Nelson Mandela's Death

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge speaks with Zindzi Mandela, the daughter of Nelson Mandela, before the royal film premier of "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" in London Thursday, December 5, 2013. Zindzi and Zenani had just met dignitaries including Prince William and wife Catherine at the screening when they were informed of the news by telephone "and immediately left the cinema," according to the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Image/Credits: Chris Jackson/Moira Shaw/AFP

Clashes Sweep Central Africa Republic Capital

Seleka soldiers race through Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday Dec. 5, 2013 as gunfire and mortar rounds erupt in the town. To try to put an end to sectarian violence, the UN security council is scheduled to pass a motion allowing French troops to deploy in the country in order to protect civilians and insure security by all necessary means.

BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Wielding rifles and machetes, armed Christian fighters who support the Central African Republic's exiled president assaulted the capital at dawn on Thursday, leaving nearly 100 people dead. Shrouded bodies were lined up in a mosque as dozens of wounded lay on blood-stained hospital floors.

The ambush on Muslim neighborhoods of Bangui came as the United Nations voted to send a contingent of French troops to try to stabilize the country, and French President Francois Hollande announced plans to double the force. The daylong gunbattle touched even the most protected parts of the capital, including the residence of the prime minister, underscoring the volatile mix of arms and ideology facing the arriving French force.

Scores died in Thursday's attack, including 48 people whose bodies were laid out at a mosque in a northern suburb of Bangui. Separately, a Doctors Without Borders spokeswoman, Amelie Ketoff, said another 50 deaths had been confirmed, bringing the toll to 98.

Some died of bullet wounds, others from what appeared to be machete blows using a weapon known in the local language as a "balaka." The Christian militia, whose members are believed to have led the attack Thursday, call themselves the "anti-balaka," reminiscent of the horrific violence once seen in Rwanda.

Rebel leader-turned-president Michel Djotodia appealed for calm, even as his residence was looted and vandalized by the fighters. He announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew in a bid to stem the threat of retaliatory violence against Christians, following the early morning attack on Muslim neighborhoods.

"This morning the enemies of Central African Republic wanted to destabilize the country but they have failed," Djotodia announced in a speech broadcast in the Sango language on state radio. France already has hundreds of soldiers in Bangui, and an armored personnel carrier and other military vehicles patrolled the streets. The roads were otherwise bare except for the brightly painted pickup trucks driven by the ex-rebels who run the government.

The resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council on Thursday allows France to send hundreds more troops for a temporary period. Speaking from the Elysee Palace in Paris, Hollande said the 600 troops already in the country would be doubled "within a few days, even a few hours" to around 1,200.

The U.N. measure also authorizes the deployment of an African Union-led force to Central African Republic for a year to protect civilians and restore public order. The AU force is replacing a regional peacekeeping mission whose presence has been mainly limited to the capital and a few northern cities.

"It's necessary to intervene very quickly to establish order in this country, in order that humanitarian aid arrives and to avoid an actual civil war based on religion," said France's U.N. ambassador, Gerard Araud, speaking on French RTL radio Thursday.

Central African Republic, a desperately poor country in the heart of Africa where the life expectancy is a mere 48 years, has been roiled by rebellions and coups for decades. The president ousted in March had himself ascended to power by force a decade earlier.

Djotodia, the country's current ruler, who is Muslim, managed to unify several rebel groups in the country's mostly Muslim north, where resentment of the federal government and a sense of disenfranchisement has been rife for years. Once those rebels — known as Seleka, the local word for coalition — were unleashed upon the capital, though, he wielded very little control over the mélange of bush fighters, child soldiers and foreign mercenaries he had recruited along the way.

Before long, human rights groups were documenting cases of Seleka rebels going door to door with machetes, bludgeoning their victims and burning down scores of homes. Supporters of the ousted president began rising up in opposition to the lawless and ruthless rebels, forming self-defense militias. Thursday's attack demonstrates that these fighters are more than vengeance-seeking civilians with artisanal hunting rifles.

"This is not a war between an army and a rebel group. It's really become a conflict between communities where people are being targeted based on their religion," said Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, who has documented scores of attacks in Central African Republic.

"And it is actually the Muslim community which is the most vulnerable because of the vast abuses committed by the Seleka and the fact that they are a relatively small minority amongst a much larger Christian population who are just furious because of the abuses they have suffered" under the Seleka.

