Fighting erupts after car bombing in Mali

Malian soldiers backed by French fighter jets battled Islamist rebels in Timbuktu on Sunday after insurgents used a car bomb as cover to infiltrate the northern desert town, sources said.

The French-led offensive in Mali has pushed a mix of Islamists out of their northern strongholds and remote mountain bases but the militants have hit back with several suicide attacks and guerilla-style raids.

At least one Malian soldier was killed and four injured in Sunday's fighting in the ancient Saharan trading hub 1,000 km (600 miles) north of the capital Bamako, according to a Mali government communique issued on Sunday evening.

It said that 21 Islamist rebels were also killed.

"It started after a suicide car bombing around 2200, that served to distract the military and allow a group of jihadists to infiltrate the city by night," said Mali army Captain Modibo Naman Traore.

Bilal Toure, a member of Timbuktu's crisis committee set up after the town was recaptured from Islamist control in January, said he saw a French plane firing on the rebel positions. He said fighting had died down since nightfall.

"The situation settled down after around 1900 but everyone is still staying indoors," he said.

The attack reflected the challenge of securing Mali as France prepares to reduce its troop presence and hand over to the ill-equipped Malian army and a more than 7,000-strong regional African force.

Mali's defense ministry said on Saturday that two Nigerian soldiers in the regional African force were killed when their convoy struck a mine outside Ansongo, near the Niger border.

France launched its intervention in Mali in January to halt an advance by northern al Qaeda-linked rebels towards Bamako.

President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that France will reduce its troop numbers in Mali to 2,000 by July and to 1,000 by the end of the year, down from 4,000 at present.

The West African former colony is to hold presidential and legislative elections in July - vital steps to stabilizing the gold- and cotton-producer after a military coup a year ago paved the way for the northern rebel takeover.

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South African official: Mandela better from pneumonia

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nelson Mandela is breathing "without difficulty" after having a procedure to clear fluid in his lung area that was caused by pneumonia, the spokesman for South Africa's president said Saturday. Mandela, the 94-year-old former president and anti-apartheid leader, had a recurrence of pneumonia, said presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj. South African officials had previously not specified that Mandela had pneumonia, saying instead that he had a lung infection. Mandela's medical team reported that the increasingly frail ex-leader "had developed a pleural effusion which was tapped," Zuma's office said in a statement. "This has resulted in him now being able to breathe without difficulty. He continues to respond to treatment and is comfortable." The president's office thanked all who have prayed for Mandela and his family and have sent messages of support. Mandela was admitted to a hospital near midnight Wednesday night in the capital, Pretoria. It was his third trip to a hospital since December, when he was treated for a lung infection and also had a procedure to remove gallstones. Earlier this month, he spent a night in a hospital for what officials said was a scheduled medical test. Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after elections were held, bringing an end to the system of white racist rule known as apartheid. He had spent 27 years in prison under the apartheid regime and after his release in 1990 was widely credited with averting even greater bloodshed by helping the country in the transition to democratic rule.

 

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Herschel Walker tells soldiers: 'Don't be afraid to ask for help'

He admits it was easier being Herschel Walker, the Heisman Trophy winner. Easier being Herschel Walker, the All-Pro NFL running back. But now, as he stepped in front of a room packed with soldiers eager to hear his story, he was Herschel Walker, a man with mental health issues. And Walker's message was simple and to the point. "Don't be afraid to ask for help," he said. "I did." Mr. Walker, the 1982 Heisman winner while at the University of Georgia, said if he hadn't he would have killed someone. Probably his ex-wife. And probably a man who had failed to deliver a package on time. "I got my gun and I got in my car," Walker told an attentive audience. Fortunately for Walker, and for the unsuspecting delivery man, the former NFL running back saw something on the bumper sticker of the delivery van. It read, "Honk if you love Jesus." That jarred Walker out of his angered state. "That's when I realized I needed help," Walker said. Following treatment and counseling, Walker was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder. "When I came out years ago, I was hurting," Walker said. "No one ever saw it. No one knew I had problems. But I did. I said I'm not ashamed of who I am. I love who I am." But Walker needed a scary wake-up moment before he admitted he needed help. It required courage. "It was very tough asking for help," Walker said. "It's very difficult. I was totally confused. You know I'm Herschel Walker. I've won a Heisman Trophy. I won an NFL rushing title. How could I have a problem? That was it more than anything. Just admitting I had a problem. Even sometimes today I won't admit it." Walker recently talked an hour with soldiers at Fort Lewis, Wash., telling snippets of his life story, from when he was a child to when he was a highly recruited All-American running back coming out of high school in George. Walker, who played for the Dallas Cowboys and four other NFL teams from 1986 to when he retired in 1997, is comfortable in front of a crowd. Without using notes, he talked about the struggles he had as a kid in the classroom and on the playground. "My teacher told me I was special," Walker said, a broad smile breaking on his face. But it wasn't the kind of special he wanted. He said he was transferred to special education because he couldn't read well. At recess, kids made fun of him because he was overweight. Eventually, Walker, motivated by the anger he felt toward his teacher and his classmates making fun of him, began working out and studying hard. "This is going to freak you out," Walker told the crowd. "I told my mom the reason I started working out was because I wanted to break the necks of the people picking on me. I wanted to hurt them. I said I didn't want any teacher to put me down any more." So, Walker got up early in the morning to exercise and to study. He'd do pushups until his arms couldn't hold him. He'd run by himself until his lungs ached, working hard to turn his fat into muscle. "I had that anger in me," Walker said. It wasn't until Walker went to a counselor after his NFL career ended that he realized his emotional problems, that he had dual personalities that vary between a nice, likeable Walker to an angry, want-to-hurt-you Walker. "If you remember, every kid wanted to beat me up," Walker said. "I had teachers who said I was not good enough. So, I said I will become good enough. So I became this guy who became obsessed to become good enough. Now I sit down and tell people who I was. Now, I say, 'Do you know who I am?' " With a broad smile, Walker paused and panned the audience. He painted a picture of a desperate man, a man who didn't understand fear or pain. He talked of how he separated his shoulder in a game at the University of Georgia and insisting that the trainer pop it back into place while he was on the sidelines, and not in the locker room, as the trainer suggested. Off the field, Walker took unreasonable risks. "I was this guy who used to love playing Russian Roulette," Walker said. "People would say, 'What do you want to do? Kill yourself?' I'd say no. It was a game for me. Playing Russian Roulette showed how tough I was. I used to say to my ex-wife that I was going to kill her. Later, she told me that I had said that, and I didn't remember it." In front of a room packed with soldiers, Walker didn't hide behind his trophies. He revealed his hurting side. He then shared a message of hope with the soldiers, some of whom are having trouble adjusting after assignments in the Middle East. "I'm here today to [talk with] you if you're burdened, if you don't think you can make it," Walker said. "You've got problem? Talk with a friend. Get help. God loves you. I love you." Wives of soldiers in the audience began wiping tears. "We have the DNA of our Lord Jesus Christ," Walker said. "You're somebody. We all have problems. I finally saw that." In the past year, Walker has given several similar talks to soldiers across the country. He tells them that people like him with dissociative identity disorder (DID) have emotions beyond their control. He tells them how he created alternate personalities to deal with some of his problems. Those alternate personalities are often the result of profound abuse or a traumatic event in a person's life. Admitting he needed help wasn't easy. "But it's easier today," Walker said. "Years ago if you said you had a mental problem, it would be tough. Today there are so many leaders saying if you've got a problem go get help. Get treated." It's Walker's openness about his mental issues that the Army hopes will help hurting soldiers decide to make a call for help. "One of the things we combat in the military is the stigma that if you're really strong, you don't have problems," said Col. Dr. Dallas Homas, the commander of the Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis. And often if a soldier does admit to himself he has a problem, he doesn't tell anyone else. "I think what Herschel brings is a testimony that it's okay to admit that you have a problem," Colonel Homas said. "Her's a guy who is a super hero, who is brave enough to say, 'Hey, I've got a problem. I had a problem. I took it on, head on, and I'm better for it.' " In his book, "Breaking Free," Walker writes about his mental health issues. He's said if he could help just one person, then going public with his problem would be worth it. "[For] every individual out here who might be wrestling with an internal demon or a challenge, Herschel has shown them it's okay to go get help for it," Homas said. "Not many of our sports heroes are as giving, as selfless, as Christian as he is. He's a model for everyone to emulate."

