AP, TOKYO: Asian shares were mixed Tuesday, with a strong showing by banks pushing Japanese and Australian stock markets higher.
The Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.3 percent to 10,626.03 a day after closing at a nine-month high. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3 percent to 4,884.50.
Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. added 1.3 percent, and National Australia Bank Ltd. jumped 2.5 percent.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.1 percent to 23,529.27, and Taiwan's benchmark fell 0.2 percent to 9,127.02.
South Korea's Kospi was down 0.1 percent at 2,080.41 after the index fluctuated between positive and negative territory. Tech blue chips lost ground, with Samsung Electronics Co. off 0.6 percent.
In New York on Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose for the sixth straight day in its longest winning streak since November, The index climbed 69.48 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,161.63.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.18, or 0.6 percent, to 1,319.05. Financial companies posted the largest gain of any of the 10 company groups that make up the S&P index.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 14.69, or 0.5 percent, to 2,783.99.
In currencies, the dollar rose to 82.31 yen from 82.29 yen late Monday. The euro stood at $1.3589 from $1.3591.
Benchmark crude for March delivery was up 8 cents at $87.56 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.55 to settle at $87.48 Monday as investors shifted their focus from unrest in Egypt to the U.S. economy.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Koreas hold defense meeting to ease tensions
AP, SEOUL, South Korea: Military officers from North and South Korea sat down for talks inside the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone on Tuesday in the rivals' first official dialogue since the North's deadly artillery barrage of a South Korean island in November.
Tensions on the divided Korean peninsula rose sharply after the artillery bombardment killed four people on South Korea's front-line Yeonpyeong Island. That attack came eight months after the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack. Pyongyang has steadfastly denied its involvement in the sinking, which killed 46 sailors.
Colonel-level officers of the two Koreas met Tuesday at the border village of Panmunjom to set a date and work out other details for higher-level defense talks aimed at discussing the two attacks last year, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.
"It's not that cold today and I think today's talks will go well," Col. Moon Sang-kyun, the chief South Korean delegate, said during a meeting with Unification Ministry officials in Seoul, ahead of his departure to the border.
It's not clear whether the one-day preliminary meeting will finalize all the details for defense talks that are expected to involve the countries' defense chiefs or general-grade officers. If they were to take place, they would be the first such high-level defense talks between the two Koreas in more than three years.
Tuesday's talks were arranged amid North Korea's recent push for dialogue after weeks of threatening war. South Korean officials have said the North must use the talks as a chance to take responsibility for the two attacks and change its pattern of raising tensions through provocation, and then seeking negotiations to win badly needed aid.
"The fact the two Koreas are meeting in the aftermath of continued military tensions means that hostility on the Korean peninsula could be reduced," said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.
Pyongyang has expressed its desire to return to stalled six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons program in return for economic aid and other incentives. But South Korea and the U.S. have responded that the North must first exhibit sincerity toward its nuclear disarmament before the talks can resume.
The North's nuclear capability took renewed urgency in November when the country showed a visiting American scientist a uranium enrichment facility that could give it a second way to make atomic bombs. South Korea says the North's uranium enrichment program is a violation of a past six-nation deal and U.N. resolutions.
A U.N. Security Council committee on international sanctions on North Korea is expected to report to the council about the North's nuclear activities later this month. "We are paying attention to how the uranium enrichment program will be handled" during that meeting, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun told reporters Monday.
The two Koreas technically remain in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Panmunjom — the venue for Tuesday's talks — is a cluster of blue huts inside the heavily guarded 154-mile (248-kilometer) -long Demilitarized Zone, which is jointly administered by the American-led U.N. forces and North Korea.
Tensions on the divided Korean peninsula rose sharply after the artillery bombardment killed four people on South Korea's front-line Yeonpyeong Island. That attack came eight months after the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack. Pyongyang has steadfastly denied its involvement in the sinking, which killed 46 sailors.
