Top Hamas commander killed in Israeli airstrike, group calls for revenge

Felipe Nov 15, 2012

Israel killed the military commander of Hamas in an airstrike on the Gaza Strip today, bringing the two sides to the brink of a possible new war.

The attack came despite signs that Egypt had managed to broker a truce between Israel and Palestinian militants after a five day surge of violence which saw more than 100 missiles fired out of Gaza and repeated Israeli strikes on the enclave.

Islamist Hamas said Ahmed Al-Jaabari, who ran the organization’s armed wing, Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam, died along with a passenger after their car was targeted by an Israeli missile.

Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence service confirmed it had carried out the attack, saying it had killed Jaabari because of his «decade-long terrorist activity».

«The purpose of this operation was to severely impair the command and control chain of the Hamas leadership,» the Israeli military said in a statement.

Immediate calls for revenge were broadcast over Hamas radio and smaller groups also warned of retaliation.

«Israel has declared war on Gaza and they will bear the responsibility for the consequences,» Islamic Jihad said.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

UNESCO to honour opera singers Domingo and Florez

Felipe Nov 15, 2012

Renowned Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo will be named a UNESCO goodwill ambassador in recognition of his singing career and support for young opera singers, the United Nations’ cultural agency said.

Domingo, 71, who has sung in the world’s most prestigious opera houses from La Scala to the Metropolitan Opera and also conducts, will be recognised at a ceremony on Nov. 21, UNESCO said.

He was chosen for «his exceptional artistic career, his inestimable support for young opera musicians through the Operalia competition, and his dedication to the values and ideals of UNESCO,» the body said in a statement.

Also to be recognised on Nov. 16 as a goodwill ambassador will be Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez, 39. Scheduled to attend the ceremony is Peruvian President Ollanta Humala.

A virtuoso singing the bel canto arias of Rossini, Diego Florez is president of the social and education foundation, «El Sistema de Orquestas Infantiles y Juveniles del Peru,» which develops youth orchestras and choruses targeted at underprivileged children.

Goodwill ambassadors for UNESCO help focus attention on the cultural body’s work in education, science, culture and communication.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Top Lula aide Dirceu gets 10 years jail for corruption

Felipe Nov 13, 2012

A chief of staff to former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and fellow founder of Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party, was sentenced to over 10 years in prison for running a congressional vote buying scheme almost a decade ago.

Culminating the biggest political corruption trial in modern Brazilian history, José Dirceu received a 10-year and 10-month sentence for heading a bribery scheme in which Workers’ Party officials and associates paid lawmakers a monthly retainer in exchange for support of their initiatives during the early years of Lula’s first term.

The case, heard by Brazil’s Supreme Court, has gripped Brazil for more than a month, bringing an unprecedented level of accountability to a country long-accustomed to widespread corruption.

For many Brazilians, the convictions show that their country’s democratic institutions, while not perfect, have matured, especially a judicial system that historically was unable, and often unwilling, to tackle corrupt politicians. The trial has been all the more surprising because the Workers’ Party is still in power and most of the justices were appointed by Lula or his chosen successor, President Dilma Rousseff.

The court sentenced Jose Genoino, the president of the Worker’s Party when the scandal broke in 2005, to six years and 11 months in prison.

Last month, the court convicted 25 people, including Dirceu, for diverting at least $35 million in public money to bribe legislators to support Lula’s minority government during his first two years in office.

Lula’s first term, from 2003 through 2006, was crippled by the scandal, though the former president, amid an economic boom, was easily re-elected for a second four-year term. Lula, who was not charged in the scandal, has denied any knowledge of the scheme and has even suggested it never existed.

Though Lula remains Brazil’s most popular politician, the convictions have tarnished the memory of his time in office and marred his legacy.

Dirceu, who helped Lula found the Workers’ Party in 1980, was found guilty of corruption and conspiring with others to break the law by running the scheme. Known as the mensalão, or «big monthly payment,» the plot diverted public funds through front companies to pay the lawmakers.

It remains unclear when Dirceu and the others convicted will be arrested or how much time they will actually serve because the sentences could still be subject to legal challenges. House arrest remains a possibility for at least part of their terms, though their passports have already been confiscated to reduce the possibility that they could flee.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Jewels salvaged from Titanic to go on view

Felipe Nov 13, 2012

Jewelry salvaged from the wreck of the Titanic will go on display later this week, the company that owns the artifacts announced today.

The 15 items, including pendants, rings and a pocket watch, will first be exhibited in Atlanta from Nov. 16 through Jan. 6 and will be followed by displays in Orlando and Las Vegas, through May of next year, Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc. announced.

The jewelry includes diamonds, sapphires and pearls, said Alexandra Klingelhofer, vice president of collections for Atlanta-based RMS Titanic Inc., a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions.

RMS was first to recover artifacts from the Titanic and has the legal right to anything salvaged there, Klingelhofer said.

Many of the jewelry pieces, recovered from the wreck in 1987, were found in a leather bag that had likely been in the care of a ship’s purser, an employee responsible for handling money and other valuables, Klingelhofer said.

The purser likely removed the jewelry from a safe on the Titanic as the ship was sinking and placed them in leather bags so that he could return them to their owners after the rescue, she added.

«But there were no pursers that were rescued,» Klingelhofer said.

The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912 after hitting an iceberg in the north Atlantic Ocean.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

British governor to Malvinas during war dies

Felipe Nov 13, 2012

Rex Hunt, British Governor of the Malvinas Islands at the time of the 1982 war between Argentina and England died on Sunday.

The Islands British Government released the following statement: «We received news of the passing of Sir Rex Hunt with great sadness.

Sir Rex will forever be remembered in the Islands for his years of service as Governor, and particularly for his courage and dignity in facing the Argentine invasion in 1982. His numerous contributions to our home were recognised in his being granted the Freedom Of Stanley in 1985.»

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Giffords faces Tucson assailant as he is sentenced to life

Felipe Nov 9, 2012

Former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords stood in federal court to face her would-be assassin today moments before he was sentenced to life in prison for killing six people and wounding 13 others, including Giffords, last year.

Jared Loughner, 24, a college dropout with a history of psychiatric disorders, received seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years in prison, without the possibility of parole, under a plea deal with prosecutors that spares him the death penalty.

US District Judge Larry Burns said the life sentences he imposed – one for each of the six people who lost their lives and a seventh for the attempted assassination of Giffords – represented the individuality of the victims.

«He will never have the opportunity to pick up a gun and do this again,» Burns said.

Giffords suffered a head wound that left her with speech difficulties, a paralyzed right arm, diminished sight and a limp.

Addressing the court along with several survivors of the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting, Giffords’ husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, told Loughner he had failed in his attempt to «extinguish the beauty of life.»

Kelly used the occasion to take a political swipe at Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, a staunch gun-rights advocate, criticizing her for speaking out against proposed restrictions on high-capacity ammunition magazines, like the ones Loughner used, in the aftermath of the shooting.

