Russia sends navy squadron to Mediterranean

December 18, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian navy squadron has set off for the Mediterranean amid official talk about a possible evacuation of Russians from Syria.

The Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the ships will rotate with those that have been in the area since November. Russian diplomats said last week that Moscow is preparing plans to evacuate thousands of Russians from Syria if necessary. The ministry did not say whether the navy ships are intended for an evacuation.

The Interfax news agency, citing unidentified naval sources, reported that the navy command wants the ships to be on hand for the task if needed. It said the mission's duration will depend on the situation in Syria.

Last week, a senior Russian diplomat said for the first time that Syrian President Bashar Assad is losing control and the rebels might win the civil war, a statement that appeared to signal that Moscow has started positioning itself for an endgame in Syria. But the Foreign Ministry disavowed Mikhail Bogdanov's statement the next day, saying his words were misinterpreted and that Moscow's position on the crisis hasn't shifted.

Russia's base in the Syrian port of Tartus is its only naval outpost outside the former Soviet Union. Moscow has been Assad's main ally, shielding him from international sanctions over a brutal crackdown on an uprising that began in March 2011 and turned into the civil war, killing more than 40,000 people.

The squadron of five ships that sailed from the Baltic Sea base of Baltiysk includes a destroyer, a tugboat, a tanker and two large amphibious vessels that could evacuate hundreds of people. Another group of three navy ships departed Tuesday from Severomorsk, the main base of Russia's Northern Fleet on the Kola Peninsula. While their official mission is anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden, the ships will sail past the Syrian shores and may linger there if need be.

Earlier this year, Russia sent several ships to Tartus on a mission to evacuate its personnel and equipment, but authorities decided then that the situation in Syria didn't require such a move yet. The latest naval deployment comes as the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that two Russians were kidnapped alongside an Italian in Syria and that their captors have asked for a ransom for their release. The three, who worked at a Syrian steel plant, were kidnapped late Monday on the road between Tartus and Homs.

The ministry identified those kidnapped as V. V. Gorelov, Abdesattar Hassun and Mario Belluomo and said the kidnappers have contacted the Hmisho steel plant by telephone and demanded a ransom for their release. It did not specify the amount.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, said "all necessary steps are being taken in Syria and other countries that may influence the situation," according to Interfax. The kidnapping of foreigners has been rare, but as Syria descends further into chaos the abduction of Syrians has become increasingly common across many parts of the country.

Most of those kidnappings appear to have sectarian motives, part of tit-for-tat attacks between rebels and pro-regime gunmen. But there have been many cases of gunmen capturing wealthy people for ransom or settling personal scores.

Jim Heintz contributed to this report.

After landslide, Abe says Japan has difficult road

December 17, 2012

TOKYO (AP) — After leading his conservative party to a landslide victory that will bring it back to power after a three-year hiatus, Shinzo Abe stressed Monday that the road ahead will not be easy as he tries to revive Japan's sputtering economy and bolster its national security amid deteriorating relations with China.

The Liberal Democratic Party, which led Japan for most of the post-World War II era until it was dumped in 2009, won 294 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament in Sunday's nationwide elections, the party said.

With the elections over, a vote among the members of parliament to install the new prime minister is expected on Dec. 26. Abe, who was prime minister for a year in 2006-2007, is almost certain of winning that vote because the LDP now holds the majority in the lower house.

Abe, who would be Japan's seventh prime minister in 6 1/2 years, will likely push for increased public works spending and lobby for stronger moves by the central bank to break Japan out of its deflationary trap.

Stock prices soared Monday to their highest level since April, reflecting hopes in the business world that the LDP will be more effective in its economic policies than the outgoing Democrats were. Abe told a packed news conference Monday that Japan is facing a series of crises — from the weak economy to security issues to reconstruction after the tsunami disaster.

"Our mission is to overcome these crises," he said. He said his party's victory was less a vote of confidence from voters and more a repudiation of the "mistaken leadership" of the Democrats. "The public will be scrutinizing us."

He said he would like to meet with President Barack Obama in late January or early February to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance. Chinese bloggers, meanwhile, reacted with scorn to the LDP's victory, with many concentrating their fire on Abe, a China hawk. Chinese micro-blog sites Monday were full of anti-Abe comments, with some calling for a boycott of Japanese goods.

