General News

Ahmadinejad pushes new world order

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that a new world order needs to emerge, away from years of what he called American bullying and domination.

"Now even elementary school kids throughout the world have understood that the United States government is following an international policy of bullying," he said.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-09-25/ap-interview-ahmadinejad-pushes-syria-solution

Obama urges unity against global extremism

In his address to UN, US president condemned "mindless violence" and challenged leaders to confront causes of turmoil.

Barack Obama, the US president, has challenged the international community to confront the causes of turmoil in the Middle East, saying the attacks on US citizens in Libya "were attacks on America'' and the world faces "a choice between the forces that would drive us apart and the hopes we hold in common''.

"I do believe that it is the obligation of all leaders, in all countries, to speak out forcefully against violence and extremism,'' Obama said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/09/201292516632426145.html

Obama vows justice for Libya killers

US president says killing of ambassador and staff in Benghazi will not break political bonds between the two countries.

US President Barack Obama has pledged to bring to justice those who attacked the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, killing an American ambassador for the first time in 33 years.

He condemned the attack, calling it "outrageous and shocking", and said he had ordered increased security at US diplomatic posts around the world.

"No act of violence will shake the resolve of the United States of America," he warned later on Wednesday at the start of a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"We will not be deterred - we will keep going, we will keep going because the world needs us," the president said. "We are the one indispensable power in the world."

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/09/2012912144149580926.html

Panetta appears to link al-Qaeda presence with Iraq invasion On Monday, in h...

Panetta appears to link al-Qaeda presence with Iraq invasion

On Monday, in his first visit to Iraq as Pentagon chief, Panetta appeared to justify the U.S. invasion of the country as part of the war against al-Qaeda, a controversial argument made by the George W. Bush administration but rebutted by President Obama and many Democrats.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/panetta-echoes-bush-comments-linking-iraq-invasion-to-war-on-al-qaeda/2011/07/11/gIQA3m3h8H_story.html

Obama signs Patriot Act extension ...

Obama signs Patriot Act extension

US president extends controversial counter-terrorism search and wiretap powers, minutes before laws were due to expire.

US President Barack Obama has signed a four-year extension of the Patriot Act from Paris, extending post-September 11 powers allowing the government to secretly search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of alleged terrorists or their supporters.

During congressional debates, legislators rejected attempts to temper the law enforcement powers to ensure that individual liberties would not be abused.

While the government's actual use of the Patriot Act largely remains secret, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are unhappy with the extension.

Before Thursday's Senate vote, Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said, "I want to deliver a warning this afternoon: When the American people find out how their government has secretly interpreted the Patriot Act, they will be stunned and they will be angry."

"Americans would be alarmed if they knew how this law is being carried out," added Senator Mark Udall of Colorado, also on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Lonely resistance Congress bumped up against the deadline mainly because of the stubborn resistance from a single senator, Republican freshman Rand Paul, who saw the act's terrorist-hunting powers as an abuse of privacy rights.

Paul held up the final vote for several days while he demanded a chance to change the bill to diminish the government's ability to monitor individual actions. The bill passed the Senate 72-23.

The measure adds four years to the legal life of roving wiretaps, which are authorised for a person rather than a communications line or device; of court-ordered searches of business records; and of surveillance of non-American "lone wolf" suspects without confirmed ties to terrorist groups. It also allows the government to keep track of local library records.

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/americas/2011/05/201152715850301322.html

Chavez, Gaddafi seek a new definition of terrorism Venezuela's Hugo Chavez a...

Chavez, Gaddafi seek a new definition of terrorism

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi called on Monday for a new global definition of terrorism.

Neither spoke publicly about the document, which rejects "attempts to link the legitimate struggle of the people for liberty and self-determination" with terrorism, according to a Venezuelan government website.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN28112939