Pope Names 19 New Cardinals, Focusing On The Poor

Pope Francis reads the list of 19 new Cardinals during the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014. The pontiff has named his first batch of cardinals, choosing 19 men from Asia, Africa, North and South America and elsewhere, including Haiti and Burkina Faso, to reflect his attention to the poor. Francis made the announcement Sunday as he spoke from his studio window to a crowd in St. Peter's Square.

VATICAN CITY (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Pope Francis named his first batch of cardinals Sunday, choosing 19 men from around the world, including the developing nations of Haiti and Burkina Faso, in line with his belief the church must pay more attention to the poor.

But advocates for victims of sex abuse by Catholic clergy said they felt let down that Francis didn't unequivocally embrace their calls that prelates who hadn't made a clean break with past practices of covering up pedophile behavior never be promoted.

Francis read out the 19 names to a crowd of tens of thousands in St. Peter's Square. Sixteen of the appointees are younger than 80, meaning they would be eligible to elect the next pope, which is a cardinal's most important task, after the Feb. 22 ceremony to formally install them.

Since his election in March as the first pontiff from Latin America, the pope has broken tradition after tradition in terms of protocol and style at the Vatican. But in Sunday's list, Francis stuck to the church's rule of having no more than 120 cardinals eligible to elect the next pontiff.

The College of Cardinals is 13 shy of that 120-mark among eligible-to-vote members. In addition, three cardinals will turn 80 by May. That means Francis chose the exact number of new cardinals needed to bring the voting ranks up to 120 during the next few months.

Some appointments were expected, including that of his new secretary of state, Italian archbishop Pietro Parolin, and the German head of the Vatican's watchdog office for doctrinal orthodoxy, Gerhard Ludwig Mueller. Two others named Sunday also come from the curia, as the Holy See's Rome-based bureaucracy is known.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pope's selection of churchmen from Haiti and Burkina Faso reflects Francis' attention to the destitute as a core part of the church's mission.

Francis' announcement of the honor of the Les Cayes Bishop Chibly Langlois, who, at 55, was the youngest of the appointees, came as the impoverished Caribbean nation marked the anniversary of the quake there that killed tens of thousands of people.

"Today we are marking four years since the earthquake," said a priest, Hans Alexandre, in Haiti. The pontiff's emphasis on the poor "touches us immensely." In Burkina Faso, the archbishop of Ouagadougou, Philipe Ouedraogo, said he thought reporters had made a mistake when they called him about his promotion to cardinal's rank, as he had no advance word from the Vatican. He also embraced Francis' vision of a church toiling for those on the margins of society.

"I fully recognize myself in his vision and pastoral philosophy that, like Jesus, identifies himself with the poor and the sick," the African prelate said. Ouedraogo, very popular in his homeland, had recently opposed a proposed change to the constitution to allow the country's president, in power since 1987, to run for another term.

Once again, the cardinal's red hat eluded Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. The prelate in that traditionally Catholic country has angered some in the Vatican by strongly criticizing how the hierarchy handled the worldwide clerical sex abuse scandal.

The U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, expressed disappointment that Francis didn't promote Martin. SNAP criticized the choice of Mueller, saying he had a "dreadful" record on children's safety.
Under the tenure of Mueller, who was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, a fellow German, critics have accused the Vatican's handling of the sex abuse scandal, including letting pedophile priests transfer from parish to parish when complaints were made.

Groups such as SNAP also have criticized the Vatican's recent refusal under Francis to allow the extradition of a Polish archbishop being investigated in his homeland for alleged sex abuse. But SNAP welcomed the fact that three high-ranking archbishops in the U.S, where the sex scandal has enraged faithful for decades now, weren't promoted to cardinal.

In Chile, those who had denounced for sex abuse a priest who had long been one of the country's most popular clerics, lamented that one of Chile's church hierarchy was being promoted. Dr. James Hamilton, the first to publicly denounce the priest, said he hoped the soon-to-be cardinal, Santiago Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, would "drown in power, boastfulness, vanity, corruption, perversion and greed," adding sarcastically, "that is a good cardinal."

Ezzati, commenting on his selection, insisted the Chilean church is "learning from its mistakes." Buenos Aires Archbishop Mario Aurelio Poli was chosen to become a "prince of the church," as cardinals are known. It was a post that Francis left when he was elected as the first Latin American pope in March. Poli had impressed Francis by earning a degree in social work from the public university of Buenos Aires.

The selection of Orani Joao Tempesta, the archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, as a new cardinal was widely hoped for back home to thank him for organizing Francis' wildly popular visit to that city in July.
Whether one continent or country has a large contingent of cardinals is watched when it comes time to pick the next pope because churchmen could vote as a geographic bloc. Not counting the four picks from the curia who no longer represent the church in their homelands, the other new voting cardinals include two from Europe, three from North and Central America, three from South America, and two apiece from Africa and Asia.

Francis has stressed that the church hierarchy mustn't view itself as an elite aloof from its flock, but instead serve its flock, especially the poor.

Marco Sibaja from Brazil, Marianela Jarroud from Chile, Brahima Ouedraogo from Burkina Faso and Trenton Daniel from Haiti contributed to this report.

Firefight In Western Mexico As Vigilantes Advance

Men belonging to the Self-Defense Council of Michacan, (CAM), ride on a sandbag filled truck while trying to flush out alleged members of the Knights Templar drug cartel from the town of Nueva Italia, Mexico, Sunday Jan. 12, 2014. The vigilantes say they are liberating territory in the so-called Tierra Caliente and are aiming for the farming hub of Apatzingan, said to be the cartel's central command. Mexican military troops are staying outside the town and there are no federal police in sight.

