Al-Qaeda leader voices support for Syria uprising

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has voiced his support for the Syrian uprising in a new video message released on jihadist forums, US website monitors said Sunday.

 

In the video titled “Onwards, Lions of Syria”, Zawahiri criticised the Syrian regime for crimes against its citizens, and praised those rising up against the government, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

 

Zawahiri, shown in front of a green curtain in the video released Saturday which runs for over eight minutes, urged Syrians not to rely on the West or Arab governments, whom he said would impose a new regime subservient to the West.

 

He called on Muslims in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon to support the uprising and remove the current regime which he condemned as anti-Islam.

 

Since March last year, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad s government has carried out a bloody crackdown on an uprising in which more than 6,000 people have been killed.

 

Arab League foreign ministers will meet on Sunday in Cairo to discuss their next move over the crisis.

 

Long Al-Qaeda s number two, Zawahiri took over the helm of the group after Osama bin Laden was killed in May 2011 during a US special forces night raid deep in Pakistan.

 

The video is the latest of a number in which the militant chief has attempted to seize on the “Arab Spring” revolutions.

 

Al-Qaeda has been absent from the popular protests that swept the Arab world last year, leading to the fall of leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia and provoking major unrest elsewhere.

 

Analysts argue that the phenomenon has left the global terror outfit weakened and increasingly irrelevant.

 

The United States said last year that it believed Zawahiri, who has been in hiding since the United States declared a “war on terror” after the September 11, 2001 attacks, was still in Pakistan.
 

United go on top after Suarez handshake snub

 

Manchester United regained top spot in the Premier League with a 2-1 victory over Liverpool on Saturday in a stormy clash marred by fresh controversy stemming from the Luis Suarez racism affair.

 

Two second-half goals in three minutes from United talisman Wayne Rooney — playing in his 500th game at senior level — saw the champions go one point clear of Manchester City, who face Aston Villa on Sunday.

 

But the early kick-off at Old Trafford was dominated by incidents involving Suarez, who scored Liverpool s only goal in his first start since returning from an eight-match ban for racially abusing United captain Patrice Evra.

 

Despite assurances from both clubs  managers during the week that Evra and Suarez would shake hands before the kick-off, the Uruguayan caused an unnecessary flashpoint by ignoring Evra s outstretched hand.

 

Evra angrily grabbed Suarez s arm as the South American walked away, before United defender Rio Ferdinand then snubbed Suarez s offer of a handshake.

 

Disgusted United manager Sir Alex Ferguson branded Suarez a “disgrace” afterwards and said the striker should never play for Liverpool again.

 

“I couldn t believe it. I just could not believe it,” Ferguson said when asked for his reaction. “I had a chat with Patrice this morning and he said he was going to shake his hand. He said  I have nothing to be ashamed of. 

 

“Suarez is a disgrace to Liverpool Football Club. He shouldn t be allowed to play for Liverpool again.

 

“The history that club s got, he could have caused a riot. It was terrible what he did. It was a terrible start to the game and it created a terrible atmosphere.”

 

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish later insisted he had not seen the incident, but lost his cool with a television interviewer at the suggestion it had led to a bust-up between players from both sides at half-time.

 

“I never knew he didn t shake his hand. I will take your word for it. That is contrary to what I was told,” Dalglish said.

 

“It s bang out of order to blame Luis Suarez for anything that happened today, how many bookings were there? The fans had a bit of banter.”

 

Dalglish meanwhile admitted Liverpool had been beaten by a better side.

 

“They were the better side but you would expect that at home. We left ourselves with a mountain to climb,” Dalglish said.

 

The Suarez incident was the main talking point of a low-key opening 45 minutes, with Paul Scholes  header from close range the best scoring chance.

 

However, tempers flared on the stroke of half-time, with Suarez appealing for a foul after being tackled by Ferdinand when through on goal, and later kicking the ball angrily towards the dug-out area.

 

Police and stewards were then called to the tunnel to defuse tensions between scuffling players from both sides.

 

When the second half kicked off, Rooney effectively settled the result in a devastating three-minute spell.

 

The England striker volleyed in his first from close range on 47 minutes after Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson inadvertently flicked on a Ryan Giggs corner.

