Iraq's Sunni leaders accuse PM of crackdown

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Sunni leaders accused Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of a political crackdown after troops raided the finance minister's office and home, threatening to reignite a crisis a year after the last American troops left.
The raids and detention of the Sunni minister's staff came hours after President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who often mediated among the fractious Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish blocs, left for Germany after suffering a stroke that could end his moderating influence in Iraqi politics.
Politicians and authorities gave conflicting accounts of the incident, but it was reminiscent of a year ago when Iraqi authorities sought the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and his bodyguards, accusing them of running death squads just as U.S. troops packed up.
Finance Minister Rafie al-Esawi, a member of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, said late on Thursday that more than 100 bodyguards and staff were snatched illegally by militias, and blamed Maliki for orchestrating the raids to target opponents.
Maliki's office said only six bodyguards were arrested under counter terrorism laws.
The Hashemi case plunged the fragile power-sharing deal among Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims and Kurds into turmoil, with Sunni politicians boycotting parliament. Hashemi later fled to Turkey and was sentenced to death in absentia.
"This confirms there is continued systematic targeting of the Sunni symbols and leaders participating in the political process," Iraqiya leaders said in a statement.
They called on their supporters to protest peacefully after Friday prayers. Esawi said lawmakers would seek a vote of no confidence in Maliki.
A U.S. embassy spokesman said: "Any actions from any party that subverts the rule of law or provokes ethnic or sectarian tension risks undermining the significant progress Iraq has made toward peace and stability."
Ali al-Moussawi, Maliki's media advisor, said the judiciary had issued arrest warrants for six of the minister's bodyguards and accused rival politicians of trying to stir tensions by linking the case to the premier.
"The law and judiciary for them have no value, they see only political differences," Moussawi said. "They blame Maliki for everything."
STEADYING HAND GONE?
Violence in Iraq is down from the days of intercommunal slaughter that erupted soon after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.
But many Sunni leaders feel they have been sidelined from power-sharing by Maliki as he consolidates his authority under a constitution that grants the premier wide powers.
Talabani, 79, a former guerrilla who was admitted to hospital on Monday, had often mediated among Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds, and in the growing dispute over oil between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region.
His illness has fuelled concerns of a succession crisis and tension between Arabs and ethnic Kurds spilling into violence.
Maliki, an ally of Iran who spent years fighting against Saddam's rule, is struggling with Sunni, Kurdish and even Shi'ite rivals over the power-sharing agreement meant to balance posts among religious sects and ethnic Kurds.
The PM's rivals tried earlier this year to organize a vote of no confidence against him. It failed because Talabani did not back the vote and because of splits among Maliki's foes.
Before the raids, most politicians were publicly wishing Talabani a speedy recovery. But behind the scenes, some senior Sunni political leaders suggested they may present their own candidate for the presidency in a challenge to the Kurds.
Under the constitution, parliament elects a new president and a vice president takes over in the interim. The power-sharing deal calls for the presidency to go to a Kurd while two vice president posts are shared by a Sunni and a Shi'ite.
The Sunni vice president, Hashemi, is a fugitive. The other vice president is Khudair al-Khuzaie, seen by some as a hardline Shi'ite from Maliki's alliance.
Among Kurds, former Kurdistan Prime Minister Barham Salih is favoured as a leader with ties across Iraq's sectarian divide. But there could also be a struggle within Iraqi Kurdistan, where Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party shares power with the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Read More..

World stocks fall as US budget negotiations stall

BANGKOK (AP) -- Heightened uncertainty about the outcome of budget negotiations in Washington among President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and other Republican lawmakers drove world stock markets lower Friday.
If a compromise is not in place by Jan. 1, the Bush-era tax cuts will expire and spending cuts will kick in automatically — a one-two punch to the economy that many experts fear will push the U.S. economy back into recession just as it begins to recover from the last one.
European stocks were lower in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent to 5,938.01. Germany's DAX lost 0.3 percent to 7,646.76. France's CAC-40 was 0.1 percent lower at 3,662.38.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1 to close at 9,940.06. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.7 percent to 22,506.29. South Korea's Kospi shed 1 percent at 1,980.42. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2 percent to 4,623.60. Benchmarks in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan also fell. Malaysia and the Philippines rose. Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed.
U.S. stock futures tumbled after rank-and-file Republican lawmakers failed to support an alternative tax plan by House Speaker John Boehner late Thursday in Washington. That plan would have allowed tax rates to rise on households earning $1 million and up. Obama wants the level to be $400,000.
"I think the Republicans will have to yield," said Francis Lun, managing director of Lyncean Holdings in Hong Kong. "Fighting for rich men does not endear you to voters. People earning more than $1 million are considered rich, so it doesn't do the Republican Party any good to really fight for the rights of rich people."
Ironically, the two leaders had significantly narrowed their differences toward a compromise. The latest setback, with Republicans bucking their leader, left precious little time for an agreement to be reached before the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts goes into effect.
Dow Jones industrial futures dropped 1.1 percent to 13,116 and S&P 500 futures lost 1.2 percent to 1,423.90. Analysts cautioned, however, that market swings would be exaggerated because of light trading volumes that typically accompany end-of-year holidays.
"Approaching the weekend and holiday, volumes will likely remain thin, with choppy trading sessions while the 'fiscal cliff' talks will stay in the spotlight," said Kintai Cheung of Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong in an email commentary.
Among individual stocks, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. fell 5.8 percent, days after Japan's Transport Ministry issued a warning to the carmaker over the handling of oil leaks in mini-vehicles. Australian surf wear maker Billabong International rose 3.1 percent a day after chief financial officer Craig White left the troubled retailer.
Among mainland Chinese shares, Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth, China's top rare earth producer, lost 2.2 percent.
Benchmark crude for February delivery fell 86 cents to $89.28 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 15 cents to finish at $90.13 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3209 from $1.3241 late Thursday in New York. The dollar fell to 84.03 yen from 84.42 yen.

Read More..

55 people drowned or missing off Somali coast

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency says 55 people have drowned or are missing after an overcrowded boat capsized off the Somali coast.
UNHCR said the incident late Tuesday represented the biggest loss of life in the Gulf of Aden since February 2011, when 57 Somali refugees and migrants drowned while attempting to reach Yemen.
The U.N. says five people survived Tuesday's accident. The survivors said the boat was overcrowded and capsized 15 minutes into its journey. Twenty-three bodies were recovered; the rest are presumed to have drowned.
Bruno Geddo, the UNCHR representative for Somalia, said the deaths are a reminder of the risks Somalis take to flee their country. Geddo said the Gulf of Aden is the deadliest route for people fleeing conflict and rights abuses in the Horn of Africa.

Read More..

ECB's Weidmann sees no "big leap" toward EU fiscal union

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Central Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann expects little progress toward a European fiscal union because there is little political will to relinquish national sovereignty, he was quoted as saying in an interview.
"I do not see the big leap toward fiscal union," Weidmann said in an interview with German magazine Wirtschaftswoche published online.
Weidmann, who also heads Germany's Bundesbank, warned against pooling risks without addressing the issue of sovereignty that a fiscal union would entail.
"If responsibility and control are not aligned, it would undermine the currency union," he said.
Weidmann repeated previous objections to the ECB's bond-buying program for crisis-struck euro zone states, saying, "We have embarked on a slippery slope."
Once a country slips into crisis and requires ECB support through the program, it would be difficult for the ECB to then withdraw its support should the country depart from reforms agreed to as a condition for the support, he was quoted as saying.
"We should interpret our mandate narrowly and not even put ourselves in such a predicament in the first place," he said.

Read More..

Malala asks Pakistan not to rename college for her

MINGORA, Pakistan (AP) — A 15-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban for promoting girls' education has urged Pakistan to reverse a decision to rename a college in her honor to avert militant attacks on students, an official said Friday.
Malala Yousufzai, who became a symbol of youth resistance to the Taliban, made the request after students broke into the school, tore down Malala's pictures and boycotted classes in her home town of Mingora. They said renaming the college endangered their lives.
Senior government official Kamran Rehman said Malala called him from London, where she was being treated for critical wounds from the attack on Oct. 9. The Taliban said it targeted her for promoting education for secular girls.
Malala's case won worldwide recognition for the struggle for women's rights in Pakistan and Taliban have vowed to target her again.
Pakistani Taliban have a strong presence in the country's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
A bomb ripped through the office of a local militant commander Maulvi Abbas in Wana, a main town in the South Waziristan tribal region in the northwest, killing him and three of his guards, two intelligence officials said Friday.
Abbas was an associate of Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan militant group, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
It was unclear who had planted the bomb. The attack came weeks after a suicide bomber in the same town attacked Maulvi Nazir, a prominent militant commander who is believed to have a nonaggression pact with the army.
Nazir was wounded in the attack, and seven of his men were killed.
Since then there has been tension between followers of Nazir and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in the region.

Read More..

OU positioned for BCS; SEC plays for title spot

Before the Southeastern Conference sorted out who will play Notre Dame for the national championship, Oklahoma positioned itself be part of the BCS lineup — one way or another.

No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia played in Atlanta for the SEC title and a trip to Miami to face the top-ranked Fighting Irish in the BCS title game Jan. 7.

Earlier, the 12th-ranked Sooners won 24-17 at TCU to finish the regular season 10-2, with at least a share of the Big 12 title.

On Friday, Stanford grabbed a spot in the Rose Bowl and the chances for a BCS buster dwindled.

Northern Illinois' 44-37 victory in double overtime against Kent State on Friday night gave the Huskies the Mid-American Conference title, and ended the Golden Flashes' BCS hopes.

Kent State needed to move up one spot in the BCS standings to No. 16 to earn an automatic bid. Northern Illinois came into the weekend 21st in the standings. The Huskies have a chance to get into the top 16 and get into the BCS, too — but it will be tough.

Kent State's loss could be Oklahoma's gain. If neither of the MAC teams nor Boise State, which was playing Nevada, earns that so-called BCS buster bid, the Sooners (11-2) look like a logical choice to be selected, even if No. 7 Kansas State locks up the Big 12's BCS bid Saturday night.

The Wildcats need only to beat No. 23 Texas at home to earn a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. A loss would send Oklahoma to the Fiesta Bowl and have Kansas State hoping for an at-large bid only a few weeks after being No. 1 in the BCS standings.

No. 8 Stanford locked up the Rose Bowl bid by beating UCLA 27-24 on Friday night and will play the winner of Saturday night's Big Ten championship game between Wisconsin and No. 14 Nebraska.

No. 13 Florida State and Georgia Tech were playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game later for a bid to the Orange Bowl.

Read More..

Georgia Tech claims spot in ACC title game at 6-5

ATLANTA (AP) — A team that was routed at home by Middle Tennessee and fired its defensive coordinator at midseason will get a chance to play for a BCS bowl bid.

Georgia Tech (6-5) automatically claimed a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game on Monday when Miami self-imposed a postseason ban for the second straight year, looking to lessen the sanctions from an NCAA investigation into its compliance practices.

The Hurricanes (7-4) could have clinched the Coastal Division title with a victory over Duke, which would leave both Miami and the Yellow Jackets with 5-3 conference records. The Hurricanes were positioned to win the tiebreaker since they defeated Georgia Tech 42-36 on Sept. 22.

Now, it doesn't matter. By banning itself from the bowls, Miami is ineligible to play in the Dec. 1 title game at Charlotte, N.C.

"It's a great opportunity," Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said after practice. "I'm proud of our guys. They won four conference games in a row, two of them on the road. It's a case of persevering and just keep playing."

Early on, the Yellow Jackets struggled. They gave up late leads to Virginia Tech and Miami, losing both games in overtime. There also was that embarrassing 49-28 defeat to Middle Tennessee, which came in the midst of Georgia Tech giving up more than 40 points in three straight games for the first time in school history.

With his team at 2-4 after a 47-31 loss to Clemson, Johnson fired defensive coordinator Al Groh, saying the defense was too complicated and the players weren't sure of their assignments.

"We had a couple of disappointing losses at the beginning of the season, and we let it mushroom on us," Johnson said. "It was good to bounce back."

The defense continues to struggle but Georgia Tech has won three in a row overall, mostly on the legs of its explosive triple-option offense. The Yellow Jackets defeated North Carolina 68-50 two weeks ago, knocked off Duke 42-24 last Saturday and are averaging 38.6 points per game, which ranks 16th nationally. As usual, the run-oriented team ranks near the top of the country in rushing yards (third at 324.9, trailing only Army and Air Force).

Defensively, it's another story. The Yellow Jackets are 61st in yards allowed (393.1) and 76th in points (29.6 per game), which could be a problem when they go against the Atlantic Division champion, No. 10 Florida State (10-1).

But no one is complaining about getting a shot to play in the Orange Bowl.

In an interesting twist, the Yellow Jackets benefited from another school's wrongdoing just three years after losing an ACC crown under similar circumstances. Georgia Tech defeated Clemson in the 2009 title game, only to be stripped of the championship later when NCAA violations were discovered.

This Saturday, the Yellow Jackets will face No. 3 Georgia (10-1) in the regular-season finale. The Bulldogs have a shot at playing for the national title if they win the next two weeks, which has left both coaches with the chore of making sure their players don't get caught looking ahead.

Johnson said that shouldn't be a problem for his team.

"Our guys understand the importance of this game to our fans and our alumni and everyone involved," he said. "Besides that, Georgia's got a very talented football team. If you're not ready to play, you'll get embarrassed really fast."

While plenty of ACC critics pointed to Georgia Tech's appearance in the title game as a sign of the league's weakness, Johnson wasn't about concede that his team wasn't deserving of its spot.

"We're 5-3. Who else is better than that in our division?" Johnson asked. "I'm not apologizing for anything."

Read More..

For coaches, no sleep 'til BCS championship game

NEW YORK (AP) — Brian Kelly and Nick Saban expect many restless nights between now and the BCS championship game on Jan. 7.

Kelly and top-ranked Notre Dame play Saban and No. 2 Alabama in Miami. The coaches appeared together at a news conference on Wednesday at the Nasdaq stock exchange in Times Square.

"And in keeping with the venue where we are, you have two blue chip stocks that are going to go against each other," Kelly said.

Asked what about their opponent will keep them up at night, Kelly and Saban both said there is plenty to worry about.

"Are you kidding me? Really?" Kelly said. "Everything about them."

Saban's response: "For me, I never sleep well, so Notre Dame is just the excuse now."

The Fighting Irish will have 42 days between their last game against Southern California and the BCS title game against the Crimson Tide.

Alabama played in the Southeastern Conference title game on Dec. 1, so its break is a week shorter.

This is the third BCS championship appearance in four years for the Tide — Alabama won its previous two — so Saban obviously hasn't had a problem finding a routine that works.

"Many people have asked me how you carry the momentum of winning the SEC championship game into the next game," Saban said. "And I think the answer to that is, you can't. You almost have to look at any bowl game, or any layoff like you have for this length of time, as the next game is sort of a one-game season."

Both teams will go into training-camp mode this week. The players will lift weights and do conditioning and fundamentals drills.

"Right now we're doing two weeks of offseason conditioning programs, which is always fun. Always popular with the guys," Alabama center Barrett Jones said Tuesday, with more than a hint of sarcasm in his delivery.

Kelly said the worst thing a coach can do about the unusually long time between games is worry about it.

"First, I think it's a self-fulfilling prophecy if you keep talking about the long layoff," he said. "We don't talk about that. We talk about what's the next step here and the next stage, or it's the national championship."

"We think we've got a plan and we don't concern ourselves with the length of that time."

The plan is to keep the next few weeks as productive as possible.

"We try to work our way up to a routine," Kelly said. "There's that space there, weight training, conditioning, some fundamental work and then try to get back to that routine that they are all familiar with as we lead into the game."

Aside from keeping the players occupied and in shape, Kelly and Saban are also facing the possibility that members of their staffs could land head coaching jobs over the next week or so.

Kelly's defensive coordinator, Bob Diaco, was a candidate for the Boston College job that was filled Tuesday when the Eagles hired Steve Addazio away from Temple. Diaco recently won the Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach.

There was speculation about Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart being a candidate for the Auburn job, but the Tigers hired Gus Malzahn.

As jobs are filled others open and there are still plenty of vacancies. There is still a possibility Notre Dame or Alabama — or both — could be dealing with this issue.

"I think those folks have every right to receive positive self-gratification professionally by taking advantage of some opportunity they have created for themselves by doing a good job," Saban said, without talking about any specific assistant. "And I think it's just a matter of professionalism where you can separate yourself for a day or two, not affect the performance of what you're trying to do at your job, evaluate the circumstance."

Last year, Alabama prepared for the national championship game with its offensive coordinator, Jim McElwain, interviewing and accepting the Colorado State head coaching job.

Alabama won that BCS title game 21-0 and Saban said McElwain, "put a great plan together" for the Tide.

And if there is staff turnover during the layoff, and a coach needs to be replaced, Kelly said there are plans in place to deal with it.

"We can't predict it, but we know that we are prepared regardless of the circumstances, and if we were to lose somebody, we've got great coaches on board that are ready to step up," he said.

Read More..

Oil down over US budget, China growth concerns

BANGKOK (AP) — Oil prices were weighed down Tuesday by concerns about an apparent deadlock among U.S. leaders to strike a budget deal before year's end and growing uncertainty about the strength of China's economic recovery.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was down 11 cents to $85.45 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 37 cents to close at $85.56 per barrel on the Nymex on Monday.

Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, was down 19 cents per barrel to $107.14 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

An abrupt fall in China's export growth and slowing import growth suggests that the recovery in the world's No. 2 economy is faltering, analysts at Capital Economics said in a report.

The data "have added to our doubts about the strength and sustainability of China's rebound," the report said. "The weekend's figures on investment, retail sales and industrial production were more encouraging but they underlined that recent strength has been driven by infrastructure spending rather than a broad-based pick-up across the economy."

Investors are also suffering jitters about whether President Barack Obama will reach a budget deal with congressional Republicans before the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts takes effect in January — at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy.

Obama has been insisting on higher taxes for the wealthiest Americans, while Republicans are pushing for cuts in government spending on entitlement programs.

In energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Heating oil was unchanged at $2.90 a gallon.

— Natural gas fell 3 cents to $3.43 per 1,000 cubic feet.

— Wholesale gasoline fell 0.1 cent to $2.597 a gallon.

Read More..

Heritage Woods of Huntley To Host Holiday Shopping Bonanza

 Heritage Woods of Huntley, a BMA assisted living community in Huntley, Illinois, is hosting a Holiday Shopping Bonanza on Dec. 14. Crafts, jewelry and purses will be among the items available for purchase.

Bradley, Illinois (PRWEB) December 08, 2012
Heritage Woods of Huntley is hosting a Holiday Shopping Bonanza from 1 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 14, at the assisted living community, which is located at 12450 Regency Parkway in Huntley, Illinois.

The community is managed by BMA Management, Ltd., the largest provider of assisted living in Illinois.

“Come and enjoy one-stop shopping for your Holiday needs,” says Renee Swanson, Director of Marketing for Heritage Woods of Huntley. “Crafts, jewelry, purses and much more will be available.”

Refreshments will be served.

For more information, call 847-669-5185.

Heritage Woods of Huntley recently was one of the few assisted living communities in Illinois to receive deficiency-free survey and be awarded a two-year license by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“Our focus is on providing residents with the love, compassion and dignity that they deserve in addition to the care and personal assistance that they need,” says Swanson. “Our emphasis is on helping each resident achieve and maintain as much independence as possible for as long as possible.”

Based in Bradley, Illinois, BMA manages 36 senior living communities, housing more than 3,300 homes and apartments.

The communities managed by BMA include the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living communities in Batavia, Belvidere, DeKalb, McHenry, Rockford and South Elgin and the White Oaks affordable memory care community in South Elgin, Illinois.

Read More..