Egypt's military under pressure from protests, US

Egypt's military under pressure from protests, US

An Egyptian protester with colors of the Egyptian flag and Arabic writing that reads, "Nov. 19" on his face gestures near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Nov. 25. 2011. Tens of thousands of protesters chanting, "Leave, leave!" filled Cairo's Tahrir Square in a massive demonstration to force Egypt's ruling military council to yield power. The Friday rally is dubbed by organizers as "The Last Chance Million-Man Protest," and comes one day after the military offered an apology for the killing of nearly 40 protesters in clashes on side streets near Tahrir over the last week.

CAIRO (AP) -- The U.S. increased pressure Friday on Egypt's military rulers to hand over power to civilian leaders, and the generals turned to a Mubarak-era politician to head a new government in a move that failed to satisfy the more than 100,000 protesters who jammed Tahrir Square in the biggest rally yet this week.

The demonstrators rejected the appointment of Kamal el-Ganzouri as prime minister, breaking into chants of "Illegitimate! Illegitimate!" and setting up a showdown between the two sides only three days before key parliamentary elections.

The size of the rally and the resilience of protesters in the face of the violence used by security forces in this week's deadly street battles have won back for the movement much of the strength it projected during the 18-day uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Showing the sort of resolve from the earliest days of the Arab Spring, the protesters say they will not leave the iconic square until the military rulers led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi step down and a civilian presidential council is formed to run the country until a new leader is elected.

"They stole our January revolution because we did not agree on who should represent us," said activist Sedeeqah Abu Seadah. "We shouted 'erhal' (leave) but did not shout the name of the person we want."

The military's appointment of el-Ganzouri, its apology for the death of protesters and a series of partial concessions in the past two days suggest that the generals are struggling to overcome the most serious challenge to their nine-month rule, with fewer options now available to them.

Significantly adding to their predicament, the Obama administration brought its position on the crisis in Egypt closer to the protesters' demands, urging the military to fully empower the next interim civilian government.

"We believe that Egypt's transition to democracy must continue, with elections proceeding expeditiously, and all necessary measures taken to ensure security and prevent intimidation," the White House said in a statement.

"Most importantly, we believe that the full transfer of power to a civilian government must take place in a just and inclusive manner that responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people, as soon as possible," it said.

The adjustment in the Obama administration's approach is significant because the Egyptian military, the nation's most powerful institution, has in the past 30 years forged close relations with successive U.S. administrations, receiving $1.3 billion annually in aid. It followed the public U.S. endorsement of the military's original timetable for the transfer of power by late 2012 or early 2013.

The military inadvertently sparked the ongoing unrest by pushing plans for a political "guardianship" role for itself and immunity from civilian oversight even after a new parliament is seated and a new president is elected.

The last straw came when the military ordered the use of force against a small protest in Tahrir Square last weekend and then launched a failed, joint army-police raid to evacuate a larger crowd. Nearly 40 protesters have died in the past week.

The latest crisis has overshadowed Monday's start of Egypt's first parliamentary elections since Mubarak was replaced by Tantawi. The vote, which the generals say will be held on schedule despite the unrest, is now seen by many activists and protesters to be serving the military's efforts to project an image of itself as the nation's saviors and true democrats.

The next parliament is expected to be dominated by Islamists, whose political groups have decided to boycott the ongoing protests to keep from doing anything that could derail the election. However, the outcome of the vote is likely to be seen as flawed given the growing unrest and the suspension by many candidates of their campaigns in solidarity with the protesters.

The Social Democrats, a political party born out of the January-February uprising, said Friday that it would boycott the election, arguing that the vote would not be fair given the tension caused by the unrest, which it blamed on the military.

In rejecting el-Ganzouri's government, 24 protest groups, including two political parties, announced the formation of their own "national salvation" government that they say represents the protesters. The group will be headed by Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei and four deputies.

While it is unclear how many people the statement announcing the move represents, it is an attempt by the protest movement to unify its demands and leadership.

Supporters of the military staged a rival demonstration Friday across town from Tahrir, but only several thousand people turned out. They waved identical, brand new Egyptian flags that prompted activists to post on social network sites their suspicion that the demonstration may have been staged by the military.

State television, whose coverage of the crisis shows a clear, pro-military bias, gave prominence to the supporters of the generals and hosted commentators discrediting the Tahrir protesters as irresponsible youths and violent football hooligans.

"El-Ganzouri is over and done with. We want young people to take charge of the country," said Hamdi Arban, a 50-year-old lawyer who was in Tahrir Square. "We will stay here and we won't get our rights except from here," he said.

Basma el-Husseini, who directs a cultural center and was also in Tahrir, dismissed the 78-year-old el-Ganzouri as a man with little energy to keep up with the multitude of challenges facing Egypt. "They (the generals) don't get the power of the people. All they are doing now is play for time to make people fed up."

El-Ganzouri served as prime minister between 1996 and 1999 and was deputy prime minister and planning minister before that. Tantawi himself served under el-Ganzouri for three of the 20 years he spent as Mubarak's defense minister.

Addressing a televised news conference, el-Ganzouri said the military has given him greater powers than his predecessor and that he wouldn't have accepted the job if he believed Tantawi had any intention of staying in power.

"The powers given to me exceed any similar mandates," he said. "I will take full authority so I'm able to serve my country."

But el-Ganzouri appeared uncomfortable, grasping for words and repeatedly pausing as he spoke, giving rambling answers when pressed whether he could form a government that will satisfy the public when many prominent figures have shunned joining the new administration.

The choice of el-Ganzouri deepened the anger of the protesters, already seething over the military's perceived reluctance to dismantle the legacy of Mubarak's 29-year rule.

El-Ganzouri replaces Essam Sharaf, who resigned this week after nearly nine months in office. Sharaf was criticized for being weak and beholden to the generals.

Friday's protest in Tahrir was dubbed by organizers as "The Last Chance Million-Man Protest." Swelling crowds chanted, "Leave! Leave!" and "The people want to bring down the field marshal!"

ElBaradei was mobbed by hundreds of supporters as he arrived in the square and took part in Friday prayers, leaving shortly afterward. Some factions in the protest have cited ElBaradei as a possible member of a civilian presidential council they want to replace the generals.

"He is here to support the revolutionaries," said protester Ahmed Awad, 35. "He came to see for himself the tragedy caused by the military."

Fireworks lit the sky in the evening and a large banner was strung over a side street called Mohammed Mahmoud, where most of the fighting occurred, declaring that it would be renamed "Eyes of the Revolution Street," in honor of the hundreds of protesters who suffered eye injuries as a result of tear gas used by police.

About 500 protesters camped out in front of the Cabinet office, vowing to remain to prevent el-Ganzouri's government from entering the building.

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters also rallied in other cities, including at least 10,000 in Alexandria and smaller crowds in Luxor and Assiut in southern Egypt.

The military has rejected calls to immediately step down, saying its claim to power is supported by the warm welcome given to troops who took over the streets from the discredited police early in the anti-Mubarak uprising as well as an overwhelming endorsement for constitutional amendments they proposed in a March referendum.

Tantawi has offered another referendum on whether his military council should step down immediately.

Such a vote, activists say, would be divisive and likely open the door for a deal between the military and political groups, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt's largest and best organized group, the Brotherhood is notorious for its opportunism and thirst for power. It was empowered after the fall of Mubarak, regaining legitimacy after spending nearly 60 years as an outlawed group.

Older athletes get caught cheating, too

Older athletes get caught cheating, too

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- The anti-doping police are sending out a new message to the AARP crowd: We're keeping an eye on you, too.

Looking more skeptically at events outside of elite and Olympic circles, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has suspended nine masters athletes for positive tests so far in 2011. That accounts for more than one-third of the 25 sanctions the agency has announced this year. Among the masters to test positive was one competitor in his 50s and three in their 60s.

The agency wants to cut down on what it says is an increasing number of older-age cheaters, an effort critics decry as petty and a waste of money for a cause that is already operating on limited resources. But cheating needs to be stopped throughout sports, the head of USADA says.

"We get calls from athletes about doping that's happening in their sports at all levels," USADA CEO Travis Tygart said. "We've also had event organizers call us and express their concerns and their desire to put in a good anti-doping program."