 

Rooney then made it 2-0 in the 50th minute after a Jay Spearing blunder let in Antonio Valencia. Valencia s pass found Rooney, who coolly stroked his shot past Pepe Reina.

 

United remained firmly in control for the remainder of the half but a lapse in concentration saw Suarez pull a goal back for Liverpool to set up a nervous final 10 minutes.
 

UN chief Ban seeks action on Syria

UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday the Arab League chief told him he intends to revive an Arab League monitoring mission in Syria, which has collapsed amid continuing violence there.

Nabil Elaraby asked for U.N. help with the project during a telephone conversation on Tuesday, Ban told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council on a visit he just paid to the Middle East.

Elaraby had further proposed a joint U.N.-Arab League observer mission, including a joint special envoy, for Syria, where a harsh crackdown on an 11-month-old uprising has left thousands dead, according to U.N. figures. Ban said the United Nations was ready to help, but indicated no decision had been taken.

Elaraby “informed me that he intends to send the Arab League observer mission back to Syria and asked for U.N. help,” the U.N. chief said.

The mission first went to Syria in December, reaching a strength of 165 members, but the Arab League suspended it on January 28 because of worsening violence, although it did not wind it up. Six Gulf Arab states, Jordan and Morocco have pulled out their teams, but other members are still in Syria.

Elaraby told Reuters in an interview in Cairo on Monday that a new mission could be sent but under different terms and with more members.

“If we are going to send another mission, and we are contemplating that, it has to be stronger in numbers and in equipment. The mandate has to be different,” he said, adding it would need international not just Arab backing this time.

Arab foreign ministers have been planning to meet on Sunday to discuss the fate of the monitoring mission. It was not immediately clear whether the plan to revive the mission would go ahead anyway.

Ban said that “in the coming days we will further consult the (Security) Council before fleshing out details. We stand ready to assist in any way that will contribute towards improvement on the ground and to the overall situation.”

“No detailed discussions have taken place yet. We will have to discuss with the Arab League on detailed matters,” he said later in reply to questions.

Ban did not say what help the United Nations might give. U.N. diplomats and officials have spoken in the past of possible training of monitors.

Elaraby said this week any new monitoring mission would require Syria’s approval.

A Security Council diplomat said discussion of any U.N. involvement was at an early stage. “I think what we would want to see would be a mission that was really making a difference, not just standing by and watching people being killed,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified. AGENCIES

Imran says Pakistanis want change

TrendPK.com

DUBAI: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has said that the people of Pakistan have rejected two mainstream political parties in the country and that they now want change, reports TrendPK.

Talking exclusively to TrendPK TV here, cricketer-turned-politician maintained that whether or not PTI comes into power through the upcoming elections, the people in Pakistan will not allow both PPP and PML-N to occupy treasury benches once again. TrendPK

Arms seizure in Peshawar foils terror plot

TrendPK.com

PESHAWAR: Peshawar police claimed to have seized heavy cache of arms and ammunitions which, according to them, is a proven bid to foil a major terror plot in Punjab, reports TrendPK on Sunday.

Meanwhile, a suspect has also been arrested.

According to details, Chamkani police stopped a suspected vehicle during routine checking on Alqab Road, ending up recovering heavy amount of arms and ammunition hidden under the secret chambers of that vehicle.

Describing the amount of recovered arms, police sources said arms include six thousand bullets, several pistols and other ammunitions, being smuggled to Punjab to trigger terrorism at massive scale.

The vehicle has been taken under police custody while the suspect identified as Taj Gul has been taken under arrest, sources maintained. TrendPK

Dozens arrested at Occupy Oakland

 

Oakland police used tear gas and “flash” grenades Saturday to break up hundreds of Occupy protesters after some demonstrators started throwing rocks and flares at officers and tearing down fencing.

 

Three officers were hurt and 19 people were arrested, the Oakland Police Department said. No details on the officers  injuries were released.

 

The protest continued into Saturday evening. A four-block area near downtown was closed off with police in the street facing hundreds of protesters, while a second group of dozens of protesters headed toward City Hall. No additional clashes were reported.

