The_Secret_(Rhonda_Byrne)

Hugo Chavez said Monday that he won’t condemn Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi

CARACAS,  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Monday that he won’t condemn Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and he warned that the United States is preparing an invasion of the North African country to seize control of its oil reserves.”A campaign of lies is being spun together regarding Libya,” said Chavez, in a televised speech to a crowd of graduates who had just received diplomas from state universities. “I’m not going to condemn him. I’d be a coward to condemn someone who has been my friend.”

The U.S. government is behind the campaign to remove Gadhafi, he said.”The United States has already said it’s ready to invade Libya, don’t you see? And almost all the countries of Europe are condemning Libya … What do they want. They are rubbing their hands together. Oil is what’s important to them,” he said.Chavez noted that numerous countries have condemned Gadhafi for cracking down on Libyans who have risen up against him.”Maybe they have information that we don’t have,” he said.Chavez slammed the United States for moving naval and air forces closer to Libya amid active international discussions about imposing a no-fly zone over the country, and he warned that U.S. officials are preparing to invade Libya.

Chavez and Gadhafi, united in their mutual antagonism toward Washington, have forged close ties.Venezuela’s opposition has strongly criticized Chavez for his close relationship to Gadhafi. Earlier on Monday, a coalition of opposition parties warned that Chavez’s failure to take a stand against Gadhafi’s violent crackdown is smearing Venezuela’s reputation.

“By distancing himself from the numerous nations that condemn the criminal actions of the Libyan leader, Chavez makes our country out to be his defender and irresponsibly puts us alongside governments rejected by the international community,” the coalition said in a statement.Opposition politician Gustavo Azocar demanded that Chavez ask Gadhafi to return a replica of the sword that once belonged to 19th-century independence hero Simon Bolivar.

Azocar said in an e-mail sent to The Associated Press on Monday that Venezuela’s foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, “should explain why the government gave the sword of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, to an assassin like Gadhafi.”Chavez gave the sword to Gadhafi last year. The self-proclaimed socialist has scoffed at suggestions by his adversaries that protests similar to those sweeping the Middle East could occur in Venezuela.Venezuela and Libya are both major oil exporters. (AP)

Muammar Gaddafi: I am still in Libya

The regime of Col Muammar Gaddafi of Libya was on the verge of collapse on Monday night, but the dictator hit out at the “dogs” who claimed he had fled the country.

As the violence intensified and indiscriminate shootings were reported in Tripoli, Gaddafi appeared on state television early on Tuesday to deny “malicious reports” he had fled after several cities fell to opposition forces.Libyan air force jets launched bombing raids on military bases and, it was claimed, rebel areas in a final attempt to reassert control.Two colonels in the air force flew their jets to Malta, saying they had refused orders to fire on protesters in the second city Benghazi and wanted to seek asylum.

Senior regime figures, including his public security minister, justice minister and seven ambassadors around the world, also deserted Col Gaddafi. Libya’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim Omar al-Dabashi, described his leader’s actions as “genocide” and pleaded for international intervention.In his brief appearance on Libyan television, where he was filmed leaning out of the back of a car holding an umbrella, Gaddafi claimed he was still in Tripoli.

 

1 dead, 20 firefighters hurt in NYC apartment fire

NEW YORK  Officials say one person has died in a fire that ripped through a six-story New York City apartment building.A fire department spokesman says the body of a 64-year-old woman was found in the rubble after firefighters battled strong winds for several hours trying to extinguish the blaze. The victim’s name was not released.Officials say 20 firefighters were injured battling Saturday’s blaze in Brooklyn. None of the injuries are life-threatening. Four civilians suffered minor injuries. Seven people were treated at the scene.

Strong winds complicated firefighters’ efforts at the building on East 29th Street before the five-alarm fire was brought under control early Sunday.Over 200 firefighters were called to the scene.The building has about 70 apartments. The spokesman says a shelter for displaced residents has been set up at a nearby school.(AP)

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivers Iran budget bill to parliament

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented a delayed budget bill to parliament on Sunday, urging lawmakers to swiftly approve a package he said would continue his drive to reduce social inequality.The draft budget for the next Iranian year, which begins on March 21, was around $177 billion, he said. In addition to that, the budget for state-affiliated companies was $362 billion. Last year the total budget amounted to $368 billion.

In an address which was bigger on political rhetoric than financial detail, Ahmadinejad told parliament his government aimed to reduce Iran’s reliance on oil income and push ahead with a major subsidy phase-out which has already begun.”One of the characteristics of the budget is to narrow the gap between social classes,” he said in a speech broadcast live on television.Relations between president and parliament have become increasingly strained in recent years, particularly over budget matters.Some Iranian media reported that late delivery of the draft budget would leave little time for parliamentary scrutiny.

