“Friends of Syria” meet in Tunis to call for ceasefire

Representatives from more than 60 Western and Arab countries are meeting in Tunis, Tunisia today to call for the Syrian government to implement an immediate ceasefire and to allow humanitarian assistance for civilians and people wounded in violence. The group is not expected to discuss military options but will threaten increased sanctions if the Syrian regime doesn't comply within days. Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was appointed as a special envoy by the United Nations and the Arab League to represent the organizations in efforts at ending "violence and human rights violations, and promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis." Syrian state TV referred to the conference as a meeting of "symbols of colonialism" and said the countries attending were "historic enemies of the Arabs." Neither Russia nor China, who vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution based on an Arab League plan aimed to end the Syrian violence, attended the conference. The "Friends of Syria" seem to be favoring the opposition Syrian National Council, but are not giving the group exclusive recognition. The other main opposition group, the National Coordination Committee, is boycotting the conference. Activists have reported that over 7,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the 11-month uprising. The International Red Cross appealed to the Syrian government for a ceasefire so that aid could be brought in and wounded people could be evacuated, but they have received no response. Concern is growing particularly for the city of Homs where the bombardment continues unabated and injured journalists have released videos appealing for assistance.

Journalists Marie Colvin, Remi Ochlik killed in Syria

Two award-winning journalists — prominent American war correspondent Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik — were killed Wednesday by Syrian shelling of the opposition stronghold Homs 

The attack, which killed a total of at least 13 people, came as President Bashar Assad's regime escalated its attacks on rebel bases by using helicopter gunships, activists said.
Weeks of withering barrages on the central city of Homs have failed to drive out opposition factions that include rebel soldiers who fled Assad's forces.
Hundreds have died in the siege and the latest deaths further galvanized international pressure on Assad, who appears intent on widening his military crackdowns despite the risk of pushing Syria toward full-scale civil war.
A witness contacted by Reuters from Amman said shells hit a house in the Baba Amr district of Homs in which Colvin, who worked for the U.K.'s Sunday Times newspaper, Ochlik and other journalists were staying and a rocket hit them when they tried to escape.
Syrian activists said French reporter Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro and British photographer Paul Conroy, also of The Sunday Times, were wounded in Wednesday's shelling. Bouvier was said to be in serious condition.

clashes in cairo between the police and protesters.

Civilian and military police used batons to disperse protesters in front of Egypt's parliament building Saturday as the death toll from rioting that began a day earlier rose to at least nine people, demonstrating that smoothly run elections haven't absorbed all public anger against continued military rule.

Protesters clash with police in downtown Cairo as violence continues days after the start of Egypt's first free elections in six decades. Video courtesy of Reuters.

Videos circulated on social-media networks appeared to show riot-gear clad police officers dragging protesters along the asphalt, stripping female demonstrators of their clothes, beating activists with truncheons and brandishing handguns to threaten stone-throwing activists.
In a statement Saturday, the military leadership said the dispersal of protesters in Tahrir Square had been peaceful and that the armed forces would "never target revolutionaries." Embattled interim Prime Minister Kamal al Ganzouri blamed the violence on "foreign hands," an echo of the blame-casting that has defined official responses to uprisings across the Arab world.
More than 300 people have been injured in the two days of violence.
Among the dead was Sheikh Emad Effat, a prominent, elderly cleric from Cairo's historic Al Azhar University who has sided with protesters against the military. Thousands attended his funeral march Saturday in downtown Cairo.
Saturday also saw the military leadership and its appointed interim government make halting attempts at damage control in the face of increasingly embarassing fallout from the violence.

un .security council meets

meeting yesterday the Foreign Secretary welcomed the Arab League’s powerful report and stressed the urgency of passing a “meaningful and strong resolution”. He expressed hope that those opposing the Moroccan draft resolution would agree to support it following discussions in the next 24 hours.
“I certainly think the discussion at the Security Council illustrated the strength of the arguments for the Arab League plan and also illustrated that there were not many arguments against it. Some of the nations that have had misgivings about passing such a resolution did not state very powerful arguments against it. So I think the benefit of the argument went very clearly to those of us advocating the support for this resolution. Of course, we will hold discussions with Russia and other nations over the next 24 hours to see if we can make progress on this resolution”.
Responding to Russian concerns that the resolution might lead to a civil war or foreign intervention the Foreign Secretary said:
“We have people dying every day. We have between 30 and a 100 people being killed violently, every day. We have the torture and abuse of huge numbers of people, including children. What the Arab League are putting forward is a plan for a peaceful resolution of this situation. So that is the answer to those who think it could make the situation worse. This is a plan by the countries in the region for addressing this problem peacefully in a Syrian led political process... This is not about foreign intervention in Syria. This is about the United Nations Security Council supporting a Syrian-led political process instigated by the countries of that region”
He also rejected criticism that the resolution amounted to regime change:
“It’s been our view for a long time that President Assad should go and has lost all credibility, not only internationally, but with so many of his own people as well. But that is not what it says in this resolution which supports the Arab League plan and calls on him to give the power to his deputy to conduct negotiations and discussions with all parties in Syria. I think it was very clear in what the Prime Minister of Qatar said in presenting the position of the Arab League and what the Secretary-General of the Arab League said. They were very clear that that is what they are proposing and that is not regime change from the UN Security Council”.
Earlier the Foreign Secretary had rejected the arguments of the Syrian Ambassador to the UN:
“The Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic spoke about the idealism of children in his country in the 1950s and 1960s without noting the irony that the descendants of those children, the children of 2012, are now being tortured and murdered in the name of their own government and it is not acceptable to try to blame the situation in Syria on everyone else, from outside intervention, to the Gulf States, to French diplomats, to Lawrence of Arabia This does not excuse such repression, violence, which is a shame on any nation”.
UN Ambassadors will meet again this afternoon in New York to discuss the draft resolution further. The UK hopes that yesterday’s debate will help bring agreement so that the Council can move swiftly to a vote. As the Foreign Secretary said:
“To fail to do so would be to undermine the credibility of this institution, betray the Syrian people, snub the Arab League and fail in this Council’s responsibilities...The leaders of the Arab world putting forward a plan by which the Syrian people can decide on their own future. And that is surely something that all Members of the United Nations should be able to support”

