Heavy gunfire in central, north Syria; 11 killed

BEIRUT — Syrian security forces unleashed a barrage of gunfire Wednesday, killing at least 11 people and leaving thousands cowering in their homes as President Bashar Assad's troops kept up the government's assault on a 6-month-old uprising, activists and witnesses said.

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Nine of the dead were in Homs, a hotbed of opposition to Assad's autocratic regime. Two others were shot dead during raids in Sarameen, in northern Syria.

In a step the opposition says shows the regime is intractable, a planned visit by the Arab League secretary general Wednesday to push Assad to make major concessions to defuse the crisis was called off at the last minute at the government's request.

Arab League Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed Ben Heli told reporters in Egypt that Elaraby will now visit Damascus on Saturday. He said the decision was made in a phone call between Elaraby and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.

For days, security forces have been pursuing activists and anti-government protesters in Homs, part of a ferocious crackdown on the most serious challenge to the 40-year Assad dynasty. The U.N. says more than 2,200 people have died in nearly six months of protests.

"All through the night, there was shooting. The gunfire didn't stop," a resident of the city told The Associated Press by phone Wednesday. "I can't tell exactly what is going on because it's dangerous to go out."

He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Omar Idilbi, a spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, said security forces simultaneously stormed several districts in the old part of the city, including the Bab Dreib, Bab Houd and the Bayada neighborhoods. Nine people were confirmed dead in ongoing shooting in those areas, the LCC said.

The London-based Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across the country, said 10 were killed.

Homs, Syria's third-largest city, has seen some of the largest anti-regime protests in Syria over the past months, despite repeated crackdowns.

On Tuesday, security forces opened fire from a checkpoint in Rastan, just north of Homs, killing two people, including a 15-year-old boy, activists said. They said five unidentified corpses, including that of a woman, also were found dumped around the city center.

Mobile telephones, land lines and Internet connections in some parts of Homs were cut off Wednesday. Many people were staying home because of roads blocked by security forces. Others were too scared to leave.

State-run news agency SANA said a "terrorist group" kidnapped two Baath party officials in Rastan Wednesday. Authorities last week reported the kidnapping of the attorney general of the central city of Hama, Adnan Bakkour. Two days later, he appeared in a video announcing he had defected from the regime. Activists say he is now safely out of Syria. But authorities insist he was being kept against his will by gunmen and say they are searching for him.

Idilbi said there were reports of army defections in Homs Wednesday, saying fierce fighting took place between factions of soldiers. There have been credible reports of scattered, mostly low-level army defections in the past months, although it is difficult to gauge the extent.

An amateur video posted online by activists in Rastan showed a group of alleged army defectors in military uniforms saluting crowds calling for the regime's downfall from a balcony.

A particularly disturbing video making the rounds on social networking sites Wednesday showed a group of men in military uniform repeatedly shooting a man as he lay bleeding and motionless on the ground. The video, purportedly in Homs, says the men in uniform are pro-Assad thugs, not soldiers.

Syria has sealed the country off from foreign journalists and most international observers, insisting that foreigners are meddling, making it difficult to independently verify information coming out of the country. The government's violent crackdown has led to sharp international criticism and sanctions aimed at isolating the regime, including a ban on the import of Syrian oil, a mainstay of the regime.

Arab League officials in Egypt had said Secretary General Nabil Elaraby would have presented a plan under which Assad would immediately cease all military operations, release all political prisoners, begin dialogue and announce his intention to form a national unity government and hold pluralistic presidential elections by the end of his term in 2014.

The Local Coordination Committees, one of the main Syrian opposition activist groups, said the initiative provided "a good basis that can be built upon" as a way out of the crisis.

___

AP writer Sarah El-Deeb contributed to this report from Cairo, Egypt.

___

Zeina Karam can be reached on http://twitter.com/zkaram

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Libyan rebels capture part of Brega, push north

SHALGHOUDA/BENGHAZI, Libya — Libyan rebels said they had captured part of the oil town of Brega on Thursday while their forces in the west pushed toward Zawiyah, trying to get within striking distance of Muammar Gaddafi's capital.

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Gaddafi is clinging to power despite a near five-month-old NATO air campaign, tightening economic sanctions, and a lengthening war with rebels trying to end his 41-year rule.

The rebels have seized large swathes of the North African state, but are deeply divided and lack experience, and Thursday's gains in the east broke weeks of stalemate.