«Jan Brewer said it had nothing to do with the size of the magazine. … She said this just one week after you used a high-capacity magazine,» Kelly said, also noting that she named a «state gun» weeks later instead of «fixing the education system.»

Loughner, asked at the outset of the hearing by Burns if he had chosen to waive his right to make a statement, answered in a low voice, «That’s true.»

He was otherwise silent as he sat next to his lawyer, Judy Clarke, gazing expressionless at the survivors who spoke in court during the proceedings. He displayed no visible sign of emotion when he was sentenced.

Giffords stood by her husband’s side, looking impassively at Loughner as Kelly addressed the defendant directly, in a clear, ringing voice. «You may have put a bullet through her head, but you haven’t put a dent in her commitment to make the world a better place,» Kelly told him.

«Although you were mentally ill, you were responsible,» he added. «You have decades upon decades to contemplate what you did, but from this moment, Gabby and I are done thinking about you.»

Giffords did not speak.

The proceedings marked a dramatic epilogue to a rampage of gun violence that shocked the nation, reignited a debate over control of firearms and cut short the political career of a rising star in the Democratic Party.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Griesa summons new hearing over Argentina, vulture funds

Felipe Nov 9, 2012

US Judge Thomas Griesa summoned a new hearing at New York Court over the case of vulture funds against Argentina.

The judge agreed with both parts a hearing for tomorrow at 11:15 am (local time) to define the following steps after the Appeals Court ruling issued on October 26.

The ruling recognized that Argentina discriminated against bondholders who refused to take part in massive debt re-structurings in 2005 and 2010 by deciding to pay them later than bondholders who agreed to participate.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Greek gov’t defies protests to approve more austerity

Felipe Nov 8, 2012

Greece’s government voted by a razor thin margin today to approve an austerity package needed to unlock vital aid and avert bankruptcy, despite an internal rift and violent protests at the gates of parliament.

Lawmakers approved the spending cuts, tax hikes and measures making it easier to hire and fire workers after nearly 100,000 Greeks waving flags and chanting «Fight! They’re drinking our blood!» descended on Syntagma Square in central Athens.

Despite the abstention of their junior ruling partner the Democratic Left, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s New Democracy Party and its Socialist PASOK allies passed the 500-odd page bill shortly after midnight.

They mustered 153 of parliament’s 300 seats, with New Democracy and PASOK expelling seven deputies from their ranks for not backing the measures.

Earlier in the evening, clashes erupted when a handful of protesters tried to break through a barricade to enter the assembly. Riot police responded with teargas, stun grenades and, for the first time in an anti-austerity protest here, water cannon.

There was also chaos inside the assembly, where parliamentary workers briefly stopped the session by walking out when they discovered their salaries would be cut.

The bill covering the bulk of 13.5 billion euros’ ($17.2 billion) worth of belt-tightening measures is a precursor to the 2013 budget law, which the government is expected to push through on Sunday.

If it does, it is expected to unlock a 31.5 billion euro aid tranche from the International Monetary Fund and European Union that Greece needs to shore up its banks and pay off loans.

«We must now pass the budget and right after that work for the recovery of the economy,» Samaras told Reuters after the vote.

The euro rose briefly to around $1.2780 from $1.2765 before the vote.

«We’re seeing little bit of a bounce in the euro because the threat of a Greek exit from the euro zone is dissipating now that the Greeks have made the difficult decision to move forward with painful austerity measures,» said Kathy Lien, managing director of BK Asset Management in New York.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Wintry storm brings new woe to hard-hit US Northeast

Felipe Nov 8, 2012

A wintry storm dropped snow and rain on the US Northeast bringing dangerous winds and knocking out power in a region where hundreds of thousands were still in the dark after Superstorm Sandy.

The nor’easter storm brought fresh misery to thousands in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut whose homes were destroyed by Sandy when it smashed ashore on Oct. 29, bringing historic flooding and high winds. The storm killed 120 people in the United States and Canada.

Some 22,000 homes and businesses from the Carolinas to New York lost power on Wednesday, joining the more than 640,000 customers who still lacked electricity from one of the biggest and costliest storms ever to hit the United States.

New York and New Jersey evacuated the most vulnerable coastal areas ahead of the nor’easter, which was forecast to bring a high tide about 2 feet (60 cm) above normal by early Thursday.

No major flooding was reported during the storm’s first hours, though New York warned residents whose homes had flooded during Sandy to consider moving to friends’ homes on higher ground or to city shelters.

Christine Jones, 73, said she had continued to live without heat or power in her beachside apartment building in coastal Far Rockaway in New York – even though it means climbing the stairs to her 10th floor apartment with a flashlight in hand.

«They tell us to evacuate,» she said, but she and her neighbors do not want to leave. «They’re scared they’re going to be robbed … The teen-age boys … they try to break in.»

In any case, Jones’ 1999 Buick was dead after water from the Atlantic Ocean washed over it during Sandy, leaving her with no means to evacuate the narrow peninsula she calls home.

But authorities warned weary residents not to ignore this storm’s dangers.

«You have to prepare for the storm that’s coming in a few hours,» New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told residents. «I’m waiting for the locusts and pestilence next,» he joked, in a reference to Old Testament plagues.

The low-pressure weather system brought wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour (97 kph) and could drop 2 inches to 4 inches (5-10 cm) of snow on New York City, the National Weather Service said.

Ice pellets hit Long Island and the storm lifted wave heights to nearly 20 feet (6 metres) off Nantucket, Massachusetts, AccuWeather reported.

School districts in Connecticut sent students home early as a precaution and the New York Stock Exchange removed the giant U.S. flag from its facade to protect it from high winds.

A mix of rain and snow fell on parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, causing airport delays.

Airlines canceled more than 1,700 flights, with Newark airport facing the most cancellations, according to tracking service FlightAware.com.

Cold and snow was particularly bad news to residents who lost heat.

«It’s coming up on 10 days with people being freezing in their homes,» said Peter DiPaola, town supervisor of Pelham, north of New York City.

«I lost all my winter clothing in the flood, so I am wearing three layers of things in order to stay somewhat warm and dry,» said Wayne Steinman, a resident of Staten Island, one of the parts of New York City hardest hit by Sandy. «Everything becomes overwhelming.»

Utilities warned that the storm would slow their efforts to restore power to homes and businesses.

«Up until today we have been making some good restoration progress. We’ve had some good restoration weather, but today is certainly an exception,» said John Miksad, senior vice president of electric operations at New York-area utility Consolidated Edison Inc. «We actually pulled back as a result of the weather today but we will be back out there first thing tomorrow morning.»

New York City authorities said they distributed 1,500 space heaters to residents of coastal Broad Channel and Rockaway, two low-lying neighborhoods that were hard hit by Sandy’s storm surge.