The countries are embroiled in a territorial dispute over a cluster of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan. During the two-week campaign leading up to the election, Abe took a rather tough line toward China, promising to defend Japan's "territory and beautiful ocean."

On Monday, Abe called for improved ties with Beijing while stressing the islands are an integral part of Japan's territory and that there was "no room for talks" over their sovereignty. "As with many cases, issues arise with countries that share borders, and what is important is how each nation keeps these issues under control. I feel we need wisdom so that the political issues or problems do not extend to economic problems," he said.

"Although we are not in a situation where I can immediately visit China or have bilateral talks, first and foremost, we will persistently continue with our dialogue with China and hope to improve relations between the two countries," he said.

Outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced his resignation as party chief late Sunday, calling the election results "severe" and acknowledging his party failed to live up to the nation's high expectations.

His Democratic Party of Japan said it won only 57 seats. Among its casualties were eight Cabinet ministers — the most to lose in an election since World War II. Although the election was the first since the March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters, atomic energy — which the LDP conditionally supports — ended up being a side issue, though polls showed that about 80 percent of Japanese want to phase it out completely.

The LDP will stick with its longtime partner New Komeito, backed by a large Buddhist organization, to form a coalition government, party officials said. Together, they now control 325 seats, securing a two-thirds majority that would make it easier for the government to pass legislation.

A dizzying array of more than 12 parties, including several news ones, contested in the election, some with vague policy goals. The most significant new force is the right-leaning, populist Japan Restoration Party, which won 54 seats.

The party is led by the bombastic nationalist former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara and lawyer-turned Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto — polarizing figures with forceful leadership styles. Ishihara is another hawk on China, having stirred up the latest dispute with Beijing by proposing Tokyo buy the islands from their private Japanese owners and develop them.

The anti-nuclear Tomorrow Party — formed just three weeks ago — captured only nine seats. Party head Yukiko Kada said she was very disappointed to see the LDP, the original promoter of Japan's nuclear energy policy, make such a big comeback.

Russian opposition fights to stay relevant

December 16, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — Speaking to more than 100,000 protesters who thronged a Moscow street last December, charismatic anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny said Russia's opposition had mustered "enough people to take the Kremlin."

A year on, the movement that shocked Vladimir Putin's regime and galvanized huge numbers of ordinary Russians is at an impasse. After a weekend rally to mark its first anniversary only attracted a few thousand protesters, opposition leaders met to figure out where they go from here.

"We are seeing a certain weariness. People had hoped for a quick result," prominent opposition figure Ilya Yashin said during Sunday's meeting. "But it's not a sprint, it's a marathon." Since Putin easily won a third presidential term in March, the opposition has struggled to maintain any momentum or direction. Attendance at rallies has consistently ebbed.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, has gone on the offensive, pushing through repressive new laws aimed at severely restricting opposition activity. Opposition leaders and ordinary activists alike face criminal charges that could see them spend 10 years in prison.

The euphoria of last winter's irreverent and mostly middle-class protest movement has been replaced with a lingering sense of powerlessness and despair. Two thirds of Russians are "disenchanted" with Putin's government, according to an October study by the Center for Strategic Research, a Kremlin-connected think tank, suggesting discontent goes far beyond supporters of the opposition.

Ratings for hagiographical TV specials detailing Putin's daily life and public relations stunts have plummeted by two thirds, said Anton Krasovsky, a TV producer and political consultant. "People are tired of the same old agenda," he said. "The country needs new heroes."

The opposition, however, has struggled to convert that discontent into support. Refusing to try to challenge Putin directly in the presidential election or develop a political program, conscious decisions intended to widen the opposition's appeal, now looks like a tactical mistake.

A poll released by the independent Levada Center last week found that 58 percent of Russians thought the protest movement had failed to change the situation in the country for the better. None of its leaders had an approval rating higher than 3 percent.

"If you want to win support from the broadest sectors of society possible, you have to show that you're an acceptable alternative, that you can be trusted behind the wheel," Vladimir Milov, a former deputy energy minister now in opposition, wrote in a column on the Russian news site Gazeta.ru. "But since you spent time on nonsense instead of taking the fight to him, that's why Putin's the president."

Putin has belittled the opposition, saying it lacks leaders and "always demands the impossible and then never does anything." As if in response to Putin's jibe, the opposition has begun rethinking its approach from the ground up. Its Coordination Council, which met Sunday, agreed to campaign for jailed activists and nominate candidates for local elections next year. The small-scale approach is partly one of necessity: The council spends the vast majority of its time arguing over arcane bureaucratic details and has struggled to agree over whether to call outright for Putin's resignation.

Kremlin officials, once visibly disturbed by the sudden emergence of the protest movement, now confidently point to the opposition's organizational struggles as proof of their strength. At 60, however, Putin looks more vulnerable than ever before. Once eager to show off his physical prowess in elaborate public relations stunts, Putin is now fending off rumors about his health. Since early September he has restricted his travels and often visibly struggled to walk, which his spokesman ascribed to an "old sports injury."

Putin also is under pressure to fulfill the pledges he made during the election campaign, lavish spending plans that his own Finance Ministry has warned may be unsustainable. Should the oil price fall significantly, Putin may be required to take measures that would hit his working-class base, such as raising the retirement age, now at 60 for men and 55 for women.

Some opposition figures have attempted to capitalize on tension within the political and business elite by making overtures to its more progressively minded figures. Navalny, the anti-corruption activist, and his allies pushed on Sunday for former Kremlin staffer Dmitry Nekrasov to chair the Coordination Council, even though he had not been elected to it and stops short of calling himself a member of the movement.

Nekrasov's employer, former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who remains close to Putin, released a statement through his think tank earlier this month calling on the Kremlin to end the crackdown on the opposition and involve them in a dialogue aimed at liberalizing the country.

For now, the opposition's task is to remain relevant when the time for change comes.

Unauthorized anti-Putin rally draws thousands

December 15, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — Thousands of opposition supporters gathered Saturday outside the old KGB headquarters in central Moscow to mark a year of mass protests against Vladimir Putin and his government.

The turnout was far smaller than the tens of thousands who filled Moscow streets in protests that erupted after fraud-plagued parliamentary elections last December. But unlike most of those protests, Saturday's gathering was not authorized and those who came risked arrest and heavy fines.

Soon after Putin returned to the presidency in May, Russia passed a law raising the fine for participating in unauthorized rallies to the equivalent of $9,000, nearly the average annual salary. Even if the protest had been authorized, the opposition would have struggled to draw a crowd. Enthusiasm for street demonstrations has waned, in part because of disillusionment with the opposition leaders, while polls show that discontent with Putin's government has continued to rise.

Police dispersed the rally after 2 ½ hours. Several prominent opposition figures were among dozens detained in the course of the gathering, but all were released within hours. There was a heavy police presence around the approximately 3,000 people who came to Lubyanka Square for the rally. The square is outside the headquarters of the Federal Security Service, the main successor agency of the Soviet KGB.

The square also holds the Solovetsky Stone, a monument to the victims of political repression during the Soviet era. The stone comes from the Solovestky archipelago, the site of early prison camps considered the beginning of the Gulag system.

Many rally participants laid flowers at the stone, among them Boris Nemtsov, a veteran Russian politician now in the opposition. "The people who have come here are free, honest and decent people," Nemtsov said "I'm very proud of our people, of Muscovites, of Russians. They (the government) wanted to scare us, there's a helicopter flying over us and they've surrounded us with policemen. They think that we're slaves, but we're not. We're free people, and thank God for that."

About 90 minutes into the rally, police arrested about a dozen people who were walking around the monument chanting "Free political prisoners." Earlier, police detained protest leaders Sergei Udaltsov and Alexei Navalny, along with other prominent opposition figures including Ilya Yashin and Ksenia Sobchak, a glamorous TV personality.

"They fear their citizens, they fear their people. But you can't forbid the people (from coming)," Udaltsov said shortly before he was bundled into a police van. One person who braved frigid temperatures of minus 15 Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) and the threat of huge fines to come to Saturday's gathering was 67-year-old Andrei Lyakhov, a retired physicist.

"At a minimum, the government will understand that there is some kind of opposition," he said about why he came. Lyakhov noted that the protest mood of the past year had put pressure on nominal opposition parties in Russia's parliament to criticize the dominant Kremlin party, producing some of the most contentious debates in years. "This pressure on the government, even if we don't succeed in changing the government, this pressure will force it to do something," he said.

The goal, Lyakhov said, is a real democracy that allows a change of leadership. Putin, whose term runs through 2018, has already been in power for nearly 13 years.

Jim Heintz, Max Seddon and Laura Mills contributed to this story.

Russian investigators accuse Navalny of fraud

December 14, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian investigators on Friday accused a prominent opposition leader of fraud and money-laundering, intensifying legal pressure on the anti-Kremlin protest movement as it prepares to hold its next big demonstration this weekend.

Investigators said they suspect Alexei Navalny and his brother Oleg of defrauding a transportation company of 55 million rubles ($1.8 million) by overcharging it for postal services. Navalny wrote on Twitter that the accusations were "utter nonsense" and suggested they were aimed at targeting his family in reprisal for his efforts to mobilize opposition to President Vladimir Putin.

A 36-year-old charismatic lawyer, Navalny first made his name exposing corruption in state-controlled companies. He then spearheaded a series of street rallies in Moscow that drew up to 100,000 people before last March's vote that handed Putin a third presidential term.

Navalny's personal assistant, lawyer and brother all told Russian media they had learned of the charges through news reports and were unaware of any summons for questioning. Brother Oleg Navalny's office was searched on Friday and so were the premises of the firm owned by Navalny's parents.

Navalny was charged in July with stealing 16 million rubles (about $500,000) in assets from a state timber company, threatening him with a 10-year prison sentence. Navalny has called the timber charges "absurd" and "shameless."

The Russian opposition is gearing up for another major demonstration on Saturday, marking roughly a year since the mass anti-Putin protests began. The Moscow city government has refused to authorize the opposition rally, so it is likely to be dispersed by police.

Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, on Friday accused authorities of putting pressure on her son. She told the Ekho Moskvy radio station that the investigators' announcement aimed to "blackmail my son through his family, to keep him away from that march, to make him stop his political activities."

She said the entire family stands by Navalny and his work. Investigators have accused several other opposition figures of crimes in the buildup to the protest. State-linked media released transcripts and audio recordings Thursday that the federal Investigative Committee said proved protest leaders, including prominent left-wing activist Sergei Udaltsov, had followed the orders of Georgian officials intent on overthrowing the Russian government.

Protesters slam Turkish coup plot trial

December 13, 2012

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish police on Thursday used pepper spray and water cannons to push back hundreds of protesters trying to enter a courthouse where prosecutors were to deliver final arguments in a trial against nearly 300 people accused of plotting to overthrow the government, Turkish media reported.

Inside the courthouse, a panel of judges was forced to interrupt the trial three times over objections by defense lawyers and spectators shouting slogans in support of the defendants, who include prominent journalists, politicians, academics and retired generals, the state-run Anadolu agency and other media said.

The defendants are accused of plotting a series of attacks in a bid to foment chaos and provoke a military coup to bring down Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government, in a manner similar to past coups in Turkey that ousted civilian governments.

They are charged with belonging to an ultranationalist gang, Ergenekon, which takes its name from a legendary valley in Central Asia, believed to be the ancestral homeland of the Turks. Prosecutors say the Ergenekon gang was behind attacks on a newspaper and a courthouse, and plots to kill the prime minister and author Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's Nobel laureate. The defendants have rejected the accusations.

The trial, now in its fourth year, grew out of an investigation into the seizure of hand grenades at the home of a noncommissioned officer in Istanbul in 2007. Opponents maintain the accused are victims of a government attempt to muzzle critics and undermine Turkey's secular legacy and say the trial is based on flimsy or fabricated evidence.

The government insists the trial is a step toward democratic reform. Thousands of people travelled to the courthouse on the outskirts of Istanbul to show solidarity with the suspects, which includes the former Turkish military chief of staff, Ilker Basbug.

"People are being held (in prison) on false evidence," Muharrem Ince, a legislator from Turkey's main opposition party said in an address to protesters outside the court. "This is not a trial, it is (a government) revenge over the (secular) Republic."

In September, more than 300 military officers, including the former air force and navy chiefs, were convicted of separate plots to bring down the government in 2003. Their case is being appealed.

Turkey Patriot defenses to be ready next month

December 13, 2012

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Patriot air defense missiles being deployed to protect Turkey from spillover from Syria's civil war will become operational at the end of January, officials said Thursday. In addition, NATO will send Turkey special aircraft that can detect missile launches from Syria.

A number of Syrian shells have landed in Turkish territory since the conflict in the Arab state began in March 2011. Turkey has condemned the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad, supported Syrian rebels, and provided shelter to Syrian refugees, and Ankara is particularly worried that Assad may get desperate enough to use chemical weapons.

NATO foreign ministers endorsed Turkey's request for the Patriots on Nov. 30. The Netherlands, Germany and the United States are the only NATO members that have the advanced PAC-3 model Patriots that Turkey needs to intercept ballistic missiles.

Germany and the Netherlands will each provide two batteries of the U.S.-built air defense systems. The U.S. would likely fill any gaps, possibly by sending some from its stocks in Europe. Up to 400 German and 360 Dutch troops will man the batteries, likely from somewhere well inland in Turkey.

In Berlin, German Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Link told lawmakers that current plans call for the missile sites to be stationed at Kahramanmaras, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Turkey's border with Syria.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Thursday that the three nations are working closely with Turkey "to ensure that the Patriots are deployed as soon as possible." "We expect them to be operational by the end of January," Rutte said at a joint press conference after meeting NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the alliance's headquarters. "The location will be decided with our allies, and several matters need to be sorted out before the Patriots can be deployed."

Due to the complexity and size of the Patriot batteries — including their radars, command-and-control centers, communications and support facilities — they cannot be flown quickly by air to Turkey and will have to travel by sea, officials said.

Syria is reported to have an array of artillery rockets, as well as short-range missiles — some capable of carrying chemical warheads. These include Soviet-built SS-21 Scarabs and Scud-B missiles, which were originally designed to deliver nuclear warheads. Both have inertial guidance systems that have proven fairly accurate.

NATO also will deploy its Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, or AWACS, to Turkey, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because alliance rules do not allow him to speak on the record.

The aircraft, which can detect launches of ground-to-ground missiles, are scheduled to participate this month in a training exercise in Turkey, the official said. The planes will exercise command and control procedures as well as test the connectivity of various NATO and Turkish communications and data sharing systems.

Turkey has been a NATO member since the early 1950s. Its air defenses consist mostly of short-range Rapier and Stinger systems, and U.S.-made Hawk low- altitude missiles. Ankara has been looking to acquire a new high-altitude defense system to replace its Cold War-era Nike-Hercules batteries.

Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

US, Syria opposition disagree over terrorist label

December 12, 2012

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — The U.S. and the head of the new Syrian opposition coalition being feted at a conference in Morocco Wednesday publicly disagreed over designating a rebel group as terrorist, highlighting a key dilemma in overthrowing President Bashar Assad's regime.

Even as the U.S., Europe and its allies recognized the new opposition of the sole legitimate representatives of the Syrian people to succeed the Assad regime, they have to deal with the fact that some of the greatest battlefield successes are by extremist groups the West does not want to see running the country one day.

The Obama administration designated Jabhat al-Nusra a terrorist organization Monday, a day before he recognized the newly formed Syrian National Coalition as the legitimate representatives of the Syrian people.

The Syrian opposition has been under international pressure for months to form a more representative and organized coalition that could receive international assistance in the battle against Assad. The organization they formed in Doha last November was then formally recognized by 114 countries at the fourth Friends of Syria conference held in Marrakech.

Deputy Secretary of State for the Middle East William Burns described the new coalition as the future for Syria that the U.S. wants — democratic, pluralist, inclusive and unified. "The step that we took with regard to the designation of the al-Nusra Front raises an alarm about a very different kind of future for Syria, about a direction that a group like al-Nusra will try to take in Syria to impose its will and threaten the social fabric," he said, describing the group as a successor to al-Qaida in Iraq.

But the president of that coalition, Mouaz al-Khatib, who Burns invited to Washington at the conference, disagreed publicly with blacklisting one of the most successful fighting groups in the war against Assad.

"I say in all transparency that labeling one of the factions fighting the regime as a terrorist organization should be reconsidered," he said in his speech at the conference's opening. "We love our country very much, though we may not agree with all factions."

Jabhat al-Nusra has recently conquered a number of bases from the regime in the north and has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly effective bombings that have hit sensitive government institutions, like a blast near the Interior Ministry on Wednesday that took four lives.