Colonel-level officers of the two Koreas met Tuesday at the border village of Panmunjom to set a date and work out other details for higher-level defense talks aimed at discussing the two attacks last year, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.
"It's not that cold today and I think today's talks will go well," Col. Moon Sang-kyun, the chief South Korean delegate, said during a meeting with Unification Ministry officials in Seoul, ahead of his departure to the border.
It's not clear whether the one-day preliminary meeting will finalize all the details for defense talks that are expected to involve the countries' defense chiefs or general-grade officers. If they were to take place, they would be the first such high-level defense talks between the two Koreas in more than three years.
Tuesday's talks were arranged amid North Korea's recent push for dialogue after weeks of threatening war. South Korean officials have said the North must use the talks as a chance to take responsibility for the two attacks and change its pattern of raising tensions through provocation, and then seeking negotiations to win badly needed aid.
"The fact the two Koreas are meeting in the aftermath of continued military tensions means that hostility on the Korean peninsula could be reduced," said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.
Pyongyang has expressed its desire to return to stalled six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons program in return for economic aid and other incentives. But South Korea and the U.S. have responded that the North must first exhibit sincerity toward its nuclear disarmament before the talks can resume.
The North's nuclear capability took renewed urgency in November when the country showed a visiting American scientist a uranium enrichment facility that could give it a second way to make atomic bombs. South Korea says the North's uranium enrichment program is a violation of a past six-nation deal and U.N. resolutions.
A U.N. Security Council committee on international sanctions on North Korea is expected to report to the council about the North's nuclear activities later this month. "We are paying attention to how the uranium enrichment program will be handled" during that meeting, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun told reporters Monday.
The two Koreas technically remain in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Panmunjom — the venue for Tuesday's talks — is a cluster of blue huts inside the heavily guarded 154-mile (248-kilometer) -long Demilitarized Zone, which is jointly administered by the American-led U.N. forces and North Korea.
3 teens killed in Mexico, 2 of them US citizens
AP, CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico: Three teenage boys were shot to death in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, at least two of them U.S. citizens and high school students in Texas, authorities said Monday.
The boys were killed at 4:22 p.m. Saturday while looking at cars in a dealership in the city across the border from El Paso, Texas, Chihuahua prosecutors' spokesman Arturo Sandoval said. One was found inside a white Jeep Cherokee and the other two in the courtyard.
There were no leads on suspects or a motive, Sandoval said. Two managers were also in the dealership during the attack. One refused to give a statement, while the statement from the other manager was not released because of the pending investigation, Sandoval added. At least 60 bullet casings were found at the scene.
One of the boys, Carlos Mario Gonzalez Bermudez, 16, was a sophomore at Cathedral High School in El Paso, said Nick Gonzalez, the Roman Catholic brother who is the principal. Another victim, Juan Carlos Echeverri, 15, had been a freshman at the private all-boys Catholic school last year but left to study in Ciudad Juarez, Gonzalez said.
Both were U.S. citizens, he said. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said it could provide no immediate information on the case.
The third teenager was identified as Cesar Yalin Miramontes Jimenez, 17.
The school principal said Gonzalez Bermudez mainly lived in Ciudad Juarez and commuted each day across the border. He said 20 percent of the 485 students enrolled at Cathedral are from Ciudad Juarez.
Gonzalez said the school's sophomore class had a prayer service Monday and officials planned a rosary service for the entire school later in the week.
"It's a lot of pain, a lot of sorrow, a lot of tears, a lot of coming together as a community to try to hold each other up and to try and make sense today," Gonzalez said. "How do you make sense of this meaningless tragedy? Hopefully this can really empower us to make a positive change in the border community because their deaths will have no meaning otherwise."
Many Ciudad Juarez residents travel across the border on a daily basis for work or study. Some Mexicans live in El Paso for safety reasons and commute to Ciudad Juarez.
Ciudad Juarez city has become one of the world's most dangerous cities amid a fierce turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels. More than 3,000 people were killed last year in the city of 1.3 million residents.