Many gasoline stations remained shut around the region, complicating residents’ efforts to flee the new storm.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg closed parks and beaches and temporarily halted outdoor construction ahead of the storm.

On the devastated New Jersey shore, a summer tourist haven where Sandy’s storm surge pushed entire homes across the street, the town of Brick issued a mandatory evacuation order for waterfront neighborhoods ahead of Wednesday’s storm. Middletown also ordered evacuations.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

London council to sell Henry Moore work to pay bills

Felipe Nov 8, 2012

One of London’s most deprived boroughs decided to sell a Henry Moore sculpture valued at up to 20 million pounds ($32 million) to ease its debts, despite pressure from the art establishment to hold on to the imposing bronze work.

Tower Hamlets says nearly half the children in the area live in poverty, the highest level in the UK, and that the council needs to find 100 million pounds in savings over the next three years to meet government budget targets.

Mayor Lutfur Rahman defended what he called a «tough decision» to sell the 1957 sculpture titled «Draped Seated Woman» and affectionately known by locals as «Old Flo».

In fact, the work has not been on display in the area for over a decade, having been loaned to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in northern England following the demolition of the Stifford housing estate in Stepney Green where it once stood.

«It is with considerable regret that I make this decision but I have a duty to ensure residents do not suffer the brunt of the horrendous cuts being imposed on us,» Rahman said after a council cabinet meeting.

«We are faced with a stark choice in these times of recession,» he said in a statement.

«Do we keep this valuable sculpture … or do we try to sell this globally important artwork in order to release much needed funds to invest in local heritage projects we can sustain, (and) affordable housing, improving opportunities and prospects for our young people and keeping our community safe?»

Councillor Rania Khan pointed out that other local authorities had sold off works of art to pay for services, but the Moore sculpture is probably the most high-profile case in recent years.

The ruling is likely to dismay leading figures in the art world, who had urged Tower Hamlets to rethink proposals to sell off the «family silver» for short-term financial gain.

«The value of art is diminished by being monetarised,» Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle, who also oversaw the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, said on Monday.

«The Moore sculpture defies all prejudice in people’s minds about one of London’s poorest boroughs. That alone makes it priceless to every resident.»

Moore, the son of a miner with left-wing political views, sold the work in the 1960s for below its market value on the understanding that it should be put on public display for Londoners to enjoy.

Tower Hamlets council said it explored the possibility of displaying the sculpture measuring eight feet tall and weighing more than 1.5 tonnes elsewhere in the borough, but found the insurance costs would be prohibitively high.

Large public sculptures have been targeted in recent years by thieves interested in their scrap metal value, while Moore works are coveted by the world’s richest collectors who have forced prices at auction sky-high.

Estimates of Draped Seated Woman’s value vary widely between five and 20 million pounds – the artist’s auction record of 19.1 million pounds was set at Christie’s in February for «Reclining Figure: Festival».

On Monday, the Museum of London offered to provide a home for the sculpture to save it from the auction block, but it appears the approach was ignored.

Last year, Bolton Council sold 35 paintings from its art collection to fund the restoration and preservation of the remaining works, and in 2006, Bury Council sold an L.S. Lowry painting for 1.4 million pounds.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Electoral results displayed at the top of the Empire State

Felipe Nov 7, 2012

CNN was displaying electoral results via colored lighting at the top of the Empire State building in New York.

«As each state is projected by CNN and electoral votes are allocated to the candidates, a vertical LED-illuminated ‘meter’ located atop the spire of the building will display CNN’s running tally of the race to 270,» the network explained.

Later, «when CNN projects a winner of the presidential election, the tower lights of the Empire State Building will change color to all-blue or to all-red.»

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Obama: ‘Four more years’

Felipe Nov 7, 2012

US President Barack Obama used the social media Twitter to celebrate his reelection right after swing state Ohio data was released.

«Four more years,» was the headline of a photograph of the Head of State hugging his wife, Michelle Obama. The tweet received at least 150,000 retweets six minutes after it appeared in the social media.
The newly reelected president had previously thanked the US citizens for the election and tweeted «This happened because of you. Thank you» and «We’re all in this together. That’s how we campaigned, and that’s who we are. Thank you.»

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Obama, Romney focus on swing states in late campaigning

Felipe Nov 6, 2012

US President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney engaged in frantic get-out-the-vote efforts and made final pleas to voters in a sprint through battleground states that will determine who wins their agonizingly close White House race.

Both candidates sought to generate strong turnout from supporters and to sway independent voters to their side in the last hours of a race that polls showed was deadlocked nationally. Obama had a slight lead in the eight or nine battleground states that will decide the race tomorrow.

Obama was up 4 percentage points in must-win Ohio, 50 percent to 46 percent, and held slimmer leads in Virginia and Colorado. Romney led in Florida by 1 percentage point, the poll found.

The president, with a final-day itinerary that included stops in Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa, urged voters to stick with him and trust that his economic policies are working. He travelled with rocker Bruce Springsteen.

«Ohio, I’m not ready to give up on the fight. I’ve got a whole lot of fight left in me and I hope you do too,» Obama told supporters in Columbus, Ohio.

Romney’s final day included stops in Florida, Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire. He pledged that he would handle the economy better than Obama and jabbed his opponent for blaming Republican predecessor George W. Bush for the weak economy.

«When I’m elected, the economy and the American job market will still be stagnant, but I’m not going to waste any time complaining about my predecessor,» Romney said in Columbus.

«I’m not just going to take office on Jan. 20. I’m going to take responsibility for that office,» he said.

The candidates are seeking to piece together the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory in the state-by-state battle for the presidency. Despite the close national opinion polls, Obama has an easier path to victory: If he wins the three states he was visiting on Monday – Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa – then he would likely carry the day.

All eyes were on the Midwestern state of Ohio, whose 18 electoral votes could be decisive. Romney, looking for any edge possible, planned last-second visits on Tuesday to both Ohio and Pennsylvania, aides said.

The visits to the areas around Cleveland and Pittsburgh would be aimed at driving turnout. And the Pittsburgh stop could be as much about Ohio as Pennsylvania, since many in eastern Ohio watch Pittsburgh television.

Romney’s path to the White House becomes much harder should he lose Ohio. The state has been leaning toward Obama – its unemployment rate is lower than the 7.9 percent national average and its heavy dependence on auto-related jobs meant the bailout to auto companies that Obama pursued in 2009 is popular.

Both campaigns expressed confidence that their candidate would win, and there were enough polls to bolster either view.

There were clear signs that Obama held an edge. A CNN/ORC poll, for instance, showed him up in Ohio by 50 percent to 47 percent.

The close margins in state and national polls suggested the possibility of a cliffhanger that could be decided by which side has the best turnout operation and gets its voters to the polls.

Whoever wins will have a host of challenges to confront. The top priority will be the looming «fiscal cliff» of spending cuts and tax increases that would begin with the new year.

