Syria, Iran say Assad to remain in power till 2014

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, left, and his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi, shake hands, at the conclusion of their press conference, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 2, 2013. The Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers on Saturday accused the United States of double standards over the Obama administration's decision to provide aid to rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, saying this will only prolong the conflict. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, left, and his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi, shake hands, at the conclusion of their press conference, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 2, 2013. The Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers on Saturday accused the United States of double standards over the Obama administration's decision to provide aid to rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, saying this will only prolong the conflict. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, right, attends a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi, unseen, as an Iranian Foreign Ministry official adjusts a Syrian flag, at left, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 2, 2013. The Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers on Saturday accused the United States of double standards over the Obama administration's decision to provide aid to rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, saying this will only prolong the conflict. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi speaks during a joint news conference with his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Moallem,unseen, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 2, 2013. The Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers on Saturday accused the United States of double standards over the Obama administration's decision to provide aid to rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, saying this will only prolong the conflict. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? Iran and Syria condemned a U.S. plan to assist rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad on Saturday and signaled the Syrian leader intends to stay in power at least until 2014 presidential elections.

The remarks came against the backdrop of a strategic victory for the regime as the military regained control over a string of villages along a key highway to open a potential supply route in Syria's heavily contested north.

The army command boasted of the achievement in a statement, saying it had eradicated the remnants of "terrorist agents and mercenaries" in the area that links the government-controlled central city of Hama with Aleppo's international airport.

The reversal of gains, confirmed by Syrian activists, has the potential to change the outcome of the battle in Aleppo, Syria's largest city where government troops and rebels have been locked in a stalemate for months.

Syrian rebels have long complained that they are hampered by the world's failure to provide heavier arms to help them battle Assad's better-equipped military. The international community is reluctant to send weapons partly because of fears they may fall into the hands of extremists who have been gaining influence among the rebels.

But U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Thursday that the Obama administration was giving an additional $60 million in assistance to Syria's political opposition and would, for the first time, provide non-lethal aid directly to the rebels.

Assad told the Sunday Times, in an interview timed to coincide with Kerry's first foreign trip as the top U.S. diplomat, that "the intelligence, communication and financial assistance being provided is very lethal."

In their first official statements on the U.S. decision, the Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers accused Washington of having double standards and warned it will only delay an end to the civil war.

Iran is a staunch ally of the Syrian regime and has stood by the embattled Assad throughout the conflict.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, also set clear parameters for any future talks with the opposition, saying that whether Assad stays or goes will be decided in presidential elections scheduled for next year. Salehi went further to say Assad may run for another term.

"Assad is Syria's legal president until the next elections. Individuals have the freedom to run as candidates. Until that time, Assad is Syria's president," Salehi said at a joint news conference in Tehran. Al-Moallem said the Syrian people have the right to choose their leaders through the ballot box.

The remarks are likely to complicate already faltering diplomatic efforts to start a dialogue between the government and the opposition, which has offered to join talks with regime elements but insists that Assad must step down.

Assad was quoted by the Sunday Times as saying that he had no intention of going into exile. He said during the interview in Damascus last week that "no patriotic person will think about living outside his country."

He accused Kerry of wasting time by trying to ease him out of power, according to the newspaper, saying it was an internal issue "so I'm not going to discuss it with anyone from abroad."

The U.N. estimates that 70,000 people have died since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011.

Syria's opposition chief has offered to sit down for talks with regime elements, but insists that Assad must step down.

Al-Moallem said it was inconceivable that Washington would allocate $60 million in assistance to Syrian opposition groups while it continues to "kill the Syrian people" through economic sanctions imposed against the country.

"If they truly wanted a political settlement, they wouldn't punish the Syrian people and finance (opposition) groups with so-called non-lethal aid," he said. "Who are they kidding?"

The Damascus official called Syria's sovereignty a "red line."

He directly accused Turkey and Qatar and other countries he did not name of supporting and funding "armed terrorist groups" operating in Syria, using the regime's terminology for the rebels. Both countries are strong rebel backers and have offered logistical and other assistance to Syrian opposition groups.

His Iranian host, Salehi, said "double standards were being applied by certain countries that serve to prolong and deepen the Syrian crisis" and lead to more bloodshed.

Syrian rebels control large swaths of land in the country's northeast, including several neighborhoods of Aleppo.

For weeks they have been trying to storm the Aleppo airport, a major prize in the battle for Syria's commercial capital. The rebels ousted troops from several bases protecting the facility and cut off a major highway the army used to supply its troops inside the airport complex.

Syrian army officials said troops had secured the facility and regained control of several villages along the highway leading to the airport after days of fighting.

An opposition spokesman, Rami Abdul-Rahman, director the Britain-based anti-regime activist group the Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the army's victory Saturday, calling it a "significant achievement."

"Securing these villages, assuming the regime can hang on to them, has the potential to turn around the direction of the conflict in Aleppo," Abdul-Rahman said.

In other violence Saturday, clashes broke out in the northeastern Raqqa province, and activists said dozens of people on both sides were reported dead or wounded.

Ahrar al-Sham Movement, a militant Islamic brigade fighting with the rebels, announced in an online video posted Saturday that it was starting a wide scale operation against military and infrastructure targets in the area along with other extremists including Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaida-affiliated group designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group.

Sporadic clashes also continued near Syria's Rabiya border crossing with Iraq. Syrian fighter jets fired at least two missiles and rebels on the ground fired at the jets, according to a witness on the Iraqi side of the border.

The fighting comes a day after Iraqi officials said a Russian-made rocket fired from Syria slammed into Iraqi territory, intensifying concerns that violence from Syria's civil war could spill across the border. No one was injured in the strike.

A police officer at the Iraqi Rabiya border crossing said five Syrian soldiers and one officer fled the clashes into Iraqi territory. Three of the soldiers were wounded and evacuated to a hospital in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, he said. A doctor confirmed the figure.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information to the media. They didn't say what happened to the other three who fled.

The chief of Syrian rebel forces, Salim Idris, accused Iraqi soldiers of firing at rebel positions inside Syrian territory and claimed Iraq's government was backing Assad's regime.

Iraq's Defense Ministry denied that Iraqi forces were backing the Syrian army during clashes with rebels. A statement said Iraqi forces are deployed in the border regions only for routine duties and one Iraqi soldier was wounded during the exchange of fire.

___

Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Barbara Surk in Beirut, Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran and Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-02-Syria/id-27358ec66ab74888a3155c9f59fbc489

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Workers anxious as cuts set to take effect

KITTERY, Maine (AP) ? They don't care which side caused Washington's latest crisis.

Five hundred miles from Capitol Hill, the men and women of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard are worrying about paying rent, searching for new jobs and caring for sick loved ones.

Almost the entire workforce, a community of more than 5,000 along the Maine and New Hampshire seacoast, is preparing to lose the equivalent of a month's pay because of Congress' inability to resolve another budget stalemate.

Orsom "Butch" Huntley, 63, a shipyard employee for three decades, is already living paycheck to paycheck while caring for his terminally ill wife.

"Congress doesn't look at the individual. They just look at the bottom line. And it just really makes it tough to think we're just a number to them," Huntley, a computer engineer, said this week in a restaurant outside the shipyard gate. "It's going to be totally devastating."

The fear is consuming military communities as the nation braces for budget cuts designed to be so painful they would compel Congress to find better ways to cut the federal deficit. President Barack Obama and governors from across the nation have intensified calls for compromise in recent days to meet Friday's deadline.

Defense officials warn of diminished military readiness as the cuts begin to bite. Economists warn of damage to a delicate economic recovery. And federal officials warn of travel delays, slashed preschool access and closed national parks.

But in small towns whose economies are deeply tied to the military, there is a human impact that breeds anger and fear.

Across the table from Huntley, facilities engineer Kevin Do explains that he and his wife ? also a shipyard employee ? have already delayed plans to buy their first home because of uncertainty created by Washington. With a 4-year-old son in daycare, he's now looking for part-time construction work to help pay the bills, even if it means working seven days a week.

"We basically put the American dream on hold," Do said.

Preparing for a worst-case scenario, Navy officials have plans to force mandatory furloughs on roughly 186,000 civilian employees across the country. People like Huntley and Do would lose 22 paid days between April and October, or roughly 20 percent of their pay. Shipyards from coast to coast have outlined cost-cutting plans to delay huge maintenance contracts on nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers.

Polling suggests that some Americans are still unaware of the looming cuts, known in Washington speak as a "sequester," but the debate is well known to federal employees and the huge network of businesses, contractors and communities that serve Navy shipyards and military bases. Virtually every nearby restaurant, grocery store or car dealer is aware of the looming cuts.

Some states are facing more pain than others. Oklahoma has five military installations. Chris Spiwak, owner of Chequers Restaurant and Pub outside Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, said he's afraid he might have to lay off an employee or two.

"We have customers telling us that if they're furloughed, they won't be coming in as much," Spiwak said. "That's their expendable income. They'll be eating at home or bringing their lunches."

And there is widespread uncertainty in Virginia, where many of the 21,000 workers at Newport News Shipbuilding are bracing for the worst. Obama addressed shipyard workers this week about the dangers of the spending cuts.

"Everybody's nervous, worried about what's going to happen," Ronnie Hall, a 27-year-old fleet support apprentice, said before the president spoke.

The president, who has pushed for a compromise deficit package of spending cuts and new tax revenue, seems to have the upper hand among the public over the standoff. A Pew/USA Today poll this week found 49 percent of Americans would blame Republicans in Congress if Obama and Congress couldn't strike a deal. Thirty-one percent would blame Obama, 11 percent would blame both of them and 8 percent were unsure.

On federal spending in general, an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Wednesday found significantly more Americans in favor of Obama's handling of federal spending than Republicans in Congress, although neither side earned high marks. Half of the country disapproved of Obama's handling of the issue, while two-thirds disapproved of congressional Republicans.

The political stakes meant little to the workers gathered outside the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard this week during their lunch break.

"Both sides put us here," said Huntley, who had already lost his house because of his wife's medical bills. "At my age I should be in my golden years. But those things are gone. As the guys around me say, the golden years have taken the gold and just left me the years."

Next up for Congress and the White House is how to avoid Washington's coming crisis, which threatens a government shutdown after March 27, when a six-month spending bill enacted last year expires.

In Kittery, Do offered elected leaders a reminder: "They forget it's faces and families," he said. "There's a cloud over a lot of people."

___

Associated Press writers Brock Vergakis in Virginia and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-01-Budget%20Battle-Human%20Impact/id-dac865b30b964924bd4522d1fe03ba20

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First lady: Not surprised by reaction to Oscars

CHICAGO (AP) ? Michelle Obama says it was "absolutely not surprising" to her that her satellite appearance at the Academy Awards ceremony provoked a national conversation about whether it was appropriate, after some conservative critics accused her of selfishly crashing the event in an attempt to upstage it.

She attributed the chatter to a culture shift that has spawned legions of bloggers, tweeters and others who talk about anything and everything all the time.

"Shoot, my bangs set off a national conversation. My shoes can set off a national conversation. That's just sort of where we are. We've got a lot of talking going on," the first lady said only somewhat jokingly Thursday before an appearance in Chicago, her hometown. "It's like everybody's kitchen-table conversation is now accessible to everybody else so there's a national conversation about anything."

In what was not the first-ever Oscar appearance by a first lady, Mrs. Obama was beamed live from the White House into Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles to unseal the envelope and announce that the night's final award, for Best Picture, would go to "Argo." In 2002, Laura Bush appeared at the ceremony on videotape.

Americans have long been fascinated by their first ladies, scrutinizing everything from their clothes and hair to the issues they promote and how they raise their children. Mrs. Obama acknowledged that she and President Barack Obama have added appeal, and perhaps sometimes are subject to extra scrutiny, because they are the first black family in the White House but also a young couple (she turned 49 last month; he's 51) with young children (daughters Sasha, 11, and Malia, 14).

She said she doesn't give a second thought to critical comments about what she does as first lady.

Her strategy, she said, is to do things that further her larger goals and Oscar night fit with her support for the arts. She recently invited the director and cast members from the Oscar-nominated film "Beasts of the Southern Wild" to the White House to participate in a question-and-answer session with students from Washington and New Orleans who had seen the film at the executive mansion.

"I just don't think about that stuff," said Mrs. Obama, who was asked for her reaction to the criticism during an interview with a small group of reporters who were invited to accompany her on a three-city tour marking the third anniversary of her "Let's Move" campaign against childhood obesity.

She said she was astounded by the buzz about cutting her hair to add bangs, which she unveiled on her birthday, just before inauguration weekend.

Asked if she was surprised that the bangs made the news, Mrs. Obama said: "I was, I have to say. I'm like, 'it's a haircut.'"

In the interview, Mrs. Obama also revealed that she used a lot of salty language as a 10-year-old, which she said she didn't realize until the year it cost her the title of "best camper" at the day camp she and her brother, Craig, attended every summer. The experience taught her a lesson, she said.

"I was going through my cursing stage," she said. "I didn't realize until my camp counselor at the end came up and said, 'You know, you would have been best camper in your age group but you curse so much.' And I was thinking, 'Really. Was it that noticeable? And I thought I was being cool. Little did I know I lost 'best camper.' I didn't curse again."

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-lady-not-surprised-reaction-oscars-090703096--politics.html

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U.S. singer Anastacia diagnosed with breast cancer again

MADRID, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Lionel Messi has rarely been accused of failing to deliver in big games, having scored in two European Cup finals, but after subdued performances against AC Milan and Real Madrid, questions are being asked. The four-times World Player of the Year and leading scorer in one of the greatest club teams of all time, was a shadow of his usual self at the San Siro in a Champions League last-16 first leg last week, when Barcelona slumped to a 2-0 defeat. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-singer-anastacia-diagnosed-breast-cancer-again-121842480.html

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Charity once tied to Armstrong says will survive

CHICAGO (AP) ? The president of a cancer charity founded by Lance Armstrong insists that the organization will persevere in the wake of the cyclist's admission that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

The Livestrong Foundation's president, Doug Ulman, was scheduled to deliver what the organization described as a "major 'State of the Foundation' speech" on Thursday in Chicago.

"Our success has never been based on one person," Ulman said in remarks prepared for the annual gathering of Livestrong charity leaders, grantees and others. "Will the Livestrong Foundation survive? Yes. Absolutely, yes. Hell, yes."

Armstrong stepped down as chairman of the charity in October, saying he didn't want his association to damage the foundation's ability to raise money and continue its advocacy programs on behalf of people with cancer.

Originally called the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the cyclist created the organization in Austin, Texas, a year after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs. Doctors gave him 50-50 odds of surviving.

Armstrong admitted during an interview with Oprah Winfrey this year that he used performance-enhancing drugs when he won seven straight Tour de France titles. He told Winfrey that leaving Livestrong was the most "humbling" experience after the revelations about his drug use broke.

"I wouldn't at all say forced out, told to leave," he told Winfrey about Livestrong. "I was aware of the pressure. But it hurt like hell.

"That was the lowest," Armstrong said. "The lowest."

Armstrong's personal fortune had sustained a big hit days earlier. One by one, his sponsors called to end their associations with him: Nike; Trek Bicycles; Giro, which manufactures cycling helmets and other accessories; Anheuser-Busch.

"That was a $75 million day," Armstrong said.

"That just went out of your life," Winfrey said.

