Former Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell, Wife Indicted

Provided by the office of the Governor of Virginia shows Jonnie Williams left, and Maureen McDonnell, wife of then Gov. Bob McDonnell, during a reception for a NASCAR race at the Executive Mansion in Richmond, Va. Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife were indicted Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, on corruption charges after a monthslong federal investigation into gifts the Republican received from Williams.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, once viewed as a rising star in the GOP, and his wife were indicted Tuesday on federal corruption charges accusing the couple of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in loans, shopping sprees, money for their daughter's wedding — and even a joyride in a Ferrari — from the owner of a company that makes health supplements.

The 14-count indictment portrays the former governor as deeply entrenched in credit card debt even before he took office and willing to accept lavish gifts from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams, who hoped the first couple's endorsement for his products would yield big profits for his company.

McDonnell appeared Tuesday night at a hastily called news conference in Richmond to strongly deny any wrongdoing and denounce what he said was an "unjust overreach" by federal prosecutors. "I did nothing illegal for Mr. Williams in exchange for what I believed was his personal friendship and his generosity," said McDonnell, who was flanked by his wife, daughter and son-in-law as he read from prepared remarks.

McDonnell vowed to "use every available resource and advocate" to fight the charges. While still in office, the governor apologized for accepting the gifts and repaid thousands to Williams. Limited to a single term by state law, McDonnell left the executive mansion earlier this month in disgrace, his approval numbers low and his political future in tatters.

At one time, McDonnell had been considered a possible running mate for Mitt Romney, and the governor's seat has opened the door to higher office since Thomas Jefferson held the post from 1779 to 1781. McDonnell delivered the 2010 Republican response to the State of the Union Address, and became chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2011.

Twelve of the counts are punishable by up to 20 years in prison each, and two are punishable by up to 30 years. Fines can range from $250,000 to $1 million. McDonnell's attorneys filed a strongly worded motion Tuesday evening seeking the instructions that were given to the grand jury and recordings of prosecutors' statements to the grand jury about the legal validity of the charges. The motion says the government's case is "built largely from immunized testimony purchased with under-the-table promises to a key witness who would otherwise face criminal liability and massive financial penalties."

It continues: "The federal government's decision to use these deceitful tactics in order to prosecute a popular and successful Republican Governor immediately upon leaving office is disgraceful, violates basic principles of justice, and is contemptuous of the citizens of Virginia who elected him."

The 43-page indictment portrays a cozy relationship between the McDonnells and Williams that began even before he took office, with many of their interactions initiated by Maureen McDonnell. In 2009, just before the governor's inauguration, first lady Maureen McDonnell wrote to a senior staffer for her husband: "I need answers and Bob is screaming about the thousands I'm charging up in credit card debt. We are broke, have an unconscionable amount in credit card debt already, and this inaugural is killing us!"

Even before they took up residence in the governor's mansion, Williams was offering the family money. He was known as a donor who allowed the McDonnells use of his private jet on the campaign trail. In December, he was willing to pay for an Oscar de la Renta dress that the cash-strapped first lady could wear to the inauguration. Although she was the one who asked for the dress, she later refused the offer at the staffer's urging. But the partnership between Williams and the McDonnells was already underway.

However, the indictment says Maureen McDonnell cut a deal with Williams about two years later: if he bought her dresses and accessories for her daughter's wedding and the couple's anniversary, she would make sure he had a prime seat next to her husband at a political event in New York City.
Williams paid her nearly $20,000 tab at stores like Oscar de la Renta and Louis Vuitton, the indictment says. As promised, Williams was seated next to the governor at the event on April 13, 2011. The indictment also details a $50,000 loan Williams made to the McDonnells in May 2011, along with $15,000 for their daughter's wedding. The money was later used to pay for catering costs for the wedding, as well as payments totaling nearly $20,000 for the family's credit cards.

Then, in June, Star Scientific began jockeying for grant money that could be used for researching the potential health benefits of one of its products, Anatabloc. The grants could not be given to for-profit entities; but Star Scientific was financially strapped, so company officials began reaching out to state research universities, asking them to apply for the grants to conduct the research. And the company held up two of the state's most visible figures in asking the universities to do its bidding: the governor and his wife, who supported researching the company's products.

The next month, the McDonnells enjoyed a lavish vacation at Williams' multimillion-dollar home on Smith Mountain Lake, which included free reign over Williams' personal Ferrari and a boat rented just for the occasion. Williams arranged for a staffer to deliver the luxury sports car from his Richmond home to the vacation estate 160 miles away, and Maureen McDonnell snapped a photo of her husband driving the car and emailed it to Williams on July 31.

The very next day, Williams was in a meeting with the McDonnells and a senior adviser in the state health department, pitching Star Scientific products and even suggesting that government employees could serve as a control group for research studies.

That same day, Maureen McDonnell asks Williams to buy her husband a Rolex watch. Even Williams is hesitant at first, asking if a senior government official would actually wear such a thing. But Williams acquiesced, buying a Rolex with "71st Governor of Virginia" engraved on the back that McDonnell later received as a Christmas gift.

Later that month, Star Scientific made an important announcement in a press release: The company was launching its signature product at a reception at the governor's mansion, with university research scientists in attendance.

For months afterward, Maureen McDonnell frequently appeared at events held by Star Scientific and discussed the company's virtues. Later that year, however, she sold more than 6,500 shares of stock she owned in the company, wanting to avoid having to report it on public disclosure forms.