 

“We re going to be out here as long as they are,” said protester Christopher Moreland, 23.

 

Police said the group started assembling at a downtown plaza Saturday morning, with demonstrators threatening to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center. The group then marched through the streets, disrupting traffic.

 

The crowd grew as the day wore on, with afternoon estimates ranging from about 1,000 to 2,000 people.

 

The protesters walked to the vacant convention center, where some started tearing down perimeter fencing and “destroying construction equipment” shortly before 3 p.m., police said.

 

Police said they issued a dispersal order and used smoke and tear gas after some protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks, burning flares and other objects.

 

Most of the arrests were made when protesters ignored orders to leave and assaulted officers, police said. By 4 p.m., the bulk of the crowd had left the convention center and headed back downtown.

 

The demonstration comes after Occupy protesters said earlier this week that they planned to move into a vacant building and turn it into a social center and political hub. They also threatened to try to shut down the port, occupy the airport and take over City Hall.

 

In a statement Friday, Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana said the city would not be “bullied by threats of violence or illegal activity.”

 

Interim police Chief Howard Jordan also warned that officers would arrest those carrying out illegal actions.

 

Oakland officials said Friday that since the Occupy Oakland encampment was first established in late October, police have arrested about 300 people.

 

The national Occupy Wall Street movement, which denounces corporate excess and economic inequality, began in New York City in the fall but has been largely dormant lately.

 

Oakland, New York and Los Angeles were among the cities with the largest and most vocal Occupy protests early on. The demonstrations ebbed after those cities used force to move out hundreds of demonstrators who had set up tent cities.

 

In Oakland, the police department received heavy criticism for using force to break up earlier protests. Among the critics was Mayor Jean Quan, who said she wasn t briefed on the department s plans. Earlier this month, a court-appointed monitor submitted a report to a federal judge that included “serious concerns” about the department s handling of the Occupy protests.

Palestinians urge Israel to free jailed lawmakers

JERUSALEM: The Palestinians urged Israel to free dozens of Palestinian lawmakers during a new round of exploratory talks held in Amman, a Palestinian official said on Sunday.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met on Saturday for a fourth round of discussions sponsored by Jordan and the peacemaking Quartet, which are intended to find a way to bring both sides back to direct negotiations.

But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meeting produced nothing new.

He said the Palestinians used it to demand the release of imprisoned Palestinian officials, including Palestinian parliamentary speaker Aziz Dweik, a Hamas member who was arrested by Israeli forces on Thursday.

“Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat gave a letter to the head of the Israeli delegation Yitzhak Molcho calling on the Israeli government to immediately release Dweik and more than 23 other Palestinian lawmakers,” the official said.

The Palestinian delegation accused Israel of arresting Dweik to strike “a blow to internal Palestinian reconciliation” between Hamas and the rival Fatah movement.

The letter handed over Saturday also called for the release of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghuti and Ahmed Saadat, the secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the official said.

A copy of the letter, which also sought the release of prisoners detained before the 1994 Oslo peace deal, had been sent to the members of the Quartet — the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor declined to comment on the meeting.

“Our Jordanian hosts asked us to promise total discretion on the content of the discussions before we started these meetings. We are, for our part, respecting that commitment,” he said.

The meeting on Saturday was the fourth time Erakat and Molcho have held talks on the resumption of negotiations under the auspices of the Quartet, discussions that do not appear to have yielded any agreement.

The Palestinians say Israel must halt settlement activity before they will engage in direct talks, but Israel says it wants talks without preconditions.

The Quartet said on October 26 it would seek comprehensive proposals on “territory and security” from both sides within three months, and the Palestinians say they submitted their documents before the January 26 deadline.

They have warned that without an Israeli settlement freeze by January 26, they will not continue the exploratory talks.

But Israel says it considers the three-month period to have started with the beginning of the exploratory talks on January 3, putting the deadline at April 3. AGENCIES

Yemen’s Saleh comes out of surgery, future unclear

SANAA: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was recovering from an operation in Saudi Arabia to remove shrapnel from his chest while a truce between his troops and a tribal federation appeared to be holding.