USA Track and Field, for instance, requested a USADA presence at its masters national championships this summer after international organizers told the American track organization it would stop accepting U.S. records if it didn't ramp up its anti-doping program.

Testing at nationals resulted in three suspensions, all from people who either disputed their test or said they got tripped up by a tainted supplement.

Craig Shumaker, 63, admitted to taking a doctor-prescribed testosterone gel that he knew would trigger a positive test if he was selected. He was, and received a two-year suspension, which carries the customary contingency that he must submit to more tests when he's reinstated. His win at nationals in shot put and second-place finish in discus have been erased, though Shumaker insists the drug gave him no benefit.

He said he has no intention of going off the drug, commonly prescribed for people diagnosed with low testosterone, and said the positive test pretty much marks the end of his days as a competitive thrower.

"There's a little bit of sour grapes for me," Shumaker said. "My body type hasn't changed. I weigh the same as I have for 15 years. You hear the rumors, `He was taking this, taking that.' But most of us, we're just here for the camaraderie. I think it's a bigger issue that masters track needs to fess up to. People want to maintain a healthy lifestyle and there are medicines that can help you, so why should that ban you from competing?"

As is the case with elite athletes, masters can apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption for drugs that are legitimately prescribed by a doctor. However, Shumaker and others who tested positive decried a process filled with too much red tape that they say often results in rejection - not worth it to the athletes who claim to be competing more for fun than winning.

"At our age, it's not so much about, can I get some cheap 50-cent gold medal without my name on the back" Shumaker said. "You go there to be with friends. You cheer for the guy who gets 10th as much as the guy who gets first."

Gary Snyder, the chair of the masters track and field competitions at USATF, said his staff "did a fair amount of soul searching before implementing this nationally."

They decided to go ahead with it because they felt it was good for the sport.

"There was a substantial amount of education put forward," Snyder said, noting there were eight seminars offered before the program went in place. "People had ample opportunity to listen in, ask questions, find out if they were possibly taking medication they shouldn't have. My opinion is these three folks apparently didn't attend them, or didn't spend the time and energy to go online" to learn about the banned-substance list.

Cyclists accounted for the other positive tests, in part because USA Cycling chose to increase its testing numbers in non-elite events, asking USADA to go to national championships, a number of state championships and a few odd regional and local races, "based on tips we got," said USA Cycling CEO Steve Johnson.

"I'm ecstatic about it, frankly," Johnson said. "It's not as though doping just became an issue in masters cycling. It's been going on at this level for some time. If you don't look, you'll never find a problem."

As was the case with the track athletes, the cyclists' stories varied widely. Two suspensions were handed to people implicated in an ongoing case involving Joe Papp, a cyclist who pleaded guilty to selling HGH and EPO over the Internet, but whose testimony has helped USADA nab several cyclists for doping.

A more recent suspension was handed to a 62-year-old cyclist who refused to submit to an out-of-competition test and had been heard bragging to friends about his ability to race while doping.

One of the track athletes who got caught, Fred Kieser, told The Associated Press he made a genuine mistake and deserved what he got; he bought a tainted supplement from a nutrition store that he insisted provided no help. He received a reduced, eight-month ban and said he believed testing at masters events was a good idea.

Tygart said runners who admit their mistakes and move on are the rarity. He said it's no surprise that people who get caught cheating have some issues with the system.

"You have to take what they say with a grain of salt," Tygart said. "Certainly, it's not a waste of time to protect the integrity of competition and protect clean athletes."

After receiving her second suspension, shot putter Kathy Jager, 68, said in an email to the website masterstrack.com: "I have never nor will I take medication for the purpose of performance enhancing. I train hard, but take pride in my honestly earned accomplishments."

Jager said she has lipodystrophy, a medical condition she says accounts for her muscular body style.

One of USADA's core missions is to convince athletes at the grass-roots level that, besides being against the rules, taking performance-enhancing drugs is dangerous. It has fewer chances to actually enforce those rules at that level; high schools and colleges aren't governed by the USADA rules and there isn't enough money to police every local event sanctioned by, say, USA Track and Field or USA Cycling.

Tygart conceded that spending money on masters events does put a strain on budgets, but he believes it's a worthwhile effort. He says the positive results at masters events "feeds into our belief that, unchecked, in a win-at-all-costs culture, some athletes and parents will do whatever it takes to win."

"Whether it's scholarships or bragging rights, there has to be a check against that," he said. "Some chance that someone might get caught if they're trying to beat the system at that level."

Top Marine spends Thanksgiving in Afghanistan

Top Marine spends Thanksgiving in Afghanistan

COMBAT OUTPOST HANSON, Afghanistan (AP) -- A turkey trot it was not.

The U.S. Marines' top general, James Amos, sprinted up and down the Helmand River Valley in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, visiting frontline Marines at nine remote outposts to share Thanksgiving and applaud their gains against the Taliban in a region where al-Qaida hatched the 9/11 plot a decade ago.

Traveling mostly in an MV-22 Osprey, the hybrid that flies like an airplane and takes off and lands like a helicopter, Amos began shortly after daylight and finished 14 hours later - and, improbably, managed to confront just one turkey dinner.

At one point the 65-year-old Amos referred to his unusual daytrip as the "Bataan death march," a reference to the gruesome forced march of American POWs in the Philippines during World War II.

Amos shook hands with hundreds of Marines, all veterans of tough fighting in Helmand Province, which has been a focal point of the U.S.-led strategy to counter the Taliban and other insurgent groups. The Marines have vastly improved security in Helmand over the past year, but with President Barack Obama having ordered 33,000 U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan by next September, the prospects for sustaining those gains are uncertain, and the subject of debate at home.

At each stop Amos struck similar themes in pep talks to his Marines: they are coming close to winning, and when the Marine Corps leaves Afghanistan it will shift its focus to the Pacific, where he said "a whole lot of opportunities" will await a Corps no longer bogged down by land wars in the greater Middle East. He also said Thanksgiving is a time for Marines to reflect on "the unique fraternal bond" among men and women at war.

Marine Sgt. Maj. Michael Barrett, the top enlisted Marine, who accompanied Amos, said that for most troops Thanksgiving was just another day at war - until they finished their work.

"Then they'll have a meal of a lifetime," he said.

The feast was finally set for Amos when he arrived after dark at Camp Dwyer, the southern-most stop on his trip. He helped heap plates with roast turkey, baked ham and prime rib - with all the traditional fixings - and then sat amongst the troops to finish it off.

Amos said "Happy Thanksgiving" at each Marine outpost, but the troops did not seem in a festive mood - at least in the presence of their commandant. The business of war does not take a holiday. When he asked the Marines what was on their minds, they asked about the future of the Corps, the latest of Washington's stalled budget debate, the possibility of seeing some of their retirement benefits go away, and internal Marine issues.

Some conveyed a sense of confidence that Afghanistan would soon be behind them.

At Combat Outpost Hanson, one member of the 3rd battalion, 6th Marine Regiment asked, "Who do you want us to fight next, sir?" Amos said he did not know, but he reassured the Marine that there would be no shortage of security crises in the years ahead.

At Combat Outpost Alcatraz, in Sangin district where fierce fights against the Taliban have waned only recently, the top overall commander of the war, Marine Gen. John Allen, joined Amos for a pep talk to several dozen Marines.

Allen said Marines will "go home under the victory pennant," but he stressed that the struggle to degrade Taliban influence and build up Afghan security forces - in Helmand and throughout Afghanistan - is far from over.

"As big as this is, and as hard as it has been, we are going to be successful here," Allen said. "We're going to win this. We're going to liberate these people, we're going to set this country up to be a free country in one of the toughest regions in the world."

There are now about 97,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. All are scheduled to leave by the end of 2014.

Amos clearly relished the chance to see so many combat Marines, but his trip was no joy ride. His itinerary was a closely-held secret, and the aircraft on which he flew was heavily armed.