 

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China: Landslide buries 83 in Tibet gold mine area

A massive landslide swept through a gold mining area in mountainous Tibet early Friday morning, burying 83 workers believed to have been asleep at the time, Chinese state media said.

About 2 million cubic meters (2.6 million cubic yards) of mud, rock and debris engulfed the area as the workers were resting and covered an area measuring around 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles), China Central Television said.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the workers in Lhasa's Maizhokunggar county worked for a subsidiary of the China National Gold Group Corp., a state-owned enterprise and the country's largest gold producer.

Xinhua said at least two of the buried workers were Tibetan. CCTV said most of the workers were believed to be ethnic Han Chinese.

The site is about 70 kilometers (45 miles) east of Lhasa, the regional capital.

More than 1,000 police, firefighters, soldiers and medics have been deployed to the site to conduct searches armed with devices to detect signs of life and accompanied by sniffer dogs, reports said. Around 30 excavators were also digging away at the site late Friday as temperatures fell to just below freezing.

The reports said the landslide was caused by a "natural disaster" but did not provide specifics. It was unclear why the first news reports of the landslide came out several hours after it occurred.

County officials reached by phone confirmed the landslide but had no further details, saying that information reaching the main office was limited due to poor cellphone coverage at the site. Calls to the company's general phone line rang unanswered.

Doctors reached at the local county hospital said they had been told to prepare to receive survivors but none had arrived. "We were ordered to make all efforts to receive the injured," said a doctor who gave only her surname, Ge, in the hospital's emergency section.

Ge said the hospital transferred some of its patients to other facilities to increase the number of beds available and that 16 doctors were on duty.

The Chinese government has been encouraging development of mining and other industries in long-isolated Tibet as a way to promote its economic growth and raise living standards. The region has abundant deposits of copper, chromium, bauxite and other precious minerals and metals and is one of fast-growing China's last frontiers.

But others worry that the rush into Tibet could wreck much of the high-altitude region's delicate ecosystem, and that an influx of the majority Han Chinese threatens its Buddhist culture and traditional way of life.

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Exhibit of Jews in Germany raises interest, ire

"Are there still Jews in Germany?" ''Are the Jews a chosen people?"

Nearly 70 years after the Holocaust, there is no more sensitive an issue in German life as the role of Jews. With fewer than 200,000 Jews among Germany's 82 million people, few Germans born after World War II know any Jews or much about them.

To help educate postwar generations, an exhibit at the Jewish Museum features a Jewish man or woman seated inside a glass box for two hours a day through August to answer visitors' questions about Jews and Jewish life. The base of the box asks: "Are there still Jews in Germany?"

"A lot of our visitors don't know any Jews and have questions they want to ask," museum official Tina Luedecke said. "With this exhibition we offer an opportunity for those people to know more about Jews and Jewish life."

But not everybody thinks putting a Jew on display is the best way to build understanding and mutual respect.

Since the exhibit — "The Whole Truth, everything you wanted to know about Jews" — opened this month, the "Jew in the Box," as it is popularly known, has drawn sharp criticism within the Jewish community — especially in the city where the Nazis orchestrated the slaughter of 6 million Jews until Adolf Hitler's defeat in 1945.

"Why don't they give him a banana and a glass of water, turn up the heat and make the Jew feel really cozy in his glass box," prominent Berlin Jewish community figure Stephan Kramer told The Associated Press. "They actually asked me if I wanted to participate. But I told them I'm not available."

The exhibit is reminiscent of Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann sitting in a glass booth at the 1961 trial in Israel which led to his execution. And it's certainly more provocative than British actress Tilda Swinton sleeping in a glass box at a recent performance at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Eran Levy, an Israeli who has lived in Berlin for years, was horrified by the idea of presenting a Jew as a museum piece, even if to answer Germans' questions about Jewish life.

"It's a horrible thing to do — completely degrading and not helpful," he said. "The Jewish Museum absolutely missed the point if they wanted to do anything to improve the relations between Germans and Jews."

But several of the volunteers, including both German Jews and Israelis living in Berlin, said the experience in the box is little different from what they go through as Jews living in the country that produced the Nazis.

"With so few of us, you almost inevitably feel like an exhibition piece," volunteer Leeor Englander said. "Once you've been 'outed' as a Jew, you always have to be the expert and answer all questions regarding anything related to religion, Israel, the Holocaust and so on."

Museum curator Miriam Goldmann, who is Jewish, believes the exhibit's provocative "in your face" approach is the best way to overcome the emotional barriers and deal with a subject that remains painful for both Jews and non-Jews.

"We wanted to provoke, that's true, and some people may find the show outrageous or objectionable," Goldmann said. "But that's fine by us."

The provocative style is evident in other parts of the special exhibition, including some that openly raise many stereotypes of Jews widespread not only in Germany but elsewhere in Europe.

One includes a placard that asks "how you recognize a Jew?" It's next to assortment of yarmulkes, black hats and women's hair covers hanging from the ceiling on thin threads. Another asks if Jews consider themselves the chosen people. It includes a poem by Jewish author Leonard Fein: "How odd of God to choose the Jews. But how on earth could we refuse?"