Camal Fodor managed to get his friend to a health clinic by 7 a.m., but seven hours later he still lay listless on a bench. "The anti-balaka attacked our neighborhood and he was shot in the stomach," Fodor said of his friend, Solomon Haroun, whose blood-soaked T-shirt was dripping blood through the cracks of a wooden bench, where it pooled on the floor below, next to another man awaiting treatment for gunshot wounds.

In another sign of the growing melee, Prime Minister Nicholas Tiangaye confirmed his house had been looted, describing the attackers as a group of Seleka who arrived in three four-wheel-drive pickup trucks.

Speaking in Paris to the Associated Press, Tiangaye said he had been informed that the provisional toll was "more than 100 dead and several hundred wounded." Babacar Gaye, the U.N. special representative for the Central African Republic, appealed for calm in a joint statement from the U.N., European Union, African Union and France.

In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney condemned the "shocking and horrific atrocities against civilians" and said the U.S. was providing $40 million in assistance to the African Union mission.

In the hills overlooking Bangui, dotted with banana trees, the ex-Seleka fighters spent Thursday afternoon showing off the weapons they'd seized from the enemy earlier in the day. The fighters traded combat boots for flip flops and munched on French baguettes in the shade.

Gen. Bachar Fadoul says the Christian militia may attempt another attack but his troops will be waiting. "We will hunt them down and chase them from the city," he said.

Associated Press writers Jose Richard Pouambi and Jerome Delay in Bangui, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, and Lori Hinnant and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

US: Russian Diplomats Charged; Russia Objects

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, center, announces charges against more than a dozen Russian diplomats and their spouses living in New York during a news conference Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 in New York. The charges stem from the defendants' alleged involvement in a $1.5 million fraud of a U.S. government health program for the poor.

NEW YORK (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — U.S. claims that dozens of Russian diplomats and their spouses cheated to get health care aid meant for the poor drew a sharp rebuke Thursday from a top Russian official who blamed the criminal case on "Russophobic forces" interested in scuttling progress toward Russia-U.S. cooperation in confronting world conflicts.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov made the remarks carried by Russia's state news agency, ITAR-Tass, after charges were announced in New York City against 49 current and former Russian diplomats and their wives.

He called the charges "no more than a cheap spin effort, no more than a desire to fulfill the order of Russophobic forces in the United States." Ryabkov added: "We regret that attempt to stir up another conflict or dispute, particularly in view of the fact that Moscow and Washington recently have developed a good format of ties regarding big international issues. We wouldn't like to make such links, but in view of reaching some results in the sphere of settling major conflicts, some people in Washington needed to spoil the atmosphere. We can only assess it this way."

Ryabkov's comments came as a State Department spokeswoman in Washington seemed to downplay the announcement by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan, saying the department was reviewing the just-unsealed charges and didn't believe charges against a "handful" of people would damage U.S.-Russia relations.

Bharara said 25 current and former diplomats and 24 spouses were criminally charged in federal court in Manhattan after they underreported incomes to qualify for Medicaid funds even as they spent tens of thousands of dollars on luxury vacations, concert tickets, fine clothing and helicopter rides.

"Diplomacy should be about extending hands, not picking pockets in the host country," Bharara told a news conference. He called it "shameful and systemic corruption." No arrests were made and only 11 of the diplomats and their spouses remained in the United States. The complaint said Medicaid, a health care program for the poor, lost about $1.5 million in the scheme since 2004.

The case is unlikely to go to trial because the defendants have immunity, Bharara acknowledged. Ryabkov said Russia rejects the accusations and believes the surveillance of diplomats that led to them contradicts international law and is illegal.

He said in remarks carried by Russia's state RIA Novosti news agency that the United States should have pursued its complaints through diplomatic channels. "We have many complaints about U.S. diplomats in Moscow, but we aren't taking them into the public domain," Ryabkov said.

The complaint alleges that the defendants — current and former diplomats and their spouses at the Russian Mission to the United Nations, the Russian consulate and Russian trade offices — submitted fraudulent applications for medical benefits for pregnancies, births and care for young children.

"Being a diplomat does not give you the right to commit health care fraud," said George Venizelos, head of the FBI's New York office. Marie Harf, deputy spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said at a daily Washington briefing that the charges should not affect relations with Russia.

"Quite frankly, there are too many important issues we have to work on together. The justice system will proceed in the way that it does here in the states, and we don't think it should impact our relationship," she said.

She also said: "I don't think I would probably draw a broad generalization about our relationship with Russia based on a handful of some current Russian officials and some former who are charged with an alleged crime. I think the relationship is much bigger and deeper and broader and more complicated than that."

