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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Clashes erupt in Congo ahead of vote results (Reuters)

KINSHASA (Reuters) ? Clashes erupted between protesters and security forces in parts of Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday as diplomats scrambled to defuse tensions ahead of the country's full election results.

Police fired tear gas at opposition supporters in Kinshasa, and gunfire rang out in a city in West Kasai province, an opposition stronghold, after the government shut down a television and radio broadcaster.

The U.N. mission in Congo led a delegation of diplomats to meet with incumbent President Joseph Kabila and his main rival, Etienne Tshisekedi, to ease tensions stretched by allegations the November 28 poll was mismanaged and fraudulent.

Partial preliminary results released so far - representing about 68 percent of the ballots cast - showed Kabila with about 46 percent of the vote to Tshisekedi's 36 percent, but the opposition has said they would reject the outcome. Full preliminary results are expected as early as Tuesday.

At least 18 people have been killed in election-related violence, according to Human Rights Watch, and a senior member of Kabila's camp said the government will have to call in the army if protests become "too chaotic."

"We cannot let chaos prevail. If the situation becomes too chaotic for the police, we will definitely call for the army to come and help," Kikaya Bin Karubi, Congo's ambassador to Britian and a top official in Kabila's camp, told Reuters.

The first locally organized and funded election since the official end of years of war in 2003 was meant to offer hope that the mineral-rich, crisis-riddled giant may stabilize.

But fears are mounting a rejection of the results will pave the way for further bloodshed.

ESCAPE BY BOAT

A national mediation commission is in place and former Zambian President Rupiah Banda may be involved in further talks, sources said. The United Nations peacekeeping mission also led a delegation that included Russian and Gabonese ambassadors to meet with Kabila and Tshisekedi.

Karubi said mediation was a "non-starter" as there was no current conflict, though a spokesman for Banda said he had been approached and was ready to travel to Congo.

"He is just waiting for the U.N. to send a plane for him to travel. He has accepted to mediate," a spokesman for Banda told Reuters, asking not to be named.

Tshisekedi enjoys broad support in Congo's sprawling capital Kinshasa, raising worries a Kabila win will spark unrest in the city of 10 million people.

Sirens blared as police convoys pushed through Kinshasa traffic Monday afternoon, and women and children piled into boats along the Congo River to leave for Congo Republic on the other bank, fearing an outbreak of violence.

"We decided to leave Kinshasa for Brazzaville to stay with family while we wait and see how things develop," said Paulette Pombo, a 43-year-old who sells drinks at a Kinshasa market.

Police used teargas on a crowd of opposition supporters who had gathered near Tshisekedi's residence in Kinshasa, a witness and an opposition party official said.

Gunfire also erupted in the city of Mbuji Mayi in West Kasai province after Tshisekedi supporters protested the closure of a local opposition television and radio station, provincial civil society leader Alexis Kasuasua said.

Tshisekedi supporters had been attempting to block roads in the city and were being dispersed, Alphonse Kasanji, the governor of West Kasai, told Reuters.

There were no reports of injuries from either incident.

In Brussels, home to a large community of Congolese immigrants, police used water cannon to break up a crowd of Tshisekedi supporters, some of whom were burning trash in the street and shouting slogans. Scuffles were also reported outside Conglese embassies in South Africa and France.

Congo's Catholic Church urged election authorities on Sunday to ensure published poll results were a true reflection of voters' intentions and warned that a dispute over the election could trigger major unrest.

Congo's election commission defied all odds to hold the presidential and parliamentary poll last week. Often chaotic and at times violent, voting had to be stretched over three days due to delays in places.

International observers have warned that the various steps of the counting process after the initial tally at polling stations have been poorly organized, with ballots and results sheets often being lost or destroyed in the process.

Kabila's camp has said the president would accept defeat. But it accused the opposition of readying people for protests and said he will not tolerate any threats to his authority on the streets in the event of him winning.

(Additional reporting by Chris Mfula in Lusaka, Mark John in Brussels, and Christion Tsoumou in Brazzaville; writing by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111205/wl_nm/us_congo_election

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Monday, December 5, 2011

AP Interview: Iraq PM confident in post-US future

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Iraq's prime minister says a bombing in the Green Zone earlier this week was an assassination attempt against him. During an interview with The Associated Press Saturday, Nouri al-Maliki said the parliament building or speaker also could have been targets but preliminary information suggests the bombers were trying to get him. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is seen during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Iraq's prime minister says a bombing in the Green Zone earlier this week was an assassination attempt against him. During an interview with The Associated Press Saturday, Nouri al-Maliki said the parliament building or speaker also could have been targets but preliminary information suggests the bombers were trying to get him. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Weeks before the U.S. pullout, Iraq's prime minister confidently predicted Saturday that his country will achieve stability and remain independent of its giant neighbor Iran even without an American troop presence.