Ahmadinejad said the new budget was “transparent, integrated and simple,” adding that the government did not expect the parliament to alter the bill.Ahmadinajad’s vice president in charge of parliamentary affairs, Mohammad Reza Mirtajeddini said the delay was partly parliament’s fault because it took too long debating a five-year government plan setting overarching policy aims for the period 2010-2015.

Despite economic sanctions imposed over its disputed nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said Iran’s non-oil exports were increasing and would be more than $30 billion this Iranian year.Central Bank statistics issued in October said non-oil exports in 2008-9 were worth $17.7 billion.(Reuters)

 

China tries to stamp out ‘Jasmine Revolution’

BEIJING Jittery Chinese authorities staged a show of force Sunday to squelch a mysterious online call for a “Jasmine Revolution” apparently modeled after pro-democracy demonstrations sweeping the Middle East.Authorities detained activists, increased the number of police on the streets and censored online calls to stage protests in Beijing, Shanghai and 11 other major cities. Citizens were urged to shout “We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness” – a slogan that highlights common complaints among ordinary Chinese.

Many activists said they didn’t know who was behind the campaign and weren’t sure what to make of the call to protest, which was first posted on the U.S.-based Chinese-language advocacy website Boxun.com.China’s authoritarian government has appeared unnerved by recent protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya. It has limited media reports about them, stressing the instability caused by protests in Egypt, and restricted Internet searches to keep people uninformed.

The call to protest in China did not seem to garner much traction among citizens. In Beijing, 25-year-old Liu Xiaobai was stopped by police after he placed a white jasmine flower on a planter in front of a McDonald’s restaurant that was the planned protest site and took some photos with his cell phone.

“I’m quite scared because they took away my phone. I just put down some white flowers, what’s wrong with that?” Liu said. “I’m just a normal citizen and I just want peace.”Security agents tried to take Liu away, but he was swarmed by journalists and eventually was seen walking away with a friend.Two other people were taken away by police, including a shabbily dressed old man who was cursing and shouting, though it wasn’t clear if he was there because of the online call to protest.

Any potential protesters were far outnumbered by hundreds of rubberneckers at the busy Wangfujing pedestrian mall, who wondered if there was a celebrity in the area because of the heavy police presence and dozens of foreign journalists and news cameras.In Shanghai, three people were taken away by police after scuffling in front of a Starbucks coffee shop in what appeared to be an attempt to attract attention. They were not holding placards and their intentions were unclear.

There were no reports of protests in other cities where people were urged to gather, such as Guangzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan and Chengdu.Ahead of the planned protests, more than 100 activists in cities across China were taken away by police, confined to their homes or were missing, the Hong Kong-based group Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. Families and friends reported the detention or harassment of several dissidents, and some activists said they were warned not to participate.

On Sunday, searches for “jasmine” were blocked on China’s largest Twitter-like microblog, and status updates with the word on popular Chinese social networking site Renren.com were met with an error message and a warning to refrain from postings with “political, sensitive … or other inappropriate content.”

Mass text messaging service was unavailable in Beijing due to “technical issues,” according to a customer service operator for leading provider China Mobile. In the past, Chinese authorities have suspended text messaging in politically tense areas to prevent organizing.Boxun.com said its website was attacked by hackers Saturday after it posted the call to protest. A temporary site, on which users were reporting heavy police presence in several cities, was up and running Sunday. The site said in a statement it had no way of verifying the origins of the campaign.

The call for a Jasmine Revolution came as President Hu Jintao gave a speech to top leaders Saturday, asking them to “solve prominent problems which might harm the harmony and stability of the society.” Hu told the senior politicians and officials to provide better social services to people and improve management of information on the Internet “to guide public opinion,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The ruling Communist Party is dogged by the threat of social unrest over rising food and housing prices and other issues. In the latest increase, the National Development and Reform Commission announced Saturday that gasoline and diesel prices would rise 350 yuan ($53) per ton.Tensions were already high in recent days after a video secretly made under house arrest by one of China’s best-known activist lawyers, Chen Guangcheng, was made public. Chen and his wife were reportedly beaten in response, and some of Chen’s supporters said they were detained or beaten by authorities after meeting to discuss his case. (AP)

Chile A magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck central Chile Friday

CAUQUENES, Chile  A magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck central Chile Friday, centered in almost exactly the same spot where last year’s magnitude-8.8 quake spawned a tsunami and devastated coastal communities.Electricity and phone service were disrupted and thousands of people fled to higher ground following Friday’s quake, but the government quickly announced that there was no risk of a tsunami, and there were no reports of damage or injuries.

