A MULTIWAVE PUBLIC ATION

THE LOS ANGELES

PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS

MASSACRE!
EGYPT TO MUBARAK: “GET OUT!”
COMPLIMENTARY Issue Number 2 - 9 | Thursday, MARCH 03, 2011

News Briefing
Story Title Goes Here
Nobel Peace laureate Mo-
hamed ElBaradei’s appearance
in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square
Do the people of Egypt deserve the right to self determination?
CAIRO (AP) -- Supporters of Presi-
dent Hosni Mubarak charged into
Cairo’s central square on horses and

Over 1000 civilians killed as Libyan despot clings to power.

underscored the jockeying for
leadership of the mass protest camels brandishing whips while
movement that erupted seem- others rained firebombs from roof-
ingly out of nowhere in the past tops in what appeared to be an or-

Desperate calls from revolutionaries for air strikes & no-fly zone!
week to shake the Arab world’s chestrated assault against protesters
most populous nation. Page 4
trying to topple Egypt’s leader of 30
years. Three people died and 600
Story Title Goes Here were injured.
Nobel Peace laureate Mo- The protesters accused Mubarak’s
hamed ElBaradei’s appearance TRIPOLI -- Witnesses sayofLiby-
regime of unleashing a force paid
BREAKING NEWS
in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square
underscored the jockeying for
an warplanes have struck
thugs and plainclothes police to
held oil port in the eastern town of
the rebel-
leadership of the mass protest crush their
movement YEMENthat erupted seem- Brega. Theunprecedented
area was the 9-day-old site of a
ingly out of nowhere in protest-
the past fierce battle day
movement, a after the between
Wednesday 82-year-
Two anti-government
week to shake the Arab world’s old president
leader Moammar refused to step down.
Gadhafi’s loyal-
ers
mostarepopulous
shot and killed
nation.in southern
Page 4 ists
Theywho tried tooff
showed retake control
police of the
ID badges
Yemen. A hospital official says strategic oil installation
they said were wrested from their and armed
the deaths occur during demon- rebels who repelled the attack after
attackers.
hours Some government work-
of fighting.
strations
Story Titlein the Goes
town ofHereSadr, in
ersMoamer
said their Kadhafiemployers
warnedordered “thou-
the province of
Nobel Peace laureate Lahaj. Protest-
Mo-
hamed ElBaradei’s appearance them intowould
sands” the streets.
die if the West
ers also clash with government launched a military intervention in
in Tahrir, or
supporters andLiberation, Square
security forces Mustafa el-Fiqqi, a top official from
underscored the jockeying for Libya as rebels repulsed
the ruling National Democratic Par- a fierce on-
in the Red Sea
leadership city mass
of the of Hodeida.
protest slaught by his forces around a key
Thirteen
movement protesters are injured
that erupted in
seem- ty, toldoil
eastern The Associated Press that
town.
ingly out of nowhere
confrontations in the the
that included past businessmen
As the world connected
clamoured to the for rul-
ac-
week to shake the Arab world’s ing party
tion to stop wereKadhafi
responsible using for war-
what
use of sticks and rocks.
most populous nation. Page 4 planes
happened. against his own people and
President Ali Abdullah Saleh
to
The notion refugees
protect that the state scrambling
may have to
calls U.S. homeland security ad- escape, the United States and its al-
Story
viser Title
John GoestoHere
Brennan express coordinated
lies cooled talk violence
of imposing against pro-
a no-fly
Nobel
his regret Peace laureate Mo-
for any misunderstand- testers,
zone overwho had kept a peaceful
his country. country, stubbornly proclaiming he to depict the movement as foreign- ing and lawlessness and the escape “The army is neglectful. They let
hamed
ing causedElBaradei’s appearance
by his public accusa- vigil
USin Secretary
Tahrir Square for five
of State days,
Hillary would die on Egyptian soil. fueled. of thousands of prisoners from jails them in,” said Emad Nafa, a 52-year-
in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square
tions
underscored the jockeyingare
that the U.S. and Israel for Clinton
prompted said any such
a sharp decision
rebuke fromwas the His words were a blow to the pro- After midnight, 10 hours after the in the chaos. old among the protesters, who for
behind the unrest
leadership of thethreatening his
mass protest aObama
“long administration.
way” off, and NATO offi- testers. They also suggest that au- clashes began, the two sides were Soldiers surrounding Tahrir Square days had showered the military with
movement
32-year rule.that erupted seem- cials remained divided.
“IfClinton
any of the alsoviolence
warned is thatinstigated
any in- thorities want to turn back the clock locked in a standoff at a street cor- fired occasional shots in the air affection for its neutral stance.
ingly out of nowhere in the past
week to shake the Arab world’s by the government,
tervention would be “controversial”it should stop to the tight state control enforced ner, with the anti-Mubarak protest- throughout the day but did not ap- Egyptian Health Minister Ahmed
BAHRAIN
most populous nation. Page 4 immediately,”
in the Arab world said andWhite
that theHouse Lib- before the protests began. ers hunkered behind a line of metal pear to otherwise intervene in the Sameh Farid said three people died
Thousands of anti-government yan
Pressopposition
Secretarywanted Robert to be seen to
Gibbs. Mubarak’s supporters turned up on sheets hurling firebombs back and fierce clashes and no uniformed po- and at least 611 were injured in Ta-
protesters march on the Interior be
Thedislodging
clashes marked Kadhafi’s forces on
a dangerous the streets Wednesday in significant forth with government backers on lice were seen. Most of the troops hir Square. One of those killed fell
Story Title
Ministry Goes Here
in Bahrain’s capital, their own.
Nobel Peace laureate Mo- newThe phase in Egypt’s
patchwork upheaval:
Libyan opposi-the numbers for the first time. Some the rooftop above. The rain of bot- took shelter behind or inside the ar- from a bridge near the square; Farid
Manama, demanding the release first controls
significant violence between were hostile to journalists and for- tles of flaming gasoline set nearby mored vehicles and tanks stationed said the man was in civilian clothes
hamed ElBaradei’s appearance tion swathes of eastern and
of
in all political
Tahrir, prisoners. Square
or Liberation, government supporters eigners. Two Associated Press cor- cars and wreckage on the sidewalk at the entrances to the square.
western Libya includingand theoppo-key but may have been a member of the
Last week, Bahrain’s
underscored king re-
the jockeying for eastern city crisis
of Benghazi and some respondents and several other jour- ablaze. “Why don’t you protect us?” some security forces.
leadership of the mass protest nents. The took a sharp turn
leased 23 high-profile activists oil
movement thatonerupted for installations.
the worse almost Kadhafi remains
immediately nalists were roughed up in Cairo. The scenes of mayhem were certain protesters shouted at the soldiers,
who had been trial forseem-
ingly out of nowhere in the past
al- firmly in control of the capital Trip-
after Mubarak rejected the calls for State TV had reported that foreign- to add to the fear that is already run- who replied they did not have or- By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, Asso-
legedly trying to overthrow
week to shake the Arab world’s the oli.
himWithto give up power or
a humanitarian leave
crisis the
wors- ers were caught distributing anti- ning high in this capital of 18 mil- ders to do so and told people to go ciated Press.
monarchy.
most populousThe Shiite
nation.opposition
Page 4 A rebel army officer teaches the use of weapons to civilians who have volunteered to join the rebel army in Benghazi. (AFP)
claims at least 200 others remain ening on Libya’s western border Mubarak leaflets, apparently trying lion people after a weekend of loot- home.

China says Minister killed for

jailed for political reasons. with Tunisia, Britain said it was
Story Title Goes Here sending planes to airlift thousands as clashes continued hours after the
Nobel Peace laureate Mo- of Egyptians stuck in refugee opposition said they had repelled
TUNISIA appearance
hamed ElBaradei’s camps, while France said it was one of the biggest pro-Kadhafi
inATahrir,
Tunisian Islamist Square
or Liberation, party sending a helicopter carrier to wa- counter-offensives yet.
underscored
banned the than
for more jockeying
20 years for ters off Libya to help evacuatecivil- As fighting raged, an AFP re-

supporting free
leadership of the mass protest porter at one of the two hospitals in

Fed easing
ismovement
legalized while the country’s ians. Kadhafi warned that the “battle
that erupted seem- will be very, very long” if there is Brega, 200 kilometres (125 miles)
most
ingly prominent
out of nowhereopposition
in the fig-
past southwest of Benghazi, saw the
ure
weekquits the unity
to shake the government
Arab world’s Speaking live on state television,
any intervention by foreign powers. bloodied bodies of four young men
most renewed
amid nation. Page
populousuncertainty 4
about in a morgue, while rebels said at
“If the Americans or the West want
where Tunisia is headed. to enter Libya they must know it least 10 people had died.

speech in Pakistan
Libyan warplanes also launched

ineffective
The Ennahdha party, branded will be hell and a bloodbath -- worse
Story Title Goes Here airstrikes on Ajdabiya, 40 kilome-
an IslamicPeace
Nobel terroristlaureate
group by Tu-Mo- than Iraq.”
nisia’s In an impassioned speech, he tres from Brega, targeting either an
hameddeposed leaderappearance
ElBaradei’s but con-
arms dump or a military base taken
in Tahrir,moderate
sidered or Liberation, Square
by scholars, again blamed Al-Qaeda for the chal-
underscored the jockeying for lenge to his 41-year iron-fisted rule, over by opposition forces, they said.
isleadership
rebounding onto the political UNHCR spokeswoman Sybella
of the mass protest saying the objective was to control

& dangerous
scene
movement since that
a popular uprising
erupted seem- Libya’s land and oil. Wilkes told AFP in Geneva that the
forced
ingly out outofautocratic
nowhere in President
the past Calls for a no-fly zone have come situation on the Libya-Tunisia bor-
weekEltoAbidine
shake Benthe Ali
Arab der was dire. ISLAMABAD –
Zine in world’s
Janu- in response to media accounts that Gunmen shot dead a
most
ary. populous nation. Page 4 Kadhafi’s forces have used planes “My colleagues on the ground
say that acres of people, as far as Catholic Pakistani gov-
and helicopter gunships to fire on ernment minister on
Story Title Goes Here civilians. you can see, are waiting to cross,”
Nobel Peace EGYPT laureate Mo- she said. Wednesday, after he had
Egypt’sElBaradei’s
hamed state news agency says
appearance The Arab League said after a vowed to defy death
meeting of foreign ministers in Cai- “They are outdoors in the freez-
in Tahrir,
leadingormembers
Liberation, Square threats following the

Heavy gunfire rings

two of Egypt’s ro that “the Arab countries cannot ing cold, under the rain, many of
underscored the jockeying for them have spent murder of another politi-
Muslim Brotherhood
leadership of the mass will be re-
protest remain
Quantitativewith their
easing arms byfolded
the Federalwhen central bank saidthree or59-page
in its four nightsre- cian opposed to an Islam-
leased after serving nearly five the blood of the brotherly Libyan outside already,” she said, appealing
movement that erupted seem- Reserve and other central banks port.
for “It ifis not
“tens creating
hundredsimported infla-
of planes” ic blasphemy law.
years
ingly in
outprison. MENAinsays
of nowhere the that
past people
cannot isaddress
being shed”. fundamental eco- tion andendshort-term capital inflows, In broad daylight, un-
week to shake the Arab world’s One of the issues it said it will to help the gridlock.
Khayrat el-Shater, the lead strat- More than 100,000 markets,”
people haveit known assailants sprayed
nomic problems but may lead of to ex- pressuring emerging

out in Cairo protest

most for
egist populous largestPage
Egypt’snation. opposi-4 consider is “the imposition an
already at least 25 bullets on the
cessive global liquidity
aerial exclusion zone” in coopera- and compet- said. left Libya to escape a vi- car of minorities minister
tion group, and Hassan Malek, cious crackdown
tion
itivewith the African
currency Union. China’s
depreciation, As a result,byChina Kadhafi
needed loy-
to Shahbaz Bhatti after he
aStory
prominent
Titlebusinessman
Goes Hereand Suchbank a stance may win support alists which has left at least 1,000
central said on Sunday. work hard to soak up liquidity
dead, according to conservative UN from came out of his mother’s
group
Nobelfinancier,
Peace will be freed for
laureate Mo- from France, a strong supporter home in a residential area
hamed ElBaradei’s
medical reasons. appearance In its monetary policy re- foreign exchange inflows in order to
estimates.
with Britain of a no-fly zone, albeit of Islamabad, police said.
in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square
The move comes nearly three port with
only for the final quarter
approval from theofUnited 2010, The conflict
minimize in Libya,
the impact on theresponsi-
domes-
underscored the jockeying for ble for aroundit2.3 percent of global “Three or four armed
weeks after ofan the
uprising the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)
Nations. tic economy, added. men riding in a white Su-
leadership mass ousted
protest crude oilThe output before
Egypt’s
movement longtime
that president.
erupted seem- Muslim-majority
also confirmed that Turkey it wouldhas al-
target central bankthe crisis,
reiterated CAIRO
zuki car (AP) -- Burstshis
intercepted of heavy dead protesters being carried to- ing whips while others rained fire-
and the uncertainty around the Mid- gunfire
ingly out of nowhere in the past ready
16 percentsaid anygrowthNATO of theinvolvement
broad M2 thatEast
dle it would
has keep the prices
sent oil yuan basically
soaring officialrained into city
vehicle,” Cairo’s
po- Tahrir ward an ambulance. He said the bombs from rooftops in what ap-
week to shake the Arab world’s would
measure be of
“unthinkable”.
money supply this year, stable$100while lice chief
Square beforeWajid
dawnDurrani
Thursday,Gunmen
kill- gunfire came
have shot from
dead at least three
Pakistan’s lo- affairs
minority peared to be an
minister, orchestrated
Shahbaz Bhatti assault
united states Libyan fighter jets launched air over permaking
barrel inthe exchange
recent days. (pictured) in Islamabad, police and a hospital doctor have said, after the Christian
most populous nation. Page 4
down from the rebel-held
19.9 pct growth rateCrude
regimeprices rallied in Asian ingtold
at reporters.
least three anti-government cations off in the distance and that against protesters trying to topple
Two U.S. warships have strikes on the town re- of more flexible. “The attackers were politician had complained of death threats. (AFP)
passed through the Suez Canal corded at the end of
Brega and its oil installations as2010. trade Thursday
The central with bank
New said
York’sit demonstrators among crowds still the Egyptian military, which has Egypt’s leader of 30 years. Three
main contract, light sweet crude for clad in shawls and fired for him at his office. He it was badly damaged. the hospital and offered
Story
on their Title
way toGoes Here
the Mediterra- Kadhafi on TheWednesday
central bank launched said his the would continue to use different trying
burststo hold
on him,the site
andafter
he anused
as- ringed the square with tank squads people died in that earlier violence
first April delivery, rising 24 cents to sault by supporters of President toforoften
days visit
to try his Wesome
to keep saw the minister,
order, he were
and 600 condolences
injured. to Bhatti’s
NobelSeaPeace
nean and closer laureate Mo-
to Libyan Fed’sassault
monetary on opposition
easing waspositions pushing tools, including
$102.47 and Brent interest
Northrates, bank
Sea crude died,” Durrani said. mother’s house without was rushed to hospital grieving relatives.
hamed ElBaradei’s appearance since a popular uprising began in HosniThe Mubarak,
policeaccording
chief in-to aapro- did Durrani
not intervene. The protesters“Suchaccused
shores after orders from Defense
in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square up international
the east 17 days ago.
commodity prices reserve requirements
up 35 cents at $116.70. and open- squad,” said. in a critical condition,” actsMubarak’s
will not
Secretary Robert sisted that
test organizer. Bhatti, 42, Footage from AP Television News regime ofdeter unleashing a force of
underscored the Gates, Egyp-
jockeying for andDespite
asset pricespounding in emerging
rebels with mar- “Persistent
market operations, uncertainty
to rein in the
moneyre-
had been bursts
providedof with
“We are investigating Ahmed told reporters. the government?s
tian officialsof said
leadership Wednesday.
the mass protest kets, including
heavy weaponry China.
and tanks, Kad- gion
supply continues
and banktocredit support fearsasofa
growth Sustained automatic showed
the matter from two bodies being
different dragged
Bhatti was deadpaid thugsresolve
on ar- and plainclothes
to fight police
terror-
movement that erupted seem- contagion,” said Barclays Capital in proper security, but said angles.” rival atminister
Islamabad’s Shifa ism unprecedented
and extremism,” he
The amphibious assault ships hafi’s forces were driven
“Quantitative back policy
easing by re- way of handling inflationary pres- weapons fire and powerful
the minister was not ac- single from the scene. The health to crush their nine-
ingly out of nowhere in the past a report. shots rattled into Local resident Nas- hospital, doctor Azmatul- said, adding that the kill-
USS
weekKearsarge
to shake and the USS
Arab Ponce
world’s inforcements
cannot fundamentally trucked inaddress from Beng- eco- sure. companied by the
his square
securi- starting did not answer a phone call seeking day-old movement, a day after the
eem Ahmed said the fir- lah Qureshi confirmed. ers would not go unpun-
entered the canal earlier
most populous nation. Page in the
4 hazi, the main city under
nomic problems, and it may cause opposition at ty
around
detail4when
a.m., the
andattack
was continu- confirmation of the deaths. 82-year-old president refused to
control. (AFP). Edited by Yuri Isacov. ing continued for about Police said his body was ished.
day from the Red Sea. The of- excessive inghappened.
more than an hour later. 30 seconds. Throughout Wednesday, Mubarak step down.
riddled with at least eight They showed off police
ficials said the USS Kearsarge is A hugeliquidityblast rocked on a global
the coastal scale Reporting by Zhou Xin and Michael
“The squadMustafa
officer el-Nag-
as well as risks of competitive
town and plumes of smoke billowed cur- Martina; Editing by Simon Rabino- Protest organizer supporters charged
“We came out of our bullets. into the square ID badges they said were wrested
By Sajjad Tarakzai (AFP)
carrying 42 helicopters. told me that the minister home after hearing the Prime Minister You-
into
rencythedepreciation,”
sky, an AFP reporter the Chinese said, vitch (Reuters) garhad
saiddirected
he sawhim the bodies of three on horses and camels brandish-
to wait gunfire, we saw the car, suf Raza Gilani visited from their attackers. Some govern-
WORLD NEWS THE PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS | MARCH 3, 2011 | PAGE 2

