Egyptians vote on Islamist-inspired constitution


CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians voted on Saturday in the second round of a referendum expected to approve an Islamist-drafted constitution that lays foundations for a transition to democracy but is criticized as divisive by the opposition.


Queues formed at some polling stations around the country and voting was extended by four hours to 11 p.m. (2100 GMT). Last week's first round of voting, which an opposition leader said was marred by "serious violations", gave a 57 percent vote in favor of the constitution, according to unofficial figures.


Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Mursi say the constitution is vital to move towards democracy, nearly two years after an Arab Spring revolt overthrew authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. It will help provide stability needed to fix a struggling economy, they say.


But the opposition accuses Mursi of pushing through a text that favors Islamists and ignores the rights of Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population, as well as women.


"I'm voting 'no' because Egypt can't be ruled by one faction," said Karim Nahas, 35, a stockbroker, heading to a polling station in Giza, a province included in this second, decisive round of voting which covers parts of greater Cairo.


At another polling station, some voters said they were more interested in ending Egypt's long period of political instability than in the Islamist aspects of the charter.


"We have to extend our hands to Mursi to help fix the country," said Hisham Kamal, an accountant.


Just hours before polls closed, Vice President Mahmoud Mekky announced his resignation, saying he wanted to quit last month but stayed on to help Mursi tackle a crisis that blew up when the Islamist leader assumed wide powers.


Mekky, a prominent judge who said he was uncomfortable in politics, disclosed earlier he had not been informed of Mursi's power grab. However, the timing of Mekky's resignation appeared linked to the fact there is no vice-presidential post under the draft constitution.


Unofficial tallies may emerge within hours of the close of voting, but the referendum committee may not declare an official result for the two rounds until Monday, after hearing appeals.


CHEATING ALLEGED


As polling opened on Saturday, a coalition of Egyptian rights groups reported a number of alleged irregularities.


They said some polling stations had opened late, that Islamists urging a "yes" vote had illegally campaigned at some stations, and complained of irregularities in voter registration, including the listing of one dead person.


Analysts expect another "yes" on Saturday because the vote covers rural and other areas seen as having more Islamist sympathizers. Islamists may also be able to count on many Egyptians who are simply exhausted by two years of upheaval.


Among provisions of the new basic law are a limit of two four-year presidential terms. It says principles of sharia law remain the main source of legislation but adds an article to explain this further. It also says Islamic authorities will be consulted on sharia - a source of concern to Christians and other non-Muslims.


If the constitution is passed, a parliamentary election will be held in about two months. If not, an assembly will have to be set up to draft a new one.


After the first round of voting, the opposition said alleged abuses meant the first stage of the referendum should be re-run.


But the committee overseeing the two-stage vote said its investigations showed no major irregularities in voting on December 15, which covered about half of Egypt's 51 million voters.


MORE UNREST


If the charter is approved, the opposition say it is a recipe for trouble since it has not received sufficiently broad backing from the population. They say the result may go in Mursi's favor but it will not be a fair vote.


"I see more unrest," said Ahmed Said, head of the liberal Free Egyptians Party and a member of the National Salvation Front, an opposition coalition formed after Mursi expanded his powers on November 22 and then pushed the constitution to a vote.


Protesters accused the president of acting like a pharaoh, and he was forced to issue a second decree two weeks ago that amended a provision putting his decisions above legal challenge.


Said cited "serious violations" on the first day of voting, and said anger against Mursi and his Islamist allies was growing. "People are not going to accept the way they are dealing with the situation."


At least eight people were killed in protests outside the presidential palace in Cairo this month. Islamists and rivals clashed on Friday in the second biggest city of Alexandria, hurling stones at each other. Two buses were torched.


The head of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that represents Mursi's power base, said the vote was an opportunity for Egypt to move on.


"After the constitution is settled by the people, the wheels in all areas will turn, even if there are differences here and there," the Brotherhood's supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, said as he went to vote in Beni Suef, south of Cairo.


"After choosing a constitution, all Egyptians will be moving in the same direction," he said.


The vote was staggered after many judges refused to supervise the ballot, meaning there were not enough to hold the referendum on a single day nationwide.


Islamists, who have won successive ballots since Mubarak's overthrow, albeit by narrowing margins, dismiss charges that they are exploiting religion and say the document reflects the will of a majority in the country where most people are Muslim.


Also on Saturday, the cabinet spokesman denied a report on state television that the central bank governor, Farouk El-Okdah, had resigned.


In his resignation letter, Mekky said that although he had held on in the post he had "realized for some time that the nature of political work did not suit my professional background as a judge".


(Additional reporting by Tamim Elyan; Writing by Edmund Blair and Giles Elgood; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Jason Webb)



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Cricket: New Zealand trounced in first match






DURBAN: South Africa sent New Zealand crashing to an eight-wicket defeat with 47 balls to spare in the first Twenty20 international at Kingsmead on Friday.

Fast bowler Rory Kleinveldt took two early wickets to start a slide from which New Zealand never recovered. They were bowled out for 86 after winning the toss.

Kleinveldt took the key wickets of Rob Nicol and captain Brendon McCullum and finished with three for 18 to capture the man-of-the-match award.

South Africa romped home in 12.1 overs with new captain Faf du Plessis making 38 not out, while Quinton de Kock, making his debut four days after his 20th birthday, slammed a quick 28 not out.

It was a disappointing start for New Zealand, who arrived as underdogs but were expected to put up a reasonable fight in the Twenty20 internationals.

They were missing several key players, including former captain Ross Taylor, who was unavailable for the tour, and suffered another blow when experienced batsman Martin Guptill could not play at Kingsmead because of a stomach ailment.

Fast bowler Trent Boult was also unavailable because of a similar complaint.

On a pitch with pace and bounce, the tourists lost three wickets inside the first five overs. Nicol charged Kleinveldt and was caught behind, while McCullum top-edged a hook and was caught at fine leg. In between Peter Fulton drove Dale Steyn to mid-on.

It did not get much better for the Black Caps although left-handed newcomer Colin Munro, who was born in Durban and did his early schooling in the city before his family moved to New Zealand, made 23. Doug Bracewell hit 21 not out.

Steyn, newcomer Chris Morris and left-arm spinner Robin Peterson all took two wickets.

New Zealand newcomer Mitchell McClenaghan had Richard Levi caught at slip for a duck, bowling a wicket maiden at the start of the South African innings. But Henry Davids and Du Plessis put on 45 before Du Plessis and De Kock finished the match.

- AFP/jc



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Build a bamboo battery pack with stackable JuiceCan



Rainbow bright: JuiceCans could also become body massagers and speakers.



(Credit:
Indiegogo)



If you've been hit by a natural disaster recently, you know you can't put too high a price on mobile power supplies.


If your phone is dead and the grid is unreliable, JuiceCans are one way to keep communicating with loved ones.


This Indiegogo fundraising project centers on a stackable USB power pack called a JuiceCan. Add more packs to form a JuiceCane and you get more power.




Designed to look like segments of a bamboo tree, and available in rainbow colors, each JuiceCan can carry a charge of 7800 milliampere-hour (mAh), enough to charge an
iPhone 5 three times or an
iPad twice, according to maker AMP Tech.




Stacking seven cans together would give you 54,600 mAh, according to the startup.


The cans have two USB ports so they can juice two devices at a time, as well as an LED light that shines for 200 hours.


Each can weighs 200 grams, about 7 ounces.


AMP Tech is trying to raise about $24,000 in 70 days for the campaign. Early-bird investors can get a JuiceCan for $33.


It's also planning to create offbeat products like lampshades, speakers, and body massagers with the cans; check them out here.


I'd love to have something like this that fits in my back pocket. Or, better yet, on a key ring. Then again, I'm always losing my keys.


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Boehner's Take on Fiscal Cliff Deal: 'God Only Knows'


Dec 21, 2012 11:00am







Speaker of the House John Boehner bluntly acknowledged Friday morning he did not have the votes to pass his “Plan B” and said the only real solution is a broad agreement to cut spending and reform the tax code. Then he added these words:


“How we get there, God only knows.”


That about sums up the whole “fiscal cliff” situation after a chaotic Thursday night when Republicans had to abandon “Plan B” – their proposal to raise taxes only on people making more than $1 million.


Boehner said he is not giving up on talks to pursue a bipartisan agreement with the President, who wants taxes to be raised on people making more than $250,000. But Boehner made it clear nothing is going on right now.  Instead he said it was up to Senate Democrats and the White House to make the next move.


Read more  about “Plan B” and the dramatic action in the House on Thursday.





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Italy PM Monti resigns, elections likely in February


ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti tendered his resignation to the president on Friday after 13 months in office, opening the way to a highly uncertain national election in February.


The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, has kept his own political plans a closely guarded secret but he has faced growing pressure to seek a second term.


President Giorgio Napolitano is expected to dissolve parliament in the next few days and has already indicated that the most likely date for the election is February 24.


In an unexpected move, Napolitano said he would hold consultations with political leaders from all the main parties on Saturday to discuss the next steps. In the meantime Monti will continue in a caretaker capacity.


European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have called for Monti's economic reform agenda to continue but Italy's two main parties have said he should stay out of the race.


Monti, who handed in his resignation during a brief meeting at the presidential palace shortly after parliament approved his government's 2013 budget, will hold a news conference on Sunday at which he is expected clarify his intentions.


Ordinary Italians are weary of repeated tax hikes and spending cuts and opinion polls offer little evidence that they are ready to give Monti a second term. A survey this week showed 61 percent saying he should not stand.


Whether he runs or not, his legacy will loom over an election which will be fought out over the painful measures he has introduced to try to rein in Italy's huge public debt and revive its stagnant economy.


His resignation came a couple of months before the end of his term, after his technocrat government lost the support of Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party in parliament earlier this month.


Speculation is swirling over Monti's next moves. These could include outlining policy recommendations, endorsing a centrist alliance committed to his reform agenda or even standing as a candidate in the election himself.


The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has held a strong lead in the polls for months but a centrist alliance led by Monti could gain enough support in the Senate to force the PD to seek a coalition deal which could help shape the economic agenda.


BERLUSCONI IN WINGS


Senior figures from the alliance, including both the UDC party, which is close to the Roman Catholic Church, and a new group founded by Ferrari sports car chairman Luca di Montezemolo, have been hoping to gain Monti's backing.


He has not said clearly whether he intends to run, but he has dropped heavy hints he will continue to push a reform agenda that has the backing of both Italy's business community and its European partners.


The PD has promised to stick to the deficit reduction targets Monti has agreed with the European Union and says it will maintain the broad course he has set while putting more emphasis on reviving growth.


Berlusconi's return to the political arena has added to the already considerable uncertainty about the centre-right's intentions and increased the likelihood of a messy and potentially bitter election campaign.


The billionaire media tycoon has fluctuated between attacking the government's "Germano-centric" austerity policies and promising to stand aside if Monti agrees to lead the centre right, but now appears to have settled on an anti-Monti line.


He has pledged to cut taxes and scrap a hated housing tax which Monti imposed. He has also sounded a stridently anti-German line which has at times echoed the tone of the populist 5-Star Movement headed by maverick comic Beppe Grillo.


The PD and the PDL, both of which supported Monti's technocrat government in parliament, have made it clear they would not be happy if he ran against them and there have been foretastes of the kind of attacks he can expect.


Former centre-left prime minister Massimo D'Alema said in an interview last week that it would be "morally questionable" for Monti to run against the PD, which backed all of his reforms and which has pledged to maintain his pledges to European partners.


Berlusconi who has mounted an intensive media campaign in the past few days, echoed that criticism this week, saying Monti risked losing the credibility he has won over the past year and becoming a "little political figure".


(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones, Massimiliano Di Giorgio and Paolo Biondi; Writing by Gavin Jones and James Mackenzie; Editing by Michael Roddy)



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Ex-IMF head Rato in Spain fraud hearing






MADRID: A Spanish judge questioned former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato Thursday over fraud charges linked to ruined Spanish lender Bankia, a symbol of Spain's financial calamity.

Furious yells of "Thief! Rato, go to jail!" met the high-flying financier outside court as demonstrators vented rage at the nationalisation of the bank in which many say they lost savings.

He was questioned by a judge at Spain's National Court in a case against him and 32 other officials from the bailed-out bank.

Court papers listed criminal charges including fraud, embezzlement, falsifying accounts and price manipulation.

A source present at the hearing told reporters afterwards: "He was calm, but not as calm as he had been in Congress" during an appearance in parliament in July when he defended himself.

The source said Rato reiterated his claims that Spanish authorities held responsibility for events at Bankia including the timing of its ill-fated stock listing.

Bankia was created by merging seven regional savings banks, part of a financial sector shake-up brought on by the collapse of a construction boom that has dragged Spain into recession.

Rato said that when he took over at the bank he found "a very complex economic situation and a very big challenge: modernising the savings banks," the source said.

Rato arrived at court in the mid-afternoon and left several hours later without commenting, his car sweeping past a large crowd that bellowed and insulted him from behind a line of police.

The 63-year-old resigned from Bankia in May just before the lender was nationalised and bailed out for 23.5 billion euros ($29.5 billion), marking a new phase in Spain's banking crisis.

The bailout drove Spain to seek up to 100 billion euros in eurozone rescue funds for its banking sector.

Protestors say Bankia sold them risky preference shares that lost their value after its collapse.

"They swindled me," said one demonstrator outside court, 40-year-old Clemence Cohen.

"They offered me shares and they knew what a hole there was" in the bank's balance sheet, she added. "It's right that justice should do its work."

Rato is one of the most prominent financial figures in Spain and a hero of the Spanish right. He served as economy minister between 1996 and 2004 and as managing director of the International Monetary Fund until 2007.

On July 20, 2011, the day Bankia shares began trading on the Madrid stock exchange, Rato seemed to be riding high as he gave the thumbs up, smiling broadly.

"It was certainly a very emotional day for him because he comes from a family of bankers," said Carmen Gurruchaga, journalist and author of a book of interviews with Rato.

But his moment of triumph was brief.

A descendant of northern Spanish industrialists, born into a wealthy family, Rato has become a target of popular anger, seen as a symbol of a financial system too closely linked to politics.

Often described as brilliant and as a fine orator, but also sometimes as pretentious and even rude, his career had seemed faultless until he entered the world of Spanish banking.

A law graduate with an MBA from Berkley, he was praised as an excellent economy minister, a post he held under conservative Popular Party prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, who ruled from 1996-2004.

Aznar said recently he had viewed Rato as his "natural successor" to lead the party and, perhaps, the country.

But Rato later turned away from politics and secured the top job in the Caja Madrid bank before presiding over a series of mergers and the Bankia listing.

"The whole process was controlled by the regulator," he told parliament in July. "The process was transparent and rigorous."

- AFP/fa



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CES 2013: 139 startups, and one that stinks



Sensory Acumen's scent-spewing device



(Credit:
Sensory Acumen)



Among the throng of startups heading to the 2013 International CES next month will be one that's trying to crack through all the noise by stinking up the joint. Literally.


This is the goal of Charlene Coleman, the founder and CEO of Sensory Acumen, a bootstrapped venture from Orinda, Calif., that's spent the last three years working on a device, called GameSkunk, that spews all sorts of scents at people as they play video games. At least that's the hope.


"We thought this would take games to another level," said Coleman, who's now working on deals with game developers. "They already have great sound and music."


The idea of smellevision isn't a new one. It was tried in movie theaters 50 years ago, in fact. And at least one other startup, Scent Sciences, is also trying to add some olfactory enjoyment to your multimedia world. The methods differ, however, and the challenges, including finding partners that want to work odor into their electronics, certainly aren't small.


But, hey, that's what successful startups are all about -- tackling ideas others dismiss as foolhardy. Which is why Coleman, a marketing veteran of the consumer electronics industry, is hoping
CES leads to all sorts of connections and unforeseen markets. She'll be one of 140 startups -- up from 100 last year -- set up in booths at Eureka Park, which is CES's hall setup exclusively for startups. As was the case last year, the types of companies showcasing are all over the map -- from a maker of cases that boost your phone's sound to a renewable energy battery system company and a team with roots at Carnegie Mellon University that's coming to demo its toy robots.


The idea for GameSkunk began with Coleman's husband, an avid gamer who began wishing the immersive game-experience included scents. So Coleman, who has worked for Sony and Panasonic, got decided to make a go at it. The couple invested their own money. They brought on a team of five, both software and hardware engineers. They teamed up with fragrance and flavor scientists, started building a prototype and were selected to be apart of Startup America, the national organization headed by AOL founder Steve Case.




Their latest version of the device, which they'll show off at CES, can plug into a computer via USB or it work wirelessly, so it could be used with a game console. It holds cartridges that contain the smells you need. Coleman explained: "A cooking game might have onions, raw food, and cooked foods. In a war game, if a building's on fire, you might smell smoke. Of if you fall down, you'll smell dirt or grass."


Through an API, game developers can build into game what odors go where. And it's all blasted out via a compressor -- there is no fan -- and Coleman says the order reaches the player within three feet and in less than three seconds.


Neat idea, for sure, but it's a tall challenge. For one, she needs to get game makers on board, which is something she says working hard at now. Plus, the system isn't compatible with all the games already on the market -- something else her team is working. Yet her adventure, particularly through Startup America, has lead to some unexpected connections. And, who knows, perhaps she'll find herself making the classic pivot into markets other than games.


In fact, GameSkunk has already found a niche market with doctors treating various psychological conditions, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder. Smell, of course, is a powerful memory trigger and psychologists at the University of Southern California are incorporating Coleman's technology into its treatment regimen for helping vets deal with PTSD. Using a simulator, they run a program called "Virtual Iraq" that creates a 360-degree interactive environment which, thanks to Sensory Acumen, emits all sorts of odors vets encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan. This system that will be on hand at CES so that attendees can get a sense -- and scent -- of how it all works.


Coleman says also heard from automakers and retailers. "Some have come to use and said they want the smell of certain products pushed out into aisles," she said. So while her aim to launch GameSkunk in the consumer market around the middle of 2013, perhaps consumer we'll be smelling her work before than without even realizing it.

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House GOP: We have the votes for "Plan B"




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Cantor: "We're going to have the votes" to pass "Plan B"



Updated 1:45 p.m. ET

As the House readies for an expected vote on an alternate plan, dubbed "Plan B," to avoid massive tax hikes on all income earners, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said he is confident he will have enough support to pass their plan.

"We're going to have the votes," Cantor told reporters this morning.

"Plan B," a scaled-back measure that extends tax rates for everyone except those making $1 million, comes to the House floor at the unilateral direction of Republican leadership just days after it seemed talks between House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and President Obama were progressing to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff." Both sides offered major concessions to move toward compromise, but aides tell CBS News White House correspondent Major Garrett that Boehner didn't have enough support in his party to pass his proposal that included $1 trillion worth of revenue increases.

While "Plan B" would raise taxes on millionaires, which is something Democrats support, it does not go far enough for Democrats who want higher tax rates for more income earners. The president's latest "fiscal cliff" offer would raise the marginal tax rate to 39.6 percent on those making more than $400,000, a concession from his previous demand that taxes go up for households making more than $250,000.




Play Video


Boehner: Dems' "Plan B" is "slow walk" over "fiscal cliff"



Boehner said he is doing his part by offering "Plan B"  to ensure taxes don't increase on millions of Americans in the New Year. "It will be up to Senate Democrats and the White House to act," he told reporters today.

While Cantor says they have the votes to pass the alternative, some Republicans expressed reservations because it would raise taxes on about 400,000 families, or about 0.2 percent of Americans.

Boehner's proposal doesn't abide by "clear conservative, clear Republican principles," Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan, told CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

Perhaps offering Republicans an out, in an about-face, anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist said Boehner's proposal does not raise taxes. Other outside conservative groups, however, including the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks, are urging Republicans to vote against "Plan B", saying it does raise taxes.




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Reid: "Boehner's plans are nonstarters in the Senate"



Generally opposed to raising any taxes at all, Republicans are also reluctant to vote for a plan that has already been declared dead in the Senate by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., if it passes the House. "Speaker Boehner's plans are non-starters in the Senate," Reid reiterated today. 

Even if it somehow cleared both houses of Congress, the White House announced Wednesday that it would veto "Plan B."

Another reason some Republicans also objected to Boehner's "Plan B" because it doesn't include spending cuts. Republican leadership addressed that concern Thursday morning, however, by offering a second piece of legislation that cuts $200 billion from the federal budget.

House Republicans "are taking concrete actions" to avert the "fiscal cliff" and reduce spending, Cantor said. "Absent a balanced offer from the president, this is our nation's best option."

During a news conference Wednesday, the president said Republicans "keep on finding ways to say no as opposed to finding ways to say yes" on agreeing to a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff."

He added that it's time for the Republicans to step up and compromise because its' "what the country needs."

The president pointed out their proposals are only "a few hundred billion dollars" apart. "The idea that we would put our economy at risk because you can't bridge that cap doesn't make a lot of sense," he said.

The president's latest proposal includes about $1.2 trillion dollars of revenue increases and $800 billion in spending cuts. Boehner said it's not balanced. His latest offer is, which is not what the House is voting on today, includes about $1 trillion in spending cuts and $1 trillion in tax increases.