As a CH-53 helicopter lifted off from a barren field across a dirt highway in the northern Helmand village of Puzeh, with Amos and part of his entourage aboard, a bearded special operations Marine quipped, "Cross your fingers." And then, as the chopper rose above a billowing wall of powdery dust, the Marine added, only half jokingly, "Whew! Getting the commandant shot down at your (outpost) would not be a good thing."

Medvedev: Russia may target US missile shield

Medvedev: Russia may target US missile shield

In this Saturday, May 9, 2009 file photo, a column of Russia's Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles rolls across Moscow's Red Square, during the annual Victory Day parade. If Washington continues to ignore Russia's demands about a proposed U.S. missile shield in Europe, Russia will deploy new missiles aimed at it and put arms control on hold, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday.

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia threatened on Wednesday to deploy missiles to target the U.S. missile shield in Europe if Washington fails to assuage Moscow's concerns about its plans, a harsh warning that reflected deep cracks in U.S.-Russian ties despite President Barack Obama's efforts to "reset" relations with the Kremlin.

President Dmitry Medvedev said he still hopes for a deal with the U.S. on missile defense, but he strongly accused Washington and its NATO allies of ignoring Russia's worries. He said Russia will have to take military countermeasures if the U.S. continues to build the shield without legal guarantees that it will not be aimed against Russia.

The U.S. has repeatedly assured Russia that its proposed missile defense system wouldn't be directed against Russia's nuclear forces, and it did that again Wednesday.

"I do think it's worth reiterating that the European missile defense system that we've been working very hard on with our allies and with Russia over the last few years is not aimed at Russia," said Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. "It is ... designed to help deter and defeat the ballistic missile threat to Europe and to our allies from Iran."

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the United States will continue to seek Moscow's cooperation, but it must realize "that the missile defense systems planned for deployment in Europe do not and cannot threaten Russia's strategic deterrent."

But Medvedev said Moscow will not be satisfied by simple declarations and wants a binding agreement. He said, "When we propose to put in on paper in the form of precise and clear legal obligations, we hear a strong refusal."

Medvedev warned that Russia will station missiles in its westernmost Kaliningrad region and other areas, if the U.S. continues its plans without offering firm and specific pledges that the shield isn't directed at its nuclear forces. He didn't say whether the missiles would carry conventional or nuclear warheads.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was "very disappointed" with Russia's threat to deploy missiles near alliance nations, adding that "would be reminiscent of the past and ... inconsistent with the strategic relations NATO and Russia have agreed they seek."

"Cooperation, not confrontation, is the way ahead," Rasmussen said in a statement.

The U.S. missile defense dispute has long tarnished ties between Moscow and Washington. The Obama administration has repeatedly said the shield is needed to fend off a potential threat from Iran, but Russia fears that it could erode the deterrent potential of its nuclear forces.

"If our partners tackle the issue of taking our legitimate security interests into account in an honest and responsible way, I'm sure we will be able to come to an agreement," Medvedev said. "But if they propose that we `cooperate,' or, to say it honestly, work against our own interests, we won't be able to reach common ground."

Moscow has agreed to consider a proposal NATO made last fall to cooperate on the missile shield, but the talks have been deadlocked over how the system should be operated. Russia has insisted that it should be run jointly, which NATO has rejected.

Medvedev also warned that Moscow may opt out of the New START arms control deal with the United States and halt other arms control talks, if the U.S. proceeds with the missile shield without meeting Russia's demand. The Americans had hoped that the START treaty would stimulate progress in further ambitious arms control efforts, but such talks have stalled because of tension over the missile plan.

While the New START doesn't prevent the U.S. from building new missile defense systems, Russia has said it could withdraw from the treaty if it feels threatened by such a system in future.

Medvedev reaffirmed that warning Wednesday, saying that Russia may opt out of the treaty because of an "inalienable link between strategic offensive and defensive weapons."

The New START has been a key achievement of Obama's policy of improving relations with Moscow, which had suffered badly under the George W. Bush administration.

"It's impossible to do a reset using old software, it's necessary to develop a new one," Medvedev's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said at a news conference.

The U.S. plan calls for placing land- and sea-based radars and interceptors in European locations, including Romania and Poland, over the next decade and upgrading them over time.

Medvedev said that Russia will carefully watch the development of the U.S. shield and take countermeasures if Washington continues to ignore Russia's concerns. He warned that Moscow would deploy short-range Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, a Baltic Sea region bordering Poland, and place weapons in other areas in Russia's west and south to target U.S. missile defense sites. Medvedev said Russia would put a new early warning radar in Kaliningrad.

He said that as part of its response Russia would also equip its intercontinental nuclear missiles with systems that would allow them to penetrate prospective missile defenses and would develop ways to knock down the missile shield's control and information facilities.

Igor Korotchenko, a Moscow-based military expert, was quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency as saying that the latter would mean targeting missile defense radars and command structures with missiles and bombers. "That will make the entire system useless," he said.

Medvedev and other Russian leaders have made similar threats in the past, and the latest statement appears to be aimed at the domestic audience ahead of Dec. 4 parliamentary elections.

Medvedev, who is set to step down to allow Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to reclaim the presidency in March's election, leads the ruling United Russia party list in the parliamentary vote. A stern warning to the U.S. and NATO issued by Medvedev seems to be directed at rallying nationalist votes in the polls.

Rogozin, Russia's NATO envoy, said the Kremlin won't follow the example of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and take unwritten promises from the West.

"The current political leadership can't act like Gorbachev, and it wants written obligations secured by ratification documents," Rogozin said.

Medvedev's statement was intended to encourage the U.S. and NATO to take Russia seriously at the missile defense talks, Rogozin said. He added that the Russian negotiators were annoyed by the U.S. "openly lying" about its missile defense plans.

"We won't allow them to treat us like fools," he said. "Nuclear deterrent forces aren't a joke."

Medvedev: Russia may target US missile shield

Medvedev: Russia may target US missile shield

In this Saturday, May 9, 2009 file photo, a column of Russia's Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles rolls across Moscow's Red Square, during the annual Victory Day parade. If Washington continues to ignore Russia's demands about a proposed U.S. missile shield in Europe, Russia will deploy new missiles aimed at it and put arms control on hold, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday.

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia threatened on Wednesday to deploy missiles to target the U.S. missile shield in Europe if Washington fails to assuage Moscow's concerns about its plans, a harsh warning that reflected deep cracks in U.S.-Russian ties despite President Barack Obama's efforts to "reset" relations with the Kremlin.

President Dmitry Medvedev said he still hopes for a deal with the U.S. on missile defense, but he strongly accused Washington and its NATO allies of ignoring Russia's worries. He said Russia will have to take military countermeasures if the U.S. continues to build the shield without legal guarantees that it will not be aimed against Russia.

The U.S. has repeatedly assured Russia that its proposed missile defense system wouldn't be directed against Russia's nuclear forces, and it did that again Wednesday.

"I do think it's worth reiterating that the European missile defense system that we've been working very hard on with our allies and with Russia over the last few years is not aimed at Russia," said Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. "It is ... designed to help deter and defeat the ballistic missile threat to Europe and to our allies from Iran."

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the United States will continue to seek Moscow's cooperation, but it must realize "that the missile defense systems planned for deployment in Europe do not and cannot threaten Russia's strategic deterrent."

But Medvedev said Moscow will not be satisfied by simple declarations and wants a binding agreement. He said, "When we propose to put in on paper in the form of precise and clear legal obligations, we hear a strong refusal."

Medvedev warned that Russia will station missiles in its westernmost Kaliningrad region and other areas, if the U.S. continues its plans without offering firm and specific pledges that the shield isn't directed at its nuclear forces. He didn't say whether the missiles would carry conventional or nuclear warheads.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was "very disappointed" with Russia's threat to deploy missiles near alliance nations, adding that "would be reminiscent of the past and ... inconsistent with the strategic relations NATO and Russia have agreed they seek."

"Cooperation, not confrontation, is the way ahead," Rasmussen said in a statement.

The U.S. missile defense dispute has long tarnished ties between Moscow and Washington. The Obama administration has repeatedly said the shield is needed to fend off a potential threat from Iran, but Russia fears that it could erode the deterrent potential of its nuclear forces.

