Obama's secret death warrant on al-Awlaki revealed

President Obama's secret memorandum authorising the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki was only legally valid if he could not be taken alive, it has emerged.

The legal writ, issued by the Justice Department, tackled the issues surrounding the targeted killing of a U.S. citizen by the American government - on the surface an unconstitutional act.



The issuing of the document followed fraught negotiations between administration officials and lawyers at the DOJ.Constitutional? Anwar al-Awlaki - a U.S. born citizen - was killed using secret authorisation from the justice department

Killed: Anwar al-Awlaki, left, and Osama bin Laden have both died following attacks by the U.S.legal? Officials at both the White House and the Justice Department have since refused all requests to answer how fifth amendment rights - guaranteeing a fair trial for all U.S. citizens - were satisfied by the secret memorandum

Officials at both the White House and the Justice Department have since refused all requests to answer how fifth amendment rights - guaranteeing a fair trial for all U.S. citizens - were satisfied by the secret memorandum.

The New York Times revealed more information regarding the secret document today.

The paper reported the roughly 50-page document was completed by the DOJ's legal Counsel around June last year.

According to the paper: 'The deliberations to craft the memo included meetings in the White House Situation Room involving top lawyers for the Pentagon, State Department, National Security Council and intelligence agencies.

'It was principally drafted by David Barron and Martin Lederman, who were both lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel at the time, and was signed by Mr. Barron.'

The news follows the revelation that American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government aides.

Once the panel adds a terror suspect to its list it then informs the president, White House officials told Reuters.

There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House's National Security Council.

Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate.

The panel was behind the decision to add Awlaki, a U.S.-born militant preacher with alleged al Qaeda connections, to the target list. He was killed by a CIA drone strike in Yemen late last month.

The role of the president in ordering or ratifying a decision to target a citizen is fuzzy. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to discuss anything about the process.

Current and former officials said that to the best of their knowledge, Awlaki, who the White House said was a key figure in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate, had been the only American put on a government list targeting people for capture or death due to their alleged involvement with militants.

Police, protesters clash at US capital museum

Protesters march with signs past the White House during an “Occupation of Washington” rally in Washington on October 8, 2011.


Authorities shut down Washington’s popular National Air and Space Museum yesterday afternoon after antiwar protesters tried to enter the building and clashed with guards, a museum spokeswoman said.

One person was arrested during the melee at the Smithsonian museum involving between 150 and 200 protesters and six guards, museum spokeswoman Isabel Lara said.

“There was a lot of shoving going on,” Lara said, adding one of the guards was surrounded and used pepper spray before the demonstrators were moved outside. She said she was not aware of any injuries.

The shoving match broke out in a vestibule between two glass doors at the museum entrance after guards told the protesters they could not enter with signs, Lara said.

Protest organisers said the attempt to enter the museum on the National Mall was part of the Occupy D.C. antiwar demonstrations that began on Thursday on the 10th anniversary of the start of the Afghanistan war.



“Along with the Occupy Wall Street movement, it represents an upswell of people taking to the street around the country to demand social and economic justice as well as an end to the immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” organisers said in an e-mail sent to Reuters.

“It is outrageous that the security guard of a major museum in America pepper sprayed Americans as they entered the museum. The drones housed in this museum and the pepper spraying of Americans at the door are clear evidence of repression in America,” Retired Colonel Ann Wright said in the e-mail.

Drones are armed tactical unmanned planes used by the US government to track and attack insurgents overseas.

The museum, which draws 8 million visitors a year and is the most visited Smithsonian Institution museum, was shut down at 3:15pm (1915 GMT). Lara said it would reopen today.

NYC protesters may expand

Anti-Wall Street protests continued in New York City yesterday and in other US cities, although crowds outside New York have been much smaller.

“We’re tired of other people controlling, or thinking they control, our lives and our livelihoods,” said Kristin Thompson, a 22-year-old preschool teacher and one of 100 protesters in Mobile, Alabama.

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, about 250 protesters lined the streets outside a Bank of America branch, waving signs at passing vehicles.

Participants said they had been summoned via social network Internet sites, labor organisers, the liberal website MoveOn.org and members of the local Green Party.

“We are all in this together,” said Ramona Beene, 45, who owns a cake company.

She said her two college-age children were “spending thousands of dollars and won’t have jobs after they graduate.”

In New York, hundreds of protesters marched from lower Manhattan to Washington Square Park in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood — the site of protests against the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s — to discuss expanding their encampment to other sites.

Lucas Vasquez, a student leading the march, said protesters were looking at expanding into Washington Square and Battery Parks, but stressed, “We’re not going to give up Liberty Plaza” — the protesters’ name for Zuccotti Park near Wall Street, where about 250 have camped out around the clock.