Bharara said it was a case "we would be prosecuting and making arrests in, but for immunity." Still, he added, participation in crimes by diplomats generally leads to expulsion from a country. In court papers, FBI agent Jeremy Robertson described an 18-month investigation, saying investigators had discovered a pattern of falsified applications.

He said 58 of the 63 births attributed to Russian diplomats and their spouses in New York City between 2004 and 2013 were funded through Medicaid, which is largely federally funded but includes money from state and local governments.

Pregnant women, no matter their immigration status, can get coverage under Medicaid, provided they meet other eligibility requirements, according to the New York Department of Health. Robertson wrote that the diplomats and their spouses generally underreported household income to an amount below the applicable Medicaid eligibility level, and some of them lied about the citizenship status of their children to obtain continuing health coverage for them.

Meanwhile, the diplomats and their spouses spent tens of thousands of dollars on vacations, fancy watches, expensive jewelry and designer clothing at luxury retail stores including Bloomingdale's, Tiffany & Co., Jimmy Choo, Swarovski and others, the court papers said.

The complaint said they also spent tens of thousands of dollars on electronic merchandise at Apple Inc. stores and elsewhere. Authorities said they also bought concert tickets, robotic cleaning devices and chartered helicopters.

Charges in the criminal complaint included conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to steal government funds and make false statements relating to health care matters.

Associated Press writers Tom Hays and Edith Lederer in New York and Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report. Isachenkov reported from Moscow.

Obama Mourns Death Of Icon Nelson Mandela

President Barack Obama turns from the podium after speaking in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, about the death of Nelson Mandela. Obama says the world has lost an influential, courageous and 'profoundly good' man with the death of anti-apartheid icon Mandela.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Counting himself among the millions influenced by Nelson Mandela, President Barack Obama on Thursday mourned the death of the anti-apartheid icon with whom he shares the distinction of being his nation's first black president.

"He no longer belongs to us. He belongs to the ages," Obama said in a somber appearance at the White House. "I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandela's life," he continued. "And like so many around the globe, I cannot fully imagine my own life without the example that Nelson Mandela set."

Mandela died earlier Thursday at 95. He had spent much of the year in and out of the hospital, and his illness prevented a meeting with Obama when the U.S. president visited South Africa this summer. Still, the former South African president's legacy influenced nearly every aspect of Obama's trip. Obama, along with wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha, made an emotional visit to Robben Island, standing quietly together in the tiny cell where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. Obama also met privately with members of Mandela's family.

The president is likely to travel to South Africa for Mandela's funeral, though a trip has not yet been announced. Other former U.S. presidents and dignitaries are also likely to attend. Obama ordered that the U.S. flag be flown at half-staff at the White House, federal buildings, military bases and embassies until sunset Monday.

Obama's political rise has drawn inevitable comparisons to the South African leader. Both are Nobel Peace Prize winners and the first black men elected to lead their countries. However, the two men met in person only once, a hastily arranged meeting in a Washington hotel room in 2005 when Obama was a U.S. senator. A photo of the meeting hangs in Obama's personal office at the White House, showing a smiling Mandela sitting on a chair, his legs outstretched, as the young senator reaches down to shake his hand. A copy of the photo also hung in Mandela's office in Johannesburg.

The two presidents did speak occasionally on the phone, including after the 2008 election, when Mandela called Obama to congratulate him on his victory. The U.S. president called Mandela in 2010 after the South African leader's young granddaughter was killed in a car accident. Obama also wrote the introduction to Mandela's memoir, "Conversations With Myself."

Mandela had already shaped Obama's political beliefs well before their first encounter. As a student at Occidental College in Los Angeles, Obama joined protests against the school's investments during South Africa's apartheid era. In 1981, Obama focused his first public political speech on the topic.

"It's happening an ocean away," Obama said, according to a retelling of the story in his memoir "Dreams From My Father." ''But it's a struggle that touches each and every one of us. Whether we know it or not. Whether we want it or not."

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Nelson Mandela (1918 - 2013)

African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela raises his fist as he speaks to a crowded stadium in Soweto after his release from prison. Date: February 11, 1990. Image: Peter Turnley

A Xhosa born to the Thembu royal family, Nelson Mandela attended the Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law. Living in Johannesburg, he became involved in anti-colonial politics, joining the ANC and becoming a founding member of its Youth League. After the Afrikaner nationalists of the National Party came to power in 1948 and began implementing the policy of apartheid, he rose to prominence in the ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign, was elected President of the Transvaal ANC Branch and oversaw the 1955 Congress of the People. Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and, with the ANC leadership, was prosecuted in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961 but was found not guilty. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the South African Communist Party he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961, leading a bombing campaign against government targets. In 1962 he was arrested, convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial.