The balance of power in Congress also will be at stake on Tuesday, with Obama’s Democrats now expected to narrowly hold their Senate majority and Romney’s Republicans favored to retain control of the House of Representatives.

In a race where the two candidates and their party allies raised a combined $2 billion, the most in U.S. history, both sides have pounded the heavily contested battleground states with an unprecedented barrage of ads.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Opposition urges Ukraine vote recounts as crowds rally

Felipe Nov 6, 2012

Ukraine’s opposition demanded a recount or a re-run in 13 constituencies on today, stepping up its campaign against the results of last month’s parliamentary election which it says was rigged by President Viktor Yanukovich’s ruling party.

Opposition leaders pressed their demands in talks tonight with election officials as 1,500 supporters remained outside the electoral commission’s headquarters in Kiev to protest against alleged fraud in the Oct. 28 vote.

After a day of tension, the commission said it was ready to stage a re-run in five of the disputed electoral districts, but that would require parliament’s approval and might not completely defuse the situation.

Opposition leaders emerging from the talks welcomed the announcement which they said was better than allowing a Regions party victory. They said they would continue to campaign for a just result and encouraged their supporters to stay on the streets overnight.

«We are demanding that the Central Electoral Commission announce the result of voting in 13 districts where, according to the final tally, the opposition won,» Arseny Yatsenyuk, leader of the united opposition said.

«In those cases where it is impossible to establish the result a re-run should be announced,» he told reporters at the commission’s headquarters.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Friday the ruling Party of the Regions had nothing to do with the incidents at the centre of the disputes, saying the overall results – which he said had handed victory to his party – were in line with exit-polls and pre-election surveys.

Even if the opposition was declared the winner in the disputed electoral districts the Regions would still keep its parliamentary majority as long as it had the support of its traditional communist allies and some independents.

However, a revision of the results could help galvanise anti-Yanukovich forces which have lost momentum since the jailing of Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the opposition’s most prominent leaders and a former prime minister.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Greece faces 48-hour strike over austerity cuts

Felipe Nov 6, 2012

Greek workers begin a 48-hour strike tomorrow to protest against a new round of austerity cuts that unions say will devastate the poor and drive a failing economy to collapse.

The walkout, called by Greece’s two biggest labour organisations, is the third major strike in two months against a package of spending cuts and reforms that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s government is trying to push through parliament to unlock aid.

Athens needs parliamentary approval for the package – which includes slashing pensions by as much as a quarter for some and scrapping holiday bonuses – to ensure its European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders release more than 31 billion euros ($40 billion) of aid, much of it aimed at shoring up banks.

The government has implored Greeks to endure the cuts in a bid to avoid national bankruptcy and insists they will be the last round of pain. But few are impressed in a nation where over a quarter are jobless while poverty and suicide levels soar.

«They should go to hell and beyond,» said Anais Metaxopoulou, a 65-year-old pensioner, expressing the anger many Greeks feel towards their political class.

«They should ask me how I feel when I have to go to church to beg for food. I wouldn’t hurt a fly but I would happily behead one of them.»

The strike is timed to coincide with a crucial vote on Wednesday, when the government is expected to just about win backing for austerity cuts and labour reforms that the smallest party in Samaras’s coalition has refused to back.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

La ONU investiga la ejecución sumaria de soldados sirios en una emboscada rebelde

Felipe Nov 2, 2012

El Alto Comisionado de la ONU para los Derechos Humanos, Rupert Colville, ha informado hoy de la apertura de una investigación en el seno de la organización para verificar la autenticidad de un vídeo colgado en la Red en la que supuestos rebeldes sirios ejecutan de forma sumaria a un grupo de hombres vinculados al régimen en Saraqeb, ciudad de la provincia de Idlib, en la franja oriental de Siria.

El principal grupo activista fuera del país, el Observatorio Sirio de Derechos Humanos (OSDH), con sede en Londres, ha informado de que las ejecuciones, precedidas de «abusos» contra los detenidos, fueron llevadas a cabo tras una emboscada en el control militar de Hmeisho. El Ejército Libre de Siria (ELS) ha denunciado la matanza y ha prometido castigar a sus autores.

«Hasta ahora no sabemos quiénes han cometido estos actos», ha manifestado a la agencia Efe el número dos del opositor Ejército Libre de Siria (ELS), Malek Kurdi. El primer comunicado difundido en Facebook por el OSDH, que recoge información de activistas en el terreno, culpó -y esto es algo poco habitual- a «combatientes rebeldes» de la muerte de al menos ocho soldados del régimen de Bachar el Asad. Poco después, la organización responsabilizó a Jabat al Nusra, grupo radical ligado a Al Qaeda, nacido tras la revolución de marzo de 2011 y responsable de varios atentados en las ciudades de Damasco y Alepo.

A falta de que una fuente independiente verifique la autenticidad del vídeo, subido ayer a YouTube, lo que las imágenes muestran es a un grupo de rebeldes con chalecos de camuflaje y armados con fusiles automáticos. A priori, las vestimentas y disposición de los milicianos no dista de la de los miembros del ELS que controla grandes partes de la región noroeste de Siria.

Algunos de los reos, apilados en grupo, visten ropa de camuflaje, mientras otros llevan ropa de paisano, por lo que, si bien puede haber soldados regulares, entre ellos también se encuentran shabiha, matones a sueldo del régimen al cargo de las misiones más sangrientas de la represión contra los alzados. Así es además como uno de los rebeldes identifica a una de las víctimas en un segundo vídeo, grabado tras la ejecución sumaria. Amnistía Internacional ha señalado que si las imágenes son buenas, lo ocurrido en Saraqeb constituye un «crimen de guerra».

Tanto grupos activistas como la ONU calculan que al menos 28 soldados han sido abatidos por rebeldes en controles militares alrededor de Saraqeb. Esta ciudad esta situada al norte de Maaret al Numan, localidad bombardeada por la aviación siria el pasado 18 de octubre con un balance de al menos 40 muertos. Las dos ciudades son de vital importancia en el frente abierto entre ambos bandos por el control de la carretera que conduce de Damasco a Alepo y a través de la que el régimen transporta a las tropas de reemplazo.

Fuente: La Naciòn

Fiesta de Madrid en la que fallecieron tres jóvenes excedió su capacidad

Felipe Nov 2, 2012

A las sospechas de que en la fiesta había más gente de la permitida se unen los testimonios de asistentes que aseguran que se permitió la entrada a menores de edad. De hecho, una de las dos heridas tiene 17 años, uno menos de los permitidos para acceder al recinto.

Un día después de la avalancha en una multitudinaria fiesta de Halloween en Madrid en la que murieron tres jóvenes y otras dos resultaron gravemente heridas, las sospechas de que en el evento había más personas de las que permitía la ley comenzaron hoy a extenderse.