NUEVA ITALIA, MEXICO (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Gunfire erupted Sunday in the western Mexico as hundreds of vigilantes pressed their fight over territory with a drug cartel, and Mexico's top security officials prepared to make yet another effort to try to stop the violence.

Members of so-called self-defense groups entered the town of Nueva Italia on a campaign they say is designed to liberate towns from the control of the Knights Templar cartel. Opponents and critics say the vigilantes are backed by a rival cartel, something the groups vehemently deny.

Michoacan state Gov. Fausto Vallejo gave a brief statement Sunday saying he has formally asked the federal government for more help to quell the violence, and announced a meeting on Monday in the state capital to lay out a strategy to reclaim the peace.

Hundreds of vigilantes arrived in Nueva Italia late Sunday morning in a caravan of large trucks, surrounding the City Hall and disarming local police. An Associated Press journalist on the scene witnessed citizens initially welcoming them.

But firefights broke out almost immediately in and around the center square. Only one injury was reported by mid-day. Gunfire could be heard around the city as the Mexican military stayed outside, guarding the road into town.

There were no federal police or uniformed authorities inside the town, though violence between vigilantes and alleged cartel members has racked Michoacan for almost a year, and President Enrique Pena Nieto's government already has sent thousands of units to the state.

Vallejo said he formally asked Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong on Friday for more federal forces, "given insufficient state and municipal police." The self-defense groups claim that local and state police are in the employ of the Knights Templar.

Violence in the state has flared in the last several days as vigilantes have been on a march, taking over the towns of Paracuaro and Antunez and advancing toward the farming hub of Apatzingan, said to be the cartel's central command.

The federal government has said the civilian groups are operating on the margins of the law, and they carry high-caliber weapons that Mexico only allows for military use. But government forces have not moved against them and in some cases appear to be working in concert with them.

Rumors circulate that some self-defense groups have been infiltrated by the New Generation cartel, which is reportedly fighting a turf war with the Knights Templar in the rich farming state that is a major exporter of limes, avocados and mangos.

Some in the region say members of the Knights Templar have also tried to use self-defense groups as cover for illegal activities.

Associated Press writer Gustavo Ruiz contributed to this report from Morelia, Mexico.

Gay 'Prisoner Of Conscience' Dies In Cameroon

In this July 2012 photo, Roger Jean-Claude Mbede poses for a picture in the home of a friend where he had sought refuge, in Yaounde, Cameroon. Mbede, a gay man who was jailed for sending a text message to another man saying 'I'm very much in love with you,' and who was later declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, died on Friday after his family removed him from the hospital where he had been seeking treatment for a hernia, lawyer Alice Nkom said. 'His family said he was a curse for them and that we should let him die,' she said.

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — A gay man in Cameroon who was jailed for sending a text message to another man saying "I'm very much in love with you," and who was later declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, has died, according to a lawyer who worked on his case.

Roger Jean-Claude Mbede, 34, died Friday roughly one month after his family removed him from the hospital where he had been seeking treatment for a hernia, lawyer Alice Nkom said. "His family said he was a curse for them and that we should let him die," she said.

Mbede was arrested in March 2011 in connection with the text message and convicted the following month under a Cameroonian law that imposes up to five years in prison for homosexual acts. He received a three-year sentence.

Cameroon brings more cases against suspected gays than any other African country, according to Human Rights Watch. The rights group said in a March 2013 report that at least 28 people had been charged under the law in the past three years.

Mbede developed the hernia while in prison. In July 2012, he was granted provisional release on medical grounds, according to Human Rights Watch, and went into hiding. An appeals court upheld his conviction in December 2012.

"I accuse the state," said Nkom, the most prominent of a small group of lawyers in Cameroon willing to defend suspects charged with violating Cameroon's anti-gay law. "If there had not been criminalization of homosexuality, he would not have gone to prison and his life would not be over. His life was finished as soon as he went to prison."

Cameroonian officials have been unapologetic about their enforcement of the anti-gay law, and have rejected recommendations from the U.N. Human Rights Council to protect sexual minorities from violence. Appearing before the council in September 2013, Anatole Nkou, Cameroon's ambassador to Geneva, testified that a prominent gay rights activist found tortured and killed last year died because of his "personal life," prompting outcry from international rights groups.

Lambert Lamba, a Cameroonian activist who works on behalf of sexual minorities, said Mbede had been out of the hospital for about one month prior to his death and had received no medical care during that time.

"His family said they were going to remove the homosexuality which is in him," Lamba said. "I went to see him in his village. He could not stand up, he couldn't speak." Neela Ghoshal, senior LGBT rights researcher for Human Rights Watch, called on Cameroonian police to investigate Mbede's death in light of reports that he may have been barred from receiving medical treatment.

"Roger was a courageous man who became an accidental activist after he was arrested simply for expressing his love for another man," Ghoshal said. Alexandre Marcel, president of the French committee for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, condemned the family's actions in a statement, saying they were a reminder that sexual minorities must fight prejudice at both the family and state levels in anti-gay countries around the world.

Also on Friday, six men in neighboring Gabon were released after being accused of taking part in a same-sex marriage ceremony last month. Officials who held them for one night decided not to bring charges against them after determining that no marriage had occurred, said prosecutor Sidonie Flore Ouwe.

Gabon is one of 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that have not criminalized homosexual acts, according to Amnesty International. However, Ouwe said that a gay marriage ceremony would constitute obscenity and an affront to public order punishable by law.

Associated Press writers Yves Laurent Goma in Libreville, Gabon and Robbie Corey-Boulet in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

Israelis Pay Final Respects To Ariel Sharon

Members of the Knesset guards stand around the coffin of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the Knesset plaza, in Jerusalem, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014. Sharon, the hard-charging Israeli general and prime minister who was admired and hated for his battlefield exploits and ambitions to reshape the Middle East, died Saturday, eight years after a stroke left him in a coma from which he never awoke. He was 85.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Israelis from all walks of life flocked to parliament Sunday to catch a glimpse of Ariel Sharon's coffin and pay their final respects to the iconic former prime minister and general.