In the following hours, a dozen aftershocks ranging from magnitude-3.9 to magnitude-6.3 shook the seismically active area.President Sebastian Pinera appealed for calm and praised his government and Chileans in general for responding quickly.”Today we’re better prepared,” Pinera said. “I think we’ve learned the lesson of Feb. 27, 2010.”Rodrigo Ubilla, the vice interior minister, said the navy had “totally discounted any risk of a tsunami.”Still, the strong earthquake frightened many Chileans, especially along the coast, where people quickly moved to higher ground.”There was a preventive self-evacuation,” said Vicente Nunez, who directs the National Emergency Office, ONEMI. But he said Chileans could safely return home.

Residents fled their homes in Talcahuano, a port city whose center was ravaged last year by huge walls of water that sent shipping containers and fishing boats into downtown buildings and streets, municipal spokesman Javier Gonzalez told The Associated Press.Skyscrapers swayed in the capital of Santiago, and in the inland town of Cauquenes, mothers ran into the streets carrying babies in their arms.The 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck offshore, about 30 miles (45 kilometers) north of the city of Concepcion. The epicenter was relatively close to the coast, at 36 degrees south latitude and 73 degrees west longitude – almost exactly where the Feb. 27, 2010 earthquake was centered. Friday’s quake was half as deep, at 11 miles (18 kilometers), as the devastating temblor of Feb. 27, 2010.

And while last year’s massive quake killed at least 521 people and left 200,000 homeless, this time it seemed that Chile emerged relatively unscathed. Chilean officials measured movement in the ocean but said there was no risk of a tsunami.The reason last year’s quake generated a tsunami while Friday’s quake at roughly the same spot didn’t even spark a warning was largely a function of strength, with the 8.8-magnitude quake being about 800 times larger in terms of energy released, said Nathan Becker, an oceanographer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.People in Talcahuano weren’t taking any chances in any case. The compact city center is at the base of a bay and surrounded by hills, forming a bowl where the ocean drained and then came back with a vengeance last year.

Friday’s quake caused a blackout in Concepcion, another city still recovering from last year’s disaster. And across the country, Chileans jammed cell phone networks trying to make sure their families were OK.In Cauquenes, a small town almost directly west of the epicenter, mothers ran into the streets carrying babies in their arms.”I was really frightened. This is one of the strongest aftershocks we’ve had since last year’s earthquake,” said Ana Alarcon, who closed her small shop and took her two children in a search for her husband, who she couldn’t reach by phone.(AP)

Wael Ghonim,Google executive to be released Monday,Egyptian TV stations report

A Google Inc. executive who disappeared after participating in anti-government protests will be released Monday, according to Egyptian television reports.Wael Ghonim, Google’s head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, has been missing since Jan. 27. PC Magazine reported that he was believed to be in the custody of the Egyptian government.

On Sunday, state-run Nile TV reported that Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq had called the network to announce his planned release.Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris told another channel, which he owns, that he had been assured by Vice President Omar Suleiman that Goneim would be freed 4 p.m. Monday. Sawiris is part of a self-appointed group of leading Egyptians who have met with the government to explore ways to end the political impasse.

Since his disappearance, Ghonim has become a rallying figure for anti-government protesters. The April 6 youth opposition movement named him its symbolic spokesman.Despite warnings from friends and family, Ghonim tweeted that he was attending a Jan. 25 demonstration, organized in part by members of the April 6 movement.

“Pray for #Egypt. Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die #Jan25,” Ghonim wrote in one of his last tweets.It was not clear Sunday where he was being held.

 

pastor Terry Jones canceled a plan to burn copies of the Koran at his obscure Florida church

A Christian pastor on Thursday canceled a plan to burn copies of the Koran at his obscure Florida church, which had drawn international condemnation and a warning from President Barack Obama that it could provoke al Qaeda suicide bombings.Defense Secretary Robert Gates called Terry Jones, an obscure minister who heads the tiny Dove World Outreach Center church in the Florida town of Gainesville, to urge him not to go ahead, the Pentagon said.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Gates had expressed “grave concern” in the brief telephone call with Jones that the Koran burning “would put the lives of our forces at risk, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.”Jones later told journalists outside his church that he was calling off his plan, which had caused worldwide alarm and raised tensions over this year’s anniversary of the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

He confirmed Gates’ call but linked his decision to what he said was an agreement by Muslim leaders — which they denied — to relocate an Islamic cultural center and mosque planned close to the site of the September 11 attacks in New York.The proposed location has drawn opposition from many Americans who say it is insensitive to families of the victims of the September 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.”The imam has agreed to move the mosque, we have agreed to cancel our event on Saturday,” Jones said.