"If our partners tackle the issue of taking our legitimate security interests into account in an honest and responsible way, I'm sure we will be able to come to an agreement," Medvedev said. "But if they propose that we `cooperate,' or, to say it honestly, work against our own interests, we won't be able to reach common ground."

Moscow has agreed to consider a proposal NATO made last fall to cooperate on the missile shield, but the talks have been deadlocked over how the system should be operated. Russia has insisted that it should be run jointly, which NATO has rejected.

Medvedev also warned that Moscow may opt out of the New START arms control deal with the United States and halt other arms control talks, if the U.S. proceeds with the missile shield without meeting Russia's demand. The Americans had hoped that the START treaty would stimulate progress in further ambitious arms control efforts, but such talks have stalled because of tension over the missile plan.

While the New START doesn't prevent the U.S. from building new missile defense systems, Russia has said it could withdraw from the treaty if it feels threatened by such a system in future.

Medvedev reaffirmed that warning Wednesday, saying that Russia may opt out of the treaty because of an "inalienable link between strategic offensive and defensive weapons."

The New START has been a key achievement of Obama's policy of improving relations with Moscow, which had suffered badly under the George W. Bush administration.

"It's impossible to do a reset using old software, it's necessary to develop a new one," Medvedev's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said at a news conference.

The U.S. plan calls for placing land- and sea-based radars and interceptors in European locations, including Romania and Poland, over the next decade and upgrading them over time.

Medvedev said that Russia will carefully watch the development of the U.S. shield and take countermeasures if Washington continues to ignore Russia's concerns. He warned that Moscow would deploy short-range Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, a Baltic Sea region bordering Poland, and place weapons in other areas in Russia's west and south to target U.S. missile defense sites. Medvedev said Russia would put a new early warning radar in Kaliningrad.

He said that as part of its response Russia would also equip its intercontinental nuclear missiles with systems that would allow them to penetrate prospective missile defenses and would develop ways to knock down the missile shield's control and information facilities.

Igor Korotchenko, a Moscow-based military expert, was quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency as saying that the latter would mean targeting missile defense radars and command structures with missiles and bombers. "That will make the entire system useless," he said.

Medvedev and other Russian leaders have made similar threats in the past, and the latest statement appears to be aimed at the domestic audience ahead of Dec. 4 parliamentary elections.

Medvedev, who is set to step down to allow Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to reclaim the presidency in March's election, leads the ruling United Russia party list in the parliamentary vote. A stern warning to the U.S. and NATO issued by Medvedev seems to be directed at rallying nationalist votes in the polls.

Rogozin, Russia's NATO envoy, said the Kremlin won't follow the example of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and take unwritten promises from the West.

"The current political leadership can't act like Gorbachev, and it wants written obligations secured by ratification documents," Rogozin said.

Medvedev's statement was intended to encourage the U.S. and NATO to take Russia seriously at the missile defense talks, Rogozin said. He added that the Russian negotiators were annoyed by the U.S. "openly lying" about its missile defense plans.

"We won't allow them to treat us like fools," he said. "Nuclear deterrent forces aren't a joke."

Yemen president of 33 years to quit amid uprising

Yemen president of 33 years to quit amid uprising

In this photo released by Saudi Press Agency Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh signs an agreement to step down Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) -- Yemen's autocratic leader agreed Wednesday to step down after months of demonstrations against his 33-year rule, pleasing the U.S. and its Gulf allies who feared that collapsing security in the impoverished nation was allowing an active al-Qaida franchise to step up operations.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh is the fourth leader to lose power in the wave of Arab Spring uprisings this year, following longtime dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

But the deal ushering Saleh from power grants him immunity from prosecution and doesn't explicitly ban him from the country's political life - raising doubts that it will address Yemen's many problems.

The deal opens the way to what will likely be a messy power struggle. Among those possibly vying for power are Saleh's son and nephew, who command the country's best-equipped military units; powerful tribal leaders; and the commander of a renegade battalion.

Saleh had stubbornly clung to power despite nearly 10 months of huge street protests in which hundreds of people were killed by his security forces. At one point, Saleh's palace mosque was bombed and he was treated in Saudi Arabia for severe burns. When he finally signed the agreement to step down, he did so in the Saudi capital of Riyadh after most of his allies had abandoned him and joined the opposition.

Seated beside Saudi King Abdullah and dressed smartly in a dark business suit with a matching striped tie and handkerchief, Saleh smiled as he signed the U.S.-backed deal hammered out by his powerful Gulf Arab neighbors to transfer power within 30 days to his vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. He then clapped his hands a few times.

"The signature is not what is important," Saleh said after signing the agreement. "What is important is good intentions and dedication to serious, loyal work at true participation to rebuild what has been destroyed by the crisis during the last 10 months."

Saleh had agreed to sign the deal three times before, only to back away at the last minute.

The power transfer will be followed by presidential elections within 90 days. A national unity government will them oversee a two-year transitional period.

The deal falls far short of the demands of the tens of thousands of protesters who have doggedly called for democratic reforms in public squares across Yemen since January, sometimes facing lethal crackdowns by Saleh's forces.

Protesters camped out in the capital of Sanaa immediately rejected the deal, chanting, "No immunity for the killer!" They vowed to continue their protests.

President Barack Obama welcomed the decision, saying the U.S. would stand by the Yemeni people "as they embark on this historic transition."

King Abdullah also praised Saleh, telling Yemenis the plan would "open a new page in your history" and lead to greater freedom and prosperity.

Saleh, believed to be in his late 60s, addressed members of the Saudi royal family and international diplomats at the signing ceremony, portraying himself as a victim who sought to preserve security and democracy but was forced out by power-hungry forces serving a "foreign agenda."

After the bombing in June, Saleh spent more than three months in Saudi Arabia for treatment, returning to Yemen unannounced and resuming his rule.

As Saleh funneled more resources to cracking down on protesters, security collapsed across the country. Armed tribesmen regularly battle security forces in areas north and south of the capital, and al-Qaida-linked militants took over entire towns in southern Yemen.

Saleh often used the fear of terrorism to shore up support for his rule, even striking deals with militants and using their fighters to suppress his enemies while raking in millions of dollars from the United States to combat the branch of al-Qaida that he let take root in his country.

The U.S. saw little choice but to partner with him, and Washington stepped up aid to Saleh to fight Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. That group, believed to be the terrorist group's most active branch, has been linked to plots inside the U.S.

The would-be bomber who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas 2009 was in Yemen earlier that year. The Pakistani-American man who pleaded guilty to the May 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt was inspired by Internet postings by Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric who sought refuge in Yemen and was killed in a U.S. drone strike on Sept. 30. U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, charged with killing 13 people in the Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at Fort Hood, also exchanged e-mails with al-Awlaki.

Even before the uprising began, Yemen was the poorest country in the Middle East, fractured and unstable with a government that had weak authority at best outside the capital.

For months, the U.S. and other world powers pressured Saleh to agree to the power transfer proposal by the Gulf Cooperation Council. He agreed, but then backed down before signing the deal.

The deal alone is unlikely to end the uprising or address Yemen's deeply rooted problems.

"He did sign, but I don't think this is the end of the crisis in Yemen," said Yemen expert Gregory Johnsen of Princeton University.

The deal doesn't address powerful members of Saleh's immediate family, including his son who heads the elite Republican Guard. His relatives could continue to act as proxies for Saleh inside the government.

Nor does the deal include Yemen's most powerful opposition figures and their armed followers, including an army general who defected to the opposition and the country's most powerful tribal leader.

A real democratic transition could create a government to challenge al-Qaida in restive southern Yemen, Johnsen said, "but at this point we are still along ways from that."

It is unclear when Saleh will return to Yemen.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Saleh told him in a phone call that he would travel to New York for medical treatment after signing the agreement. He didn't say when Saleh planned to arrive in New York, nor what treatment he would seek.

Saleh signed the deal just over a month after videos showed a bloody Moammar Gadhafi being heckled by armed rebels in Libya shortly before his death.

In some ways, the deal gave Saleh a way out. He can return to Yemen, so he won't be exiled like ousted Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. And it protects him from prosecution, so he won't be put on trial like Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.

Saleh implied he could play a role in Yemen's future. "I'll be among the most cooperative with the next coalition government," he said.

