TEXT-President Obama's State of the Union address, Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Reuters Worldwide

Now, we have made great strides over the last two years in using technology and getting rid of waste. Veterans can now download their electronic medical records with a click of the mouse. We're selling acres of federal office space that hasn't been used in years, and we will cut through red tape to get rid of more. But we need to think bigger. In the coming months, my administration will develop a proposal to merge, consolidate, and reorganize the federal government in a way that best serves the goal of a more competitive America. I will submit that proposal to Congress for a vote - and we will push to get it passed. In the coming year, we will also work to rebuild people's faith in the institution of government. Because you deserve to know exactly how and where your tax dollars are being spent, you will be able to go to a website and get that information for the very first time in history. Because you deserve to know when your elected officials are meeting with lobbyists, I ask Congress to do what the White House has already done: put that information online. And because the American people deserve to know that special interests aren't larding up legislation with pet projects, both parties in Congress should know this: if a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it. A 21st century government that's open and competent. A government that lives within its means. An economy that's driven by new skills and ideas. Our success in this new and changing world will require reform, responsibility, and innovation. It will also require us to approach that world with a new level of engagement in our foreign affairs. Just as jobs and businesses can now race across borders, so can new threats and new challenges. No single wall separates East and West; no one rival superpower is aligned against us. And so we must defeat determined enemies wherever they are, and build coalitions that cut across lines of region and race and religion. America's moral example must always shine for all who yearn for freedom, justice, and dignity. And because we have begun this work, tonight we can say that American leadership has been renewed and America's standing has been restored. Look to Iraq, where nearly 100,000 of our brave men and women have left with their heads held high; where American combat patrols have ended; violence has come down; and a new government has been formed. This year, our civilians will forge a lasting partnership with the Iraqi people, while we finish the job of bringing our troops out of Iraq. America's commitment has been kept; the Iraq War is coming to an end. Of course, as we speak, al Qaeda and their affiliates continue to plan attacks against us. Thanks to our intelligence and law enforcement professionals, we are disrupting plots and securing our cities and skies. And as extremists try to inspire acts of violence within our borders, we are responding with the strength of our communities, with respect for the rule of law, and with the conviction that American Muslims are a part of our American family. We have also taken the fight to al Qaeda and their allies abroad. In Afghanistan, our troops have taken Taliban strongholds and trained Afghan Security Forces. Our purpose is clear - by preventing the Taliban from reestablishing a stranglehold over the Afghan people, we will deny al Qaeda the safe-haven that served as a launching pad for 9/11. Thanks to our heroic troops and civilians, fewer Afghans are under the control of the insurgency. There will be tough fighting ahead, and the Afghan government will need to deliver better governance. But we are strengthening the capacity of the Afghan people and building an enduring partnership with them. This year, we will work with nearly 50 countries to begin a transition to an Afghan lead. And this July, we will begin to bring our troops home. In Pakistan, al Qaeda's leadership is under more pressure than at any point since 2001. Their leaders and operatives are being removed from the battlefield. Their safe-havens are shrinking. And we have sent a message from the Afghan border to the Arabian Peninsula to all parts of the globe: we will not relent, we will not waver, and we will defeat you. American leadership can also be seen in the effort to secure the worst weapons of war. Because Republicans and Democrats approved the New START Treaty, far fewer nuclear weapons and launchers will be deployed. Because we rallied the world, nuclear materials are being locked down on every continent so they never fall into the hands of terrorists. Because of a diplomatic effort to insist that Iran meet its obligations, the Iranian government now faces tougher and tighter sanctions than ever before. And on the Korean peninsula, we stand with our ally South Korea, and insist that North Korea keeps its commitment to abandon nuclear weapons. This is just a part of how we are shaping a world that favors peace and prosperity. With our European allies, we revitalized NATO, and increased our cooperation on everything from counter-terrorism to missile defense. We have reset our relationship with Russia, strengthened Asian alliances, and built new partnerships with nations like India. This March, I will travel to Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador to forge new alliances for progress in the Americas. Around the globe, we are standing with those who take responsibility - helping farmers grow more food; supporting doctors who care for the sick; and combating the corruption that can rot a society and rob people of opportunity. Recent events have shown us that what sets us apart must not just be our power - it must be the purpose behind it. In South Sudan - with our assistance - the people were finally able to vote for independence after years of war. Thousands lined up before dawn. People danced in the streets. One man who lost four of his brothers at war summed up the scene around him: "This was a battlefield for most of my life. Now we want to be free." We saw that same desire to be free in Tunisia, where the will of the people proved more powerful than the writ of a dictator. And tonight, let us be clear: the United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia, and supports the democratic aspirations of all people.

