Sunday, November 11, 2012

Syria opposition agrees to united coalition


Syrian opposition groups meeting in the Qatari capital have signed an initial agreement to form a united group called the Syrian National Coalition.

Details of the agreement are still being negotiated; a delegate at the talks told reporters they would discuss specifics at meetings on Sunday night.

"An initial deal has been signed. The evening session will be for electing the president of the body and his deputy," Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, a Muslim Brotherhood delegate at the talks, told reporters.

The Syrian National Council - once seen as the leading representative of the opposition but now seen in the West as dominated by out-of-touch exiles - had come under increasing pressure to accept a unity plan.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Doha where the opposition groups were meeting, said on Sunday that the new coalition was crucial because it is expected to go forward to set up the new transitional institutions and how to move forward to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

They are trying to work out the final details of the agreement, which is how many seats are to be given to the main opposition parties, our correspondent said.

"We have started an open dialogue with our brothers and looked at their initiative," the SNC's new leader George Sabra said earlier in Doha before the coalition formation announcement.

"But we have our own point of view and our own ideas that we plan to put forward."

Sabra said "the SNC is older than ... any other initiative" on the table,  adding that no opposition group should be forced under the banner of another.


'Declaration of principles'

Ahmad Ramadan, a senior SNC official, said: "We are being submitted to pressure to accept being part of a new formation, in exchange for international promises but with no guarantees."

Ramadan had suggested it would be "difficult to reach an agreement" on Saturday, but added the meeting may come up with a "declaration of principles" in order not to end in failure.

But Burhan Ghalioun, the former SNC chief, was optimistic before Sunday's developments.

"The meeting is still on, but there has been real progress. There will be a political agreement for common action, a political body to supervise military action," he said.

The SNC had already twice asked for a postponement of the talks on plans for a broad-based government-in-waiting.
 
Its counter-proposal envisages the formation of a provisional government pending a general congress of the opposition, according to a document seen by AFP news agency.

The existing plan, inspired by Riad Seif who is reportedly seen by the US administration as a potential new opposition chief, envisages the formation of a transitional government, a military council to oversee rebel groups and a judiciary to operate in rebel-held areas.

In Damascus, Omran al-Zohbi, Syria's information minister, called for a national dialogue, and said the army was fighting to boost the chance for talks.

"The only way to succeed in Syria is to sit down at the table to launch a national dialogue," he said.

"The opposition must accept the choice of dialogue and ... the army, by facing down terrorism, is protecting this dialogue."

On the ground inside Syria, there was no let-up in violence on Saturday. Forces loyal to Assad suffered a new blow as two suicide car bombings struck an officers' club in Deraa, cradle of the nearly 20-month uprising.

The attacks killed 20 soldiers and possibly many more, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the UK-based watchdog group.

"The two bombings were the result of suicide attacks, carried out by two men who drove vehicles loaded with explosives into the garden a few minutes apart," SOHR's Rami Abdel Rahman said.

State news agency SANA reported that three car bombings killed seven people and wounded many, but did not say they were at a military position.

It also said a car bomb had wounded nine people in the southern Damascus neighbourhood of Daf al-Shawk, while state television said a rocket wounded two girls in the Christian district of George Khoury.

Army's progress

The city of Douma, also near Damascus, was hit by government fighter jets on Saturday. In one of the air raids, a hospital and surrounding buildings were destroyed.

It is believed the hospital was empty before the attack.

Elsewhere, the army retook a stretch of the Damascus-Aleppo highway used to send its reinforcements to main northern battlefields, according to the SOHR.

In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria
Regime forces had "gradually advanced over the past 10 days to regain control of several villages that fell in October to the rebels to the west of the Damascus-Aleppo highway", the SOHR said.

But the army had so far failed to enter the strategic rebel-held town of Maarat al-Numan, where fighting intensified after soldiers in the besieged nearby military base of Wadi Deif received supplies.

The army on Saturday destroyed a ship carrying armed rebels on the Euphrates River in the northeast, SANA said, the first time state media has reported such an incident on the river that runs from Turkey through Syria and Iraq.

Also near Turkey, Kurds backed by militia took control of three northeastern towns in two days after urging pro-government forces to leave, the SOHR said.

It said at least 101 people were killed across Syria on Saturday - 41 soldiers, 34 civilians and 26 fighters.