A stream of visitors ranging from former army comrades to political allies to citizens who only knew him from afar remembered Sharon as a decisive leader, for better or for worse, and one of the final heroes of Israel's founding generation.

"Words escape me. He was just a man who was larger than life," said a choked-up Shlomo Mann, 68, who served under Sharon's command in the 1973 Mideast war. "Those who didn't know him from up close can't truly understand what a legend he was. There will never be anyone else like him."

The 85-year-old Sharon died Saturday eight years after a devastating stroke left him in a coma. In a career that stretched across much of Israel's 65-year existence, his life was closely intertwined with the country's history. He was a leader known for his exploits on the battlefield, masterminding Israel's invasion of Lebanon, building Jewish settlements on war-won land and then, late in life, destroying some that he deemed no longer useful when he withdrew from the Gaza Strip.

As one of Israel's most famous generals, the man known as "Arik" was renowned for bold tactics and an occasional refusal to obey orders. To his supporters, he was a war hero; to his critics, a war criminal.

As prime minister late in life, he was embraced by the public as a grandfatherly figure who provided stability in times of turmoil. "Arik was, first and foremost, a warrior and a commander, among the Jewish people's greatest generals in the current era and throughout its history," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a fierce political rival of Sharon in the Likud Party, said Sunday. "I think he represents the generation of Jewish warriors that arose for our people upon the resumption of our independence."

President Shimon Peres — a lifelong friend and rival — and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who succeeded Sharon after the 2006 stroke, were among those who paused before the closed flag-draped coffin displayed in a plaza in front of the Knesset and surrounded by an honor guard. But the event was mostly an occasion for everyday Israelis to honor him.

With tears streaking behind dark sunglasses, 44-year-old Anat Amir said she felt compelled to bid farewell. "These are tears of pain and parting but also joy in a way for him since now he can finally rest," she said. "He was a leader you could count on, someone you could trust. He looked into the future, relied on the experience of the past and had the courage to make tough decisions and carry them out."

Norman Zysblat, 64, called Sharon a "hero of Israel," whose death left the 90-year-old Peres as perhaps the last remnant of Israel's greatest generation. He recalled crossing the Suez Canal in 1973 under Sharon's command, a move widely seen as turning a war against Egypt and Syria in Israel's favor.
"I saw and felt firsthand the strength he gave the soldiers. He was the one who pushed ahead and provided the spirit," Zysblat said. "He was one of the greats. When the history of Israel is written, he will be in the first row."

News of Sharon dominated Israeli newspapers. Israel's three main television stations all broadcast the memorial live. A state memorial is planned for Monday at parliament followed by a funeral service at Sharon's ranch in southern Israel. Under Jewish law, funerals are to be carried out as soon as possible. But in a ritual reserved only for former prime ministers and presidents of Israel, the coffin lays in state at parliament to allow citizens to bid farewell.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Czech Prime Minister Jiri Rusnok, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and others are expected to attend Monday's ceremonies.

Sharon's life will be remembered for its three distinct stages: First, was his eventful and controversial time in uniform, including leading a deadly raid in the West Bank that killed 69 Arabs, as well as his heroics in the 1973 Mideast war.

Then came his years as a vociferous political operator who helped create Israel's settlement movement and masterminded the divisive Lebanon invasion in 1982. He was branded as indirectly responsible for the massacre of hundreds of Palestinians at the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps outside Beirut when his troops allowed allied Lebanese militias into the camps. An uproar over the massacre cost him his job.

Yet ultimately he transformed himself into a prime minister and statesman, capped by a dramatic 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Sharon appeared to be cruising toward re-election when he suffered his stroke in January 2006.

Yaya Toure, African Player Of The Year

Ivory Coast and Manchester City's magnificent striker has just won the African Player Of The Year for the third straight time. He beat fellow country man Didier Drogba and Nigeria's midfield maestro John Mikel Obi. In this image by Denis Balibouse August 10, 2011, Toure kicks the ball to score a goal during their international friendly soccer game against Israel at the Stade de Geneve in Geneva.

C. African Republic Leader Is Subject Of Summit

People who had been sleeping in a food distribution area push their way back in, as they are ordered to move to a new settlement area, in an informal camp housing an estimated 100,000 displaced people, at Mpoko Airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014. Food and supplies distribution by the World Food Program and the United Nations Refugee Agency began Tuesday and was expected to last 10 days.

N'DJAMENA, CHAD (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — The rebel leader-turned-president of Central African Republic is at a regional summit where he's expected to face renewed pressure to step aside less than a year after he seized power.

Michel Djotodia was installed as president after his rebel fighters stormed the capital of Bangui in March. The country has since deteriorated into near anarchy. Violence between Christians and Muslims left more than 1,000 people dead in December, and nearly 1 million have fled their homes in fear.

Djotodia is attending a regional summit Thursday in the Chadian capital along with presidents from Chad, Congo and Gabon. His spokesman has issued a statement denying rumors that Djotodia will step down at the meeting.

Djotodia's critics say he has failed to stem the attacks blamed on his fighters. In a message to the summit, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, "'The danger of further upheaval along religious lines is real and poses a long-term danger to the country."

Ban also said that the United Nations intends to establish a commission to "document abuses and human rights violations. Together, we must send a strong message that those committing atrocities will be held accountable."

Associated Press writer Peter James Spielmann contributed from the United Nations.

