Arab Spring

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Gutted al-Qaeda Incapable of Another 9/11: Experts

Core 'essentially gone,' but spinoff groups a concern

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda today is mostly a spent force, unable to carry out another 9/11-style attack, said US intelligence officials yesterday, reports Reuters . The mostly anonymous assessment—in a conference call led by Robert Cardillo, deputy director of US national intelligence—came one year after the killing of Osama bin Laden , with...

Obama: Use Tech to Abuse Rebels, We'll Sanction You

Executive order fingers entities backing Iran, Syria, but could be enlarged

(Newser) - If you use technology to help a repressive regime commit human rights abuses, you'll find yourself slapped with US sanctions. That's the message from President Obama, who this morning announced a new executive order specifically targeting those backing Iran and Syria via technology, though it could be expanded...

Syrian Ceasefire Blows Up
 Syrian Ceasefire Blows Up 
Apr 18, 2012 7:02 AM CDT

Syrian Ceasefire Blows Up

Regime uses helicopters and tanks, but says it's responding to opposition

(Newser) - Syria's tattered ceasefire appears to have basically collapsed, with activists accusing the regime of rampant and brazen violations yesterday, including sending helicopters to fire on rebels holed up in mountain villages, and shelling at least two cities, the New York Times reports. They reported death tolls as high as...

1 Dead as Syria Protests Test Ceasefire

Opposition doubts government restraint, though truce seems to largely hold

(Newser) - Syria's fragile ceasefire seems to be largely holding, as renewed protests today put it to its first real test. But one Hama protester was shot dead by security forces as thousands of protesters again took to the streets, reports the BBC, while the New York Times notes that clashes...

Syrians Actually Cease Fire
 Syrians Actually Cease Fire 
Apr 12, 2012 8:52 AM CDT

Syrians Actually Cease Fire

But opposition complains that Assad still hasn't withdrawn troops

(Newser) - Against all odds, both sides appear to be more or less honoring this morning's ceasefire deadline in Syria. Though the night saw heavy fighting, in most places the gunfire stopped by dawn. "Everywhere is quiet," a Syrian Observatory for Human Rights official tells the Washington Post. "...

UN: Syria Ceasefire in Place by April 12

Syrian troops have reportedly started withdrawing

(Newser) - Fierce clashes continue to erupt in Syria, even as the UN's deadline for a ceasefire looms a week from today. Kofi Annan's peace plan requires Syrian troops to withdraw from towns and cities by April 10 , and the UN expects both sides to stop fighting within two days...

Kofi Annan: Syria OKs Peace Deal

Tells Chinese that Assad has agreed to 6-point UN plan

(Newser) - Syria has agreed to a six-point peace deal that will implement a cease-fire in the bloody conflict that has claimed an estimated 8,000 lives in the past year, UN envoy Kofi Annan said today. In Beijing today, Annan told reporters that "I had received a response from the...

Medvedev: Annan Syria's 'Last Chance'

Russia backs UN envoy as only way to avoid war

(Newser) - Russian President Dmitri Medvedev today got definitively behind Kofi Annan's mission to end the yearlong violence in Syria, reports Reuters , calling it the " last chance for Syria to avoid a long-lasting and bloody civil war." Medvedev met with Annan, the UN envoy to Syria today in Moscow,...

Car Bomb Rocks Syria; Casualties Reported

Blast hits northern city of Aleppo ahead of uprising's 1-year mark

(Newser) - Syria's state news agency says a car bomb has gone off between two residential buildings in the northern city of Aleppo. The report today by SANA gave no information on casualties or damage, but called it a "terrorist bombing." Opposition sources tell the BBC that there were...

Russia: We Won't Stop Arming Assad

Assad's forces capture Free Syrian Army stronghold of Idlib

(Newser) - Russia has rejected calls to stop arming and training Bashar al-Assad's regime, despite evidence that its weapons are being used against civilians. "Russia enjoys good and strong military technical co-operation with Syria, and we see no reason today to reconsider it," Russia's deputy defense minister said...