Then, in February 2012, the McDonnells discussed transferring 50,000 shares of Star Scientific stock that they could use as collateral for a loan for their failing real estate business, MoBo. However, to avoid having to disclose the stock on public forms, Williams instead loaned the McDonnells $50,000. To avoid raising suspicion that Williams was loaning them the money, he told his assistant to void a check that listed Maureen McDonnell in the memo line and to write a new check.

As the gifts piled up, the governor's endorsements appear to have become more blunt. In March 2012, the governor pulled a bottle of Anatabloc from his pocket during a meeting with the secretary of administration during a discussion of reducing health care costs. He told her that he personally took the supplement, and that it worked.

By February 2013, the scheme began to unravel. The indictment says Maureen McDonnell lied about being longtime friends with Williams, even though he was only an acquaintance even as late as 2009. She and Bob McDonnell then tried to cover up the $50,000 loan. Maureen McDonnell also returned the clothes Williams had bought for her, suggesting his daughter could use them or that he donate them to charity.

Associated Press writers Steve Szkotak and Alan Suderman in Richmond and Eric Tucker in Washington.

Beijing Puts Grassroots Citizen Activists On Trial

Chinese policemen urge foreign journalists to leave the Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, where Xu Zhiyong is expected to stand trial, in Beijing Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014. The trial of the prominent activist who has led a grassroots campaign demanding a fairer society and official accountability to better fight corruption started in Beijing, while police blocked journalists and supporters from getting near. Xu stood trial Wednesday, accused of disrupting public order.

BEIJING, CHINA (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Several citizen activists who want many of the same things Chinese leader Xi Jinping says he wants — less corruption and a fairer society — stand trial this week in Beijing in cases reflecting Xi's intense campaign to quash any potential threat to one-party rule.

The essentially closed-door trials that started Wednesday underline the Xi administration's determination to nip the buds of any social groups that might blossom outside the Communist Party, even if their goals largely overlap with the party's stated drive to root out corruption, restore its connection with ordinary folks and build an equal and fair society.

"It is really the effort by the regime to prevent any organized opposition," said Dali Yang, a political scientist at the University of Chicago. "One of the many ironies is that the calls by the defendants are authorized by the Chinese law, and it is very hard to argue that they are subverting the government."
The activists, members of nascent, grassroots groups known as the New Citizens movement, are typically charged with gathering crowds to disrupt public order. The prosecutions come amid the Chinese leadership's broader crackdown over the past year on dissent, including the silencing and detentions of influential bloggers and advocates for minority rights in Tibetan and Muslim Uighur areas.

"It is fear of a big crisis that might overthrow the party," said political observer Willy Lam of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "The crackdown is a sign of weakness." The centerpiece of the New Citizens crackdown is the trial of the movement's founder, lawyer Xu Zhiyong, which opened Wednesday in Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.

He is charged with disrupting public order in connection with groups of up to 100 people gathering in public places to call for education equality or the disclosure of public officials' assets to curb corruption. The vaguely defined charge can result in a prison sentence of several years.

No media or outside observers have been allowed to attend the proceedings, and police on Wednesday blocked journalists and supporters from getting near the venue. Xu has been seeking social changes within Chinese law and wants to foster a civil society by making more Chinese aware of their rights as citizens. He has been cautious not to form any organization, though the charges against him appear to be linked in part to his call for people to gather for monthly dinners to discuss China's constitution.

At least six other people — Zhao Changqing, Ding Jiaxi, Li Wei, Yuan Dong, Hou Xin and Zhang Baocheng — go on trial later in the week in Beijing on the same charge. They are believed to be the movement's more active members.

Critics have called the crackdown hypocritical given that one of the movement's foremost objectives — fighting graft— aligns with Xi's hallmark campaign to crack down on party and government corruption. Both the movement and the government also call for equity in education.

"Instead of President Xi Jinping's promised clampdown on corruption, we are seeing a crackdown against those that want to expose it," said Roseann Rife, East Asia research director at Amnesty International.

The U.S. State Department has expressed concern that Xu's prosecution amounts to retribution against his social activism and urged Beijing to release him. During Tuesday's regular briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Xu's case is "a regular criminal case" that is being handled in accordance with China's law. He said foreign countries should not interfere.
In an additional trial in the southern city of Guangzhou, Liu Yuandong, an activist involved in public rallies for a weekly newspaper that had been censored by party officials, will go on trial Friday on charges of disrupting public order and falsely reporting capital in business registration.

Liu is one of the founders of the Southern Street movement, separate from New Citizens, but also an amorphous, grassroots group with similar goals. The Southern Street movement, however, also calls for an end to one-party rule.

Video producer Aritz Parra in Beijing contributed to this report.

An Immigrant's Tale: Ike, Rejected And Desperate

 BY AMBROSE EHIRIM

Foreign Gods, Inc.
By Okey Ndibe
Soho Press, 330 Pages; $25.00

Okey Ndibe signs his new book, Foreign Gods, Inc. for Ugandan Tea and Dairy farmer, James Nagenda at Book Soup Wednesday, January 15, 2014. Ehirim Files Images


I had walked into Book Soup on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California Wednesday, January 15, 2014, while Okey Ndibe had stepped in ahead of me; and I had called him by his first name and, he had looked back, not sure who that was. We embraced, introduced ourselves and shook hands.

I had arrived early to the 7:00 PM book signing and reading event. My early arrival was to see if I could land an interview with him, and ask him questions of what had inspired his attempt to write about Ikechukwu and his plight, umuagbara, agwuishi na amadioha. The timing wasn't there for such interview. I had kept to time and had expected a turnout huge enough to explain the fact that African literature and cultural heritage is no joke, and with praises for the book -- Ngugi wa thiong'o, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, Chika Unigwe, Francisco Goldman and others -- that kinfolks, Nigerians and Africans in general would pop up to show their support. They did, and I was impressed.

