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Friday, April 8, 2011

The White House News: Update on Budget Negotiations, Posted by Menelik Zeleke


THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                              April 7, 2011

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON BUDGET TALKS

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

9:33 P.M. EDT

     THE PRESIDENT:  I just completed another meeting with Speaker Boehner and Leader Reid, and I wanted to report again to the American people that we made some additional progress this evening.  I think the staffs of both the House and the Senate, as well as the White House staff, have been working very hard to try to narrow the differences.  We made some progress today.  Those differences have been narrowed.  And so once again the staff is going to be working tonight around the clock in order to see if we can finally close a deal. 

But there is still a few issues that are outstanding.  They’re difficult issues.  They’re important to both sides.  And so I’m not yet prepared to express wild optimism.  But I think we are further along today than we were yesterday.

     I want to reiterate to people why this is so important.  We’re now less than 30 hours away from the government shutting down.  That means, first of all, 800,000 families -- our neighbors, our friends, who are working hard all across the country in a whole variety of functions -- they suddenly are not allowed to come to work.  It also means that they’re not getting a paycheck.  That obviously has a tremendous impact. 

You then have millions more people who end up being impacted because they’re not getting the services from the federal government that are important to them.  So small businesses aren’t seeing their loans processed.  Folks who want to get a mortgage through the FHA may not be able to get it, and obviously that’s not good as weak as this housing market is.  You’ve got people who are trying to get a passport for a trip that they’ve been planning for a long time -- they may not be able to do that.  So millions more people will be significantly inconvenienced; in some ways, they may end up actually seeing money lost or opportunities lost because of a government shutdown. 

And then finally, there’s going to be an effect on the economy overall.  Earlier today one of our nation’s top economists said -- and I’m quoting here -- “The economic damage from a government shutdown would mount very quickly.  And the longer it dragged on, the greater the odds of a renewed recession.”

We’ve been working very hard over the last two years to get this economy back on its feet.  We’ve now seen 13 months of job growth; a hundred -- 1.8 million new jobs.  We had the best report, jobs report, that we’d seen in a very long time just this past Friday.  For us to go backwards because Washington couldn’t get its act together is unacceptable.

So, again:  800,000 federal workers and their families impacted; millions of people who are reliant on government services not getting those services -- businesses, farmers, veterans; and finally, overall impact on the economy that could end up severely hampering our recovery and our ability to put people back to work.

That’s what’s at stake.  That’s why it’s important to the American people.  That’s why I’m expecting that as a consequence of the good work that’s done by our staffs tonight, that we can reach an agreement tomorrow. 

But let me just point out one last thing.  What I’ve said to the Speaker and what I’ve said to Harry Reid is because the machinery of the shutdown is necessarily starting to move, I expect an answer in the morning.  And my hope is, is that I’ll be able to announce to the American people sometime relatively early in the day that a shutdown has been averted, that a deal has been completed that has very meaningful cuts in a wide variety of categories, that helps us move in the direction of living within our means, but preserves our investments in things like education and innovation, research, that are going to be important for our long-term competitiveness. 

That’s what I hope to be able to announce tomorrow.  There’s no certainty yet, but I expect an answer sometime early in the day.

All right.  Thank you very much, everybody.

END                9:38 P.M. EDT

Government Shutdown Showdown


WORLD NEWS LATEST, FRIDAY APRIL 8, 2011, Posted By Meosha Eaton

**TOP STORIES**

JAPAN-

QUAKE
A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.4 shook the northeast of Japan late on Thursday, and a tsunami warning was issued for the coast already devastated by last month's massive quake and the tsunami that crippled a nuclear power plant.

EXPECTED:

JAPAN-EVACUEES/IMPERIAL GARDENS - The Imperial gardens are opened up for the evacuees in Tokyo.

CHINA-AIRPORT FOOD INSPECTION - Hong Kong's Legislative Council Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene conducts a site visit to the Airport Food Inspection Office for members to better understand the inspection of radiation of food products imported from Japan.

JAPAN-CABINET SECRETARY - Japan's chief spokesman Yukio Edano talks twice a day about the latest development in the aftermath of the nation's triple disaster.

JAPAN-NUCLEAR PLANT - Latest from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant where engineers are battling to contain a crippled nuclear reactor.

JAPAN-AFTERSHOCK CLEAN - Major aftershock hits northern Japan. (0332)

JAPAN-STOCK MARKET OPEN - Tokyo stocks open down in morning trade after a strong aftershock hits northern Japan. (0247)

JAPAN-QUAKE/SUPERMARKET MORNING - Memories of previous Japan quake triggers rush on supermarket.

IVORY COAST

IVORY COAST-UNREST French strikes hit Gbagbo forces in Ivory Coast.