HIGHLIGHTS-President Obama's State of the Union speech, Posted by Meosha Eaton

WASHINGTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Following are highlights
from prepared remarks for U.S. President Barack Obama's State
of the Union speech, released by the White House. Obama was to
speak to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening.

    HEALTH CARE
    I've heard rumors that a few of you have some concerns
about the new health care law. So let me be the first to say
that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to
improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am
eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a
flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary
bookkeeping burden on small businesses.
    FREEZE ON SPENDING
    I am proposing that starting this year, we freeze annual
domestic spending for the next five years. This would reduce
the deficit by more than $400 billion over the next decade, and
will bring discretionary spending to the lowest share of our
economy since Dwight Eisenhower was president.
    ENDING LOOPHOLES, LOWERING TAXES
    So tonight, I'm asking Democrats and Republicans to
simplify the system. Get rid of the loopholes. Level the
playing field. And use the savings to lower the corporate tax
rate for the first time in 25 years -- without adding to our
deficit.
    ON BIPARTISAN DEFICIT COMMISSION   Most of the cuts and savings I've proposed only address
annual domestic spending, which represents a little more than
12 percent of our budget. To make further progress, we have to
stop pretending that cutting this kind of spending alone will
be enough. It won't.
   The bipartisan Fiscal Commission I created last year made
this crystal clear. I don't agree with all their proposals, but
they made important progress. And their conclusion is that the
only way to tackle our deficit is to cut excessive spending
wherever we find it - in domestic spending, defense spending,
health care spending, and spending through tax breaks and
loopholes.
    CLEAN ENERGY PUSH
    Now, clean energy breakthroughs will only translate into
clean energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market for
what they're selling. So tonight, I challenge you to join me in
setting a new goal: by 2035, 80 percent of America's
electricity will come from clean energy sources. Some folks
want wind and solar. Others want nuclear, clean coal, and
natural gas. To meet this goal, we will need them all - and I
urge Democrats and Republicans to work together to make it
happen.
    IRAN, NORTH KOREA
    Because of a diplomatic effort to insist that Iran meet its
obligations, the Iranian government now faces tougher and
tighter sanctions than ever before. And on the Korean
peninsula, we stand with our ally South Korea, and insist that
North Korea keeps its commitment to abandon nuclear weapons.
    TURMOIL IN TUNISIA
    We saw that same desire to be free in Tunisia, where the
will of the people proved more powerful than the writ of a
dictator. And tonight, let us be clear: the United States of
America stands with the people of Tunisia, and supports the
democratic aspirations of all people.
    BRAZIL TRIP, FOREIGN RELATIONS
    We have reset our relationship with Russia, strengthened
Asian alliances, and built new partnerships with nations like
India. This March, I will travel to Brazil, Chile, and El
Salvador to forge new alliances for progress in the Americas.
    WIRELESS POLICY
    Within the next five years, we will make it possible for
business to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless
coverage to 98 percent of all Americans. This isn't just about
a faster internet and fewer dropped calls. It's about
connecting every part of America to the digital age.
    END TO OIL COMPANY TAX SUBSIDIES
    With more research and incentives, we can break our
dependence on oil with biofuels, and become the first country
to have 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.
    We need to get behind this innovation. And to help pay for
it, I'm asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer
dollars we currently give to oil companies. I don't know if
you've noticed, but they're doing just fine on their own. So
instead of subsidizing yesterday's energy, let's invest in
tomorrow's.
   TRADE DEALS WITH PANAMA, COLOMBIA, KOREA
   Before I took office, I made it clear that we would enforce
our trade agreements, and that I would only sign deals that
keep faith with American workers, and promote American jobs.
 That's what we did with Korea, and that's what I intend to do
as we pursue agreements with Panama and Colombia, and continue
our Asia Pacific and global trade talks.
    EARMARKS AND LOBBYISTS
    Because you deserve to know when your elected officials are
meeting with lobbyists, I ask Congress to do what the White
House has already done: put that information online.  And
because the American people deserve to know that special
interests aren't larding up legislation with pet projects, both
parties in Congress should know this: if a bill comes to my
desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it.
    POISED FOR PROGRESS
    We are poised for progress. Two years after the worst
recession most of us have ever known, the stock market has come
roaring back. Corporate profits are up. The economy is growing
again.
    ON BIPARTISAN SPIRIT
    New laws will only pass with support from Democrats and
Republicans. We will move forward together, or not at all - for
the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than
politics.
    (Editing by Eric Walsh)

Lawmakers in Many States Pushing for Abortion Curbs, Posted by Meosha Eaton

Newly energized by their success in November’s midterm elections, conservative legislators in dozens of states are mounting aggressive campaigns to limit abortions.