Turning out well as it did, even though as the author narrated in his storytelling and reading sessions, and his experiences which was partly memoir, on the shores of America when he had arrived the New England states, he pointed out Nigerians are very special when it comes to being prompt at events, that they have always been on time, regardless of when they show up, and that whenever they surface, it indicates the right time, and for instance, the book signing and reading scheduled to have commenced at 7:00 PM prompt, got Nigerians coming at their own pace and time, which was indeed appropriate.

In fact, if you read through Foreign Gods, Inc., while Ike had visited home, he had held an argument with his mother about being prompt in attending church services, and on one given Sunday, Ike had made it clear when the arguments raged on and he had said: "Yes, if any people will attempt to keep God waiting, it has to be Nigerians. And since God created us that way, He's likely to show understanding."

Ndibe's point was clearly observed upon his storytelling when what he had been saying became obvious -- the tardiness and Nigerians showing up in hours behind scheduled time and, which he recalled, they have always been on time, no matter what time they had arrived, even if it's hours way too late. "They are always on time," Ndibe joked, and that would crack up the audience.

Unlike Ndibe's first novel Arrows of Rain published in 2000 which had stuff to do with the state of empire and anarchy, telling the story of a young woman who had run to the sea and had drowned, and had made Bukuru, a person of interest since Bukuru had been the last person the young woman had talked to before she committed suicide, and from Bukuru's "shocking revelations," the case took a twist turn.

In his new novel Foreign Gods, Inc., Ndibe finds himself very comfortable writing a Nigerian immigrant's story, told from a variety of instances with the plots remarkably well done.

Ndibe's protagonist, Ikechukwu Uzondu, and "Ike" as he would be known, had gone to one of the prominent schools, Amherst College, and had earned a cum laud in Economics, and as could be seen, had cleared an academic hurdle which should have him situated and solvent for the rest of his life, and the expectations of a Fortune 500 companies concretely established which was to have stood for the ideal substitute for hard work and realization of the American dream.

The story would turn out different. Ike would encounter a long spell of misfortunes from bad relationships to gambling, alcoholism and a variety of wrong choices and bad decisions.

Ndibe had pulled out a lot of absorbing characters and scene as part of the story's suspense. There was Mark Gruel, who ran the Foreign Gods Inc. gallery where Ike had looked forward to make his fortune after he had returned from his native Utonki with the deity, the god of war, Ngene. There was Big Ed Thelwell, his neighbor whom he had shared his fate with and who had always comforted him to loosen up, that it wasn't the end of the world and that, he should take things easy. There was Cadilla who ran the neighborhood convenient store Ike normally stops by for some chats and a grab of his six pack odeku, Guinness. He hated the joint for its rowdiness with the knock-around kids in the hood.

There was Usman Wai, the first African Ike had met when he moved to New York to continue with his cabbie business and Queen Bernita never liked Wai for a minute, accusing him of supplying Ike with "wide ass Zulu bitches." There was also Jonathan Falla, who had mailed Ike the New York magazine which originated the story. There was, too, Reverend Walter Stanton who had used his charm and wits to convert the Nd'amala. 

There was Nne Ochie, Ike's paternal grandmother, loathed by Ike's own mother described as a witch who had caused all the misfortunes in the family and had warned Ike to refrain from any kind of contact with his granny and uncle Osuakwu. That line of story turns out different, too, as one reads on. Pastor Uka, the evangelist had brainwashed Ike's mother converting her from the Catholic Church to the Pentecostals and had bilked most of the money Ike had sent her in the name of delivering her from the evils that had possessed her, comparing Ike's uncle Osuakwu to the Biblical Ahab and his granny, Nne Ochie, the Jezebel of the Biblical times.

When Ike was in college, there were promising times he needed to have kept his cool, going with the flow until he was grounded enough to overcome his predicaments. He could have had the break he had desperately needed when he had befriended one Penny Rose who was daughter of a medical doctor, Dr. Earl Rose, and who (the medical doctor) had cautioned his daughter over marrying an African when there were many African Americans and other nationalities out there. Ike was pissed and took it personal. He had felt the discrimination against him and the talk down on his personality and ethnicity was another blow. Years later, news would reach Ike that Penny had married then "Senegalese engineering student Diallo Dieng."

In what had begun in New York as Ndibe begins his story, and from tales about deities Ike had read from the New York magazine that whoever "acquires a deity becomes the deity's parent," and inspired with the idea to travel to his native Utonki and embezzle the deity which would dramatically turn things around for him, becoming wealthy and life full of uncertainties, a thing of the past. Ike drove a cab and had been desperate.

Ike's woes would continue apace as Ndibe tells us in what he described as "food money," the cash Ike had been sending to his mother and his sister Nkiru, but would stop abruptly when Queen Bernita came into Ike's life. Queen Bernita was just a freak. She loved sex and loved to shop, which had blown Ike's mind away. Ike kept pacifying Queen Bernita to get his legal standings straightened up. Queen Bernita was a nightmare.

While Ike's silence had bothered his mother and sister Nkiru, especially, when the "food money" stopped coming and Ike's decline to reply to the numerous e-mail letters Nkiru had sent to him on behalf of her mother, and always titled "Mama's Message" he had ignored for a long while. One of the letters moved him and he took that bold step to do something. The damning letter had woken Ike up. And, for sure, the most recent one, he opened which read;

Mama asked me to remind you, that you are your late father's only son, that your sister has gone away to her husband, and Mama doesn't know when the good Lord might call her to His glorious kingdom. Mama is sad that, at your age, you have no wife and no son to take your place if anything should happen (God forbid!). Since you don't seem to be concerned, Mama is looking into it for you (a wife). So make arrangements to come home soon, unless you don't care what happens to your father's compound and to the poor woman who gave birth to you. For a few years now you haven't sent Mama (or me, your only sister) any money...