«El aforo de la fiesta ha podido superar con creces el permitido», manifestó el juez decano de Madrid, José Luis González Armengol, que aludió a las fotografías que existen de la fiesta. Esas imágenes hacen pensar que «había una media de cuatro jóvenes por metro cuadrado», dijo, reseñó DPA.

La hija del juez decano de Madrid estuvo en el evento. Fue testigo de aglomeraciones y vio cómo había personas que caían al suelo, explicó González Armengol. Según dijeron fuentes de la investigación a medios españoles, hubo cientos de personas que accedieron a la fiesta sin entrada.

Las primeras hipótesis de la policía, que está intentado corroborarlas estudiando las cintas de las cámaras de seguridad del pasillo en el que se produjo la avalancha, ésta se desencadenó por el encendido de una bengala. El pasillo tenía unas medidas de unos tres metros de ancho por 15 de largo.

La fiesta de Halloween se celebró en el recinto Madrid Arena, que tiene capacidad para 10.600 personas. Según los organizadores de la fiesta de Halloween, se habían vendido 9.600 entradas. Sin embargo, y según publicaron medios españoles, los organizadores dijeron al ayuntamiento que la fiesta era para 7.000 personas. Y hay testigos que aseguran que en el lugar hubo entre 15.000 y 20.000 personas.

«¿Podéis creer que somos 15.000 personas?», dijo el DJ estrella de la fiesta, el estadounidense Steve Aoki, en un momento de la noche, según se escucha en grabaciones colgadas en medios online españoles.

A las sospechas de que en la fiesta había más gente de la permitida se unen los testimonios de asistentes que aseguran que se permitió la entrada a menores de edad. De hecho, una de las dos heridas tiene 17 años, uno menos de los permitidos para acceder al recinto.

Fuente: Universal

Red State: The Obama campaign’s efforts to reclaim Florida

Felipe Nov 1, 2012

The presidential elections is six days away and the nervousness is as palpable as the humid air of the Miami beaches. Traditionally a swing state, the stakes are too high for Barack Obama to consider Florida a lost cause.

As Mitt Romney campaigns in Tampa on Wednesday and offers an alluring speech about the benefits of trading with Latin America to try and capture the Hispanic vote, the Democratic Party’s community organizing service, Organizing For America, is working around the clock to secure the 29 Florida electoral votes that could define the election. And in a state that, despite going blue in 2008, traditionally votes Republican, their tireless efforts appear to be working.

Because even though polls suggest a Floridian disenchantment with Obama (and therefore a likely Romney victory), their industrious efforts to encourage early voting and casting of absentee ballots have the potential to hinder the race on a local level.

Florida is a complex state. Traditionally, minorities always lean towards the Democratic Party on a national scale, but the Hispanic community here is largely Cuban-American and their reticence towards any sort of appeasement with the Castro regime make them stand in line with the hardline, no-dialogue GOP strategy. Florida also has a high population of white retirees who move to the state for its amicable weather and usually vote conservative. So it’s no surprise that in almost every election the state ends up in color red.

And in a country with no mandatory vote and an Election Day that takes place on a Tuesday instead of a Sunday, it’s in a race as tight as this one that every single vote counts. It was only in 2000 that the sunshine state became the center of global attention after it was clear that the battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore would be defined by the Florida voters. And the importance of an early vote or an absentee ballot is expressed in the urgency of the volunteers’

Everyday, from 9 am to 6 pm, hundreds of team leaders meet with a group of local volunteers who have willingly given up hours of their day to describe the process of early voting to area residents or leave a hanger on their door informing the home dwellers of the location of their corresponding polling station.

At the Hialeah North field office in Miami, days-old pizza boxes, half-empty water bottles and discarded cereal bar wrappers join the numbered spreadsheets and Obama placards adorning the place’s computer desks.

It’s busy night at the headquarters, as team leaders are getting ready to distribute the thousands of door hangers that will be left dangling of the doorknobs in the final days of the race. It is one hour after midnight but the place is as energetic as ever. Meetings are being held behind closed doors, with several campaign organizers strategizing their move early in the morning. Some of them have been awake for 20 hours.

As cell phones ring ceaselessly, a penciled sign taped to a column reminds everyone to «please, charge their cell phones» and it is rightly obeyed, as a dozen iPhones rest carelessly on a cobweb of cables on the floor in hopes of sparing anyone the indignity of being unreachable at a crucial moment.

«Where did you live before the campaign?” a staffer asks one of her peers while loading the boxes in a blue van. Their workload and commitment so intense, that it literally means suspending their entire life for as long as they are a part of it.

And it is working.

According to a internal memo sent by an adviser to the Palm Beach, Florida GOP campaign published by The Washington Post on Wednesday, the Democrats «are cleaning their clock,» as Republican early turnout is lower than it was in 2008.

«The early and absentee ballot is now starting to look more troubling. Even if Romney wins the state, the turnout deficit in Palm Beach county will affect our local races,» he warns.

Even a new poll released on Wednesday suggests that Obama and Romney are virtually tied in Florida, and that has the Obama volunteers even more fired up. Like one of the staffers said while sorting out thousands of door hangers by electoral district at 2 in the morning: «There will be plenty of time to sleep on November 7.»

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

France, Britain set stage for EU budget wrangling

Felipe Nov 1, 2012

British Prime Minister David Cameron came under pressure to act tough on the European Union budget and France threatened to use its veto, signalling a divisive start to bargaining over the 1 trillion euro ($1.3 trillion) long-term spending plan.

Wednesday’s warning from Paris echoed a similar threat from Denmark last week, while in London Cameron suffered a humiliating defeat in parliament by Conservative rebels determined to push him to take a hard line over Europe, an issue that has long divided his party.

Although the British parliamentary vote is non-binding, mutinous Conservatives said it added force to their demand that Cameron should end his backing for a freeze in EU spending and demand outright cuts.

The French ultimatum was prompted by a proposal to trim farm subsidies – jealously guarded by Paris as the top recipient of such payments – as part of a compromise from the Cypriot EU presidency to cut the 2014-2020 budget by more than 50 billion euros.

Even after the proposed cut, agriculture would remain the largest spending area, with deeper cuts pencilled in for infrastructure investment in the bloc’s poorest regions as well as research.

«We oppose the proposed reduction,» French European Affairs Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement.

«France would not support a multi-annual budget that does not maintain the funds of the common agricultural policy.»

The backlash was also a warning not to cut the proposed farm budget further, after Cyprus said much deeper reductions than those outlined so far would be needed to clinch a deal.

Despite support from Ireland and Austria, France’s position puts it on a collision course with Germany, Britain and other net contributors looking to slash overall spending by 100-200 billion euros.

EU diplomats have warned privately that further cuts are likely to hit agriculture hardest. A Franco-German deal to maintain the nominal level of farm spending served as the basis for agreement on the last long-term EU budget for 2007-2013.

