Egypt football violence leaves many dead in Port Said

1 February 2012

At least 74 people have been killed in clashes between rival fans following a football match in the Egyptian city of Port Said.

Scores were injured as fans - reportedly armed with knives - invaded the pitch after a match between top-tier clubs al-Masry and al-Ahly.

Officials fear the death toll could rise further.

It is the biggest disaster in the country's football history, said the Egyptian deputy health minister.

"This is unfortunate and deeply saddening," Hesham Sheiha told state television.

Analysis

 Jon Leyne, Cairo

Football fans in Egypt can be violent, and certainly there is a bitter rivalry between these two teams.

The al-Ahly fans, known as Ultras, have a particular reputation for violence.

But lately they have been at the forefront of clashes with the police.

On the social media, there has been speculation - and I hasten to add there is no evidence - that the security forces may have had an interest in taking on al-Ahly supporters.

Certainly riot police did not seem to be very effective, they were standing around, but maybe there simply were not enough there.

Some of the dead were security officers, the Associated Press news agency quoted a morgue official as saying.

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says it appears some fans had taken knives into the stadium.

Our correspondent says the lack of the usual level of security in the stadium might have contributed to the clashes.

Police in Egypt have been keeping a much lower profile since last year's popular protests that ousted President Hosni Mubarak from power.

Egyptian fans are notoriously violent, says our correspondent, particularly supporters of al-Ahly known as the Ultras.

They have been heavily implicated in confronting the police during recent political protests, our correspondent adds. There is speculation that the security forces may have had an interest in taking on al-Ahly supporters.

Witnesses said the atmosphere had been tense throughout the match - since an al-Ahly fan raised a banner insulting supporters of the home team.

As the match ended, their fans flooded onto the pitch attacking Ahly players and fans.

A small group of riot police tried to protect the players, but were overwhelmed.

Part of the stadium was set on fire.

Officials say most of the deaths were caused by concussions, deep cuts to the heads and suffocation from the stampede.

"This is not football. This is a war and people are dying in front of us," al-Ahly player Mohamed Abo Treika said.

Hani Seddik, who played for al-Ahly as a teenager, told the BBC: "I don't think this is about football. These trouble-makers were not football fans."

"How were they allowed to carry knives into the ground? To me, this is the actions of people who do not want the country to be stable and want to put off tourists from coming here," said Mr Seddik, who was watching the match on TV in Cairo.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood - which has emerged as Egypt's biggest party in recent elections - blamed supporters of ousted President Hosni Mubarak for the violence.

"The events in Port Said are planned and are a message from the remnants of the former regime," Muslim Brotherhood lawmaker Essam al-Erian said.

He went on by saying that the army and police wanted to silence critics demanding an end to state of emergency in the country.

In Cairo, another match was halted by the referee after news of the Port Said violence. It prompted fans to set parts of the stadium on fire.

Egyptian journalist Ashraf Khalil: "Where was the security"

All premier-league matches have been cancelled and the newly-elected Egyptian parliament is to hold an emergency session on Thursday.

Fifa President Sepp Blatter later issued a statement, expressing his shock over the incident.

"This is a black day for football. Such a catastrophic situation is unimaginable and should not happen," he said.

Rival Libya militias battle in Tripoli

1 February 2012

Rival Libyan militia groups have fought a gun battle in the capital, Tripoli, officials say.

Exchanges of fire were heard and plumes of smoke seen coming from a district known as Tariq Al Shat in central Tripoli, eyewitnesses said.

A BBC reporter who drove past the area later said the fighting had ceased.

An interior ministry official told Reuters news agency the fighting was between militiamen from the city of Misrata, and a group from Zintan.

The two militia groups fought together to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi last year.

Several militias from outside the capital have set up bases in Tripoli and regularly clash as they fight for control of parts of the city.

The country's interim National Transitional Council (NTC) is struggling to reassert its authority.

The latest clashes took place near the coast, close to the Corinthia Bab al-Africa and Marriott hotels.

"Misrata controls a police academy building up the road and they are fighting with Zintan. We do not know why they are fighting," interior ministry Naji Awad told Reuters.