Very typical, emotional and unquestionably a missive that takes one into the realm of reality, Ike fired back because it touched him. In between reading his sister Nkiru's e-mails, he was getting drunk and emotionally constipated. He eventually replied with a one-liner: "Dear Nkiru, Tell Mama that I will come home within a week. Love, Ikechukwu."

A typical immigrant story, Ndibe's Ike arrived Nigeria after eleven years or so, of his sojourn, and found out nothing much changed since he's been gone. Bribery and corruption was still widespread while he was shuttled from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport to his hotel room. He noticed one thing though, from his long absence. His friend from back in the secondary school days, Donatus Adi, had become wealthy enough for his kids to be born abroad, which would make him more desperate than ever, a typical life event Ndibe had brought in.

Ndibe's story becomes achingly sad when Ike finally arrives with the agwuisi, the Ngene, to Foreign Gods, Inc., and had to plea bargain on the worth of the deity. It was not worth it and Ike did not make it.

Nobody was really sure if Ndibe was telling a real life event from some parts of the passages, or maybe partly memoir about his own self, or just a novel from his thoughts about an immigrant who had to go through stages of life's endeavors from what had struck him in childhood and the myth that accompanied it -- feeling of the storm and waves and what had gone down in between meetings at his uncle's Shrine -- is something only Ndibe can tell us.

Foreign Gods, Inc., unquestionably, is the stuff of life, the stuff of great literature and Ndibe delivered! "Isee!"

Chicago Archdiocese Hid Decades Of Child Sex Abuse

Attorney Jeff Anderson, left, places his hand on the files of Catholic priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors in the Archdiocese of Chicago, prior to a news conference Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in Chicago. Joining Anderson is attorney Marc Pearlman.

CHICAGO (AP) — After a 13-year-old boy reported in 1979 that a priest raped him and later threatened him at gunpoint to keep quiet, the Archdiocese of Chicago assured the boy's parents that although the cleric avoided prosecution, he would receive treatment and have no further contact with minors.

But the Rev. William Cloutier, who already had been accused of molesting other children, was returned to ministry a year later and accused of more abuse before he resigned in 1993, two years after the boy's parents filed a lawsuit. Officials took no action against Cloutier over his earliest transgressions because he "sounded repentant," according to internal archdiocese documents released Tuesday that show how the archdiocese tried to contain a mounting scandal over child sexual abuse.

For decades, those at the highest levels of the nation's third-largest archdiocese moved accused priests from parish to parish while hiding the clerics' histories from the public. The documents, released through settlements between attorneys for the archdiocese and victims, describe how the late Cardinals John Cody and Joseph Bernardin often approved the reassignments. The archdiocese removed some priests from ministry, but often years or decades after the clergy were known to have molested children.

While disturbing stories of clergy sexual abuse have wrenched the Roman Catholic Church across the globe, the newly released documents offer the broadest look yet into how one of its largest and most prominent American dioceses responded to the scandal.

The documents, posted online Tuesday, cover only 30 of the at least 65 clergy for whom the archdiocese says it has substantiated claims of child abuse. Vatican documents related to the 30 cases were not included, under the negotiated terms of the disclosure.

The records also didn't include the files of former priest Daniel McCormack, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to abusing five children and whose case prompted an apology from Cardinal Francis George and an internal investigation of how the archdiocese responds to abuse claims.

But the more than 6,000 pages include internal communications between church officials, disturbing testimony about specific abuses, meeting schedules where allegations were discussed, and letters from anguished parishioners. The names of victims, and details considered private under mental health laws were redacted.

In a letter distributed to parishes last week, Cardinal George apologized for the abuse, and said the archdiocese agreed to turn over the records in an attempt to help the victims heal. The archdiocese released a statement Tuesday saying it knows it "made some decisions decades ago that are now difficult to justify" and that society has evolved in how it deals with abuse.

"The Church and its leaders have acknowledged repeatedly that they wished they had done more and done it sooner, but now are working hard to regain trust, to reach out to victims and their families, and to make certain that all children and youth are protected," the statement read.

One of the victims, Angel Santiago, said at a news conference Tuesday that he hopes more victims find the courage to come forward. "We are an army now," said Santiago, who was abused as a boy in the early 1980s at a Chicago parish.

Officials in the archdiocese said most of the abuse detailed in the files released Tuesday occurred before 1988, none after 1996, and that all these cases ultimately were reported to authorities. But victims' lawyers argue many of the allegations surfaced after George assumed control of the archdiocese in 1997, and some of the documents relate to how the church handled the cases more recently. They also said they're working to get files on the other 35 priests.

"The issue is not when the abuse happened; the issue is what they did once it was reported," said Chicago attorney Marc Pearlman, who has represented about 200 victims of clergy abuse in the Chicago area.

When a young woman reported in 1970 that she'd been abused as a teen, for example, Cody assured the priest that the "whole matter has been forgotten" because "no good can come of trying to prove or disprove the allegations."

Accused priests often were quietly sent away for a time for treatment or training programs, the documents show. When the accused clerics returned, officials often assigned them to new parishes and asked other priests to monitor them around children.

In one 1989 letter to Bernardin, the vicar for priests worries about parishioners discovering the record of the Rev. Vincent E. McCaffrey, who was moved four times because of abuse allegations. "Unfortunately, one of the key parishioners ... received an anonymous phone call which made reference by name to Vince and alleged misconduct on his part with young boys," wrotethe Rev. Raymond Goedert. "We all agreed that the best thing would be for Vince to move. We don't know if the anonymous caller will strike again."