But German deputy foreign minister Michael Link hinted Paris could be fighting a losing battle this time, saying Berlin would continue to press for deeper overall cuts as part of a «modern budget» that prioritises economic growth and competitiveness.

«We don’t think the presidency has found the right emphasis yet,» Link said.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

El asesinato de un jefe de la Fuerza Aérea debilita aún más a la cúpula siria

Felipe Oct 31, 2012

Tras una tregua de cuatro días por la fiesta musulmana del Sacrificio, en un ataque rebelde en un barrio de Damasco del que aún no se conocen muchas precisiones, fue asesinado ayer el general de la Brigada de la Fuerza Aérea de Siria, Adbalá al Jaledi, el principal estratega de aviación en ese país .

La confirmación de la muerte la dio la televisión estatal, que informó que “los terroristas –como denomina el régimen a los rebeldes– mataron a Al Jaledi dentro de su campaña de ataques dirigidos contra los ‘intereses nacionales’”.

El general de Brigada asesinado era un “experto en su disciplina”, estaba casado y tenía cuatro hijos, agregó el canal gubernamental sirio, mientras que la agencia oficial de noticias Sana detalló que un grupo armado disparó al militar “cuando salía de su vehículo” .

Los rebeldes del Ejército Sirio Libre (ESL), que reivindicaron en un comunicado el asesinato , consideraban a Al Jaledi como el responsable de ordenar ataques aéreos previos a grupos rebeldes en las afueras de Damasco.

“El batallón de mártires de Rukneddin, en el marco de las operaciones que el grupo lleva a cabo contra el régimen criminal de Bashar al Assad y de su banda, hemos asesinado el lunes al general-piloto Abdalá al Jaledi, quien estaba encargado de los entrenamientos en la Fuerza Aérea”, según informaron en un comunicado.

“También matamos igualmente al sargento-jefe Ahmad Abdel Haq, quien era uno de los agentes de los servicios de inteligencia de la Fuerza Aérea”, agregó el grupo, que amenazó a “todos los colaboradores del régimen”.

Por su parte, el Observatorio Sirio de Derechos Humanos confirmó ayer que la muerte de Al Jaledi se produjo en el barrio de Roqn el Din, en Damasco.

El asesinato se produjo al final de la tregua de cuatro días propuesta por el enviado especial de la ONU y la Liga Arabe para Siria, Lajdar Brahimi. El régimen y parte de los insurgentes se comprometieron la semana pasada a respetar el alto el fuego, pero desde el inicio de la festividad se sucedieron los bombardeos, atentados y combate s, entre otros actos de violencia.

Los grupos opositores denunciaron que más de 400 personas han muerto entre el viernes pasado y el lunes, cuando finalizó la tregua sin que cesaran los ataques.

Ayer, desde Moscú, Brahimi reconoció que su propuesta de alto el fuego había sido ignorada por las partes y se mostró dispuesto a seguir cooperando “con todos los actores internos y externos para poner fin al conflicto sirio”, que estalló en marzo de 2011 y ha causado más de 27.000 muertos , según Naciones Unidas.

Fuente: Clarìn

Bloomberg: Fire destroyed 80 houses in Queens

Felipe Oct 31, 2012

A fire destroyed 80 houses in Queens during the night, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters during a press conference earlier. He added firefighters managed to rescue near 25 people who were trapped and carry them on a small boat along the flooded streets.

The fire was registered in Breezy Point, a private beach community on the Rockaway barrier island in the New York City borough of Queens.

Bloomberg stated monster storm Sandy killed 10 people in the city and the subway service is unlikely to resume for four to five days.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Obama, Romney put aside campaign for storm relief – for now

Felipe Oct 31, 2012

US President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney on Tuesday briefly put aside their fierce battle for the White House, as they avoided politics to focus on relief efforts after mammoth storm Sandy left millions of citizens struggling to recover.

With a week left in a deadlocked election race, Obama cancelled campaign trips planned for Tuesday and Wednesday to stay in Washington and supervise storm recovery, while Romney held a storm relief event in the swing state of Ohio but ducked most political talk.

The campaign truce was likely to be short-lived.

Romney planned to hit the trail again for rallies in Florida on Wednesday, and Romney’s running mate, US Representative Paul Ryan, and Vice President Joe Biden also added new planned campaign stops as the race heads to a tense finish on Nov. 6.

Obama on Wednesday will visit New Jersey, which along with New York City bore the brunt of the storm, although he was expected to return to campaigning on Thursday for the final sprint to Election Day.

Both candidates have been forced to walk a delicate line, trying to avoid appearing insensitive or crassly political after Sandy inflicted heavy property damage, killed at least 30 people and left millions on the eastern seaboard without power.

Obama held a video conference at the White House on Tuesday with top members of his emergency team and spoke to governors and other officials in storm-damaged areas before visiting the national headquarters of the American Red Cross, where he warned that the risks were «not yet over.»

The president’s crisis leadership got an endorsement from a surprising source: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican and prominent Romney backer who said Obama should get credit for expediting federal aid to the state.

«Cooperation from the president has been outstanding,» Christie told CBS «This Morning,» adding he had spoken to Obama three times, including during a midnight call. «He deserves great credit.»

In Ohio, Romney struck a politics-neutral tone before helping load a rental truck with crates of water and canned goods to be sent to a distribution center in New Jersey.

«We have heavy hearts this morning with all the suffering going on in a major part of our country,» Romney told several hundred people, many of whom came with grocery bags of canned goods and other items that will be shipped to the East Coast.

But politics were not far from the surface at Romney’s event. A campaign video on the former Massachusetts governor’s biography and family life was played to the crowd.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Argentina, Iran meet at UN office to discuss AMIA case

Felipe Oct 30, 2012

Officials from the Argentine and Iranian governments met today in Geneva in their first work session surrounding the case investigating the terrorist attack against the AMIA Jewish community organization in 1994.

Both delegations met for more than two hours in one of the Palais des Nations (UN) office, but the officials remained under secrecy before and after the encounter.

Neither the Argentine envoy nor Iran’s gave declarations to the press over the issues debated in the meeting, and close sources stated that if there is going to be an official statement, it will probably be given in the capital Cities, respectively.

The Argentine delegation was headed by the attorney Angelina Abbona, joined by the Deputy Foreign Minister Eduardo Zuain and ambassador Susana Ruiz Cerruti.

At the end of September, Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman was instructed by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to meet with his Iranian counterpart Alí Akbar Salehi, in order to work towards finding a “legal mechanism” that is compatible with the judicial systems of both nations.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Ecuador pide reunión con canciller británico por salud de Assange

Felipe Oct 25, 2012

«Si se enferma, habrá que elegir entre dos alternativas: tratarlo en la embajada u hospitalizarlo. Es una situación muy seria y puede afectar los derechos de Assange», dijo en las últimas horas el vicecanciller ecuatoriano, Marco Albuja.