Mandela served 27 years in prison, first on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. An international campaign lobbied for his release, which was granted in 1990 amid escalating civil strife. Becoming ANC President, Mandela publishedhis autobiography and led negotiations with President F.W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and establish multiracial elections in 1994, in which he led the ANC to victory. He was elected President and formed a Government of National Unity in an attempt to defuse ethnic tensions. As President, he promulgated a new constitution and initiated the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate pasthuman rights abuses. Continuing the former government's liberal economic policy, his administration introduced measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services. Internationally, he acted as mediator between Libya and the United Kingdom in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, and oversaw military intervention in Lesotho. He declined to run for a second term, and was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela subsequently became an elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Mandela was born July 18, 1918 and died December 5, 2013. He was 95


SOURCE: WIKI

Senior Hezbollah Commander Killed In Beirut

Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of Hassan al-Laqis, a senior commander for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, who was gunned down outside his home, during his funeral procession at his hometown in Baalbek city, east Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013. The assassination was a major breach of the Shiite militant group's security as it struggles to maintain multiple fronts while it fights alongside President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria.

BAALBEK, LEBANON (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — The attackers waited in an olive grove around midnight. As the Hezbollah commander pulled into the garage of his nearby apartment building, they went in after him. Five bullets were pumped into his head and neck from a silencer-equipped pistol — an assassination that reverberated across the Middle East.

The killing early Wednesday of Hassan al-Laqis, described as a member of the inner circle of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, was the latest in a series of recent attacks against the Iranian-backed group.

Hezbollah blamed Israel, which denied involvement. However, the Shiite militant group's open support of Syrian President Bashar Assad has enraged Sunnis and left it with no shortage of enemies eager to strike at its strongholds and leadership. Dozens of people have been killed in deadly car bombings claimed by radical Sunni groups.

The group's participation in the civil war in Syria is highly divisive and unpopular in Lebanon, where many feel it has deviated from its raison d'etre of fighting Israel and exposed the Shiite community to retaliation.

Most recently, two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, killing 23. An al-Qaida-affiliated group claimed responsibility, saying it was payback for Hezbollah's support of Assad.

Al-Laqis' killing came shortly after Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of being behind the embassy bombings in a sharp escalation in rhetoric against the Sunni regional powerhouse. In a three-hour interview with a local TV station, he indirectly suggested an alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia was trying to destabilize his group.

The Saudi monarchy is engaged in a proxy war with Iran over influence in the region, and in that, Riyadh has increasingly found common ground with the Jewish state. "The assassination is another notch in tensions between Hezbollah and Saudi Arabia," said Kamel Wazne, founder of the Center for American Strategic Studies in Beirut.

"There will be repercussions. It's going to be more like an open battle," he said. Two previously unknown Sunni groups claimed responsibility on Twitter for al-Laqis' assassination, but the claims could not be verified.

Al-Laqis, 53, was killed as he returned home from work, Hezbollah said. "The brother martyr Hassan al-Laqis spent his youth and dedicated all his life in this honorable resistance since its inception up until the last moments of his life," a statement from the group said.

An official close to the highly secretive group said al-Laqis held some of Hezbollah's most sensitive portfolios and was very close to Nasrallah and his inner circle, often acting as a link with officials in Tehran.

"He was one of the brains behind much of the group's operations," the official said. Hezbollah distributed a photo of al-Laqis and said Israel had tried to kill him several times. The image showed a man wearing beige-and-khaki military clothes, with neatly cut black hair and a graying close-cropped beard.

There were conflicting reports on whether he was involved in the Syria war, where the group's fighters have helped Assad's troops gain the upper hand in key areas near the border with Lebanon. Marie Harf, deputy spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said the U.S. has seen reports of the killing and was looking to all parties "to cooperate with a full investigation."

"We've been very concerned by recurring instances of sectarian and political violence in Lebanon, and we have talked about the negative impact that Syria has had in Lebanon and Iraq," she said. Al-Laqis was shot with a pistol equipped with a silencer at close range after he parked in his apartment building in the Hadath neighborhood southwest of Beirut, according to a Lebanese security official and the official close to Hezbollah. Several assailants appear to have been involved, they said.
Muddy footprints led from the olive grove to the parking garage. Yellow police tape blocked off the area, and Hezbollah investigators were at the scene. He was struck by five bullets in the head and neck, the Lebanese official said. The gunmen fled, and al-Laqis was taken to a nearby hospital but died of his wounds, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

"I was trying to sleep, and I heard ... a bullet being fired and a dog barking," said Abdullah, a resident who asked to be identified only by his first name for security reasons. "I did not bother myself, but later I heard people screaming. ... Then our neighbors told us that one of the neighbors was assassinated," Abdullah said.