When the archdiocese tried to force accused clergy into treatment or isolate them at church retreats, some of the priests refused, or ignored orders by church administrators to stay away from children.
Church officials worried about losing parishioners and "potential priests" over abuse scandals. "This question I believe is going to get stickier and stickier," Patrick O'Malley, then-vicar for priests, wrote in a 1992 letter.

Then, in 2002, a national scandal about dioceses' failures to stop abusers consumed the American church. U.S. bishops nationwide adopted a toughened disciplinary policy and pledged to remove all guilty priests from church jobs in their dioceses.

But for many victims, it was too little and too late. "Where was the church for the victims of this sick, demented, twisted pedophile?" one man wrote in a 2002 letter to George about abuse at the hands of the Rev. Norbert Maday, who was imprisoned in Wisconsin after a 1994 conviction for molesting two boys. "Why wasn't the church looking out for us? We were children, for God's sake."

Associated Press reporters Jason Keyser, Don Babwin and Michael Tarm contributed.
Online: http://www.andersonadvocates.com

Afghan President Again Demands US Airstrikes End

An Afghan police walks ahead of members of civil society organizations for their protection as they march in a street, during an anti terrorism demonstration in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014. Hundreds of Afghans gathered outside a Lebanese restaurant in Kabul on Sunday to protest against Taliban attack that killed 21 people. The assault Friday by a Taliban bomber and two gunmen against the La Taverna du Liban restaurant was deadliest single attack against foreign civilians in the course of a nearly 13-year U.S.-led war there now approaching its end. They chanted slogans against terrorism as they laid flowers at the site of the attack. The dead included 13 foreigners and eight Afghans, all civilians. The attack came as security has been deteriorating and apprehension has been growing among Afghans over their country's future as U.S.-led foreign forces prepare for a final withdrawal at the end of the year.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Afghanistan's president demanded Sunday that the United States no longer carry out military operations or airstrikes and must jump-start peace talks with the Taliban before his country signs a security deal to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014.

President Hamid Karzai's deepening anti-American rhetoric comes as the Taliban intensifies its assaults ahead of the planned withdrawal and after Friday's militant raid on a popular Kabul restaurant, the deadliest single attack against foreign civilians in the course of the nearly 13-year U.S.-led war.

Although Karzai has made similar demands in the past, he has in recent weeks ratcheted up his condemnations of alleged U.S. failures as Afghans look fearfully ahead to an uncertain future. Karzai made the statement after being presented with the findings of an investigation into a joint Afghan-U.S. military operation last week that resulted in civilian casualties which he blamed on a U.S. military air strike.

The U.S.-led international military coalition, however, provided a sharply different account Sunday of what happened during the two-day operation against insurgents in eastern Parwan province, saying it was an Afghan-led effort and carried out at the request of the government.

Karzai convened his National Security Council on Sunday to discuss the Parwan attack. "Airstrikes are a matter of concern for the Afghan people. The National Security Council said there should be an immediate end to all operations and airstrikes by foreign forces," a statement said.

Karzai sent a delegation to investigate the Jan. 15 airstrike in the Ghorband district of Parwan province, which borders Kabul. The delegation blamed the U.S. for ordering an operation it said killed 12 civilians and four Taliban fighters. It further said local authorities were not informed about the operation.

The coalition, which is carrying out its own investigation, said the government was not only aware but had requested the operation ahead of the country's April 5 presidential elections because the area had fallen under Taliban control.\

"The operation was requested by the governor in response to those conditions," the coalition said in a statement. "The resulting plan, approved through the Ministry of Defense, was a deliberate clearing operation to disrupt insurgent activity, based on intelligence obtained primarily by Afghan forces."
The coalition said a team of more than 70 Afghan commandos with a few U.S. Special Operations Forces carried out the operation. Senior U.S. military officials, who requested anonymity as they weren't allowed to brief journalists about an ongoing investigation, said the commandos came under heavy fire almost immediately. An Afghan commando and U.S. soldier were killed, they said.

Afghan National Security Forces had nine U.S. advisers with them when they became trapped by withering fire from residential homes, they said. "At that point, the ANSF and coalition advisers were unable to maneuver or withdraw without sustaining significant casualties. The combined force required defensive air support in order to suppress enemy fire from two compounds," the coalition statement said.

One senior U.S. military official said the decision to ask for air support was taken "in extremis" by the Afghan ground commander. The official said there were two civilians killed and one wounded. Karzai's comments come as he has declined to sign an agreement allowing some U.S. forces to stay past the planned withdrawal. Karzai tentatively endorsed the deal after it was completed last October, but first refused to sign it until after it was approved by a council of tribal elders known as the Loya Jirga in November.

But after the elders approved it, Karzai still declined to sign it, now saying he wants his successor to decide after the elections. The U.S. had wanted the deal to be signed by Dec. 31 because it needs time to prepare to keep thousands of U.S. troops in the country for up to a decade. NATO allies also have said they won't stay if the Americans pull out.

The agreement aims to help train and develop Afghan forces, while also allowing for a smaller counterterrorism force to pursue al-Qaida fighters and other groups. Karzai again demanded Sunday that the U.S. do more to start talks with the Taliban, although an American effort to get them going through intermediaries in Qatar collapsed last summer. The Taliban have refused to talk directly with Karzai, his government or its representatives.