He said it would take decades to rebuild Yemen and struck out at those who strove to topple him, calling the protests a "coup" and the bombing of his palace mosque "a conspiracy" and "a scandal." As he spoke, dark scars on his hands from his burns were visible.

Protest leaders have rejected the Gulf proposal from the beginning, saying it ignores their principal demands of wide-ranging democratic reforms and putting Saleh on trial. They say the opposition political parties that signed the deal are compromised by their long association with Saleh's government.

Sanaa protest organizer Walid al-Ammari said the deal does not serve the interests of Yemen."

"We will continue to protest in the streets and public squares until we achieve all the goals that we set to achieve," he said.

Police, family searching for missing Orlando woman

Police, family searching for missing Orlando woman

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Police in Florida are searching for an Orlando woman who went missing after appearing with an ex-boyfriend on an episode of "The People's Court."

Family members told the Orlando Sentinel ( http://thesent.nl/vR3PXt ) on Monday they believe 33-year-old Michelle Parker was carjacked shortly after her appearance on the show last Thursday. Parker sent a text message to a family member later Thursday afternoon indicating she was in Orlando's Waterford Lakes area. Her SUV was found Friday in Orlando.

Parker has an 11-year-old son. The father of her 3-year-old twins is the ex-boyfriend who appeared on television with her.

Orlando police spokesman Jim Young says they are investigating all leads. He urges anyone with information to contact police.

Yvonne Stewart has made numerous pleas over the past few days for her daughter's return.

Police, family searching for missing Orlando woman

Police, family searching for missing Orlando woman

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Police in Florida are searching for an Orlando woman who went missing after appearing with an ex-boyfriend on an episode of "The People's Court."

Family members told the Orlando Sentinel ( http://thesent.nl/vR3PXt ) on Monday they believe 33-year-old Michelle Parker was carjacked shortly after her appearance on the show last Thursday. Parker sent a text message to a family member later Thursday afternoon indicating she was in Orlando's Waterford Lakes area. Her SUV was found Friday in Orlando.

Parker has an 11-year-old son. The father of her 3-year-old twins is the ex-boyfriend who appeared on television with her.

Orlando police spokesman Jim Young says they are investigating all leads. He urges anyone with information to contact police.

Yvonne Stewart has made numerous pleas over the past few days for her daughter's return.

Egypt military ruler moves up presidential vote

Egypt military ruler moves up presidential vote

Egyptians carry a body of a protester was killed in clashes with the Egyptian riot police during his funeral at Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011.Egypt's civilian Cabinet has offered to resign after three days of violent clashes in many cities between demonstrators and security forces, but the action failed to satisfy protesters deeply frustrated with the new military rulers.

CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's military leader promised to speed the transition to civilian rule, saying Tuesday that presidential elections will be held by the end of June 2012. But the major concession was immediately rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square, who responded with chants of "Leave, leave!" now.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi vowed that landmark parliamentary elections will start on schedule on Monday, the first vote since longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak was ousted in an uprising nine months ago. And he said the military was prepared to hold a referendum on immediately transferring power to a civilian authority if people demand it.

Tantawi said he has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's civilian government and politicians who attended a 5-hour crisis meeting with the ruling generals said the military intended to replace Sharaf's cabinet with a "national salvation" government. It was not clear who might head the new Cabinet, but names of a couple presidential hopefuls were mentioned.

"Our demands are clear," said Khaled El-Sayed, a protester from the Youth Revolution Coalition and a candidate in the upcoming parliamentary election. "We want the military council to step down and hand over authority to a national salvation government with full authority." He also demanded that the commander of the military police and the Interior Minister, who is in charge of the police, be tried for the "horrific crimes" of the past few days, when 29 people were killed in clashes, most of them in Cairo.

The standoff culminated four days of clashes and demonstrations around the country that have constituted the most sustained challenge so far to nine months of military rule. It plunges the country deeper into a crisis that may only hamper the democratic transition the protesters are fighting for.

In Tahrir Square, the atmosphere was reminiscent of the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak, with jubilation over the large turnout mixed with the seething anger directed at the military. On Tuesday, the protesters had called for a million people to turn out and drew a massive crowd of tens of thousands.

The crowds carried an open wooden coffin with a body of a slain protester wrapped in white and held a funeral in the middle of the square.

A stuffed military uniform was hung from a central light pole with a cardboard sign on its neck saying "Execute the field marshal," a reference to Tantawi, Mubarak's defense minister of 20 years. People cheered when the effigy was hung and state television showed some hitting it with sticks or shoes.

Men in the square opened a corridor in the middle of the crowds and formed a human chain to keep it open, giving easy access to motorcycles and ambulances ferrying the wounded to several field hospitals in the square.

Sweet smells of popcorn and cotton candy mingled with tear gas and burning garbage.

As night fell on the square, thousands streamed in over a bridge across the Nile river. Men and women carrying blankets and boxes of supplies chanted: "Down with the field marshal."

The latest round of unrest began Saturday when security forces violently evicted a few hundred protesters who camped out in Tahrir. The perceived use of excessive force angered activists, who began to flock to the square. A joint army and police attempt to clear the square on Sunday evening failed, leaving protesters more determined to dig in there.

The clashes played out amid charges that the military was trying to cling on to power after an elected parliament is seated and a new president elected. The military recently proposed that a "guardianship" role for itself be enshrined in the next constitution and that it would enjoy immunity from any civilian oversight.

Further confusing the political situation, the military-backed civilian government on Monday submitted a mass resignation in response to the turmoil.

In a televised address to the nation, Tantawi did not mention a specific date for the transfer of power, although the presidential election has long been considered the final step in the process. The military has previously floated the end of next year or early 2013 as the date for the presidential vote.

"The armed forces, represented by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, has no desire to rule and puts the country's interests above all. It is ready to hand over responsibility immediately and return to its original duty of defending the country if the people want that and through a public referendum if it is necessary," he said.

In his brief address, Tantawi sought to cast the military as the nation's foremost patriots and angrily denounced what he called attempts to taint its reputation. He didn't utter a single word about the four days of protests in Tahrir Square.

But he hinted at conspiratorial plots behind the protests, much like Mubarak did in his final days.

He spoke of forces "who are working in the dark to incite sedition and drive a wedge between the people and the Armed Forces or between different segments of the Egyptian people."

The crowds in Tahrir immediately rejected Tantawi's proposals with chants of "erhal," or leave.

"We are not leaving, he leaves," chanted the protesters. "The people want to bring down the field marshal," they shouted.

A youth group that played a key role in the anti-Mubarak uprising said it decided to remain in the square until the military handed over power to a civilian presidential council to run the country's affairs. Beside a representative of the military, the council should include pro-reform leader and Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, said the April 6 group.

"The military council has failed to manage the transitional period, and the generals' hands are tainted by the blood of the nation's youth and have been collaborating with the counterrevolution," the group said in a statement.

Others in the square said the referendum was just a ploy to divide people.

Another protester said the army is making the same mistake as Mubarak did.

"They hear the demands but respond when it's too late," said Mustafa Abdel-Hamid, a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood who came to Tahrir even though his movement has not endorsed the protests over the past four days.

The Brotherhood and its Islamist allies are expected to dominate the next parliament, while the liberal groups behind Mubarak's ouster appear poised to lag behind, lacking unity and a cohesive vision. The Brotherhood is staying out of the latest protests, arguing that it did not want the nation to be dragged into a "bloody confrontation." But secular activists say the Muslim fundamentalist group is more keen on grabbing power than ensure the future of the nation.

Aboul-Ela Madi, Mohammed Selim el-Awa, two politicians who attended a five-hour crisis meeting with the military rulers earlier on Tuesday, said the generals wanted to hand over power to a civilian government by July 1, a date that was not mentioned by Tantawi.

They said the military intended to replace Sharaf's cabinet with a "national salvation" government.

ElBaradei's name has been mentioned by protesters as a suitable replacement for Prime Minister Sharaf, who has come under intense criticism for the perceived inefficiency of his civilian government and for being beholden to the ruling generals.