Iran arrests opposition leaders! China

warns
media not
Iranian opposition
leaders Mir Hossein to cover
Mousavi and Mehdi
Karroubi and their protests!
wives have been ar- BEIJING -- Chinese police
rested and put in a have told foreign reporters to stay
away from spots designated for
Tehran jail. weekly protests, threatening them
with loss of their work permits and
The two had been under house other punishments if they don’t
arrest after judiciary chief Ayatol- comply, journalists said Thursday.
lah Sadeq Larijani said earlier this Mysterious online calls for
month they had committed “trea- Chinese rallies inspired by Mid-
son” and MPs demanded they be dle Eastern demonstrations - with
hanged. another called for Sunday - have
“Mir Hossein Mousavi and Me- fallen flat, though foreign media
hdi Karroubi, and their wives, have have flocked to the proposed rally
been arrested and were transferred sites to see if anyone would show
to the Heshmatiyeh prison of Teh- up.
ran,” Mousavi’s website Kaleme. Although no large protests
com reported. have occurred, at least one activist
“According to credible sources, was detained for being present at a
the arrest and the transfer to jail is suggested demonstration spot.
sure but the date when it occurred One journalist was attacked
is still uncertain,” Kaleme.com said. by unidentified men while trying
An Iranian judiciary official to report on the situation in Bei-
quickly denied the report, the Fars jing last weekend, and many oth-
news agency said. ers were harassed by police who
“A judiciary source has denied confiscated equipment and erased
the arrest of the chiefs of sedition video footage.
Mousavi and Karroubi,” Fars said, A European broadcast jour-
adding that the pair were at home nalist said Thursday that he was
and not in prison. told by police there would be
“They are currently in their unspecified consequences if he
homes and are faced only with re- went again to the specified site
strictions to contact suspect ele- on Beijing’s popular Wangfujing
ments,” Fars said. shopping street. He asked not to
Iranian authorities had put Kar- be identified by name for fear it
roubi and Mousavi and their wives would affect his future Chinese
under “complete” house arrest after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the sixth and current President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the main political leader of the Alliance of visa applications.
their supporters staged anti-gov- Builders of Islamic Iran, a coalition of conservative political groups in the country. Ahmadinejad is an outspoken critic of the United States, He said that during his video-
ernment protests on February 14, Israel, and United Kingdom. He abides by Iran’s long-standing policy of refusing to recognize Israel as a legitimate nation. taped meeting at a police station
their websites had said in previous Wednesday, officials told him he
reports. lost to President Mahmoud Ahma- The call was issued by the Coor- had now transformed itself from rally demanded in a declaration the would be punished if he filmed
Confusion over whether the pair dinejad in the June 2009 election, dination Council of the Green Path “sedition to anti-revolution.” “harshest punishment to the heads the shopping street again and that
had been arrested or not came after maintain that he was fraudulently of Hope, an umbrella group backing Tens of thousands of regime loy- of sedition” and labelled Mousavi his normal life in China would be
prosecutor general Gholam Hossein re-elected and since then have op- the two leaders who steadfastly op- alists demanded earlier this month and Karroubi as “corrupt on earth” disrupted. He said three other col-
Mohseni Ejeie in statements ear- posed his presidency. pose Ahmadinejad’s government. that Mousavi and Karroubi be -- a crime punishable by death under leagues from other media reported
lier Monday warned the opposition They have led a string of pro- The group, which called previ- hanged for their rebellion, at a rally Iran’s penal code. having similar conversations with
movement against plans to hold pro- tests in Iran after Ahmadinejad’s ous protests on February 14 and organised after Friday prayers in Earlier this month judiciary chief police.
tests on Tuesday. re-election and their opposition to February 20, said that more demon- Tehran. Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani issued a The Foreign Correspondents’
“Anyone who acts against the the president has shaken the Islamic strations would be held on March 15 Two days later, Karroubi’s web- stern warning to the two men whom Club of China said in a statement
law will be dealt with,” the prosecu- regime and divided the nation’s elite if Mousavi and Karroubi remained site Sahamnews.org quoted him as he said had committed “treason”, that some journalists reported be-
tor general was quoted as saying on Shiite clergy. under house arrest beyond March 1. saying that he had asked to be put saying they had “rebelled against ing “accused of trying to help
the website of state television in ref- On Saturday, their websites Officials have branded anyone on trial in public to defend the rights the religious government” and steps stir up a revolution, disrupt har-
erence to a call for protests aimed at posted calls for new protests to take who supports the two men as “anti- of the Iranian people in a letter to ju- were being taken to block their com- mony in China and simply cause
demanding Mousavi and Karroubi’s place on Tuesday in Tehran and oth- revolutionary.” diciary chief, Ayatollah Sadeq Lari- munication networks. trouble.” The warnings came days
release from house arrest. er provincial cities to press for their On Monday the prosecutor gen- jani. (AFP) Edited by Yuri Isacov. after police told reporters that a
Mousavi and Karroubi, who release from house arrest. eral said the opposition movement Organisers of the February 18 section of Wangfujing and an area
near People’s Square in Shanghai

Rebels corner
were off-limits.

Ivory Coast
An Associated Press journal-
ist who met with police Thursday
was told his journalist card could
be revoked if he went to Wangfu-

fighting spreads to
jing again without prior approval

fleeing Gadhafi
from the local district office.
The requirement appears to sig-
nal a tightening of reporting rules

southern region
in China, which were liberalized
ahead of the Olympics to allow

forces after battle

BREGA, Libya --
Rebel forces routed
troops loyal to Moammar
Gadhafi in a fierce battle
over an oil port Wednes-
day, scrambling over the
dunes of a Mediterranean
beach through shelling
and an airstrike to corner
their attackers. While they
thwarted the regime’s first
counteroffensive in east-
ern Libya, opposition
leaders still pleaded for
outside airstrikes to help
them oust the longtime
leader.
The attack on Brega,
a strategic oil facility 460
miles (740 kilometers)
east of Gadhafi’s strong-
hold in Tripoli, illustrated
the deep difficulties the
Libyan leader’s armed
forces - an array of mili-
tiamen, mercenaries and
military units - have had
in rolling back the upris-
ing that has swept over
the entire eastern half of
Libya since Feb. 15.
In the capital of Tripo-
li, Gadhafi warned against
U.S. or other Western
intervention, vowing to
turn Libya into “another
Vietnam,” and saying any
foreign troops coming
into his country “will be
entering hell and they will
drown in blood.”
At least 10 anti-Gad-
hafi fighters were killed
and 18 wounded in the
battle for Brega, Libya’s
second- largest petro-
leum facility, which the
opposition has held since
last week. Citizen mi-
litias flowed in from a
nearby city and from the
opposition stronghold of
Benghazi hours away to
reinforce the defense, fi-
nally repelling the regime
loyalists. The attack be-
gan just after dawn, when
several hundred pro-Gad-
hafi forces in 50 trucks
and SUVs mounted with
machine guns descended
on the port, driving out a
small opposition contin-
gent and seizing control
of the oil facilities, port
and airstrip. But by after-
noon, they had lost it all
and had retreated to a uni-
versity campus 5 miles (7
kilometers) away.
There, opposition
A political book showing Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi burns in a fire during a
demonstration against him in Benghazi, eastern Libya, Wednesday, March 2 , 2011.
Arabic writing on book reads “The One Eagle”.(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
fighters besieged them,
clambering from the
beach up a hill to the cam-
pus as mortars and heavy
machine gun fire blasted
around them, according
to an Associated Press re-
porter at the scene. They
took cover behind grassy
dunes, firing back with as-
sault rifles, machine guns
and grenade launchers.
At one point, a warplane
struck in the dunes to try
to disperse them, but it
caused no casualties and
the siege continued.
“The dogs have fled,”
one middle-aged fighter
shouted, waving his Ka-
lashnikov over his head
in victory after Gadhafi’s
forces withdrew from the
town before dusk. Car
horns honked and people
fired assault rifles in the
air in celebration.
For the past week, pro-
Gadhafi forces have been
focusing on the west, se-
curing Tripoli and trying
to take back nearby rebel-
held cities. But the regime
has seemed to struggle to
bring an overwhelming
force to bear against cities
largely defended by local
residents using weapons
looted from storehouses
and backed by allied army
units.
By PAUL SCHEMM
(AP)
Koumassi -- Explosions
rocked a southern Abidjan suburb
overnight and on Wednesday, as
fighting between insurgents seek-
ing to oust Ivory Coast’s Laurent
Gbagbo and security forces spread
to new areas of the main city.
Residents of Koumassi said the
gunfire had stopped by early after-
noon and some people were ven-
turing outside their houses but at
least two people had been killed in
the shooting.
Security in the country is dete-
riorating, with gun battles between
rival forces most of last week and
hostilities resuming across a north-
south ceasefire line that had been
largely quiet since a 2002-2003
war ended in stalemate.
Ivory Coast, the world’s top
cocoa grower, has been in turmoil
since a disputed November elec-
tion between Gbagbo and his rival
Alassane Ouattara, who won the
poll according to U.N.-certified
results that Gbabgo has refused to
accept.
“It was hot this morning be-
tween the soldiers and the youths
of the “Campement” neighborhood
who were armed,” said Martin Ko-
lia, a telephone seller in Koumassi.
“But things have quieted down
this afternoon. We are not hearing
any more shooting and people are
starting to come out of their hous-
es to move around the neighbor-
hood,” he added.
Abou Traore, a Koumassi resi-
dent, said he saw two bodies of
civilians who had been killed by
stray bullets.
As with other clashes, it was
not possible to get an official toll
for the fighting.
Aside from some clashes in Ad-
jame, which is closer to the central
business district, most of the fight-
ing has been restricted to the north-
ern pro-Ouattara suburb of Abobo.
An insurgent force calling it-
self the invisible commandos has
seized control of most of Abobo
and forced out pro-Gbagbo secu-
rity forces.
On Tuesday, youthful support-
ers of Gbagbo’s rampaged through
the business district of Abidjan,
pillaging shops owned by foreign-
ers.
The supporters, who are known
as “Young Patriots” and have fre-
quently targeted foreigners over
the years, have stepped up attacks
on U.N. peacekeepers since a call
by their leader at the weekend to
stop U.N. forces from moving
around the country.
In a move that is likely to fuel
anti-U.N. sentiment spread by the
pro-Gbagbo media, a senior U.N.
official apologized on Wednes-
day for mistaken U.N. allegations
that an illegal shipment of attack
helicopters had been delivered to
Gbagbo from Belarus.
The office of U.N. Secretary-
General General Ban Ki-moon
made the charge in a statement on
Monday, saying the “first delivery
arrived reportedly.” It declared
that the transfer was “a serious vi-
olation of the embargo ... in place
since 2004.”
November’s election was meant
to heal divisions sown by the civil
war that left the country divided
into a rebel-run north and govern-
ment-run south, but the dispute has
worsened divisions and killed well
over 300 people since November.
Cocoa futures have surged to
30-year highs.
The U.N. says the number of
Ivorian refugees in Liberia has
reached 68,000, with another
40,000 internally displaced.
The crisis has had a catastrophic
impact on Ivory Coast’s economy,
with international banks shutting
down, shops shuttering up and bars
and restaurants empty at night.
By Ange Aboa and Tim Cocks
(Reutners)
foreign media to travel freely and
interview anyone as long as they
first asked permission from the in-
terviewee. Some sensitive areas,
such as Tibet, have remained off-
limits to reporters without special
permits.
Online posts of unknown origin
that first circulated on an overseas
Chinese news website nearly two
weeks ago have called for Chinese
to gather peacefully at sites every
Sunday in a show of people power
meant to promote fairness and de-
mocracy. A renewed call Monday
expanded the target cities from 27
to 35. China’s extensive Internet
filtering and monitoring mean that
most Chinese are unaware of the
appeals.
David Bandurski, a media is-
sues expert and China watcher at
the University of Hong Kong, said
the government reaction to the ap-
peals has been surprisingly strong,
particularly since no protests ap-
parently took place.
“We’re seeing sparks (online)
but we don’t even know exactly
where these sparks come from, or
how representative they are of dis-
sidents in China,” he said.
The messages called for a Chi-
nese “Jasmine Revolution” - the
name of the mass protests in Tuni-
sia that ousted that country’s long-
time president and sparked the on-
going wave of revolts across the
region.
A human rights activist who
posted messages on Twitter about
being present near the specified
site on Wangfujing on Feb. 20 has
been detained by Beijing police
on suspicion of taking part in an
illegal demonstration, the Hong
Kong-based Chinese Human
Rights Defenders said in a state-
ment Thursday.
Many Chinese are frustrated
over inflation, corruption and in-
adequate social benefits, the same
issues said to have pushed people
in the Middle East to take to the
streets.
By ALEXA OLESEN (AP)
WORLD NEWS THE PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS | MARCH 3, 2011 | PAGE 3