EXPECTED:

TBC

IVORY COAST-OUATARRA - Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara asks EU to lift sanctions, announces measures to bring life back to normal and claims incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo is blockaded at his residence. (2314)

USA-IVORY COAST AMBASSADOR - The Ivory Coast ambassador to the United Nations, Youssoufou Bamba and other Ivorian politicians hold a press conference about the situation on the ground in Ivory Coast. (2109)

IVORY COAST-EVACUATION - Journalists are evacuated from the Novotel in Abidjan.

IVORY COAST/FRANCE-EVACUATION/PROTEST - French army evacuates nationals from Abidjan hotel, Gbagbo supporters protest in Paris.

UN-IVORY COAST - U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos reports hundreds of bodies in Ivory Coast.
IVORY COAST-TROOPS/PRISONERS - Hundreds of Gbagbo's men captured by forces loyal to Ouattara.

LIBYA-CONFLICT AND DIPLOMACY - A NATO air strike killed at least five rebels near the Libyan port of Brega on Thursday, medics said, and insurgents reported Muammar Gaddafi's forces killed five more in a bombardment of besieged Misrata.

EXPECTED:

TBC

DELIVERED (in past 12 hours):

4281WD-LIBYA-REBELS NEWSER - Rebel commander says NATO mistakenly hit Libyan rebels. (2042)

4268WD-TURKEY-ERDOGAN/LIBYA - Turkey works on 'roadmap' to end Libya war. (1839)

4243WD-LIBYA-US/WELDON - U.S. ex-Republican in Libya warns Gaddafi time is running out. (1639)

4221WD-USA-GENERAL-LIBYA - Libyan fighting a likely stalemate, top U.S. general says. (1615)

4198WD-LIBYA-REBELS/ROCKETS - Rebels set up rocket launchers east of Ajdabiyah. (1351)

4176WD-LIBYA-REBELS RETREAT - Rebels retreat as Gaddafi forces bomb the entrance to Ajdabiyah. (1233)

4166WD-LIBYA-AIRSTRIKE/WOUNDED/REACTIONS - Rebels blame NATO for Libya air strike; five dead. (1218)

---
BRAZIL

BRAZIL-SHOOTING - A gunman fatally shot 12 people at a Rio de Janeiro school before killing himself, police said.

EXPECTED:

BRAZIL-SHOOTING/LATEST - Rio governor says school gunman planned to kill more students.

BRAZIL-SHOOTING UPDATE - Helicopter ambulances take injured away from school after gunman opens fire and kills 12 people.

BRAZIL-SHOOTING/CLEAN - Brazil gunman kills 12 in Rio school massacre.

----
OTHER STORIES AROUND THE WORLD

OMAN-FRIDAY PROTEST
- Following last week's crack down by police which left one protester dead, Omanis in the city of Sohar, say they will go out again on Friday demanding jobs, better pay and end to arrest of protesters.

----

EGYPT-PRO-REFORM PROTEST
- Large numbers of protesters are expected to gather in Tahrir square to declare their support for the speedy prosecution of ex-regime officials and an end to the longstanding Emergency Law.

----

RUSSIA-GAGARIN DOCUMENTS - New archive documents to be released ahead of the 50th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's first manned flight into space (Apr 12). An exhibition opens at the All-Russian Exhibition Centre (VDNKH) and veteran cosmonauts attend lay wreaths at the Cosmos memorial.

----


NETHERLANDS-KENYA - Three Kenyan suspects are set to appear at the International Criminal Court on day two of the preparatory phase of a trial into the deadly violence that followed Kenya's 2007 election. The trial is set to start trials in 2012. Among the accused are former and current senior government officers including deputy Prime Minister and Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta.

----

KENYA-ICC REACTIONS
- The initial appearance hearing of William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang is scheduled to take place before Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Courtroom I. The hearing is being held in order to verify the identity of the suspects and to ensure that they have been informed of the crimes which they are alleged to have committed as well as of their rights under the Rome Statute, founding treaty of the ICC

Thursday, April 7, 2011

My Africa Channel Television: About Us

My Africa Channel Television: About Us: " Who We Are: My Africa Channel Television (MACTV.TV), is an independent, public television station. Our missions is to deliver intern..."

Republican leads after Wisconsin vote count gaffe, Posted by Meosha Eaton

MADISON, Wis, April 7 (Reuters) - Thousands of uncounted votes have been uncovered in a closely watched Wisconsin Supreme Court election, officials said on Thursday in a move that tilted the contest to the Republican incumbent.

The apparent error, found by a Waukesha County official in a final review of records, gave Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser a net additional 7,582 votes in his statewide race against union-backed challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg.

Prosser had trailed Kloppenburg by 204 votes, according to unofficial results on Wednesday.

Waukesha County is a Republican stronghold.

News of the uncounted votes came as officials throughout Wisconsin were conducting county canvasses, a final review of voting records that allows the state to certify this week's bitterly contested vote.

The Supreme Court contest was widely seen as a referendum on Republican Governor Scott Walker and the controversial curbs on collective bargaining that he and his allies passed in the legislature.