Gonzalez said students at the school have had a number of relatives killed in the violence in Ciudad Juarez. A graduate of the school was killed last fall, he said.
"Our Juarez kids knew all three" of the teenagers killed over the weekend, he said. "It's a very tight knit community. A lot of them car pool; that's how they know each other."
The boys were killed at 4:22 p.m. Saturday while looking at cars in a dealership in the city across the border from El Paso, Texas, Chihuahua prosecutors' spokesman Arturo Sandoval said. One was found inside a white Jeep Cherokee and the other two in the courtyard.
There were no leads on suspects or a motive, Sandoval said. Two managers were also in the dealership during the attack. One refused to give a statement, while the statement from the other manager was not released because of the pending investigation, Sandoval added. At least 60 bullet casings were found at the scene.
One of the boys, Carlos Mario Gonzalez Bermudez, 16, was a sophomore at Cathedral High School in El Paso, said Nick Gonzalez, the Roman Catholic brother who is the principal. Another victim, Juan Carlos Echeverri, 15, had been a freshman at the private all-boys Catholic school last year but left to study in Ciudad Juarez, Gonzalez said.
Both were U.S. citizens, he said. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said it could provide no immediate information on the case.
The third teenager was identified as Cesar Yalin Miramontes Jimenez, 17.
The school principal said Gonzalez Bermudez mainly lived in Ciudad Juarez and commuted each day across the border. He said 20 percent of the 485 students enrolled at Cathedral are from Ciudad Juarez.
Gonzalez said the school's sophomore class had a prayer service Monday and officials planned a rosary service for the entire school later in the week.
"It's a lot of pain, a lot of sorrow, a lot of tears, a lot of coming together as a community to try to hold each other up and to try and make sense today," Gonzalez said. "How do you make sense of this meaningless tragedy? Hopefully this can really empower us to make a positive change in the border community because their deaths will have no meaning otherwise."
Many Ciudad Juarez residents travel across the border on a daily basis for work or study. Some Mexicans live in El Paso for safety reasons and commute to Ciudad Juarez.
Ciudad Juarez city has become one of the world's most dangerous cities amid a fierce turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels. More than 3,000 people were killed last year in the city of 1.3 million residents.
Gonzalez said students at the school have had a number of relatives killed in the violence in Ciudad Juarez. A graduate of the school was killed last fall, he said.
"Our Juarez kids knew all three" of the teenagers killed over the weekend, he said. "It's a very tight knit community. A lot of them car pool; that's how they know each other."
Website: Chechen rebel leader claims airport bomb
AP, MOSCOW: A website affiliated with Chechen rebels has released a video in which insurgent leader Doku Umarov claims responsibility for last month's deadly suicide bombing at Russia's largest airport and threatens more bloodshed if Russia does not leave the region.
The Kavkaz Center website says it received the video late Monday. It was not clear when or where the video was recorded.
The Jan. 24 attack at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport killed 36 people. Russian investigators say the bomber was a 20-year-old man from the Caucasus region that includes Chechnya, but have not released his name or other details.
"You see this special operation carried out by my order ... more special operations will be carried out in the future," Umarov says in the video, wearing a camouflage uniform and a skullcap.
"Among us there are hundreds of brothers who are prepared to sacrifice themselves" in further attacks, Umarov says in the video. "We can at any time carry out operations where we want."
Over the weekend, the website released another video in which Umarov also threatened more attacks, saying 2011 would be "the year of blood and tears."
Chechen rebels have fought two full-scale wars against Russian forces since 1994. Major offensives in the second war died down about a decade ago, but the insurgency has continued with small clashes in Chechnya and in neighboring Caucasus republics.
The rebels have claimed responsibility for an array of terrorist attacks, including last year's double suicide bombing of the Moscow subway system that killed 40 people.
Umarov, who seeks to create a Caucasus emirate independent from Russia and governed by Sharia law, said in the earlier video that he could call on 50 to 60 suicide bombers if necessary.