The bloody battle for Mogadishu 3 bodies

Somalia marks a terrible milestone this year: two decades of civil war.
African Union troops are de-
fending a weak transitional govern-
ment hunkered down in the capital,
Mogadishu. The African soldiers
are mostly Ugandan and largely
funded by the United States.
Their goal: Push Islamist insur-
gents out of the city and create safe
space for civilians.
In Shakara, one of Mogadishu’s
countless bombed-out neighbor-
hoods, Ugandan troops have just
wrapped up a house-to-house battle
with a ragtag Islamist force called
al-Shabab. The group claims alle-
giance to al-Qaida.
Al-Shabab is trying to seize con-
trol of Mogadishu and turn Somalia
into a strict Islamic state.
Maj. Anthony Lukwago Mbuusi,
a Ugandan field commander over-
seeing Shakara, says his troops
face difficult conditions. He walks
down into the battlefield, a valley of
sand and scrub, and ducks into an
abandoned house with pockmarked
walls.
“This place where we are, it was
in the hands of the insurgents this
morning. You can see from here to
that place — it’s about 70 meters
away,” says Maj. Anthony, as he’s
called.
In other words, in eight hours of
fighting, Maj. Anthony’s men have
picked up some 200 feet.
That is the battle for Mogadishu:
slow and bloody.
In another house, where al-
Shabab had been just hours earlier,
there is no floor — only mounds of
sand and trenches. To move from
one room to another, you have to
leap over the trenches, like crossing
a stream.
An entire network of trenches
snake down the valley from build-
ing to building. Maj. Anthony says
al-Shabab tunneled its way into the
houses.
“Yes, that’s what they do. If they
go through the open ground, they
will lose their lives,” he says.
Ugandan troops say al-Shabab’s
main supply trench runs 5 miles.
Maj. Anthony attempts to survey
the day’s work, but the enemy spots
him and unloads with sniper fire. A
bullet rips into a building a few feet
from where he’s standing. There’s a
big boom as a mortar lands 30 feet
away. The major decides it’s too
dangerous.
“We go! We go!” he says to his
troops and several visitors, and he
makes his way back up the valley.
That evening, he retreats to his
command center, an abandoned vil-
la. AK-47 rounds have chewed up a
ficus tree in the courtyard outside. A
rocket-propelled grenade is lodged
in a wall.
Maj. Anthony says he thinks al-
Shabab will try to retake some posi-
tions they lost during the day. And
they do, beginning around mid-
night. The barrage sounds like the
finale of a fireworks display, aimed
right at the front door of the villa.
The major stands in the dark on
the veranda in just his boxers. A ra-
dio to his ear, he listens to reports
from the field. The attack is brief
and, he says, unsuccessful.
But there is bad news. “Among
one of the mortars they fired, it
landed in a civilian populated area,”
he says, “and landed in one family.
Someone has lost life and some oth-
ers have been injured.”
The mortar was from the insur-
gents — from al-Shabab — Maj.
Anthony says.
Civilian casualties from mortar
fire are common. Somalis mostly
blame the African Union. A recent
Human Rights Watch report says al-
Shabab stages hit-and-run attacks to
provoke the African Union to retali-
ate and strike neighborhoods.
“My troops have very clear in-
structions,” says Ugandan Maj.
Gen. Nathan Mugisha. “There are
no-fire zones: markets, hospitals,
schools, residential areas.”
Mugisha oversees the 8,000 Af-
rican Union troops in the area. He
admits his soldiers occasionally
mortar civilians by accident. ”
Above, an anonymous somali man steps on the corpose of an African Union peace-
keeping troop. (Photo: Mogadishuman)
There are some incidents which
happen. But those are isolated. The
picture you are getting is largely ex-
aggerated,” he says. Maj. Anthony
has picked up considerable terri-
tory since September. He is getting
help from Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama,
a moderate Islamist group, and its
1,500-man militia — which fights
side-by-side with Ugandan troops.
Al-Shabab has threatened neigh-
boring countries and claimed credit
for bombing the Ugandan capital of
Kampala last summer. Abdulkadir
Maollin Noor, the spiritual leader
of Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama, or ASWJ,
says his group is different — a mod-
erate, national movement.
“Never ever compare ASWJ to
al-Shabab — those are terrorists
and we are just conservative Mus-
lims who want their government to
function,” he says.
For Noor, this war isn’t just about
faith — it’s also personal. He lost a
house to al-Shabab six months ago.
“This destroyed building,” he
says, pointing to the house. “There
we used to have our kitchen ... I
married here. And I must go back
to it.”
That will be hard, as the house is
now in al-Shabab territory. If Noor
tries to visit, they’ll kill him.
Like everything else in the battle
for Mogadishu, the future of Noor’s
home is uncertain, and any resolu-
tion seems a long way off.
found in
Kirkuk
IRAQ -- Policemen found
three unidentified bodies in south-
ern and central Kirkuk on Satur-
day, according to a source from
the city’s Joint Coordination Cen-
ter (JCC).
“Two of the bodies were found
inside a house under construction
in al-Qadissiya neighborhood,
southern Kirkuk.
Investigations showed that
they were of two young men 18-
20 years old,” the source told As-
wat al-Iraq news agency.
“A third body was found in the
area of Musala, near a cemetery in
central Kirkuk.
It was of a young man in his
20s,” he said.
“All the bodies had their hands
tied and showed signs of having
been shot,” the source added.
The oil-rich Kirkuk, a city of
mixed Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen
population, lies 250 km northeast
of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
(Aswat al-Iraq)
7 police, 2
civilians
wounded
in Baghdad
BAGHDAD -- Seven po-
licemen and two civilians were
wounded in mass protests in al-
Tahrir Square in central Baghdad
on Friday, according to the Bagh-
dad Operations Command.
“Demonstrators hurled stones
at policemen in al-Tahrir Square,
central Baghdad, today (Feb.25),
leaving seven wounded,” the
semi-official al-Iraqiya TV quoted
the BOC in a statement.
“Two civilian protesters were
also wounded, in the incidents,”
he added.
(Aswat al-Iraq)

Tanks utilized
against protesters
in Oman; 1 dead
Tanks dispersed pro-
testers blocking the port
in Oman’s industrial city
of Sohar and the coast
road to Muscat Tuesday
as protests were also re-
ported elsewhere, AFP
journalists and witnesses
said.
Meanwhile, demon-
strators have camped in
Muscat outside the con-
sultative council, the Gulf
state’s equivalent of a
parliament, demanding an
end to corruption.
In Sohar, security forc-
es drove away protesters
a third consecutive night.
The protesters held
placards demanding jobs
and salary increases and
also called for ministers
they accuse of corrup-
tion to be tried. Some also
waved Omani flags and
carried portraits of Sultan
Qaboos.
Protests were also re-
ported in the southern
port of Salalah and the
northwestern oasis region
of Buraimi.
In Salalah, some 200
people demonstrated out-
side the office of the gov-
staged a similar rally in
Buraimi.
Some 300 protesters
also staged a sit-in outside
the sultanate’s consulta-
tive council in Muscat,
demanding an end to cor-
ruption.
The demonstration, or-
ganised by intellectuals
and non-governmental as-
sociations, came shortly
after thousands marched
in the capital vowing sup-
port for Sultan Qaboos.
“No to wasting public
money” and “Govern-
ment corruption should
hit by the wave of popu-
lar protests that has rattled
several Arab countries
and swept from power
the leaders of Tunisia and
Egypt.
Mass demonstrations
also threaten the regimes
of Bahrain, Libya and Ye-
men.
State news agency
ONA said rioting had be-
gun at dawn on Saturday
and continued on Sunday.
Protesters said as many
as five people died on
Sunday, but officials in-
sist only one person was
39 police
Helicopter heist wounded
in Basra,
leaves six dead! curfew
announced
IRAQ-- Thirty-nine policemen
were wounded in protests in Basra
on Friday as security officials an-
nounced a curfew in the southern
Iraq province until 06:00 a.m.
Saturday, a police source said.
“The Basra Operations Com-
mand announced a curfew starting
from 04:00 p.m.
Friday until 06:00 a.m. Sat-
urday,” the source told Aswat al-
Iraq news agency.
“The tally of wounded police-
men in today’s demonstrations
reached 39,” he added.
A police officer and a paramedic comfort the crying relatives of a slain The oil-rich port city of Basra,
police officer in front of the police station in Caloto, southwest Colom- Iraq’s only outlet to waterways,
bia, Tuesday March 1, 2011. Gunmen killed four police officers and two
lies 590 km south of the Iraqi cap-
bystanders while robbing a cash shipment intended for a local bank, from
a helicopter that landed on a nearby soccer field. (AP Photo) ital Baghdad.
(Aswat al-Iraq)
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- of the state bank Banco Agrario,
More than a dozen attackers firing which was receiving the money,

16 wounded
assault rifles killed four police offi- said it belonged to Accion Social,
who had been keeping ernor of Dhofar province, be fought,” said banners killed. cers and two other people Tuesday the state social welfare agency.
vigil at the Earth Round- demanding an increase carried by protesters. in robbing a cash shipment that Officials did not disclose the

about, a landmark inter-
section where at least one
protester was killed in
clashes on Sunday.
It came a day after the
United States urged Oman
to show restraint and press
ahead with reforms in the
strategic ally on the busy
Strait of Hormuz oil ship-
ping lane.
Security forces initially
cleared protesters from
the main coastal highway
linking Muscat to So-
har, 200 kilometres (125
miles) northwest of the
capital.
Protesters bravely con-
tinued to deploy trucks
blocking access from So-
har port, Oman’s second
largest, to nearby alumin-
ium and petrochemical
factories.
Armoured vehicles
deployed at the Earth
Roundabout, where pro-
testers had kept vigil for
in wages and benefits,
and dozens of protesters
Omani protesters hold signs that read in Arabic, “Protection of public money”
Normally placid Oman
is the latest country to be
By Karim Sahib had just arrived by helicopter, of-
(AFP) ficials said.
The regional police chief blamed
leftist rebels.
In another attack Tuesday in a
different region, presumed reb-
els killed a soldier and a civilian
motorcycle rider in an attack on a
military checkpoint just minutes
before a convoy carrying U.S. and
U.N. officials passed by.
The robbery occurred about 10
a.m. after the civilian aircraft land-
ed on a soccer field used as a land-
ing pad in the southwestern city of
Caloto to deliver the money, Cauca
provincial Gov. Guillermo Gonza-
lez told The Associated Press by
telephone.
After the helicopter was unload-
ed and took off, robbers opened
fire from nearby underbrush, kill-
ing the four officers and a bank
employee who had received the
money, Gonzalez said.
Doctors said a 31-year-old fe-
male passer-by was shot in the
head and died later at a hospital.
Spokeswoman Nora Solorzano
amount stolen.
There were no arrests and the
Cauca province police chief Col.
Carlos Rodriguez, blamed the 6th
Front of the leftist Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, or
FARC.
He told reporters that between 15
and 18 rebels, wearing camouflage
uniforms, hid in two homes near
the soccer pitch before mounting
that attack.
In the other shootout Tuesday,
Accion Social’s director, Diego
Molano, was in the six-vehicle
convoy that passed the military
checkpoint in the Uraba region of
Antioquia near Panama shortly af-
ter it was attacked.
No one in the convoy was hurt.
Among its passengers were a U.S.
Agency for International Develop-
ment official and a delegate from
the International Organization for
Migration.
By CESAR GARCIA (AP)
Vivian Sequera contributed to this
report
after storming
government
compound
IRAQ -- Sixteen demonstra-
tors in al-Falluja were wounded
in a random shooting by security
forces after they stormed a gov-
ernment compound in the city, an
informed source said.
“A number of protesters raided
the compound, that includes the
mayoralty and the local council,
and set their content ablaze,” the
source told Aswat al-Iraq news
agency.
“Security forces opened fire
randomly at the protesters, leav-
ing 16 wounded,” he added.
Falluja, the largest city in the
troubled predominantly Sunni
province of al-Anbar, lies 45 km
northwest of Baghdad.
(Aswat al-Iraq)
NATIONAL NEWS THE PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS | MARCH 3, 2011 | PAGE 4

Ohio advances union restrictions as dispute spreads

COLUMBUS -- Ohio joined
Wisconsin on Wednesday in ad-
vancing a plan to restrict public
sector unions, posing a new threat
to labor union power in one of the
most politically and economically
important states.
The Republican-controlled Ohio
state senate approved a proposal to
curb the collective bargaining rights
of public employees and forbid
government workers from going on
strike.
The vote followed the Wisconsin
Assembly’s approval last week of a
similar proposal, which has sparked
mass protests and a national debate
over labor relations.
In both states, the plans still must
be passed by a second chamber of
the legislature and signed by the
states’ governors. Republicans, who
have been pushing the anti-union
proposals, hold the governorships
and legislative majorities in both
Wisconsin and Ohio.
If enacted, Ohio would become
the biggest U.S. state so far to im-
pose sweeping restrictions on public
sector unions.
What began three weeks ago as a
dispute between Wisconsin’s newly
elected Republican Governor Scott
Walker and state unions has blown
up into possibly the biggest chal-
lenge to the labor movement since
President Ronald Reagan fired strik-
ing air traffic controllers in 1981.
Republicans say the moves are
needed to rescue recession-battered
state budgets from debt, but Demo-
crats and union supporters say the
proposals are an attack on organized
labor that could linger into the 2012
elections.
While Wisconsin has gained
more national attention, Ohio is far
more important to the union move-
ment. It has the sixth largest num-
ber of public sector union members
among all U.S. states, twice the
number of Wisconsin.
The Ohio proposal was narrowly
approved on a Senate vote of 17 to
16, with six majority Republicans
joining Democrats to vote against it.
At a news conference in Colum-
bus with Ohio Democrats, repre-
sentatives of fire and police unions
complained the Ohio bill would
take away their ability to bargain for
safety equipment, such as bullet-
proof vests.
By Mary Wisniewski (Reuters) A large group of union supporters gather in Ohio (AP)

GOP Army files 22 new charges

wins first
budget against WikiLeaks hero!
WASHINGTON -- An in July with mishandling

skirmish
WASHINGTON -- Re-
publicans won an early
round Wednesday in their
fight to shrink the govern-
ment, pushing $4 billion
in spending cuts through
Congress in a bill that
puts off the possibility of
a government shutdown
for two weeks.
Largely a spectator
so far, President Barack
Obama dispatched his
vice president to initiate
negotiations on a broad-
er, longer-term spending
bill and find “common
ground” with GOP lead-
ers determined to cut tens
of billions of dollars more
and undo much of his
agenda. He conceded in
advance that any deal on a
government budget cover-
ing the next seven months
will feature cuts, not just
the long-term freeze he
proposed last month.
The Senate cleared the
temporary spending mea-
sure by an overwhelming
91-9 vote after the House
passed it with a large bi-
partisan vote Tuesday.
Obama signed it Wednes-
day afternoon.
After initially being
rejected last week by
Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid, D-Nev., the
two-week cuts written by
House Republicans shot
through the Senate with
minimal opposition on the
right and left.
The upcoming talks, to
be led by Vice President
Joe Biden, promise to be
far more difficult. Those
talks could begin as early
as Thursday.
“This agreement should
cut spending and reduce
deficits without damag-
ing economic growth or
gutting investments in
education, research and
development that will
create jobs and secure
our future,” Obama said.
“It should be free of any
party’s social or political
agenda, and it should be
reached without delay.”
Republicans who out-
maneuvered Senate
Democrats and the White
House in orchestrating
passage of the two-week
measure called on Demo-
crats to offer a longer-
term solution of their own
in response to a $1.2 tril-
lion GOP spending mea-
sure that passed the House
last month.
“It’s hard to believe
when we’re spending $1.6
trillion more than we’re
taking in a single year,
that it would take this long
to cut a penny in spend-
ing, but it’s progress none-
theless,” said Senate GOP
leader Mitch McConnell
of Kentucky. “It’s en-
couraging that the White
House and congressional
Democrats now agree that
the status quo won’t work,
that the bills we pass must
include spending reduc-
tions.”
The insertion of Biden
into the talks - he played
a lead role in bipartisan
efforts in December to ex-
tend Bush-era tax cuts and
ratify a nuclear arms trea-
ty with Russia - was seen
as evidence that the White
House wants to regain the
initiative. White House
chief of staff William
Daley and budget director
Jacob Lew will also par-
ticipate. House Republi-
cans last month muscled
through a bill that could
cut spending over the next
seven months by more
than $60 billion from last
year’s levels - and $100
billion from Obama’s
request. It would also
block implementation of
Obama’s health care law
and a host of environmen-
tal regulations. The White
House has promised a
veto and it could take
weeks or months to nego-
tiate a compromise fund-
ing measure that Obama
would sign.
By ANDREW TAYLOR
(AP)
Army private suspected
of leaking hundreds of
thousands of sensitive
and classified documents
to the WikiLeaks anti-se-
crecy group was charged
Wednesday with aiding
the enemy, a crime that
can bring the death pen-
alty or life in prison.
The Army filed 22 new
charges against Pvt. 1st
Class Bradley E. Man-
ning, including causing
intelligence information
to be published on the In-
ternet. The charges don’t
specify which documents,
but the charges involve
the suspected distribution
by the military analyst of
more than 250,000 con-
fidential State Depart-
ment cables as well as a
raft of Iraq and Afghani-
stan war logs. Thousands
of the documents have
been published on the
WikiLeaks website.
Although aiding the
enemy is a capital offense
under the Uniform Code
of Military Justice, Army
prosecutors have noti-
fied the Manning defense
team that it will not rec-
ommend the death penal-
ty to the two-star general
who is in charge of pro-
ceeding with legal action.
The Army has not
ruled out charging others
in the case, pending the
results of an ongoing re-
view. Army leaders have
suggested that there may
have been supervisory
lapses that allowed the
breach to occur.
The release of the
State Department cables
was denounced by U.S.
officials, saying it put
countless lives as risk,
revealing the identities of
people working secretly
with the U.S. It also sent
shudders through the dip-
lomatic community, as
the cables revealed often
embarrassing descrip-
tions and assessments of
foreign leaders, potential-
ly jeopardizing U.S. rela-
tions with its allies.
While thousands of
the cables have been re-
leased, the bulk of those
downloaded have not
been made public.
Manning was charged
and leaking classified
data and putting national
security at risk in connec-
tion with the release of a
military video of an at-
tack on unarmed men in
Iraq.
Army officials said the
new charges accuse Man-
ning of using unauthor-
ized software on govern-
ment computers to extract
classified information,
illegally download it and
transmit the data for pub-
lic release by what the
Army termed “the en-
emy.”
The charges follow
seven months of Army in-
vestigation.
“The new charges
more accurately reflect
the broad scope of the
crimes that Pvt. 1st Class
Manning is accused of
committing,” said Capt.
John Haberland, a legal
spokesman for the Mili-
tary District of Washing-
ton.
In a written statement
detailing the new charg-
es, the Army said that if
Manning were convicted
of all charges he would
face life in prison, plus
reduction in rank to the
lowest enlisted pay grade,
a dishonorable discharge
and loss of all pay and al-
lowances.
Manning’s civilian at-
torney, David Coombs,
said any charges that
Manning may face at trial
will be determined by an
Article 32 investigation,
the military equivalent
of a preliminary hearing
or grand jury proceeding,
possibly beginning in late
May or early June.
Manning’s supporters
were outraged.
“It’s beyond ironic
that leaked U.S. State
Department cables have
contributed to revolution
and revolt in dictator-
ships across the Middle
East and North Africa,
yet an American may be
executed, or at best face
life in prison, for being
the primary whistleblow-
er,” said Jeff Paterson
of Courage to Resist, an Bradley E. Manning (above), aged 24, is a United States Army soldier who was arrested in May 2010 in
Oakland, Calif.-based Iraq on suspicion of having passed classified information to the whistleblower website, Wikileaks. The
group that is raising funds United Nations is investigating a complaint on behalf of Bradley Manning that he is being mistreated
for Manning’s defense. while held since May in US Marine Corps custody pending trial.