One rebel spokesman said the opposition had captured the residential districts of Brega but Gaddafi's forces still hold western parts of the town where the oil facilities are located.

"It is liberated. It is under our control now," spokesman Mossa Mahmoud al-Mograbi said of the eastern part of the town.

The residential area where the fighting was taking place is about 15 km (9 miles) east of the oil terminal and sea port.

It was not immediately possible for a Reuters reporter to verify the capture of Brega and rebels have repeatedly claimed to have seized towns, only to be repelled by Gaddafi's forces.

In the western mountains, rebels said they reached the village of Bir Shuaib, some 25 km (15 miles) from Zawiyah, which has unsuccessfully risen up against Gaddafi twice this year.

It lies less than 50 km west of Tripoli, on the main road to Tunisia, which has been a lifeline for Libya but has begun to crack down on rampant smuggling of gasoline.

"We've gone past Nasr village and right now we're about 25 km from Zawiyah," said Faris, a rebel fighter. Rebels prevented reporters from reaching the front to see for themselves.

Rebels in the western mountains do not operate as a single force, as each town has its own command. But when they join forces for major operations they can muster a few thousand men.

Their force is poorly trained and short of heavy weapons, despite a French arms drop earlier this year, and most analysts do not think they are capable of capturing Tripoli.

NATO HELP

In an effort to pile economic and military pressure on Gaddafi, more countries are set to announce next week that they will free frozen assets for the rebels, a British official said.

"While it's hard to predict when this will end, it's easy to see the pressure is building on Gaddafi and it is only a matter of time before he's forced to leave power," the official said.

Britain is playing a leading role in NATO air strikes against Gaddafi's forces, which have weakened his armory but have not enabled the rebels to deliver a knockout blow.

Tightening the economic noose around Gaddafi, Tunisia said on Thursday its troops were patrolling fuel stations to curb the flow of smuggled gasoline into neighboring Libya.

International sanctions and the effects of Libya's civil war have disrupted normal supplies of fuel to parts of the country under Gaddafi's control, but huge volumes of gasoline are instead being smuggled across the Libyan-Tunisian border.

"The armed forces are now conducting checks at fuel stations in the south of Tunisia ... so that neither Tunisians nor Libyans can fill up with large quantities," Tunisian defense ministry official Mokhtar Ben Nasr told a news conference.

"These checks are aimed at preventing the smuggling of diesel and gasoline to Libya."

BREGA PROGRESS REPORT

The western battle is one of three widely separated rebel fronts against Gaddafi forces. In the east around the ports of Misrata and Brega, fighting had been bogged down in recent weeks while the western rebels have advanced.

The two sides have been battling for months over Brega, 750 km east of Tripoli. The rebels see securing the oil facilities as a tipping point in the war and hope to resume oil exports from there as quickly as possible.

In the west, doctor Nuri Al-Fasi said one fighter had been killed and four wounded on Thursday in the rebel push.

At a nearby field hospital, he looked over a rebel shot in the stomach in the fighting in Nasr. "This is very serious. I don't think he will make it," said al-Fasi, shaking his head.

Dozens of pick-up trucks packed with rebels drove to a staging post a few kilometers behind the front line.

From rebel-held Misrata, east of Tripoli, rebels were fighting to break a partial encirclement by Gaddafi forces, striking south into the nearby village of Tawurgha.

Medical sources said six rebels were killed and 70 wounded in their offensive on Tawurgha, from which Gaddafi's supporters have been firing rockets at Misrata for weeks.

"Our rebels have just liberated Tawurgha. This is great news ... as this means that the rockets of Gaddafi's forces cannot reach Misrata anymore," said rebel spokesman Hassan Algallay.

Rebels said the offensive was led in coordination with NATO to protect Misrata from missile attacks. He said NATO asked rebels on Wednesday to paint their vehicles yellow and red.

The offensive comes days after Gaddafi's government accused NATO of killing 85 civilians, including women and children, in an air strike near Zlitan, west of rebel-held Misrata.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon voiced alarm over recent reports of civilian casualties and called on all sides to avoid killing innocent people.

Dozens of Libyans protested outside the Hungarian embassy in Tripoli, which has become an unofficial contact point for European nations and the United States, against NATO airstrikes.