Karzai's statement further warned that the country risked slipping into "feudalism" if his conditions were not met. Meanwhile Sunday, hundreds of Afghans gathered outside a Lebanese restaurant in Kabul to protest against a Taliban assault there that killed 21 people Friday. A suicide bomber and two gunmen attacked La Taverna du Liban, killing 13 foreigners and eight Afghans, all of them civilians.

Protesters chanted against terrorism as they laid flowers. "Today, we stand against terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, and the killing of the civilians by terrorists," demonstrator Salma Alkozai said.

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.

Iraq Announces Offensive Against al-Qaida

A gunman aims his weapn during clashes with Iraqi security forces in Fallujah, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014. Violence across Iraq, including a series of car bombings and fighting between militants and government troops over control of the country's contested Anbar province, killed dozens Saturday, officials said.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi government forces and allied tribal militias launched an all-out offensive Sunday to push al-Qaida militants from a provincial capital, an assault that killed or wounded some 20 police officers and government-allied tribesmen, officials said.

Since late December, members of Iraq's al-Qaida branch — known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — have taken over parts of Ramadi, the capital of the largely Sunni western province of Anbar. They also control the center of the nearby city of Fallujah, along with other non-al-Qaida groups that also oppose the Shiite-led government.

A military officer and two local officials said fierce clashes raged through Sunday night in parts of Ramadi, but gave no details. Later, the commander of Anbar operations, army Lt. Gen. Rasheed Fleih, said that Iraqi special forces retook al-Bubali village following fierce clashes with the militants who had held it for about three weeks. Al-Bubali lies on the road between Ramadi and Fallujah.
Fleih said that gunmen had booby-trapped several houses in the village before their retreat. He declined to give any figures regarding casualties. The two Anbar officials said 20 police officers and allied tribesmen were either killed or wounded during the assault. The officials were unable to provide a breakdown of the casualties.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who heads the al-Qaida group in Iraq, urged Iraqi Sunni Muslims to join the militants in an audio message posted on militant websites Sunday. "You the Sunni people in Iraq, you can carry the weapons against the Shiites... This is your chance, so do not miss it. Otherwise you will be finished," al-Baghdadi said. He also exhorted his militants to continue their fight and also attack Baghdad.

Hours after the offensive was announced, Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to continue fighting "terrorism," but left the door open for a political solution. "Our battle is firstly to beat and eliminate terrorism, though we welcome any solution, any proposal and any political meeting that should realize the priority of destroying terrorism, al-Qaida, its formations and its allies," al-Maliki said.

Elsewhere Sunday, gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint run by an anti-al-Qaida, pro-government Sunni tribal militia outside the city of Baqouba, killing the local leader and four assistants, a police officer and medical officials said. The former al-Qaida stronghold Baqouba is located about 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of the capital, Baghdad.

The Sunni militia, known as the Awakening Council, was formed by U.S. forces during the height of the insurgency. They are seen as traitors by al-Qaida's local branch and other militant groups. The officials in Anbar province and Baqouba spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

Violence has escalated in Iraq over the past year, particularly since late last month after authorities dismantled an anti-government Sunni protest camp and arrested a Sunni lawmaker on terrorism charges. To alleviate the tension, the army pulled back from Fallujah and Ramadi, but that allowed al-Qaida militants to seize control.

Last year, the country saw its highest annual death toll since the worst of the country's sectarian bloodletting began to subside in 2007, according to United Nations figures. The U.N. said violence killed 8,868 in 2013. Sunday's violence brought the death toll so far this month to 364, according to an Associated Press tally.

Associated Press writer Sinan Salaheddin contributed.

Morgan Stanley Names 153 Managing Directors In Annual Promotions

By Michael J. Moore, Bloomberg

Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley, owner of the world’s largest brokerage, promoted 153 employees to the title of managing director, an increase from 144 a year earlier.

About 64 percent of those promoted work in the U.S., up from 50 percent last year, while 22 percent are based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and 14 percent in Asia, according to Wesley McDade, a spokesman for the New York-based bank. Almost half of the new class works in the investment banking and trading division, McDade said.

Morgan Stanley has cut more than 5,400 jobs since the end of 2011 as part of Chief Executive Officer James Gorman's plan to pare $1.6 billion in expenses. Last year, the bank bought the rest of a brokerage joint venture with Citigroup Inc. and reduced capital to its fixed-income trading business in an effort to double return on equity.

Forty-one of the new managing directors, or 27 percent of the class, are women. That’s the highest proportion ever, McDade said. The total number of managing directors is down from the classes of 2011, when 210 employees were given the title, and 2010, when 232 people were promoted.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the latest promotions yesterday.

--Editors: Peter Eichenbaum, Dan Kraut.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael J. Moore in New York at mmoore55@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Eichenbaum at peichenbaum@bloomberg.net

Iran Hangs 40 People In Two Weeks Amid Surge In Executions

Iranian authorities have executed 40 people, most of them for drugs offences, since the beginning of January. © Orla 2011/Shutterstock.com

“

The spike in the number of executions carried out so far this month in Iran is alarming. The Iranian authorities’ attempts to change their international image are meaningless if at the same time executions continue to increase.

”

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa 

Thu, 16/01/2014

Iran has carried out a total of 40 executions since the beginning of 2014, with at least 33 carried out in the past week alone, said Amnesty International today.

“The spike in the number of executions carried out so far this month in Iran is alarming. The Iranian authorities’ attempts to change their international image are meaningless if at the same time executions continue to increase”, said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

The death penalty is a violation of every human being’s right to life and is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

“The Iranian authorities must urgently take steps to abolish the death penalty, which has been shown again and again not to have any special deterrent effect on crime,” Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said.