US Scrambles To Avert Civil War In South Sudan

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield, right, accompanied by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator for Bureau for Democracy Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) Nancy Lindborg, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on situation in South Sudan. Thomas-Greenfield said ethnic atrocities are being committed on both sides and the government and rebel leaders need to solve their disputes through dialogue, and not fighting.

WASHINGTON (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Three years after midwifing South Sudan's birth, the United States is desperately trying to prevent the world's youngest nation from falling apart.

Yet despite shared consternation by the Obama administration and Congress, no one is quite sure what the U.S. can do to bring peace to a country that in many ways owes its existence to the United States. The violence has killed more than 1,000 people and driven 180,000 from their homes in the last month, and spread to neighbors killing each other purely on tribal identification, threatening a place that until recently was viewed by Democrats and Republicans alike as an American success story in Africa.


"Each day that the conflict continues, the risk of all-out civil war grows," Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, warned Thursday. "There is clear evidence that targeted killings have taken place, with Dinka killing Nuer, and Nuer killing Dinka. Countless civilians, particularly women and children, have become victims."

For the United States, South Sudan's instability isn't just another example of a weak African state struggling to deal with political infighting, endemic poverty and deadly battles between the military and rebel groups. Because of its history as a largely Christian nation that was able to win its freedom from Muslim-dominated Sudan, South Sudan has a powerful constituency in Washington. And the bloodshed is proving an embarrassment to the U.S., which has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the country and been its strongest international champion.

The crisis began with a political dispute on Dec. 15 as President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, accused his former vice president, Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer, of trying to overthrow the government.

Machar denies the accusation, accusing the government of rooting out political opponents. Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. had no evidence of a coup attempt, putting the initial blame on the government for raiding Machar's home.

But the violence has spread significantly since, sparking a series of ethnically motivated attacks and counterattacks while groups allied to Machar have claimed military victories and greater control of territory. Meanwhile, Uganda has sent in hundreds of troops and provided Sudanese government forces with military hardware, and threatened deeper intervention if militants move on the capital, Juba.

Washington has mobilized on two fronts, organizing peace talks between representatives of both sides in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and getting the U.N. Security Council last month to approve 5,500 more peacekeepers to South Sudan.

The peace talks have yet to stop the fighting, though Thomas-Greenfield said a cease-fire was all but agreed if Kiir releases 11 high-level political detainees. Help also could also come soon for the 7,600-strong U.N. force in South Sudan, she added, even if only a Bangladeshi police unit has arrived thus far.

"For 30 years the United States has been supporting the people of South Sudan, even before South Sudan became an entity, supporting their right to exist, their right to freedom of religion, and their fight against the government of Sudan," Thomas-Greenfield told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "We birthed this nation and there are Americans from all walks of life ... who are concerned about what is happening."

Senators agreed. "This is a place people expect us to make a difference," Sen. Bob Corker, the committee's top Republican said. Washington has clear security interests at stake. Having seen al-Qaida gain a foothold in several nearby countries over the last couple of years, the U.S. doesn't want to see terrorist groups infiltrate yet another place wracked by internal fighting. And it also is keeping a wary eye on Sudan, which fought for 22 years to hold onto the oil-rich territory and which the United States still considers a state sponsor of terrorism. Its president has suggested joint security patrols with South Sudan's government, which the U.S. has yet to respond to.

While the focus is currently on diplomacy, U.S. officials and congressional aides said the military also has begun studying scenarios under which the United States could consider supporting local partners such as Uganda, Ethiopia or Kenya to move into South Sudan to restore order. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they said they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Under no scenario are U.S. military boots on the group envisioned in the country.

The United States has some leverage. After helping secure peace with the north in 2005, Washington guided South Sudan through a referendum three years ago to the day approving its independence. Since, the U.S. has intervened to secure a series of agreements with Sudan on sharing oil revenue and managing, if not solving, their border disputes. When South Sudan became its own country in July 2011, President Barack Obama hailed it as a "reminder that after the darkness of war, the light of a new dawn is possible."

But since winning freedom, South Sudan's patchwork of ethnic loyalties and political rivalries has been tearing at the seams. Before even the latest bout of violence, Secretary of State John Kerry and members of Congress warned Kiir this summer to halt a series of ethnically motivated atrocities against minorities or risk losing vital U.S. aid and diplomatic support.

American security funds — representing just a fraction of the $1.8 billion in total assistance that has been approved since 2011 — has dried up. And the White House recently vowed a complete aid cutoff to anyone who seizes power by force. The threat carries greater force than in Egypt, for example, because the United States has been so instrumental in creating and sustaining South Sudan over its short history.

In response to the violence, Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. was providing an additional $50 million in humanitarian assistance to South Sudan. But with the fighting preventing access to many parts of the country and a dearth of aid workers on the ground to deliver assistance, it is unclear what that commitment will mean in the short-term.

Underscoring the danger, four U.S. Navy SEALS were injured last month when rebel forces fired on three helicopter-airplane Ospreys during an evacuation mission. The U.S. has sharply drawn down its diplomatic presence in South Sudan. The Juba embassy is currently being staffed only by just an ambassador and two aides, Thomas-Greenfield said. They're being protected by nine diplomatic security agents, seven Marines and 45 additional forces.

Despite frustration with Kiir, the U.S. and its African partners still see him as the best of bad options. Kiir is the democratically elected president. His opponents include rebels who've employed child soldiers. Since taking territory, their disruption of oil exports has worsened South Sudan's already miserable economic condition. Kerry called Kiir this week to reiterate his support.

Achieving a sustainable peace is likely going to be messy. Machar won't accept a simple return of the status quo of Kiir's Dinka-dominated government. Yet few want to see Machar returned to the vice presidency after the atrocities his side has committed. Further afield are rebel warlords who may or may not accept any power-arrangement agreed by the top guys.