Assad says stability in Lebanon key for Syria

February 01, 2012

BEIRUT: President Bashar Assad said stability in Lebanon has a positive effect on the situation in Syria, according to head of the Tawheed Party Wiam Wahhab, who met the embattled Syrian leader Wednesday in Damascus.

Upon his return to Beirut, Wahhab said that Assad "affirmed Syria's keenness on preserving stability in Lebanon given how crucial this stability is to the Syrian scene.”

Lebanese government officials as well as political analysts have warned that unrest in neighboring Syria could negatively affect Lebanon. Damascus has repeatedly urged Lebanon to prevent arms smuggling on the border, prompting Lebanon's Higher Defense Council to implement additional measures to control the poorly demarcated border and curb arms-smuggling.

As violence escalates in Syria, Lebanon has been divided on its response to the events, with the official stance of Prime Minister Najib Mikati being complete disassociation from decisions related to the ongoing anti-government protests.

On Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council discussed a resolution crafted by Western powers and the Arab League aimed at stopping the violent government crackdown on protesters. Russia has vowed to block such a resolution.

Wahhab also said that Assad stressed the need to preserve the presence of the Druze community in the Middle East, praising its patriotism and nationalism throughout history.

Assad added that Syria loves all its citizens without exception.

Leading Druze figure and head of the Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblatt has urged his fellow Druze in Syria not to join the Syrian army and police in the brutal crackdown on protesters. He has also said that scores of Druze soldiers in the Syrian army had returned to their parents in coffins as a result of battling fellow Syrian citizens.

Jumblatt has also broken ranks with Assad by calling on Russia and Iran to convince their ally, Syria, that a fundamental change in the regime is the only solution to the current unrest.

Another group of 11 Iranians kidnapped in Syria, report

February 1, 2012 â‹…

 Eleven Iranian citizens were kidnapped while on a religious pilgrimage in Syria, state television reported on Wednesday, just days after the abduction of another group of pilgrims by an armed group in the violence-torn country.

“Their bus was on its way … to Damascus when it was attacked by an armed group and 11 out of 35 passengers were abducted,” the television quoted Iranian pilgrimage official Massoud Akhavan as saying.

“The kidnapped men were transferred to an unknown location,” Akhavan said without giving more details.

Another bus carrying Iranian pilgrims was attacked by gunmen in central Syria on Thursday and 11 passengers were abducted.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast condemned the attack as “unjustifiable” and asked Syrian authorities to secure the release of the abducted citizens.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a close ally of Iran, is under mounting international pressure to end a military crackdown on a 11-month-old popular uprising, which has escalated into an armed insurgency in some regions.

Kidnappings and killings based on religious identity are increasingly common in protest flashpoints such as Homs, sparking international and regional concerns that strife could lead to sustained sectarian bloodshed in Syria.

Syrians opposed to Assad come mainly from the country’s Sunni Muslim majority, while Assad and his ruling coterie belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. Iran is the Middle East’s Shi’ite power.

Five Iranian technicians were also kidnapped in the Syrian city of Homs in December and Tehran demanded their immediate release.

Iran has condemned what it has called foreign interference in Syrian affairs and has praised reforms Assad has pledged to undertake, but tempered its rhetoric on Syria as the uprising has dragged on and bloodshed has worsened.

At first Tehran wholeheartedly supported Assad’s stance against public opposition, but now it is encouraging reforms to take account of popular grievances.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed in Assad’s crackdown on protests. Syria says more than 2,000 security force members have been killed by militants.

Reuters

Russia Stands in the Way of U.N. Call for Assad to Step Down

February 1, 2012

 UNITED NATIONS — The battle over Syria moved to the United Nations on Tuesday as Western powers and much of the Arab world confronted Russia and its allies in the Security Council over their refusal to condemn the Syrian government for its violent suppression of popular protests.

As top diplomats gathered in the Council chamber for the showdown, the steady drumbeat of violence continued without pause in Syria, where government forces used heavy weapons and tanks to push rebels back from strongholds near Damascus.