Yet another invites visitors to express their opinion to such questions as "are Jews particularly good looking, influential, intelligent, animal loving or business savvy?"

Despite the criticisms, the "Jew in the Box" has proven a big hit among visitors.

"I asked him about the feelings he has for his country and what he thinks about the conflict with Palestine, if he ever visited Palestine," visitor Panka Chirer-Geyer said. "I have Jewish roots and I've been to Palestine and realized how difficult it was there. I could not even mention that I have Jewish roots."

On a recent day this week, several visitors kept returning to ask questions of Ido Porat, a 33-year-old Israeli seated on a white bench with a pink cushion.

One woman wanted to know what to bring her hosts for a Shabbat dinner in Israel. Another asked why only Jewish men and not women wear yarmulkes. A third inquired about Judaism and homosexuality.

"I guess I should ask you about the relationship between Germans and Jews," visitor Diemut Poppen said to Porat. "We Germans have so many insecurities when it comes to Jews."

Viola Mohaupt-Zitfin, 53, asked if Porat felt welcome as a Jew living among Germans "considering our past and all that."

Yes, Porat said, Germany is a good place to live, even as a Jew. But the country could do even more to come to terms with its Nazi past, he added. He advised the would-be traveler than anything is permissible to bring to a Shabbat dinner as long as it's not pork.

"I feel a bit like an animal in the zoo, but in reality that's what it's like being a Jew in Germany," Porat said. "You are a very interesting object to most people here."

Dekel Peretz, one of volunteers in the glass box, said many Germans have an image of Jews that is far removed from the reality of contemporary Jewish life.

"They associate Jews with the Holocaust and the Nazi era," he said. "Jews don't have a history before or after. In Germany, Jews have been stereotyped as victims. It is important that people here get to know Jews to see that Jews are alive and that we have individual histories. I hope that this exhibit can help."

Still, not everyone believes this is the best way to promote understanding.

Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal from the Jewish Chabad community in Berlin said Germans who are really interested in Jews and Judaism should visit the community's educational center.

"Here Jews will be happy to answer questions without sitting in a glass box," he said.

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Syrian rebels capture key town near Jordan border

Syrian rebels on Friday captured a strategic town near the border with Jordan after a day of fierce clashes that killed at least 38 people, activists said, as opposition fighters expand their presence in the south, considered a gateway to Damascus.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 16 rebels were among the dead in the fighting in and around Dael. The town lies less than 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Jordanian border in Daraa province, where the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began two years ago.

The rebel gains have coincided with what regional officials and military experts say is a sharp increase in weapons shipments to opposition fighters by Arab governments in coordination with the U.S. in the hopes of readying a push into Assad's stronghold in the capital, Damascus.

Although rebels control wide areas in northern Syria that border Turkey, the Jordanian frontier is only about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Damascus, or a third of the distance to the Turkish border.

The battle for Dael came as authorities ordered an investigation into a mortar attack on Damascus University that killed at least 10 students on Thursday, state media said. The attack was the deadliest since a wave of mortar shells began hitting the capital last month, puncturing the sense of normalcy the regime has tried to cultivate in the city.

It was unclear who fired the mortar rounds. The government blamed "terrorists," its blanket term for those fighting Assad's regime. Anti-regime activists accused the regime of staging the attack to turn civilians — many of whom in Damascus are already wary of the opposition fighters — against the rebels.

"Rebels now control wide areas in the Daraa countryside,'" said Rami Abdul-Rahman who heads the Observatory. "Every area that goes out of government control is important."

Syrian activist Maher Jamous, who is from Dael but currently lives in the United Arab Emirates, said that despite the steady advances and the latest rebel victory in Dael, the regime still maintains a strong presence in the strategic province that leads to the capital.

Jamous said the capture of Dael increases the pressure on the regime.

The regime is known to have posted elite troops in Daraa province, which separates Damascus from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that the Jewish state captured in 1967 and annexed in 1981.

Jamous said Dael has a population of 40,000, making it one of the bigger towns in the primarily agricultural region, which is dotted with small family farms. He added that the town fell briefly into the opposition's hands in the early days of the uprising, but was quickly retaken by regime forces in May 2011.

Amateur videos posted online by activists, showed rebels in the streets of Dael and the bodies of dead soldiers lying on the ground. The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.

In other areas, the Observatory said heavy clashes were taking place between regime forces and fighters renewing their attempts to storm a strategic military facility, known as the 17th Division base, north of the city of Raqqa that was captured by rebels earlier this month.

The division is considered one of the most important remaining regime strongholds in the northern province that borders Turkey, the Observatory said. It added that warplanes carried out several air raids in the area.

The Observatory said regime forces bombarded the Damascus suburb of Adra, while the government al Al-Ikhbariya TV said troops killed "many terrorists" in the area which is close to one of the main jails in the country.

The Aleppo Media Center and the Observatory reported clashes, shelling and attacks by helicopter gunships near the international airport of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest and commercial center.

Syria's crisis began in March 2011 with protests demanding Assad's ouster. Following a harsh government crackdown, the uprising steadily grew more violent until it became a full-fledged civil war. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed since.

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Myanmar general lauds army's democratic role as troops patrol

Myanmar's military will retain its key role in the country's fledgling democracy, the armed forces chief said on Wednesday at an annual parade attended for the first time by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Vice Senior General Min Aung Hlaing spoke as his soldiers enforced an uneasy peace in central Myanmar, where martial law was declared in four townships last week to quell anti-Muslim riots that officially killed 40 people. The unrest between Buddhists and Muslims is spreading, posing the biggest challenge yet to a reformist government that took office in 2011 after nearly half a century of military rule. Min Aung Hlaing said the military would continue to play a "leading political role" in accordance with Myanmar's constitution, which was drafted by the former junta and reserves a quarter of parliamentary seats for military officers. Early on Wednesday a mob in Nattalin, about 130 miles northwest of the commercial capital, Yangon, tried to destroy three houses and a mosque but were stopped by soldiers, a local government official told Reuters. "So far as I know, nobody was injured and nothing burnt down," he said. Dusk-to-dawn curfews are now in place in Nattalin and five nearby townships. President Thein Sein has won praise for freeing jailed dissidents, relaxing media censorship and trying to fix Myanmar's dysfunctional economy. But his government has also been criticized for failing to stem last year's violence in Rakhine State in western Myanmar, where officials say 110 people were killed and 120,000 were left homeless, most of them Rohingya Muslims. In his speech at the Armed Forces Day parade in the capital, Naypyitaw, Min Aung Hlaing expressed the military's loyalty to Thein Sein, himself a former general, before watching a procession of troops and military hardware, including truck-borne missiles. The military was helping to build "an eternally peaceful and developing nation", he said. Human rights groups have long accused Myanmar's military of war crimes and crimes against humanity in its campaigns against armed rebels from ethnic groups such as the Kachin and Shan. "All our members are being trained in the provisions of the Geneva Convention so our Tatmadaw do not commit any war crimes," said Min Aung Hlaing, referring to the military by a Burmese word meaning "Royal Force". "There is no such thing as genocide in the history of our Tatmadaw." HOUSE ARREST Among the guests was Suu Kyi, who spent a total of 15 years in prison or under house arrest under the former junta. She is the daughter of independence hero General Aung San, who founded the modern Myanmar army. Suu Kyi upset some supporters in January by expressing her "fondness" for the military, which still refuses to acknowledge its well-documented human rights abuses. In a statement on Wednesday, her National League for Democracy party called on the armed forces "to take part in working for the rule of law, the emergence of peace and amending the constitution". Anti-Muslim unrest promises to further expand the military's role, however. Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist country, but about 5 percent of its 60 million people are Muslims. There are large communities in Yangon, Mandalay and towns across Myanmar's heartland, which is dominated by the majority Burmans, who are Buddhists. Yangon remains tense, with the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday advising its citizens to avoid the downtown Mingalar Market area after a fight there led to a heavy police presence. Myanmar's government "would not hesitate to push the army in" to prevent further unrest, Vijay Nambiar, U.N. Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Myanmar, has told Reuters. Communal tension, stifled under military rule, exploded to the surface last June, after 10 Muslims were beaten to death by a Buddhist mob in Taungop town in Rakhine State. Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday the Muslims displaced in Rakhine State had effectively been segregated, living in squalid camps that security forces stopped them leaving. The government was restricting aid, it added, warning of a humanitarian crisis when the rainy season comes in May.

 

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Ahmadinejad roadshow: Pitching his political heir

During a celebration last week to mark the Persian new year, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did something quietly remarkable: He stood modestly to the side and let his favored aide have the spotlight. The gesture was far more than just a rare demure moment from the normally grandstanding leader. It was more carefully scripted stagecraft in Ahmadinejad's longshot efforts to promote the political fortunes of his chief of staff — and in-law — and seek a place for him on the June presidential ballot that will pick Iran's next president. In the waning months of Ahmadinejad's presidency — weakened by years of internal battles with the ruling clerics — there appears no bigger priority than attempting one last surprise. It's built around rehabilitating the image of Esfandiari Rahim Mashaei and somehow getting him a place among the candidates for the June 14 vote. To pull it off, Ahmadinejad must do what has eluded him so far: Come out on top in a showdown with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the other guardians of the Islamic Republic. Ahmadinejad has been slapped down hard after bold — but ultimately doomed — attempts in recent years to push the influence of his office on policies and decisions reserved for the ruling clerics. That has left him limping into the end of his eight-year presidency with many allies either jailed or pushed to the political margins. Mashaei is part of the collateral damage. He's been discredited as part of a "deviant current" that critics say seeks to undermine Islamic rule in Iran and elevate the values of pre-Islamic Persia. The smear campaign has even included rumors that Mashaei conjured black magic spells to cloud Ahmadinejad's judgment. The prevailing wisdom is that the backlash has effectively killed Mashaei's chances for the presidential ballot. The ruling clerics vet all candidates and, the theory follows, they seek a predictable slate of loyalists after dealing with Ahmadinejad's ambitions and disruptive power plays. In short: Friends of Ahmadinejad need not apply. Khamenei and others, including the powerful Revolutionary Guard, also are hoping to quell domestic political spats that they fear project a sense of instability during critical negotiations with the West over Tehran's nuclear program. Yet none of this seems to have discouraged Ahmadinejad, whose son is married to Mashaei's daughter. Ahmadinejad has been trying to groom Mashaei for years as his potential heir and now appears reluctant to toss his backing behind a less controversial figure. To that end, the president has hit the road as a cheerleader for Mashaei under the slogan "Long Live Spring." At one stop, Ahmadinejad described Mashaei as "a pious man." At another event he called him "excellent, wise," and at a third said his adviser has "a heart like a mirror." At last week's event, both men burst into tears as they discussed the need to help children with cancer. Ahmadinejad then "thanked God for having the opportunity to get to know Mashaei." Ahmadinejad appears to be banking on his populist appeal to force the Guardian Council — the gatekeepers for the candidates — to consider Mashaei too prominent to reject. "Ahmadinejad doesn't want to go out with a whimper. That's not his style," said Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center based in Geneva. "He wants his legacy, his man, as his successor." Tehran-based political analyst Sadeq Zibakalam also sees Mashaei as Ahmadinejad's last-ditch insurance policy. Without an ally as successor, Ahmadinejad fears he will be cast to the political sidelines. "Ahmadinejad has no option but to get one of his loyalists into power," he said. It will be more than a month before the candidate list is finalized. The presidential hopefuls will register from May 7-11, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported Monday. Already, however, the general contours are taking shape. There is Ahmadinejad's quest for Mashaei as the only active campaign roadshow. Many conservatives, meanwhile, seem to be coalescing around a three-way alliance — all apparently in the good graces of the ruling system — of former Foreign Minister and current Khamenei adviser Ali Akbar Velayati; Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and prominent lawmaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, whose daughter is married to Khamenei's son. "Should we win, our coalition will form the backbone of the future government," Velayati told a press conference earlier this month, suggesting that the potential winner would seek key posts for the other two. A separate roster of establishment-friendly candidates is getting bigger by the day. It includes former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian; parliament's vice speaker, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, and a former Revolutionary Guard commander, Mohsen Rezaei, who ran against Ahmadinejad in his disputed re-election in 2009. Reformists remain undecided whether to fall behind a potential candidate or boycott the vote in protest of the 2009 outcome — which they claim stole the election from Green Movement leader Mir Hossein Mousavi — and the crushing pressures on dissent that followed. Mousavi and fellow reformist candidate Mahdi Karroubi have been under house arrest for more than two years. But the most unpredictable element is still Ahmadinejad's push for Mashaei, whom he bills as his ideological heir and supporter of populist initiatives such as government stipends to poor families. "Ahmadinejad will travel city to city and tell the public that they should vote for me if they want Ahmadinejad's plans to be pursued," Mashaei was quoted as saying by Iranian media. The president — the same man who calls for the destruction of Iran's enemies — is often musing and sentimental as Mashaei's pitchman. "I testify that this man loves all human beings," Ahmadinejad said of his in-law. Mashaei, however, has been a political lightning rod for years. In 2009, Ahmadinejad appointed him as his first vice president, but was forced to backtrack on orders from Khamenei. Mashaei is believed to have been Ahmadinejad's adviser in a stunning feud with Khamenei over the choice of intelligence chief in 2011. The president boycotted Cabinet meetings for 11 days — an unprecedented show of disrespect to Iran's supreme leader — but finally backed down. In December, Ahmadinejad named Mashaei to a top post in the Nonaligned Movement, a Cold War holdover that Iran seeks to revive as a counterweight to Western influence. The appointment was seen as an attempt to raise Mashaei's political profile and give him some international experience. While it's not possible to rule out any candidate until the vetting process is complete, one conservative cleric gives Mashaei no chance. "The exalted supreme leader ordered that Mashaei is not qualified to serve as first vice president." said Qasem Ravanbakhsh. "So will the Guardian Council approve for president a man was not qualified to be the first vice president? Never."

 

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Head of Western-backed Syria rebel coalition quits

The leader of the Western-backed Syrian opposition coalition resigned Sunday, citing what he called the lack of international support for those seeking to topple President Bashar Assad. The resignation of Mouaz al-Khatib deals a blow to the most credible body seeking to represent the opposition, which remains deeply divided and continues to struggle to present a united front two years into Syria's bloody uprising. Al-Khatib, a respected preacher who has led the Syrian National Coalition since its creation late last year, said in a statement posted on his Facebook page that he was making good on a vow to quit if certain undefined "red lines" were crossed. "I am keeping my promise today and announcing my resignation from the National Coalition so that I can work with freedom that is not available inside the official institutions," he said. He also blamed world powers for providing insufficient support for the rebel cause and complained that many "international and regional parties" insisted on pushing the opposition toward dialogue with the regime. Most opposition leaders and activists say Assad's regime has killed too many people to be part of a solution to the conflict. "All that has happened to the Syrian people — from destruction of infrastructure to the arrest of tens of thousands to the displacement of hundreds of thousands to other tragedies — is not enough for an international decision to allow the Syrian people to defend themselves," the statement said. Al-Khatib was chosen to serve as president of the Coalition, which was formed in November under international pressure to serve as the opposition's official liaison with other countries and coordinate anti-Assad forces inside and outside of Syria. Despite electing a new, U.S.-educated prime minister to head a planned interim government last week, the Coalition has failed to establish itself as the top rebel authority on the ground in Syria, where hundreds of independent rebel brigades are fighting a civil war against Assad's forces. The Coalition did not immediately respond to al-Khatib's resignation. Al-Khatib's spokesman, Ali Mohammed Ali, confirmed the authenticity of the statement in a phone call with The Associated Press. He declined to discuss any issues inside the Coalition that could have influenced al-Khatib's decision. Speaking on Al Arabiya TV, the former head of the Syrian National Council, which preceded the coalition, said that he and other coalition members were surprised by the resignation. Burhan Ghalioun also said he assumed the resignation was a protest against world powers that have not provided the opposition with the aid it needs, unnamed countries that have interfered in the coalition's work and other coalition members who have impeded al-Khatib's work. "I lived this, so I know what it means," Ghalioun said, speaking of his own resignation as head of the SNC last year. Observers and some members of the Coalition have complained that Qatar, which heavily finances the opposition, and the Muslim Brotherhood exercise outsized power inside the Coalition. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was sorry to learn of al-Khatib's resignation, but that it won't affect U.S. cooperation with the Coalition on aid. He called such transitions natural, adding that it shows "an opposition that is bigger than one person and that opposition will continue." The Syrian government has largely ignored the opposition and says the civil war is an international conspiracy to weaken Syria. Syria's conflict has split regional and world powers, with some backing the rebels and others standing by Assad. Russia, China and Iran remain the regime's strongest supporters. On Sunday, Kerry told reporters during an unannounced trip to Baghdad, that he had made it clear to Iraq, Syria's eastern neighbor, that it should not allow Iran to use its airspace to shuttle weapons and fighters to Syria. Kerry said he told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that the transfer of anything that supports President Bashar Assad and his regime is "problematic." Also Sunday, rebel fighters inside Syria pressed ahead with their offensive in a restive southern province that borders Jordan, as Israel's military said its forces responded to fire by shooting at a target inside Syria. A victory on the frontier with Jordan would be a significant advance for the opposition. It would deprive Assad of control over a supply lifeline also used by refugees fleeing his military onslaught, and could facilitate the entry of arms and equipment to the rebels. Since summer, 2012, rebels have seized control of large swathes of land near the Turkish and Iraqi borders to the north and east, respectively, and used these areas to organize their forces and build supply lines. But the opposition has struggled so far to carve out a similar area in the south from which they could organize and marshal their forces for a more sustained push north toward Damascus. Rami Abdul-Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said heavy clashes raged in three towns in the southern Daraa provice on Sunday. "The rebels are trying to take over more army checkpoints and installations in Daraa," he told the Associated Press, reporting fighting in at least three towns. A Jordanian border official said he heard heavy artillery and saw smoke rising from areas in the province's Yarmouk Valley, a route used by Syrian refugees fleeing the fighting to Jordan. The official insisted on anonymity, citing army regulations. On Saturday, rebels seized several army checkpoints, clearing a 25-kilometer (15-mile) stretch along the Syrian-Jordanian border. Israel's military said Sunday its soldiers were on routine patrol in the Golan Heights when they were fired upon and responded. It did not say what weaponry was used or specify if those firing from Syria were rebels or government forces. For the last week, Syrian rebels have been capturing territory at the foot of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau that Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed. The Syrian Observatory also reported clashes in two districts in the Syrian capital, including near the Damascus international airport. It said the army, backed by warplanes, struck at rebel targets in the northern city of Hama. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed since the crisis began in March, 2011.

 

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Britain considers tough Australia-style border controls

Britain is considering introducing much tougher border controls and may oblige visitors from "high-risk" countries to hand over a returnable cash bond to deter them from overstaying their visas, its deputy prime minister said on Friday. "We need an immigration system that is zero-tolerant towards abuse," Nick Clegg said in his toughest speech on the subject yet, talking of a "crisis of public confidence" in the immigration system. Clegg said he had asked the home office or interior ministry to look at starting a pilot scheme for the cash bonds. A similar system is used by Australia. He did not say which countries he regarded as "high-risk" or how much the bonds would be, but a government source said the sum would be variable and could be at least 1,000 pounds ($1,518). The issue of immigration is sensitive, not least because the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government says it is still anxious to attract foreign nationals to help it compete in what it calls "a global race" against surging economies like China and Brazil. But opinion polls show many Britons want the current system tightened and are concerned about the expected arrival of thousands of Romanians and Bulgarians next year when European Union freedom of movement restrictions on those two countries are lifted. The country's three main political parties are also under growing pressure from the increasingly popular UK Independence Party (UKIP) which talks tough on immigration and has spoken of Britain's inability to police its own borders. UKIP wants Britain to leave the EU, in part so it can better control its borders, and came a surprise second in an election for a parliamentary seat this month, piling pressure on the government to respond. Clegg, who is also the leader of the Liberal Democrat party, told an audience in London the government would increase the cash penalty for employers who hire illegal immigrants from 10,000 pounds per worker to a much higher unspecified figure, saying he personally favored doubling it. He also spoke of trying to move away from government-funded translation services for immigrants, saying it might be better to refer them onto English-language courses in time and to stop paying for translation if they failed to "stick with" courses. Clegg backed away from a previous pledge, which has not been implemented, to give amnesties to illegal immigrants after ten years. Vince Cable, the business minister, said he was concerned that skilled foreign nationals continue to be allowed to come and go freely in an interview on Thursday, signaling tensions within the coalition over the issue. Prime Minister David Cameron is due to deliver a speech on immigration on Monday.

 

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Pope urges dialogue with Islam, more help for the poor

Pope Francis urged the West on Friday to intensify dialogue with Islam and appealed to the world to do more to combat poverty and protect the environment. Speaking in Italian, the new pontiff said richer countries should fight what he called "the spiritual poverty of our times" by re-forging links with God. "How many poor people there still are in the world! And what great suffering they have to endure!" he told the diplomats in the Vatican's frescoed Sala Regia. Some critics of the Catholic Church, which has been struggling with scandals and internal divisions, say its rejection of contraception in particular harms the poor. Others say it does much good in the developing world, running thousands of hospitals, schools, orphanages and hospices. Francis made his appeal in an address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, sending a message through them to the leaders of the 180 states with which the Vatican has diplomatic relations. He urged them to help keep religion central in public life and promote inter-religious dialogue as a catalyst for efforts to build peace. "In this work (peace building), the role of religion is fundamental. It is not possible to build bridges between people while forgetting God," he said. "But the converse is also true: it is not possible to establish true links with God while ignoring other people. Hence it is important to intensify dialogue among the various religions, and I am thinking particularly of dialogue with Islam." Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, said he was grateful that many Muslim religious and civilian leaders attended his inaugural Mass on Tuesday. DIALOGUE, NOT RIVALRY Dialogue, he said, "should help to build bridges connecting all people, in such a way that everyone can see in the other not an enemy, not a rival, but a brother or sister." He underlined the importance of defending the poor when he explained why he had decided to take the name of St. Francis of Assisi, who is associated with austerity and help for the poor. "Fighting poverty, both material and spiritual, building peace and constructing bridges: these, as it were, are the reference points for a journey that I want to invite each of the countries here represented to take up," he said. In his speech, the pope thanked Christians in the developing world "who dedicate themselves to helping the sick, orphans, the homeless and all the marginalized, thus striving to make society more humane and just". African Catholics have said they want the new pope to champion traditional Church teachings, such as opposing contraception, abortion and same-sex marriage. Since his election, Francis has drawn attention to the need to defend nature and included it in his speech to the diplomats. "Here too, it helps me to think of the name of (Saint)Francis, who teaches us profound respect for the whole of creation and the protection of our environment, which all too often, instead of using for the good, we exploit greedily, to one another's detriment," he said. Francis has set the tone for a humbler papacy. The Vatican said he will hold a Holy Thursday ceremony next week in the chapel of a youth prison instead of in the Vatican or a Rome basilica where it has been held before. He has also begun inviting outsiders to attend his morning Mass, something which Pope John Paul II did but which Benedict XVI, who is now "pope emeritus", discontinued. On Thursday, France invited staff of the Santa Martha residence in the Vatican and on Friday it was the turn of Vatican gardeners to attend the morning Mass in the chapel of residence, a spokesman said. On Saturday, Francis will fly to the papal summer retreat south of Rome to visit Benedict, who last month became the first pope in 600 years to abdicate instead of ruling for life, saying he no longer had the strength to carry out his mission.

 

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UN to probe alleged chemical weapons use in Syria

The United Nations will investigate the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria, which would amount to a crime against humanity, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced Thursday. The investigation could be broader than the Syrian government's request for an independent probe of a purported chemical weapons attack on Tuesday. Ban said he was aware of allegations of other, similar attacks and hoped the probe would ultimately help secure Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. The secretary-general said investigators would look into Syria's allegation that rebels carried out a chemical weapons attack on Khan al-Assal village in northern Aleppo province. The rebels blamed regime forces for the attack. A senior U.S. official, meanwhile, said Thursday that the United States now has strong indications that no chemical weapons were used at all in the attack. Officials won't entirely rule out the possibility, but the official said additional intelligence-gathering has led the U.S. to believe more strongly that it was not a weaponized chemical attack. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said France and Britain sent a letter to Ban on Thursday asking for an investigation of three alleged chemical weapons attacks. Ban said in a reply to the British and French that while the U.N. investigation will focus on the Syrian allegation, "we must take seriously other allegations that chemical weapons were used elsewhere in the country," Nesirky said. The secretary-general asked the Syrians, British and French to provide additional information about the alleged attacks, an indication that he might order a separate probe at a later time of the British-French allegations. Syria is widely believed to have a large stockpile of chemical weapons. The government has not confirmed it, saying only that it would never use chemical weapons against its own people. "My announcement should serve as an unequivocal reminder that the use of chemical weapons is a crime against humanity," the secretary-general said. "The international community needs full assurance that chemical weapons stockpiles are verifiably safeguarded." Western nations fear President Bashar Assad would use chemical weapons if he sees the two-year civil war turning against his government. But they are equally concerned that rebel forces, including some linked to al-Qaida, could get their hands on unguarded chemical weapons or the materials to make them. Ban said he was aware of "other allegations of similar cases involving the reported use of chemical weapons," but did not make clear whether these would be part of the U.N. investigation. In their letter to Ban, France and Britain raised allegations of chemical weapons use in two locations in Khan al-Assal and the village of Ataybah in the vicinity of Damascus on Tuesday, and in Homs on Dec. 23. The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, asked the U.N. chief to launch "an urgent investigation into all allegations as expeditiously as possible." U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said the United States "supports an investigation that pursues any and all credible allegations of the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria." She said the U.S. will continue to work closely with its partners to obtain further information on allegations of potential or actual use, and underscored the importance of launching the investigation swiftly. "President Obama has been clear that the use or transfer of chemical weapons is totally unacceptable," she said. "If Bashar Al-Assad and those under his command make the mistake of using chemical weapons, or fail to meet their obligation to secure them, then there will be consequences. Those responsible will be held accountable." Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, whose country is a close ally of Syria, welcomed Ban's announcement. On Wednesday, however, he had strongly opposed expanding the investigation beyond Tuesday's attack in Aleppo, accusing the West of "launching propaganda balloons" and engaging in delaying tactics. Ban said his senior advisers are setting up an investigation in consultation with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the World Health Organization. He said issues to be decided include the overall mandate, the composition, and operational conditions, including security. The investigation will start "as soon as practically possible," Ban said, but "will not happen overnight." Nesirky said there are "technical reasons for being on the ground sooner rather than later." He said the OPCW and WHO have the necessary technical expertise. The OPCW, which oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention, said in a statement that it was ready to work closely with the U.N. on establishing and conducting the mission. "While allegations of this nature are not new to conflict situations, they are nonetheless serious, especially in the context of Syria which is not a state party to the Chemical Weapons Convention," the OPCW said. "This remains a matter of serious concern." Ban said he would emphasize in a letter to the Syrian government that full cooperation from all parties and "unfettered access" would be essential to the investigation. The U.N. chief said he has spoken out repeatedly on the Syrian government's responsibility to secure any chemical weapons and has sent two letters to Assad "to remind him of this solemn duty." "It is my hope that the mission would contribute to ensuring the safety and security of chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria," he said. With more than 70,000 people killed and no end to the violence in sight, Ban said "the military solution in Syria is leading to the dissolution of Syria." He called on the deeply divided region and international community to find unity and support efforts by the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to help the Syrian people reach a political solution.