For now, those issues are secondary. "We need to start with a cease-fire. These other ethnic troubles are years in the making and can't be solved immediately," said Tom McDonald, a former U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe who studies Africa issues for the law firm BakerHostetler.

McDonald said the violence shouldn't deter from what America has done for South Sudan. "We helped settle a huge problem. We did the right thing," he said. "But these countries only work if the leaders in these countries make them work."

Obama Unveils First 5 "Promise Zones"

Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., center, flanked by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, left, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, right, speaks outside the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, after an event hosted by President Barack Obama about the Promise Zones Initiative. The Promise Zone Initiative is part of a plan to create a better bargain for the middle-class by partnering with local communities and businesses to create jobs, increase economic security, expand educational opportunities, increase access to quality, affordable housing and improve public safety.

WASHINGTON (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Invoking his own personal story, President Barack Obama made a plea for bipartisan work to combat poverty and declared, after a 2013 marked by struggles and disappointments, that "this is going to be a year of action."

Obama on Thursday offered a glimpse at his coming State of the Union address and its expected emphasis on economic disparities while announcing five communities that will be targeted for tax incentives and federal grants under a government "Promise Zone" program.

"We've got to make sure this recovery — which is real — leaves nobody behind," he said. "And that's going to be my focus throughout the year." Obama named the new zones — a blend of rural, urban and tribal communities — at a bipartisan White House assembly, underscoring the type of administrative actions Obama wishes to employ that don't all require congressional action.

Amid a slow recovery that has not reached many at the lowest rungs of the economy, addressing poverty has become an emerging issue in Washington. Obama has made it a central part of his agenda, and leading Republicans, including potential 2016 presidential contenders, are using the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty to offer policy proposals aimed at the poor and struggling workers.

Obama welcomed the bipartisan interest, saying, "this should be a challenge that unites us all." In a rare public reference to his own upbringing, Obama compared himself to a young man invited to the White House event Thursday who graduated from high school under a 1997 Harlem program and become the first member of his family to attend college. As described by Obama, the student, Roger Brown, was the son of a single mother and was nearly expelled from school before deciding to make a change in his life.

"There was a period of time in my life where I was goofing off," Obama said. "I was raised by a single mom, I didn't know my dad. The only difference between me and Roger was my environment was more forgiving than his. That's the only difference. If I screwed up, the consequences weren't quite as great."

Thursday's five zones are the first of 20 the administration intends to announce over the next three years. They're in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, southeastern Kentucky and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Under the program, communities in the zones would have a leg up applying for federal grants, benefit from more coordinated government assistance and would be singled out for possible congressionally approved tax incentives.

Thursday's announcement was part of an orchestrated White House lead-up to the State of the Union address. Next week Obama will go to North Carolina to showcase programs that connect companies and colleges to boost high-tech manufacturing. He also plans two meetings with CEOs this month to identify ways to give workers more skills and to make commitments to hire long-term unemployed Americans.
Among those attending the White House event Thursday were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a frequent critic of Obama economic policies. McConnell says he supports the "Promise Zone" designation for eight economically hard hit counties in his state, though he said the hardship endured in that coal region of the state is partly a result of the Obama administration's energy policies. Kentucky's junior senator, Republican Rand Paul, also attended the White House event.

Paul, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin are among Republicans who are taking high-profile positions with anti-poverty plans that emphasize job training, tax incentives and greater state control of federal safety net funds.

Obama alluded to the rough-and-tumble year that just concluded, with its government shutdown, battles of health care and confrontations over the national debt. "Obviously we're coming off a rancorous political year," he said, "but I genuinely believe that this is not a partisan issue."

Later, Paul said he appreciated the administration's efforts on behalf of struggling Kentucky communities. But he said his proposal would apply more broadly, lowering taxes dramatically in "economic freedom zones."

"We don't pick winners and losers," Paul said. McConnell, in a floor speech before attending the White House event, made a pitch for including his and Paul's "Economic Freedom Zone" proposal in pending legislation that would renew jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.

"The Republican approach is to learn from past mistakes," McConnell said. "It's about turning the left's good intentions into policies that can actually get the job done."

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

Iraq Holding Off On An Offensive Against Al-Qaida

Iraqi tribal leaders march during a ceremony marking Police Day at the police academy in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014. Elsewhere in the country, tribal leaders in Fallujah, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, have warned al-Qaida fighters there to leave to avoid a military showdown.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Iraq's government is holding off on waging an all-out offensive to retake two key cities from al-Qaida because of fears that civilian casualties could incite Sunni anger and push moderate tribal leaders to side with the extremists, analysts and military officials said Thursday.

More violence flared in Baghdad, where a suicide bomber killed 21 people at an army recruiting center in a clear effort to demoralize the military. Al-Qaida-linked fighters overran parts of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in Sunni-dominated Anbar province last week, seizing control of police stations and military posts, freeing prisoners and setting up their own checkpoints.

The United States, whose troops fought bloody battles in the cities, has ruled out sending its troops back in, but has been delivering missiles to bolster Iraqi forces. It is expediting shipments of more American-made missiles and 10 surveillance drones, but those may not arrive for weeks.

The U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 and withdrew in 2011. Both countries tried but failed to negotiate plans to keep at least several thousand U.S. forces in Iraq beyond the deadline to maintain security. Vice President Joe Biden has spoken to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki twice this week, voicing support for his government's efforts to regain control of the cities and urging him to continue talks with local, tribal and national leaders.

Iran, too, is watching the unrest with alarm, since it shares U.S. concerns about al-Qaida-linked militants taking firmer root in its neighbor. It has offered to supply military equipment and advisers should Baghdad ask.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in a telephone call that the campaign against al-Qaida should intensify, the official IRNA news agency reported. "If terrorism is not suppressed and if military support to terrorist groups by some countries is continued, the security of the region and the world will be jeopardized," he said in an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-led states. "In confronting terrorism, the ideological and financial roots of the terrorism also should be destroyed."