Opponents had portrayed Prosser, a former member of the state assembly, as a proxy for Walker and the anti-union policies that triggered massive protests and 16 recall campaigns targeting lawmakers.

Kathy Nickolaus, the Waukesha County clerk, apologized for the uncounted votes and blamed "human error." She said at a news conference that she had failed to properly save a spreadsheet showing one town's voting results.

"I'm thankful that this error was caught early in the process and during the canvass," Nickolaus said. "The purpose of the canvass is to catch these kinds of errors."

A statewide recount could begin next week. If it happens, it will be the first such recount in Wisconsin in more than 20 years.

To help officials prepare, the state's Government Accountability Board sent out a memo stressing that local officials needed to "maintain all memory device and programming for the April 5, 2011 Spring Election in its original form."

"We are in unprecedented times in many respects," the memo read, "but particularly with regard to a potential statewide recount, which has not occurred since 1989 ... A thorough completion of the County Board of Canvass at this time may reconcile inconsistencies and issues that will likely save you time and effort in the pending recount process."

(Reporting by Jeff Mayers and James B. Kelleher; Editing by Tim Gaynor, Ellen Wulfhorst and Paul Simao)

Obama, Congress struggle to find budget deal, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Obama says aides will work through night to get deal

* Boehner, Reid say differences have narrowed

* Fourth White House meeting in three days

* Midnight Friday deadline looms
* (Updates after Obama, Reid, Boehner talks)

By Richard Cowan and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and congressional leaders failed to reach a deal but narrowed their differences on Thursday in a bitter budget dispute that could lead to a government shutdown.

Obama said negotiators would work all night and he expects an answer on Friday morning on whether it is possible to avoid a government closure at midnight on Friday that would idle hundreds of thousands of workers and potentially put a crimp on the U.S. economic recovery.

He met for an hour with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and the top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker John Boehner at the White House. It was their fourth meeting in three days.

"I'm not prepared to express wild optimism," Obama told reporters after the nighttime meeting, the second night in a row he has made an evening foray into the White House briefing room to talk about the difficult search for a budget deal.

Neither side seemed willing as yet to make the final compromise necessary for an agreement.

"We have narrowed the issues, however, we have not yet reached an agreement. We will continue to work through the night to attempt to resolve our remaining differences," Reid and Boehner said in a joint statement.

Democrats blamed the impasse on a Republican push for policy provisions that would block public funding of birth control and stymie environmental protection efforts.

But Boehner said the divisions did not stop there.

"There are a number of issues that are on the table. And any attempt to try to narrow this down to one or two just would not be accurate," he said.

Their deadline to avoid a shutdown: Midnight on Friday night. Some cable television news broadcasts included a shutdown clock ticking the time down. (Additional reporting by Kim Dixon, Donna Smith, David Alexander, Andy Sullivan, Thomas Ferraro and David Morgan; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Vicki Allen and Deborah Charles)

Obama, Congress leaders do not reach US budget deal, Posted by Meosha Eaton

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and U.S. congressional leaders have "narrowed their differences" but have not reached a budget deal aimed at averting a government shutdown, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said on Thursday.

Their statement came following an 80-minute meeting at the White House with Obama.

"We will continue to work through the night to attempt to resolve our remaining differences," the two leaders said in a statement. (Reporting by Richard Cowan and Kim Dixon; Editing by Eric Beech)

French Troops attack Coted'ivore as Laurent Gbabo stays put.


Shutdown looms as GOP extends room for negotiations by a week


Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Govt Shutdown: Republicans Propose Another Short Term Budget, Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Williams Ekanem for MACTV NEWS


Speaker of the United States House of Representative, John Boehner in a last minute effort to forestall government shut down on Friday is proposing another short term budget of one week during which talks continue on cuts on the budget.

Addressing Congressional Correspondents on Wednesday, the Speaker said that, “we’re going to be prepared to move forward with our troop funding bill that would fund our troops, keep the government open for another week, and cut $12 billion in spending.”

According to him, “ I think this is the responsible thing to do for the United States Congress, and I would hope the Senate could pass it and the president would sign it into law,” Boehner said. “Republicans have no interest in shutting down the government.

Shutting down the government I think is irresponsible and I think it’ll end up costing the American taxpayers more money than we’re already spending. And I believe that our members want to support our troops, want to pay our troops, and we’re going to do the responsible thing tomorrow.”

How far this can will remain to be seen as only the previous day President Obama was very emphatic that he is not ready to sign another short term budget.
Responding to question of another short term budget, the President responded on Tuesday this way, “We did it once for two weeks, then we did another one for three weeks. That is not a way to run a government. I can’t have our agencies making plans based on two-week budgets. I can’t have the Defense Department, I can’t have the State Department, I can’t have our various agencies on food safety and making sure our water is clean and making sure that our airports are functioning, I can’t have them making decisions based on two-week-at-a-time budgets.”