Madi and Al-Awa were among 12 political party representatives and presidential hopefuls who attended the meeting with the military council. Not all parties were represented - none of the youthful, liberal groups behind the uprising attended.

ElBaradei also was absent. His office said he did not attend the crisis meeting but was in touch with the military. ElBaradei prefers to continue to act as the link between the military council and the protesters until the crisis is resolved, his office said

But the military has been backed into a difficult corner. Protesters are demanding it surrender the reins of power - or at least set a firm date in the very near future for doing so soon. Without that, few civilian political leaders are likely to join a new government for fear of being tainted as facades for the generals, as many consider the current Cabinet.

Madi and el-Awa also said the military agreed to release all protesters detained since Saturday and to put on trial police and army officers responsible for protesters' deaths.

The military's concession came less than a week before the first parliamentary election since Mubarak's ouster. The elections start on Nov. 28 and are staggered through to March next year.

The political uncertainty and prospect of continued violence dealt a punishing blow to an already battered economy. Egypt's benchmark index plunged more than 5 percent, the third straight day of declines. Banks closed early and many workplaces sent employees home ahead of schedule for fear of a deterioration in security.

The military and police stayed out of Tahrir on Tuesday to try to lower the temperature. But the nearby Interior Ministry was the focus of most violence near Tahrir on Tuesday. The ministry, which is in charge of the police, said protesters were continuing attempts to storm the ministry.

It said some protesters climbed over buildings near the ministry and lobbed firebombs into the compound. Others, it said, set fire on cars outside the ministry and opened fire on policemen, wounding five. The police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and the protesters responded with rocks and firebombs.

The army set up barricades on streets leading to Interior Ministry and soldiers stood behind them. Riot police were in front in lines, and youth approached and throw stones. They fired back with tear gas.

The ministry denied charges that police were using live ammunition or pellets against the protesters.

But Human Rights Watch said autopsies conducted on 22 of the bodies of protesters at the Zeinhom morgue in Cairo confirmed that they had been shot with live bullets and three others died from asphyxiation from tear gas, according to morgue officials.

Clashes and protests also raged in the northern Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and the southern city of Assiut.

Was Calif. police use of pepper spray justified?

Was Calif. police use of pepper spray justified?

In this Friday, Nov. 18, 2011, photo University of California, Davis Police Lt. John Pike uses pepper spray to move Occupy UC Davis protesters while blocking their exit from the school's quad Friday in Davis, Calif. Two University of California, Davis police officers involved in pepper spraying seated protesters were placed on administrative leave Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, as the chancellor of the school accelerates the investigation into the incident.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Viral videos of riot police repeatedly pepper spraying a row of seated, non-violent Occupy Wall Street protesters at a California university has sparked outrage, an investigation and calls for the college chancellor's resignation.

It also set off a debate about how far officers can and should go to disperse peaceful demonstrators.

While many students, lawmakers and even the university's chancellor saw the officers' actions as excessive, some experts on police tactics say, depending on the circumstances, pepper spray can be a less violent crowd control measure than dragging protesters away or swinging at them with truncheons.

"Between verbalized commands and knock-down, drag-out fights, there's quite a bit of wiggle room," said David Klinger, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer and instructor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who reviewed the pepper spray footage.

"When you've got a bunch of people who are clearly noncompliant, locking arms, it doesn't look good (on camera)," he said.

Soon after the incident on Friday at the University of California, Davis, video recordings spread across the Internet.

The footage of an officer casually spraying an orange cloud over protesters while spectators screamed in horror joined other much-discussed pepper-spray incidents, such as the 84-year-old activist hit in the face in Seattle and a Portland, Ore., woman who recently was sprayed in the mouth.

Images of the officer seen spraying the protesters became the subject of a blog, which featured him spraying famous figures, from Gandhi to John F. Kennedy.

The university announced Monday that it has placed the police chief and two officers on administrative leave to restore trust and calm.

Still, nearly 2,000 students and residents gathered at the main quad to hear speeches and chant slogans against police and university officials. Students who were pepper-sprayed opened the protest, saying they felt unsafe on campus with the chancellor in power.

"We were just kids sitting down in a circle singing," said student David Buscho, 22, of San Rafael, Calif. "It felt like hot glass ... I was paralyzed with fear."

Pepper spray is an inflammatory agent that derives its active ingredient from chili peppers. When the spray is deployed, it causes nearly instant inflammation, resulting in dilation of the capillaries in the eyes, paralysis of the larynx and a burning sensation on the skin.

Buscho said students were yelling at police Friday that they were peacefully protesting. One of the helmeted officers began pointing a spray can directly at protesters' faces, he said.

"I had my arms around my girlfriend. I just kissed her on the forehead and then he sprayed us," he said. "Immediately, we were blinded ... He just sprayed us again and again and we were completely powerless to do anything."

The protest was held in support of the overall Occupy Wall Street movement and in solidarity with protesters at the University of California, Berkeley who were struck by police with batons on Nov. 9.

The UC Davis footage shows two officers spraying students in the face with the chemical agent as the crowd cries out, then a slight delay before police start hauling off some of those seated while other protesters cough violently and try to crawl away.

The spray the officers used ranked about halfway between the highest and lowest concentrations of the commercially available substance.

Nine UC Davis students hit by pepper spray were treated, two were taken to hospitals and later released, university officials said. Ten people were arrested.

Since the video began circulating Friday night, UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi said she has been inundated with calls from alumni, students and faculty to speed up an investigation. Students and faculty have called for her resignation.

"I'm here to apologize," she told the crowd. "I really feel horrible for what happened on Friday."

The spraying has reverberated far beyond the university, spawning a debate about the officers' use of force.

Decisions on using pepper spray ranges by department and depends largely on the community and the police chief, Klinger said.

Klinger said the officers could have turned to other methods, such as a so-called pain compliance hold, but that would bring its own set of complications. A protester could receive a broken arm, he said, or an officer could pull a muscle.

Charles J. Key, a former lieutenant with the Baltimore Police Department who wrote the department's use-of-force manual, said that officers were clearly within their rights to use it.

After reviewing the footage, Key said he observed at least two cases of protesters actively resisting police. In one, a woman pulls her arm back from an officer. In the second, a protester curls into a ball. Each of those actions could have warranted more force, including baton strikes and pressure-point techniques, he said.

"What I'm looking at is fairly standard police procedure," Key said.

The federal courts have ruled on such cases. At the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers courts in nine Western states, the cases have centered on whether or not the protesters were involved in what is called "active resistance".

The court used the term in considering a case about another highly circulated video of a group of passive demonstrators being swabbed with pepper spray in 1997. The protesters had linked arms on the floor of a California congressman's office to protest the logging of old-growth redwood trees on California's North Coast.

Because demonstrators were using a metal sleeve to prevent police from separating them, police argued their "active resistance" left them no other way to disperse them than dabbing their eyes with Q-tips soaked in pepper spray, said Jim Wheaton, an attorney who assisted the prosecution of the civil case.

The 9th Circuit ruled that the protesters weren't in "active resistance," and because they were sitting peacefully, the use of pepper spray was excessive.

"Pepper spray is designed to protect people from a violent attack, to stop somebody from doing something," said Wheaton, senior counsel for the Oakland-based First Amendment Project.

UC Davis police used "it as a torture device to force someone to do something, and that's exactly what the 9th Circuit said was unreasonable and excessive."

Super failure: Deficit-cutting panel gives up

Super failure: Deficit-cutting panel gives up

Supercommittee member Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., walks amid reporters as the deficit reduction panel ends in failure, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Nov. 21, 2011.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress' supercommittee conceded ignominious defeat Monday in its quest to conquer a government debt that stands at a staggering $15 trillion, unable to overcome deep and enduring political divisions over taxes and spending.

Stock prices plummeted at home and across debt-scarred Europe as the panel ended its brief, secretive existence without an agreement. Republicans and Democrats alike pointed fingers of blame, maneuvering for political advantage in advance of 2012 elections less than a year away.

The impasse underscored grave doubts about Washington's political will to make tough decisions and left a cloud of uncertainty over the U.S. economy at the same time that Greece, Italy, Spain and other European countries are reeling from a spreading debt crisis and recession worries.