Iraqi troops have clashed with the fighters mainly on the outskirts of the cities and carried out occasional airstrikes against their positions. But they have held off launching major offensives to retake either.

One senior intelligence official said the reason for the delay was to avoid civilian casualties. "We have enough soldiers, but we are waiting for the American drones and missiles. These weapons will have a big role in the coming battle," the official said.

Baghdad-based political analyst Hadi Jalo agreed that concerns over civilian safety might explain why the government has not launched a major offensive. "The killing of civilian victims will drive more people looking for revenge ... to join al-Qaida. If women and children are killed in any possible military action against Fallujah, al-Maliki will lose the support of moderate Sunnis," he said.

A military commander in Anbar said there are other concerns beyond residents' safety. "The battle in Anbar ... is a kind of a guerrilla war, and the Iraqi army and police do not have experience in these kinds of wars," the commander said. He added that snipers operating out of residential areas appear to be "peaceful civilians" by day and take up new positions at night.

The military and intelligence officials both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss the operation publicly. Tribal leaders in Fallujah, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, have warned al-Qaida fighters there to leave to avoid a military showdown, and there were signs that residents were trying to restore a sense of normal life, however precarious.

"State offices and banks have opened their doors. Offices have started giving salaries to civil servants, and policemen have started working as usual," said resident Rashid al-Dulaimi. But several al-Qaida fighters and residents who had taken up arms to prevent Iraqi forces from reasserting control over Fallujah remained mainly on its outskirts Thursday and outside strategic locations such as banks, witnesses said.

A number of police stations that were overrun by al-Qaida fighters last week have been torched and largely abandoned. Al-Maliki hinted at a possible pardon for militants who abandon the fight, saying Wednesday that his government will "open a new page to settle their cases so that they won't be fuel for the war that is led by al-Qaida." It is unclear if this represented a formal amnesty offer, however, and hard-line Sunni fighters are unlikely to have faith in the Shiite-led government's assurances.

Human Rights Watch said Iraqi forces appear to have used mortar fire indiscriminately in civilian areas in recent days to try to dislodge militants in Anbar and that some neighborhoods were targeted with mortar shells and gunfire even though there was no sign of an al-Qaida presence there.

The New York-based group said its allegations were based on multiple accounts provided by Anbar residents. It also warned that a government blockade of Ramadi and Fallujah is limiting civilian access to food, water and fuel, and that "unlawful methods of fighting by all sides" has caused civilian casualties and major property damage.

Several approaches to Fallujah have been blocked by Iraqi troops, and only families with children were being allowed to leave with "extreme difficulty" through two checkpoints, the rights group said. It added that single men were being denied exit from the city.

"Civilians have been caught in the middle in Anbar, and the government appears to be doing nothing to protect them," said the group's Mideast director, Sarah Leah Whitson. Iraqi government officials could not immediately be reached for comment to respond to the rights group's allegations.

The warning came a day after the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross voiced concerns about growing humanitarian threats in the area as food and water supplies start to run out. Emergency shipments of food, water, blankets and other essential items have begun reaching families displaced by the fighting, the U.N. said. Some of the initial supplies were delivered to families left stranded in schools and mosques in Fallujah.

More than 11,000 families have been displaced by the fighting, according to U.N. records. The Baghdad bomber detonated his explosives outside the recruiting center in the capital's central Allawi neighborhood in the morning as volunteers waited to register inside, a police official said.

In addition to the 21 dead, at least 35 people were wounded, he added, and a hospital official confirmed the casualty numbers. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suicide attacks are the hallmark of al-Qaida's Iraq branch, known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The recruiting center attack appears to be in retaliation for the military's response to the insurgency and an effort to dissuade potential new recruits from bolstering the Iraqi army's ranks.

It followed an attack late Wednesday by gunmen who struck at army barracks in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, killing at least 12 soldiers. Al-Qaida militants, emboldened by their gains in the civil war in neighboring Syria, have sought to position themselves as the champions of Iraq's disenchanted Sunnis against the Shiite-led government, even though major Sunni tribes in Anbar and elsewhere oppose the group's extremist ideology and are, in some cases, fighting against it.

Sectarian tensions have been rising for months in the province as Sunnis protested what they perceive as discrimination and random arrests by the Shiite-led central government. Violence spiked after the Dec. 28 arrest of a Sunni lawmaker sought on terrorism charges and the government's dismantling of a year-old Sunni protest camp in Ramadi, the provincial capital.

Schreck reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed from Baghdad.

Follow Qassim Abdul-Zahra on Twitter at www.twitter.com/qabdulzahra and Adam Schreck at www.twitter.com/adamschreck .

Reversals In Hard-Won Iraqi City Vex Veterans

Former Marine Corps scout sniper Earl J. Catagnus Jr., stands for a photograph at his home in Eagleville, Pa. on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014. Catagnus fought and bled in the taking of Fallujah. Now an assistant professor of history at Valley Forge Military Academy & College, Catagnus feels the battle has taken on an almost disproportionate importance in the American mind.

SAN DIEGO, CALIF (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Shirley Parrello knows that her youngest boy believed in his mission in Iraq. But as she watches Iraqi government forces try to retake the hard-won city of Fallujah from al-Qaida-linked fighters, she can't help wondering if it was worth Marine Lance Cpl. Brian Parrello's sacrifice.

"I'm starting to feel that his death was in vain," the West Milford, N.J., woman said of her 19-year-old son, who died in an explosion there on Jan. 1, 2005. "I'm hoping that I'm wrong. But things aren't looking good over there right now."

