packages. Security experts say that the development is "particularly dangerous." "Driveby spam also affects cautious users which would never open an unknown attachment or link. Previous generations of email-borne viruses and trojans required users to click on an attachment — often an office document such as a PDF. The new emails — dubbed "drive-by emails" — have been detected "in the wild" by computer researchers Eleven Research Team. "This driveby spam automatically downloads malware when the e-mail is opened in the e-mail client," says Eleven Research Team. "Previous malware e-mails required the user to click on a link or open an attachment for the PC to be infected."...The current wave of emails arrive with the title “Banking Security Update.” [Full story>>dailymail.co.uk]

01.31.12 Pythons wiping out mammals in everglades, researchers say
January 31 - Burmese pythons have eaten so many small mammals in Everglades National Park that populations of rabbits and foxes have disappeared and numbers of raccoons, opossums and bobcats have dropped as much as 99%, according to a report released Tuesday by researchers at Virginia Tech University, Davidson College and the US Geological Survey. "Pythons are wreaking havoc on one of America’s most beautiful, treasured, and naturally bountiful ecosystems," said US Geological Survey Director Marci McNutt in a statement. The massive nonnative snakes have become an established species in the park in the past 11 years, after snakes that were once pets were released into the wild, according to the researchers. Park spokeswoman Linda Friar said earlier this month that there are tens of thousands of the snakes in the park. In the remote southernmost regions of the 1.5 million-acre national park, researchers could find no marsh or cottontail rabbits or foxes. In those same areas, the raccoon population has declined 99.3%, the opossum population 98.9%, and the bobcat population 87.5%, the researchers reported. Those animals are often found in the stomachs of Burmese pythons captured in the Everglades, the researchers said.

"The magnitude of these declines underscores the apparent incredible density of pythons in Everglades National Park," said lead author Michael Dorcas, a biology professor at Davidson College in North Carolina...The researchers compared the proliferation of pythons in Florida to that of the brown tree snake on the Pacific island of Guam, where native species have disappeared since the introduction of the snakes. But they said it's happening faster in Florida. "It took 30 years for the brown tree snake to be implicated in the nearly complete disappearance of mammals and birds on Guam; it has apparently taken only 11 years since pythons were recognized as being established in the Everglades for researchers to implicate pythons in the same kind of severe mammal declines," US Geological Survey scientist Robert Reed said in the report. [Full story>>cnn.com]

01.31.12 House prices continue to fall despite broader signs of ecomic improvement
January 31 - Average prices drop to 2003 levels in 19 out of 20 US cities, with only Phoenix bucking the trend, new survey shows. House prices have continued to fall across the US even as the wider economy has picked up, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday. For the second consecutive month home prices fell in 19 out of 20 cities measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller index, leaving average prices at levels seen in mid-2003. This was the third month in a row that average prices had fallen. The survey found prices in November declined 0.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis, a bigger drop than the 0.5% economists had expected. The decrease followed a 0.7% decline in October. Prices in the 20 cities steepened their year-over-year decline, falling 3.7% compared to a 3.4% decline in October. "Despite continued low interest rates and better real GDP growth in the fourth quarter, home prices continue to fall," said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor's. [More>>guardian.co.uk]

01.31.12 Report; US deficit falls slightly to $1.1 trillion
January 31 - A new budget report released Tuesday predicts the US government will run a $1.1 trillion deficit in the fiscal year that ends in September, a slight dip from last year but still very high by any measure. A previous estimate was for $973 billion.The Congressional Budget Office report also says that annual deficits will remain in the $1 trillion range for the next several years if Bush-era tax cuts slated to expire in December are extended, as commonly assumed. The CBO is a non-partisan budget analyst for Congress. If the CBO estimate for this year's deficit proves accurate, fiscal year 2012 would be the fourth consecutive year of federal budget deficits topping $1 trillion. The shortfall registered $1.3 trillion in fiscal 2011, up from $1.29 trillion in 2010. It reached $1.42 trillion in 2009, the highest ever. [More>>msnbc.msn.com]

01.31.12 Yemeni minister escapes assassination bid; Qaeda militants killed in drone strike
January 31 - Yemen’s newly appointed Information Minister Ali Ahmed al-Amrani escaped an assassination attempt on Tuesday as he was leaving government headquarters in Sana's, a government official told AFP. "Three bullets targeted Amrani's car as he left the government headquarters following a cabinet meeting," the official told AFP, requesting anonymity. The minister, a member of the opposition named to the post in December as part of a deal that will see President Ali Abdullah Saleh officially quit on February 21, was unhurt. Amrani was a member of Saleh’s General People’s Congress who joined the opposition along with several other party members last March in protest over a deadly crackdown on anti-regime protests by the president’s loyalists.