“It’s sometimes hard to move around there. We have a lot of people,” he said.

At least 24 killed and 200 injured as Christians clash with Egyptian military in Cairo

At least 24 have died after fierce clashes erupted between Christians and the Egyptian military in Cairo yesterday.

A further 200 were injured in the rioting, sparked by a protest over a recent attack on a church in the South of the country.

Thousands gathered as the protest spread from outside the state television building along the Nile to nearby Tahrir Square.





Anger: Coptic Christians throw stones at a military vehicle.Victim: A protester is injured during the clashes with the military.Huge numbers: Thousands of Coptic Christians took part in the march.Before the clashes: The demonstrations began peacefully outside the state television station in central Cairo

The Christian protesters said their demonstration began as a peaceful sit-in at the television building.

But then, protester Essam Khalili said: ‘Thugs attacked us and a military vehicle jumped over a sidewalk and ran over at least ten people. I saw them.’

He said protesters set fire to army vehicles when they saw soldiers hitting Christians. But television footage of the riots also showed some of the Christian demonstrators attacking a soldier, while a priest tried to protect him.

Gunshots were heard as riot police tried to hold back the protesters as they chanted: ‘This is our country.’

After hours of intense clashes, chants of ‘Muslims, Christians one hand, one hand’ rang out, after which the protest calmed.

The clashes left streets littered with glass, stones, soot and ash.

Christians blame Egypt’s ruling military council for being too lenient on those behind a spate of anti-Christian attacks since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in February.

Riots have broken out in recent weeks at two churches in southern Egypt, prompted by Muslim crowds angry over church construction.

One riot broke out near the city of Aswan, even after church officials agreed to a demand by local ultraconservative Muslims, called Salafis, that a cross and bells be removed from the building.

Aswan’s governor, General Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, further raised tensions by telling the media that the church was being built on the site of a guesthouse, suggesting it was illegal.

Protesters said the Copts are demanding the ouster of the governor, reconstruction of the church, compensation for people whose houses were set on fire and prosecution of those behind the riots and attacks on the church.

Last week, security forces used force to disperse a similar protest in front of the state television building. Christians were angered by the treatment of the protesters and vowed to renew their demonstrations until their demands are met.

Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority makes up about 10 percent of the country’s 80million people

Libyan Forces Seize Key Locations in Sirte After Intense Battles

Libyan forces from Misrata said they wrested control of key buildings in Muammar Qaddafi's hometown of Sirte from his supporters, after several days of intense street fighting that left scores dead and ...

Pope condemns organised crime in south Italy visit

Pope Benedict leads the Sunday mass during his one day pastoral visit to the Italian southern city of Lamezia Terme October 9, 2011.

Pope Benedict today condemned “ferocious” organised crime groups in the southern Calabria region, where lawlessness, corruption and underdevelopment have resulted in one of Italy’s highest unemployment rates.

The pope, in a homily for tens of thousands of people from all over the region that forms the “toe” of Italy, said the area seemed to be in a constant state of emergency and that he wanted to encourage the people’s efforts to improve their condition.

“This is an area .... where problems exist in acute and destabilising forms, where crime groups that are often ferocious tear at the social fabric, a land that seems to be in a constant state of emergency,” he said.

Calabria is home to the ‘Ndrangheta, considered among the most dangerous and powerful crime syndicates in western Europe.



Investigators believe that the highly secretive Calabrian group has overtaken the Sicilian Mafia to dominate drug trafficking and extortion rackets in Europe and beyond.

Unemployment in Calabria, one of the most backward regions in Italy despite its potential in industries such as tourism and shipping, is about 32 per cent against a national rate of 7.9 per cent. Youth unemployment peaks at about 50 per cent in parts of the mostly mountainous and coastal region.

Lamezia’s mayor, Gianni Speranza, who has received threats from the mob because of his anti-crime programme, speaking before the pope, called Calabria “a land of suffering ... of unacceptable unemployment, of dramatic injustices and violence.”

In a damning assessment of Italy’s south, US diplomatic cables written in 2008 published by WikiLeaks this year describe Calabria as a region plagued by crooked or ineffective politicians, organised crime and a fatalistic people who are forced to pay protection money to the mob.

US diplomats said in their economic and social assessment that Calabria would be a “failed state” if it were independent.

The pope urged Calabrians to be “strong, hopeful and courageous” as they face the many difficulties in their region.

Combined annual turnover of Italy’s three main crime groups, the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, the Sicilian Mafia and the Neapolitan Camorra, is estimated at €135 billion (RM540 billion), according to business association SOS Impresa.