Another resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of his safety, said none of the neighbors were aware that al-Laqis was a security man and that he went about his business like everyone else.

Al-Laqis did not have bodyguards with him, suggesting he did not want to draw attention to himself. The assassination marked a rare breach of the Shiite militant group's security — the fourth successful penetration of a Hezbollah enclave in recent months.

It also underscored how the militia has found itself engaged on multiple fronts: Shoring up Assad's rule in Syria while also keeping up the fight against Israel. Some of Hezbollah's most loyal supporters in the Shiite community have been reluctant to embrace its fight in Syria.

That involvement has raised tensions in Lebanon's Sunni and Shiite communities as each side lines up in support of their brethren in the Syrian civil war. That has fueled predictions that Lebanon, still recovering from its 15-year civil war that ended in 1990, is on the brink of descending into full-blown sectarian violence.

In Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city, there have been bloody street battles between rival sides nearly every day, with at least 12 people killed last week. Al-Laqis was buried later Wednesday in his hometown of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon. A few thousand people took part in pouring rain, and women wept as Hezbollah pallbearers carried the coffin, wrapped in the group's yellow flag, through the streets. Hezbollah fighters fired in the air in mourning.

"The Israeli enemy is naturally directly to blame," the Hezbollah statement said. "This enemy must shoulder complete responsibility and repercussions for this heinous crime and its repeated targeting of leaders and cadres of the resistance."

Israeli officials categorically denied involvement. Still, Israel could view the fallout from Hezbollah's armed intervention in Syria — and the long list of enemies it has created — as cover to move against one of the group's senior figures and settle old scores with Hezbollah and Iran.

Hezbollah has fought several wars against Israel. Al-Laqis' son, Ali, died fighting Israel in the monthlong 2006 war. Israel's Mossad intelligence service has been suspected of assassinating Hezbollah commanders for more than two decades.

In 1992, Israeli helicopter gunships ambushed the motorcade of Hezbollah leader Sheik Abbas Musawi, killing him, his wife and 5-year-old son, and four bodyguards. Eight years earlier, Hezbollah leader Sheik Ragheb Harb was shot and killed in south Lebanon.

One of the biggest blows for the group came in 2008 when top military commander Imad Mughniyeh was killed by a bomb that ripped through his car in Damascus. Hezbollah and its primary patron, Iran, blamed Israel's Mossad for the killing.

Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem and Diaa Hadid in Beirut contributed to this report.

Nigeria Frees 16 Girls In 'Baby Factory' Raid

Lagos - Nigerian police said on Wednesday that they raided a home and freed 16 pregnant girls and young women allegedly being forced to have babies to be sold.

"We carried out a raid on a residence in Owerri following an intelligence report and rescued 16 expectant mothers," Imo State police spokesperson Joy Elomoko told AFP.

"The girls were between 14 and 19 years old and in different stages of pregnancy."

The male owner of the home, who was arrested, had registered it as a non-governmental organisation promoting women's and children's issues, Elomoko added.

An unlicensed automatic pump action shotgun was also recovered during the raid.

Elomoko said the rescued women and girls told officers that they were each offered 100 000 naira ($632) to sell their babies after delivery.

An investigation was also underway over a case of a missing baby from the illegal home.

Sold into prostitution

"We found out that the suspect could not explain the whereabouts of a baby that was recently delivered in the home," the spokesperson said.

"We are suspecting that the baby might have been sold for [black magic] rituals," she said, adding that the suspect would be taken to court after police investigation.

Nigerian security agents have uncovered a series of alleged baby factories in recent years, notably in the south-eastern part of the country.

Last month, six pregnant teenage girls were freed in a raid on an illegal clinic in the oil city of Port Harcourt.

Human trafficking is widespread in west Africa, where children are bought from their families to work in plantations, mines and factories or as domestic help.

Others are sold into prostitution, and less commonly they are tortured or sacrificed in black magic rituals.