The 2004 image of two charred American bodies hanging from a bridge as a jubilant crowd pelted them with shoes seared the city's name into the American psyche. The brutal house-to-house battle to tame the Iraqi insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad cemented its place in U.S. military history.
But while many are disheartened at Fallujah's recent fall to Islamist forces, others try to place it in the context of Iraq's history of internal struggle since the ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. And they don't see the reversal as permanent.

"I'm very disappointed right now, very frustrated," says retired Marine Col. Mike Shupp, who commanded the regimental combat team that secured the city in late 2004. "But this is part of this long war, and this is just another fight, another battle in this long struggle against terrorism and oppression."

Former scout sniper Earl J. Catagnus Jr. fought and bled in the taking of that ancient city on the banks of the Euphrates River. Now a military historian, Catagnus feels the battle has taken on an almost disproportionate importance in the American mind.

"If you watch 'NCIS' or anything that has a Marine ... they always say, 'Oh, I was in Fallujah,'" says the Purple Heart recipient, who left the military as a staff sergeant in 2006 and is now an assistant professor of history at Valley Forge Military Academy & College in Wayne, Pa. "For the new generation, it's because everybody keeps mentioning it. And that is the battle that really made a warrior a warrior. ...

"It's just for us as Americans, because we've elevated that battle to such high standards ... that it becomes turned into the 'lost cause,' the Vietnam War syndrome." In the annals of the Marine Corps, the battle for Fallujah looms large.

The fighting there began in April 2004 after four security contractors from Blackwater USA were killed and the desecrated bodies of two were hung from a bridge. The so-called second battle of Fallujah — code-named Operation Phantom Fury — came seven months later.

For several bloody weeks, the Marines went house-to-house in what has been called some of the heaviest urban combat involving the Corps since the Battle of Hue City, Vietnam, in 1968. Historian Richard Lowry, who interviewed nearly 200 veterans of the Iraq battle, likens it to "a thousand SWAT teams going through the city, clearing criminals out."

"They entered darkened rooms, kicking down doors, never knowing if they would find an Iraqi family hunkered down in fear or an Islamist terrorist waiting to shoot them and kill them," says Lowry, author of the book "New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah."

About 100 Americans died and another 1,000 were wounded during the major fighting there, Lowry says, adding that it's difficult to overstate Fallujah's importance in the Iraq war. "Up until that time, the nation was spiraling into anarchy, totally out of control," says Lowry, a Vietnam-era submarine veteran. "The United States Marine Corps — with help from the Army and from the Iraqis — went into Fallujah and cleared the entire city and brought security to Anbar Province, allowing the Iraqis to hold their first successful election."

And that is why the al-Qaida takeover is such a bitter disappointment for many. Former Marine Lance Cpl. Garrett Anderson's unit lost 51 members in the city. When he considers whether the fighting was in vain, it turns his stomach.

"As a war fighter and Marine veteran of that battle, I feel that our job was to destroy our enemy. That was accomplished at the time and is why our dead will never be in vain. We won the day and the battle," said the 28-year-old, who now studies filmmaking in Portland, Ore. "If Marines were in that city today there would be dead Qaida all over the streets again, but the reality is this is only the beginning of something most people who have been paying attention since the war began knew was going to end this way."

On Tuesday, the site duffelblog.com posted a satirical column about two former Marines raising $1,300 on Kickstarter to go back and retake the city in time for the battle's tenth anniversary. "We paid for that city and we're keeping it!" one fictional commenter tells the site.

The piece had more than 30,000 Facebook likes by Wednesday. Lowry says the U.S. "abandoned" the region's Sunnis, paving the way for a Shiite-led government that has "gotten into bed with the Iranians." He adds: "There is a polarization returning between the Shiites and the Sunnis ... and it's spreading."
Catagnus and others say the situation is more nuanced than that. A sergeant with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines at the time, Catagnus was gearing up to go out when insurgents detonated the improvised bomb about 8 feet away. Despite a concussion and shrapnel wounds to his face, he never left the line.
While conceding that the battle helped change doctrine for urban warfare, he thinks Fallujah has become politicized — especially here at home. "There's a lot of fiery language around it," he says. "I do not see this as the culmination of the failure of all of our efforts — yet."

Roman Baca, who served in Fallujah for about eight months as a sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserves, says it's hard for him to hear people question the military's work there. During his time, his machine gun platoon spent many of its days patrolling local villages, delivering school supplies to students and food and water.

The 39-year-old New York City man returned to Iraq last year to conduct a dance workshop. He's most worried about what the outbreak of violence means for the Iraqis. "You think of those kids in the villages that were so young who are now either teenagers or in their 20s," he says. "What does it mean for them? What does it mean for the interpreters who were in danger then and are in danger again because they helped the Americans and their cause?"

For some veterans, the reversal of fortunes in Anbar, while unfortunate, is hardly surprising. "I was always of the impression that Iraq was sort of doomed to fail no matter what we did," says Derek Richardson of Redmond, Wash., a former Marine corporal who fought in the house-to-house action in late 2004. Now an investigator in Microsoft's legal department, he adds, "For me, it was more about winning individual battles" and keeping his comrades safe.

David R. Franco survived a roadside bomb blast outside Fallujah in 2005. The retired Marine suffers from back pain, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other ailments that send him to doctors and psychologists regularly.

"To me, it was just a matter of time for it to happen again and for al-Qaida to go back in there," said the 53-year-old veteran of Moorpark, Calif., who retired as a sergeant major. "It'll be a constant thing." Still, Franco — whose son was also wounded in Iraq — says it was worth it.

So does Nick Popaditch. On April 7, 2004, Popaditch's tank was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade as he rolled through the city. Shrapnel tore through his sinuses and destroyed his right eye — now strikingly replaced by a prosthetic bearing the Marine Corps logo.