Obama refuses to back up his tough talk on Libya

WASHINGTON -- The Obama
administration is tempering its
tough talk on Libya with a dose of
reality, explaining that even a no-fly
zone over the country would require
a military attack on Moammar Gad-
hafi’s regime. The Pentagon made it
clear that it didn’t want war.
Statements Wednesday by De-
fense Secretary Robert Gates and
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton illustrated the administra-
tion’s effort to rein in “loose talk”
about military options to force Gad-
hafi from power. It was an acknowl-
edgement that, short of an unlikely
military offensive by a U.S.-led co-
alition, the options for international
action to stem the violence appeared
highly limited, even as armed reb-
els pressed their fight against troops
still loyal to the Gadhafi regime.
“Let’s just call a spade a spade: A
no-fly zone begins with an attack on
Libya to destroy the air defenses,”
Gates told a congressional panel.
The Pentagon could get the job done
if ordered by the president, he said,
but noted that an attack would re-
quire more air power than a single
U.S. aircraft carrier, which typically
carries about 75 planes.
“It is a big operation in a big
country,” Gates said. The unspoken
subtext was that with U.S. forces al-
ready deeply committed in Afghani-
stan, still winding down military
operations in Iraq, and on the watch
for surprises in Iran and elsewhere
in the volatile Persian Gulf region,
the risks associated with military
action in Libya might be unaccept-
able. In support of Gates’ point,
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that
despite media reports of Libyan
aircraft attacking rebel areas, the
Pentagon had not confirmed any
air attacks. He also said it must be
assumed that Libya’s air defenses
are substantial. Alluding to Gates’
announcement a day earlier that he
had ordered two U.S. warships into
the Mediterranean in case they are
needed for civilian evacuations or
humanitarian relief, Clinton said in
separate testimony that the crisis
calls for a mix of diplomacy and de-
fense. “We are taking no option off
the table so long as the Libyan gov-
ernment continues to turn its guns
on its own people,” Clinton said.
But she told two separate Senate
subcommittees that the government
was far from being in a position to
commit to a military response, even
as she outlined grave concern about
the instability affecting the North
African country.
“One of our biggest concerns is
Libya descending into chaos and
becoming a giant Somalia,” Clinton
said. “It is right now not something
that we see in the offing, but many of
the al-Qaida activists in Afghanistan
and later in Iraq came from Libya
and came from eastern Libya, which
is now the so-called free area.”
Egyptian officials said two U.S.
warships passed through the Suez
Canal on Wednesday on their way
to the Mediterranean Sea, closer to
Libya. The amphibious assault ships
USS Kearsarge and USS Ponce en-
tered the canal from the Red Sea.
The officials, speaking on condition
of anonymity because they aren’t
authorized to talk to media, said the
Kearsarge carried 42 helicopters.
There has been no consensus in
Congress for U.S. military action in
Libya. Sen. John Kerry, chairman of
the Senate Foreign Relations Com-
mittee, said Wednesday that while
a no-fly zone over Libya is “not a
long-term proposition,” the Penta-
gon should be prepared to go that
route if so ordered.
Some U.S. allies in NATO are
mulling the idea of creating a no-fly
zone over Libya. But Germany cau-
tioned Wednesday against playing
into charges that the West is unduly
meddling in Arab affairs. For their
part, military analysts warned that
such an operation would be techni-
cally difficult and very expensive
and that it was unlikely the U.S. or
Europe wanted to take on the re-
sponsibility.
Associated Press writers Matthew
Lee, Robert Burns and Donna Cas-
sata in Washington contributed to
this report.
ECONOMY
WikiLeaks: How the Cola Fewer than
war was fought in Libya 2/3 believe
WASHINGTON -- An unpub-
lished U.S. diplomatic cable ob-
tained by WikiLeaks tells the previ-
ously undisclosed story of how an
American corporate powerhouse --
the $35-billion (21 billion pounds)
Coca-Cola Co. -- got caught up in a
fierce fraternal dispute between two
of Libyan leader Muammar Gad-
dafi’s sons.
The contretemps among the
freres Gaddafi over a local bottling
plant escalated into a heavily armed
confrontation resembling a Holly-
wood gangster film, as a classified
2006 U.S. cable put it.
“You know the movie ‘The God-
father’? We’ve been living it for the
last few months,” a businessman
involved in the dispute was quoted
in the cable as telling an official
from the U.S. diplomatic mission in
Tripoli.
The cable, which was made
available to Reuters by a third
party, centres on a bottling plant in
Tripoli that was shut down for three
months. It had been seized by troops
loyal to Mutassim Gaddafi, a son
of Muammar, who at the time was
feuding with one of his brothers,
Mohammed. (Another State Depart-
ment cable suggests a third Gaddafi
son, Saadi -- better known as the
family’s professional soccer player
-- may also have been involved in
the squabble, though no details of
his role are given.)
Eventually, the American dip-
lomatic mission in Tripoli, known
then as the U.S. Liaison Office,
sent a firm protest to the Libyan
government. The document states
that around the same time, Moham-
med Gaddafi, possibly under pres-
sure from his sister Aisha, a family
peacemaker, apparently agreed that
shares owned by the Libyan Olym-
pic Committee, which he led, would
be sold to a third party.
Shortly afterward, the cable says,
Mutassim’s men left the Coke plant,
ending the family standoff, but not
Oil hovers above $102 as
Libya battles intensify!
SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices
hovered above $102 a barrel Thurs-
day in Asia as fierce fighting in Lib-
ya appears to have cut crude output
in the OPEC nation more than pre-
viously estimated.
Benchmark crude for April deliv-
ery was up 30 cents at $102.53 a
barrel at midday Singapore time in
electronic trading on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. The contract
added $2.60 to settle at $102.23, the
highest settlement since Sept. 26,
Markets expect tough
European bank inflation
FRANKFURT (AFP) – Financial
markets expect tough talk on infla-
tion from European Central Bank
president Jean-Claude Trichet but
the ECB’s main interest rate is set
to remain at a record low of 1.0 per-
cent.
A centre of focus when Trichet
speaks following the rate decision
will be on an updated forecast by
central bank staff for 2012 inflation.
Economists say its level with re-
spect to the ECB target of just be-
low 2.0 percent will give a good in-
dication as to when the bank’s key
lending rate could begin to rise from
the level it fell to in May 2009.
With eurozone inflation at 2.4 per-
cent, a growing economy, producer
prices on the rise and Arab unrest
pushing energy costs higher, ECB
policymakers might have to rethink
their view that price stability will re-
turn in early 2012.
Credit and the money supply are
also rising, the Bank of England
before employees of the plant re-
ceived threats of bodily harm and
a Gaddafi cousin was stuffed in the
trunk of a car.
The Coca-Cola confrontation is
among numerous tales about end-
less squabbling within the Gaddafi
clan recounted in State Department
cables. Among other things, the in-
cident underlines the difficulties
faced by foreign companies operat-
ing in Libya even after the U.S. and
United Nations began to scale back
sanctions following Muammar Gad-
dafi’s decision in late 2003 to aban-
don his nuclear weapons program.
A spokesman for Coca-Cola ac-
knowledged there had been “some
uncertainty” surrounding Coke
distribution arrangements in Libya
during the period described in the
cable. But the problem was “re-
solved amicably” by the end of
2006, the spokesman said, and since
then, Coca-Cola had been operating
normally in Libya until the onset of
the current unrest.
A spokesman for the State De-
partment said: “We will decline to
comment on any particular cable.
The U.S. has taken aggressive ac-
tion in recent days to freeze the as-
sets of the Qaddafi family. Thus far,
more than $30 billion in assets have
been blocked.”
Back when Libya was isolated
by economic sanctions, its Coca-
Cola supply was limited to consign-
ments of the beverage bottled at a
plant in Tunisia and transported to
Tripoli and Benghazi.
After U.S. and international trade
embargoes on Libya began to ease,
the Tripoli plant was established. It
was co-owned by what the cable de-
scribes as a British company called
Ka’Mur -- whose name was a ref-
erence to two embargo-era Libyan
soft-drinks -- and by the Libyan
Olympic Committee, headed by
Mohammed Gaddafi.
Immediately after this joint ven-
ture was set up, the State Depart-
2008.
In London, Brent crude for April de-
livery was up 32 cents to $116.67 a
barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
The International Energy Agen-
cy said Wednesday that a power
struggle between supporters and
opponents of Libyan leader Moam-
mar Gadhafi had cut up to 1 million
barrels per day of crude production,
more than the group’s previous esti-
mate of as much as 750,000 barrels
per day.
could soon raise its rate from the
current low of 0.50 percent and the
European Union might not get to
grips with the eurozone debt crisis
later this month.
If EU leaders do not agree on
terms that ease market pressure
against Greece, Ireland and Portu-
gal, the ECB could find itself in a
bind.
The bank would have to keep
buying government bonds and the
threat of a rate hike to press for fis-
cal discipline could make things
worse for the weaker peripheral eu-
rozone countries.
Global Economics economist Ju-
lian Jessop noted however that due
to a surge in oil prices, “there is
clearly a risk that the Bank of Eng-
land or the ECB decide to raise rates
sooner than they would otherwise
have done.”
The ECB’s March meeting will
be marked by new staff forecasts for
growth and inflation, and possibly
Mutassim Gaddafi (left), a son of Muammar Gaddafi, pictured here with
Hillary Clinton, allegedly ordered the seizure of a Coca Cola bottling plant
ment cable says, the embargo-era
Libyan distributor of bottled Coke
sued the group behind the newly-
opened plant, alleging breach of
contract. A complaint was also sent
to Coca Cola International alleging
that the bottling plant operators had
“stolen the franchise” from the pre-
vious distributors, according to the
cable. The bottling plant operators
counter-sued.
Then, on December 28, 2005
-- two weeks after the Tripoli plant
began turning out locally-bottled
batches of Coke -- “two military cars
carrying armed personnel without
clear identification illegally broke
into the facility, asked the employ-
ees to leave the premises and shut
down the plant,” according to an ac-
count of the incident a businessman
Traders are also factoring in the
possibility that political upheaval in
other oil-rich countries could pinch
global crude supplies.
“The spread of protests into other
major oil producing nations such as
Oman, Algeria and especially Saudi
Arabia could keep this oil market
on a boil for some time to come,”
Ritterbusch and Associates said in a
report.
Analysts said sustained oil prices
above $100 would eventually un-
“important decisions on the liquid-
ity strategy” aimed at helping strug-
gling commercial banks, UniCredit
economist Marco Valli said.
So-called “addicted” banks must
be taken off an ECB drip of cheap
loans as part of the central bank’s
move towards an exit from excep-
tional measures taken to battle the
global economic and financial cri-
sis. One possible decision would be
to end unlimited three-month loans
and force banks to bid again for the
funds.
But as fresh risks might emerge
with a new and tougher set of bank
stress tests, “for the ECB the cost of
waiting and extending the full al-
lotment for at least a couple more
months seems to be lower than the
cost of moving towards a less gen-
erous liquidity provision system,”
Valli said.
Trichet has said the ECB could
act on either interest rates or li-
quidity measures while leaving the
THE PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS
gave to U.S. diplomats.
The U.S. mission in Libya
learned from other sources that
the troops were loyal to Mutassim
Gaddafi, who, after the Coca-Cola
dispute was resolved, was named
Libya’s national security adviser.
According to the State Depart-
ment cable, Mutassim bore a grudge
against his brother because he had
“taken over” the embargo-era do-
mestic soft-drink business in the
late 1990s when Mutassim had been
exiled to Egypt for “insubordina-
tion” against their father. (Another
cable says the “rumour” was that
Mutassim had been linked to a coup
attempt.)
By Mark Hosenball (Reuters)
dermine consumer demand and
threaten global economic growth.
With oil prices “at these elevated
levels, the current global econom-
ic recovery is at significant risk of
stalling,” said Richard Soultanian
of NUS Consulting.
In other Nymex trading in April
contracts, heating oil rose 0.3 cent
to $3.06 a gallon and gasoline
dropped 0.5 cent to $3.02 a gallon.
Natural gas futures were up 0.7 cent
at $3.82 per 1,000 cubic feet.
other unchanged, but analysts think
he will begin by raising “hawkish”
anti-inflation rhetoric.
“We expect a number of an-
nouncements to indicate the tight-
ening cycle is getting closer,” Royal
Bank of Scotland analysts wrote in
a research note.
As for the staff forecasts, analysts
expect the inflation figure for 2011
to rise from 1.8 percent to around
2.2 percent, and for 2012 many tip
a forecast of around 1.7 percent, up
from the current estimate of 1.5 per-
cent.
In terms of growth, the 2011 fig-
ure of 1.4 percent could also be up-
graded to about 1.7 percent, while
the number for 2012 could remain
at 1.7 percent.
The European Commission raised
its eurozone 2011 growth forecast
slightly to 1.6 percent this week
after unemployment fell below 10
percent in January for the first time
since July 2010.
| MARCH 3, 2011
housing safe
investment
Homeownership as an invest-
ment is no longer the rock-sol-
id foundation for the American
Dream it once was, according to a
survey released on Monday by the
firm the government created in the
1930s to promote homeownership.
Fewer than two in three Ameri-
cans now think owning their own
home is a safe investment, down
sharply from more than four out
of five who thought it was a good
investment less than a decade ago.
That attitude shift is likely to
cause rents to rise as more Ameri-
cans opt for renting over buying,
according to the latest quarterly
survey of attitudes toward home-
ownership from Fannie Mae ,
the largest provider of U.S. home
mortgage funds.
The National Housing Quarterly
Survey found just 64 percent of
Americans think owning their own
home is a safe investment, down
from 70 percent at the beginning
of last year and sharply lower than
the 83 percent who thought it was
a safe investment in 2003.
Last week, data released by the
National Association of Realtors
showed that home sales rose for
third straight month in January,
S&P warns of
downgrades
on Portugal
and Greece
LONDON (AP) -- Both Portugal
and Greece could see their debts
further downgraded in the next
two months, ratings agency Stan-
dard & Poor’s warned Wednesday,
depending on what happens at a
crucial European leaders’ summit
later this month.
The agency said in a report it is
maintaining its A- rating on Portu-
gal and its BB+ rating on Greece
but has kept both countries on so-
called “CreditWatch with negative
implications.”
Heavily indebted Greece accept-
ed an EU-IMF bailout last year,
as did Ireland, and ailing Portugal
is widely expected to follow suit
even though it managed to raise
another euro1 billion ($1.38 bil-
lion) at a bond sale Wednesday.
S&P said it could lower the rat-
ings on both Portugal and Greece
within the next two months after
analyzing an expected new Euro-
pean bailout mechanism. EU poli-
cymakers are to decide later this
month on the key features of the
European Stability Mechanism,
which will replace the current Eu-
ropean Financial Stability Facility
from 2013 on.
The agency said it was unlikely
that either rating would be cut by
more than two notches. Even if
Portugal was downgraded two
notches it would still be invest-
ment grade, while Greece’s debt is
junk status already.
Eurozone governments have said
private creditors may be involved
in future financial rescue pack-
ages. However, there is still a high
degree of uncertainty about how
and at what point private creditors
might be forced to take losses.
Greece accepted a euro110 bil-
lion ($152 billion) bailout from its
partners in the EU and the Interna-
tional Monetary Fund last May and
has some breathing room before it
needs to tap bond markets for more
cash.
However, Greece needs to see its
market borrowing costs fall before
it can seek investors for cash -- in-
vestors continue to demand a high
premium to lend to it.
Earlier Wednesday, the yield
on Greece’s ten-year bond spiked
over 12 percent once again. That
took the spread with benchmark
| PAGE 5
while the median home price fell
to its lowest since April 2002.
An overhang of foreclose prop-
erties is weighing down the prop-
erty market even as the broader
economy appears to have entered
a sustainable growth path.
”The public is aware that the
demand side increase is going to
be in the rental market, not the
housing (purchase) market,” Doug
Duncan, chief economist at Fannie
Mae, said in a telephone interview.
Growing demand for rental prop-
erties as the economy strengthens
is set to lift underlying U.S. infla-
tion gauges, though the Federal
Reserve is not expected to raise
interest rates anytime soon.
High rental vacancies have
weighed on the core consumer
price index, which excludes vola-
tile food and energy prices, and
economists now see this anchor
slipping loose.
In the fourth quarter of 2010, the
rental vacancy rate fell to 9.4 per-
cent -- the lowest since the second
quarter of 2007 -- from 10.3 per-
cent in the July-September period,
according to government statistics.
By Corbett Daly (Reuters)
German bunds to over 9 percent
-- a staggering difference for two
countries that use the same cur-
rency.
Portugal’s financing needs are
more immediate as it tries to roll
over debts at the same time as the
government slashes spending and
raises taxes to get public finances
into shape.
German Chancellor Angela
Merkel praised Portugal’s “cou-
rageous steps” after meeting in
Berlin with Prime Minister Jose
Socrates and said the country is “on
a very, very good track.” Socrates
insisted once again that “we don’t
need outside help.”
Still, many financial experts
think Portugal will follow both
Greece and Ireland in requiring
an international financial rescue.
That’s most evident in the bond
markets, where the yield on Portu-
gal’s ten-year bonds have remained
stubbornly above 7 percent for 19
straight trading days -- that’s con-
sidered potentially unsustainable
level in the long term.
“The ongoing CreditWatch
placement reflects our view that
Portugal remains a potential re-
cipient of funding,” said Eileen X.
Zhang, a credit analyst at S&P.
S&P said Portugal faces a num-
ber of financial difficulties at a
time when the country is expected
to slip back into recession -- its ex-
ternal financing needs are still well
above 200 percent of its current ac-
count receipts for 2011, its banks
are heavily dependent on handouts
from the European Central Bank
and many government-owned
businesses face big liquidity pres-
sures.
The agency said the Portuguese
government would need to ap-
proach its European partners for a
bailout this year if it continues to
face difficulties raising the financ-
ing it needs.
So far, Portugal is getting by,
raising the money it needs but the
costs are high. Earlier Wednesday,
it raised euro1 billion ($1.38 bil-
lion) but the interest rates it has to
pay remained stubbornly high.
By Pan Pylas and Barry Hatton
(AP). Hatton contributed from
Lisbon.
TECHNOLOGY THE PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS | MARCH 3, 2011 | PAGE 6