Nouri al-Maliki also warned of civil war in Iran's ally Syria if Bashar Assad falls ? a view that puts him closer to Tehran's position and at odds with Washington. The foreign policy pronouncement indicates that Iraq is emerging from the shadows of U.S. influence in a way unforeseen when U.S.-led forces invaded eight years ago to topple Saddam Hussein.

"The situation in Syria is dangerous," al-Maliki told The Associated Press during an interview at his office in a former Saddam-era palace in Baghdad's Green Zone. "Things should be dealt with appropriately so that the spring in Syria does not turn into a winter."

The Obama administration has been outspoken in its criticism of Assad's bloody crackdown on protests that the U.N. says has killed more than 4,000 people so far, the bloodiest in a wave of uprisings that have been dubbed the Arab Spring.

Iraq has been much more circumspect and abstained from key Arab League votes suspending Syria's membership and imposing sanctions on the country. That has raised concern that Baghdad is succumbing to Iranian pressure to protect Assad's regime. Tehran is Syria's main backer.

Al-Maliki insisted that Iraq will chart its own policies in the future according to national interests, not the dictates of Iran or any other country.

Some U.S. officials have suggested that Iranian influence in Iraq would inevitably grow once American troops depart.

Both countries have Shiite majorities and are dominated by Shiite political groups. Many Iraqi politicians spent time in exile in Iran under Saddam's repressive regime, and one of al-Maliki's main allies ? anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ? is believed to spend most of his time in Iran.

"Iraq is not a follower of any country," al-Maliki said. He pointed out several areas in which Iraq had acted against Iran's desires, including the signing of the security agreement in 2008 that required all U.S. forces to leave Iraq by the end of this year. Iran had been pushing for all American troops to be out of the country even sooner.

"Through our policies, Iraq was not and will not be a follower of another country's policies," he said.

But he also took pains to emphasize that Iraq did want to maintain good relations with Iran as the two countries share extensive cultural, economical and religious ties.

"Clearly, we are no enemy to Iran and we do not accept that some who have problems with Iran would use us as a battlefield. Some want to fight Iran with Iraqi resources as has happened in the past. We do not allow Iran to use us against others that Iran has problems with, and we do not allow others to use us against Iran," he said.

The prime minister defended his country's stance when it comes to how to address the instability roiling neighboring Syria right now.

The U.N.'s top human rights official said this week that Syria is in a state of civil war and that more than 4,000 people have been killed since March.

Al-Maliki said Iraq believes the Syrian people's rights should be protected and that his government has told the Syrian regime that the age of one party and one sect running the country is over. Syria is ruled by a minority Alawite regime, an offshoot of Shiism, that rules over a Sunni Muslim majority.

The Iraqi prime minister even said that members of the Syrian opposition had recently asked to come to Iraq, and that his government would meet with them. But he distanced himself from calls for Assad's ouster, warning that could plunge the country into civil war.

"The killing or removal of President Bashar in any way will explode into an internal struggle between two groups and this will have an impact on the region," al-Maliki said.

"My opinion ? I also lived in Syria for more than 16 years ? is that it will end with civil war and this civil war will lead to alliances in the region. Because we are a country that suffered from the civil war of a sectarian background, we fear for the future of Syria and the whole region," he said.

Al-Maliki also insisted his forces were ready to take over security during a wide-ranging discussion on where his country stands ahead of the Dec. 31 departure of all American troops.

"Nothing has changed with the withdrawal of the American forces from Iraq on the security level because basically it has been in our hands," he said.

The U.S. withdrawal has occurred in stages, with the American military pulling out of the cities in 2008, leaving the soldiers largely confined to bases as Iraqi security forces took the lead. About 13,000 U.S. troops are still in the country, down from a one-time high of about 170,000.

Al-Maliki said he was grateful to the United States for overthrowing Saddam.

"We appreciate that, no doubt," the prime minister said, adding he was not worried about a resumption of the type of sectarian warfare that pushed his own country to the brink of civil war in the years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

On the contrary, he said violence would decline because the Americans' departure would remove one of the main reasons for attacks.

"What was taking place during the presence of the American forces will decrease in the period after the withdrawal," he said. "Some people find a pretext in the presence of the American forces to justify their acts, but now what justification will they come up with?"

___

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-03-Iraq-Maliki%20Interview/id-c249cee2e064428f854010b06ba2b21a

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After uproar, Ky. church revisits interracial ban (Providence Journal)

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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Russia's ruling party wary as nation votes (AP)

MOSCOW ? Russians cast their ballots with muted enthusiasm in national parliament elections Sunday, a vote that opinion polls indicate could water down the strength of the country's dominant party.

In the far eastern regions along the Pacific Coast where voting began, initial turnout appeared desultory. Four hours after polls opened in the Kamchatka region, 16.5 percent of registered voters had cast ballots.

"It's very important to come to the polling stations and vote, but many say that it's useless," said Artysh Munzuk, a university student casting his ballot in the Pacific port of Vladivostok.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party has signaled concern about polls showing it could receive only a bit more than half the votes. It has cracked down on an independent election monitor and warned of political instability.

Only seven parties have been allowed to field candidates for parliament this year, while the most vocal opposition groups have been denied registration and barred from campaigning. Critics say the 7 percent threshold for winning seats is prohibitively high, effectively shutting out most minority views.

Still, the independent Levada Center polling agency released a survey late last month saying United Russia could get only about 53 percent of the vote, well down from its performance in 2007 that gave it an unassailable two-thirds majority in the State Duma, the elected lower house of parliament.

Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev made final appeals for the party Friday, the last day of campaigning, warning that a parliament made up of diverse political camps would be incapable of making decisions.

The view underlines Russian authorities' continuing discomfort with political pluralism and preference for top-down operation. As president in 2000-2008, Putin's autocratic leadership style won wide support among Russians exhausted by a decade of post-Soviet uncertainty.

But United Russia has become increasingly disliked, seen as stifling opposition, representing a corrupt bureaucracy and often called "the party of crooks and thieves." Putin needs the party to do well in the parliamentary election to pave the way for his return to the presidency in a vote now three months away.

With so much at stake, there are doubts about how honestly the election will be conducted. An interim report from an elections-monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe noted that "most parties have expressed a lack of trust in the fairness of the electoral process."

The websites of Ekho Moskvy, a prominent, independent-minded radio station, and Golos, the country's only independent election-monitoring group, were down on Sunday. Both claimed the failures were due to denial-of-service hacker attacks.

"The attack on the site on election day is obviously connected to attempts to interfere with publication of information about violations," Ekho Moskvy editor Alexey Venediktov said in a Twitter post.

Golos has come under strong pressure in the week leading up to the vote.

Golos' leader, Lilya Shibanova, was held at a Moscow airport for 12 hours upon her Friday return from Poland after refusing to give her laptop computer to security officers, said Golos' deputy director Grigory Melkonyants. On Friday, the group was fined the equivalent of $1,000 by a Moscow court for violating a law that prohibits publication of election opinion research for five days before a vote.

Putin last Sunday accused Western governments of trying to influence the election. Golos is funded by grants from the United States and Europe.

The group has compiled some 5,300 complaints of election-law violations ahead of the vote. Most are linked to United Russia. Roughly a third of the complainants ? mostly government employees and students ? say employers and professors are pressuring them to vote for the party.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111204/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_election

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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Tucker takes over Jaguars, gets coaching audition (AP)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? Jacksonville Jaguars interim coach Mel Tucker spent part of the season using crutches and an electric scooter. Nowadays, he has recovered enough from a torn quadriceps muscle to be limping around.

His defense has been even more banged up.

The Jaguars (3-8) have three defensive starters on injured reserve, including both starting cornerbacks, and have been without several other key players on that side of the ball in recent weeks. There's hasn't been a noticeable drop-off, a credit to what Tucker has accomplished in his first season in control of the unit.

In short, Tucker has convinced the Jaguars he is one of the NFL's young, ascending coaches. What he does over the next five games, beginning Monday night against reeling San Diego, will determine whether he will replace fired coach Jack Del Rio on a permanent basis.

"I think Mel has been one of the bright spots of our football team this year, taking charge of the defense and calling the defensive plays," owner Wayne Weaver said. "I was very explicit with Mel that it's an interim position, that at the end of the season we're going to conduct ... a very extensive coaching search to make sure that we bring in someone that can help us really build this franchise and return to what we expect ? into a winning franchise.

"I did assure Mel that he would have an opportunity to be interviewed for the job, and I think he certainly deserves that and he's earned that."

Tucker's promotion was welcomed news in Jacksonville's locker room on an otherwise tough day Tuesday, with players praising him for his attention to detail and his no-nonsense attitude.

"What you see with him and what he says, that's him," linebacker Paul Posluszny said. "He's very true to that. He doesn't try to put on a show or an act of anything like that. He's very true with the way he presents himself and the things that he says."