El gobierno de Rafael Correa, a través de su canciller, Ricardo Patiño, pidió una reunión con su par británico, William Hague, para dialogar sobre la salud del asilado fundador de Wikileaks, Julián Assange, y dijo confiar en que en torno a ésta no se produzca una situación lamentable.

«He insistido con el gobierno británico, en conversación con el embajador (en Quito), y le he manifestado mi deseo de volverme a reunir con el secretario de Exteriores, William Hague, para tratar este tema», dijo el ministro a periodistas.

Previamente, en una entrevista radial, Patiño manifestó que «ojalá no tengamos que lamentar una situación grave», refiriéndose a una eventual crisis de salud de Assange, quien se encuentra en la embajada de Quito en Londres desde el pasado 19 de junio.

Más temprano, el vicecanciller ecuatoriano, Marco Albuja, declaró a la radio La Voz de Rusia que su gobierno está «muy preocupado» por el australiano de 41 años, quien «adelgazó mucho». «Si se enferma, habrá que elegir entre dos alternativas: tratarlo en la embajada u hospitalizarlo. Es una situación muy seria y puede afectar los derechos de Assange», añadió Albuja.

«No sé exactamente cuál es la situación de salud, estoy llamando para preguntar porque he escuchado de algún problema en la vista, pero no lo puedo confirmar», aseveró.

«Como consecuencia de que el gobierno británico no ha entregado el salvoconducto, la salud de Julian Assange con seguridad está comenzado a minarse y eso es gravísimo, porque suponíamos que el gobierno británico defendía y respetaba los derechos humanos y las leyes internacionales», cuestionó el ministro de Exteriores.

Patiño recordó que ya le había manifestado su preocupación a Hague durante una reunión que mantuvieron en Nueva York el 27 de septiembre.

«Le dije: ‘¿Qué pasa si en algún momento Julian Assange tiene una crisis de salud. Yo voy a tener que sacarlo a un hospital y usted lo va a coger preso cuando ponga un pie fuera de la embajada'», refirió. El ministro contó en septiembre que Hague prometió responder a esa interrogante.

Patiño dijo que Quito ha comenzado a preocuparse «por la falta de respuesta jurídica, ética y humanitaria ante un problema que ellos (el gobierno británico) tienen que resolver». «Tienen todos los argumentos jurídicos para tomar la decisión de ofrecerle el salvoconducto y no lo están haciendo», subrayó.

Assange pidió asilo de Ecuador -obteniéndolo el 16 de agosto- para evitar su extradición a Suecia, que lo reclama por supuestos delitos sexuales.

El activista teme que el fin último sea entregarlo luego a Estados Unidos, donde podría ser condenado a pena de muerte por haber revelado documentos confidenciales de ese país.

Fuente: La Tercera

Berlusconi confirms will not run in 2013 Italy election

Felipe Oct 25, 2012

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi confirmed on Wednesday he would not lead his People of Freedom (PDL) party in next year’s election, ending months of speculation about his political future.

The 76-year-old media magnate said this month he might not stand if withdrawing his candidacy could help centrist and centre-right parties come together to form a «moderate» bloc.

But his statement on Wednesday went further, suggesting that a career in frontline politics that began in 1994 may be coming to an end.

«I will not stand for premier again but I remain at the side of younger people who can play and score goals,» said the owner of AC Milan football club, who quit as prime minister in November last year during a mounting financial crisis.

«I still have good muscles and some good sense but my role will be to give advice.»

The flamboyant Berlusconi, whose reported «bunga bunga» parties won worldwide notoriety, has taken a largely backseat role in politics since he was forced to step down, but he remains the dominant figure within the PDL.

However, his standing with the general public has fallen sharply after an array of sexual and political scandals and an opinion poll last month gave him just 18 percent support, well behind Angelino Alfano, the PDL’s party secretary .

The former justice minister, who celebrates his 42nd birthday next week, is the favourite to take the centre-right into the election, which must be held no later than April.

However Daniela Santanche, a Berlusconi loyalist from the right wing of the party, said she would also run in a primary ballot to select the candidate for prime minister, which Berlusconi suggested could be held on Dec. 16.

Alfano, considered a moderate, has struggled to contain vicious factional infighting in the party. He faces an early test on Sunday with local elections in his home region of Sicily, which has flirted with bankruptcy this year.

His job has been complicated by corruption scandals which have hit centre-right governments in the northern region of Lombardy and in the Lazio region around Rome and further damaged the already dismal image of Italy’s political class.»

Given Berlusconi’s long record of surprises and turnarounds, his statement may still not be the final word, but it was widely welcomed by senior figures in the PDL.

«This move to stand down permits the Italian system as a whole, the government and the political parties, to move forward,» former Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said after the statement.

Berlusconi’s departure may also make it easier for the PDL to form an alliance with centrist forces which have been deeply suspicious of the former premier as well as others such as its estranged former partners in the pro-devolution Northern League.

The financial crisis facing Italy has eased in recent weeks but markets have been watching closely for signs of what government might emerge after technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti stands down.

The political situation remains exceptionally confused, with the main parties unable to agree even on an electoral law that will govern next year’s ballot, but opinion polls suggest the centre-right will struggle.

A survey from the SWG institute last week put PDL support at 14.3 percent, behind the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) on 25.9 and the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo on 21.

Monti, a former European Commissioner often seen as a potential President of the Republic, sought to ease fears of instability after the election, saying Italy’s partners should «please relax».

He said whichever government came after his own would have to respect the commitments Italy had made to the European Union.

Outside Italy Monti is widely perceived to have done a good job since taking over from Berlusconi, but the country remains in deep recession with the economy expected to contract 2.4 percent this year.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

US sues Bank of America over ‘Hustle’ mortgage fraud

Felipe Oct 25, 2012

The United States filed a fraud lawsuit against Bank of America Corp, accusing it of causing taxpayers more than $1 billion of losses by selling thousands of toxic mortgage loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Wednesday’s case, originally brought by a whistleblower, is the US Department of Justice’s first civil fraud lawsuit over mortgage loans sold to the big mortgage financiers, which were bailed out in 2008.

It also compounds the legal problems that Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan faces over the second-largest US bank’s disastrous July 2008 purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp, once the nation’s largest mortgage lender.

According to a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Countrywide in 2007 invented and Bank of America continued a scheme known as the «Hustle» to speed up processing of residential home loans.

Operating under the motto «Loans Move Forward, Never Backward,» mortgage executives tried to eliminate «toll gates» designed to ensure that loans were sound and not tainted by fraud, the government said.

This led to «defect rates» that approached 40 percent, roughly nine times the industry norm, but Countrywide concealed this from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and even awarded bonuses to staff to «rebut» the problems being found, it added.

Defaults and foreclosures soared, yet the bank has resisted buying back many of the defaulted loans from the scheme, which ran through 2009, the government added.