According to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, several ministers from the Arab states also disagreed with the U.S. move. In his speech, Khatib did condemn "all forms of extremism" and pledged to protect the countries many religious and sectarian minorities, including the Alawites, a Shiite offshoot from which the Assad family hails. He urged them to join the resistance against the regime.

"We call on them to accept our extended hand and work together against the violence of the regime," he said. Violence in the 21-month civil war that has claimed 40,000 lives has taken on a sectarian tone in some cases, with the majority Sunnis arrayed against Alawites and other minorities remaining loyal to the regime — a stance encouraged by the Islamic militants among the rebels who consider Shiites heretic.

The conference did succeed in gaining international legitimacy for the new opposition coalition and has further isolated the Assad regime, making it, in the words of British Foreign Secretary William Hague, "the most significant" of all the conferences held to support the Syrian people in the past year.

Saudi Arabia pledged $100 million in humanitarian aid, with the U.S. following up with another $14 million in emergency medical care and winter supplies, including medicine, blankets and insulation. The world's recognition of the Libyan opposition gave it a huge boost in the battle against Moammar Gadhafi last year and paved the way for Western airstrikes. Military intervention does not appear to be an immediate option for Syria, however, where the government has the powerful backing of Russia, China and Iran — though the conference pledged a swift international response if Assad unleashes his chemical weapons stocks against his own people.

According to Jon Wilks, the British special representative to the rebels, the purpose of the conference was not so much about military intervention or even collecting donations, but making sure the new opposition was building institutions that would let them channel the aid and administer the increasing amounts of territory under its control.

"The key point is they are setting up institutions and money is coming, it's a better situation than three months ago, they are happy, we are happy," he said, adding that farther down the road for the Cairo-based group would be a provisional government.

Suheir Atassi, one of the vice presidents of the opposition, said in her speech that these structures for delivering aid, free of religious or political affiliations, were now in place across liberated areas, so the most needy during Syria's cold winters get needed supplies.

The international recognition could also eventually pave the way for other sorts of aid, hinted Fabius, the French minister. "The fact that the coalition, which asks for the right to defend itself, now is being recognized by (many) countries ... I think it is an important point," he said, expressing confidence that "2013 will be the year of the democratic and united Syria."

Despite the civil war grinding away in Syria, many of the delegates expressed confidence it would just be a matter of time before Assad's regime fell and there was a need to start planning for an aftermath.

To that end, the conference pledged to set up a post-war reconstruction fund for the country to be administered by Germany and the United Arab Emirates. "With the fighting in Damascus, I believe we are coming close to the end, and there is a shift in the balance of power in Syria," Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem said at the closing news conference. "We are coming to the point of talking about the post-Assad era."

According to a representative from Human Rights Watch, there is a strong chance the current human rights violations will pale in comparison to those when the regime falls, which might involve reprisals against former government supporters and wholesale sectarian massacres on the order of Iraq — especially if groups like the now blacklisted Jabhat al-Nusra remain powerful.

The new Syrian opposition has to take into account how they are going to manage justice in the "new Iraq," cautioned Tamara al-Rifai of the rights group. "We are calling on the Syrian delegation to include transitional justice in any political plan they are doing and calling on the international community to help support that," she said.

Afghan president welcomes British pullout timeline

December 20, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan president on Thursday welcomed the withdrawal of nearly half of the British troops from Afghanistan next year, saying his forces were ready to take on defense of the country.

A statement from Hamid Karzai's office said the partial pull-out was an "appropriate" move as NATO forces hand over the war against the Taliban to the Afghan military. British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Wednesday that about 3,800 British troops would be withdrawn by the end of 2013, leaving some 5,000 into 2014. The majority of NATO forces, including those of the United States, will depart by the end of 2014.

"The Afghan security forces are ready to implement the defense and security of the country. It is an appropriate act in the transition of security to Afghan forces," Karzai's statement said. Cameron told lawmakers in London that the decision reflects confidence in the Afghan military. It also reflects mounting political pressure and periodic public protests in Britain to end its military role in Afghanistan, to which Britain sent the second largest NATO force after the United States and sustained the second highest number of casualties.