FCC to strongarm cable-broadcast negotiations

WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators
want to do more to avoid TV signal black-
outs caused by disputes over programming
fees that pit broadcast television stations
against cable companies and other pay TV
operators.
The Federal Communications Commis-
sion is set to vote Thursday to launch a
review of the federal rules that govern ne-
gotiations over the fees that cable, satellite
and other video services pay TV stations to
carry their signals in channel lineups. To
supplement advertising revenue, broadcast-
ers have begun demanding cash for signals
they used to give away for free, and that
contributes to rising cable bills.
The FCC’s actions follow a series of high-
profile standoffs that left some consumers
without their local stations. In October, a
breakdown in negotiations between Ca-
blevision Systems Corp. and News Corp.’s
Fox network left 3 million Cablevision
subscribers in the New York area without
Fox programming for 15 days - including
through two World Series games - after the
broadcaster pulled its signal.
A similar dispute caused Cablevision sub-
scribers to miss the first 15 minutes of last
year’s Oscars when the ABC station in New
York yanked its signal. Other standoffs have
pitted Time Warner Cable Inc. against Fox;
Mediacom Communications Corp. against
Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.; and Time
Warner Cable against Sinclair. Another bat-
tle is now brewing between Dish Network
Corp. and Lin TV Corp.
Last year, a coalition of pay TV provid-
ers including Cablevision, Time Warner
Cable, DirecTV Inc., Dish Network and Ve-
rizon Communications Inc. filed a petition
with the FCC seeking new rules that would
give them more clout in negotiations with
broadcasters. They argue that the current
“retransmission consent” rules are tipped
against them because the ability to pull pop-
ular programming gives broadcasters the
advantage. They want the FCC to prohibit
broadcasters from interrupting signals dur-
ing negotiations - particularly right before
marquee events - and to mandate binding
arbitration in disputes.
The FCC maintains that it does not have
authority under current law to do those
things. But it wants to examine its existing
rules to determine if there are other ways
to prevent impasses by ensuring that both
sides negotiate in good faith.
Among other things, the FCC will con-
sider making it easier for a pay TV provider
to bring in broadcast programming from
other cities when it cannot reach an agree-
ment with the local broadcaster. That tactic
significantly undermines broadcasters’ le-
verage in bargaining. Indeed, Time Warner
Cable threatened to do just that in its most
recent dispute with Sinclair, which was set-
tled last month.
The FCC will also examine whether the
broadcast networks should be involved in
negotiations that were originally intended
to be between a local cable company and
the local broadcast affiliate. Broadcast net-
works such as ABC, Fox and CBS have
been taking a cut of the retransmission fees
collected by their affiliates. That has led TV
stations to demand bigger cash payments
from pay TV providers, making negotia-
tions more difficult.
In addition, the FCC wants to ensure
that consumers have adequate notice - and
enough time to switch pay-TV providers
- before a stalemate results in a broadcast
blackout.
If subscription TV providers believe the
government will step in, he added, they
will have even less incentive to negotiate in
good faith - which could lead to even more
service disruptions for consumers.
By JOELLE TESSLER (AP)

New eye NJ congressman beats

tracking IBM computer Watson
laptop WASHINGTON
Turns out it really does
take a rocket scien-
tist to beat Watson, the
--

a reality
“Jeopardy”-winning
computer.
U.S. Rep. Rush Holt
of New Jersey - a five-
time champion during the
trivia show’s original run
35 years ago - topped the
IBM computer Monday
night in a “Jeopardy”-
NEW YORK -- Ever wish your eyes were lasers? A style match of congress-
laptop prototype brings that wish closer to reality. men vs. machine held at a
It tracks your gaze and figures out where you’re Washington hotel.
looking on the screen. That means, among other things, Though Holt isn’t the
that you can play a game where you burn up incoming first human to beat Wat-
asteroids with a laser that hits where you look. son, the victory adds to
In another demonstration this week, the computer the 62-year-old Demo-
scrolled a text on the screen in response to eye move- crat’s already-impressive
ments, sensing when the reader reached the end of the resume: a former State
visible text. Department arms con-
In the future, a laptop like this could make the mouse trol expert and ex-leader
cursor appear where you’re looking, or make a game of the federal Princeton
character maintain eye contact with you, according to Plasma Physics Labora-
Tobii Technology Inc., the Swedish firm that’s behind tory.
the tracking technology. “I wonder if Watson
The eye tracker works by shining two invisible in- wasn’t having a low-
frared lights at you. Two hidden cameras then look for voltage night, because I
the “glints” off your eyeballs and reflections from each certainly didn’t expect
retina. It needs to be calibrated for each person. It works to score higher than the
for people with or without eyeglasses. computer,” he told The
Rather than a replacement for the traditional mouse Associated Press in an in-
and keyboard or the newer touch screen, the eye-track- terview Tuesday.
ing could be a complement, making a computer faster He built a lead in cat-
and more efficient to use, said Barbara Barclay, general egories including “Presi-
manager of Tobii’s Analysis Solutions business. dential Rhyme Time,”
Tobii has been making eye-tracking devices for in which the correct re-
researchers and the disabled for nearly a decade. The sponse to “Herbert’s
laptop is its way of showing that eye-tracking could ex- military strategy” was
pand beyond those niches, Barclay said, calling it an “Hoover’s maneuvers.”
“idea generator.” The congressman also
The laptop is made by Lenovo Corp., and incorpo- correctly identified hip-
rates Tobii’s eye-tracking cameras in a “hump” on the pophobia as the fear of
cover, making the entire package about twice as thick horses.
as a regular laptop. But future, commercial versions can Watson beat him to the
be slimmer and are perhaps two years away, Barclay buzzer with “love” when
said. prompted on what Am-
brose Bierce described Rush Dew Holt, Jr. (born October 15, 1948) is the U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s 12th congressional district. He is a
Lenovo and Tobii made 20 of the laptops and member of the Democratic Party. He is currently the only Quaker in Congress and holds a Ph.D. in Physics from NYU. (AP)
planned to demonstrate them at the CeBIT technology as “a temporary insanity
trade show in Hanover, Germany, on Tuesday. curable by marriage.”
Tobii’s current, standalone eye-trackers cost tens of Holt played the first $40,300 to the humans’ top human “Jeopardy” Holt said it was fun to been talking about for de- are very smart.”
thousands of dollars, but Barclay said the cost of add- round along with Rep. $30,000. champs Ken Jennings and beat the heralded com- cades.” Holt has a doctorate in
ing consumer-level eye-tracking to a commercial laptop Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Watson, designed spe- Brad Rutter; and during puter. But he also said it’s The match shows “that physics from New York
could be much less. Republican. At the end cifically to excel at the rehearsals, when Jennings important that Americans so many people are in- University and was elect-
New ways to use computers have been proliferating of the round, Holt had type of answers-and- won at least once. realize how crucial math terested not so much in ed to Congress in 1998.
in recent years. Touch screens are becoming popular earned $8,600 to Wat- questions format used on Holt received a round and science education is Watson but what the pos-
on smart phones and tablet computers such as the iPad. son’s $6,200. “Jeopardy,” took 25 IBM of applause Tuesday at to the nation’s future. sibilities here are,” said
Nintendo Corp.’s Wii game console brought motion- But the computer ul- scientists four years to a hearing of the House “I jumped at the chance IBM spokeswoman Lia P.
sensing technology to the masses. Microsoft Corp. timately triumphed in create. Natural Resources Com- to do this, not only be- Davis. By CARRIE SCHU-
released an accessory for its Xbox games console last later rounds against the Humans have beat mittee for besting the cause it would be fun, but “That said, Watson still MAKER and WAYNE
year that uses an infrared camera to sense the move- other representatives: Watson before, includ- computer. He thanked the as a way to highlight our won the match,” she said. PARRY (AP). Parry re-
ment of bodies in three dimensions. Nan Hayworth, R-N.Y., ing sparring matches crowd and gave a shout- national need to invest “So I think we can all be ported from Atlantic City,
Jim Himes, D-Conn., and with various players held out to “neuron-based in research and science proud of that. It demon- N.J. Associated Press
By PETER SVENSSON (AP Technology Writer ) Jared Polis, D-Colo. Wat- in the fall to prepare for thinking, instead of semi- education,” he told the strates that humans are writer Mark Kennedy in
son amassed a combined a televised match with conductor thinking.” AP. “It’s something I’ve very smart and computers New York contributed.

Senate votes to strip down patent reform bill

WASHINGTON - The Senate vot-
ed on Tuesday to strip controversial
provisions out of a bipartisan bill to
revamp the U.S. patent system and
clear a years long backlog of patent
applications.
The vote was 97 in favor and two
opposed.
Senators Patrick Leahy, Charles
Grassley and Jon Kyl, members of
the Senate Judiciary Committee,
proposed stripping from the bill a
measure that gives judges a major
role in determining how important
a particular patent is to a product, so
that infringing minor patents would
not lead to huge damages.
They also took out a provision
barring the practice of maneuvering
to file patent infringement lawsuits
in courts known to be friendly to
plaintiffs.
On both issues, the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Federal Circuit,
which specializes in patent appeals,
has issued rulings that go a long way
toward ending the problem of juries
in plaintiff-friendly districts giving
out-sized damage awards.
Leahy and other of the bill’s sup-
porters are hoping for a vote on the
bill this week. There is as of yet no
companion bill in the U.S. House
of Representatives, but reform ad-
vocates expect the eventual House
measure will be similar to the Sen-
ate bill.
Representative Lamar Smith,
chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee, said in a statement he
was “close to completing the draft
of the House patent reform bill.”
The amendment also would end
the practice of diverting money
from the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office. The patent office sometimes
brings in considerably more money
in fees than is allowed in its budget,
angering companies that wait years
to get a patent approved due to a
shortage of patent examiners.
The White House said late on
Monday it supported the bill, with
or without the damages and venue
provisions.
The Obama administration said it
supported moving to a first-to-file
system, which is in the bill. Under
this system, the patent application
sent first to the patent office is ap-
proved instead of requiring inven-
tors to show they were the first to
develop a certain technology or
drug.
This change would make the pat-
ent application process easier for
companies that apply for patents in
multiple countries.
Other provisions in the bill aim
to prevent bad patents from being
issued by allowing third parties to
provide information on why an ap-
plication should be rejected. The
bill also set rules for allowing pat-
ents to be challenged after they are
granted, which proponents say is
cheaper than litigation
The bill also called for allowing
the patent office to set its own fees
so it can hire more examiners and
upgrade technology so examiners
can chip away at a massive backlog
of patent applications.
David Kappos, the head of the
patent office and a former Interna-
tional Business Machines Corp vice
president, addressed criticism of the
bill from the high technology sector,
which initially pushed for a patent
reform and now largely opposes it.
“As a person who came from the
information technology industry ...
there are actually lots of good things
for the tech industry (in the bill),”
Kappos told reporters.
Leahy’s amendment would also
create a temporary, limited proceed-
ing at the USPTO to challenge busi-
ness-method patents. Perhaps the
most familiar example is Amazon.
com Inc one-click purchase patent.
The Supreme Court last year re-
jected a way to hedge energy costs,
but did not shut the door on business
method patents.
By Diane Bartz
(Reuters)
SCIENCE THE PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS | MARCH 3, 2011 | PAGE 7

Scientists solve mystery of disappearing sunspots

A trio of top solar scientists said
on Wednesday they had solved the
mystery behind the disappearance
of sunspots, a phenomenon that has
stumped astrophysicists worldwide
for more than two centuries.
The research, which will be pub-
lished on Thursday in the journal
Nature, shows that unusually weak
magnetic fields on the sun paired
with reduced solar activity cause
sunspots to disappear.
Sunspots appear to the human eye
as dark spots on the sun, some as
wide as 49,000 miles, according to
NASA. They are caused by intense
magnetic activity, or storms, on the
sun’s surface, which is plasma. Sun-
spots often emit particles into space
which are known as solar flares.
Sunspots went missing from 2008
to 2010 in a rare occurrence that
first was reported in 1810.
Although it is well documented
that the sun goes through regular
11-year cycles of high and low so-
lar activity, sunspots are not prone
to disappear for an extended period,
the researchers said.
“Understanding sunspots is im-
portant because solar activities
influence space weather, which af-
fects technology in space and on the
earth,” Montana State University
solar physicist Piet Martens, who
conducted the study with two other
scientists, said in a statement.
For example, the absence of sun-
spots in 2009 caused cosmic ra-
diation to skyrocket, researchers
found. Exposure to such high-ener-
gy radiation could prove dangerous
to astronauts and long-range pilots,
who can protect against solar flares
but not cosmic rays, according to
NASA.
Martens and a team of research-
ers used space telescopes to gather
information about the sun’s surface,
documenting sunspots, solar flares
and the strength of magnetic fields
at the north and south poles of the
sun.
Using computers to model the
sun’s surface over 2,000 years, the
team tracked a link between an ab-
sence of sunspots and weak polar
fields.
The finding opens the way for sci-
entists to predict the magnitude of
lulls in solar activity by examining
the polar fields.
Lapses in solar activity reduce
solar winds, preventing the decay
of space junk like defunct satellites
and parts of rockets.
Those items place at risk orbiting
satellites that provide signals for
everything from cell phones to na-
tional defense systems.
Scientists said the ability to bet-
ter forecast extreme lows in solar
activity, like the disappearance of
sunspots, could help protect com-
munication systems by altering the
orbits of satellites or shutting down
sensitive systems.
By Laura Zuckerman (Reuters) Ed-
iting by Dan Whitcomb

Don’t worry, be happy

and live longer: study

NEW YORK -- Today’s
lesson: be happy, live lon-
ger. Now science seems
to back the glass half-full
approach.
A review of more than
160 studies on the con-
nection between a posi-
tive state of mind and
overall health and lon-
gevity has found “clear
and compelling evidence”
that happier people enjoy
better health and longer
lives.
In fact, evidence link-
ing an upbeat outlook and
enjoyment of life to better
health and longer life was
stronger even than that
linking obesity to reduced
longevity, according to
the review published on
Tuesday in the journal
“Applied Psychology:
Health and Well-Being.”
“I was almost shocked,
and certainly surprised, to
see the consistency of the
data,” said Ed Diener, the
University of Illinois psy-
chology professor emeri-
tus, who lead the review.
While Diener said a
few studies he reviewed
found the opposite, the
“overwhelming majority
... support the conclusion
that happiness is associ-
ated with health and lon-
gevity.”
The review looked at
eight different types of
long-term studies and ex-
perimental trials of both
human and animal popu-
lations.
For example, 5,000 uni-
versity students studied
for more than 40 years
provided evidence that the
most pessimistic students
tended to die younger.
In the laboratory, posi-
tive moods were found
to reduce stress-related
hormones, increase im-
mune function and help
the heart recover follow-
ing exertion.
Animals who lived in
stressful conditions such
as crowded cages had
weaker immune systems
and a higher susceptibil-
ity to heart disease, and
died at a younger age than
those in less crowded
conditions.
Diener noted that while
current health edicts focus
on obesity, smoking, eat-
ing habits and exercise,
“it may be time to add ‘be
happy and avoid chronic
anger and depression’ to
the list.”
Reporting by Chris Mi-
chaud; Editing by Barbara
Goldberg and Greg Mc-
Cune (Reuters)
Urban students
lag in science
learning: study
BOSTON -- Students in schools
in the largest U.S. cities, many from
low-income households, trail their
peers elsewhere in the country in a
test of science proficiency, accord-
ing to a report released on Thursday.
Fourth- and eighth-graders in
most of the 17 participating urban
districts typically scored lower than
the national average, the 2009 Na-
tional Assessment of Educational
Progress Science report showed.
“The results are shouting at us:
Whatever we are doing in science
education in these big city public
schools and the Los Angeles Uni-
fied School District.
Demographics of the participat-
ing urban districts vary from both
the national average and between
districts.
Some districts report that English
is not the first language of up to 40
percent of their students. Anywhere
from 47 percent to 100 percent of
students in the urban areas are from
lower-income families, according
to the report.
The results also pose problems
for civic engagement and decision
life science and earth and space sci-
ences.
The report card showed that 44
percent of fourth-graders at schools
in cities with a population of at least
250,000 fall below the standard for
basic proficiency in science, com-
pared to 29 percent nationally.
At the eighth grade level 56 per-
cent of big city public school stu-
dents fell below the basic standard
compared to 38 percent nationally.
The results highlighted the need
for heightened focus on a national
science curriculum strategy that has

Scienctists: Global warming

schools, it isn’t working for the vast
majority of our students,” said Alan
Friedman, a member of the Nation-
al Assessment Governing Board.
The analysis, also known as the
making in the future, he said.
“Even for students who don’t
enter careers requiring some sci-
ence competence, as citizens they
will soon be involved in issues like
an impact at the local level, said
panelists at the study’s release in
Boston.
The figures in the report cannot
be easily compared with the past

means more snowstorms!