...Meanwhile, at least 12 al-Qaeda militants, including four local leaders, were killed in a drone strike in southern Yemen, a tribal chief said in what he called one of the biggest US strikes against the group. Residents said the unidentified drone attacked the militants overnight who were traveling in two vehicles east of the city of Lawdar in Abyan provice. The tribal leader in the area told Reuters that at between 12 and 15 people were killed in the attack, including at least four leaders or prominent figures in a local Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)...One of those killed was identified by local tribal leaders as Abdel-Munem al-Fatahani, who they said was wanted by the United States for alleged links to attacks on the US destroyer Cole in 2000 and a French oil tanker in 2002. [Full story>>alarabiya.net; See other details,

news.com.au, January 31, "US air strikes kill 15 al-Qaeda militants" .... Also today, armed tribesmen from the al-Mahweet province kidnapped six United Nations workers - an Iraqi woman, a Palestinian woman, a Colombian man, a German man and two Yemeni men. The assailants demanded that the government release fellow tribesmen from prison. Tribes in Yemen have historically used kidnapping as a way of getting concessions from the government and hostages are ordinarily well treated before being released...

01.31.12 Barack Obama confirms US drone strikes in Pakistan
WASHINGTON, January 31 - President Barack Obama on Monday confirmed that US drone aircraft have struck Taliban and al-Qaeda targets within Pakistan — operations that until now had not been officially acknowledged. When asked about the use of drones by his administration in a chat with web users on Google+ and YouTube, Obama said "a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA" — Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. "For the most part, they've been very precise precision strikes against al-Qaeda and their affiliates, and we're very careful in terms of how it's been applied," Obama said. "This is a targeted focused effort at people who are on a list of active terrorists, who are trying to go in and harm Americans, hit American facilities, American bases, and so on." Explaining that many strikes were carried out "on al-Qaeda operatives in places where the capacities of that military in that country may not be able to get them," Obama confirmed that Pakistan's lawless tribal zone was a target. [More>>timesofindia.indiatimes.com]

01.31.12 Car bomb north of Baghdad kills 3 Iraqi soldiers
January 31 - An Iraqi official says a bomb blast north of Baghdad has killed three Iraqi soldiers, hours before the nation's parliament is to reconvene after Sunni-backed lawmakers ended their boycott to protest persecution of Sunni officials. Police spokesman in Diyala province, Maj Ghalib al-Karkhi, says a parked car bomb detonated near a military patrol in Baqouba, killing three soldiers and wounding three others. Baqouba is a former al-Qaeda stronghold, 60 kilometers northeast of Baghdad. Al-Qaeda has frequently targeted Iraqi security forces since the US troops left in December. The group appears to be exploiting a political crisis that has erupted after the Shiite-led government issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni vice president on terrorism charges. [>indianexpress.com]

01.30.12 Syria opposition rejects Russia-brokered talks
(Reuters) January 30 - Syria's opposition denied Monday that it had received an offer to join talks brokered by Russia with the government, adding that it would decline such an invitation. Russia stated earlier that Syrian authorities had agreed to participate. A senior member of the Syrian opposition said on Monday that the Syrian National Council had not received any formal invitation to attend talks with Syria’s authorities in Russia, and would decline if one arrived. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the Syrian authorities had agreed to talks in Russia, and that it hoped the opposition would agree. "We have not received any offer like that officially and I think, if such an offer exists, it will be no more than an attempt to influence the (UN) Security Council. But I say clearly that our position has not changed and it is that there is no dialog with (President Bashar al-Assad)," Abdel Baset Seda, a member of the Syrian council’s executive committee, told Reuters. He was speaking by telephone from New York, where he was following the Arab League’s bid to win support from the Security Council for its Syria peace plan. [>france24.com]

01.30.12 Americans barred from leaving Egypt take refuge at US embassy in Cairo
January 30 - Three US citizens move into embassy as tensions mount over Egyptian crackdown on pro-democracy and human rights groups. Three Americans barred by authorities in Egypt from leaving the country have sought refuge at the US embassy in Cairo, officials say, as tensions between the two allied nations sharply escalated over an inquiry into foreign-funded organizations. The unusual step comes amid a row over an Egyptian crackdown on US-funded groups promoting democracy and human rights that has jeopardized more than $1bn of crucial US aid to Egypt, one of its biggest recipients. The investigation is closely intertwined with Egypt's political turmoil since Hosni Mubarak's fall nearly a year ago. The generals who took power have accused "foreign hands" of being behind protests against their rule and frequently depict the protesters as receiving foreign funds in a plot to destabilize the country. [More>>guardian.co.uk]

01.30.12 FDA approves Erivedge for most common type of skin cancer
January 30 - The FDA has approved a new drug called Erivedge to treat basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer. PICTURES: Is it skin cancer? 38 photos that could save your life Federal regulators announced Monday the approval of the Erivedge pill, the first drug ever approved for treating basal cell carcinoma. Typical BCC treatments include outpatient procedures such as freezing or surgically removing the cancerous area. The pill is made by Genentech, a unit of Swiss drugmaker Roche. Erivedge is a once-per-day capsule that's intended to treat locally advanced cancer for patients who are not candidates for surgery or radiation, and for patients whose cancer has spread to other parts of the body. Genentech said the drug will be available within one to two weeks. [More>>cbsnews.com]