At the United Nations, the two sides skirmished over a draft Security Council resolution proposed by Morocco that calls for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to leave power as the first step of a transition toward democracy.

But behind all the arguments lurked the ghost of Libya, with Russia determined to block any resolution that might be construed as a license for regime change. The Arabs and top Western diplomats argued that endorsing the demonstrators was the minimum step required to support popular demands for change that began with peaceful demonstrations and have evolved into an increasingly armed uprising.

“The Syrian government failed to make any serious effort to cooperate with us,” Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar, told the Security Council about Arab League efforts to mediate the dispute. “The government killing machine continues effectively unabated.”

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, joined by the foreign ministers of Britain, France and several other countries, argued that Libya was a “false analogy.” The plan for a gradual democratic transition “represents the best efforts of Syria’s neighbors to chart a way forward, and it deserves a chance to work,” she said.

The proposed resolution, which most likely would not be voted on before Friday, called for Mr. Assad to cede power to his vice president, who would help form a unity government that would prepare for elections. It is unlikely that Mr. Assad would heed the demands to step down, even if the resolution made it through the Council.

But that remained a long shot Tuesday night. Fundamentally, the argument over Syria reflects a deeper divide between those who would use the Security Council to confront nations over how their governments treat civilians, versus those who consider that it has no role whatsoever in settling domestic disputes. Syria is the latest example in an argument that stretches back through all recent conflicts.

Russia, backed discreetly by China and India, rejects the idea that the world organization can interfere in the domestic politics of any country to force a leadership change. They all feel that they were duped into supporting a no-fly zone over Libya, which was promoted as a means to protect civilians last March. Instead, they said, NATO used it as a license to help overthrow the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

The Russian envoy, Vitaly I. Churkin, adopted a “where will it all end” argument on Tuesday. The Council, he said, will start saying “what king or prime minister needs to step down. The Security Council cannot prescribe recipes for the outcome of a domestic political process.”

To a certain extent, the Arab League and the much of the world were ready to dump the eccentric Mr. Qaddafi because he had made many enemies. Mr. Assad, despite hostile relations with some neighbors and the West, continues to have a strong ally in Russia, yet analysts described Moscow as preoccupied with leadership change.

“That the Morocco resolution ‘calls for’ Assad to step aside is their worst example and fear,” said George Lopez, a professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and a sometime adviser to the United Nations. “If today it is Assad, tomorrow Putin? They worry.”

Yet in a sign that Russia was beginning to feel the need to deflect at least some of the accusations that Moscow is partially responsible for not stemming the rising death toll, Russia distanced itself from Mr. Assad himself. The United Nations stopped tallying deaths after they passed 5,400 in January, saying they were too difficult to confirm accurately, and since then the toll as mounted steadily.

”The Russian policy is not about asking someone to step down; regime change is not our profession,” Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during a stop on a tour of Asia.

“We are not friends or allies of President Assad,” he went on, according to a transcript on the Interfax news service. “We never said that Assad remaining in power is a precondition for regulating the situation. We said something else — we said that the decision should be made by Syrians, by the Syrians themselves.”

Mr. Lavrov made it clear that it was the example of Libya, where foreign powers intervened with force, that forged Russia’s opposition.

“The international community unfortunately did take sides in Libya and we would never allow the Security Council to authorize anything similar,” Mr. Lavrov said.

There is no Western nor Arab League support for the kind of international military intervention that occurred in Libya, because of concerns that an implosion of Syria could drag neighbors like Israel, Iraq and Lebanon into a wider conflagration. The goal is to try to stanch the conflict without sparking a sectarian civil war.

In the longest and most emotional speech of the day, Ambassador Bashar Jaafari of Syria evoked the famous Arab poet Nizar Qabbani and the long Arab struggle against colonialism to insult Qatar and others leading the effort to support political change in Syria, suggesting they were joining a Western plot.

But Sheik Hamad and Nabil al-Araby, the Arab League secretary general, both pleaded with the Council that more international pressure was needed to meet the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people after 11 months of demonstrations.