CONFUSION OVER MOSQUE “DEAL”

He said he would fly to New York on Saturday with Imam Muhammad Musri, head of the Islamic Society of Central Florida to meet the New York imam at the center of the controversy, Feisal Abdul Rauf.But Rauf said in a statement he was surprised by the announcement. “I am glad that Pastor Jones has decided not to burn any Korans. However, I have not spoken to Pastor Jones or Imam Musri. I am surprised by their announcement,” he said.

“We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter. We are here to extend our hands to build peace and harmony,” he said.Sharif el-Gamal, the project developer for the New York mosque, said in a statement: “It is untrue that the community center known as park 51 in lower Manhattan is being moved. The project will proceed as planned. What is being reported in the media today is a falsehood.”Musri conceded to reporters: “This is not a done deal yet. This is a brokered deal,” he said. He said he had no fixed time for him and Jones to meet Rauf in New York.

INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION

Earlier, world leaders had joined Obama in denouncing Jones’ plan to burn copies of the Islamic holy book on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.The international police agency Interpol warned governments worldwide of an increased risk of terrorist attacks if the burning went ahead, and the U.S. State Department issued a warning to Americans traveling overseas.

Jones has said Jesus would approve of his plan for “Burn a Koran Day,” which he called a reprisal for Islamist terrorism.The United States has powerful legal protections for the right to free speech and there was little law enforcement authorities could do to stop Jones from going ahead, other than citing him under local bylaws against public burning.Many people, both conservative and liberal, dismissed the threat as an attention-seeking stunt by the preacher.”This is a recruitment bonanza for al Qaeda,” Obama said in an ABC television interview.

“You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who would be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities.The president, who has sought to improve relations with Muslims worldwide, spoke out in an effort to stop Jones from going ahead and head off growing anger among many Muslims.Insults to Islam, no matter their size or scope, have often been met with huge protests and violence around the world. One such outburst was sparked when a Danish newspaper published a cartoon mocking the Prophet Mohammad in 2005.

Pentagon spokesman Morrell said earlier in the day that there was intense debate within the administration over whether to call Jones. Officials feared of setting a precedent that could inspire copy-cat “extremists.”Jones’ plan was condemned by foreign governments, international church groups, U.S. religious and political leaders and military commanders.It also threatened to undermine Obama’s efforts to reach out to the world’s more than one billion Muslims at a time when he is trying to advance the Middle East peace process and build solidarity against Iran over its disputed nuclear program.(Reuters)

Laura Bush to speak at fundraiser for Flight 93 memorial in Pa., attend Sept. 11 service

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. Former first lady Laura Bush will speak at a National Park Service fundraiser in Pittsburgh on Friday, a day before joining Michelle Obama in rural Pennsylvania to remember the victims of Flight 93, which crashed there in the Sept. 11 attacks.Bush’s appearance is part of a wider effort to raise money for the memorial to the 40 passengers and crew who died after they fought back against their hijackers.Just $40 million of the $58 million needed for the memorial has been raised, and the first phase of the project is scheduled to be dedicated in time for the 10th anniversary of the attacks next year.

A memorial plaza is under construction in these rolling hills, part of a long-awaited 2,200-acre national park that will eventually honor the victims. The finished memorial will include a 93-foot tower at the entrance with wind chimes for each of the victims and a grove of trees.The project’s planners say they hope Bush’s and Obama’s efforts help bring attention and much-needed cash to the project.

“In a world where there’s so much politics, one thing we have always found is that our story and our efforts resonate across the board. And this is just one more indication of that,” said Gordon Felt, the president of the Families of Flight 93, whose brother died aboard the flight.Patrick White, whose cousin, Louis “Joey” Nacke II, died in the crash, called donating to the memorial “a patriotic thing to do.”

“This is America’s memorial, certainly primarily to the 40 heroes of Flight 93, but indirectly to the events of the day as well,” he said.More than 1.2 million people have visited the temporary memorial since the crash. Planners predict that about 250,000 people will visit the permanent memorial each year.

The park foundation has recently stepped up its efforts to raise money, including a new public service campaign encouraging people to make a $10 donation by texting the word MEMORIAL to 90999, or to contribute online at http://www.honorflight93.org .Flight 93 was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when hijackers seized control and diverted it toward Washington, D.C. But the passengers fought back and the hijackers responded by crashing the plane about 60 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.

It’s imperative to honor the victims, said David Beamer, whose son Todd was believed to have led the revolt with the words “Let’s roll.” He said some textbooks only casually reference Flight 93 as the fourth plane to crash on Sept. 11, with no details.”That’s not sufficient,” Beamer said.(AP)