It says more than 37,000 people have died since the uprising erupted in March 2011, first as a protest movement and then as an armed rebellion after demonstrations were crushed.

Assange’s health could drastically worsen in embassy – lawyer




WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (AFP Photo / Carl Court)WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could suffer serious health problems if he stays in London’s Ecuadorian embassy, warned his lawyer. The whistleblower faces immediate arrest and extradition to Sweden should he leave the building.
“Assange is in good health, but the situation is getting steadily worse,” lawyer Baltasar Garzon said during an anti-corruption conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The confined conditions in which Assange is currently living could cause him to “suffer from serious medical problems,” and lead to “psychological issues,” Garzon said.
Assange has been confined tinside Ecuadorian Embassy since June 19 in conditions Garzon described as worse than prison. Assange took refuge there to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on charges of sex crimes.
According to Garzon, Assange is not seeking to escape questioning in Sweden, as they allegedly have evidence proving his innocence. “We want the trial to go ahead in Sweden, but we want a guarantee of his safety.” Garzon said the whistleblower risked being re-extradited to US jurisdiction should he be taken to Sweden.
Previously, Ecuadorian vice foreign minister Marco Albuja said that he was “very worried” for Assange’s welfare, and that “he had lost a lot of weight.”
The Ecuadorian government has asked the UK for permission to extract Assange from the embassy in London and transfer him to Ecuador. They also called for a guarantee of his safety if he has to be admitted to a London hospital at any time.
The British government has flatly refused to negotiate, maintaining that they are legally obligated to hand him over to Sweden should he set foot outside the embassy.
The WikiLeaks founder has now spent over four months in the embassy after losing his court battle against extradition. He claims the allegations of sexual abuse against him are politically motivated, and part of a US conspiracy to arrest him.
Assange drew Washington's fury after publishing thousands of classified diplomatic cables on the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks in 2010.
The US government has denied claims that there is a secret grand jury case being prepared to prosecute Assange, but has not ruled out the possibility of requesting he be extradited from Sweden to the US.
Despite Washington’s denials, there is evidence that the US government has been monitoring Assange for the last few years. Diplomatic cables released a month ago showed how US and Australian authorities shared information on the whistleblower. One of the wires indicated the most successful route to prosecution “would be to show that Mr. Assange had acted as a co-conspirator – soliciting, encouraging or assisting [US Army private] Bradley Manning, to obtain and provide the documents.”
Bradley Manning, 24, faces a potential life sentence if he is convicted of aiding the enemy after releasing classified military intelligence to WikiLeaks in 2010. Manning’s lawyer said last week that he may plead guilty to some of the lesser charges set against him.

The Dead Sea



The Dead Sea is a saltwater lake that lies between the countries of Israel and Jordan.
Dead Sea, an inland body of water southeast of Jerusalem on the border of Jordan and Israel. It has the lowest elevation on earth—1,373 feet (419 m) below sea level at the water's surface. The sea is divided into two basins, separated by a land bridge. Both basins are about 10 miles (16 km) wide. The northern one is about 40 miles (64 km) long; the southern one, about 10 miles (16 km) long. The combined area of both basins is about 390 square miles (1,010 km 2). The maximum depth, which exceeds 1,330 feet (405 m), is in the northern basin.
 
The Dead Sea lies in a deep rift valley, which is part of a great rift system running through the Holy Land, the Red Sea, and eastern Africa. Cliffs and steeply rising land flank the sea on the east and the west. The adjacent area is hot, dry, and desolate. The Jordan River, entering from the north, is the only river with a year-round flow that enters the sea. No river flows from it. Diversion of water from the Jordan River for irrigation has caused the sea to shrink.

Because it loses water only by evaporation, the Dead Sea has a high salt content. It runs more than 25 per cent, or seven times that of ocean water. Dead Sea water has a clear, blue-green color and a bitter, nauseous taste and is slightly oily to the touch. Its buoyancy makes it impossible for a swimmer to sink. There is virtually no life in the sea, except for bacteria and algae. Potash and bromine are the chief minerals extracted from the water for commercial use.
 
In Biblical times the sea was known by several names, including the Salt Sea, the East Sea, and the Sea of the Plain. Genesis tells of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which are now believed to be submerged in the southern part of the sea. Masada, on the western shore, was the site in 73 a.d. of a heroic but hopeless stand against the Romans by a group of Jews known as the Zealots.