A clear sign of the ‘Ndrangheta spreading its tentacles into Europe came in 2007 when six Italians were killed in the Germany city of Duisburg in a feud between two of the group’s clans.

Clan links to northern banks and firms have helped them to expand into profitable sectors and recycle profits made from criminal activities, experts say.

Deadly Thai floods close factories, threaten Bangkok

Nearly 200 factories, including one run by Japanese car maker Honda Motor Co Ltd , closed in the central Thai province of Ayutthaya because of flooding, which could threaten Bangkok this week, officials said today.

About 261 people have died since late July in flood-related incidents, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said. Some 2.3 million people have been affected in the worst flooding to hit parts of Thailand in 50 years, mainly in the centre, north and northeast.

The Rojana estate in Ayutthaya province, run by Rojana Industrial Park Pcl , was flooded after a wall of sandbags failed to hold back water overnight.




“All 198 factories at Rojana have to be closed because the water is about 5.1 metres high,” Industry Minister Wannarat Channukul told Reuters.

A Honda spokeswoman said it had moved about 3,000 assembled cars from the estate to other areas. Hana Microelectronics Pcl has also had to close its plant in Ayutthaya.

On Thursday the Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting, part of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, cut its forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year to 3.6 per cent from 4.4 per cent because of the floods.

It put the impact of the flooding at between 1.0 and 1.3 percentage points of GDP and said its new growth forecast would have been lower but for recent strength in exports.

The commerce ministry said on Friday it had slashed its forecast for the main rice crop, which farmers are just starting to bring in, to 21 million tonnes from 25 million because of the flooding.

Thailand is the world’s biggest rice exporter. The crop damage will add to the pressure on export prices, already being forced up by the high buying price set under a government intervention scheme aimed at helping poor farmers.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said in a statement the authorities were preparing an evacuation plan to move people from affected areas if floods hit the capital, much of which is just two metres above sea level.

Some riverside areas have already suffered minor flooding but the level of the Chao Phraya River could rise sharply from October 15-18 when a large amount of water will reach the area from the north, where dams are close to overflowing, at a time of high sea tides.

The government was trying to accelerate the drainage of water from the Chao Phraya into the sea before the high tide.

Other Southeast Asian countries have suffered serious flooding in recent weeks because of heavy monsoon rains combined with tropical storms.

The death toll from two strong typhoons that cut across the north of the Philippines’ main island and left behind widespread flooding had risen to 101 as of today, the national disaster agency said.

At least 167 people had died in Cambodia by late last week and 15 in Vietnam.

Coptic Christian protesters clashed with security forces in Cairo yesterday 24 deaths

Coptic Christian protesters clashed with security forces in Cairo yesterday

Chaos on the interstate as huge dust storm blinds Arizona drivers and causes multiple pile-ups as one driver dies

A blinding dust storm rolled across the Arizona desert Tuesday, causing three pile-ups involving dozens of vehicles on a major interstate. A 70-year-old man was killed and at least 15 other people were injured, authorities said.

The first two crashes occurred just after noon as a dust storm suddenly covered Interstate 10 near Picacho, about midway between Phoenix and Tucson. Those collisions involved 16 vehicles and led to the fatality.

Video showed dust roiling over dozens of cars, tractor-trailers and ambulances pulled over or strewn about the highway. Authorities were unable to transport injured motorists by helicopter because of the heavy dust.

One man was killed and at least 15 other people were injured in the accident, authorities said.Arizona Department of Public Safety officers and other emergency personnel make their way around vehicles involved in a crash on Interstate 10
The pile-ups involved a number of larger vehicles as well as cars
State public safety officers brave the dust storm to help in the massive clear-up operation






'It looked like a war zone,' Patrick Calhoun, one of the first rescuers to responder to the scene, told The Associated Press. 'This has been one of the worst pileups we've had on the I-10.'

Calhoun, with the Avra Valley Fire District, said the man who died was in the passenger seat of a car driven by his wife. Their car had slammed into the back of a semi and was lodged underneath it, killing the man almost instantly and leaving the woman critically injured in a semiconscious state of shock.

Calhoun said it took 45 minutes to hook up winches to the vehicle, pull it out and then cut the woman out of the car to take her to a hospital.

A second vehicle also was lodged under a semi, Calhoun said, and two people were extricated in a similar manner before being taken to a hospital.

A third pileup occurred almost two hours later on I-10 just north of Casa Grande and involved eight vehicles. No one was killed in that collision; two people had serious but non-life-threatening injuries, Graves said.