Afghanistan's army and police have grown substantially with the help of international allies and now number 350,000. But desertion rates, illiteracy and tensions among ethnic groups within the ranks remain high and analysts say the Afghan military still lacks the know-how to mount major, multi-unit operations.

NATO officials regularly praise operations as "Afghan-led," even when Afghan forces play a minimal role, making it difficult to determine their full capability to take over. Also, a surge in insider attacks by Afghan soldiers and police against their own colleagues and their international allies has raised further questions about their readiness.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who visited the country last week, said U.S. commanders in Afghanistan believe NATO has "turned the tide" after 11 years of war. But skepticism remains whether the Afghan military can hold back a still powerful and resilient insurgency after 2014.

The U.S. has some 66,000 troops in the country with the number to be pulled out next year and the size of a residual force past 2014 currently under review in Washington. Cameron said some British troops would stay on after 2014 to return equipment and deal with logistics.

"We've said very clearly: no one in a combat role, nothing like the number of troops there are now," Cameron said. "We've promised the Afghans that we will provide this officer training academy that they've specifically asked for. We are prepared to look at other issues above and beyond that, but that is the starting baseline."

The withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan will start next April, according to Defense Secretary Philip Hammond. Cameron said Britain would continue to support Afghanistan by contributing about 70 million pounds (US $114,000) a year to help pay for Afghan security forces. Another 70 million pounds a year are spread through other aid programs.

Since 2001, 438 British personnel have died in Afghanistan. Last month, France ended its combat operations in Afghanistan, pulling hundreds of troops from a base in a volatile region northeast of Kabul and fulfilling promises to end its combat role on a faster track than other NATO allies. France has lost 88 troops in Afghanistan since late 2001.

Hungarian students protest education reforms

December 19, 2012

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian high school and university students went ahead Wednesday with protests against changes in the education system despite the government's acceptance of some of their demands.

In Budapest, the capital, several thousand students gathered outside the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, dissatisfied with the concessions announced by the government. Calling their protest the "Winter Rose Student Revolution," they later marched downtown and threw rose petals into the Danube River.

Police said Wednesday evening that three students had been detained for breaking rules related to the right of assembly, after a group of protesting students cut off traffic on the Chain Bridge, the oldest span in Budapest across the Danube.

Government spokesman Andras Giro-Szasz said the Cabinet had decided to drop plans greatly cutting the number of state-sponsored scholarships and will guarantee at least 55,000 full scholarships next year, the same number as this year.

He added that spending on higher education would increase by at least 24 billion forints ($110 million) in 2013. Students, however, also oppose signing a contract requiring them to work in Hungary for several years after graduation if they accept studying at the state's expense. They are also calling for comprehensive reforms to the education system, claim the current changes were planned haphazardly and want the government to consult with them before implementing any more reforms.

Several student protests over the past two weeks - in Budapest and cities around the country - seemingly changed Prime Minister Viktor Orban's mind about his intentions to make higher education in Hungary become practically self-funding in coming years.

Orban was a student leader in the late 1980s, when Hungary was still under communist rule, and his Fidesz party was formed in a university dormitory in 1988. More recently, however, Fidesz has accentuated its conservative policies and has made ensuring that pension payments keep pace with inflation one of its top priorities.

Students braving near-freezing temperatures outside the Academy of Sciences said they were frustrated by the confusion caused by the government's decision to make sweeping changes just weeks before the deadline for university applications for the 2013 school year.

"Instead of tying us here, they should build a country which no one wants to leave," said high school student Antal Molnar. "The government needs to quickly understand that the road it is on is unacceptable to us."

Molnar said his father had escaped to Mexico during communism and brought his family back to Hungary in 2002 "believing Viktor Orban's dream of that time - that Hungary is our home and we must succeed here."

Students also called for the resignation of Education State Secretary Rozsa Hoffmann and vowed to continue their protests until all of their demands are met.

France acknowledges brutal rule in Algeria

December 20, 2012

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — French President Francois Hollande acknowledged the "unjust" and "brutal" nature of France's occupation of Algeria for 132 years, but stopped short Thursday of apologizing for the past as many Algerians have demanded.

On the second day of his state visit to this North African nation, he told the two houses of parliament that "I recognize the suffering the colonial system has inflicted" on the Algerian people. He specifically recognized the "massacres" by the French during the seven-year war that led to Algerian independence in 1962. The admission was a profound departure from Hollande's predecessors who, if not defending France's tormented past with Algeria, remained silent.