Rights group Amnesty International also called on NATO in a statement to "thoroughly investigate" allegations of civilian deaths in the strikes on the village of Majar, close to the front line at Zlitan. NATO said it hit a military target.

(Created by Lin Noueihed)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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North Korea artillery lands near South island in disputed waters (Reuters)

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea has fired artillery in the direction of a South Korean island on Wednesday in an apparent training exercise near a tense maritime border off the west coast, media and a government official said.

A South Korean Defense Ministry official said shells fired by North Korea landed in the waters off Yeonpyeong island but it was not clear whether it was inside the South's territorial waters. Yonhap news agency said South Korea fired back with its artillery.

"Three shots were heard. One shell landed near the Northern Limit Line," Yonhap quoted a military official as saying.

The incident took place near the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL), the scene of several skirmishes over the past decade including two deadly attacks last year that killed 50 South Koreans.

Yonhap said the shelling started at around 2pm local time (0500 GMT). South Korea replied with three rounds artillery fire.

Fishing boats in the vicinity called to port and yeonpyeong residents have been evacuated into emergency shelters, media reports said.

Markets barely reacted to the incident.

Tuesday's flare-up occurred near Yeonpyeong island, which was attacked by the North last November. Four people were killed in the attack.

Previous incidents triggered by the North's violation of the NLL, unilaterally drawn up by the U.S. military at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, have led to clashes by the two sides' navies killing dozens of sailors.

Tensions had eased since the start of the year since the North's renewed calls for dialogue, including the resumption of six-way talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear arms program.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Jack Kim; editing by Jeremy Laurence and David Chance)

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Violence in north Kosovo draws EU warning (Reuters)

PRISTINA/BELGRADE (Reuters) – A deadly flare-up of violence in Kosovo's Serbian-populated north has sent tensions with Belgrade soaring and prompted a stern intervention from the European Union.

Kosovo, which has a 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, sent special police units on Monday to take control of northern border crossings and enforce a ban on imports from Serbia -- retaliation for its block on Kosovo's exports.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but Belgrade does not recognize the move and the 60,000 Serbs who live in northern Kosovo still consider Belgrade their capital.

One Kosovo police officer was shot in the head and died on Tuesday in a clash with local Serbs. On Wednesday, armed Serbs attacked and burned down the Jarinje border post and fired at members of NATO's KFOR peacekeeping force.

"It was confirmed that an act of arson was committed against that position... There have also been confirmed reports of shots fired at KFOR personnel in the vicinity," KFOR said in a statement.

It did not say whether anyone was injured in the attack or whether KFOR troops had returned fire, but said reinforcements had been sent to the border.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci accused Belgrade of masterminding the violence. "We will not withdraw, there will be no return under any circumstances and at any price," he said.

He said Serbia was trying to carve out a piece of northern Kosovo, but this "will never happen."

Serbia's pro-European President Boris Tadic urged Kosovo Serbs to refrain from violence. "The hooligans who are sparking violence are not defending either the people or the Serb state," his office said in a statement.

"RESTORE CALM IMMEDIATELY"

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she spoke on Tuesday with Thaci and Tadic, urging them to restore calm immediately with a warning that violence would not be tolerated.

"I strongly condemn the violence that has taken place in northern Kosovo. These latest developments are unacceptable," she said in a statement.

"It is the responsibility of both Belgrade and Pristina to immediately defuse the tensions, and restore calm and security for everyone."

Belgrade wants to join the EU, but it must mend its ties with Kosovo to speed up its bid to join the bloc. Pristina and Belgrade have started EU-moderated talks aimed at improving trade, movement of people and issues like energy supplies, but negotiations have moved slowly.

Kosovo's police raids on Monday and Tuesday drew criticism from both the United States as the EU, which said the government should have consulted its Western backers.

A Serb eyewitness said on Wednesday that a group of masked men armed with wooden planks, axes and crowbars attacked and burned the Jarinje border post, which consisted of two-storey prefabricated buildings and a roofed passageway for cars.

"Later a bulldozer was brought to demolish the burned buildings," he said.

A cameraman and a sound engineer of Serbia's state-run Tanjug news agency were attacked by Serb hardline nationalists near Jarinje and seriously injured, the agency said.

In a separate incident earlier on Wednesday, an unidentified gunman fired shots at a NATO helicopter, a NATO spokesman said, but there were no injuries.

The U.N. Security Council accepted a Serbian request for an urgent meeting on tensions in Kosovo after Serbia sent a letter to the 15-nation council requesting an open meeting.

The call was supported by Serbia's ally Russia, which like Belgrade has refused to recognize Kosovo's February 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.

The council opted for a compromise and scheduled closed-door consultations on Kosovo on Thursday, rather than a public meeting, the diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Serbia lost its former province of Kosovo in 1999, when NATO waged a bombing campaign to stop Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic from killing ethnic Albanians and carrying out ethnic cleansing in a counter-insurgency war.

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in New York and John O'Donnell in Brussels; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Does the North need more powers?

21 July 2011 Last updated at 07:29 GMT Despite the regeneration of Tyneside, the North East lags behind other parts of the country economically The government is being urged to hand more powers to northern cities and regions to help bridge the economic divide with the south.

New research just released suggests the North of England is lagging behind the rest of the country in key areas.

The data from the think tank IPPR North looks at figures for business start-ups, and educational qualifications as well as spending on transport and science and technology.

The North East comes out particularly badly.

It is time for the North to set out its stall for what it needs to remain competitive in the global economy”

End Quote Geoff Muirhead Chair, Northern Economic Futures Commission

The region continues to have the lowest business start-up rate in the country.

In 2009, there were just 5.7 business start-ups per 1,000 of the population, compared to a national average of 7.9. And the region has also seen a 17.5% fall in start-ups since 2004.

Spending per head on transport last year was lower in the North East than anywhere else - £248 per head, compared to £802 per head in London.

And while spending per head on science and technology was £155 in London last year, it was £83 in the North East (although the North West only managed £77).

Economic growth

So what should be done about this? It's hardly a new phenomenon after all.

IPPR North is gathering together the great and good in what they are calling the Northern Economic Futures Commission to draw up a 10 year strategy for economic growth in the region.

It includes a mix of people from business, academia, local government and the voluntary sector and is chaired by Geoff Muirhead, the former chief executive of Manchester Airport.

He said: "With London, Scotland and the other devolved nations increasingly free to develop their own plans with their own powers, it is time for the North to set out its stall for what it needs to remain competitive in the global economy."

Labour says other cities will suffer if they don't get the same powers as London Mayor Boris Johnson

And IPPR North also wants to see the government give the north extra powers.

It says new economic powers being handed to London Mayor Boris Johnson and to Scotland's Executive could potentially make it even harder for the North to compete.

Ed Cox, the Director of IPPR North, said: "In the past the North has looked to London to solve its economic problems but this Commission is designed to allow the North to forge its own future."

Extra powers

And Labour seems to agree. The party has been trying to get the Localism Bill amended to hand England's other cities the same powers being offered to London.

Under the bill, Boris Johnson will get extra powers over housing and regeneration, but nowhere else in England will benefit in the same way.

In the past the North has looked to London to solve its economic problems but this Commission is designed to allow the North to forge its own future”

End Quote Ed Cox Director, IPPR North

Labour says that's a mistake.

But is the government likely to listen?

It has of course created Local Enterprise Partnerships of businesses and councils, but so far the jury is well and truly out on whether they will have the money or powers to transform the north.

And the big pot of money for businesses - the Regional Growth Fund - is currently doled out by central government under the advice of a committee.

Councils are being offered the chance to keep their business rates, but many in the north are nervous of that because that might be more likely to benefit southern areas that are already economically successful.

And many in the Conservative section of the coalition believe the best approach is to cut red tape to allow businesses to thrive, rather than handing new powers to politicians.

Minister for Cities

But there has been one development of note this week.

The government is forming a ministerial group to look at how to promote economic growth in what's known as England's core cities - including Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will head up a new group looking at boosting the economies of English cities

It'll be chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and include a new Minister for Cities - the Teesside-born Tory MP Greg Clark.

It'll also be advised by Lord John Shipley, the former Lib Dem leader of Newcastle Council.

But it all risks sounding a little top-down again, with a group based in Whitehall discussing how those cities can grow.

Of course, those core cities will also get the chance to decide whether they want an elected mayor - and that might eventually see more powers pushed their way.

They are unlikely though to get the same kind of clout as Boris Johnson very soon.

And so although the north can continue to discuss the way forward for the regional economy, any masterplan drawn up by the IPPR's Commission will almost certainly still need to rely on action and support from central government in London.

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