-----------AFP

Immigrant Activists End DC Fast, Pass Baton

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama visit with individuals who are taking part in Fast for Families on the National Mall in Washington. About half a dozen Oregon immigrant rights activists will start a 24-hour fast on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013, to protest inaction in Congress on immigration reform and pressure a local Congressman to support immigration legislation. The fast is one of several happening in states throughout the nation in solidarity with the Washington DC fasters who have drunk only water since Nov. 12 in support of reform.

MIAMI, FLORIDA (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Three immigrant advocates on a hunger strike to pressure lawmakers to change the country's immigration system ended their three-week fast Tuesday on the National Mall, while a new group of fasters including U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III took their place.

About half a dozen Congress members, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, were there as the fasters left the tent Tuesday. Minnesota Democratic U.S. Reps. Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum began one-day solidarity fasts with the activists.

Immigration advocates in a handful of cities around the country also announced their own fasts in solidarity with those in D.C. Nearly a dozen activists in central and South Florida embarked on one-day fasts, as did groups in California and Oregon.

On Tuesday, Maria Rodriguez, head of the Florida Immigrant Coalition in Miami, posted a picture of herself on Twitter with a sign reading "I fast for Immigration Reform In Solidarity with D.C. fasters" and urged others to do the same.

In Bakersfield, Calif., activists kicked off "11 days for 11 million" — a fast referencing the estimated number of people living in the country illegally. In Vista, Calif., immigrant advocates and religious leaders planned a 24-hour fast outside Republican U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa's office. Staff at the nonprofit Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles also joined a 24 hours liquid fast.

Activists in Bend, Ore., joined the one-day fast, calling on Republican U.S. Rep Greg Walden to come out in support of a comprehensive immigration bill. Organizers of the National Mall protest did not immediately say why Dae Joong Yoon of the National Korean American Services Consortium, Cristian Avila of Mi Familia Vota and Eliseo Medina of the SEIU ended their fast Tuesday. Doctors were on hand to examine them. The three had camped out since Nov. 12 in chilly temperatures, receiving a range of visitors, including President Barack Obama. He stopped by the tent Friday, reiterating optimism that immigration changes will come.

House Speaker John Boehner refuses to schedule a vote on a comprehensive bill the Senate passed in June but has said the House would consider piecemeal legislation. It's unclear if and when the House will take up the smaller bills.

Also on Tuesday, the nonprofit Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice and the Muslim Public Affairs Council organized solidarity fasts with the immigrant advocates. Other new fasters included Rabbi David Saperstein, whom Newsweek called in 2009 the most influential Rabbi in America, as well as Stephan Bauman, the head of World Relief. Also fasting, Chicago native Phillip Agnew, a 2008 graduate and university board trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black school and Rev. Gabriel Salguero, head of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.

Follow Laura Wides-Munoz on twittet: https://twitter.com/lwmunoz

Associated Press writers Amy Taxin in Tustin, Calif., Edwin Tamara in Los Angeles and Gosia Wozniacka in Portland, Ore., contributed to this report.

Asian Nations Dominate International Test

Graphic shows scores for PISA test for U.S. and other nations; 3c x 4 inches; 146 mm x 101 mm;

WASHINGTON, D.C. (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — American students once again lag behind many of their Asian and European peers on a global exam, a continuing trend that often is blamed on child poverty and a diverse population in U.S. schools.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the results a "picture of educational stagnation" as U.S. students showed little improvement over three years, failing to score in the top 20 on math, reading or science.

Students in Shanghai, China's largest city, had the top scores in all subjects, and Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong students weren't far behind. Even Vietnam, which had its students participate for the first time, had a higher average score in math and science than the United States.

These results again raise the question of whether the United States is consistently outperformed because of the widely varied backgrounds of its students. Some are from low-income households, for example. Others don't have English as their primary language.

But some countries that outperform the United States also experience such challenges. "Americans have got a thousand reasons that one country after another is surpassing our achievement, and I have yet to find a good excuse," said Mark Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy.
About half a million students in 65 nations and educational systems took part in the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which is coordinated by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD.

Most results come from a sampling of scores from countries as a whole, but in China it was given in select regions. The Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics released the results. The test, given every three years to 15-year-olds, is designed to assess students' problem-solving skills.

U.S. scores on the PISA haven't changed much since testing started in 2000, even as students in countries like Ireland and Poland have shown improvement and surpassed U.S. students. Irish Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said the results reflected improvements among Ireland's lower-achieving students, even as the country's top students underperformed compared to those in other countries.

In Britain, scores were about the same as three years ago, prompting debate about why the country has not improved despite increased spending on education. The nation did better than the United States in math and science but was not among the top performers in any subject.