Lawmakers of both parties agreed action in Congress was still required, somehow, and soon.

"Despite our inability to bridge the committee's significant differences, we end this process united in our belief that the nation's fiscal crisis must be addressed and that we cannot leave it for the next generation to solve," the panel's two co-chairs, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex., said in a somber statement.

They added it was not possible to present "any bipartisan agreement" - omitting any reference to the goal of $1.2 trillion in cuts over a decade that had been viewed as a minimum for success.

President Barack Obama - criticized by Republicans for keeping the committee at arm's length - said refusal by the GOP to raise taxes on the wealthy was the main stumbling block to a deal. He pledged to veto any attempt by lawmakers to repeal a requirement for $1 trillion in automatic spending cuts that are to be triggered by the supercommittee's failure to reach a compromise, unless Congress approves an alternative approach.

Those cuts are designed to fall evenly on the military and domestic government programs beginning in 2013, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as well as lawmakers in both parties have warned the impact on the Pentagon could be devastating.

In reality, though, it is unclear if any of those reductions will ever take effect, since next year's presidential and congressional elections have the potential to alter the political landscape before then.

The brief written statement from Murray and Hensarling was immediately followed by a hail of recriminations.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Republicans had "never found the courage to ignore the tea party extremists" and "never came close to meeting us half way."

But Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who authored a GOP offer during the talks, said, "Unfortunately, our Democratic colleagues refused to agree to any meaningful deficit reduction without $1 trillion in job-crushing tax increases."

Said Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, a GOP presidential hopeful, "It's amazing to what lengths he (Obama) will go to avoid making tough decisions."

It was unlikely the outcome would materially improve Congress' public standing - already well below 20-percent approval in numerous polls.

And the panel's failure left lawmakers confronting a large and controversial agenda for December, including Obama's call to extend an expiring payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. Democrats had wanted to add those items and more to any compromise, and lawmakers in both parties also face a struggle to stave off a threatened 27 percent cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients.

Based on accounts provided by officials familiar with the talks, it appeared that weeks of private negotiations did nothing to alter a fundamental divide between the two political parties. Before and during the talks, Democrats said they would agree to significant savings from benefit programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security only if Republicans would agree to a hefty dose of higher taxes, including cancellation of Bush-era cuts at upper-income brackets. In contrast, The GOP side said spending, not revenue, was the cause of the government's chronic budget deficits, and insisted that the tax cuts approved in the previous decade all be made permanent.

The Democrats' "idea was this was the opportunity to raise taxes,'" said Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Senate's second-ranking Republican and a member of the supercommittee. "It didn't matter what we proposed; the price of that was going to be $1.3 trillion in new taxes," he added in a CNBC interview, although Democrats made at least two offers that called for smaller amounts of additional tax revenue.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said on MSNBC, "I have demonstrations outside my office. I've had rallies. I've had unbelievable amount of pushback because we were ready and prepared to put on the table some of those so-called sacred cows." Republicans, he said, refused to consider cancellation of the tax cuts for the wealthy.

The talks also were hampered by internal divisions within both parties.

Republicans offered a plan crafted by Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania about two weeks ago that included an additional $250 billion in tax revenue through an overhaul of the tax code that included reducing the top tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent. Some Republicans criticized it as a violation of the party's long-standing pledge not to raise taxes. Even some in the GOP leadership, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, declined to endorse it in public.

At the same time, Democrats ridiculed it as a tax cut for the rich in disguise - even privately criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., when he said it could signal a breakthrough - and it failed to generate any momentum toward compromise. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and others also accused Republicans of bowing to the wishes of Grover Norquist, an anti-tax activist whose organization has gathered signatures from GOP candidates on a petition pledging never to raise taxes.

And Democrats had problems of their own. An offer presented by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., to cut about $3 trillion from future deficits failed to win the backing of two of the six committee members of his own party. Officials said they objected because it would have curtailed future cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients, some liberals said in remarks on the Senate floor they opposed it and Republicans criticized them for intransigence.

Baucus jettisoned it from a subsequent offer that also slashed an earlier demand for tax revenues.

The panel's failure marked the end of an extraordinary yearlong effort by divided government to grapple with budget deficits that lawmakers of both parties and economists of all persuasions agreed were unsustainable.

Negotiations in the Capitol led by Vice President Joseph Biden were followed by an extraordinary round of White House talks in which Obama and House Speaker John Boehner sought a sweeping compromise to cut trillions from future deficits. They outlined a potential accord that would make far-reaching changes in Medicare and other programs, while generating up to $800 billion in higher revenue through an overhaul of the tax code. But in the end, they failed to agree.

By contrast, the supercommittee never came close, instead swapping increasingly small-bore offers that the other side swiftly rejected.

Within the past week, Democrats said they would accept a Republican framework for $400 billion in higher tax revenue and $800 billion or so in spending cuts, while rejecting numerous key proposals.

Late last week, Boehner floated an offer that included $543 billion in spending cuts, fees and other non-tax revenue, as well as $3 billion in tax revenue from closing a special tax break for corporate purchases of private jets. It also assumed $98 billion in reduced interest costs.

It was swiftly rejected.

Dr Yosef Ben Jochannan Hospitalized

November 20, 2011 

"...Word came to me via email that one of Africa’s greatest scholars and historians is in Harlem Hospital after being found at home weak and malnourished..."
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Libya says Gadhafi son to be tried at home

Libya says Gadhafi son to be tried at home

In this image provided by the Zintan Media Center, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, left, is guarded by a Libyan fighter as he is transported to Zintan, Libya, by a transport aircraft following his capture near the Niger border early Saturday Nov 19 2011. Moammar Gadhafi's son, the only wanted member of the ousted ruling family to remain at large _ was captured as he traveled with aides in a convoy in Libya's southern desert.

ZINTAN, Libya (AP) -- Libya's new leaders said Sunday they will try Moammar Gadhafi's son at home and not hand him over to the International Criminal Court where he's charged with crimes against humanity. The government also announced the capture of the toppled regime's intelligence minister, who is also wanted by the court.

In one of several emerging complications, however, the former rebel faction that captured Seif al-Islam Gadhafi a day earlier is refusing to deliver him to national authorities in Tripoli, raising concern over whether he will get a proper trial and demonstrating the interim leaders' weak hold over their fractured nation.

In the capital, Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said ex-Intelligence Minister Abdullah al-Senoussi was captured alive on Sunday by revolutionary fighters from a southern region called Fazan, not far from where Gadhafi's son was seized on Saturday while trying to flee to neighboring Niger.

Fighters tracking al-Senoussi for two days caught up with him at his sister's house in Deerat al-Shati, about 40 miles (70 kilometers) south of the desert city of Sebha, said fighter Abdullah al-Sughayer. There were few other immediate details on his capture, and it was not clear whether his captors would also resist turning him over to Tripoli.

Though they are wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Libya will likely seek to try both men at home.

Speaking earlier in the day, before al-Senoussi's capture, the information minister said Seif al-Islam, the ousted Libyan leader's one-time heir apparent, must be tried in Libya even though the country's new leaders have yet to establish a court system.

"It is only fair for the Libyan people that he is tried here. ... Seif al-Islam committed crimes against the Libyan people," Shammam told The Associated Press.

"The ICC is just a secondary court, and the people of Libya will not allow Seif al-Islam to be tried outside," Shammam said.

The ICC indicted the two men along with Gadhafi in June for unleashing a campaign of murder and torture to suppress the uprising against the Gadhafi regime that broke out in mid-February.

Al-Senoussi, Gadhafi's brother-in-law, was also one of six Libyans convicted in absentia and sentenced to life in prison in France for the 1989 bombing of a French passenger over Niger that killed all 170 people on board.

ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said Sunday that Libya would have to convincingly lay out its arguments in what is called a "challenge of admissibility" if it wanted to try the two men at home instead of sending them to The Hague court.

"The issue is that there is already a case before the (ICC) court," he said. "Now Libya has a legal obligation under international law to present a challenge to say: 'We have this suspect and he will be dealt with under our national laws.'"

"... They will need to show that they have a serious, genuine legal system capable of functioning fairly in this case," he said.