01.30.12 Iran develops laser-guided artillery
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) January 30 - Iran has developed smart, laser-guided artillery projectiles capable of hitting moving targets at a distance of up to 20 kilometers, Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Monday. The ammunition, designated Basir, is designed to destroy tanks, military vehicles, bridges, and other moving or non-moving targets with high precision, Vahidi was quoted by Press TV as saying. It is also capable of identifying and locating targets. He did not provide details on the shell’s specifications. [>en.rian.ru]

01.30.12 Iran grain shipments stranded as sanctions bitte
LONDON / HAMBURG (Reuters) January 30 - European Union sanctions have paralyzed food import deals to Iran leaving about 400,000 tons of grain held up on at least 10 ships outside Iranian ports for as long as three weeks, trade sources say. The EU agreed last week to freeze the assets of Iran’s central bank as part of further sanctions aimed at stepping up pressure on Iran’s disputed nuclear program. The tougher trade embargo has meant major EU banks have pulled back from financing grain shipments to Iran, a major importer of foodstuffs and animal feed. "The myriad of sanctions have worked to the point where the Iranian banking system is virtually defunct, thereby not allowing international trade houses to receive workable letters of credit," one European grain trader said. "Their ships are stopped while people figure out how to get payment done, it’s a mess." Industry sources said a number of international trade houses are unable to deliver their grain at the moment. "The exporters cannot unload without payment as they would face multi-million dollar losses if they do not get their money," another grain trader said. [More>>alarabiya.net]

01.30.12 Four killed in Peshawar suicide attack
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, January 30 - At least four people were killed and seven injured as a result of a suicide attack in the Pakha Ghulam area. Among the seven injured two are children. Five of those injured are in critical condition. The explosion took place at an under construction house belonging to the leader of a banned organization (Ansar-ul-Islam). DCO Peshawar has confirmed that the Ameer of the banned organization was killed during the attack. Police are gathering evidence from the site of the suicide attack. [>thenews.com.pk]

01.28.12 'Call to arms' as Syria violence escalates
January 28 - Free Syrian Army and security forces continue to clash as UN prepares to discuss draft resolution against government. Fierce fighting has escalated between the Free Syrian Army and government troops in the suburb of Damascus, the capital, a day after 60 people were killed across the country, according to reports. Meanwhile, European and Arab nations have pressed for UN Security Council backing for an Arab League plan calling on Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, to stand down, but Russia said their proposed resolution crossed its "red lines." Move comes amid reports of army tanks shelling Homs' Baba Amr neighborhood on Saturday, and growing calls within the Syrian opposition for an all-out armed resistance, sources tell Al Jazeera. Morocco presented a draft resolution to the 15-nation Security Council, drawn up by Britain, France and Germany with Arab states, that seeks to end months of UN deadlock over Syria. Days of tough talks loom before any vote is held. No action is likely before Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani brief the council on Tuesday. Backers of the new resolution hope opponents will be swayed by the Arab League's involvement and by a new upsurge in violence in Syria in efforts to end the deadly crackdown on dissent which the UN says has left more than 5,400 dead. [More>>aljazeera.net]

01.28.12 Syrian rebels capture seven Iranians
January 28 - Syrian rebels are holding seven Iranians, including five military experts, the deputy chief of the dissident Syrian Free Army Colonel Malek al-Kurdi said in remarks published on Saturday. The Iranians were arrested in the restive Syrian city of Homs, al-Kurdi told the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al Awsat. According to him, five of the arrests are experts from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the other two are civilians. Al-Kurdi gave no details about their whereabouts or what the rebels plan to do with them. The Iranian state news Agency IRNA reported that 11 pilgrims have been kidnapped in Syria. The Syrian opposition has accused Iran, Syria's main regional ally, of aiding the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in quelling unprecedented pro-democracy protests. [>news.com.au]

01.28.12 'Half of Damascus falls to rebels' as breakaway army slowly seize control of capital from Assad regime
January 28 - The growing power of a rebel army has seen control of the Syrian capital of Damascus split between rival gunmen fighting for or against President Bashar Assad. Two days of bloody carnage in which at least 74 people have died has come as the rebel force — the Syrian Free Army — steps up its mission to take control of the streets from government forces. "We had a big battle here earlier this month," a Damascus schoolteacher, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals, told The Times. "For the past 11 days this has been free Syria. All they can do now is cut the electricity and the water an disrupt the phone. It just goes to show how weak they are." The head of Arab League observers in Syria said in a statement that violence in the country has spiked over the past few days. Sudanese General Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi said the cities of Homs, Hama and Idlib have all witnessed a "very high escalation" in violence since Tuesday. A "fierce military campaign" was also under way in the Hamadiyeh district of Hama since the early hours of Friday, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activists. However, the rebel surge has caused a spike in deaths that has claimed the lives of women and children as well as soldiers. In the besieged city of Homs forces loyal to President Bashar Assad shelled homes and fired on crowds with machine guns in a dramatic escalation of violence yesterday, according to activists. [More>>dailymail.co.uk]