The league strategy — used as a blueprint for the resolution — mirrors that applied in Yemen, and promoted by Arab states, whereby the longtime autocratic president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, transferred power to his vice president after months of often bloody pro-democracy protests. Critics suggest that strategy aims merely to stop the violence without promoting real change.

With Syria, other calculations also come into play. Vladimir V. Putin, who seeks to return to the Russian presidency in elections this March, wants to portray Russia as regaining its superpower influence. Russia’s long ties to Syria generate billions of dollars in weapons sales, plus the relationship gives Moscow the entree it needs to the table for Middle East peace talks. In addition, the Russian Navy deploys some ships from the Syrian port of Tartous, widening Russia’s sphere of influence into the Mediterranean.

In the West, the interest in pressuring Mr. Assad to leave is partly rooted in the desire to weaken the position of Syria’s ally, Iran, in the region, as well as that of Hezbollah, which continues to back the Damascus government.

The haggling over the wording is expected to commence in earnest again on Wednesday. Russia and China vetoed a similar resolution last October.

Diplomats have inserted all kinds of reassuring language into the paragraphs that touch on Russian sensitivities.

“Nothing in this resolution compels states to resort to the use of force or the threat of force,” it said, a point many foreign ministers echoed in their speeches, and it underscores the “strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, emphasizing the need to resolve the current crisis in Syria peacefully.”

It also calls on both the government and the rebels to halt the violence, although it does not equate the two sides as Russia often does. The official Syrian position is that it is under armed attack from terrorists from abroad, its explanation ignoring the protest movements sweeping the region.

Members of the Syrian National Council, a nascent government in exile, lobbied for the resolution, rejecting a Russian offer to sponsor talks in Moscow between the government and the opposition. Burhan Ghalioun, the president, said that even if the resolution passed, Mr. Assad would likely reject it.

“Nevertheless, to have that resolution is extremely important to emphasize his lack of legitimacy,” he said.

NYT

Lebanon to lease power-generating ships to reduce blackouts

February 1, 2012

 Energy Minister Jebran Bassil praised on Wednesday the cabinet’s decision to lease power-generating ships to help reduce severe electricity rationing in the country.

“What happened yesterday was a good gesture by the government in terms of reforming the electricity” sector, Bassil said in a press conference.

“A decision to lease the vessels to back the production of electricity was made yesterday,” he confirmed, adding the rehabilitation of the Zouk and Jiyyeh power stations was necessary.

Photo: Turkish-made Power Ship considered (the world’s largest power-generating ship ) can generate 232 Megawatt of electricity

PM's hold on job slipping, say backers

February 2, 2012

KEVIN RUDD has hit back at accusations by colleagues he is not a team player as close supporters of Julia Gillard concede her grip on the prime ministership is slipping.

One factional boss, who is loyal to Ms Gillard, said yesterday: ''There's been quite a shift over summer'' and ''she's in trouble''.

As Ms Gillard forged ahead with her economic agenda by announcing an overhaul of vocational education to boost Australia's skills base, Mr Rudd hit the state election campaign trail in his native Queensland.

On Tuesday, Mr Rudd's cabinet colleague, Simon Crean, labelled him a prima donna and told him to drop his ambition to return to the leadership.

Mr Rudd said he was ''proud to be a member of this ministerial team, which is very strong, very dedicated, very hard-working and in which Simon himself plays a very positive role''.

''I play my own part and will continue to do so.''

Asked if he supported Ms Gillard, Mr Rudd replied ''of course''.

Mr Rudd's supporters emphasised yesterday that nothing should happen until after the March 24 Queensland election, to prevent disrupting the campaign.

Federal Parliament rises on March 22 and does not sit again until the budget in May, meaning any coup would have to wait until then.

''She needs a flawless three months,'' the factional boss said of Ms Gillard. ''Her danger zone is between Queensland and the budget.''

Mr Crean, Bill Shorten and Stephen Smith have all been cited as contenders to keep out Mr Rudd should Ms Gillard's leadership become terminal.

A Crean backer has begun canvassing support. But sources on both sides concede any contest will be between Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd in the end.