The lawmakers are drafting, and some have already introduced, bills that would ban most abortions at 20 weeks after conception, push women considering abortions to view a live ultrasound of the fetus, or curb insurance coverage, among other proposals.

In Florida and Kansas, legislators plan to reintroduce measures that were vetoed by previous governors but have the support of the new chief executives, like ultrasound requirements and more stringent regulation of late-term abortions.

“I call on the Legislature to bring to my desk legislation that protects the unborn, establishing a culture of life in Kansas,” Gov. Sam Brownback said last week in his first State of the State message.

“This is the best climate for passing pro-life laws in years,” said Michael Gonidakis, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, expressing the mood in many states. “We’ve got a pro-life governor and a brand new pro-life speaker. Our government now is pro-life from top to bottom.”

Abortion opponents plan marches in Washington and elsewhere this weekend and on Monday to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, that established a woman’s right to an abortion.

Republicans in Congress hope to strengthen measures to prevent even indirect public financing of abortions, but laws in the states have the greatest impact on access to them. Abortion opponents have been emboldened by major changes in the political landscape, with conservative Republicans making large gains.

Although social issues were often played down in the campaigns, many of the newly elected governors and legislators are also solidly anti-abortion, causing advocates of abortion rights to brace for a year of even tougher battles than usual.

The biggest shift is in the state capitols, with 29 governors now considered to be solidly anti-abortion, compared with 21 last year. “This is worrisome because the governors have been the firewall, they’ve vetoed a lot of bad anti-choice legislation,” said Ted Miller, a spokesman for Naral Pro-Choice America.

In 15 states, compared with 10 last year, both the legislature and the governor are anti-abortion, according to a new report by Naral, and those joining this category include larger states like Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, as well as Georgia and Oklahoma. Maine and Pennsylvania are now strongly anti-abortion as well, if not quite as solidly.

Just which measures will pass is impossible to predict, particularly because many states are bogged down by budget crises.

Elizabeth Nash, who tracks state policies on abortion for the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization, said that while states would be preoccupied with budget issues, it appeared rather likely that more measures would pass this year than in 2010, which anti-abortion advocates considered a banner year, with more than 30 restrictive laws adopted in at least nine states.

The elections brought even more gains for their side than expected, said Mary Spaulding Balch, state policy director of the National Right to Life Committee, leading her group to call in its affiliates for a special strategy session on Dec. 7.

While many anti-abortion measures have been adopted or debated over the years, including requiring parental consent for minors and waiting periods, advocates have set a few top priorities for the months ahead:

¶Banning abortions earlier in pregnancy. Most states place restrictions on later abortions, often defined as after fetal viability, or around 22 to 26 weeks after conception. But last year, Nebraska set what many advocates consider a new gold standard, banning abortions, unless there is imminent danger to the woman’s life or physical health, at 20 weeks after conception, on a disputed theory that the fetus can feel pain at that point. The measure has not been tested in court, but similar measures pushing back the permissible timing are being developed in Indiana, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and other states.

The 20-week law in Nebraska, which took effect in October, forced a prominent doctor who performed late-term abortions to leave the state. Jill June, president of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, said women suffering from complicated pregnancies but are not yet sick enough to qualify for an emergency abortion would be forced to travel to other states. Or, she said, doctors fearing prosecution will wait until such women become dangerously ill before considering an abortion.

¶Pressing women to view ultrasounds. While several states encourage women seeking abortions to view an ultrasound, Oklahoma last year adopted a requirement that doctors or technicians perform the procedure with the screen visible to the woman, and explain in detail what she is seeing. The measure is under court challenge, but the Kentucky Senate has passed a similar bill, and variants are expected to come up in states including Indiana, Maryland, Montana, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming.

In Florida, former Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed an ultrasound bill. The new governor, Rick Scott, attacked him for that veto and is expected to support a new proposal.

¶Banning any abortion coverage by insurance companies in the new health insurance exchanges. Numerous states are poised to impose the ban on plans that will be offered to small businesses and individual insurance buyers under the Obama administration health plan.

The shifts to conservative governors, in particular, have opened new opportunities for abortion opponents. In Kansas, legislators said they would act quickly to adopt measures that were previously vetoed, including regulations that will make it harder to open abortion clinics or to perform abortions in the second trimester.