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Manhunt Heats Up for Two Escaped Bank Robbers













The manhunt for two bank robbers who escaped from a downtown Chicago prison this week intensified overnight, with police chasing multiple leads as new footage shows the men getting into a taxi minutes after their brazen escape.


Investigators say surveillance cameras captured Joseph "Jose" Banks, 37, and Kenneth Conley, 38,
getting into a taxi minutes after their early Tuesday escape. They entered the taxi at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Congress Street, just blocks away from the jail.


The FBI considers them "armed and dangerous."


The men then showed up five hours later at the home of Sandy Conley, Kenneth Conley's mother, in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, Ill.


"He was in the house for two minutes," Sandy Conley said. "I can't tell you if he was armed. I made him get out."


Thomas Trautmann of the Chicago FBI said the clock is ticking on finding the men.


"[As] each hour goes by, our chances get longer and longer," he said. "However, we do have several viable leads that we are running down."


He did not specify the information.


PHOTOS: Mug shots of Famed Criminals and Celebrities








Prison Break: Convicts Escape from Jail on Bed Sheets Watch Video









Banks and Conley were last seen Monday at 10 p.m. during a prison head count at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago's Loop district. The two borrowed a move from the film "Escape From Alcatraz" by stuffing their beds with clothes in the shape of bodies.


They men then broke the window of their cell at the federal prison, shimmying out a hole only inches wide, and scaled down the side of the building 17 stories, all the while holding onto a rope of sheets and towels taken from the prison. The rope was strong enough to support the two, one weighing 165 pounds the other 185 pounds.


At 7 a.m. the next morning, as employees arrived at work, they noticed the sheets left dangling from the building and at jailers discovered that Conley and Banks were missing.


While the men have had plenty of time to leave the area, there's no indication that they have, ABC 7 TV's public-safety expert Jody Weis said.


"There's a likelihood that they're going to stay here," Weis, a former Chicago police superintendent, said. "They'll have people they can trust. They can have people they can work with. There are going to be people that might be able to hide them out."


Banks, nicknamed "the second-hand bandit" because of the used clothing disguises he wore in several robberies, was convicted of armed robbery last week. His parting words to his judge, Rebecca Pallmeyer, were, "I'll be seeking retribution as well as damages ... you'll hear from me."


Conley had been in jail for several years.


Pallmeyer and others who presided over the men's cases have reportedly been offered protection.


"If they're willing to go down a sheet 17 floors, they're willing to take a chance," Weis said. "And I think you can draw your own conclusion as to what that might mean."


The FBI and U.S. Marshals are offering a combined reward of $60,000 to find the inmates and bring them back into custody.

Escape Has Similarities to 1985 Prison Break



Banks and Conley's disappearance has some striking similarities to the daring escape made by two convicted murders who also broke out of the downtown jail 27 years ago.





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Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels began to push into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday and laid siege to at least one town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect, activists said.


The operation risks inflaming already raw sectarian tensions as the 21-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule - during which the president's Alawite sect has dominated leadership of the Sunni Muslim majority - rumbles on.


Opposition sources said rebels had won some territory in the strategic southern town of Morek and were surrounding the Alawite town of al-Tleisia.


They were also planning to take the town of Maan, arguing that the army was present there and in al-Tleisia and was hindering their advance on nearby Morek, a town on the highway that runs from Damascus north to Aleppo, Syria's largest city and another battleground in the conflict.


"The rockets are being fired from there, they are being fired from Maan and al-Tleisia, we have taken two checkpoints in the southern town of Morek. If we want to control it then we need to take Maan," said a rebel captain in Hama rural area, who asked not to be named.


Activists said heavy army shelling had targeted the town of Halfaya, captured by rebels two days earlier. Seven people were killed, 30 were wounded, and dozens of homes were destroyed, said activist Safi al-Hamawi.


Hama is home to dozens of Alawite and Christian villages among Sunni towns, and activists said it may be necessary to lay siege to many minority areas to seize Morek. Rebels want to capture Morek to cut off army supply lines into northern Idlib, a province on the northern border with Turkey where rebels hold swathes of territory.


From an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, Alawites have largely stood behind Assad, many out of fear of revenge attacks. Christians and some other minorities have claimed neutrality, with a few joining the rebels and a more sizeable portion of them supporting the government out of fear of hardline Islamism that has taken root in some rebel groups.


Activists in Hama said rebels were also surrounding the Christian town of al-Suqeilabiya and might enter the city to take out army positions as well as those of "shabbiha" - pro-Assad militias, the bulk of whom are usually Alawite but can also include Christians and even Sunnis.


"We have been in touch with Christian opposition activists in al-Suqeilabiya and we have told them to stay downstairs or on the lowest floor of their building as possible, and not to go outside. The rebels have promised not to hurt anyone who stays at home," said activist Mousab al-Hamdee, speaking by Skype.


He said he was optimistic that potential sectarian tensions with Christians could be resolved but that Sunni-Alawite strife may be harder to suppress.


SECTARIAN FEARS


U.N. human rights investigators said on Thursday that Syria's conflict was becoming more "overtly sectarian", with more civilians seeking to arm themselves and foreign fighters - mostly Sunnis - flocking in from 29 countries.


"They come from all over, Europe and America, and especially the neighboring countries," said Karen Abuzayd, one of the U.N. investigators, told a news conference in Brussels.


Deeper sectarian divisions may diminish prospects for post-conflict reconciliation even if Assad is ousted, and the influx of foreigners raises the risk of fighting spilling into neighboring countries riven by similar communal fault lines.


Some activists privately voiced concerns of sectarian violence, but the rebel commander in Hama said fighters had been told "violations" would not be tolerated and argued that the move to attack the towns was purely strategic.


"If we are fired at from a Sunni village that is loyal to the regime we go in and we liberate it and clean it," he said. "So should we not do the same when it comes to an Alawite village just because there is a fear of an all-out sectarian war? We respond to the source of fire."


President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Assad's main ally and arms supplier, warned that any solution to the conflict must ensure government and rebel forces do not merely swap roles and fight on forever. It appeared to be his first direct comment on the possibility of a post-Assad Syria.


The West and some Arab states accuse Russia of shielding Assad after Moscow blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions intended to increase pressure on Damascus to end the violence, which has killed more than 40,000 people. Putin said the Syrian people would ultimately decide their own fate.


Assad's forces have been hitting back at rebel advances with heavy shelling, particularly along the eastern ring of suburbs outside Damascus, where rebels are dominant.


A Syrian security source said the army was planning heavy offensives in northern and central Syria to stem rebel advances, but there was no clear sign of such operations yet.


Rebels seized the Palestinian refugee district of Yarmouk earlier this week, which put them within 3 km (2 miles) of downtown Damascus. Heavy shelling and fighting forced thousands of Palestinian and Syrian residents to flee the Yarmouk area.


Rebels said on Thursday they had negotiated to put the camp - actually a densely packed urban district - back into the hands of pro-opposition Palestinian fighters. There are some 500,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants living in Syria, and they have been divided by the uprising.


Palestinian factions, some backed by the government and others by the rebels, had begun fighting last week, a development that allowed Syrian insurgents to take the camp.


A resident in Damascus said dozens of families were returning to the camp but that the army had erected checkpoints. Many families were still hesitant to return.


LEBANON BORDER POST TAKEN


Elsewhere, Syrian insurgents took over an isolated border post on the western frontier with Lebanon earlier this week, local residents told Reuters on Thursday.


The rebels already hold much of the terrain along Syria's northern and eastern borders with Turkey and Iraq respectively.


They said around 20 rebels from the Qadissiyah Brigade overran the post at Rankus, which is linked by road to the remote Lebanese village of Tufail.


Video footage downloaded on the Internet on Thursday, dated December 16, showed a handful of fighters dressed in khaki fatigues and wielding rifles as they kicked down a stone barricade around a small, single-storey army checkpoint.


Syrian Interior Minister Ibrahim al-Shaar arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday for treatment of wounds sustained in a bomb attack on his ministry in Damascus a week ago.


Lebanese medical sources said Shaar had shrapnel wounds in his shoulder, stomach and legs but they were not critical.


The Syrian opposition has tried to peel off defectors from the government as well as from the army, though only a handful of high-ranking officials have abandoned Assad.


The conflict has divided many Syrian families. Security forces on Thursday arrested an opposition activist who is also the relative of Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa, the Syrian Observatory said. The man was arrested along with five other activists who are considered pacifists, it said.


Sharaa, a Sunni Muslim who has few powers in Assad's Alawite-dominated power structure, said earlier this week that neither side could win the war in Syria. He called for the formation of a national unity government.


(Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Andrew Osborn)



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