Nation’s Report Card, Trial Urban
District Assessment, tested between
900 and 2,200 students in each
grade in school districts from San
Diego to New York, including stu-
dents in Atlanta and Boston public
WASHINGTON –
Climate change is not
climate change, energy policy and
medical research,” said Friedman,
a former director for the New York
Hall of Science.
Questions measured students’
understanding of physical science,
because students were assessed in a
new way to bring the results in line
with international standards.
Reporting by Lauren Keiper; Ed-
iting by Barbara Goldberg and Greg
McCune (Reuters)

Archive of WWII
only making the planet
warmer, it is also making
snowstorms stronger and
more frequent, US scien-

codebreaker Alan
tists said on Tuesday.
“Heavy snowstorms
are not inconsistent with a
warming planet,” said sci-
entist Jeff Masters, as part

of a conference call with
reporters and colleagues
convened by the Union of
Concern Scientists.
“In fact, as the Earth
gets warmer and more
moisture gets absorbed
into the atmosphere, we
are steadily loading the
dice in favor of more ex-
treme storms in all sea-
sons, capable of causing
greater impacts on soci-
ety.”
Masters said that
the northeastern United
States has been coated in
heavy snowfall from ma-
jor Category Three storms
or larger three times in
each of the past two win-
ters, storms that are un-
paralleled since the winter
of 1960-61.
“If the climate contin-
ues to warm, we should
expect an increase in
heavy snow events for a
few decades, until the cli-
mate grows so warm that
we pass the point where
Workers remove snow from a runway at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago
it’s too warm for it to
snow heavily.”
Mark Serreze, director
of the National Snow and
Ice Data Center in Boul-
der, Colorado, said less
sea ice in the Artic trans-
lates to more moisture in
the atmosphere, and could
also cause an atmospheric
circulation pattern in po-
lar regions known as Arc-
tic Oscillation.
“It’s still cutting-edge
research and there’s no
smoking gun, but there’s
evidence that with less
sea ice, you put a lot of
heat from the ocean into
the atmosphere, and the
circulation of the atmo-
sphere responds to that,”
Serreze said.
“We’ve seen a tenden-
cy for autumns with low
sea ice cover to be fol-
lowed by a negative Arc-
tic Oscillation.”
Even though spring
in North America is just
around the corner, Mas-
ters said more snow is on
the way next week in the
upper Midwest, and the
melting snow pack could
spark record floods in
Minnesota, South Dakota
and North Dakota this
spring. (AFP)
Turing preserved
LONDON (AP) -- Papers relating
to codebreaker and computer pio-
neer Alan Turing will go to a British
museum after the National Heritage
Memorial Fund stepped in to help
buy them for the nation.
The government-backed fund
said Friday it had donated more
than 200,000 pounds ($320,000)
to a campaign to stop the notes and
scientific papers from going to a
private buyer.
The fund’s chair, Jenny Abramsky,
said the collection would be a per-
manent memorial to “a true war
hero.”
The documents were put up for
auction by Christie’s in November
but did not sell.
An online campaign to keep them
in Britain raised 28,500 pounds
from members of the public, and
computer firm Google contributed
$100,000.
The papers will go to the Bletch-
ley Park Museum northwest of
London, which commemorates the
famous World War II codebreaking
center.
One of the founders of mod-
ern computing, Turing worked at
Bletchley Park, and helped crack
Nazi Germany’s secret codes by
creating the “Turing bombe,” a
forerunner of modern computers,
to help reveal the settings for the
Nazi’s Enigma machine.
Turing also did pioneering work
on artificial intelligence, develop-
ing the “Turing Test” to measure
whether a machine can think. One
of the most prestigious honors in
computing, the $250,000 Turing
Prize, is named after him.
But he was not always consid-
ered a national treasure. Turing
was prosecuted for homosexuality,
stripped of his security clearance
and forcibly treated with female
hormones. He then killed himself in
1954 at age 41.
Homosexuality was illegal in
Britain until 1967.
In 2009, then-Prime Minister
Gordon Brown made a public apol-
ogy on behalf of the government
for Turing’s “inhumane” treatment,
saying: “We’re sorry, you deserved
so much better.”
Most of Bletchley Park’s secret
files were destroyed after the war,
and Turing left few records of his
work.
The papers in this collection be-
longed to his friend and fellow
codebreaker Max Newman and in-
clude 16 of the 18 scientific papers
Turing published in his lifetime
- notably “On Computable Num-
bers,” a landmark in the history of
computing.
Revolutionary Instructions
ANALYSIS THE PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS | MARCH 3, 2011 | PAGE 8

Egyptian activists circulated a kind of primer to a planned protest and we obtained copies of the historial documents. Below are the side-by-side translations of eight pages
from the 26-page pamphlet. While the plan itself contains specifics about what protesters might do, these excerpts show how one might equip oneself for clashes with despotic
riot police. Egyptian security forces had repeatedly beaten protesters and the level of violent repression of demonstrations had ratcheted upwards.
OPINION / EDITORIAL THE PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS | MARCH 3, 2011 | PAGE 9

Taps for the dollar

It now appears that the United
States has finally succeeded in its
efforts to destroy confidence in the
U.S. dollar. Given the currency’s re-
serve status, its ubiquity in financial
markets, and the economic power
and political position of the United
States, this was no easy task. How-
ever, to get the job done Washington
chose the right man: Fed Chairman
Ben Bernanke. Thanks to Bernan-
ke’s herculean efforts, investors
across the globe have now been ful-
ly weaned from their infantile belief
that the U.S. dollar will remain the
ultimate safe haven currency.
The proof of Ben’s success can
be seen in comparing how the for-
eign exchange markets reacted to
the recent crisis in the Middle East
with how they reacted to the finan-
cial crisis of 2008. Back then, inves-
tors looking for safety abandoned
their foreign currency positions
and piled into the U.S. dollar (the
market for U.S. Treasury Bonds in
particular). As a result of these fund
flows, the U.S. dollar surged 20%
from August to November 2008.
However, during this latest
round of global destabilization the
dollar experienced no such rally. In
fact, the greenback shed about 5%
of its value since the Tunisia revo-
lution began in December of 2010.
The reason should be clear; the Fed
has placed international investors
on notice that it will unleash even
greater doses of dollar debasement
at the first whiff of additional eco-
nomic weakness, deflation threat, or
dollar appreciation. Just this week,
Bernanke once again made clear
that despite what he considers to be
a better growth outlook at home and
abroad, and spreading global infla-
tion, the United States will not pull
back from monetary accommoda-
tion, even as other nations conspicu-
ously do so. The architect of U.S.
monetary policy has stated explic-
itly that dollar debasement will con-
tinue for the indefinite future.
Knowing this, why would any
international investor seeking a
in U.S. sovereign debt? If Bernanke
is to be believed, continued eco-
nomic weakness in the U.S. will
cause low-yielding Treasuries to
lose value due to inflation while
the weakening dollar erodes the un-
derlying value of the bond in real
terms. This is a one-two punch that
sane investors will seek to avoid. It
is no coincidence that a record per-
centage of U.S. Treasury auctions
are now being bought by central
banks, for whom sanity is a lowly
consideration.
But in reality, the Fed has much
less influence over the dollar’s val-
ue than do central bankers in Bei-
jing. There is little disagreement
among economists that without Chi-
nese support, the dollar would be a
dead duck. But for the last twenty
years or so the monetary arrange-
ment that pegged the yuan against
the dollar served the interests of
both countries. The U.S. enjoyed
a flood of cheap imports, the ben-
efits of ultra-low interest rates, and
a strong currency. The Chinese re-
ceived a booming export economy,
which accounted for about a third of
the country’s GDP, and the owner-
ship of a significant portion of the
future of the United States. To main-
tain this peg, the People’s Bank of
China had to print trillions of yuan
and perpetually hold more than $1
trillion U.S. dollars in reserve.
But recently, having led to ram-
pant money supply growth and
inflation in China, the peg has be-
come more trouble than it’s worth,
particularly from the Chinese per-
spective. The latest reading on YOY
money supply growth has China’s
M2 increasing by 17.2%; which has
helped send their reported CPI up
4.9% YOY.
Inflation in China is pushing up
the prices of its exports. According
to the latest survey released Febru-
ary 14th from Global Sources (a pri-
mary facilitator of trade with Great-
er China), export prices of various
China products are likely to increase
in the months ahead, especially
components continues to soar. The
survey of 232 Chinese exporters re-
vealed that 74% of respondents said
The real danger lies in refusing to
adapt to the changing environment.
Our current economic stewards are
acting as if the dollar’s status is
written in stone, when in fact it’s
hanging by a thread.
By Michael Pento, Euro Pacific
Capital.
they boosted export prices in 2010.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported in early January that its
China import price index rose 0.9%
in the fourth quarter after holding
steady for the previous 18 months.
And Guangdong, the biggest ex-
porting province, said recently that
it would increase minimum wages
by around 19% this March.
But here is the rub; China main-
tains its peg in order to keep export
prices from rising in dollar terms.
But the peg is now causing export
prices to rise anyway. As a result,
the policy is a dead letter. The sim-
ple fact is that the threat to China’s
exports will exist whether they let
their currency appreciate or not. But
a strong currency offers the benefit
of greater domestic consumption,
while a weaker currency offers them
nothing.
The Chinese government will
take the path that preserves and bal-
ances their economy while enrich-
ing their entire population, rather
than go down the road to never end-
ing inflation. For China the realistic
hope is that the greater purchasing
power of a strong currency will en-
able their growing middle class to
supplant U.S. consumers as the end
market for China’s own manufac-
turing efforts. However, for the U.S.
the challenge will be to develop a
diversified manufacturing base in
an expeditious manner before surg-
ing interest rates, a plummeting dol-
lar and soaring inflation overwhelm
the economy.
The dollar’s recent reaction to
the turmoil in the Middle East and
China’s inflation problem illustrate
that we have come to a watershed
moment in American history. The
decade beginning in 2010 should
prove to be the decade in which the
U.S. dollar loses its status as the
world’s reserve currency. As bad
as that blow may be, the loss may
provide the shock needed to get our

Dishonest Abe
“safe haven” choose to park assets if the cost of major materials and economy back on a sustainable path. Ben Shalom Bernanke (pictured) is the current Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve. (AP)

UNMASKED! What you’re not supposed to know about Abraham Lincoln

Americans have been led to
believe that when they celebrate
Abraham Lincoln’s birthday each
year on February 12 they are cel-
ebrating freedom, the preservation
of the union, and a reaffirmation of
the principles of the Declaration of
Independence. This belief is a testa-
ment to the notion that in war the
victors get to write the history.
Lincoln will probably be forever
known as the “Great Emancipator”
because of the Emancipation Proc-
lamation. But every Lincoln scholar
knows something that few Ameri-
cans are aware of: The Emancipa-
tion Proclamation freed no one, be-
cause it specifically exempted those
areas of the southern states that
were at the time under the control
of the federal armies while allowing
slavery to exist in the “loyal” border
states of Maryland and Kentucky
and in Washington, D.C. itself.
“The principle [of the Proclama-
tion] is not that a human being can-
not justly own another,” the Lon-
don Spectator observed on October
11, 1862, “but that he cannot own
him unless he is loyal to the United
States” government.
As Lincoln stated in a famous,
August 22, 1862 letter to New York
Tribune editor Horace Greeley, “My
paramount object in this struggle is
to save the Union, and is not either
to save or destroy slavery. If I could
save the Union without freeing any
slave I would do it; and if I could
save it by freeing some and leaving
others alone I would also do that.”
The Emancipation Proclamation
was a propaganda strategy designed
to deter England from supporting
the Confederacy. It came as a com-
plete surprise to most
Northerners, who thought they
were fighting and dying by the tens
of thousands to preserve the union.
As a result, there were draft riots in
New York City; a desertion crisis
was created in the U.S. army, with
some 200,000 deserters, according
to historian Gary Gallagher; and
war bond sales plummeted. Ac-
cording to James McPherson, the
“dean” of “Civil War” historians,
Union soldiers “were willing to risk
their lives for the Union, but not for
black freedom . . . . They professed
to feel betrayed.”
Slavery was ended in 1866 with
the Thirteenth Amendment, but
at the cost of 620,000 lives; hun-
dreds of thousands more that were
crippled for life; and the near de-
struction of almost half the nation’s
economy. By contrast, dozens of
other countries (including Argen-
tina, Colombia, Chile, all of Central
America, Mexico, Bolivia, Uru-
guay, the French and Danish colo-
nies, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela)
ended slavery peacefully during the
first 60 years of the nineteenth cen-
tury. Why not the U.S.?
Lincoln may have “saved” the
Union in a geographic sense, but
his war destroyed the union defined
as a voluntary association of states.
Forcing a state to remain in the
union at gunpoint renders that state
a conquered province, not a genuine
partner. This was the overwhelming
sentiment of Northern opinion mak-
ers at the outset of the war.
As Horace Greeley wrote on
March 21, 1861: “The great prin-
ciple embodied by Jefferson in the
Declaration is that governments
derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed.” If south-
erners wanted to secede, “they have
a clear right to do so.” “Nine out
of ten of the people of the North,”
Greeley wrote, were opposed to
forcing South Carolina to remain in
the Union.
As of 1857, writes Roy Basler,
the editor of Lincoln’s Collected
Works, Lincoln had rarely ever
mentioned the issue of slavery,
and even then, “when he spoke of
respecting the Negro as a human
being, his words lacked effective-
ness.” What did preoccupy Lin-
coln’s mind throughout his twenty-
eight year political career prior to
becoming president was the politi-
cal agenda of the Whig Party and
of the man whom he revered most
in life, the Kentucky slaveowner
Henry Clay, whom Lincoln eulo-
gized in 1852 as “the great parent
of Whig principles” and “the fount
from which my own political views
flowed.”
And those political views were
clearly stated by Lincoln when he
first ran for the Illinois legislature
in 1832: “My politics are short and
sweet, like the old woman’s dance. I
am in favor of a national bank . . . in
favor of the internal improvements
system and a high protective tariff.”
These three things -- protectionism,
government subsidies to railroad
and canal-building companies, and
central banking -- were called the
“American System” by Henry Clay.
Economists have another word for
them: “mercantilism.”
Murray Rothbard accurately de-
fined mercantilism as “a system of
statism which employed economic
fallacy to build up a structure of
imperial state power, as well as
special subsidy and monopolistic
privilege to individuals or groups
favored by the state.” This is what
Lincoln devoted his entire political
career to achieving. He was a mas-
ter politician who once told a friend
that his career ambition was to be
“the DeWitt Clinton of Illinois.”
DeWitt Clinton was the notoriously
corrupt governor of New York who
is credited with inventing the spoils
system.
The so-called American Sys-
tem of mercantilism could only be
implemented by a highly central-
ized government of the sort that
the U.S. Constitution attempted to
deter. That’s why it could only be
put into place by force of arms,
which it was. As soon as Lincoln
maneuvered the South Carolin-
ians into firing the first shot (at a
customs house, Fort Sumter) tariff
rates were immediately raised to an
average of 47 percent and higher,
and remained historically high for
decades after the war.
During the war Lincoln estab-
lished a number of tyrannical prec-
edents, including unconstitutionally
conducting a war without the con-
sent of Congress; suspending ha-
beas corpus; conscripting railroads
and censoring telegraph lines; im-
prisoning without trial some 30,000
northern citizens for merely voicing
opposition to the war; deporting a
member of Congress, Clement L.
Vallandigham of Ohio, for oppos-
ing Lincoln’s income tax proposal
at a Democratic Party political
rally; shutting down hundreds of
Northern newspapers and impris-
oning their editors for questioning
his war policies; ordering federal
troops to intimidate voters into vot-
ing Republican; and intentionally
waging war against civilians.
The second plank of the Ameri-
can System of mercantilism, central
banking, was achieved with the Na-
tional Currency Acts of 1863 and
1864, and there was a virtual ex-
plosion of government subsidies to
railroads and other businesses that
bankrolled the Republican Party.
The inevitable consequence was the
notorious corruption of the Grant
administrations.
In 1861 Senator John Sherman,
brother of General William Tecum-
seh Sherman and a major power in
the Republican Party, announced
that “Those who elected Mr. Lin-
coln expect him to secure to free la-
bor its just right to the Territories of
the United States; to protect . . . by
wise revenue laws, the labor of our
people; to secure the public lands to
actual settlers . . . ; to develop the
internal resources of the country by
opening new means of communica-
tions between the Atlantic and Pa-
cific.”
Translating from the politician’s
idiom into plain English, this meant
that Lincoln’s main objective was
always protectionism for Northern
manufacturers; buying votes with
cheap federal land sales; and the
purchase of even more votes and
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save
campaign contributions through a
massive spoils system created by
the Union, and is not either to save or destroy
government subsidies to the rail-
road industry. The corrupt politi-
slavery. If I could save the Union without free-
cal strategy of DeWitt Clinton writ
large is Abraham Lincoln’s true
ing any slave I would do it; and if I could save
economic legacy. it by freeing some and leaving others alone I
By Thomas DiLorenzo would also do that.” - Abraham Lincoln
OPINION / EDITORIAL THE PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS

P rojection of F orce
| MARCH 3, 2011 | PAGE 10

“Americans can simply not succeed without a partnership with the Inter-Services Intelligence”
The history of the US embassy
in Islamabad is a lengthy and mis-
erable one. According to the Fi-
nancial Times, “Its officers shiver
when they recall accounts of their
mission being stormed and burnt to
the ground in 1979. A mischievous
radio report out of Iran that the US
had attacked the holy city of Mecca
triggered the assault by radical ar-
sonists. The terrified diplomats sur-
vived only by locking themselves
into the safe room.
This year, the arrest in Lahore
of Raymond Davis, an employee
of the Central Intelligence Agency
and a former special forces soldier,
has stoked up the old fears amid a
welter of anti-American protests.
It has also laid bare the divisions
between the CIA and its Pakistani
counterpart: the Directorate General
of Inter-Services Intelligence.
The two organisations, which
found common cause in the Afghan-
Soviet war of the 1980s and later in
rounding up al-Qaeda suspects after
the 2001 terror attacks on the US,
appear increasingly at odds in the
fight against Islamist extremism.
The ISI is the “deep state” in
Pakistan that has resisted civilian
control and has forged long-stand-
ing alliances with militant groups.
It operates with menace and near-
impunity. Yet its co-operation with
western intelligence agencies is
viewed as crucial to bringing great-
er stability to the region, an end to
the Afghan war and a better under-
standing of global terror.
Lionised by some in Pakistan as
the country’s security backbone, the
ISI is loathed by Pakistan’s neigh-
bours, who see it as the inspiration
behind militant attacks on India,
Afghanistan and possibly further
afield.
Founded shortly after the 1947
establishment of Pakistan, the in-
telligence agency has a presence
throughout society, monitoring de-
velopments from high command
and immigration to lowly infor-
mants watching the lobbies of the
country’s hotels. Often described as
a “state within a state”, the common
perception is that almost nothing
happens without its say-so.
Talaat Masood, an Islamabad-
based security analyst, describes
the ISI as “dominating the scene” to
ensure Pakistan is a “security state”.
The organisation, which falls
under the control of General Ash-
faq Parvez Kayani, the head of the
army, has a domestic and interna-
tional remit that over the decades
has helped the military to tighten
its grip on the country. It played a
role in training and supporting mili-
tants in Afghanistan, during the So-
viet occupation, and insurgents in
Kashmir. Military rule during much
of Pakistan’s short history encour-
aged its political wing to expand its
role deeply into domestic affairs to
secure the co-operation of leading
politicians.
“The ISI in the eyes of the or-
dinary Pakistani is a very powerful
entity. India’s repeated reference to
the ISI’s role in this or that has cre-
ated an image of an agency which
has a dominating presence across
Pakistan,” says Ghazi Salahuddin, a
commentator for The News, a Paki-
stani daily.
The January incident, in which
Washington accepts Mr Davis shot
dead two Pakistani gunmen, has
fanned lurid suspicions that Paki-
stan is peppered with American
spies doing the “devil’s work”. US
officials insist that Mr Davis was no
more than a CIA contractor provid-
ing security for local staff and visit-
ing dignitaries. But in spite of Wash-
ington’s denials, stories put about
by retired senior Pakistani military
staff say that he was a super-spy
controlling as many as 3,000 CIA
operatives.
If one man embodied the intrica-
cies of Pakistan’s spy game in Af-
ghanistan, he was the late Brigadier
Sultan Amir Tarar – the “godfather
of the Taliban”.
Best known by his nom de guerre
of Colonel Imam, Tarar starred
in a covert campaign by the Inter-
Services Intelligence to propel Af-
ghanistan’s Taliban to power in the
mid-1990s.
In more recent years, he became
an emblem of the ambiguities of
the ISI’s relationship with militants.
Western intelligence agencies sus-
pected him of serving in a network
of retired spies who helped the ISI
to continue supporting the Taliban
while maintaining a veneer of deni-
ability.
Tarar struck up friendships with
a generation of Afghan fighters
while running CIA-funded train-
ing camps for mujahedin rebels
battling the Soviets in Afghanistan
in the 1980s. He went on to funnel
ISI cash and weapons to the Taliban
as they marched on Kabul in 1996.
He was particularly close to Mullah
Mohammed Omar, the movement’s
leader, who played host to Osama
bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda.
The arrival of US troops in 2001
should have marked the start of a
quiet retirement for Tarar, as Paki-
stan’s military insisted it had cut its
protégés loose. Instead, diplomats
believe Pakistan played a double
game by accepting US military aid
while continuing to back Afghan
militants.
Bearded and known for his
paratrooper jacket – a souvenir of
younger days spent training in the
US – Tarar denied helping the Tali-
ban. But he cheered their successes.
Pakistan’s military is also close
to the Haqqani network, a potent
strands of the Afghan insurgency,
and has resisted US pressure to dis-
mantle its bases in Pakistan’s border
province of North Waziristan.
The ISI’s romance with Afghan
militants is rooted in its fixation
with India. Under Pakistan’s doc-
trine of “strategic depth”, it sought
to prevent New Delhi gaining influ-
ence in Afghanistan by sponsoring
the Taliban as a proxy to run Kabul.
Ann Patterson, until last year US
ambassador to Pakistan, warned in
2009 that US aid would not con-
vince the Pakistani army to stop
backing militants as long as it felt
threatened by India, according to a
diplomatic cable. But the scope of
the support is contested. Some in
Afghanistan believe the ISI plays a
central role in arming and directing
the Taliban. Yet Pakistani experts
tend to believe the relationship has
been increasingly complicated by
mistrust on all sides.
ISI agents arrested Mullah Abdul
Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s mili-
tary commander, in collaboration
with the CIA last year, implying at
least a degree of dissonance. Some
say the ISI has recognised the futil-
ity of trying to run Afghanistan by
remote control and would instead
prefer to broker an eventual peace
deal that would brake Indian influ-
ence. Pakistani officials say rela-
tions with the government of Hamid
Karzai, Afghanistan’s president,
have warmed in the past year.
The emergence of a new gen-
eration of militants has meanwhile
blurred the line between “good”
Afghan Taliban fighters and “bad”
Pakistani insurgents battling the
state. But that is a lesson Col Imam
appears to have learnt too late. He
was abducted in North Waziristan
last spring. Last month, Pakistani
television aired clips of a video that
showed him evidently being shot
dead by members of Pakistan’s Tali-
ban, whose Afghan cousins he had
once mentored. Matthew Green
Two years ago, fuelling a simi-
lar bout of fearfulness, local news-
papers reported that Blackwater, a
US security company, was snapping
up Islamabad properties to house a
massive influx of foreign security
personnel.
“The public perception is that
Pakistan faces increasing security
challenges from the US, possibly
with the help of some Afghans and
Indians,” says Moinuddin Haider,
a former interior minister. “In this
situation, it is possible the ISI may
have become more important” as a
defence against the US.
Washington argues that Mr Davis
has diplomatic immunity and wants
his swift release. But Pakistan’s se-
curity establishment – smarting that
the CIA has been operating beyond
its control on home turf – is seeking
to extract the maximum price from
its ally before Mr Davis is freed.
The CIA insists that it works
closely with its Pakistani counter-
parts “on a wide range of security
challenges, including our common
fight against al-Qaeda and its terror-
ist allies”. George Little, a CIA offi-
cial, adds: “The agency’s ties to ISI
have been strong over the years, and
when there are issues to sort out, we
work through them. That’s the sign
of a healthy partnership.”
Indeed, Pakistan continues to
give its permission for the CIA to
launch and carry out drone strikes
against targets in western Pakistan.
But the strategic importance of that
push also means that the US de-
pends on Islamabad – and its spies
– as never before. Gen Kayani, him-
self a former head of the ISI, knows
that the spy drama surrounding Mr
Davis will pay dividends at home
and abroad. The fact that high-level
talks needed to be held last week-
end over Mr Davis’s fate – involv-
ing Leon Panetta, the CIA chief, and
General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, his ISI
counterpart – shows the gap that has
opened up on the ground between
the intelligence services.
For Pakistan, the high-profile
embarrassment for the CIA is a
power play to bring the ISI on to
more equal terms with its American
partner, and forms part of a famil-
iar pattern to extract support from
Washington.
Within India’s security estab-
lishment, some say that the recent
friction is no surprise. The ISI has
grown much closer to Chinese in-
telligence in recent years, they say,
as ties with the US grow more dis-
tant. India suspects an ISI role in the
2008 bombing of its Kabul embassy,
when 41 people were killed, and a
role in the planning of the devastat-
ing attacks on Mumbai that Novem-
Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, (right) is the current Direc-
tor-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s premier
intelligence service since October 2008. (AP)
ber. Islamabad denies involvement
in either incident.
Pakistani intelligence has also
not hesitated to use repression on its
own people, particularly in the res-
tive south-western province of Balu-
chistan, where human rights groups
say the force has been involved in
years of torture and extra-judicial
killings. In the past four months
alone, at least 90 activists, teach-
ers, journalists and lawyers have
disappeared or been murdered in
Baluchistan, according to Amnesty
International. “Human rights abuses
attributed to the security agencies
have created a climate of fear for the
families of the disappeared,” says
Sam Zarifi, Amnesty’s Asia-Pacific
director. “They are terrified to speak
out in fear that security agents will
kill their loved ones or abduct other
family members.”
So long a shadow does the ISI
cast that civilian leaders talk about
it in hushed, foreboding tones. Shah
Mehmood Qureshi, the recently
axed foreign minister and a politi-
cian close to the military, once de-
scribed it as “a precious national
institution”. Asif Ali Zardari, the
president, once used the analogy of
heavy earrings to describe the bur-
den Pakistan carried with its support
for militants. Explicit references to
the ISI at home are rare; journalists
fear reprisals if they discuss its ac-
tivities.
The agency was the invention
of Major General R. Cawthome, a
British army officer who served in
Pakistan and became the ISI’s sec-
ond director. Its early years were ac-
companied by frequent criticism for
failures surrounding Pakistan’s wars
with India. Even today, the army has
yet to come to terms with the intel-
ligence failure surrounding India’s
shock military intervention in 1971
in the former East Pakistan, which
led to the creation of Bangladesh.
“After that humiliating military
defeat, which also led to more than
90,000 Pakistanis prisoners of war
being taken by India, Pakistan’s
military establishment decided
‘never, never again’,” says one for-
mer Pakistani general. “To this day,
the military’s thinking and that of
the ISI is driven by 1971.”
The agency’s fortunes improved
when, under military rule, it be-
gan to monitor Pakistan’s political
scene. But its heyday – and inter-
national links – came at the end of
the cold war, when it backed mili-
tant groups in the US-backed bid to
force Russian troops from Afghani-
stan. “The ISI’s clout grew during
the Afghan war. Through close col-
laboration with foreign militaries
and foreign intelligence agencies,
the ISI became extremely powerful.
The ISI’s clout remains intact,” says
Hasan Askari Rizvi, a military and
security scholar.
In the 1990s, though a succes-
sion of civilian governments came
to rule over Pakistan, the ISI un-
der a succession of serving military
lieutenant generals who served as
its director general emerged as the
country’s pre-eminent kingmaker.
Although officials say the agen-
cy has now relinquished any formal
role in politics, analysts say the ISI
remains a key determinant of Paki-
stan’s security and foreign policy in-
terests. “The ISI has split politicians
and political parties through its past
activities. Its work has weakened
political parties and exposed them
in all sorts of ways,” says Mr Rizvi.
At the organisation’s headquar-
ters in Aapbara in Islamabad, senior
officials like to cast the ISI as an
intelligence service like any other.
Hamid Gul, a former head of the ISI
who in the 1980s oversaw its work
as a conduit for mujahedin and Tali-
ban fighters in Afghanistan, sees the
agency as a vital part of Pakistan’s
defence, particularly against arch-
rival India. “The ISI is Pakistan’s
first line of defence which is dedi-
cated to warding off threats to our
country. Given our surroundings, it
is important to note, the smaller the
country, the more important will be
the role of its intelligence network,”
he says.
Other high-ranking officials
boast of the ISI’s links with pow-
ers ranging from the US and UK to
China and Saudi Arabia. They view
their agency as highly effective in
having corralled al-Qaeda militants
even as it continued to back other
Islamist groups. In spite of official
denials, diplomats suspect the ISI
has continued to support Afghani-
stan’s Taliban movement as it fights
Nato troops.
“In the past decade, we have col-
laborated with 50 intelligence agen-
cies from all over the world, which
is more than the support any other
agency anywhere has offered,” says
one official. “We have aided in the
arrest of more than 700 al-Qaeda
militants including prominent ones
like Khaled Sheikh Mohammed
[planner of the attacks on the US].
We have also led the arrests of more
than 600 Taliban militants. Is there
any other agency which has been
similarly successful?”
Right at the top of the ISI’s cur-
rent task list is to find out more about
Mr Davis. One ISI official says the
agency wants to retain its relation-
ship with the CIA but as “equal part-
ners”, adding: “Don’t make us look
like fools in the eyes of our people.
Help us fight this war rather than go
behind our backs.”
Another official explains that
popular opinion, sometimes radical,
is becoming more and more impor-
tant for the agency: “Public opinion
does matter a lot more. Given the
adverse publicity surrounding the
Raymond Davis case, the ISI wants
to make certain that such an episode
is never repeated.”
To many, the ISI’s role has
shifted from counter-intelligence or
counter-espionage to troublemaking
in the region and maintaining links
to militant outfits, such as Lashkar
e-Taiba and the Haqqani network
in Afghanistan, which now oper-
ate with a degree of autonomy. Yet
some western diplomats, impressed
by the direct style of Gen Pasha,
like to give the ISI the benefit of
the doubt. They view the flurry of
contacts that take place between the
ISI and militant groups not so much
as collaboration but an attempt at
regaining tighter control. “People
know well that the game in town
is with the army and the ISI. That’s
why, it’s important to get those
people on board,” says one. “The
ISI may be part of the problem but
it could be part of the solution too.”
Whatever happens to Mr Davis,
the public controversy surrounding
a usually highly discreet business
has already confirmed, in the words
of Dianne Feinstein, chairman of
the US Senate intelligence commit-
tee, that the partnership is not where
it was at the end of the cold war and
is now “something less than whole-
hearted”.
The ISI prefers the head over the
heart. “Even though the Americans
may have the finest intelligence and
large numbers of people in Pakistan,
they appear to be clueless,” says
Tariq Fatemi, a former Pakistani
diplomat. “The Americans can sim-
ply not succeed without a partner-
ship with the ISI.”
(FT) Edited by Yuri Isacov