Katie Maass, a spokeswoman at University Medical Center in Tucson, said the hospital was treating 12 patients involved in the collisions. Three were listed as critical and the other nine were in serious condition as of Tuesday evening.

Authorities closed the interstate for most of the afternoon. They reopened the eastbound lanes around 5:45 p.m., and Graves said officials hoped to have westbound lanes reopened by 10 p.m.

Two other crashes later in the day likely were the result of dust, authorities said. A crash involving two tractor-trailers and a small car on I-10 near the Gila River Indian Community south of Phoenix seriously injured two people. Another crash on I-10 near Tonopah, west of Phoenix, didn't involve major injuries, authorities said.

Dust storms are common across Arizona during dry and windy conditions, and walls of dust more than a mile high can blanket an area in a matter of seconds, sometimes reducing visibility to zero.

Winds from the southwest were gusting at up to 40 mph throughout Arizona on Tuesday, said Jessica Nolte, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix.

"These winds have accumulated so much that when they move through the region they start to pick up the dry top soil," she said. "It can be a very rapid development."

The Phoenix area was enveloped in a beige haze for much of the day, obscuring the view of the mountains that surround the metropolitan area.

The winds should taper off Tuesday evening and into Wednesday, Nolte said. Another weather system was expected to move into Arizona on Thursday, and Nolte said it could generate gusts as strong as Tuesday's.

Nolte said the weather service did not issue a dust storm warning before it occurred but did warn people about the strong winds.

Although it was still early to evaluate the extent of Tuesday's damage, Graves said dust storms have created worse crashes.

One strong winter storm wreaked havoc in 2009 near Casa Grande, killing three people dead in a series of fiery crashes caused by thick, blowing dust on I-10. One of those killed was a man whose vehicle was rear-ended by his father's truck. Two teenage siblings also died.

'We did not have that, fortunately, in this situation,' Graves said. 'While it's sad there's a fatality and it's serious, it could have been a lot worse.'

Riot-hit Britain plans to put prisoners to work

Britain wants to put more prisoners to work in an attempt to rehabilitate a “growing feral underclass” blamed for riots that swept English cities two months ago, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said today.

Manchester, hosting the annual conference of the ruling Conservatives, was one of a number of English cities hit by rioting and looting that rippled out from London after police shot and killed a black suspect in August.

Clarke, a veteran viewed as a moderate in the centre-right party, won backing for his plan from a group of business executives led by Richard Branson, chairman of travel and entertainment company Virgin Group.




“I want to see hard work flourishing in every single jail in the UK,” Clarke said.

Clarke said that more than three-quarters of those charged after the summer riots were repeat offenders and that putting them to work while behind bars would help to break that cycle.

Britain has one of the highest prison populations in western Europe and a poor record in rehabilitating offenders.

“Our feral underclass is too big, has been growing, and needs to be diminished,” Clarke said.

Branson and the head of retailer Marks & Spencer were among eight company bosses to support the initiative. They said there was a “large number of potential superstars” languishing in prison and held back by their criminal records when freed.

“Offenders can gain some relevant skills, and have the opportunity to experience the world of employment before they leave prison,” the business leaders wrote in a letter to the Financial Times.

The worst riots in decades have not affected the poll ratings of the Conservatives who have ruled in coalition with the left-leaning Liberal Democrats since May 2010.

The Conservatives are viewed as the “law and order” party and Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May struck a hardline tone that drew applause from activists at the conference. She blamed the riots on “greed and criminality, fuelled by a culture of irresponsibility and entitlement”.

May said she would this month publish a strategy to tackle gang culture that is blamed for much of the violence in Britain’s inner cities.

May pledged to curb immigration and to change the law to make it easier to deport foreigners convicted of crime.

London Mayor Boris Johnson, a maverick whose jovial manner hides fierce political ambition, fired a warning shot across the bows of a government which is cutting police budgets as part of its austerity drive.

Police flooded the streets to quell the riots and Johnson said Londoners were desperate there should be no repeat in the capital that will host the Olympics next year.

“I can tell you that as long as I am mayor, I will not allow police numbers to fall below a level that I believe is safe or reasonable for a great city,” said Johnson, who faces a re-election battle with Labour rival Ken Livingstone next May.

Libya NTC forces expect to take Sirte in 48 hours

Smoke is seen rising over the city of Sirte on October 4, 2011, during clashes between anti-Gaddafi fighters and Gaddafi forces.

Forces with Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) now control more than half of Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte and believe they will have the city under their complete control within two days, a local NTC commander told Reuters today.

“More than half of the city is under the control of the rebels,” said the commander, Adel Al-Hasi. “In two days, God willing, Sirte will be free.”