Syria Studding Refugee Routes With Mines

Human Rights Watch cites eyewitness near Turkey, Lebanon

(Newser) - Earlier reports accused Syria of planting landmines along its Lebanese border, and according to witnesses, the practice shows no sign of waning. Mines are being placed along the routes refugees typically use to flee into neighboring Lebanon and Turkey, Human Rights Watch said today, citing eyewitness reports. One former...

Intervening in Syria Riskier Than Libya: US Officials

Military intervention would likely require long, dangerous mission

(Newser) - Using the US military to intervene in Syria would be much more complicated and dangerous than the military intervention in Libya was, senior Pentagon officials say. President Obama asked the Pentagon for preliminary military options following increasing pressure from Republicans including John McCain , the New York Times notes. However, the...

Kofi Annan 'Optimistic' After Meeting Syria's Assad

But no peace deal yet

(Newser) - Kofi Annan left a second round of talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad today without a deal to stop the bloodshed, but "optimistic for several reasons," the UN-Arab League envoy tells al-Jazeera . "It's going to be tough. It's going to be difficult but we have...

Syria's Deputy Oil Minister Defects, Joins Rebels

Abdo Hussameddin slams 'barbaric' Assad regime

(Newser) - A top Syrian official has decided to abandon Bashar al-Assad's "criminal regime" and join the uprising. Deputy oil minister Abdo Hussameddin is the highest-ranking civilian to defect since the rebellion began a year ago, reports the BBC . "I am joining the revolution of the people who reject...

UN Humanitarian Chief Tours Homs

As Syrian regime tries to scrub shattered city

(Newser) - UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos arrived in Damascus to begin her tour of Syria today, and is now touring the flashpoints of Homs and Baba Amr, the BBC reports. The Assad regime was moving desperately to clean up evidence of the recent shelling assault on the city ahead of her...

Sam LaHood Talks &#39;de Facto Detention&#39; in Egypt
Sam LaHood Talks
'de Facto Detention' in Egypt
cnn interview
Mar 6, 2012 11:23 AM CST

Sam LaHood Talks 'de Facto Detention' in Egypt

Gives first TV interview since returning to US

(Newser) - Sam LaHood today discussed his "de facto detention" in Egypt, in his first TV interview since returning to the US Thursday, Politico reports. LaHood, who had been barred from leaving Egypt along with 42 other NGO employees, says their attorney compared the circumstances "to a hostage situation."...

Eastern Libya Declares Itself Semi-Autonomous

Oil-rich region makes move against NTC's wishes

(Newser) - Thousands of civic leaders gathered in Benghazi today to declare that Eastern Libya would become a semi-autonomous region known as Cyrenaica—a move strenuously opposed by Libya's official interim government, the National Transitional Council. The conference elected Ahmed al-Zubair, an NTC member and the longest-serving political prisoner under Moammar...

Syria Launches Ground Assault to 'Clean' Baba Amr

Western journalists trapped inside city

(Newser) - Syrian ground troops advanced on Homs today, indicating that the regime was about to launch a ground assault to take the restive city. One Syrian official told the AP that the rebel-held Baba Amr neighborhood would be "cleaned" in a matter of hours. Three western journalists are still trapped...

Syria: 89% Approved New Constitution

West not convinced, though much of opposition may have boycotted

(Newser) - Syria's new constitution was backed by more than 89% of voters, the nation's Interior Ministry announced today, even as violence continues to rage across the country and the West decries the referendum as a sham . The Interior Ministry claims that more than 57% of Syria's 14 million...

West Backed Arab Spring for Corporate Gain: Putin

Warns against attacking Iran, intervening in Syria

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin is talking tough on foreign policy ahead of next Sunday's election. The Russian president has warned Western nations against attacking Iran or intervening militarily in Syria, the AP reports. The growing threat of an attack on Iran over its nuclear program "alarms Russia," Putin writes...

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