Arab Autocracies and US Inflation

Civil revolt is currently spreading across
the Arab world. What began in Tunisia has
now metastasized into Bahrain, Egypt and
Libya. Though two dictators have been
ousted, the chances that these regimes will
fundamentally transform from autocracy to
a system of free markets and property rights
are also up in the air. An important question
is whether or not Saudi Arabia will eventu-
ally get into the mix; and, if so, whether the
current struggle in Libya would morph into
a proxy war between Saudi Arabia (Sunni
Muslims) and Iran (Shiite Muslims). It re-
mains to be seen whether the new regime in
Egypt—whatever form it ends up taking –
will allow Iran to use the Suez Canal to pa-
rade warships across the Mediterranean Sea
and into Syria. If so, what would Israel’s re-
action to such a perceived provocation be?
There are many unknowns, but what is
known is that the turmoil has had an im-
mediate and significant impact on the price
of oil. WTI is now trading just below $100
a barrel and Brent Crude is already well
above the century mark. If the unrest does
indeed spread to Saudi Arabia – which pro-
duces 12 million barrels of oil per day and
is the second largest producer in the world –
mainstream analysts have made some wild
predictions about how high the oil price
could reach. Rising energy prices will fur-
ther cripple the third world, which has al-
ready been placed under extreme pressure
from skyrocketing food costs.
The United Nations announced in early
February that global food prices were at
an all-time high. The USDA indicated this
week that 2011 corn inventories will be
the lowest since 1974. Despite the fact that
farmers have boosted the output of wheat,
rice, and feed grain by 16% since 2000, de-
mand has outstripped supply by 4 percent-
age points. Corn is up 95% and wheat has
increased 70% since their year-ago levels.
Overall, global food costs have jumped by
25% YoY since January 2009.
It is evident that global consumers con-
tinue to get pummeled by rising food and
energy prices. Meanwhile, in addition to
coping with rising inflation rates, the US
consumer is also being hurt by the con-
tinued contraction in the price of houses
– which are typically their primary assets. are foreboding for US GDP growth. Most
S&P/Case-Shiller indicated on Tuesday that importantly, anemic economic growth will
their National Index dropped 4.1% from Q4 worsen our debt-to-GDP ratio and thereby
2009 thru Q4 2010. place further pressure on our already dam-
aged balance sheet.
We already know that Chairman Ber-
nanke exculpates the Fed for any blame
The truth is that in creating inflation either domestically
Bernanke doesn’t or abroad. In fact, he refuses to even con-
sider rising food and energy prices in his
know what causes definition of inflation. Americans could be
paying $50/pound for ground beef, but as
inflation, so he can’t long as their houses are still losing value,
Bernanke doesn’t see an inflation problem.
be expected to spot it, Meanwhile, they’re eating squirrel for pro-
tein while making payments on a mortgage
much less do twice as expensive as the house.
The truth is that Bernanke doesn’t know
something about it. what causes inflation, so he can’t be expect-
ed to spot it, much less do something about
it. Using the Fed’s own history as a guide,
Bernanke will view rising commodity pric-
Home values have now dropped for 6 es as a threat to GDP growth and a sign of
consecutive quarters and clearly indicate pending deflation. That’s because the Fed
the real estate sector is suffering a double is caught up in a ‘Phillips curve’ philoso-
dip. The ramifications of all the above data phy that only equates economic growth and
prosperity with inflation. In short, Bernanke
believes that slow growth and rising unem-
ployment rates equate to deflation, despite
plentiful contrary examples in history.
Since he believes rising commodity
prices are deflationary and have nothing to
do with his own loose monetary policy, the
Fed is likely to expand its balance sheet to a
greater degree. The fact that the Fed’s mas-
sive money printing effort is the progenitor
of global food riots completely escapes him.
As more damage is done, the Fed will use
the resulting contraction in GDP to justify a
third round of quantitative easing – further
harming the GDP.
Unfortunately, the vicious cycle of stag-
flation will grow more acute with each itera-
tion of the Fed’s love affair with counter-
feiting. Countries that make the mistake of
continuing to peg their currencies to the US
dollar will suffer more inflation and more
destabilization. Since it will be hardest for
the US to ditch the dollar, our hopes are
dimmer.
By Michael Pento, Euro Pacific Capital
WHAT THE HECK THE PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS | MARCH 3, 2011 | PAGE 11

Luxury hotel for dogs!

Dogs guest Cleo is seen in a room in the Actuel Dogs Hotel in Vincennes near Paris February 24, 2011. (Reuters)
VINCENNES -- Heated pools,
massage salons and a-la-carte
menus are de rigueur at luxury ho-
tels across the world but in one ex-
clusive Paris establishment the dif-
ference is the guests: they have four
legs, and enthusiastically wagging
tails.
Actuel Dogs bills itself as
France’s first luxury hotel for dogs,
and founders Devi and Stan Burun,
a dog behavior specialist and life-
long dog-lover, also offer training
programs unruly hounds and dog
walks in the woods.
As well as a dip in the pool, or a
massage, guests including Ulysse, a
bumptious yellow Labrador sport-
ing a smart red collar, enjoy “doggy
jogging,” or simply relax on cush-
ioned couches in their luxury suites.
Their tiled-floor rooms smell
fresh and clean and are adorned with
framed prints of dogs and equipped
with televisions so dogs can watch
their choice of DVDs.
Owners pay between 26 euros
and 35 euros ($36-$48) to leave
their lucky hounds for a full day and
while the luxury touches appeal to
owners, the key difference with tra-
ditional kennels is that dogs are not
locked up in cages.
“People think we serve the dogs’
food from silver platters but this is
not pointless, extravagant luxury,”
Devi said, as Clifford, an English
bulldog, Cocker Spaniel puppy
Floyd, Golden Retriever Cleo and
miniature Schnauzer Belle bound-
ed around the hotel’s games room,
equipped with a treadmill for train-
ing.
“It’s not like in the United States
or Japan -- giving the dogs mani-
cures, dying their fur pink -- that’s
human madness. Our priority is to
meet the dogs’ needs,” she added.
The concept works partly because
of its location, in the chic suburb of
Vincennes, on the outskirts of Paris,
and close to the woods.
Reporting by Helen Massy-
Beresford, editing by Paul Casciato
Pizza maker
charged
with using
mice against
competition!
PHILADELPHIA -- The own-
er of a suburban Philadelphia
pizza shop has been arraigned on
charges he schemed to plant live
mice in competing pizza parlors
in hope of putting them out of
business.
Nickolas Galiatsatos, owner
of Nina’s Bella Pizzeria in Upper
Darby, Pennsylvania, is accused
of putting bags of mice at nearby
competitors on Monday after-
noon, according to Upper Darby
Police Superintendent Michael
Chitwood.
The owner of Verona Pizza
watched Galiatsatos go into
his restroom carrying a bag but
emerge empty-handed, and alert-
ed two patrol officers who were in
the restaurant, Chitwood said.
The officers found a bag of
mice and footprints on a toilet
seat, suggesting someone had
been trying to reach the ceiling
tiles, he said.
The officers then found Gali-
atsatos near another pizza place,
Uncle Nick’s, where he was seen
putting something in a trash can.
There, police found a bag con-
taining five mice, Chitwood said.
“This guy planted them to
put these guys out of business,”
Chitwood said. “I’ve been at this
for 47 years, and I’ve never seen
mice used as a criminal tool.”
Galiatsatos claimed his shop
had been infested with mice, and
he blamed his competitors for the
problem, he said.
Chitwood said that Galiatsatos
told police he bought the mice at
a pet shop for $10.
He faces misdemeanor charg-
es of cruelty to animals, criminal
mischief, harassment and disor-

Pope says Jews

derly conduct.

Penis graffiti dropped

Reporting by Dave Warner,
editing by Ellen Wulfhorst (Re-
uters)

from competition!
not guilty of A painting of a large penis on
a bridge in Russia’s second city St
Petersburg has been dropped from
Center of Contemporary Arts and
supported by the Culture Ministry
had included the picture, which
California

Jesus’ death
VATICAN CITY - Pope
Benedict, in a new book,
biblical evaluation in a
section of the second vol-
ask: Who exactly were Je-
sus’ accusers?” the pope
he had declared himself
king of the Jews and had
the shortlist for an art prize, the or-
ganizers said.
The painting, which pointed
skywards when the bridge was
raised, was painted last June by op-
position Russian art group Voina, or
War, to protest against tight security
in the city prior to an international
meeting.
Voina had called “A Penis in KGB
captivity.”
But after failing to get approval
woman
to include the picture from Voina,
the organizers removed it from the
shortlist, they said on their website.
sues after
slipping on
Voina condemned the withdraw-
al of the prize from the competition.
“The repressive act of remov-

has personally exonerated
Jews of allegations they
were responsible for Jesus
Christ’s death, repudiat-
ing the concept of collec-
tive guilt that has haunted
Christian-Jewish relations
for centuries.
Jewish groups ap-
ume of his book “Jesus of
Nazareth,” which will be
published next week. The
Vatican released brief ex-
cerpts on Wednesday.
The Roman Catholic
Church officially repudi-
ated the idea of collective
Jewish guilt for Christ’s
asks, adding that the gos-
pel of St John simply says
it was “the Jews.”
“But John’s use of this
expression does not in
any way indicate -- as the
modern reader might sup-
pose -- the people of Is-
rael in general, even less
violated Jewish religious
law. He concludes that
the “real group of accus-
ers” were the Temple au-
thorities and not all Jews
of the time.
Elan Steinberg, vice-
president of the American
Gathering of Holocaust
The picture, which was washed
off by firefighters, faced the St Pe-
tersburg headquarters of Russia’s
Federal Security Service, successor
of the Soviet-era KGB.
Organizers of the prize for in-
novation awarded by Russia’s State
banana peel
ing the Voina group from the award
brings shame on the (organizers)
and the Ministry of Culture,” one
of the group’s activists, Alexei Plut-
ser-Sarno, said on Sunday on his
Internet web page. A banana peel, the torment
(Reuters) of many a cartoon character, has
allegedly become the real-life
downfall of a woman in Califor-

Handcuffed burglar
plauded the move. The death in a major docu- is it ‘racist’ in character,” Survivors and their De- nia.
Anti-Defamation League ment by the Second Vati- he writes. ” After all John scendants, welcomed the Ida Valentine, 58, is suing the
called it “an important can Council in 1965. himself was ethnically a pope’s words. 99 Cents Only store where she

drives off in police car

and historic moment”
and hoped that it would
help complicated theol-
ogy “translate down to the
pews” to improve grass
roots inter-religious dia-
logue.
The pope makes his
complex theological and
It was believed to be the
first time a pope had made
such a detailed dissection
and close comparison of
various New Testament
accounts of Jesus’s con-
demnation to death by the
Roman governor, Pontius
Pilate. “Now we must
Jew, as were Jesus and all
his followers. The entire
early Christian communi-
ty was made up of Jews,”
he writes. Benedict says
the reference was to the
“Temple aristocracy,”
who wanted Jesus con-
demned to death because
“This is a major step
forward. This is a per-
sonal repudiation of the
theological underpinning
of centuries of anti-Semi-
tism,” he told Reuters.
By Philip Pullella (Re-
uters)
A 19-year-old Henderson, Ne-
vada man arrested for burglary
managed to drive off in a police
car on Wednesday, despite wear-
ing handcuffs, only to be nabbed on
foot a few hours later.
The unidentified burglary sus-
pect drove off in the police car while
officers stood outside their Chevro-
let Tahoe shortly after apprehend-
ing him on suspicion of attempting
to break into a nearby home, police
spokesman Todd Rasmussen said.
UK investigates fish spa
While sitting in the back seat of
the patrol car, the suspect managed
to slide his handcuffed hands be-
hind his back and scramble through
a square-foot-wide opening in a
plexiglass window separating the
back from the driver’s seat.
“He was pretty thin,” Rasmus-
sen said. The suspect then drove
off while still handcuffed, making it
as far as a softball field about two
miles away, Rasmussen said.
(Reuters)
slipped on one last April.
She said that she suffered a
herniated disk and tissue damage,
spent $9,000 on medical bills and
is seeking an unspecified amount
in damages.
“She fell and landed on her
backside,” said Courtney Mikolaj
of the Quirk Law Firm in Ventura,
California, which is representing
her.
Mikolaj said the 99 Cents
Only store in Fontana, California,
refused a proposed settlement of
$44,000.
Executives from the company,
a deep-discount retailer with hun-
dreds of stores in western states,
were not immediately available
for comment.
The image in popular culture

pedicures on health issues of an unwary pedestrian tripping

Fish spa pedicures have become
a popular alternative to exfoliation
in recent years but health officials
say they are now investigating the
pampering treatment on concerns it
may spread infection.
The procedure involves custom-
ers placing their feet into a water
tank filled with toothless Garra
rufa fish -- also called doctor fish --
which suck the dead tissue off their
feet to leave them feeling softer.
Officials at Britain’s Health Pro-
Pope Benedict XVI (pictured) is the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the head of the Roman Catholic Church tection Agency (HPA) said they
were launching an investigation
into possible infection risks associ-
ated with the exfoliation treatment
after receiving enquiries from local
environmental health officers.
The HPA said it would assess all
of the latest evidence on risks be-
fore issuing guidelines for the spa
treatment.
Fish spa pedicures have already
been banned in some U.S. states for
health and safety reasons.
Reporting by Michelle Martin,
editing by Paul Casciato (Reuters)
head over heels on a banana peel
stems from the late 19th century,
when bananas were a popular
street food in American cities and
the press portrayed them as a pub-
lic nuisance.
In 1879, Harper’s Weekly
groused that “whosoever throws
banana skins on the sidewalk does
a great unkindness to the public,
and is quite likely to be respon-
sible for a broken limb.”
Reporting by Jeff Roberts of
Reuters Legal, Editing by Greg
McCune (Reuters)
WHAT THE HECK THE PROFESSIONAL EXPRESS | MARCH 3, 2011 | PAGE 12

LA(ID) Realationship Advice

Dearest Dear Sex Advisor, do you recommend is the best We must eliminate competi- Love in its most common panding orchasm in my loins; see are UFOwes. Increases in
and least scary way to tell her tion from the realm of thought. form is most often composed my soul is jingling like a bag of debt, a flying sauce-r landing
I have fallen in love with a girl how I feel when I know it’s real? Before all thought becomes knot. of equal parts elation and equal coins.Can you spare a (draw and) right on your shirt. Will I ever
who I just recently met, recently -Love at first Night It’s the kind of ugliness that lurks parts misery. Any attempts to re- quarter? be romancipated from your lov-
as in five days ago, and although the streets every night, looking duce it down to only one of its Her kiss was like an eclips, a ing (h)arms? Love is a hairrow-
I want to express my undeniable Dearest Pimpulse Control, for a new girl to bite. cumponents will lead to errone- welcoming and all encumpassing ing, tail so entangled. Once
feelings to her, I’m also afraid Debbie Downer, the Out of ous representation of a most darkness, a deafening scREAM- again the knots have returned
that the hastiness of my admis- Love is the most adicktive drug Towner. She’s the kind of girl cumplex mode of sexistence. ing, a cochlear overload with its with stars and spangles. Social
sion of love will scare her away of all. Or is it a virUS? Slowly I’d like to meet and greet, show I’ve never felt so hungry be- resultant earGasm, the fuel of a networking butterflies caught
and maybe ruin our chances to- sip the (h)elixir of love, and fight her around these big city streets. fore. From every pore a hunger fool. Nine year old girls are in the internet, a twisted web of
gether. But I just can’t keep the the urge to imbibe at once all the She’s not from aROUND here, roars. It’s the kind of hunger dying mysteriously. Borders are flies.
feeling to myself any longer and wo(u)nders it cuntains. If it is like her eyes. Channeling the that hangs from a noose, a gasp- an outrage and a useless medium
feel on the verge of an explosion real, both parties will feel with spheres, are these raindrops or ing emptiness flowering from the that has been Cumpany – Lovingly,
when I am around her and we equal fervor. Forever. tears? A piece that has been depths, bursting forth and fifth criminally enlarged.
haven’t even had sex yet! What missing for years. from an echoing and ever ex- Looking into the sky, all I can Vit|r|us Hearn