Biden: US to appeal dismissal of Blackwater case

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD – The U.S. will appeal a court decision dismissing manslaughter charges against five Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday.

Biden's announcement after a meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani shows just how diplomatically sensitive the incident remains nearly three years later. A lawyer for one guard, noting that word of the intended appeal came in Iraq, accused the Obama administration of political expediency and the U.S. was pursuing an innocent man, rather than justice.

Blackwater security contractors were guarding U.S. diplomats when the guards opened fire in Nisoor Square, a crowded Baghdad intersection, on Sept. 16, 2007. Seventeen people were killed, including women and children, in a shooting that inflamed anti-American sentiment in Iraq.

Biden expressed his "personal regret" for the shooting and said the Obama administration was disappointed by the dismissal. "A dismissal is not an acquittal," he said.

The U.S. rebuffed Iraqi demands that the U.S. contractors face trial in Iraqi courts. After a lengthy investigation, U.S. prosecutors charged five of the contractors with manslaughter and took a guilty plea from a sixth.

But the case fell apart when a federal trial judge in Washington, Ricardo Urbina, said in a Dec. 31 ruling that the Justice Department mishandled evidence and violated the guards' constitutional rights. Prosecutors now face difficult odds getting an appeals court to reinstate the case.

The dismissal outraged many Iraqis, who said it showed the Americans considered themselves above the law. The Iraqi government began collecting signatures for a class-action lawsuit from victims who were wounded or lost relatives.

Lawyers for two of the Blackwater guards — Donald Ball, a former U.S. Marine from West Valley City, Utah, and Dustin Heard, a former U.S. Marine from Knoxville, Tenn. — sharply criticized the U.S. government's planned appeal.

"By announcing this decision in Iraq, through an elected official, the United States makes clear it has decided to do what is politically expedient, rather than what is just based on Judge Urbina's unshakable findings that the prosecutors engaged in gross misconduct and intentionally violated Mr. Ball's constitutional rights," attorney Steven McCool, who represents Ball, said in a statement. "In the end, the United States has shown it will pursue an innocent man, rather than justice."

Attorney David Schertler, who represents Heard, said moving ahead with an appeal "appears to be based upon political considerations rather than a careful consideration of the legal merits of the case as it should be."

White House officials said the U.S. Justice Department decided on the appeal and that Biden's trip was not originally intended to be way it would be announced, but the White House learned of the Justice decision Friday night.

Messages seeking comment from lawyers for the other three guards who fought the charges were not immediately returned Saturday.

Those guards are Evan Liberty, a former U.S. Marine from Rochester, N.H.; Nick Slatten, a former U.S. Army sergeant from Sparta, Tenn., and Paul Slough, an U.S. Army veteran from Keller, Texas.

The sixth guard, Jeremy Ridgeway of California, pleaded guilty to one count each of manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and aiding and abetting. It's unclear what Urbina's ruling means for him.

Blackwater has said the guards were innocent, contending there were ambushed by insurgents. Prosecutors said the shooting was unprovoked.

Court documents paint a murky picture of a case rife with conflicting evidence. Some witnesses say the Blackwater convoy was under fire; others say it wasn't. Some said the entire convoy fired into the intersection; others said only a few men opened fire.

Even the government's key witnesses, three members of the Blackwater convoy, at times seemed to undercut the government's case.

Since the shooting, the Myock, N.C.-based Blackwater has renamed itself Xe Services and overhauled its management. Iraq has pulled the company's license to operate in the country.

Anti-Chavez channel removed from cable

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan cable television providers stopped transmitting a channel critical of President Hugo Chavez on Sunday, after the government cited noncompliance with new regulations requiring the socialist leader's speeches be televised on cable.

Radio Caracas Television, an anti-Chavez channel known as RCTV that switched to cable and satellite television in 2007 after the government refused to renew its over-the-air license, disappeared from TV sets shortly after midnight.