"Since the 1990s, our performance in these league tables has been at best stagnant, at worst declining," said Britain's Education Secretary Michael Gove, adding that the results "underline the urgent need for our reforms."

Gove's ruling Conservative Party and the opposition Labour Party both blamed each other's policies for the results. Meanwhile a business organization said Britain has fallen behind in part because of "historic complacency" and a lack of focus on achievements and results compared to Asian countries.

"Countries with an unrelenting focus on the quality and rigor of their education system will be the ones who win," said Mike Harris at the Institute of Directors. Duncan, too, called for an increased focus on education.
"We must invest in early education, raise academic standards, make college affordable and do more to recruit and retain top-notch educators," he said. Tom Loveless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, cautions about reading too much into the results from Shanghai, which also dominated the test in 2009. The students tested are children of the elite. They are the ones allowed to attend municipal schools because of restrictions such as those that keep many migrant children out, he said.

"The Shanghai scores frankly to me are difficult to interpret," Loveless said. "They are almost meaningless." But Jack Buckley, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, said U.S. officials have not seen any evidence of a "biased sample" of students tested in Shanghai. If the entire nation was included, he said it's unclear what the results would show.

Tucker said Shanghai has worked hard to bring migrant children into its schools and has put an emphasis on improving teacher quality — a factor helping to drive its test scores. In the education community, Finland has drawn notice for its past test performance, but this year its average PISA score dropped in all three subjects, most pronounced in math. Finland's students did better on average than those from the United States.

Overall, National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel said among the Asian nations dominating the test, "The one thing they all have in common is that they make a real commitment to education for all kids, and nothing deters them from that vision, and then they do what's necessary to make that happen. In the United States, we don't have the commitment for all kids and it needs to change."

One indicator of performance is how many students hit a high benchmark on each subject tested. In the United States, 9 percent of test-takers hit that mark in math, 7 percent did so in science and 8 percent did in reading. Fewer U.S. test-takers hit that mark in math than the international average. However, they performed at about the international average in the other two subjects.

The test is based on a 1,000-point scale. Among the findings: — In math, the U.S. average score was 481. Average scores ranged from 368 in Peru to 613 in Shanghai. The international average was 494. — In science, the U.S. average score was 497. Average scores ranged from 373 in Peru to 580 in Shanghai. The international average was 501.

— In reading, the U.S. average score was 498. Average scores ranged from 384 in Peru to 570 in Shanghai. The international average was 496. Students from all states were tested. But for the first time, three states, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Florida, opted to increase participation in PISA to get more state specific results.

Average scores from Massachusetts were above the international average in all three subject areas. Connecticut's scored on average around the international average in math and higher than the international average in science and reading. Florida students on average scored below the international average in math and science and around the international average in reading.

Associated Press writers Greg Katz and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.
Online:

http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/

Kenya Journalists Protest Media Bill

Journalists holding banners march in the streets of Nairobi, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013 to protest on the new Media bill. A media protest was called on by various media houses to protest new draconian laws that are being tabled by parliament.

NAIROBI, KENYA (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — About 300 journalists and civil rights activists marched to parliament and the president's office Tuesday in Kenya's capital to protest what they say is an attempt by lawmakers to stifle criticism by pressuring journalists with monetary fines.

Many of the protesters sang songs while carrying placards. Others wore tape across their mouths to symbolize the gagging of the media. David Ohito, the vice chairman of the Kenya Editors Guild, said journalists want changes to the Kenya Information and Communication Amendment bill.

The bill creates a government tribunal that can fine journalists up to $5,500 and media companies around $230,000 if the tribunal finds them guilty of breaching a code of conduct that stipulates the need for accuracy, fairness, independence and integrity, Ohito said. Most journalists earn about $200 a month.

He said parliament created the bill to target journalist in anger over media exposure after legislators awarded themselves hefty raises soon after being sworn in this year. Kenya's many newspapers and television stations have also focused on legislators' resistance to efforts by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to regulate their pay, including attempts by parliament to impeach commissioners. The commission was created by Kenya's 2010 constitution to determine government salaries. Before that, legislators determined their own salaries.

Kenyan legislators are among the highest paid in the world, earning more than $15,000 a month in salary and allowances, while the average Kenyan earns $1,500 a year. Many Kenyans consider their legislators overpaid and greedy.

Photojournalist and civil rights activist Boniface Mwangi said he opposes the bill because it allows for anonymous complaints. Mwangi said President Uhuru Kenyatta's government wants to muzzle the press to avoid accountability.

Kenyatta last month declined to sign the Kenya Information and Communication Amendment Bill into law. Instead he made a few changes and sent it back to parliament. Kenyatta's changes were not substantial, said Tom Rhodes of the Committee to Protect Journalists, though the changes reduced potential fines against journalists from nearly $11,500 to $5,500.

Rhodes said the bill was being used "as a scare tactic to silence the press," which recently has published investigative stories showing the government in a bad light. William Oloo Janak, the chairman of the Kenya Correspondents Association, said that if the bill becomes law it will shrink Kenya's democratic space. "They are targeting the media more because the media is the one giving space to all the other critical voices," he said.

Survey: Corruption Grows In Mideast Hot Spots

Edda Mueller, head of the German section of Transparency International, attends a news conference where she presented the Global Corruption Report 2013 in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index ranks more than four-fifths of countries in the Middle East below 50 on a scale where zero is a country perceived to be highly corrupt and 100 perceived to be very clean. Countries in the region scored an average 37, below the global average of 43. The letters in the back are the beginning of the word Bundespressekonferenz (Federal Press Conference).

BERLIN, GERMANY (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Corruption is bad and getting worse in three Middle Eastern countries that experienced Arab Spring uprisings launched in part to combat graft and other abuses, according to a survey released Tuesday by an international watchdog group.

Transparency International cited on-going political instability in Yemen, Syria and Libya for the rise in corruption. On a scale where zero is a country perceived to be highly corrupt and 100 perceived to be very clean, Yemen's rating fell five points to 18, Syria dropped nine points to 17, and Libya was down six points to 15. Iraq, still reeling from the effects of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, also dropped from 18 to 16.

he group's annual Corruption Perceptions Index ranks more than four-fifths of countries in the Middle East below 50. Countries in the region scored an average 37, below the global average of 43. "Imagine what it takes for a country to root out corruption — it always takes institutions with people in them who have levels of integrity and a system of independent oversight," said Christoph Wilcke, Transparency's director for Middle East and North Africa.

"In conflict situations, all of that goes out of the window right away." With the ouster of longtime Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh last year, the lawlessness that followed led to an expansion of corruption in army, police and government agencies.

In Libya, bribery and embezzlement were common under slain dictator Moammar Gadhafi's 42-year rule. But the collapse of his government in an uprising supported by a Western bombing campaign has done little to root out corruption.

Last year, for example, Prime Minister Ali Zidan revealed that a monthly stipend of 3,000 dinars ($2,300) a month for rebels who fought Gadhafi's regime was paid out to 250,000 duplicated names — meaning Libya may have paid out hundreds of millions of dollars extra until the program was halted.

And in Syria with the ongoing civil war, smuggling, bribe paying and other issues have increased with the breakdown of state order. Egypt's score remained unchanged at 32, but Wilcke noted that the report was based primarily on surveys from the first half of the year before the turmoil that ensued after the military removed President Mohammed Morsi in July.

The index measures the perception of corruption in the public sector. Wilcke said that there is a general feeling of corruption across the board in the Middle East, including police, judiciary, and government procurement offices.

"Almost all sectors entrusted with public government functions are seen as corrupt," he said. The survey of 177 countries is based on local and international experts' opinions of public sector corruption.

Denmark and New Zealand tied for first place with scores of 91, followed by Finland, Sweden and Norway. Australia and Canada tied in ninth with scores of 81. Britain was 14th with 76 and the United States tied with Uruguay in 19th place with a score of 73.

Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia tied for last place with scores of eight. The survey, first conducted in 1995, draws on a variety of sources that capture perceptions of corruption, including World Bank and World Economic Forum assessments, the African Development Bank's governance ratings, and Transparency International's own Bribe Payers Survey.

Greece, one of the countries hit hardest by the European financial crisis, ranked in 80th place with a score of 40 , though that was still an improvement of four points over last year's result. By contrast Spain, whose economy is also suffering, dropped six points to 59 points and placed 40th on the list.

Transparency's Western Europe coordinator, Valentina Rigamonti, said that while Spain has seen several scandals and has approved little new anti-corruption legislation, Greece has announced an anti-corruption drive, convicted a former minister on embezzlement charges and has taken other action.

"These are really little steps in the fight against corruption but they are signs the government is trying to do something," Rigamonti said. "The government showed they can do something but now, and in the long term, we need to see some more changes — especially in implementation."

Most significant in Europe, however, is that the perception in most countries changed very little, she said. "It's stagnation and governments need to act more," Rigamonti said. "Corruption is still a big problem in Europe."

Maggie Michael contributed to this report from Cairo.