The blast at Domodedovo, south of the Russian capital, raised strong concerns about Russia's strategy against the insurgents and about its ability to protect against future attacks. The day after the bombing, President Dmitry Medvedev said that terrorist attacks in the country increased in 2010, although he did not cite figures.
The bomb went off in the waiting hall of the international arrivals area at the airport. As in many other airports, there were no security procedures to go through in order to get into that area.
Medvedev initially lashed out at airport management for poorly guarding the area, but the airport's operator responded that the Russian transport police are responsible for security in that part of the airport.
In the next few days, Medvedev fired several top transport police officials and ordered heightened security measures at all the country's main transport hubs, including major railway stations.
The attack took place as Medvedev was preparing to speak at the prestigious World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he hoped to reassure foreign investors that Russia was safe and attractive.
The bombing forced him to make an abbreviated trip to Davos, where he declared that the attack would not crush Russia or its drive for investment.
The Kavkaz Center website says it received the video late Monday. It was not clear when or where the video was recorded.
The Jan. 24 attack at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport killed 36 people. Russian investigators say the bomber was a 20-year-old man from the Caucasus region that includes Chechnya, but have not released his name or other details.
"You see this special operation carried out by my order ... more special operations will be carried out in the future," Umarov says in the video, wearing a camouflage uniform and a skullcap.
"Among us there are hundreds of brothers who are prepared to sacrifice themselves" in further attacks, Umarov says in the video. "We can at any time carry out operations where we want."
Over the weekend, the website released another video in which Umarov also threatened more attacks, saying 2011 would be "the year of blood and tears."
Chechen rebels have fought two full-scale wars against Russian forces since 1994. Major offensives in the second war died down about a decade ago, but the insurgency has continued with small clashes in Chechnya and in neighboring Caucasus republics.
The rebels have claimed responsibility for an array of terrorist attacks, including last year's double suicide bombing of the Moscow subway system that killed 40 people.
Umarov, who seeks to create a Caucasus emirate independent from Russia and governed by Sharia law, said in the earlier video that he could call on 50 to 60 suicide bombers if necessary.
The blast at Domodedovo, south of the Russian capital, raised strong concerns about Russia's strategy against the insurgents and about its ability to protect against future attacks. The day after the bombing, President Dmitry Medvedev said that terrorist attacks in the country increased in 2010, although he did not cite figures.
The bomb went off in the waiting hall of the international arrivals area at the airport. As in many other airports, there were no security procedures to go through in order to get into that area.
Medvedev initially lashed out at airport management for poorly guarding the area, but the airport's operator responded that the Russian transport police are responsible for security in that part of the airport.
In the next few days, Medvedev fired several top transport police officials and ordered heightened security measures at all the country's main transport hubs, including major railway stations.
The attack took place as Medvedev was preparing to speak at the prestigious World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he hoped to reassure foreign investors that Russia was safe and attractive.
The bombing forced him to make an abbreviated trip to Davos, where he declared that the attack would not crush Russia or its drive for investment.
Indonesia demands probe into attack on Muslim sectIndonesia demands probe into attack on Muslim sect
AP, JAKARTA, Indonesia: Indonesia's president ordered an investigation into an attack on members of a minority Muslim sect after a gruesome video emerged of a mob beating several victims to death with machetes, sticks and rocks.
About 1,500 people stormed a house in Banten province over the weekend to stop 20 Ahmadiyah followers from worshipping. They killed three men and badly wounded six others, while destroying the house and setting fire to several cars and motorbikes.
Indonesia is a secular country of 237 million people with more Muslims than any other in the world.
Despite a long history of religious tolerance, a hard-line fringe has grown louder in recent years and the government — which relies on the support of Islamic parties in Parliament — has been accused of caving in to it.
Rights group said Tuesday a 2008 decree that bans religious activities of Ahmadiyah, thought to have 200,000 followers in the archepeligic nation, should be immediately revoked. They say it only encourages violence.
