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Russia says Assad wants peace, as Syria vows no let-up
02/07 | 23:46 GMT
DAMASCUS (AFP) - Russia said on Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed in Syria, as his regime pounded the city of Homs for a fourth day and vowed no let-up.
DAMASCUS (AFP) - Russia said on Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed in Syria, as his regime pounded the city of Homs for a fourth day and vowed no let-up.
As several European nations pulled their ambassadors from Syria, a top US senator called for the arming of rebels fighting Assad's rule and Washington said it was exploring options for providing humanitarian aid.
Tank and artillery fire rained on Homs, killing at least 15 civilians, activists said, as the interior ministry vowed to keep up its onslaught against "terrorist groups".
Scene: 'God help us' - appeal from Syria's Homs
"There are about four blasts every five minutes," said Abu Rami, an activist in Homs reached by AFP by telephone from Beirut. "The humanitarian situation is dire. No one can move around."
An interior ministry statement carried by the SANA news agency pledged that "operations to hunt down terrorist groups will continue until security and order are re-established in all neighbourhoods of Homs and its environs."
More than 6,000 people have died in nearly a year of upheaval in the Middle East country, as Assad's hardline regime seeks to snuff out a revolt that began with peaceful protests in March 2011 amid the Arab Spring.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov flew into Damascus to a hero's welcome on Tuesday, with thousands of cheering, flag-waving Assad supporters lining the route of his motorcade.
Russia, which along with China over the weekend vetoed a UN resolution condemning the government crackdown, has staunchly stood by its last ally in the region, a key buyer of Moscow's military hardware that hosts a strategic Russian naval base.
"We (Russia) confirmed our readiness to act for a rapid solution to the crisis based on the plan put forward by the Arab League," said Lavrov, adding Syria was ready to see an enlarged Arab League mission in the country, Russian news agencies reported.
"We have every reason to believe that the signal that we've brought here to move along in a more active manner along all directions has been heard," he said.
Timeline: Diplomatic moves against Syria
"In particular, President Assad assured (us) that he is fully committed to the task of a cessation of violence, from whatever source it comes."
The 22-member Arab League deployed an observer mission to Syria in December to oversee a plan to end the bloodshed, but it was suspended a month later amid increasing violence on the ground.
It has since put forward a new plan for Assad to hand his powers to Vice President Faruq al-Shara and for the formation of a national unity government to oversee the preparation of democratic elections.
Shara, a veteran regime diplomat with a career that stretches back to the rule of Assad's late father president Hafez al-Assad, attended Tuesday's talks with Lavrov, the official SANA news agency said.
Lavrov did not specify which of the two Arab plans he was referring to in his comments Tuesday, although SANA quoted Assad as interpreting the reference to be to the earlier one.
Lavrov said Syria was pressing ahead with the reform programme Assad promised in speeches last year and would soon announce the timetable for a referendum on a new constitution to replace the current one that enshrines the dominance of his Baath party.
SANA said Assad would receive the text drawn up by an appointed panel on Wednesday.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland voiced scepticism over Assad's promises.
"You can understand that the international community as a whole would be pretty sceptical... instead of focusing on ending the violence, what we seem to have is a re-upping of this same offer that Assad has been making for months and months and months," she told reporters in Washington.
In Washington US Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate in the 2008 election won by President Barack Obama, said it was time for Washington to think about arming the rebels.
"We should start considering all options, including arming the opposition. The blood-letting has got to stop," he said.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the US was consulting with allies to discuss how to provide humanitarian aid.
"We are exploring the possibility of providing humanitarian aid to Syrians," he said, admitting that no "mechanisms" currently existed for delivering such aid.
Said State Department's Nuland: "Some of these proposals that people are brooding about could not be done without foreign military intervention -- as we have said, we don't think more arms into Syria is the right answer."
A day after the United States closed its Damascus embassy, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain joined Britain and Belgium on Tuesday in recalling their ambassadors to Syria for consultations.
Turkey, a former Assad ally which shared Western anger over the Russian and Chinese vetoes, said it would launch a "new initiative" with like-minded countries which "stand by the Syrian people, not the regime."
And the six Arab states of the Gulf announced that they had decided to expel Syria's envoys and withdraw their own from Damascus in protest over the "mass slaughter" of civilians.
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Times editor apologises for email hacking
02/07 | 16:52 GMT
LONDON (AFP) - The editor of The Times apologised on Tuesday to a blog-writing detective who was unmasked by a former reporter of the newspaper who allegedly hacked his email.
LONDON (AFP) - The editor of The Times apologised on Tuesday to a blog-writing detective who was unmasked by a former reporter of the newspaper who allegedly hacked his email.
James Harding told an inquiry into British press standards that he "sorely" regretted the intrusion and expected "better of The Times".
Detectives are investigating claims that the journalist, Patrick Foster, accessed the email of detective Richard Horton in 2009 to unmask him as the author of the anonymous NightJack blog about the workings of the police.
The case has attracted scrutiny because The Times' sister paper, the News of the World, was closed in July amid a public outcry when it emerged that the Sunday tabloid had hacked the voicemail of a girl who was later found murdered.
Harding admitted to the inquiry last month that the Rupert Murdoch-owned Times had issued one of its reporters with a formal warning for professional misconduct because he had gained unauthorised access to an email account.
The inquiry has heard that The Times fought a High Court battle to name Horton as the writer of the NightJack blog after the reporter told his managers he had tried to access an email account.
Foster no longer works for The Times.
"In the last couple of weeks I have learned a great deal more about what happened in this incident," said Harding, who was recalled to the inquiry to give evidence about the hacking claims.
"As editor of the paper, I am responsible for what it does and what its journalists do.
"So I want to say at the outset that I sorely regret the intrusion into Richard Horton's email account by a journalist then in our newsroom.
"I am sure that Mr Horton and many other people expect better of The Times. So do I.
"So on behalf of the paper, I apologise."
Prime Minister David Cameron set up the inquiry, known as the Leveson Inquiry, to examine the culture, ethics and practices of the press after the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World.
UK News
Times editor apologises for email ...US boosts funding for Alzheimer's research
02/07 | 18:21 GMT
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The administration of US President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday it will boost funding for research into Alzheimer's disease by $130 million, a 25 percent increase over the next two years.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The administration of US President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday it will boost funding for research into Alzheimer's disease by $130 million, a 25 percent increase over the next two years.
Leading health officials said an extra $50 million would be made available immediately for cutting-edge Alzheimer's research and that the fiscal year 2013 budget to be released next week would aim to boost such funding by $80 million.
An additional $26 million will also be allocated to "caregiver support, provider education, public awareness and improvements in data infrastructure," officials said.
"We can't wait to confront the growing threat that Alzheimer's disease poses to American families and to our nation as a whole," said Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
"The time for bold action on the growing public health challenge posed by Alzheimer's is right now," she told reporters.
Some 5.1 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer's disease, a degenerative brain disorder for which there is no cure.
Due to the aging population, the number of people with Alzheimer's disease in the United States is projected to more than double by 2050.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins told reporters that important clues about Alzheimer's have been uncovered over the past 40 years, but progress toward eliminating the disease has been difficult.
"To be honest, turning these advances into effective strategies for treatment and prevention has proven very challenging and elusive, a frustrating situation for researchers and patients alike," he said.
"But we now have cause for greater optimism."
Collins described recent advances in research, including an NIH-funded study on mice released last week month that showed Alzheimer's starts in one part of the brain in the memory center and progressively moves on to infect other parts.
"It has generated a lot of excitement among those working on treatments. Why is that? It means that if we detect Alzheimer's early we might be able to stop the disease in its tracks by applying agents that can block its spread," he said.
"Thanks to the new infusion of funds announced today, I think Alzheimer's research is poised for some great discoveries."
NIH spends about $450 million a year on Alzheimer's research at present.
The new funds will be directed toward basic and clinical research, identifying genes that raise the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and testing therapies in people at high risk for the disease, officials said.
Funds may also help speed new clinical trials on treatment approaches and help develop better national databases on the extent of cognitive impairment and dementia.
Last year, Obama signed the National Alzheimer's Project Act which urges a country-wide plan against the disease with the goal of preventing it and curing it by 2025.
Experts said the effort is particularly crucial in the United States, where the proportion of older people is on the rise with 9,000 people turning 65 every day, and costs associated with Alzheimer's expected to reach three trillion dollars over the next decade.
"We're racing against the clock to advance a solution to this crisis from both cure and care standpoints," said Alzheimer's Foundation of America president Eric Hall.
"Our aging population can't wait any longer. This type of investment is critical so that it doesn't cost the government, as well as families, more in the long run."
Scott Turner, director of the Georgetown University Medical Center's Memory Disorders Program, said the announcement was "encouraging" but added "this disease remains by far the most underfunded when compared to its public health impact."
George Vradenburg, co-founder and chairman of the group USAgainstAlzheimer's, urged lawmakers to make Alzheimer's a priority, noting the US only spends annually about $90 per person with the disease.
"This increase in funding is a modest first step. We intend to work with Congress to mobilize the scale of resources needed to match the scale of the fiscal and health challenge of stopping Alzheimer's in the next decade," he said.
"We have just begun this fight against Alzheimer’s in earnest; we have a long way to go."
Health/Medicine
US boosts funding for Alzheimer's ...Contador vows to pursue career despite doping ban
02/07 | 21:39 GMT
PINTO, Spain (AFP) - An indignant two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador said on Tuesday he "totally disagreed" with his two-year doping ban and vowed to pursue his career at the highest level.
PINTO, Spain (AFP) - An indignant two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador said on Tuesday he "totally disagreed" with his two-year doping ban and vowed to pursue his career at the highest level.
"I am going to continue cycling. I am going to continue practicing it cleanly, the way I have my entire life," he told a news conference at a hotel in his hometown of Pinto just south of Madrid.
"My mood right now is not the best but I know this will make me stronger in the future," he added in his first public comments since the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport handed down its sanction on Monday.
"I cannot understand the sanction that has been imposed on me. As for the decision, I totally disagree."
Contador, 29, said his lawyers were looking into a possible appeal, which must be lodged within 30 days.
"My lawyers are looking into all the possibilities. We will continue to fight until the end," he said, wearing a dark jacket and a white shirt unbuttoned at the collar.
Considered the most gifted racer of his generation, Contador was handed the ban following a positive test for the banned substance clenbuterol.
Backdated to August 2010, when he announced the news of his positive test weeks after his third yellow jersey triumph, the ban means Contador can return to competition on August 6, 2012.
As well as ruling him out of this year's Tour de France and the Olympic Games in London, he will be stripped of several wins including his 2010 yellow jersey which will now be handed to runner-up Andy Schleck of Luxembourg.
Contador's determination to carry on means he may compete at the Tour of Spain which starts on August 18, a race he won in 2008.
Contador said he has not yet decided if he will take part in this year's race and his "priority" is to stay with his current team, Saxo Bank.
"I still don't know what my programme will be after my suspension. I have to organise my future but that does not depend only on me. What I know for sure is that I want to continue to win the biggest races," he said.
Contador is one of only five men to have won all three major cycling races.
Two months after his positive test, the Spaniard, claiming he was the victim of a contaminated steak eaten during the Tour de France, had said he would consider quitting if banned.
If he is to find any kind of succour from the CAS decision, it is that doping experts believe he did not ingest clenbuterol intentionally. They deemed the Spaniard was likely a victim of a contaminated food supplement.
Contador said he had committed no crime and yet had been hit with the heaviest penalty of a two-year ban.
The Spaniard said he even gave evidence with a polygraph, or lie detector.
"That is five hours sitting in a chair answering questions like a real criminal," he said.
"There have been speculations, leaks, it has been a real torment. But the hardest thing has been to see my family, the suffering they have had, my wife, for what they have accused me of."
Contador was repeatedly applauded by supporters who chanted his name at the end of the press conference.
He thanked his fans and his sponsor for their support, after Saxo Bank chief Bjarne Riis told the news conference he backed the cyclist "100 percent" because he clearly did not deliberately take drugs.
"We as a team, supported by all our sponsors, continue to support Alberto. Our trust in Alberto is still 100 percent intact," said Riis.
The loss of Contador could have huge ramifications for his team.
Run by Riis, a former Tour de France winner who owned up to cheating with drugs to win the race in 1996, Contador is the team's marquee rider in stage races.
But more importantly, his WorldTour ranking points are crucial.
Affiliation to the WorldTour series -- via a system governed by ranking points, financial viability and sound ethical principles -- guarantees entry to cycling's biggest races.
On his own, Contador has racked up a massive amount of the points required by the team for entry to the series.
The sport's ruling body, the International Cycling Union, was due to ask its licences commission on Tuesday to gauge whether Saxo Bank has the right to remain in the UCI WorldTour.