One senior source said the many MPs who have drifted away from Ms Gillard over the summer are ''parked in the unknown''.

''At the end of the day, they will have to go to Rudd.''

Colleagues of Mr Shorten are urging him to withdraw his name from the speculation.

''He is the likely longer-term leader and he will seriously damage himself,'' an MP said.

With Parliament to resume next week, there will be little respite from the speculation should the polls stay flat.

Mr Rudd has a busy campaign schedule planned for Queensland, a state crucial to Labor's federal prospects.

He has promised to help out in three state seats which cross over with his own electorate.

As well, the ABC's Four Corners program is running a profile piece on February 13 which his detractors worry will be sympathetic and boost his comeback.

The government's woes worsened last night when the Seven Network reported email exchanges between the office of the former workplace relations minister, Chris Evans, and Fair Work Australia, concerning the investigation into the NSW MP Craig Thomson.

The government has rejected claims that it has interfered in the investigation. While the emails do not contradict this, they show Fair Work Australia, a statutory independent body, running past Senator Evans's office a media statement denying allegations Mr Thomson lied to the investigation, sparking a second inquiry.

Senator Evans's adviser responds: ''Thanks, that's awesome should minimise any run it gets in the morning.''

The national secretary of the Health Services Union, Kathy Jackson, has alleged government interference in the investigation but has no evidence.

She said questions should be asked as to why the investigation, which she called for, is taking so long.

Fair Work Australia is investigating the financial affairs of the union and has also made adverse findings against key players, including Ms Jackson. Sources told the Herald these relate to her failure as a union official to attend meetings when Mr Thomson was the national secretary where she could have raised questions about the finances.

Holden 'to fail' without government help, car company warns

by: Lanai Vasek

From:The Australian

February 02, 2012

CAR giant Holden says it won't be able to do business in Australia unless governments come to its financial aid.

Holden boss Mike Devereux today said the loss of 100 casual and temporary job losses at the car maker's Elizabeth site, north of Adelaide, were unavoidable.

As Industry Minister Greg Combet rejected Toyota claims that the nation had a poor workplace culture, Mr Devereux said Holden's local operations would ultimately fail without assistance from government.

“We will not be able to do business in Australia without the Australian governments (federal and state) investing along with the auto industry,” Mr Devereux told ABC Radio.

Mr Devereux said if Australia wanted to continue to have low tariffs on car manufacturing then co-investment from the government was absolutely necessary to ensure the company's survival.

 “That means Holden forking over hundreds of millions in engineering, design and equipment and the government investing along with us.”

The Gillard government is currently negotiating a fresh assistance package with Holden to protect its local operations.

Mr Devereux said the latest job losses, which follow last week's announcement of 350 job cuts at Toyota, would not affect permanent employees.

However he could not rule out further cuts in the future if the Australian dollar remained high.

“Nothing is guaranteed in life. Our plan is not to have further reductions but the export markets - we wish they were more robust than they are - are not growing at the rates that we had hoped they would grow,” he said.

Mr Devereux's comments came as the opposition shadow cabinet prepared to meet in Canberra today to discuss, among other things, Tony Abbott's plan to axe $500 million in subsidies for the car industry.

Opposition workplace relations spokesman Eric Abetz said this morning the Coalition wanted to ensure the “quality of the spend, not the quantity of the spend” on car manufacturers.

Toyota Australia president Max Yasuda has attacked Australia's industrial relations system and a poor workplace culture amongst workers, including high rates of absenteeism, as the biggest contributor to the current string of job losses.

Mr Yasuda told Australian Financial Review that Labor's Fair Work Act did not give him enough flexibility to respond to changing business conditions.

But Mr Combet denied the government's IR policy was inflexible or that a poor workplace culture was driving job losses.

“No, I don't believe so - it's driven by wider factors,” Mr Combet told ABC Radio.

“Let's just keep perspective here - there is tremendous flexibility in our economy.

“We will listen to what stakeholders say about the need for greater flexibility and consider it carefully. But at the end of the day this is a Labor government and we support people through the processes of change, we support fairness in the workplace.”