RCTV was yanked from cable and satellite programming just hours after Diosdado Cabello, director of Venezuela's state-run telecommunications agency, said several local channels carried by cable television have breached broadcasting laws and should be removed from the airwaves.

Cabello warned cable operations on Saturday evening that they could find themselves in jeopardy if they keep showing those channels.

"They must comply with the law, and they cannot have a single channel that violates Venezuelan laws as part of their programming," he said.

Several channels have not shown Chavez's televised speeches when he orders all media to air them — a requirement under new regulations approved last month by the telecommunications agency, Cabello said.

RCTV did not broadcast a speech by the president to his political supporters during a rally early on Saturday.

The station's removal from cable and satellite television prompted a cacophony of protests in Caracas neighborhoods as Chavez opponents leaned out apartment windows to bang on pots and pans. Others shouted epithets and drivers joined in, honking car horns.

"They want to silence RCTV's voice," said Miguel Angel Rodriguez, the channel's most popular talk show host. "But they won't be able to because RCTV is embedded in the hearts of all Venezuelans."

The U.S. Embassy in Caracas expressed concern about the decision.

"Access to information is a cornerstone of democracy and provides a foundation for global progress. By restricting yet again the Venezuelan people's access to RCTV broadcasts, the Venezuelan government continues to erode this cornerstone," Embassy spokeswoman Robin Holzhauer said.

Venezuela's telecommunications agency has said in the past week that under new rules, two dozen local cable channels including RCTV must carry government programming when officials deem the measure necessary, just like channels on the open airwaves already do. Chavez often uses the measure to force all the country's TV channels and radio stations to broadcast his speeches.

Cabello said Saturday that other violations committed by cable channels include failing to warn viewers of sexual and violent content as well as broadcasting more than two hours of soap operas during the afternoon, which should be mostly dedicated to children programming.

He did not specify which TV channels have purportedly violated the law, but RCTV said it was the target. It accused the agency of pressuring cable providers to drop channels that are critical of the government.

The agency "doesn't have any authority to give the cable service providers this order," RCTV said in a statement. "The government is inappropriately pressuring them to make decisions beyond their responsibilities."

In denying RCTV a renewal of its over-the-air broadcast license, Chavez accused the station of plotting against his government and supporting a failed 2002 coup.

In August, Chavez's government forced 32 radio stations and two small TV stations off the air, saying some owners had failed to renew their broadcast licenses while other licenses were no longer valid because they had been granted long ago to owners who are now dead. Officials said they planned to take more stations off the air.

Government figures say that as of 2008 about 37 percent of Venezuelan homes received cable television.

Tweet treat: Space station finally gets Internet access

Friday, 01.22.10

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- (AP) -- In a high tech first -- really, really high -- astronauts in space finally have Internet access.

Space station resident Timothy Creamer has been working with flight controllers to establish Internet access from his orbital post ever since he moved in last month. On Friday, his effort paid off. He posted the first live tweet truly from space. ``Hello Twitterverse!'' he wrote. Before, astronauts had to send Twitter updates by e-mail to Mission Control in Houston. Controllers then posted the tweets.

The International Space Station crew can now use an on-board laptop to see a desktop computer at Mission Control, and thereby browse the Web. This remote Internet access is possible whenever there is a solid high-speed communication link.

Source: Miami Herald.
Link: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1440022.html.

Algeria awards contract for first wind farm

2010-01-22

French wind turbine manufacturer Vergnet will build Algeria's first wind firm, after beating rival MAN Ferrostaal of Germany to win the tender, APS reported on Thursday (January 21st). The wind farm in the south-western province of Adrar will generate 10MW of active power. The project cost is estimated at 30 million euros.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/01/22/newsbrief-04.