In the same vein, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated that there is not an appetite for another short-term CR, particularly one that cuts $12 billion in one week, rather than the $2 billion pace of the two previous short-term stopgap measures.
When asked Tuesday if the GOP’s short-term CR would be “dead on arrival” Reid, D-Nevada, replied, “Oh sure, absolutely.”

But with stiff opposition to another short-term CR in the Senate, a shutdown now appears closer than ever if Congressional leaders are unable to reach a long-term deal.

All this is happening less than three days away from a government shutdown.

Ethiopia exports up 48 pct in 8 months to March - PM, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Coffee exporter targets $3 bln for 2010/2011

* Meles sees growth for year at projected levels


By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, April 5 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's exports rose 48 percent in the eight months to March, its prime minister said, rallying after Africa's biggest coffee exporter missed its revenue target in first-half 2010/11.

Though still one of the world's poorest nations, Ethiopia has posted double-digit growth rates for six consecutive years, according to government figures, making it Africa's fastest growing non-oil producer.

The country targets $939.5 million in coffee exports this year, nearly double the $528 million it earned during the 2009/2010 fiscal year.

Ethiopia devalued its birr currency by 16.7 percent in September last year to bolster competitiveness, the fourth such move since 2009.

Zenawi said last month that the devaluation had boosted exports in the past six months and helped narrow the country's burgeoning trade gap, although analysts have expressed concern the devaluation may risk importing inflation.

Officials had set a goal of $1.29 billion in revenue for the first half of the financial year (July-Dec), but its earnings by the end of that period met 86 percent of that at $1.11 billion.

The country set a target of $3 billion in revenue this year after a resurgence of coffee sales and diversification into new commodities earned $2 billion in the previous fiscal year (July-June).

"Exports increased by 48 percent," Meles Zenawi told parliament on Tuesday, in an eight-month performance update. "Agricultural output grew by 12.57 percent."

He said the economy was expected to grow by 11.2 percent this year, in line with projections.

Meles told Reuters in November the economy would grow at between the 11 percent predicted by his finance ministry and 15 percent.

Authorities reject claims from the opposition and some foreign analysts that it inflates growth figures to attract investment. (Editing by Ruth Pitchford' Ron Askew)

Japan stops nuclear plant leak; crisis far from over, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Liquid glass seals ground, stops leaks

* Nuclear crisis far from under control

* Fisherman angry over contaminated water being pumped into sea

* Vast sea to dilute radioactive water - expert (Updates with cumulative radiation concerns, angry fishermen)

By Shinichi Saoshiro and Yoko Nishikawa

TOKYO, April 6 (Reuters) - Japan stopped highly radioactive water leaking into the sea on Wednesday from a crippled nuclear plant and acknowledged it could have given more information to neighbouring countries about contamination in the ocean.

Despite the breakthrough in plugging the leak at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, engineers need to pump 11.5 million litres (11,500 tonnes) of contaminated water back into the ocean because they have run out of storage space at the facility. The water was used to cool over-heated fuel rods.

Nuclear experts said the damaged reactors were far from being under control almost a month after they were hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said it had stemmed the leak using liquid glass at one of the plants six reactors.

"The leaks were slowed yesterday after we injected a mixture of liquid glass and a hardening agent and it has now stopped," a TEPCO spokesman told Reuters.

Engineers had been struggling to stop leaks from reactor No. 2, even using sawdust and newspapers.

Neighbours South Korea and China are getting concerned about the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, and the radioactive water being pumped into the sea, newspapers reported.

"We are instructing the trade and foreign ministries to work better together so that detailed explanations are supplied especially to neighbouring countries," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.


Experts insisted the low-level radioactive water to be pumped into the ocean posed no health hazard to people.

"The original amount of radioactivity is very low, and when you dilute this with a huge body of water, the final levels will be even lower than legal limits," said Pradip Deb, senior lecturer in Medical Radiations at the School of Medical Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University.

The government is preparing to revise guidelines for legal radiation levels, designed for brief exposure to high levels of radiation in emergencies and not cumulative absorption, for people living near the damaged plant.

Workers are struggling to restart cooling pumps -- which recycle the water -- in four damaged reactors.

Until those are fixed, they must pump in water to prevent overheating and meltdowns, but have run out of storage capacity for the seawater when it becomes contaminated.

Radioactive iodine detected in the sea has been recorded at 4,800 times the legal limit, but has since fallen to about 600 times the limit. The water remaining in the reactors has radiation five million times legal limits.

"What they are going to have to release is likely to be highly radioactive. The situation could politically be very ugly in a week," said Murray Jennex at San Diego State University, who specialises in nuclear containment.

Japan's fishermen, who are part of the politically powerful agriculatural lobby, made it clear they were not assuaged by assurances that ocean radioactivity levels were low and safe.

"(The release of radioactive water into the sea) is unforgivable in any circumstance," Ikuhiro Hattori, chairman of the Japan Fisheries Cooperatives, told NHK state television.

"From now on, our fishermen will never cooperate with or accept nuclear power generation. I would like them to stop even those reactors that are now in operation right away."