Seif al-Islam, who was once the face of reform in Libya and who led his father's drive to emerge from pariah status over the last decade, was captured by fighters from the small western mountain town of Zintan who had tracked him to the desert in the south of the country.

He was then flown to Zintan, 85 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Tripoli, where he remains in a secret location.

On Sunday, the fighters holding Seif al-Islam posted a video on YouTube of him saying an injury to his hand was the result of a NATO airstrike a month ago that struck his convoy in Wadi Zamzam, about 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli. He said 26 people were killed in the strike.

Photos of him with three fingers of his right hand in bandages had raised questions about whether he was mistreated by his captors.

"The agreement is that I receive medical treatment here in Zintan because there is a medical team and they have the necessary anesthesia for an operation," he said.

In the video, he appeared in good health and was dressed in brown robes and a turban in the style of ethnic Tuaregs.

He seemed confident, even referring to those holding him prisoner as "brothers and family."

"There is no problem. We are talking and dialoguing and we have much to talk about," he said.

The faction of rebel fighters from the western mountains formed one of the key forces against Gadhafi's regime during the six-month civil war.

Even after Gadhafi's fall in August and after his capture and killing in October, Libya's numerous and sometime competing rebel factions have refused to disarm, raising fears of new violence and instability.

"We have priority over Seif al-Islam - we caught him, and we were the forefront leaders in this revolution," said Tahir al-Turki, head of the small town's local council, explaining why he would not be sent to the capital.

"He will be safer with us in Zintan. We don't know who will take him or deal with him in Tripoli," he said.

That position shows how powerful regional factions backed by bands of armed fighters are able to act autonomously, even on issues of the highest national interest.

Shammam, the information minister, played down suggestions that a power struggle was brewing over the high-value prisoner or that the position of local officials was undermining the authority of the national leadership.

He said the national leadership had no objection to keeping Seif al-Islam in Zintan until a trial can be organized, but that the small town was not capable of organizing and holding the trial itself.

"If you catch a criminal in Texas, you're not going to bring him to Washington, are you?" Shammam told the AP.

Authorities in the National Transitional Council would also likely face challenges in organizing a trial.

Libya, under the elder Gadhafi's 42-year rule, had intentionally weak state institutions and a government that barely existed. Gadhafi, who held no title, had ultimate authority and did not want the development of any other power centers that might challenge him.

As a result, a capable court system, like other state bodies, must be built from scratch.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo told the AP Saturday that he will travel to Libya on Monday for talks with the NTC on where the trial will take place.

Ocampo said that while national governments have the first right to try their own citizens for war crimes, his primary goal was to ensure Seif al-Islam has a fair trial.

International human rights groups have called for Seif al-Islam to be quickly sent to the court in The Hague, Netherlands, citing the apparent killings in custody of his father and brother Muatassim on Oct. 20 as "particular cause for concern."

Meanwhile, new details emerged about Seif al-Islam's capture in which fighters swarmed a two-car convoy in the south of the country that some officials said was on its way to neighboring Niger. The car carrying him got stuck in the sand while trying to escape.

Al-Ajami al-Etery, who led the operation, said Seif al-Islam tried to hide his features by throwing sand on his face when he stepped out of his car.

"He said his name was Abdel-Salam and he pretended to be a shepherd, but we found him out and arrested him," he told the AP.

Debt panel poised to admit failure

Debt panel poised to admit failure

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2011 file photo Supercommittee co-chairs Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, left, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., right, confer as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction meets to hear testimony about the national debt from the Congressional Budget Office director on Capitol Hill in Washington. Fanning out to the sets of various talk shows Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, Democrat and Republican Supercommittee members blamed one another other for a deepening impasse that has all but doomed any chances for accord.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A special deficit-reduction supercommittee appears likely to admit failure on Monday, unable or unwilling to compromise on a mix of spending cuts and tax increases required to meet its assignment of saving taxpayers at least $1.2 trillion over the coming decade.

The panel is sputtering to a close after two months of talks in which the members were never able to get close to bridging a fundamental divide over how much to raise taxes to address a budget deficit that forced the government to borrow 36 cents of every dollar it spent last year.

Members of the bipartisan panel, formed during the summer crisis over raising the government's borrowing limit, spent their time on Sunday in testy performances on television talk shows, blaming each other for the impasse.

In a series of television interviews, not a single panelist seemed optimistic about any last-minute breakthrough. And it was clear that the two sides had never gotten particularly close, at least in the official exchanges of offers that were leaked to the media.

Aides said any remaining talks had broken off.

"There is one sticking divide. And that's the issue of what I call shared sacrifice," said panel co-chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on CNN's "State of the Union."

"The wealthiest Americans who earn over a million a year have to share too. And that line in the sand, we haven't seen Republicans willing to cross yet," she said

Republicans said Democrats' demands on taxes were simply too great and weren't accompanied by large enough proposals to curb the explosive growth of so-called entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

"If you look at the Democrats' position it was `We have to raise taxes. We have to pass this jobs bill, which is another almost half-trillion dollars. And we're not excited about entitlement reform,' " countered Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Under the committee's rules, any plan would have to be unveiled Monday, but it appeared that Murray and co-chair Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas would instead issue a statement declaring the panel's work at a close, aides said.

"Put a bow on it. It's done," said an aide to a supercommittee Republican.

Failure by the panel would trigger about $1 billion over nine years in automatic across-the-board spending cuts to a wide range of domestic programs and the Pentagon budget, starting in 2013, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This action, called a "sequester," would also generate $169 billion in saving from lower interest costs on the national debt.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the required cuts of up to $454 billion to the Pentagon would be "devastating" and leave a "hollow force," and defense hawks of Capitol Hill promise to unwind them. But that effort will be complicated by the insistence of other lawmakers that the overall amount of the budget cuts be left in place.

"I can't imagine that, knowing of the importance of national defense, that both Democrats and Republicans wouldn't find a way to work through that process so we still get the $1.2 trillion in cuts, but it doesn't all fall on defense," said supercommittee Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona.

The panel's failure also sets up a fight within a battle-weary, dysfunctional Congress over renewing a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, both of which are set to expire at the end of the year. Both proposals are part of President Barack Obama's $447 billion jobs plan.

Extending the current 2 percentage point payroll tax cut isn't a popular idea with many Republicans, but allowing it to expire could harm the economy, economists say. So too would a cutoff of unemployment benefits averaging about $300 a week to millions of people who have been out of work for more than six months.

Serious negotiations ended Friday after Democrats rejected a $644 billion offer comprised of $543 billion in spending cuts, fees and other non-tax revenue, as well as $3 billion in tax revenue from closing a special tax break for corporate purchases of private jets. It also assumed $98 billion in reduced interest costs.

Officials familiar with the offer said it would save the government $121 billion by requiring federal civilian workers to contribute more to their pension plans, shave $23 billion from farm and nutrition programs and generate $15 billion from new auctions of broadcast spectrum to wireless companies.

Democrats said the plan was unbalanced because it included barely any tax revenue.

"Our Democratic friends are unable to cut even a dollar in spending without saying it has to be accompanied by tax increases," Kyl said.

On Saturday, Sen. Rob Portman floated an even smaller plan, said a lawmaker directly familiar with the panel's work. It, too, was rejected. The lawmaker required anonymity because of the secrecy of the talks.

The committee faces a Wednesday deadline. But members would have to agree on the outlines of a package by Monday to allow time for drafting and assessing by the Congressional Budget Office.

Over the past couple of weeks, the two sides have made a variety of offers and counter-offers, starting with a more than $3 trillion plan from Democrats that would have increased tax revenues by $1.3 trillion in exchange for further cuts in agency budgets, a change in the measure used to calculate cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries, and curbs on the growth of Medicare and Medicaid.

"We put on the table a proposal that required tough compromises on both sides, and they never did that," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the only House Democrat on the panel to participate in late-stage bipartisan talks.

Republicans countered with a $1.5 trillion plan that included a potential breakthrough - $250 billion in higher taxes gleaned as Congress passes a future tax reform measure. The plan was trashed by Democrats, however, who said it would have lowered tax rates for the wealthy too far while eliminating tax breaks that chiefly benefit the middle class.