Since the beginning of 2014, Amnesty International has recorded 21 executions which were officially acknowledged by the Iranian authorities, as well as 19 additional executions reported through reliable sources.

In the week since 9 January 2014 more officially acknowledged executions were carried out in Iran than during the whole month of January 2013.

At least one public execution was carried out on 13 January 2014 in Sirjan, Kerman Province, southern Iran, of an individual convicted of murder.

Public executions in Iran are usually carried out using cranes which lift the condemned person by a noose around the neck in front of a crowd of spectators.

The organization is calling on the Iranian authorities to immediately adopt an official moratorium on all executions and commute all death sentences. The Iranian authorities must also end all secrecy surrounding their use of the death penalty.

Most of those executed in Iran had been convicted of alleged drug-related offences. Under international standards, non-lethal crimes such as drugs offences do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” to which the death penalty must be restricted. There is also no right to a meaningful appeal for drugs offences under Iran’s Anti-Narcotics Law, contrary to its international obligations to ensure that anyone convicted of a criminal offence has the right to appeal the conviction.

“In Iran drug-related offences are tried in Revolutionary Courts which routinely fall far short of international fair trial standards. The reality in Iran is that people are being ruthlessly sentenced to death after unfair trials, and this is unacceptable,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Revolutionary Court trials are frequently held behind closed doors and judges have the discretion to restrict lawyers’ access to the defendant during pre-trial investigations in limited cases.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception.

----------AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

South Sudan Rebels Demand Ugandan Troops Leave Country

 South Sudan’s soldiers stand guard in Mvolo County, Western Equatoria State, South Sudan. Photograph: Phillip Dhil/EPA

South Sudan rebels have demanded that Uganda stop supporting government forces as a condition for signing a ceasefire to end fighting that has riven Africa’s youngest nation, a spokesman said.

The president of neighbouring Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, admitted for the first time on Wednesday that he was helping South Sudanese president Salva Kiir to fight the rebel forces.

Ugandan officials had previously denied taking any part in combat, insisting their troops were evacuating stranded Ugandans and helping protect the airport and the presidential palace in South Sudan’s capital Juba.

Kampala’s military involvement has annoyed Ethiopia, which is hosting peace talks, and raised worries that it could expand a conflict that, according to one independent estimate, may have killed up to 10,000 people since it erupted in mid-December.

Complicated the conflict

Peace talks aimed at ending the fighting between the president’s forces and supporters of Riek Machar, who was sacked as vice president in July, are being sponsored by the African Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Addis Ababa.

“IGAD has our complaint. The foreign troops have complicated the conflict so I think it’s also a matter of common sense for them to withdraw,” said Mabior Garang, spokesman for Mr Machar’s delegation attending the talks. “These are sticking points that the government does not want to move away from.”

A member of Mr Kiir’s delegation, who declined to be named, said: “We have a military pact with Uganda. The status of our co-operation should only be discussed among the two governments, not with a rebel group.”

Rebel demands

The delegations have so far made no obvious sign of progress towards a ceasefire deal.

Mr Kiir’s government has previously rejected rebel demands that 11 detained politicians allied to Mr Machar be released before a ceasefire is signed. Juba insists they must be investigated.

The rebels have since said that freeing detainees is not a precondition for a ceasefire. They are now focusing on Uganda’s role and have also demanded the end of a state of emergency imposed by Mr Kiir on the strategic regions of Jonglei state and the oil producing states of Upper Nile and Unity.

Uganda backed the SPLA, now led by Mr Kiir, during the south’s years of war with the Sudanese government in Khartoum. South Sudan declared independence in 2011, after a 2005 peace deal with Khartoum.

Nowhere To Go For S.Sudanese In Central African Republic

South Sudanese refugee Ibrahim Abakar poses for a picture in the courtyard of the mosque where he and other people seeking safety from deadly sectarian violence have been spending the night, in the Kilometer 5 neighborhood of Bangui, Central African Republic. As tens of thousands of other Africans have been repatriated to their home countries, Abakar is one of a small group of refugees who has nowhere to go. His country is on the brink of civil war. 'I can't return and I can't stay here, he says. 'I just want to go somewhere where there is peace.'

BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Ibrahim Abakar sleeps with a machete at his side, terrified the darkness will bring death or disappearance as it did for his wife and young sons when armed Christian fighters showed up at their door in the capital of Central African Republic.

Returning to the land of his birth isn't an option though — South Sudan is now on the brink of civil war, mired in conflict just as the area was when he fled from there more than two decades ago. "I can't return and I can't stay here," the 38-year-old Muslim said desperately. "I just want to go somewhere there is peace. I have seen too many people here killed in front of me."

Death is possible if he stays, or if he goes to the only other country that will take him. Abakar has spent most of his life in Central African Republic, where he also married his wife, but has no passport to travel with.

Abakar's dilemma underscores the volatility of this corner of the world, where the deepening crisis in Central African Republic has forced some to flee across borders to desperately poor and unstable countries like Chad and Congo. Others are now escaping to home countries where they don't even speak the local language fluently, and have few remaining relatives or job prospects.

Central African Republic has long teetered on the brink of anarchy, but the new unrest unleashed by a March 2013 coup has ignited previously unseen sectarian hatred between Christians and Muslims. More than 1,000 people were killed in December alone and nearly 1 million displaced.

The United States closed its embassy in Bangui last year and urged its citizens to leave. Many Africans with businesses and family ties to Central African Republic, though, chose to stay after the March coup. France sent 1,600 troops to bolster an African Union force expected to reach 3,000 troops. But the imperative to leave now has spiked as the country's minority Muslim population has come under growing recriminatory attacks from Christians.