The latest attacks on Ahmadiyah — which drew rare condemnation from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono — were captured on video and have circulated widely on national television and the Internet.
The most disturbing clip, posted on YouTube, showed assailants repeatedly pounding two victims — who had been stripped naked and appeared to be dead — with heavy sticks.
A policeman came to the scene but his screams of "stop" were almost inaudible among dozens who shouted "Allahu Akbar" or God is Great.
The Ahmadiyah are considered deviant by many Muslims and are banned in many Islamic countries because they believe that Muhammad was not the final prophet.
"I have ordered a comprehensive investigation to find out the real cause of the incident so that those guilty, or violating the law, can be penalized," Yudhoyono told a news conference.
He also called on security forces as well as local governments to be proactive in taking action against the instigators of such violence.
"Don't wait until the conflicts and clashes have already happened," Yudhoyono said.
Many attacks on religious minorities in recent years have been carried out by members of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front, known also for smashing bars and attacking transvestites and anyone one else considered "blasphemous" with bamboo clubs and stones.
The group pressured local authorities late last year to shutter a Christian church located in a densely populated Muslim area, and assailants stabbed a Christian worshipper and beat a minister on the head with a wooden plank as they headed to prayers.
Thirteen members of the Islamic Defenders Front have gone on trial in the case, and state prosecutors on Monday sought a six-month prison term for Murhali Barda, a local group leader, for instigating the Sept. 13 attack.
The Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, a human rights group, says attacks on religious freedom by hard-liners are steadily increasing.
It says in 2010 there were 64 incidents, ranging from physical abuse to preventing groups from performing prayers and burning houses of worship, up from 18 in 2009 and 17 in 2008.
About 1,500 people stormed a house in Banten province over the weekend to stop 20 Ahmadiyah followers from worshipping. They killed three men and badly wounded six others, while destroying the house and setting fire to several cars and motorbikes.
Indonesia is a secular country of 237 million people with more Muslims than any other in the world.
Despite a long history of religious tolerance, a hard-line fringe has grown louder in recent years and the government — which relies on the support of Islamic parties in Parliament — has been accused of caving in to it.
Rights group said Tuesday a 2008 decree that bans religious activities of Ahmadiyah, thought to have 200,000 followers in the archepeligic nation, should be immediately revoked. They say it only encourages violence.
The latest attacks on Ahmadiyah — which drew rare condemnation from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono — were captured on video and have circulated widely on national television and the Internet.
The most disturbing clip, posted on YouTube, showed assailants repeatedly pounding two victims — who had been stripped naked and appeared to be dead — with heavy sticks.
A policeman came to the scene but his screams of "stop" were almost inaudible among dozens who shouted "Allahu Akbar" or God is Great.
The Ahmadiyah are considered deviant by many Muslims and are banned in many Islamic countries because they believe that Muhammad was not the final prophet.
"I have ordered a comprehensive investigation to find out the real cause of the incident so that those guilty, or violating the law, can be penalized," Yudhoyono told a news conference.
He also called on security forces as well as local governments to be proactive in taking action against the instigators of such violence.
"Don't wait until the conflicts and clashes have already happened," Yudhoyono said.
Many attacks on religious minorities in recent years have been carried out by members of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front, known also for smashing bars and attacking transvestites and anyone one else considered "blasphemous" with bamboo clubs and stones.
The group pressured local authorities late last year to shutter a Christian church located in a densely populated Muslim area, and assailants stabbed a Christian worshipper and beat a minister on the head with a wooden plank as they headed to prayers.
Thirteen members of the Islamic Defenders Front have gone on trial in the case, and state prosecutors on Monday sought a six-month prison term for Murhali Barda, a local group leader, for instigating the Sept. 13 attack.
The Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, a human rights group, says attacks on religious freedom by hard-liners are steadily increasing.
It says in 2010 there were 64 incidents, ranging from physical abuse to preventing groups from performing prayers and burning houses of worship, up from 18 in 2009 and 17 in 2008.