Del Rio hired Tucker as his defensive coordinator in 2009, but Del Rio mostly handled the calls during Tucker's first two years. That changed in January, when Weaver told Del Rio to give play-calling duties.

The defense hasn't been the same since.

The unit was one of the worst in the league the last two seasons, failing to pressure quarterbacks and struggling to slow down anyone on the back end.

The turnaround wasn't all Tucker's doing.

The Jaguars spent more than $100 million in free agency to upgrade a defense that ranked 28th in the league last season and allowed a franchise record 419 points. They signed Posluszny, fellow linebacker Clint Session, defensive end Matt Roth, cornerback Drew Coleman and safety Dewan Landry. They also traded for safety Dwight Lowery.

Tucker had little time to get them to gel, but he made it work better than anyone expected.

Jacksonville's defense has held seven of its 11 opponents under 300 yards, giving the offensively challenged team a chance to win every game. The unit, which ranks fourth in the league in total defense, has forced at least one turnover in five consecutive games. Recently, they have remained stout despite losing Rashean Mathis, Derek Cox and Session for the season, and playing without Roth and fellow defensive linemen Terrance Knighton and Aaron Kampman.

"Good players make a good coach," Tucker said. "I believe in keeping it simple, simple enough where we can line up and play fast and we can be relentless and we can be aggressive. But we have enough where we can be confident in regards to covering whatever we need to cover, whatever offenses throw at us, multiple sets, things like that.

"The thing that you'll see when you watch our defense is that they play with great technique and fundamentals. They play hard, they're relentless, they play through the echo of the whistle and those are things we believe in and those are things we emphasize every day, and you get what you emphasize."

Tucker, 39, began his coaching career as a a graduate assistant at Michigan State under Nick Saban in 1997. He coached defensive backs at Miami (Ohio), LSU and Ohio State before moving to the NFL with the Cleveland Browns in 2005. He was Cleveland's secondary coach for three years before getting promoted to defensive coordinator.

Having never been a head coach, Tucker doesn't plan on getting overly involved with the offense.

After all, the last time he stepped out of his realm, he painfully injured his leg while playfully fielding punts in practice.

Nonetheless, he knows this is a big opportunity.

"I'm always motivated to do the best that I can, and right now, my focus is on these next five weeks to do everything that I possibly can to get this team prepared to play," Tucker said. "There's a certain brand of football that we need to show out there. It's relentless, it's attention to detail, it's high effort, it's high energy, it's high impact. Those are things that we're going to work on.

"In terms of my future as a head coach, that's for another day. ... Only time will tell what opportunities I will have in the future, but I am confident and comfortable where I am right now."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_jaguars_tucker

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Smule buys fellow music app creator Khush (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Smule, maker of apps such as Glee Karaoke, is hoping to make beautiful music with fellow app creator Khush through an acquisition announced Thursday.

In an interview Wednesday, Smule Inc. CEO and co-founder Jeffrey Smith said the goal of combining the two companies is to democratize the creation of musical content and distribution. Smith said it is a cash-and-stock deal, though precise terms are not being disclosed.

"Neither side really sees it as an exit, but more of an opportunity to scale faster," he said.

The companies have 27 million customers combined, 8.5 million of which come from Khush. A total of 350 million pieces of music have been created between them.

Khush Inc., which grew out of the Georgia Tech Music Intelligence Lab, has thus far focused on making music apps that use artificial intelligence. It offers three iPhone apps including Songify, a free app that records a user's speech and spits it out as a song (users can buy additional tunes to expand the app's capabilities). Another app, LaDiDa, sells for $2.99 and does its best to turn a user's singing into a pitch-corrected song. The company is profitable, CEO Prerna Gupta said.

Palo Alto-based Smule, which makes music apps for the iPhone and iPad, has a similar business model. It sells apps such as Ocarina, a 99-cent iPhone app that lets users "play" their smartphone like a flute. The app can also be used to share music. Other apps, like Glee Karaoke, are free and allow users to buy additional in-app items. Glee Karaoke users, for example, can purchase more songs to sing. Smule is not yet profitable, Smith said.

The companies began working together over the summer by showing ads for Khush's Songify app within Smule's Magic Piano app and vice versa, Smith said. He said about 20 percent of people who used one would try the other, which made the companies feel confident that combining would be beneficial.

Khush will continue to be run out of Atlanta and will operate somewhat autonomously, the companies said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_smule_acquisition

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Friday, December 2, 2011

Video: Current Deal-Making Environment

Insight on the impact of Europe's sovereign debt crisis and the current gridlock in Washington on the deal-making environment.Stephen Pagliuca, Bain Capital managing director.