iran oil sanctions

The European Union (EU) on Monday imposed further sanctions against Iranian oil exports and central bank, a move aimed to ramp up pressure over the country's much disputed nuclear program.According to an EU conclusion, the 27-member block banned imports of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. However, to protect the vested interests of European companies, the conclusion gave countries with "already concluded contracts" with Iran until 1 July 2012 to carry out the embargo. A review of the measures relating to oil and petroleum products will take place before May 1, 2012.The conclusion also outlawed exports of key equipment and technology for the petrochemical sector to Iran, new investments in petrochemical companies in Iran, as well as joint ventures with such enterprises.The EU currently purchases nearly 20 percent of Iranian crude exports, with countries such as Greece and Italy most reliant on its oil.Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia have offered to step up its own production to compensate for any shortfall caused by the ban on Iranian oil"The EU is already engaged in too many economical issues to allow it to spend that much time in trying to convince other countries not to buy Iranian crude,the European Policy CenterMeanwhile, the EU froze on Monday the assets of the Iranian central bank within the EU, while ensuring that legitimate trade can continue under strict conditions.The conclusion said that trade in gold, precious metals and diamonds with Iranian public bodies and the central bank would no longer be permitted, nor would a number of additional sensitive dual-use goods may be sold to Iran.The 27-member body also subjected three more persons to an asset freeze and a visa ban. It also froze the assets of eight further entities.

the group boko haram in nigeria

 With a suicide car-bombing of the United Nations building in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, in August, and recent deadly attacks in the northeastern states of Yobe and Borno, Islamist group Boko Haram has announced its return to the stage, two years after it was supposed to have been defeated. The radical group, which used to confine itself to drive-by shootings, is more violent than ever, adding to the pressures on Nigeria's security forces. Faced with the sect's calls for an Islamic caliphate and increasingly sophisticated guerrilla tactics, Defence Minister Bello Halliru Mohammed recently compared Nigeria's current position to 'the United States ... after 9/11'.

In a series of high-profile attacks this year, Boko Haram has also burnt down a hotel in its headquarters city of Maiduguri, assassinated a candidate in the race to become governor of Borno, and bombed the national police headquarters in Abuja. More than 100 people died in the Yobe and Borno attacks earlier this month. Although the group draws its inspiration from a broader Islamist agenda, it is also motivated by local economic and religious grievances,

Boko Haram's activities are one of several factors behind Nigeria's largest military deployment since the 1967–70 Civil War. Following repeated outbreaks of violence in the country's north and centre troops have been stationed in about ten states, including Borno, Kaduna, Plateau and Bauchi. Meanwhile, the country's immigration authorities, in conjunction with a military task force, have tightened control along the borders with Chad, Cameroon and Niger, because of suspicion that some Boko Haram members come from neighbouring countries, taking advantage of porous borders. 

the situation in iraq.

last month, Iraq’s vice-president, Tariq al-Hashimi, denied charges of terrorism after the country’s top court issued a warrant for his arrest. The move marked an escalation of tensions between the prime minister’s Shiite Muslim-led allies and Sunni Muslim politicians, such as al-Hashimi, raising concerns the government could collapse.

That was preying on the minds of analysts at RBC Capital Markets, who downgraded Heritage Oil to “underperform” from “sector perform” given worries over the worsening political outlook in Iraq.

Hopes for oil exploration in Kurdistan, which has historically been a challenging area due to years of wrangling between Baghdad and the Kurdistan regional government, were lifted in November when Exxon-Mobil signed a major oil and gas exploration deal with the Kurdistan authorities.

It marked the first pact with an oil major and fuelled speculation that the region could experience a wave of consolidation.

RBC acknowledged that Exxon’s entry into the region “generated an upswing in interest” but, with analysts fearing that the government “appears to be crumbling”, they erred on the side of caution.