"Gone," he replied.

___

Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/charity-once-tied-armstrong-says-survive-135912093--spt.html

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Clegg pressured in Eastleigh vote, UKIP surges

EASTLEIGH, England (Reuters) - Residents of an English town that hardly anyone outside Britain has heard of cast their votes on Thursday in an election that could help determine the political fate of the country's deputy prime minister and, ultimately, its government.

The poll to choose a member of parliament for Eastleigh may prove make-or-break for Nick Clegg's leadership of the Lib Dems, the junior member of Britain's two-party coalition.

"Most by-elections are events of only fleeting interest. Some are sufficiently dramatic to linger a while in the memory. Only a few truly matter. Eastleigh could be one of these," Peter Kellner, the president of YouGov, the pollster, said.

On Wednesday, during last-minute campaigning in Eastleigh, Clegg predicted his party was "on the cusp of a great victory".

If he is right, the pressure he is facing, from the media and from within his own party, may ease.

But if his Conservative coalition partners pip the Lib Dems, or the UK Independence Party (UKIP) pulls off a surprise victory, his leadership may be challenged ahead of a party conference next week.

Many Lib Dem supporters have become disenchanted with their party's alliance with the Conservatives, arguing it has betrayed core values on the altar of political expediency. Much of that criticism has been directed at Clegg.

"If the Tories do win, then we may well look back in years to come as the contest that marked the beginning of the end of the current coalition," said YouGov's Kellner.

The vote could have consequences for other parties too. If the Tories lose, pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron, the party leader, from disgruntled MPs, could increase.

One senior party figure and a former leadership candidate, David Davis, has warned "a crisis" would ensue if the Conservatives were beaten into third place by UKIP.

UKIP, a party founded to oppose British membership of the European Union, does not have any MPs in parliament, but has seen its support surge on the back of growing anti-EU sentiment. If it won Eastleigh, securing its first parliamentary seat, it would be a political sensation.

NOT REFLECTIVE OF NATIONAL TREND

The Eastleigh vote does not reflect national sentiment - the opposition Labour party leads in the polls nationally with the Lib Dems trailing in third or fourth place.

Most opinion polls show Clegg's party the narrow favourite to win In Eastleigh, with the Conservatives running a close second and UKIP third. But its lead in the polls - 5 percent - is within the margin of error and a last-minute swing in favour of the Conservatives could rob it of victory.

The election comes at a time when Clegg's leadership of his leftist party, without whom the rightist Conservatives cannot govern or pass legislation, also faces specific pressures.

A sex scandal that has ensnared Chris Rennard, his party's former chief executive, has raised difficult questions for Clegg about what he knew about the imbroglio and when and how he dealt with it, amid accusations of a cover-up.

Rennard strongly denies the accusations, which centre on allegations of sexual misconduct towards female party workers, while Clegg says he was only previously aware of "non-specific" and "anonymous" allegations which could not be acted upon.

Eastleigh, originally a railway town, has seen its industry and manufacturing decline in recent years, mirroring a national trend. The constituency has several large open green spaces and plans to build new homes have been a key local issue, riling some residents.

Most voters interviewed by Reuters on Thursday said they were unfazed by the sex scandal and viewed the vote as an opportunity to vent their frustration at politicians.

"It would have been a surprise to us if an MP had acted truthfully quite frankly, and there's nothing between the major parties in terms of policy and a by-election isn't going to turn anything on its head," said Rigel Jenman, 40, a builder who said he had voted Conservative.

"I want to disrupt entrenched people."

The circumstances surrounding the vote, which comes almost two and a half years before a general election, are embarrassing for Clegg's party.

The seat, one of 650 in Britain's lower house of parliament, was won by the Lib Dems in 2010. But the victor, Chris Huhne, who went on to become energy minister, had to resign on February 4 after a lawsuit over a speeding offence.

Huhne pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and now faces jail.

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/battling-scandal-clegg-under-pressure-vote-010321647.html

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