“There’s pent-up demand in the Legislature for these changes,” said State Representative Lance Kinzer

The politics of abortion have changed profoundly in some larger states including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

 

“We’re facing the biggest threat to reproductive rights we’ve ever faced in this state,” said Lisa Subeck, executive director for Naral Pro-Choice Wisconsin.

In Michigan, because of the switch to an anti-abortion governor, “the dominoes are lined up well for us this time,” said Ed Rivet, legislative director for Right to Life of Michigan. For starters, advocates hope to pass a state ban on the procedure opponents call partial-birth abortion that had been vetoed twice. After that, he said, “We have quite a list.”

Many defenders of abortion rights argue that because the election hinged largely on the economy and the role of government, officials did not receive a mandate for sweeping new social measures. “This last election was not about these issues at all,” said Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “We now are concerned about a real overreaching by some state legislators and governors that will make it very difficult for women to access reproductive health care.”

Daniel S. McConchie, vice president for government affairs with Americans United for Life, responded that laws restricting abortion have been adopted right along by the states and that while he expected large gains in the year ahead, they will be part of steady trend.

The abortion rate in the United States, which had declined steadily since a 1981 peak of more than 29 abortions per 1,000 women, stalled between 2005 and 2008, at slightly under 20 abortions per 1,000 women, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute.

Reported by  ERIK ECKHOLM

Herald Tribune

Philadelphia's Dept of Health STOPPED Inspecting Abortion Clinics for what they label "Politcal Reasons" by Meosah Eaton

While this week's indictment involving a grisly abortion mill in Philadelphia has shocked many [1], the grand jury's nearly 300-page report also contains a surprising and little-noted revelation: In the mid-1990s, the administration of Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a pro-choice Republican, ended regular inspections of abortion clinics--a policy that continued until just last year.

According to the grand jury report [2][PDF] released this week by Philadelphia prosecutors, Pennsylvania health officials deliberately chose not to enforce laws to ensure that abortion clinics provide the same level of care as other medical service providers.

The District Attorney's office this week charged an abortion doctor, Kermit Gosnell, with murder and infanticide. Nine other workers at the abortion clinic, the Women's Medical Society, also face charges. According to the prosecutors, Gosnell and his associates not only broke state law by performing abortions after 24 weeks--they also killed live babies by stabbing them with scissors and cutting their spinal cords. Law enforcement officials found blood-stained furniture, unsterilized instruments and fetal remains scattered about the clinic. At least one woman, a refugee from Nepal, had died under Gosnell's care after being given repeated injections of a dangerous sedative. Prosecutors said Gosnell made millions from treating and sometimes maiming his patients, who were mostly low-income, minority women [3].

But perhaps most frightening of all? The atrocities were discovered by accident [4], as the Philadelphia Inquirer points out. Warnings--from patients and their attorneys, a doctor at a Philadelphia hospital, women's health groups, pro-choice groups, and even an employee of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health--failed to prompt state and local authorities to investigate or take action against the clinic.
The grand jury report said that one look at the place would have detected the problems, but the Pennsylvania Department of Health hadn't inspected the place since 1993. Here's the grand jury report, in surprisingly strong language:

The Pennsylvania Department of Health abruptly decided, for political reasons, to stop inspecting abortion clinics at all. The politics in question were not anti-abortion, but pro. With the change of administration from Governor Casey to Governor Ridge, officials concluded that inspections would be "putting a barrier up to women" seeking abortions.

Reported by Huffington Post

Desensitized to regard for Human Life - a look into the loosely regulated culture of Abortion Written and Posted by Meosha Eaton

It's astonishing to think that today less than 50 years since the legalization of abortion, that you could still find a significant conversation rumbling in regards to what, who and when is a human life determined and "official" Many argue. Needless to say that despite the legitimacy of either argument, controversial terminations are still taking place at an alarming rate. In some states, such as New York, there are more abortions performed than delivery of babies. Just recently, our nation was rocked with some very disturbing news.

A filthy abortion mill where prosecutors say infants were delivered alive and brutally killed with scissors would have been shut down a long time ago if not for extraordinary failures by state regulators, who had not inspected this facility since 1993, a grand jury report charges. Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, a family practice physician, with no certification in gynecology or obstetrics, was arraigned Thursday on eight counts of murder. This outrageous and deliberate disregard for humanity, women's health and medical practice has the nation in an outrage after recent discoveries of this horrible state of affairs has leaked to the public. This controversial topic has been an awkward "silent" discussion for quite some time. It has reignited a very sensitive debate that has never really gone anywhere, just fell back that life begins at the moment of conception, others feel that life is not significant until an embryo reaches the fetus stage and others are so disillusioned and cold hearted enough to believe that whether in or out of the womb, life can be terminated. on the priority list of public conflicts of interest. The thought of a medically trained doctor brutally severing the spinal cords of healthy babies is unthinkable, yet a rather common occurrence. The heated debate on whether or not abortion is a violation of human and civil rights continue to escalate in temperature. It has been a topic where either you are or you aren't on board for a woman choosing to terminate the life that grows inside of her whether it's a product of rape, infidelity, irresponsible sex, incestuous activities or an abusive relationship, the question still remains, is it her right to judge the outcome of a life that can't speak for nor defend itself? Or, should she deal with the consequences of the actions she engaged in whether willingly or by force and either raise the child with love or give him/her up for adoption, there has to be a better way of dealing with such emotional and sensitive decisions when you have reached your second trimester of pregnancy. What happens in the first trimester is simply a gray area that remains flexible and not aggressively debated as late term procedures.


When one decides to trace the path of how this entire birth control and women's right movement started, it can be a path of very confusing and conflicting information. It can lead you to some very disturbing information that will have you questioning the entire family planning and so called human rights concepts. The recent account of events leaves even the most liberal and democratic heart in a state of shock and horror. Where do you draw the line on how far a woman takes her so called rights when she is provided with options and convenient solutions of aborting babies opposed to programs and funding going into helping these women. Our society finds away to set a aside more funding for "family planning" verses investing in these women who are confused on why they are getting an abortion in the first place. Considering over 50% of the abortions happen in low income, urban and in most cases black and Latino communities, you'd think we'd progress as a people in finding more creative ways to plan a family opposed to killing babies we see as expendable and according to some interpretations, not even human. So who determines when you are human, God or science? In the event we accept that the seed that grows in the womb of a woman reflects the entire make up of a human being, we can't accept that life begins in the womb. If we can't perceive that life is precious and a blessing, how can we see anything wrong with late term abortion? This is the unthinkable place we tried so hard to avoid as God fearing human beings, but somehow, we find ourselves as a society and as the human race glorifying this behavior, anytime we can still find justification and validation for cold blooded murder in the name of science, what have we really become? It's one thing to sacrifice a few for the good of many, but what is the good coming out of this addiction and illusion of family planning when all that is gained is short term satisfaction, what are we exchanging for this blood sacrifice? It's no coincidence that birth control is always the first form of aide offered in most global disasters, has anyone ever wondered what on earth Planned Parenthood needs to be posted up in Haiti and New Orleans post Katrina (to name only 2, there are hundreds more) when there had just been thousands of casualties, is anyone really thinking about depleting the population even more? Need more on this racial suicide attempt, see the world acclaimed documentary Maafa 21.


At some point, you have to think critically and in some cases subjectively on such matters, but despite where individuals stand on a woman having the right to choose, at what point do you draw the line? Someone has got to regulate how far this free will/choice goes. Just because you are a parent and brought a child or children into this world, does that give you the right to abuse that child because it's your right to be a parent?
This post does not express the views of the network of MACTV news in its entirety. This is solely and entirely an expression of the Blogger Meosha Eaton.

Time running out on Ivory Coast - AU's Odinga, Posted by Menelik Zeleke

January 21, 2011 10:13:42 PM

* Odinga says "window closing fast"

* AU unity at stake before end-of-month summit

* State oil firm concerned sanctions could hurt (Adds U.N. vehicles dispute, paragraphs 10-12)

By Wangui Kanina and Ange Aboa

NAIROBI/ABIDJAN, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Time is running out for a peaceful settlement of Ivory Coast's crisis, Kenyan premier Raila Odinga said on Friday after leading a failed African Union mediation bid, adding that force was a "last resort."

Ivorian incumbent Laurent Gbagbo has defied calls to quit after U.N.-certified results showed him the loser of a Nov. 28 election, prolonging a stand-off with rival Alassane Ouattara that risks throwing the top cocoa grower back into civil war.

"The window for a peaceful negotiation is closing very fast," Odinga told reporters on returning to Kenya.

"We will continue to walk the extra mile to find a peaceful resolution ... The use of legitimate force is there and we will say that it is the ultimate resort, the very last resort if everything else has failed," he added.

There is little appetite among African nations for armed intervention that could cause more bloodshed in a country where 260 have already died in violence linked to the deadlock. Nations such as Ghana say they will not offer troops.

Leaders of the 53-state African Union will discuss next steps at a summit at the end of the month, and signs are emerging of cracks in an official AU line insisting that Gbagbo immediately make way for Ouattara to take power.

Odinga made a detour to Angola and South Africa on the way back to Kenya, holding talks with the leadership of two states seen as potential weak points in AU unity.

South African President Jacob Zuma said there were "some discrepancies" in the election result and dismissed a proposal by diplomats for Gbagbo to go into exile.

Odinga said a recount, suggested by Gbagbo, would be pointless. "I told Gbagbo and the two presidents that it is an exercise in futility. Even if you are to open the ballot boxes and do a recount, no one would believe you," he said.

Sparking new tension with the United Nations, which has defied a Gbagbo order for its 10,000 peacekeepers to leave the country, the Ivorian army said its forces were under instructions to stop and search vehicles with U.N. markings.

Army spokesman Colonel Babri Gohourou linked the order with allegations -- dismissed by the U.N. peacekeeping department -- that 2,000 U.N. troops had joined forces with rebels controlling the north and were preparing to attack civilians.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the stop-and-search order was a "serious violation" of an agreement between the Ivorian government and the world body, and of Security Council resolutions, and was "therefore unacceptable."

NEW COCOA HIGHS

Cocoa futures hit eight-and-a-half month highs on concerns of possible supply disruptions in Ivory Coast, which supplies around a third of the world's market.

Gbagbo's camp has brushed off international efforts to limit its funding and so far appears to be retaining control of the bulk of revenues from cocoa and oil production.

However in early signs that the funds squeeze could start to hurt, state oil company Petroci told Reuters it feared that an EU funding and asset freeze imposed on it at the weekend could damage the 40,000-barrel-a-day sector within a matter of months.

"We must be realistic. We have to admit that two, three, six months down the line, these sanctions could have an impact ... It exposes us to what could be a slow disintegration," Petroci director Fadika Kassoum said in an interview.

Of Ivory Coast's cash-strapped SIR oil refinery -- in which Petroci has a minority stake and which supplies much of the region -- he warned the measures could deprive it of the funds needed to buy in crude oil.

"I think from March onwards, SIR is going to find itself in trouble and will have to stop its activities. We're not kidding ourselves," he warned.

A new attempt will be made to starve Gbagbo of funds when leaders of the West African single currency zone meet in Mali on Saturday, with Ouattara allies insisting Gbagbo's camp be denied all access to Ivorian funds held at the BCEAO regional bank.

Ouattara complained in a Reuters interview on Thursday that Gbagbo had tapped some 100 billion CFA francs ($200 million) from Ivorian accounts at the bank despite regional recognition that Ouattara won the election. (Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Vicki Allen)

WITNESS AGAINST TORTURE, Posted by Menelik Zeleke

U.S.'s Clinton condemns Moscow bomb attack, Posted by Menelik Zeleke

GUANAJUATO, Mexico, Jan 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday condemned the bomb attack on a Moscow airport that killed at least 35 people.

"I would like to express a very strong condemnation on today's terrorist attack at the Moscow airport. We stand with the people of Russia in this moment of sorrow and grief and we offer both our condolences and our very strong solidarity as they continue the struggle that so many of us face in combating and eliminating this international terrorist threat," Clinton said at a press conference during a one-day visit to Mexico. (Reporting by Cyntia Barrera; Editing by Eric Walsh)

TIMELINE on attacks in Russia, Posted by Menelik Zeleke

Major attacks in Russia since 1994

January 24, 2011 4:01:01 PM

 

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Following is a timeline of some of the major attacks on Russian soil since the beginning of the first Chechen war in 1994 to the present day:

1994-1996 - Tens of thousands of people are killed in the first Chechen war.

June 1995 - Chechen rebels seize hundreds of hostages in a hospital in the southern Russian town of Budennovsk. More than 100 people are killed during the rebel assault and a botched Russian commando raid.

Jan. 1996 - Chechen fighters take hundreds hostage in a hospital at Kizlyar in Dagestan, then move them by bus to Pervomaiskoye on the Chechen border. After being pounded by Russian military, most rebels escape but hostages are killed. June 1996 - A bomb kills four and injures at least 10 in the Moscow metro system, in what officials said was the work of Chechen separatists though no one claims responsibility.

Nov. 1996 - A bomb explodes in an apartment block where many Russian servicemen and their families live in the Dagestani city of Kaspiysk, killing 64.

March 19, 1999 - A bomb kills 50 in an outdoor market in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, one of two Christian-dominated regions in the troubled North Caucasus.

Aug. 31, 1999 - A bomb explodes in an underground shopping centre near the Kremlin in Moscow, injuring 20.

Aug./Sept. 1999 - Hundreds of Russian soldiers are killed battling Chechen militants in the mountains of Dagestan. The second Chechen war begins. Tens of thousands are killed in the war. Russia re-establishes direct rule in 2000.

Sept. 1999 - Bombs destroy apartment blocks in Moscow, Buynaksk and Volgodonsk. More than 200 people are killed. Moscow blames Chechens who in turn blame Russian secret services.

June 2-3, 2000 - Five suicide bomb attacks, carried out by Chechen rebels, on police stations and Russian army bases in Chechnya kill at least 54 people.

Aug. 8, 2000 - A bomb kills 13 and wounds 90 in a crowded Moscow underpass.

March 24, 2001 - Three car bombs explode in the southern Russian cities of Mineralnye Vody, Yessentuki and in the North Caucasus region of Karachay-Cherkessia, killing 28.

May 9, 2002 - Forty-one people are killed by a bomb in the Dagestani city of Kaspiysk during a military parade.

Oct. 23-26, 2002 - 129 hostages and 41 Chechen guerrillas are killed when Russian troops storm a Moscow theatre where rebels had taken 700 people captive three days earlier. Most of the hostages are killed by gas used to knock out the Chechens.

Dec. 27, 2002 - A suicide bomber drives a truck packed with explosives into a government building in Grozny, killing 60.

May 12, 2003 - Two drivers ram trucks full of explosives into a government building in Znamenskoye in northern Chechnya, killing 59 and injuring dozens.

July 5, 2003 - Two women suicide bombers kill 15 other people when they blow themselves up at an open-air rock festival at Moscow's Tushino airfield. Sixty are injured.

Aug. 1, 2003 - A suicide bomber driving a truck blows up a military hospital at Mozdok in North Ossetia bordering Chechnya, killing at least 50.

Dec. 5, 2003 - An explosion tears through a morning commuter train just outside Yessentuki station in Russia's southern fringe. Forty-six people are killed and 160 injured.

Dec. 9, 2003 - A suicide bomber kills five other people near the Kremlin. At least 13 people are wounded.

Feb. 6, 2004 - A suicide bombing kills at least 39 people and wounds more than 100 on an underground train in Moscow, in what police attribute to the work of Chechen separatists.

May 9, 2004 - Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov, the father of present Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov, is killed by a bomb in Grozny along with six others. Fifty more are wounded.

June 22, 2004 - Rebels seize an interior ministry building in Ingushetia, near Chechnya, and attack other points in lightning attacks. At least 92 people are killed including the acting regional interior minister, Abukar Kostoyev.

Aug. 24, 2004 - Two Russian passenger planes are blown up almost simultaneously, killing 90 people. One Tu-134, flying to Volgograd, goes down south of Moscow. Moments later a Tu-154 bound for Sochi crashes near Rostov-on-Don.

Aug. 31, 2004 - A female suicide bomber blows herself up in central Moscow, killing 10 people and injures 51.

Sept. 1-3, 2004 - 331 hostages -- half of them children -- die in a chaotic storming of School No.1 in Beslan, after it is seized by rebels demanding Chechen independence and an immediate end to the war.

Feb. 6, 2004 - A bomb kills at least 30 and injures 70 on the Moscow metro during rush hour.

Aug. 21, 2006 - A bomb kills 10 people and injures 50 in a Moscow suburban market.

Aug. 13, 2007 - A bomb derails the Nevsky Express between Moscow and St Petersburg, injuring 30 people.

Aug. 17, 2009 - A suicide bomber drives a truck into the gates of the main police station in Nazran, the largest city in Ingushetia, killing 24 people and wounding at least 130 others.

Nov. 27, 2009 - A bomb blast derails the Nevsky Express with about 700 people on board. At least 26 people are killed and 100 injured. Chechen rebels claim responsibility.

Jan. 6, 2010 - At least seven policemen are killed in Dagestan when a suicide bomber detonates a car packed with explosives at a traffic police depot.

March 29, 2010 - At least two blasts strike Moscow metro stations during rush hour, killing 40 people.

March 31, 2010 - Two blasts rock Kizlyar in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, killing nine people.

May 26, 2010 - A blast in the southern city of Stavropol kills eight people just before the start of a concert by a dance company linked with Kremlin-backed Ramzan Kadyrov.

Sept. 9, 2010 - A suicide bomber kills 18 people in North Ossetia, a mostly Christian province in the North Caucasus.

Jan. 24, 2011 - At least 31 people are killed and more than 100 injured in a suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo airport, Russia's biggest. (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit and Guy Faulconbridge and Amie Ferris-Rotman in Moscow; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

Suicide bomber kills 35 at Russia's biggest airport, Post by Menelik Zeleke

Suicide bomber kills 35 at Russia's biggest airport

January 24, 2011 5:35:01 PM

* Bomber targets Moscow's Domodedovo airport

* At least 35 killed, over 130 injured - state TV

* Blast rips through arrival hall at airport

(Updates death toll, adds colour, details)

By Alexei Anishchuk

MOSCOW, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people at Russia's biggest airport on Monday in an attack that bore the hallmarks of militants fighting for an Islamist state in the north Caucasus region.

President Dmitry Medvedev vowed to track down and punish those behind the bombing, which also injured about 130 people, including foreigners, during the busy late afternoon at Moscow's Domodedovo airport. Dense smoke filled the hall and a fire burned along one wall.

"The explosion was right near me, I was not hit but I felt the shock wave -- people were falling," said Yekaterina Alexandrova, a translator who was waiting in the crowded arrivals area to meet a client flying in from abroad.

Thick drops of blood were scattered across the snow-covered tarmac outside the arrivals hall, where traces of shrapnel were found.

"I heard a loud boom... we thought someone had just dropped something. But then I saw casualties being carried away," a check-in attendant who gave her name as Elena told Reuters at Domodedovo, which is some 22 km (14 miles) southeast of Moscow.

The Kremlin said Medvedev, who has called the insurgency in the north Caucasus the biggest threat to Russia's security, delayed his departure for the Davos international business forum in Switzerland.

The rebels have vowed to take their bombing campaign from the violence-wracked north Caucasus to the Russian heartland, hitting transport and economic targets. They have also levelled threats at the 2014 Winter Olympics, scheduled for Sochi, a region they claim as part of their "emirate".

"Security will be strengthened at large transport hubs," Medvedev wrote on Twitter. "We mourn the victims of the terrorist attack at Domodedovo airport. The organisers will be tracked down and punished."

No group has yet taken responsibility for the attack, but dozens of Internet surfers, writing in Russian, praised the suicide bomber on unofficial Islamist site kavkazcenter.com.

Russia's rouble-denominated stock market MICEX fell by nearly two percent following the blast, which ripped through the arrivals hall, but traders said they expected little long-term impact.

"It (the blast) is moving the market in the short term, but there is no fundamental reason for the market to fall. If you remember, the market didn't react strongly to (previous blasts)," said trader Alexei Bachurin from Renaissance Capital.

SPREADING INSURRECTION

Twitter users posted mobile video phone footage of dozens of people lying on the floor as thick smoke filled the hall and a fire burned along one wall.

Airport staff were shown using flash lights to pick their way through the chaotic scene taped off immediately after the blast. Later videos showed emergency workers wheeling injured people out of the terminal on stretchers.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who shares power in a 'tandem' arrangement with the less influential Medvedev, has staked his political reputation on quelling rebellion in the north Caucasus.

He launched a war in late 1999 in Chechnya to topple a secessionist government. That campaign achieved its immediate aim and helped him to the presidency months later; but since then insurgency has spread to neighbouring Ingushetia and Dagestan.

"It does not ... bode well for Russian ties to the North Caucasus and is yet another sign that what Putin started in 1999 by invading the rebellious republic of Chechnya has come home to roost again in the Russian capital," said Glen Howard, president of the U.S. Jamestown Foundation research institution.

"The bomb blast at Domodedevo will further strengthen the view among the Russian elite that Putin is losing control over security in the capital, which plays into the hands of his enemies."

Moscow recently saw riots involving thousands of Russian nationalists who attacked passersby of non-Slavic appearance, many of whom were from the north Caucasus.

Analysts say rebels are planning to increase violence in the run up to 2012 presidential elections, that may well see Putin returning to the presidency. Security has been tightened at Moscow's other two airports, which will also receive diverted passengers who were flying towards Domodedovo, media reported.

Moscow suffered its worst attack in six years in March 2010 when two female suicide bombers from Dagestan set off explosives in the metro, killing 40 people.

The worst incident involving north Caucasus rebels took place in 2004 when militants seized control of a school in Beslan. When Russian troops stormed the building in an attempt to end a siege, 331 hostages, half of them children, were killed. (Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman, Ralph Boulton, Steve Gutterman and Alissa de Carbonnel, Editing by Ralph Boulton)