«The fraudulent conduct alleged in today’s complaint was spectacularly brazen in scope,» U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said. «Countrywide and Bank of America made disastrously bad loans and stuck taxpayers with the bill.»

Wednesday’s lawsuit seeks civil fines, as well as triple damages under the federal False Claims Act, which the government has used several times in recent years against Wall Street.

Lawrence Grayson, a bank spokesman, said in response to the lawsuit: «Bank of America has stepped up and acted responsibly to resolve legacy mortgage matters. The claim that we have failed to repurchase loans from Fannie Mae is simply false. At some point, Bank of America can’t be expected to compensate every entity that claims losses that actually were caused by the economic downturn.»

In February, Bank of America agreed to a $1 billion settlement of False Claims Act allegations over home loans submitted for insurance by the Federal Housing Administration, in a case from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, New York.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Obama offers a glimpse of his second-term priorities

Felipe Oct 25, 2012

US President Barack Obama predicted passage of immigration reform and a deficit-reduction deal, offering a fresh glimpse of his second-term agenda as he fights for votes in the final stretch of the tight race for the White House.

In a newspaper interview released on Wednesday ahead of an eight-state campaign blitz that began in Iowa, Obama also suggested Republicans were bolstering his re-election effort by alienating Hispanics ahead of the Nov. 6 vote.

He told the Des Moines Register he was confident that comprehensive immigration reform would be approved next year and predicted he would strike a deal with Republicans in the U.S. Congress within six months to reduce the budget deficit.

He made the comments in an interview with the newspaper’s editors that was originally conducted off the record. After the newspaper complained about the restriction, the White House released a transcript.

«Since this is off the record, I will just be very blunt. Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community,» Obama said in the interview.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney has joined many in his party in taking a tough approach to illegal immigration, a stance that has helped Obama open a substantial lead in polls among Hispanics.

The growing electoral clout of Hispanics, who now comprise 16 percent of the U.S. population, could make a difference in election battleground states like Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Virginia and Ohio.

Two weeks before the election, Obama and Romney are locked in a close battle and are competing furiously for key voting blocs like Hispanics and women.

The effort to win women voters also came to the forefront on Wednesday with a controversy over comments about rape by Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock.

Obama’s campaign moved quickly to link Romney with Mourdock, who said in a debate with Democrat Joe Donnelly on Tuesday that pregnancy caused by rape is «something God intended to happen.»

Obama believed the comment was «outrageous and demeaning to women,» said campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki, adding that she was perplexed Romney would not demand an ad he filmed in support of Mourdock be taken off the air.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Texas executes man for 1991 stabbing-strangulation murder

Felipe Oct 25, 2012

Texas prison officials on Wednesday executed a man for the gruesome 1991 murder of a woman who was stabbed repeatedly with an ice pick and strangled with stereo wire at her Dallas-area apartment, state officials said.

Bobby Lee Hines, 40, was pronounced dead by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, at 6:28 p.m. local time, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Hines, who was 19 at the time of the killing, was staying next door to the victim, Michelle Wendy Haupt, 26, in the apartment of a man who did maintenance work for the complex and had master keys to all the units.

Hours after neighbors heard screaming and other loud noises, Haupt’s body was found just inside the door of her apartment.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Iran says may stop oil sales if sanctions tighten

Felipe Oct 24, 2012

Iran said it would stop oil exports if pressure from Western sanctions got any tighter and it had a «Plan B» contingency strategy to survive without oil revenues.

Western nations led by the United States have imposed tough sanctions on the Islamic Republic this year in an attempt to curb its nuclear program that they say is designed to produce an atomic bomb. Tehran says its nuclear plans are peaceful.

«If sanctions intensify we will stop exporting oil,» Iranian oil minister Rostam Qasemi told reporters in Dubai.

Qasemi’s statement is the latest in a series of threats of retaliation by Tehran in response to the sanctions, which have heightened political tensions across the Middle East and, analysts say, led to a sharp drop in Iranian oil exports.

«We have prepared a plan to run the country without any oil revenues,» Qasemi said, adding, «So far to date we haven’t had any serious problems, but if the sanctions were to be renewed we would go for ‘Plan B’.

«If you continue to add to the sanctions we (will) cut our oil exports to the world.»

Iran has in the past said it could shut the vital shipping lane of Hormuz at the head of the Middle East Gulf, through which much of the region’s seaborne oil exports pass.

Earlier on Tuesday, Qasemi said Iran was still producing 4 million barrels per day (bpd), rejecting reports the country’s output has fallen to around 2.7 million bpd.

According to the latest secondary source estimates published by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Iran pumped just 2.72 bpd in September, and Iran’s own data submitted to OPEC showed the country produced 3.75 million bpd in August.

But Qasemi said Iran was pumping oil at full capacity:

«It is currently 4 million barrels per day,» Qasemi said, declining to give export figures.

«Iran has been facing US sanctions for 30 years while successfully managing its oil sector,» he said.

Qasemi said Iran was now consuming much more of its own oil thanks to a rapidly rising refining capacity.

He said Iran’s refining capacity was now 2 million barrels per day (bpd) with another 200,000 bpd of capacity to be added before the end of Iranian year next March.

The increase in refining capacity had already ended Iran’s need to import vehicle fuel and could soon drive a boom in fuel exports, the minister said.

«Our daily consumption of petrol (gasoline) is 90 million liters … Earlier, a big portion of that was being imported but we no longer import products,» he said.

«Right now, we not only don’t import but we also export some products … there are always customers for Iranian oil.

«By the end of the Iranian year they will reach their maximum capacity and then we can export more Iranian oil products,» he said.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Obama holds narrow edge two weeks ahead of election

Felipe Oct 24, 2012

President Barack Obama pulled slightly ahead of Republican Mitt Romney in a daily tracking poll, but the race remained essentially tied with two weeks to go until the Nov. 6 election.

Obama led Romney among likely voters by a statistically insignificant margin of 1 percentage point, 47 percent to 46 percent. The four-day online tracking poll includes some responses taken after the two candidates’ final televised debate, but the full impact will not register for several days.

Obama maintains a larger advantage in the state-by-state battle that will determine the outcome of the election. Ipsos projects that Obama holds an edge in the most hotly contested states, including Florida, Virginia and Ohio, and is likely to win by a relatively comfortable margin of 332 electoral votes to 206 electoral votes.

The poll has reflected a tight race since shortly after the two candidates met for their first debate on Oct. 3. But a substantial portion of voters remain up for grabs. Roughly 20 percent of those surveyed say they could switch their votes or have not yet made up their minds.

Among the larger pool of registered voters, Obama leads Romney 46 percent to 42 percent.

The accuracy of Reuters/Ipsos online polls are measured using a credibility interval. The survey of 1,030 likely voters has a credibility interval of 3.5 percentage points.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald