Snow storm bears down on Mid-Atlantic, Northeast Topic: snowstorm, bbc news
by Rochelle van Amber for the BBC's Biodun Iginla
NEW YORK — Many Easterners were feeling boxed in Sunday as a powerful winter storm lay a snow blanket from the South to the Northeast, turning roads slick, canceling hundreds of flights and putting a chill in retailers' day-after-Christmas sales.
Up to 20 inches of snow were expected in some areas, including Philadelphia, where the Eagles-Vikings NFL game was canceled, and Boston, where an aquarium had to protect — of all things — penguin ice sculptures from the elements.
Snow started falling around New York City late Sunday morning, by which time nearly 1,000 flights out of the region's three major airports had already been canceled in anticipation of the storm. More cancellations were expected.
"We left the day after Christmas to avoid the Christmas craze. I guess that didn't work out so well," said Colleen James of Montclair, N.J. She, her husband, their two young children and their dachshund were at Newark Airport trying to reach family in Iowa, but their connecting flight to Chicago was delayed more than two and a half hours.
Her husband, Graham James, was resigning himself to postponing their trip a month. "Now we're worried about just driving home because of the crazy snow," Graham James said.
Some flights out of Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and the Carolinas also were canceled. Most carriers were waiving fees for one-time changes in affected areas and urging passengers to make changes through their websites.
The Northeast is getting the brunt of the storm. Forecasters issued a blizzard warning for New York City for Sunday and Monday, with a forecast of 11 to 16 inches of snow and strong winds that will reduce visibility to near zero at times. A blizzard warning was also in effect for Rhode Island and most of eastern Massachusetts including Boston, with forecasters predicting 15 to 20 inches of snow. A blizzard warning is issued when snow is accompanied by sustained winds or gusts over 35 mph.
As much as 18 inches could fall on the New Jersey shore with wind gusts over 40 mph.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter declared a snow emergency as of 2 p.m. Sunday, and he urged residents to stay off the roads.
The NFL moved the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings game from Sunday night to Tuesday because of an expected blizzard that could dump up to 20 inches snow on Philadelphia. It's the third time this season snow has forced a change of plans for the Vikings. Two of their games this month needed to be relocated because the roof of their stadium collapsed.
In Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino declared a snow emergency that bans parking on all major streets, and the New England Aquarium bubble-wrapped its four 5-foot-tall penguin ice sculptures to protect them from the wind and snow.
By early Sunday, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina had also declared states of emergency. Amtrak canceled several of its trains in Virginia. In Washington, transportation officials pretreated roads and readied 200 salt trucks, plows and other pieces of equipment to clear the 6 inches or more expected to fall in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Roseanne Pack of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency said visibility was limited and road conditions were deteriorating around the state Sunday, especially in southern Delaware.
"We have snow falling everywhere on our little state right now," she said.
The snow was easier to enjoy for people without travel plans. As the wind swirled snow through the doors of a Brooklyn supermarket, New Yorkers hurried to pick up a few staples before heading back home to hunker down.
"I'm seeing it as a great excuse to stay in and relax and drink tea," said Toni Gifford, who works in academics and has the week off.
"It will be nice to have some snow — we haven't had any all year," said another Brooklynite, Steve Barrett.
The weather deterred some people from hitting day-after-Christmas sales, but that appeared to be a relatively light blow for retailers coming off a strong shopping season.
"People will just wait a day to do exchanges and use their gift cards. It's no big deal," said Greg Maloney, CEO of the retail practice of Jones Lang LaSalle, which manages malls across the country.
He expects December revenue to grow a healthy 7 percent to 10 percent from last year.
The monster storm is the result of a low pressure system off the North Carolina coast and was strengthening as it moved northeast, according to the National Weather Service.
Travel misery began a day earlier in parts of the South, which was hit with a white Christmas for the record books. Columbia, S.C., had its first significant Christmas snow since weather records were first kept in 1887. Atlanta had just over an inch of snow — the first measurable accumulation on Christmas Day since the 1880s.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol said late Saturday that most of the roads in and around Asheville were either covered or partially covered with snow and ice.
"We're busy," Ryan Dean of Dean's Wrecker Service in Raleigh, N.C., said Sunday. "We've been out since 3 in the morning pulling people out of the ditch."
In central North Carolina's Wake County, Thomas Allen said his one-vehicle transportation service for seniors and people with disabilities was snowed in.
"I've had several calls this morning wanting to know if I can get out, but there's just no way," he said.
The National Weather Service said 8.5 inches of snow fell in Franklinton, N.C., about 30 miles north of Raleigh, from Saturday through Sunday.
Diane Smith, 55, said her power was out for about four hours there Sunday morning, but she and her husband have a generator. Relatives, including two grandchildren, who live nearby came over for breakfast and to get warm before going home after power was restored.
"It's beautiful," Smith said. "As long as I have power, I love it."
Foreign intervention to oust Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo could ignite a civil war, a spokesman for the president has warned.
West African leaders have warned of military action if Mr Gbagbo refuses to hand power to rival Alassane Ouattara.
But Ahoua Don Mello said such a move could spark an "interior war" due to foreign workers living in the country, AFP reports.
Mr Gbagbo has refused to step aside following November's disputed election.
Ivory Coast was "a country of immigration" from around the region, Mr Mello said.
"All these countries have citizens in Ivory Coast, and they know if they attack Ivory Coast from the exterior it would become an interior civil war," he said.
"Is Burkina Faso ready to welcome three million Burkinabe migrants back in their country of origin?" Mr Mello asked.
Millions of West African immigrants from poorer neighbouring states work in Ivory Coast's relatively prosperous cocoa-led economy.
'Call to step down'
On Friday, regional West African grouping Ecowas warned that unless Mr Gbagbo conceded power it would use "legitimate force" to remove him.
Three West African presidents - from Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde - are due to travel to the country on Tuesday to personally urge Mr Gbagbo to quit, Benin's foreign minister said.
The BBC's John James, in Abidjan, says that after calls from the US and French presidents, this personal visit will represent the final notice for Mr Gbagbo, whose hold on power is diminishing by the day.
Some 14,000 people have already fled to neighbouring Liberia following November's disputed election results, and the UN says it is prepared for a total of 30,000 refugees in the region.
The UN has said at least 173 people have died in violence already.
Most of those fleeing are supporters of Mr Ouattara, who is recognised internationally as the new president. He and his cabinet are based at a hotel in Abidjan under the protection of UN troops.
Mr Gbagbo has rejected widespread calls to step down, citing vote rigging in northern areas.
He has demanded that UN and French troops leave the country and a close ally has even warned that they could be treated as rebels if they did not obey the instruction.
The UN, which has 10,000 peacekeepers in the country, rejected the call.
The election was meant to unite the country after a civil war in 2002 split the world's largest cocoa producer in two, with the predominantly Muslim North supporting Mr Ouattara and the mainly Christian south backing Mr Gbagbo.
Pakistan suicide bomber was woman dressed in burqa Topic: pakistan, sunita kureishi, bbc n
by Sunita Kureishi, BBC News Analyst, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla
ISLAMABAD – A woman covered in a head-to-foot burqa carried out a suicide bombing that killed more than 40 people in Pakistan, government officials said on Sunday, adding to security challenges confronting the U.S. ally.
Any increased use of women as bombers may complicate efforts by
Pakistani security forces to stem a spreading wave of Islamist suicide attacks because it is harder to spot and search burqa-clad attackers in conservative tribal society.
Saturday's bombing illustrated the resilient ability of militants to stage attacks despite army offensives against them.
The woman blew herself amid a crowd of men, women and children heading toward a food distribution center of the World Food Program in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border.
"Initially there was confusion as to whether the attacker was a man or woman but now we have established that (it) was a woman," senior government official Sohail Ahmed told Reuters.
Government officials in Bajaur said they had recovered the head, burqa and clothes of the bomber.
PREVIOUS WOMAN BOMBER IN 2007
It was the second such attack by a female militant in Pakistan. In the first episode, a woman detonated explosives near a military checkpost in the northwestern city of Peshawar in 2007, but she killed no one except herself.
On Saturday, the woman initially threw hand grenades at people heading toward the food center to receive aid before blowing herself up. Forty-three people were killed and more than 60 were wounded in the attack.
"If militants use more women for such attacks then it is going to be a very huge problem for the security forces," said Rahimullah Yusufzai, an expert on tribal and militant affairs.
"They don't have enough women (in the) police force and even (if) they have policewomen, because of our conservative culture, people don't want their women to be subjected to body searches. It's going to be a big problem."