COOLING REACTORS KEY

Japan is facing its worst crisis since World War Two after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami left nearly 28,000 people dead or missing and thousands homeless, and rocked the world's third-largest economy.

It will likely take months to finally cool down the reactors and years to dismantle those that have been damaged. TEPCO has said it will decommission four of the six reactors.

An opposition lawmaker from Fukushima told reporters antipathy in the area would make it difficult to resume operations at the nearby Fukushima Daini plant, where operations have been halted since March 11.

The two Fukushima plants together provide four percent of Japan's electric power. [ID:nTKB007431]

"Nuclear power plants can run only with local consent. I see it as being quite difficult to resume operations," said Masayoshi Yoshino of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Concerned over a possible buildup of hydrogen gas in reactor No. 1, engineers will inject nitrogen gas into the reactor on Wednesday night to prevent an explosion, TEPCO said.

Hydrogen explosions ripped through reactors 1 and 3 early in the crisis, spreading high levels of radiation into the air.

The key to bringing the reactors under control is the extent of damage to the plant's cooling system, said analysts.

In a sign the cooling systems may be severely damaged, the Sankei newspaper reported that the government and TEPCO were considering building new cooling systems for three reactors to operate from outside the reactor buildings.

"To put the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe in perspective, Chernobyl involved a single operating reactor core," said Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear, a U.S. radioactive waste watchdog.

"Fukushima Daiichi now involves three reactors in various stages of meltdown and containment breach, and multiple (spent fuel storage) pools at risk of fire," said Kamps.

Kamps said the spent fuel rod pools, which are on the roof of the damaged reactors, alone have more irradiated nuclear fuel than that which exploded and burned at Chernobyl. ($1=84 Japanese yen) (Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo, Scott DiSavino in New York and Tan Ee Lyn in Singapore; Writing by Michael Perry and Paul Eckert; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Robert Birsel)

Kenya To Get New Envoy


Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Obama says, "We Have Agreed to $73b Cut", Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Williams Ekanem for MACTV News

As fear of a government shut down looms in Washington D.C., President Barack Obama says the White House and Democrats have agreed to a $73billion cut originally proposed by Speaker Boehner.
Addressing White House Correspondents on the outcome of the meeting between Republican and Democratic leadership at the White House, Obama pointed out that, “the only question is whether politics or ideology are going to get in the way of preventing a government shutdown.”

Giving details of the tripartite meeting, Obama said, “Speaker Boehner, Chairman Rogers, the Republican appropriations chairman -- their original budget proposed $73 billion in cuts. We have now agreed to $73 billion worth of cuts. What they are now saying is, well, we’re not sure that every single one of the cuts that you’ve made are ones that we agree to; we’d rather have these cuts rather than that cut. That’s not the basis for shutting down the government.

We should be able to come up with a compromise in which nobody gets 100 percent of what they want, but the American people get the peace of mind in knowing that folks here in Washington are actually thinking about them -- because they’re going through a whole lot of struggles right now.”
Responding to question of another short term budget, the President responded this way, “We did it once for two weeks, then we did another one for three weeks.

That is not a way to run a government. I can’t have our agencies making plans based on two-week budgets. I can’t have the Defense Department, I can’t have the State Department, I can’t have our various agencies on food safety and making sure our water is clean and making sure that our airports are functioning, I can’t have them making decisions based on two-week-at-a-time budgets.”

On the implication of all these on the American people, the President stated that at a time when the economy is just beginning to grow, where we’re just starting to see a pickup in employment, the last thing we need is a disruption that’s caused by a government shutdown. Not to mention all the people who depend on government services, whether you’re a veteran or you’re somebody who’s trying to get a passport or you’re planning to visit one of the national monuments or you’re a business leader who’s trying to get a small business loan. You don’t want delays, you don’t want disruptions just because of usual politics in Washington.

Pointing out that he is not ready to blame anyone in case of a government shut down, Obama said thw white House is ready to reconvene the meeting until a solution is arrived at.

According to him, “t right now we’ve got some business in front of us that needs to be done, and that is making sure that we are cutting spending in a significant way, but we’re doing it with a scalpel instead of a machete to make sure that we can still make investments in education; we can still make investments in infrastructure; we can still make investments what put the American people back to work and build our economy for the long term.”

Obama Regrets UN, French Military Action in Cote d’ Ivoire, Posted by Meosha Eaton


By Williams Ekanem for MACTV News

President Barack Obama on Tuesday reacted over the military action by the United Nations and French forces in Cote  d’Ivoire regretting that “the violence that we are seeing could have been averted had Laurent Gbagbo respected the results of last year’s presidential election.”

In a statement made available to MAC.TV, President Obama said that "the people of Cote D’Ivoire have suffered too much throughout this period of unrest,” and pointed out that, “to end this violence and prevent more bloodshed, former President Gbagbo must stand down immediately, and direct those who are fighting on his behalf to lay down their arms."

According to the President of the United States, to end this violence and prevent more bloodshed, former President Gbagbo must stand down immediately, and direct those who are fighting on his behalf to lay down their arms.

While commending Quattara’s pledge to ensure accountability for those who have carried out attacks against civilians, Obama the United States will continue to support a future in which Laurent Gbagbo stands down, and President Outarra and the government of Cote D’Ivoire can move beyond this current crisis and serve all of the Ivorian people. 

 According to the President, the United States joins with the international community in our deep concern about reports of massacres in the western region of the country, and the dangers faced by innocent civilians – particularly the most vulnerable, and all parties must show restraint and respect the rights of the Ivorian people.

 French and UN soldiers were engaged in operations in Abidjan Monday to "neutralize" weapons used against civilians by fighters for Côte d’Ivoire strongman Laurent Gbagbo, the French government said.

Under the auspices of UN Security Council resolution 1975, the troops "have engaged in actions aimed at neutralizing heavy arms used against civilians and UN personnel in Abidjan," said a presidency statement.

The objectives of the military action was not outlined in further detail.
"The secretary general of the United Nations, [Ban Ki-moon] requested the support of French forces in these operations," said the statement.

"The president of the [French] Republic [Nicolas Sarkozy] responded positively to this request, and authorized French forces... to participate in operations conducted by ONUCI (the UN mission in Ivory Coast) aimed at protecting civilians."

"France calls for the immediate cessation of all violence against civilians. The perpetrators of these crimes must be brought to justice," said the presidency.

MACTV NEWS

Obama 2012 Re-election bid


Gbagbo negotiating exit from Ivory Coast, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Gbagbo negotiating exit, spokesman says

* France says crisis over in hours

* Fighting in Abidjan eases after days of heavy firing

* Gbagbo troops to surrender arms to UN

(Adds Gbagbo troops to surrender arms to UN, Gbagbo spox)

By Tim Cocks and Ange Aboa

ABIDJAN, April 5 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo was negotiating the terms of his departure from power on Tuesday following a fierce assault by forces loyal to his presidential rival backed by U.N. and French helicopter airstrikes.

France said it expected a swift exit by Gbagbo, who had clung to power since refusing to concede he lost last November's presidential election to Alassane Ouattara, plunging the world's top cocoa-growing nation into renewed civil war.

"We are on the brink of convincing him to leave power," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told parliament in Paris.

A Gbagbo spokesman said the incumbent was negotiating the terms of his departure based on the recognition of Ouattara as president. The spokesman said the negotiations covered security guarantees for Gbagbo and his relatives.

"If everything goes well, we will have a declaration soon," Ahoua Don Mello told Reuters.

Ouattara was said to be Abidjan, with some media reports saying he was in a bunker below his residence.

Gbagbo's forces called for a ceasefire after being comprehensively outgunned in the end, and French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said the West African country's crisis could soon be over.

"We are in a situation where everything could be resolved in the next few hours," Longuet told a news conference.

U.S. President Barack Obama called on Gbagbo to stand down immediately and order his fighters to lay down their arms.

The United Nations mission in the country said Gbagbo's army chiefs had asked their men surrender their arms to U.N. forces and seek protection.

Over the past week, forces loyal to Ouattara had launched a major assault on Gbagbo's last strongholds in Abidjan, driving home their campaign to oust him.

A Reuters eyewitness said on Tuesday that calm had returned to the area surrounding the presidential palace after days of fierce machinegun and heavy weapons fire.

The U.N. peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast, supported by the French military, had targeted Gbagbo's heavy weapons capabilities on Monday with attack helicopters after civilians were killed in shelling.

Attacks centred on military bases in the city, but also on rocket launchers "very close" to Gbagbo's Cocody residence, U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said on Monday. "It looks like Gbagbo is trying to negotiate his way out. What he can offer is another matter ... his negotiating position is much weaker than a couple of weeks ago," said Hannah Koep, Ivory Coast analyst at London-based consultancy Control Risks.

The conflict pushed cocoa prices lower on Tuesday as dealers bet on a swift end to Gbagbo's rule and a resumption of exports. The country's defaulted $2.3 billion Eurobond rose as the assault raised expectations for repayment.

FINAL ASSAULT

In the north of Abidjan, bullet-riddled bodies lay by the side of the main motorway near the largely pro-Gbagbo neighbourhood of Yopougon, evidence of recent fighting between Ouattara and Gbagbo forces, a Reuters witness said.

An armoured personnel carrier was pushed across the roadway, still in flames, and residents who had emerged from their houses to find water said they had heard machinegun and heavy weapons fire through the night.

The United Nations human rights office in Geneva on Tuesday expressed concern over the killings of dozens of civilians in Abidjan, amid reports of heavy weapons used in populated areas.

Gbagbo has defied international pressure to give up the presidency after an election last November that U.N.-certified results showed Ouattara won, rejecting the results as fraudulent and accusing the United Nations of bias.

More than 1,500 people are reported to have died in the standoff that has rekindled the country's 2002-3 civil war, though the real toll is likely much higher.

Several thousand pro-Ouattara fighters had entered Abidjan from the north on Monday in a convoy of transporters, pick-ups mounted with machineguns, and 4x4s loaded with fighters bearing AK-47s and rocket launchers -- in a "final assault".

(Additional reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly and Mark John in Abidjan, Carolyn Cohn in London, and John Irish, Catherine Bremer and Vicky Buffery in Paris; Writing by Richard Valdmanis and Bate Felix; editing by Giles Elgood)

Nigeria's Elections Postponed


Monday, April 4, 2011

Obama kicks off 2012 U.S. re-election campaign, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* His campaign expected to raise unprecedented $1 billion

* Early polls show Obama ahead of Republican challengers

* Obama's announcement follows hopeful U.S. economic data (Recasts, adds details)

By Jeff Mason and Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama launched his bid for re-election in 2012 on Monday, capitalizing on better news on the economy and pushing ahead of Republicans who are struggling to find a candidate.

Obama, a Democrat who won a sweeping victory over Republican Senator John McCain in 2008 with a message of change, said in a low-key email to supporters that he was filing papers to start his re-election bid in a formal way.

"So even though I'm focused on the job you elected me to do, and the race may not reach full speed for a year or more, the work of laying the foundation for our campaign must start today," he said in the email.

He said he needed to begin mobilizing for his re-election even though it is not yet time for him to begin "campaigning in earnest."

Obama has the luxury of ramping up his campaign slowly, in part because the field of Republicans who will vie to challenge him has yet to take shape. The Obama campaign is expected to raise an unprecedented $1 billion.

Several Republicans, including former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, are laying the groundwork for their own campaigns but none of them has formally announced a candidacy.

Early polls show Obama leading potential Republican rivals. The first scheduled debate of the Republican nominating race was postponed last week from May until September because of a lack of candidates.

Reacting to Obama's announcement, Pawlenty released a 35-second video of his own highlighting high unemployment, weakness in the housing market and surging federal debt.

"How can America win the future, when we're losing the present?" Pawlenty asks in the video. "In order for America to take a new direction, it's going to take a new president."

The state of the economy, which is now growing but faces headwinds from rising oil prices and uncertainty in the global outlook, is likely to be pivotal in the campaign.

The White House received hopeful news on the economy on Friday when data showed that the U.S. unemployment rate fell in March to 8.8 percent. The figure is still high but it is a two-year low, as employers boosted their payrolls by a solid 216,000.

The ongoing budget fight with Republican lawmakers could be a key issue in the election debate.

The White House and lawmakers are struggling to hammer out details of a compromise measure to fund the government for the rest of this year. It would cut spending by $33 billion.

If the two parties cannot find common ground, it could force a government shutdown that the White House fears could harm the economy just as it is starting to improve.

OBAMA'S MESSAGE

Obama's announcement comes as he has focused his message recently on reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil and investing in innovation and education -- themes he likely will highlight in his bid to hold on to the White House next year.

Obama also has defended the U.S. military intervention in Libya that is supported by most Americans, according to polls.

Republicans say Obama's policies to boost the economy and expand healthcare coverage are too expensive. They are pressing Democrats to make deep spending cuts to shrink the U.S. deficit, another issue that could play a crucial role in the campaign.

Obama's main legislative victories as president were securing an overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system and financial regulation in 2010.

Obama's campaign will be run by Jim Messina, a former White House deputy chief of staff. He will lead the operation out of the president's hometown of Chicago with the help of veterans of the 2008 campaign such as close Obama adviser David Axelrod.

The president has already started fundraising for Democrats in recent weeks. Filing papers with the Federal Election Commission will allow Obama to fill his own campaign coffers directly as well.

Obama's email, which closed with a button labeled "donate" that linked to his campaign website, said his 2012 bid would have to be more innovative than his successful 2008 organization.

A two-minute, 10-second video on the site, titled "It Begins With Us," features supporters from around the country discussing the Democratic president and the state of the nation. But Obama is not shown or heard.

(Additional reporting by Bill Trott)

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Gaddafi envoy in Greece; Turkey rescues wounded, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Libyan envoy in Athens with message from Gaddafi

* Fighting still stalemated in oil town of Brega

* Turkish ship evacuates wounded from Misrata

By Maria Golovnina

TRIPOLI, April 3 (Reuters) - The Libyan government sent an envoy to Greece on Sunday to discuss an end to fighting, but gave no sign of any major climbdown in a war that has ground to a stalemate between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi flew to Athens carrying a personal message from Gaddafi to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou that Libya wanted the fighting to end, a Greek government official told Reuters.

"It seems that the Libyan authorities are seeking a solution," Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas told reporters.

But there was no indication on what Tripoli might be ready to offer -- beyond a willingness to negotiate -- to end a war that has become bogged down on a frontline in the eastern oil town of Brega, while leaving civilians trapped by Gaddafi's forces in the west.

Underlining the plight of civilians in western Libya, a Turkish ship that sailed into the besieged city of Misrata to rescue some 250 wounded had to leave in a hurry after crowds pressed forward on the dockside hoping to escape.

"It's a very hard situation ... We had to leave early," said Turkish consular official Ali Akin after the ship stopped to pick up more wounded in the eastern rebel stronghold Benghazi.

Turkey's foreign minister ordered the ship into Misrata after it spent four days waiting in vain for permission to dock.

It arrived under cover from 10 Turkish air force F-16 fighter planes and two navy frigates, Akin told Reuters.

The U.N.-mandated military intervention that began on March 19 was meant to protect civilians caught up in fighting between Gaddafi's forces and the rebels.

STALEMATE IN BREGA

Neither Gaddafi's troops nor the disorganised rebel force have been able to gain the upper hand on the frontline in eastern Libya, despite Western air power in effect aiding the insurgents.

After chasing each other up and down the coastal road linking the oil ports of eastern Libya with Gaddafi's tribal heartland further west, both sides have become bogged down in Brega, a sparsely populated settlement spread over more than 25 km (15 miles).

Yet Western countries, wary of becoming too entangled in another war after campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, have ruled out sending ground troops to help the rebels.

The United States, which has handed over command of the operation to NATO, said it had agreed to extend the use of its strike aircraft into Monday because of poor weather last week.

But it has stressed its desire to end its own involvement in combat missions, and shift instead to a support role in areas such as surveillance, electronic warfare and refuelling.

The combination of stalemate on the frontline and the plight of civilians caught in fighting or facing food and fuel shortages has prompted a flurry of diplomatic contacts to find a way out.

Greece said Obeidi would travel to Malta and Turkey after his talks in Greece, which has enjoyed good relations with Gaddafi for a number of years.

Papandreou had been talking by phone with officials in Tripoli as well as the leaders of Qatar, Turkey and Britain over the last two days.

One diplomat cautioned, however, that any diplomatic compromise -- for example one in which Gaddafi handed over power to one of his sons -- could lead to the partition of Libya.

That was a possibility ruled out by western countries before the air strikes were launched.

"Various scenarios are being discussed," said the diplomat. "Everyone wants a quick solution."

The rebels, meanwhile, are working to impose discipline among the ranks of their many inexperienced volunteers in order to not only hold their positions but push forward.

If there were eventually to be a ceasefire leading to the partition of Libya, control of revenues from the oil ports, including Brega and Ras Lanuf to the west, would be crucial.

The rebels named a "crisis team" with Gaddafi's former interior minister as their armed forces chief of staff, and attempted to stiffen their enthusiastic but untrained volunteer army by putting professional soldiers at its head.

"We are reorganising our ranks. We have formed our first brigade. It is entirely formed from ex-military defectors and people who've come back from retirement," former air force major Jalid al-Libie told Reuters in Benghazi.

Outside Brega, better rebel discipline was already in evidence on Sunday. The volunteers, and journalists, were being several kilometres (miles) east of the front.

Without a backbone of regular forces, the lightly-armed volunteer caravan has spent days dashing back and forth along the coast road on Brega's outskirts, scrambling away in pick-ups when Gaddafi's forces attack with rockets.

SHELLING IN MISRATA

In the west, Gaddafi's forces continued to besiege Misrata, shelling a building that had been used to treat wounded, a resident said, killing one person and wounding more.

Misrata, Libya's third city, rose up with other towns against Gaddafi's rule in mid-February, but it is now surrounded by government troops after a violent crackdown put an end to most protests elsewhere in the west of the country.

"It is very, very bad. In my street, Gaddafi bombed us," said Ibrahim al-Aradi, 26, one of the evacuees on board the Turkish ship that brought the wounded from Misrata.

"We have no water, no electricity. We don't have medicine. There are snipers everywhere," he told Reuters.

After weeks of shelling and encirclement, Gaddafi's forces appear to be gradually loosening the rebels' hold on Misrata. Rebels say they still control the city centre and the port, but government troops are pressing in.

Accounts from Misrata cannot be independently verified because Libyan authorities are not allowing journalists to report freely from the city, 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli.

Gaddafi's troops are also mopping up resistance in the mountainous southwest of Tripoli.

Government forces shelled the small town of Yafran, southwest of the capital on Sunday, killing two people, Arabiya television reported, quoting a witness.

They also shelled the city of Zintan, about 160 km (100 miles) southwest of the capital, a resident said.

"Gaddafi's brigades bombarded Zintan with tanks in the early hours on Sunday. There has been random bombardment of the northern area (of Zintan). They are still besieging the town," the resident, called Abdulrahman, told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou in Athens, Alexander Dziadosz in Brega, Angus MacSwan in Benghazi, Christian Lowe in Algiers, Tom Pfeiffer in Cairo, Joseph Nasr in Berlin, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels; Writing by Myra MacDonald; Editing by Kevin Liffey)