The gunnery sergeant's actions earned him a Silver Star and Purple Heart, but cost him his career. The San Diego-area man is studying to be a high school math teacher, and he refuses to second-guess the recent events in Iraq.

"There's a lot of downtrodden people there who got a shot at a free life, at freedom," says Popaditch, 46, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2012. "And if the bad guys come back into control, that's not something I can control 8,000 miles away here. I'm just proud of the fact that when it came time to stand and fight for those things, those concepts of freedom, liberty, human rights ... I'm glad my nation did it."

For his part, Shupp, the former colonel, is convinced that many of those holding sway in Fallujah aren't al-Qaida, but simply "armed thugs." Even before the U.S.-led invasion, many Iraqis considered the city a "crossroads of criminal activity," and his troops were never meant to be "an army of occupation."

"It's one of the lifetime struggles of good versus bad," says Shupp, who now works as a defense lobbyist in Washington, D.C. "And this is the time for Iraq to come forward. We gave them all the tools. We gave them the ability to fight these guys."

Watson reported from San Diego. Breed, a national writer, reported from Raleigh, N.C. Associated Press writer Kevin Freking in Washington, D.C., also contributed to this report.

Igbo Leaders Demand Conference Of Ethnic Nationalities

Forget 2015, Nwabueze tells Jonathan

By Lawrence Njoku, The Guardian Nigeria

A group, Concerned Igbo Leaders of Thought led by constitutional lawyer, Prof Ben Nwabueze has written to President Goodluck Jonathan advising him not to convene the proposed national
conference using his inherent powers as enshrined in section 5 of the 1999 Constitution, as said to have been recommended by the Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC), warning that doing so would lead to anarchy.

  At a press conference, Nwabueze restated his earlier call on President Jonathan not to stand for re-election in 2015, stressing that he cannot combine the mobilization of election next year with the national conference.

 “I have advised him (Jonathan) to try and be a statesman, to be a hero and forget 2015. That the day you announce to Nigerians that you aare not going to stand for election in 2015, you become a great hero. You cannot combine these two thing–the mobilization for national conference which is aimed at national transformation and 2015 general elections. It is not possible. I have said it several times, I stated it when I led The Patriots to see him on August 29, 2013. I said it in Uyo, and I am saying it now”, Nwabueze stated.

 In a letter to the president dated January 6, 2014 and titled “ The position of the Igbo Nation on the National Conference, the renegotiated constitution of Nigeria”, the group insisted that President Jonathan should send an executive bill to the National Assembly authorizing the convocation of  an ethnic national conference whose outcome will be subjected to referendum, advising Nigerians to resort to protests should the National Assembly decline to authorize the conference.

   “The trouble here is that we Nigerians are docile, we finish here today, and everybody goes home, nothing happens. In other countries it does not happen. If the National Assembly refuses to pass the bill, the people should troop out to protest because these law makers are elected by the people and it is the people they should serve. The people say they are sovereign, but they are only sovereign by words of the mouth,” he said Reminded that such protests could lead to disintegration and probably affect the general election, Nwabueze said: “You do it to get a new system, you do it because we want a change. We cannot disintegrate, it will lead to desirable change. The general election is not a do-or-die matter, we can leave it for 2015. Many countries change the date for their election; we must get it right before we go to election.”

Nwabueze, who briefed reporters in Enugu on the essence of the letter by his group to the President, stated that it was borne out of the fact that the PAC empowered to ascertain the process of the conference had in their recommendations failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians.

 He added that such expressions were contained in a memorandum submitted to the President on August last year, when The Patriots which he leads visited the President where the idea of the national conference was mooted.

 Nwabueze said; “What the letter to the president is saying is that we wish to adopt a statement of the demand by The Patriots in the memorandum they submitted to you during a meeting with you on 29th August, 2013, particularly the elucidation of the fundamental attributes of the type of conference being demanded. These fundamental attributes are two: namely, a conference to adopt a suitable new constitution embodying renegotiated terms on which the diverse ethnic groups comprised in Nigeria can live together in peace, security, progress, general wellbeing and unity under one common central government, not a conference, the result of which deliberations will only be integrated in the existing 1999 Constitution.

“We don’t want that because the 1999 Constitution is a constitution only in a loose sense, it is not a constitution in the original sense of the act of the people, constituting the state and government. We are saying that this country has never had a constitution in the real sense, right from the colonial times, the constitution was made by the British not the people. The military came and made the constitution and in 1999, the military still made the constitution. We are saying that after all these years, the people of this country as a sovereign people should be given the opportunity to adopt a constitution for themselves and this is particularly important for the Igbo. We want the conference as an opportunity where we will sit with other ethnic groups to negotiate the terms and constitutions in which we will live together with others, the terms and constitutions to be embodied in a constitution.

“Secondly, conference of the ethnic nationalities making up the Nigerian state  should be the focal point, not a conference of individual Nigerians as autonomous entities or interest groups, although the latter should be given sizeable representation. We are demanding a conference of ethnic nationalities in this country. The people who wear the shoe know where it pinches. All the quarrels in this country are between ethnic groups claiming marginalization, some claiming injustice, some claiming suppression and the time has come for these ethnic groups, ethnic nationalities to come together. The autonomous individual Nigerians should not be excluded altogether, they should be given representation. We don’t want conference of interest groups or civil society groups and so on. We want a conference of ethnic nationalities. These are the two attributes of the conference we are demanding and these two attributes were amplified in a 30-paragraph memorandum submitted by The Patriots under my chairmanship to the President.

Nwabueze, Dr Dozie Ikedife, former President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo; Chief Anyim Ude (Ebonyi), Chief Enechi Onyia (Enugu) and two others signed the letter