Freed Google executive helped spark Egypt revolt
AP, CAIRO: The young Google Inc. executive detained by Egyptian authorities for 12 days said Monday he was behind the Facebook page that helped spark what he called "the revolution of the youth of the Internet." A U.S.-based human rights group said nearly 300 people have died in two weeks of clashes.
Wael Ghonim, a marketing manager for the Internet company, wept throughout an emotional television interview just hours after he was freed. He described how he spent his entire time in detention blindfolded while his worried parents didn't know where he was. He insisted he had not been tortured and said his interrogators treated him with respect.
"This is the revolution of the youth of the Internet and now the revolution of all Egyptians," he said, adding that he was taken aback when the security forces holding him branded him a traitor.
"Anyone with good intentions is the traitor because being evil is the norm," he said. "If I was a traitor, I would have stayed in my villa in the Emirates and made good money and said like others, 'Let this country go to hell.' But we are not traitors," added Ghonim, an Egyptian who oversees Google's marketing in the Middle East and Africa from Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates.
The protesters have already brought the most sweeping changes since President Hosni Mubarak took power 30 years ago, but they are keeping up the pressure in hopes of achieving their ultimate goal of ousting Mubarak.
Ghonim has become a hero of the demonstrators since he went missing on Jan. 27, two days after the protests began. He confirmed reports by protesters that he was the administrator of the Facebook page "We are all Khaled Said" that was one of the main tools for organizing the demonstration that started the movement on Jan. 25.
Khaled Said was a 28-year-old businessman who died in June at the hands of undercover police, setting off months of protests against the hated police. The police have also been blamed for enflaming violence by trying to suppress these anti-government demonstrations by force.
Ghonim's whereabouts were not known until Sunday, when a prominent Egyptian businessman confirmed he was under arrest and would soon be released.
Time and again during the two weeks of demonstrations, protesters have pointed proudly to the fact that they have no single leader, as if to say that it is everyone's uprising. Still, there seems at times to be a longing among the crowds at Cairo's Tahrir Square, the main demonstration site, for someone to rally around.
The unmasking of Ghonim as the previously unknown administrator of the Facebook page that started the protests could give the crowds someone to look to for inspiration to press on.
Whether Ghonim forcefully takes up that mantle remains to be seen, but he said repeatedly in Monday night's interview that he did not feel he was a hero.
"I didn't want anyone to know that I am the administrator," he said. "There are no heroes; we are all heroes on the street. And no one is on their horse and fighting with the sword."
The show commemorated some of those killed in the protests and showed their pictures during the interview, sending Ghonim into sobs just before he got up and walked out of the studio.
"I want to tell every mother and father: I am sorry. I swear it is not our fault. It is the fault of everyone who held on tight to authority and didn't want to let go," he said before cutting short the interview.
Ghonim looked exhausted and said he had been unable to sleep for 48 hours, but not because he was being mistreated.
He said he was snatched off the streets two days after the protests first erupted on Jan. 25. After he left a friend's house, four men surrounded him, pushed him to the ground and took him blindfolded to state security. He said he spent much of the following days blindfolded, with no news of the events on the street, being questioned.
In contrast, he said, in his release he was treated with respect. Just before he was freed, he said, he was brought before Interior Minister Mahmoud Wagdy — installed only days earlier in a government reshuffle — in his office. The minister "talked to me like an adult, not like someone of strength talking to someone weak" and then the new head of the National Democratic Party escorted him home.
"This is because of what the youth did in the street," he said in the interview on private station Dream 2 TV.
He said his interrogators were convinced that foreigners were backing the movement, but Ghonim asserted it was just young Egyptians "who love this country." He also sought to debunk the government's accusations that the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Mubarak's most bitter rival, was involved in planning the protests.
He referred to his arrest as a "kidnapping" and a "crime" but also sounded conciliatory, saying "this is not a time for settling accounts or cutting up the pie; this is Egypt's time."
He did forcefully place blame for the country's ills on Mubarak's National Democratic Party and said the good among them should abandon it and start something new to earn the people's respect.
"I don't want to see the logo of the NDP anywhere in the country," he said. "This party is what destroyed this country. The cadre in this party are filthy."
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch told The Associated Press on Monday that two weeks of clashes have claimed at least 297 lives, by far the highest and most detailed toll released so far. It was based on visits to seven hospitals in three cities and the group said it was likely to rise.
While there was no exact breakdown of how many of the dead were police or protesters, "clearly, a significant number of these deaths are a result of the use of excessive and unlawful use of force by the police," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch.
Egypt's Health Ministry has not given a comprehensive death toll, though a ministry official said he is trying to compile one.
Protesters have clashed with police who fired live rounds, tear gas and rubber bullets. They also fought pitched street battles for two days with gangs of pro-Mubarak supporters who attacked their main demonstration site in Cairo's central Tahrir Square.
The violence has spread to other parts of Egypt and the toll includes at least 65 deaths outside the capital, Cairo.
Heba Morayef, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said that she and other researchers visited five hospitals in Cairo, a field hospital in Tahrir Square and one hospital each in the cities of Alexandria and Suez.
The count is based on interviews with hospital doctors, visits to emergency rooms and morgue inspections, she said.
Morayef said a majority of victims were killed by live fire but that some of the deaths were caused by tear gas canisters and rubber bullets fired at close range.
"We personally witnessed riot police firing tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at the heads of protesters at close range, and that is a potentially lethal use of such riot-control agents," said Bouckaert.
In most cases, doctors declined to release names of the dead, Morayef said.
The group counted 232 deaths in Cairo, including 217 who were killed through Jan. 30 and an additional 15 who were killed in clashes between government supporters and opponents in Tahrir Square last Wednesday and Thursday.
Wael Ghonim, a marketing manager for the Internet company, wept throughout an emotional television interview just hours after he was freed. He described how he spent his entire time in detention blindfolded while his worried parents didn't know where he was. He insisted he had not been tortured and said his interrogators treated him with respect.
"This is the revolution of the youth of the Internet and now the revolution of all Egyptians," he said, adding that he was taken aback when the security forces holding him branded him a traitor.
"Anyone with good intentions is the traitor because being evil is the norm," he said. "If I was a traitor, I would have stayed in my villa in the Emirates and made good money and said like others, 'Let this country go to hell.' But we are not traitors," added Ghonim, an Egyptian who oversees Google's marketing in the Middle East and Africa from Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates.
The protesters have already brought the most sweeping changes since President Hosni Mubarak took power 30 years ago, but they are keeping up the pressure in hopes of achieving their ultimate goal of ousting Mubarak.
Ghonim has become a hero of the demonstrators since he went missing on Jan. 27, two days after the protests began. He confirmed reports by protesters that he was the administrator of the Facebook page "We are all Khaled Said" that was one of the main tools for organizing the demonstration that started the movement on Jan. 25.
Khaled Said was a 28-year-old businessman who died in June at the hands of undercover police, setting off months of protests against the hated police. The police have also been blamed for enflaming violence by trying to suppress these anti-government demonstrations by force.
Ghonim's whereabouts were not known until Sunday, when a prominent Egyptian businessman confirmed he was under arrest and would soon be released.
Time and again during the two weeks of demonstrations, protesters have pointed proudly to the fact that they have no single leader, as if to say that it is everyone's uprising. Still, there seems at times to be a longing among the crowds at Cairo's Tahrir Square, the main demonstration site, for someone to rally around.
The unmasking of Ghonim as the previously unknown administrator of the Facebook page that started the protests could give the crowds someone to look to for inspiration to press on.
Whether Ghonim forcefully takes up that mantle remains to be seen, but he said repeatedly in Monday night's interview that he did not feel he was a hero.
"I didn't want anyone to know that I am the administrator," he said. "There are no heroes; we are all heroes on the street. And no one is on their horse and fighting with the sword."