 

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Australia PM Gillard called to step aside, hold leadership vote

Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard faces a leadership challenge after rivals called for a ballot to resolve months of slipping polls and internal tensions that put her minority Labor government on course to be swept away at September elections. "This is not personal. It's about the party, the future of the country," said senior Labor minister Simon Crean, calling the challenge to break a deadlock between Gillard and chief rival Kevin Rudd, who she deposed in 2010. Crean, who a former strong Gillard supporter, said Gillard had told him she would not call a leadership vote and he urged Labor Party members now to bring on a ballot under party rules. If the ruling Labor Party replaces Gillard, that could prompt an early election as a new leader would not have guaranteed support of key independents in Australia's hung parliament. Gillard has set September 14 as the election date. Gillard, who replaced Rudd in a partyroom coup in June 2010, has seen her leadership under threat for most of the past two years and her minority government has been unable to turn around a long-running slump in opinion polls, fueled in part by internal instability, as well as flagging economic conditions. The conservative opposition led by Tony Abbott is well ahead in opinion polls and has promised to scrap a 30 percent tax on coal and iron ore mine profits, and to scrap an unpopular tax on carbon, if it wins power. Financial markets had little reaction to the news. The Australian dollar was a shade firmer on the day thanks mainly to a surprisingly strong reading of manufacturing from China, Australia's biggest export market. The currency was at $1.0380 and holding in a very tight range. Government bonds hardly budged, with investors assuming future borrowing needs would be much the same whichever leader or party was in power. A switch to Rudd would also mean a likely shakeout of senior ministers including Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan, who openly criticized Rudd during Rudd's previous failed leadership challenge in February 2012.

 

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South Korea: Chinese address source of attack

South Korea says an initial investigation shows a Chinese Internet address was the source of a cyberattack on one of the companies shut down by computer crashes. South Korea's telecom regulator said Thursday that a Chinese address created the malicious code in the server of one of the banks, Nonghyup, that crashed Wednesday. Experts say hackers often launch attacks via computers in other countries in an attempt to keep their identities from being exposed. Such addresses can easily be manipulated and disguised. Regulators have distributed vaccine software to government offices, banks, hospitals and other institutions to prevent more outages. The source of the attack is not yet clear. But suspicion has quickly fallen on North Korea. Pyongyang has threatened Seoul with attack in recent days.

 

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U.N. Security Council to discuss CAR at France's request

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Wednesday to discuss France's concerns about a fragile ceasefire in the Central African Republic, the French foreign ministry said. Rebels in the former French colony detained five ministers in the government earlier this week and threatened to break the January ceasefire unless prisoners were freed and other demands met. The insurgents came close to capturing the capital, Bangui, and overthrowing President Francois Bozize late last year before accepting the peace deal under which some of their leaders joined the central government. But increasingly bitter rhetoric from both sides is threatening to pitch the mineral-rich but impoverished, landlocked country back into conflict. "France remains concerned by the evolution of the situation in the Central African Republic," Foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said in a daily briefing. "At our request, the U.N. Security Council will hold consultations today on the situation in CAR." Paris increased its troops in CAR to 600 in December to protect its citizens. The United States said on Sunday it was concerned about CAR's worsening security and urged all sides to implement the ceasefire. Lalliot echoed those calls. "We are pushing all parties to refrain from all military options which would only worsen the security and humanitarian situation in CAR," he said. Rebels last week seized two eastern towns, threatening to resume the insurgency if their demands were disregarded. They previously insisted that Bozize's resignation was a precondition for peace and that the president, who seized power in a Chadian-backed 2003 coup, should stand trial at the International Criminal Court. CAR remains among the least developed countries in the world despite rich deposits of gold, diamonds and uranium.

 

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Pakistani militants attack court complex; 4 dead

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a courtroom on Monday in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing four people and wounding more than 40 others, officials said. Two militants attacked the back of the court compound and were confronted by three police guards, said police officer Masood Afridi. The militants shot and wounded the policemen, but not before one of the guards gunned down one of the suicide bombers. The other bomber managed to get into the courtroom of a female judge and detonated his explosives, said Afridi. Four people were killed and 47 wounded in the attack, said Habib Arif, a senior government official in Peshawar. Twenty of the wounded were discharged from the hospital after receiving first aid, while 27 remain under treatment, said Arif. The female judge who was presiding over the session inside the courtroom that was attacked was among the wounded, said police officer, Mohammad Arshad Khan. Naeem Ullah was standing outside the courtroom when the bomber blew himself up. The blast "caused all of the glass in the windows to break, and I was wounded in my leg and back," said Ullah. He spoke while receiving treatment at a local hospital. The attackers may have been trying to free militant colleagues jailed on the premises of the compound, said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Peshawar is the provincial capital. Hussain initially suggested that the attackers may have taken some hostages, but later said the situation was under control. Local TV footage showed people running for safety, including wounded people being assisted by others. They included a pair of policemen, a lawyer and other civilians, including one man whose clothes had been torn to shreds. Police commandos and army soldiers rushed toward the complex, as the wounded were shifted to stretchers and taken to the hospital. Peshawar is located on the border of Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region, the main sanctuary for Taliban militants who have been waging a bloody insurgency against the government. The militants and their allies have carried out scores of bombings in Peshawar. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the latest attack. In the southern port city of Karachi, paramilitary forces arrested a militant leader who was involved in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002, said two paramilitary officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Qari Abdul Hayee, a former leader of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group in southern Sindh province, was arrested on Sunday in Karachi, said the paramilitary officials. He also went by the name Asadullah and was involved in other attacks in Karachi as well, they said. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is a radical Sunni Muslim militant group that has carried out many attacks in Pakistan, especially against minority Shiite Muslims. Also in Karachi, gunmen riding on a motorcycle shot to death a Shiite professor, Sibt-e-Jafar, on Monday, said police officer Amir Farooqi. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

 

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New China premier pledges strong ties with US

China's new premier says his government is committed to strong relations with the U.S. and sees a strong outlook for trade and investment between the sides. Li Keqiang told reporters at a Sunday news conference that despite their differences, conflict between the world's first and second largest economies is not inevitable. China's new leaders "attach great importance" to relations with the U.S. and will work with Barack Obama's administration to move ties into a new stage, Li said. Two-way trade hit almost $500 billion last, although disputes linger over Chinese trade practices, opposition to Chinese investment in the U.S. and complaints over alleged Chinese computer hacking. Li was speaking in his first news conference since being appointed premier last week with primary responsibility for running the Chinese economy.

 

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Food price rises put restive Egypt on edge

With croissants, baguettes and bagels spilling off metal trolleys at the bakery where Mohammed Alif works in central Cairo, food is not scarce, but profits certainly are. The Egyptian pound has lost more than 8 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar since the end of December as concern deepens about the state of the economy, which is being undermined by political instability and rioting. This, along with a general rise in global food prices, has pushed up the amount which bakeries like Alif's have to pay for imported ingredients traded in dollars, which in turn risks feeding back into discontent with the new leadership. The specter of steep food price inflation driven by a weaker pound is of particular worry to President Mohamed Mursi as he grapples with spasms of unrest two years after the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak and was itself partly driven by a sense of mounting economic hardship in a country long steeped in poverty. Flour and sugar are 50 percent more expensive than they were a year ago, said Alif, and for now the bakery feels it has no choice but to absorb the increase rather than passing it on to customers: "I can't make it more expensive because people cannot pay," he said, pausing between filling shelves with freshly baked rolls and serving a steady flow of shoppers on the pavement. Higher prices would drive away customers, and there is a bigger underlying risk: if prices were to rise too quickly or if supply were to start thinning out, there could be even more unrest in a country with a history of bread riots. That is one reason why, despite a heavy burden on the state budget, Mursi's government is maintaining supplies of heavily subsidized flat bread, which is sold for less than 1 U.S. cent per piece and is aimed at the poor. But there are no subsidies for products like those sold in Alif's bakery, which caters to relatively affluent customers, so his and other businesses bear the burden of price rises. Some bakers have started shrinking the size of loaves and cakes in an apparent attempt to protect margins. As data released by the government this week showed, others have started passing on part of their higher costs to consumers. Annual consumer price inflation in Egyptian cities leapt to 8.2 percent in February from 6.3 percent in January, reaching the highest level since May. Food and drink prices rose 9.3 percent year-on-year last month. Nancy Fahim, economist at Standard Chartered in Dubai, predicted the weakness of Egypt's economy may limit any rise in overall inflation, however; average national inflation in the current fiscal year to June may yet be lower than last fiscal year's average of 8.7 percent, she said. But Fahim added that inflation coupled with high unemployment, officially estimated at 13 percent, was likely to pressure the government into maintaining subsidies, despite their increasing burden on state finances. The government spends over $5.5 billion a year on food subsidies, which also cover items such as rice, oil and sugar. Curbs on bread subsidies triggered severe riots in 1977, and as recently as 2008, Mubarak faced protests over shortages. In 2003, a sharp decline in the value of the pound caused the price of non-subsidized bread to soar, leaving more Egyptians buying the cheaper, subsidized flat loaves and triggering supply shortages. SICK ECONOMY Despite the weakness of the currency, bread supplies appear ample. Still, wheat imports are down sharply this year as the economic crisis makes it harder for Egypt to arrange payments; between January 1 and February 20, the country bought around 235,000 metric tons (259,043 tons), roughly a third of what it purchased in the same period a year ago. Wheat traders in Cairo said Egypt appeared to be running down strategic stocks of nearly 2.3 million metric tons to avoid having to use foreign exchange for imports. In the next Egyptian harvest, which is expected to start at the end next month, the government aims to raise the amount of local wheat which it obtains to 4 million metric tons by boosting its purchase price by 5 percent. In previous years, its targets ranged between 2.4 and 3.7 million metric tons. But the success of this strategy will depend on weather, bureaucratic efficiency and other factors. As the world's biggest wheat buyer, Egypt relies heavily on imports to feed its 84 million people; half of the wheat they consume is imported. In 2010/11, one Egyptian in four was living beneath the national poverty line of $1.65 a day, according to UNICEF. Economists say many more live just above the poverty line. For Cairo shopper Mohammed Ali, price rises in recent months have left only enough money for basic necessities. Standing at a bread stall on a busy street in the capital, he said he could not even think about spending cash on luxuries such as travel. "Food prices are rising, the economy is sick and the politicians just sit on their chairs," he said, miming a man lounging back and stroking his chin. "I have just enough money for food, but nothing else," he said, leaving with a small plastic bag stuffed with rolls to feed his family. Bakers who normally receive government subsidies to cover low-cost loaves and higher fuel prices say they have not been paid as regularly as before. The government owes such bakeries payments dating back six months, the head of the bakers' association said in February, threatening strike action if the problem was not solved. Prices at general stores have also gone up. Alfa Market, a supermarket chain catering to wealthier Egyptians, has been forced to raise prices several times over the past two months, owner Mohamad Zada said. The price of cooking oil has gone up on three occasions in that period. "There is a 20- to 30-percent increase in prices ... for everything," he told Reuters. For now, Zada has not heard complaints from customers about the price rises, but Alfa has been careful to limit the price of its bread, even though this is eating into profits: "People say changing the price of the bread would be a crime," he said. The fall of the Egyptian pound has also become a headache for Hatem Zidan, sales and marketing manager at milling company Flour Land, which produces flour, pasta and biscuits with imported wheat. In two months the price he pays for a metric ton of flour has risen 16 percent to 3,250 pounds ($480). The volatility of the exchange rate is making his work next to impossible, he said. "I can make a deal and then I have the surprise that I lose money. Now I am working day by day," he said. "I cannot make contracts for three months with businesses like I used to." Samir Radwan, an economist and former finance minister, says Egypt must learn from its troubled past. "The history of revolts in Egypt is the history of the price index," said Radwan, citing a pattern dating back to 1919. "I worry a lot about this. "Poor people really have their back against the wall."

 

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