The Socialist president's visit came as Algeria celebrates 50 years of independence from France, during which the two countries' ties have been fraught with tension. Hollande was traveling on Thursday to the western city of Tlemcen, the birthplace of Algerian wartime nationalist Messali Hadj.

Hollande said at the start of his visit that he and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika are opening a "new era" with a strategic partnership among equals. Large numbers of Algerians, and some political parties, have been seeking an apology from France for inequalities suffered by the population under colonial rule and for brutality during the war. However, Hollande said at a news conference Wednesday that he would make no apologies.

"History, even when it is tragic, even when it is painful for our two countries, must be told," Hollande told lawmakers on Thursday. "For 132 years, Algeria was subjected to a profoundly unjust and brutal system" of colonization.

"I recognize here the suffering that colonization has inflicted on the Algerian people," he added. Hollande notably listed the sites of three massacres, including one at Setif where seven years ago Bouteflika compared French methods to those used by Nazi Germany and asked France to make a "gesture ... to erase this black stain."

The violence in Setif, 300 kilometers (186 miles) east of Algiers, began on May 8, 1945, apparently during a celebration of the end of World War II. Demonstrators unfurled Algerian flags, which were banned at the time by the French. As police began confiscating the flags, the crowds turned on the French, killing about two dozen of them.

The uprising spread and the response by French colonial troops grew increasingly harsh in the following weeks, including bombardments of villages by a French war ship. Algerians say some 45,000 people may have died. Figures in France put the number of Algerian dead at about 15,000 to 20,000.

Hollande and Bouteflika agreed to relaunch economic, strategic and cultural relations between the two countries on a new basis among equals. A new start must "be supported by a base," Hollande said, and "this base is truth."

"Nothing is built in secretiveness, forgetting, denial," Hollande said. A Declaration of Algiers was published late Wednesday saying that France and Algeria "are determined to open a new chapter in their relations" of "exceptional intensity" and spelling out political, human and economic goals.

France announced a deal for French automaker Renault to build a factory in Algeria with cars destined for all of Africa. The long-negotiated joint venture will be 49 percent owned by Renault and 51 percent by two Algerian companies, according to a statement by Renault, the first carmaker to establish production facilities in Algeria. The factory will be located outside Oran, a port city west of Algiers, and eventually expand to an automotive training center.

The accord is one of about 15 agreements being signed during the visit, on topics ranging from culture to defense. Hollande, who came to the French presidency in May, made an initial break with the French past by officially recognizing the deaths of Algerians at a 1961 pro-independence demonstration in Paris at the hands of French police. He referred to the "bloody repression" and paid homage to the victims of "this tragedy," for which an official death toll has never been issued.

Elaine Ganley reported from Paris, Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

Volunteers hand out soup to Romania's homeless

December 20, 2012

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Volunteers including Britain's ambassador to Romania handed out hot soup and clothing to homeless people in a city where an estimated 5,000 sleep rough in conditions so precarious that 300 die a year from the cold and illness.

Dozens of homeless people received steaming paper cups of soup, tea and coffee Thursday in temperatures of -5 C (23 F ) outside the Gara de Nord railway station, where homeless people congregate and sleep in Bucharest, a city of 2 million.

Charity official Ian Tilling said the goal is to "raise awareness of the difficulties experienced by homeless people particularly in aspects of finding shelter and finding food. It's a basic human right."

Most of those interviewed called on local authorities to take note of their plight and pointed out there were no homeless people during the communist era, which ended in 1989. "Some mayors don't fulfill their duties. Why are there so many poor people in the street?" homeless man Radu Costel said. "When (former leader Nicolae) Ceausescu was alive, (people) were given a job and a house and something to eat. Why do people have to stay in shelters? People must work. We are young and strong and need to work."

British Ambassador Martin Harris said it was "really important at Christmas time that people feel the support of the community and so we want to be here to share the spirit of Christmas with everybody including the people here at the Gara de Nord."

A homeless man who identified himself by his first name, Laur, said he had been living on the streets for 15 years. "My mother went to Italy and never came back. She abandoned me around here somewhere," he said. "I eat from garbage bins and search for scrap iron. If I find it, it's fine, if not you must beg."