The show commemorated some of those killed in the protests and showed their pictures during the interview, sending Ghonim into sobs just before he got up and walked out of the studio.
"I want to tell every mother and father: I am sorry. I swear it is not our fault. It is the fault of everyone who held on tight to authority and didn't want to let go," he said before cutting short the interview.
Ghonim looked exhausted and said he had been unable to sleep for 48 hours, but not because he was being mistreated.
He said he was snatched off the streets two days after the protests first erupted on Jan. 25. After he left a friend's house, four men surrounded him, pushed him to the ground and took him blindfolded to state security. He said he spent much of the following days blindfolded, with no news of the events on the street, being questioned.
In contrast, he said, in his release he was treated with respect. Just before he was freed, he said, he was brought before Interior Minister Mahmoud Wagdy — installed only days earlier in a government reshuffle — in his office. The minister "talked to me like an adult, not like someone of strength talking to someone weak" and then the new head of the National Democratic Party escorted him home.
"This is because of what the youth did in the street," he said in the interview on private station Dream 2 TV.
He said his interrogators were convinced that foreigners were backing the movement, but Ghonim asserted it was just young Egyptians "who love this country." He also sought to debunk the government's accusations that the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Mubarak's most bitter rival, was involved in planning the protests.
He referred to his arrest as a "kidnapping" and a "crime" but also sounded conciliatory, saying "this is not a time for settling accounts or cutting up the pie; this is Egypt's time."
He did forcefully place blame for the country's ills on Mubarak's National Democratic Party and said the good among them should abandon it and start something new to earn the people's respect.
"I don't want to see the logo of the NDP anywhere in the country," he said. "This party is what destroyed this country. The cadre in this party are filthy."
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch told The Associated Press on Monday that two weeks of clashes have claimed at least 297 lives, by far the highest and most detailed toll released so far. It was based on visits to seven hospitals in three cities and the group said it was likely to rise.
While there was no exact breakdown of how many of the dead were police or protesters, "clearly, a significant number of these deaths are a result of the use of excessive and unlawful use of force by the police," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch.
Egypt's Health Ministry has not given a comprehensive death toll, though a ministry official said he is trying to compile one.
Protesters have clashed with police who fired live rounds, tear gas and rubber bullets. They also fought pitched street battles for two days with gangs of pro-Mubarak supporters who attacked their main demonstration site in Cairo's central Tahrir Square.
The violence has spread to other parts of Egypt and the toll includes at least 65 deaths outside the capital, Cairo.
Heba Morayef, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said that she and other researchers visited five hospitals in Cairo, a field hospital in Tahrir Square and one hospital each in the cities of Alexandria and Suez.
The count is based on interviews with hospital doctors, visits to emergency rooms and morgue inspections, she said.
Morayef said a majority of victims were killed by live fire but that some of the deaths were caused by tear gas canisters and rubber bullets fired at close range.
"We personally witnessed riot police firing tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at the heads of protesters at close range, and that is a potentially lethal use of such riot-control agents," said Bouckaert.
In most cases, doctors declined to release names of the dead, Morayef said.
The group counted 232 deaths in Cairo, including 217 who were killed through Jan. 30 and an additional 15 who were killed in clashes between government supporters and opponents in Tahrir Square last Wednesday and Thursday.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Secret sex poems 'key to 18th Century book's success'
The success of two best-selling volumes of poetry published in the 18th Century was down to pornographic poems hidden in the book, an academic has suggested.
Oxford University's Dr Claudine van Hensbergen came across The Cabinet of Love in The Works of the Earls of Rochester and Roscommon.
The poems include verses on sex toys and condoms.
It is thought the printer Edmund Curll inserted the collection into the books in 1714.
"Word of it must have spread, as in the later decades of the century The Cabinet was properly integrated into the volume," Dr van Hensbergen said.
Although the existence of The Cabinet is already known, it is the first time the success of The Works has been attributed to the bawdy poems.
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