Mauritanian president makes landmark visit to Turkey

2010-01-22

President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on Friday (January 22nd) will become the first Mauritanian head of state to visit Turkey, Journal Tahalil reported. He will meet with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in Ankara for talks on strengthening bilateral co-operation. Abdel Aziz is accompanied for the 4-day state visit by an important government delegation, including Foreign Minister Naha Mint Mouknass, Economic Minister Sidi Ould Tah and Finance Minister Ousmane Kane

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/01/22/newsbrief-03.

Algeria expands police presence in Kabylie

2010-01-22

Algeria will deploy 29 new gendarme brigades to the Kabylie region before the end of 2010, Tout sur l'Algerie quoted the Tizi Ouzou regional commander as saying on Thursday (January 21st). According to Colonel Salim Benazouz, a police brigade will be installed in each of the 67 communes of the wilaya. Security coverage in Tizi Ouzou is currently estimated to be about 45%. For his part, Colonel Abderrahmane Ayoub said the new brigades would bolster efforts to fight terrorism and criminal activities.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/01/22/newsbrief-02.

Algeria plans better hotels to lure foreign tourists

By Fidet Mansour for Magharebia in Algiers
22/01/10

Increasing hotel capacity and improving their facilities are key to an Algerian plan to boost tourism announced this week.

Algeria's tourism minister, Cherif Rahmani, is urging local leaders to take a more professional approach to the hospitality industry and to start building new facilities under a plan to attract more foreign visitors.

Rahmani announced the plan to revitalize Algeria's under-performing tourism sector on Wednesday (January 20th) while meeting in Algiers with wilaya heads, tourism directors and local investors.

"We have to prioritize projects and quality instead of dwelling on bogus studies," the minister said as he announced the initiative, the fifth annual plan of its type.

The new plan includes 80 projects targeting all of the country's wilayas. One key focus is increasing the number of available hotel beds nationwide by 6,470. Rahmani announced he would re-open 140 hotels and facilitate the construction of more 2- and 3-star facilities.

The campaign to increase the number of beds will continue until 2014, when the minister hopes to reach a goal of 75,000.

Fifty-five of the projects will be distributed throughout the country's regions: 18 in the north-east; 17 in the north-central region; 13 in the north-west; and 7 in the south.

This year's tourism initiative is much more restrained than the one unveiled in 2009, which saw the implementation of over 300 projects with the aim of creating 58,200 jobs.

One highlight of last year's measures was a high-profile advertising campaign featuring football legend Zinedine Zidane. The two-minute advert was shown on all Algerian television channels for three months, and on several European channels, including France24, CNN and EuroNews.

This latest plan comes after a slight increase in Algerian tourism revenues. Though 2008 saw a slight 1.64% jump in visitor numbers compared with 2007, Algeria has still not been able to regain the popularity it had with travelers in 1990. The minister hopes to attract even more foreign visitors to Algeria this year.

"Tourism in Algeria ... is down from 1990 when the flow of tourism provided close to 8% of revenue", Dr. Saâdane Chebaîki, a member of the national association of Algerian economists, said in December at a Tamanrasset meeting focused on developing tourism.

Algeria earned $300 million from foreign visitors in 2008, an increase of 37% over its 2007 tourism revenues, said Professor Nacer Mourad, who emphasized the importance of tourism in making inroads against poverty.

"An improvement in the security situation over the past five years has helped tourism to return," Karim, who runs a travel agency, told Magharebia on January 11th. But he said the reports of terrorists in the Sahel regions have hurt Algeria's reputation.

But travel agent Amine Dali rejected this explanation.

"The security situation…between 1992 and 2005 explains why tourism in Algeria has been in decline", he told Magharebia on January 11th in Algiers. "But with the return of security, there is no justification now for a freeze in tourist activity."

Aymen, who works in an Algiers travel agency, said that Algeria's natural potential makes it one of the finest tourist destinations in the world. But he told Magharebia that the "lack of basic infrastructure [and] training for specialist managers, and above all, the lack of tourist marketing" were the main reasons for the tourism slump.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/features/2010/01/22/feature-02.