France's U.N. ambassador told a U.N. meeting Wednesday on the prevention of genocide that his country underestimated the hatred and resentment between Christian and Muslim communities. "We knew there was some inter-sectarian violence but we did not forecast such a deep ingrained hatred," he said.

Araud said African and French soldiers in the impoverished country are facing "nearly an impossible situation." Araud said France is discussing what the soldiers should do to prevent the killings. He urged consultations with psychologists or ethnologists to understand the roots of the hatred, because religious leaders' calls for an end to the fighting are being ignored.

Abakar is one of 67 South Sudanese who are currently stuck in Bangui, according to Daniel Anakleto, a representative for the community of South Sudanese refugees that includes both Christians and Muslims.

Tens of thousands of other Africans — mostly Muslims — have been repatriated home to Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal in recent weeks, according to the United Nations. Hundreds of Malians have been brought back to the capital of Bamako after seeking refuge at the Senegalese consulate in Bangui because the Malians do not have an embassy there. Another 550 people were being brought back to Mali on Tuesday and Wednesday by the International Organization for Migration.

Malian national Aissata Daf was born in Central African Republic, and said she and her family had lived through all kinds of political crises there but had never chose to leave until last week when she was brought to Bamako.
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She recalled the horror of watching a pregnant neighbor in labor brutally attacked before her eyes by the Christian militia known as the anti-balaka. "Even before she could get to the hospital, the anti-balaka found her and they opened her stomach with machetes and killed the baby," she said. "It was horrible — there was blood everywhere. And they only attacked her because she was Muslim."
Daf doesn't know what she will do now in Mali, where she and other repatriated Malians speak to each other in Sango, the national language of their adopted country. Nearly 4,000 Cameroonians have been airlifted free of charge from Bangui to Douala since mid-December. Upon arrival in Cameroon, they were given bus fare to the town of their choice.

Nigerian Ahamdu Mandako, 43, had lived in Bangui for 20 years building his business. His shop was razed by Christian fighters, though he escaped with his life. Now he, his wife and five children have returned to Adamawa State in northeast Nigeria.

"A lot of Nigerians have been killed and their corpses burnt. Others are still trapped in Central Africa," he said. "We have lost everything we labored for but we thank the Nigerian government for rescuing us and we hope we can start life again."

Abakar, the native of South Sudan, has not seen his wife or 8-year-old son since the night he crawled out of a window when the Christian militiamen came to their door. His 12-year-old son Isaka's body turned up at a neighborhood morgue.

"We don't sleep at night out of fear for our lives," said Abakar, who has left the shelter of a mosque to stay with a friend. "We are asking for people to come and save us."

Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali; Fidelis Mbah in Abuja, Nigeria; Anne Mireille Nzouankeu in Yaounde, Cameroon and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Follow Krista Larson on Twitter at https://twitter.com/klarsonafrica.

'Score-Settling' In Central African Republic Kills 13

Christian man chases a suspected Seleka officer in civilian clothes with a knife near the airport in Bangui, Central African Republic. Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a very violent start to 2014 with raging conflicts in South Sudan and Central African Republic - the death tolls are huge and the individual incidents gruesome, with one estimate saying nearly 10,000 have been killed in South Sudan in a month of warfare.

BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Scattered violence in the capital of Central African Republic, including two consecutive nights of intense gunfire in some neighborhoods, has killed 13 people since Michel Djotodia announced his resignation from the presidency on Friday, the local Red Cross said Sunday.

The victims were mostly targeted in isolated incidents of "score-settling" and the number was likely to rise as violence continued in pockets of Bangui, Antoine Mbao-Bogo, the local Red Cross president, said.

"Among the dead we've found night watchmen, street children and the victims of stray bullets," Mbao-Bogo said. Many streets in Bangui were deserted Sunday with residents of some neighborhoods holed up fearing further violence.

Backed by his mostly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance, Djotodia seized power in March. On Friday, he agreed to step aside along with his prime minister at a regional summit in Chad amid mounting pressure over his failure to stem widespread violence pitting Muslims and Christians against each other.

The violence reached new heights in December, killing more than 1,000 people and prompting nearly 1 million to flee their homes. Seleka attacks on Christian civilians led to retaliatory attacks by Christian militias against Muslim civilians and mosques.

Religious violence continued this weekend amid uncertainty over who will rule the chronically unstable country and lay the groundwork for new elections. A national transitional council led by Alexandre Ferdinand Nguendet has two weeks to choose another interim president to replace Djotodia.

In Bangui's Boulata neighborhood, Muslim youths claiming to seek revenge for Djotodia's exit set fire to a church, said Eric Dibelet, the pastor at a neighboring church. Children in the Sica-Saidou neighborhood stole items from a mosque before setting it alight, saying they were avenging the killing of a Christian the night before, said witness Didier Serge Ngoalessio. He said soldiers from the African Union peacekeeping force intervened to interrupt the attack.

And in Galabadja, a distraught former member of Seleka opened fire seemingly at random on Saturday, killing and injuring an untold number of bystanders, said witness Sylvain Namboa. "The shots are still continuing in the neighborhood today, and no one can leave right now," Namboa said. "Many people fled the neighborhood earlier, but those who are left are staying inside."

Djotodia sought exile in the West African nation of Benin on Saturday, flying on a plane lent by the president of Chad and landing in Cotonou, Benin's economic capital, in the afternoon. On Sunday afternoon, Constitutional Court President Zacharie Ndouba took note of the resignations of Djotodia and former Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye in remarks on national radio.

Nguendet, the leader of the transitional council, has vowed to restore order well before the next elections, urging members of the armed forces to re-establish their ranks to support the transitional authorities.