Protesters, interpreting Saleh’s absence as a sign that his grip on power was weakening, celebrated on the streets of Sanaa where they have been staging anti-government demonstrations since January.

“Who is next?,” asked one banner held up by a protesters in a sea of red, white and black Yemeni flags, referring to the wave of uprisings in Arab world that has seen the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt toppled and inspired uprisings elsewhere.

Saleh was wounded on Friday when a rocket was fired into his presidential palace in Sanaa, killing seven others and injuring his closest advisers. He is being treated in a Riyadh hospital.

He left as acting president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the vice president who is seen by many as having little power. Leaving Yemen at a time of such instability, even for medical care, could make it hard for Saleh to retain power.

Early on Monday, a truce between troops loyal to Saleh and the Ahmar group, leader of Yemen’s Hashed tribal federation, appeared to be holding, offering some respite after two weeks of fighting in the capital in which more than 200 people have been killed.

Key in the coming days will be any news of Saleh’s condition and any signals from Saudi Arabia on whether he will be able to return to Yemen – or whether Riyadh will apply pressure on Saleh to step down.

Saleh, a political survivor who has ruled the impoverished country at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula for nearly 33 years, had so far managed to remain despite the defection of his top generals and ambassadors.

Saleh has exasperated his former U.S. and Saudi allies, who once saw him as a key partner in efforts to combat Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, by repeatedly reneging on a Gulf-brokered deal for him to quit in return for immunity.

“The kingdom (Saudi Arabia) will convince Saleh to agree to the Gulf-brokered exit so that the situation can be resolved peacefully and without bloodshed,” said Saudi analyst Abdulaziz Kasem.

Saleh’s fall could also give renewed impetus to protest movements around the region.

“The departure of Saleh is a turning point not just for the Yemeni revolution but also is a huge push for the current changes in the Arab region and is the start of the real victory,” said Zaki Bani Rusheid, a leading figure in Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Egyptian political scientist Hassan Nafaa agreed: “The ‘Arab Spring’ will continue, Arab people are in a state of total rejection of their current ruling systems.”

US puts on alert its citizens in Palestine

JERUSALEM: The U.S. consulate in Jerusalem restricted personal travel for staff members in some areas of the West Bank on Saturday, a day after the Obama administration vetoed a U.N. resolution that would have condemned Israel.

At the same time, Palestinians demonstrated against the U.S. for vetoing the Arab-backed Security Council resolution. Its sponsors sought to condemn Israel for continuing to build Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank.

A U.S. consular official said the travel restrictions were a precaution to avoid attacks against staffers, and that there had been no violence so far. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of consular rules.

The U.S. consular ban prohibits staff from personal travel to the town of Jericho, the use of some West Bank roads and using a border crossing to Jordan frequented by Palestinians for the next three days.

Palestinians — with backing from much of the international community — say Jewish settlements prevent the emergence of a viable state by cutting up the West Bank, one of the chief territories they seek for their future country.

“Oh Obama, hateful one, settlements will not last,” chanted hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus.

In the nearby town of Tulkarem, a few hundred demonstrators marched to the nearby Israeli separation barrier and hurled rocks at Israeli soldiers in olive-green uniforms.

Soldiers grabbed one boy and tried to take him away, but were thwarted by a woman who ran toward them while clutching her handbag. She wrestled with the soldiers and took back the crying child.

More demonstrations are planned for Sunday, Palestinians said.

The militant Islamic group Hamas, which rules Gaza, also condemned the veto. One official described it as “immoral behavior.”

Israel thanked the U.S. for issuing the veto. In a statement, the prime minister’s office said the decision shows that peace “will come through direct negotiations and not through the decisions of international bodies.” AGENCIES

Thousands protest in Yemen against Saleh’s rule

Thousands of opposition supporters took to streets in the Yemeni capital on Thursday against Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule.

The protest, the biggest staged against Saleh in past weeks, came despite the president announcing yesterday that he would not seek another term and that he had postponed controversial April elections – two key opposition demands.

The Tunisian and Egyptian upheavals have fueled people’s demands for political change across the Arab world. There have been calls for anti-government protests Thursday in Sudan, Friday in Jordan and Saturday in Syria.

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