The attack happened a day after battles between security forces and insurgents in the neighboring Mohmand region that killed 11 soldiers and 40 insurgents, the government said. Militants disputed the official death toll.
The Pakistani army has conducted a series of offensives in its lawless Pashtun tribal belt, known as the global hub of Islamist militants, in recent years, killing hundreds of militants and destroying many of their bastions.
But the insurgents have still been able to strike back and have kept up a campaign of suicide and bombattacks across the country, killing hundreds of people.
"The militants' strongholds have been smashed...they are on the run and that's why they are now hitting soft targets," Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told reporters in comments broadcast by local television.
Saturday's attack targeted members of Salarzai, a major pro-government tribe backing army offensives against militants. Salarzai tribesmen have been a key role in mobilizing lashkars, or tribal militia, to back government military operations.
A Taliban spokesman, Azam Tariq, claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, saying that it was retaliation for "Salarzai activities against the Taliban."
Laurent Gbagbo faces threat from his neighbors Topic: ivory coast, bbc news
by Rashida Adjani for the BBC's Biodun Iginla
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – West African leaders are giving the man who refuses to leave Ivory Coast's presidency a final chance to hand over power and are threatening to remove him by force if needed, though doubts exist about whether the operation could be carried out.
Meanwhile, the U.N. refugee agency said at least 14,000 people have fled the violence and political chaos in Ivory Coast, some walking for up to four days with little food to reach neighboring Liberia. At least one child drowned while trying to cross a river.
The U.N. has said at least 173 people have died in violence over the disputed presidential runoff election held nearly one month ago. The toll is believed to be much higher, though, as the U.N. mission has been blocked from investigating other reports including an allegation of amass grave.
West African leaders from the regional bloc ECOWAS late Friday threatened a military intervention if does not step down from Ivory Coast's presidency. On Sunday, Sierra Leone's information ministry said that three leaders from the region would pay him a visit.
"In the spirit of brotherliness in Africa, three presidents have been nominated by their colleagues to confront Mr. Gbagbo in Abidjan to encourage him to leave office without delay," the ministry said. "The three presidents can fly back with Mr. Gbagbo, as all ECOWAS countries are prepared to grant him asylum."
Gbagbo has shown few signs that he plans to go, though, and his security forces have been accused of being behind hundreds of arrests, and dozens of cases of disappearance and torture in recent weeks. A Gbagbo adviser has said he does not believe their supporters are behind the attacks.
ECOWAS has not stated a deadline for Gbagbo to hand over power to Alassane Ouattara, whose victory has been acknowledged by the U.N., U.S., the African Union and the European Union.
While the threat of a military intervention creates pressure on Gbagbo, Africa security analyst Peter Pham said there are "serious doubts that ECOWAS has the wherewithal to carry it out."
"None of the ECOWAS countries has the type of special operations forces capable of a 'decapitation strike' to remove the regime leadership," said Pham, who is the senior vice president of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy in New York. "That leaves the rather unpalatable option of mounting a full-scale invasion of the sort that would inevitably involve urban fighting and civilian casualties."
Pham also said there is "little chance" that the U.N. would allow its peacekeepers to get involved in such an effort. "The precedent would make it very difficult to get future agreement for deployment of such missions by host countries," he said.
Diplomatic pressure and sanctions have left Gbagbo increasingly isolated, though he has been able to maintain his rule for nearly a month since the disputed vote because he still has the loyalty of security forces and the country's military.
Even that, though, may disappear if he runs out of money to pay them. Gbagbo's access to the state funds used to pay soldiers and civil servants has been cut off and only Ouattara's representatives now have access to the state coffers.
Senior diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, say that Gbagbo only has enough reserves to run the country for three months.
Gbagbo's spokesman Ahoua Don Mello on Saturday denounced the decision by West Africa's economic and monetary union to give Ouattara's government signing privileges on state accounts. He called the move "illegal and manifestly beyond their competence."
The meeting of regional finance ministers that issued the freeze "overstepped its stated prerogatives by interfering in the internal affairs of a member state of the union," Mello said.
Gbagbo's government has denied rumors that state salaries wouldn't be paid, and in spite of the financial freeze, civil servants received their paychecks the day before Christmas Eve.
While Ouattara now has access to government funds, he is struggling to assert his legitimacy despite widespread international support. Troops loyal to his political rival continue to encircle the hotel where he has taken refuge under the protection of some 800 U.N. peacekeepers since the election.
"After these long years of crisis, the Ivorian people deserved to rejoice in our democratic advancement," Ouattara said in a Christmas Eve address. "But former president Laurent Gbagbo has decided to turn a new page of violence and uncertainty, aggravating every day a little more the suffering of Ivorians."
In recent days, the United Nations has expressed alarm about the actions of men who are believed to be Gbagbo loyalists. The world body reported Thursday that heavily armed forces allied with Gbagbo, who were joined by masked men with rocket launchers, were preventing people from getting to the village of N'Dotre, where the global body said "allegations point to the existence of a mass grave."
The U.N. did not elaborate on the possible victims, though it has expressed concerns about reports of being abducted from their homes at night.
Ivory Coast was once an economic hub because of its role as the world's top cocoa producer. A 2002-2003 civil war split the country into a rebel-controlled north and a loyalist south. While the country officially reunited in a 2007 peace deal, Ouattara draws his support from the northern half of the country, where he was born, while Gbagbo's power base is in the south.
We're urging extreme caution in travel. Try to get home early and if you don't have to travel don't go”
Bob McDonnellVirginia governor
Transport officials in Washington DC deployed 200 salting lorries, snow ploughs and other equipment to tackle the expected 6in of snow expected across the Mid-Atlantic region.
Blizzard warnings were in effect for Rhode Island and most of eastern Massachusetts including Boston. Forecasters predicted more than 1ft of snow from midday on Sunday until late afternoon.
States of emergency
Up to 18in of snow was predicted to fall on the New Jersey coast, with wind gusts of more than 40mph (64km/h).
Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina had declared states of emergency by early Sunday.
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell told The Weather Channel that snow driven by strong winds would make travel conditions hazardous.
"We're urging extreme caution in travel. Try to get home early and if you don't have to travel don't go," he said.
As conditions worsened, Continental Airlines cancelled 250 flights from Newark Liberty International Airport outside New York City on Sunday.
United Airlines also cancelled dozens of Sunday flights from Newark, Philadelphia, New York's LaGuardia and JFK, Boston and other airports.
AirTran and Southwest Airlines also cancelled flights.
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Dec 26 - Clashes broke out between armed Christian and Muslim groups near the central Nigerian city of Jos on Sunday, a Reuters witness said, after Christmas Eve bombings in the region left more than 30 people dead.
Buildings were set ablaze and people were seen running for cover as the police and military arrived on the scene in an effort to disperse crowds.
(Reporting by Afolabi Sotunde for the BBC's Biodun Iginla)
Breaking News China raises interest rates Topic: china, xian wan, bbc news, biodu
by Biodun Iginla, Financial Analyst for BBC News and Financial Times
China’s central bank raised benchmark interest rates on Saturday, the second increase in just over two months, as the government stepped up its battle against persistent inflation.
The People’s Bank of China announced a 25 basis point rise in the one-year base lending and deposit rates, taking the lending rate to 5.81 per cent and the deposit rate to 2.75 per cent.
The Christmas Day rate hike came after the central bank raised rates on October 19 for the first time in nearly three years. Although Christmas is not a public holiday in China, the timing of the rate hike announcement – late onChristmas Day and on a Saturday – was an apparent attempt not to unsettle global and domestic markets. http://link.ft.com/r/TWK799/C5B1CB/JKH8W/GKOJBX/A737GV/HK/h?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=25
Fresh US diplomatic cables released via Wikileaks suggest governments have pressed the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to extend wiretapping services.
Publishing the secret cables, the New York Times said governments wanted information on political adversaries.
Panama and Paraguay are two of the nations cited.
Panama's government says President Ricardo Martinelli's request on wiretaps had been "misinterpreted" by the US envoy.
In a cable from August 2009, President Martinelli is reported to have "sent the ambassador a cryptic Blackberry message that said: 'I need help with tapping phones'".
Then US ambassador to Panama, Barbara Stephenson, says: "He made reference to various groups and individuals whom he believes should be wiretapped, and he clearly made no distinction between legitimate security targets and political enemies."
The Panamanian president's office has issued a statement saying the government "regrets the misunderstanding by the US authorities. The request for assistance was made for the struggle against crime, drug trafficking and organised crime".
"We never asked for help to tap telephones of politicians. Any interpretation to such a request is completely wrong," it says.
'Faked incineration'
In a cable from February 2010, the DEA tries to resist a request by the government in Asuncion to spy on the Paraguayan People's Army insurgent group, accused of a number of kidnappings.
The New York Times says that when US diplomats baulked, Paraguay Interior Minister Rafael Filizzola threatened to shut down DEA operations in Paraguay.
Diplomats finally agreed to allow wiretapping for anti-kidnapping work under certain circumstances.
"We have carefully navigated this very sensitive and politically sticky situation. It appears that we have no other viable choice," a cable says.
The Times says the DEA has 87 offices in 63 countries and that many governments are eager to take advantage of the advanced wiretapping technology the agency uses.
DEA spokesman Lawrence Payne said on Saturday it could not comment as the cables were considered classified.
In another cable from October 2009, Mexican Defence Secretary Gen Guillermo Galvan is quoted as saying he does not trust other Mexican law enforcement agencies in anti-drugs work because of leaks and corruption.
A number of cables reveal the extent of the involvement of senior officials in the drug trade in some countries.
In one cable dated March 2008, US diplomats in Guinea report that a supposed incineration of drugs was faked.
The cable says: "The event was a real eye-opener and a facade. The incineration was a ridiculous attempt by the [government of Guinea] to prove that a law enforcement campaign against narcotics exists. If anything was proven, it was that the traffickers' influence has reached the highest levels of the government."
The Wikileaks website - together with several major media organisations - is currently publishing tens of thousands of leaked US diplomatic cables.
The founder of whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has been granted bail by a court in London and has vowed to fight extradition to Sweden - but what are the issues involved?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A winter storm that brought a rare white Christmas to parts of the South was barreling up the East Coast early Sunday, with forecasters predicting 6 to 10 inches of snow for Washington and blizzard conditions for New... Read more
About 14,000 people have fled Ivory Coast to neighbouring Liberia following last month's disputed Ivorian presidential election, the UN says.
It says it is prepared for a total of 30,000 refugees in the region.
Most of those fleeing are supporters of Alassane Ouattara, who is recognised internationally as the new president.
Three West African presidents will go to Ivory Coast on Tuesday to personally urge incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo to quit, Benin's foreign minister says.
Mr Gbagbo has rejected widespread calls to step down, citing vote rigging in northern areas.
'Ivorian blood'
The spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba, told the BBC that most of those who had left Ivory Coast since the 28 November election had come from villages in the west of the country.
She said they had been walking for days to escape tensions they feared could explode into violence, and the flow was continuing.
A UNHCR statement added: "With their numbers growing, the humanitarian needs are increasing for the mostly women and children refugees as well as for the villagers hosting them."
Benin's Foreign Minister Jean Marie Ehouzou has said the presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde will visit Ivory Coast to tell Mr Gbagbo on behalf of regional bloc Ecowas "that he must step down as quickly as possible or face legitimate military force".
He was echoing a warning on Friday from West African leaders of possible military action.
Mr Gbagbo's government said the threat was unjust. It also condemned a decision by the West African central bank to give control of Ivory Coast's account to Mr Ouattara.
Earlier Mr Ouattara urged the armed forces to protect civilians against attack from "the militias and foreign mercenaries that are spilling Ivorian blood".
He said perpetrators of recent violence would be prosecuted and invited investigators from the International Criminal Court to the country.
Mr Ouattara and his cabinet are based at a hotel in the main city, Abidjan, under the protection of UN troops.
Mr Gbagbo has demanded that UN and French troops leave the country. A close ally even warned that they could be treated as rebels if they did not obey the instruction.
The UN, which has 10,000 peacekeepers in the country, rejected the call.
UN officials say at least 170 people have been killed in recent attacks linked to the Ivorian armed forces, who remain publicly loyal to Mr Gbagbo.
There have been suggestions that member nations send in troops to strengthen the presence of the UN peacekeeping force.
The election was meant to unite the country after a civil war in 2002 split the world's largest cocoa producer in two, with the predominantly Muslim North supporting Mr Ouattara and the mainly Christian south backing Mr Gbagbo.
NEW YORK — Many Easterners were feeling boxed in Sunday as a powerful winter storm lay a snow blanket from the South to the Northeast, turning roads slick, canceling hundreds of flights and putting a chill in retailers' day-after-Christmas sales.
Siege mentality
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