One American Confirmed Dead in Algeria

U.S. officials told ABC News that at least one American has been killed in the hostage standoff at an Algerian gas plant, and the family of the deceased American has been notified.

An al Qaeda-linked group called the Masked Brigade and led by the one-eyed jihadi Mokhtar Belmokhtar raided the BP joint venture facility in In Amenas on Wednesday, taking an undetermined number of hostages from more than half a dozen nations, including at least two Americans.

On Friday, the group demanded the release of two convicted terrorists held in U.S. prisons, including the "blind sheikh" who helped plan the first attack on New York's World Trade Center, in exchange for the freedom of two American hostages, according to an African news service.

The terror group reportedly contacted a Mauritanian news service with the offer. In addition to the release of Omar Abdel-Rahman, who planned the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, they demanded the release of Aifia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist who shot at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in 2008.

Asked about the unconfirmed report of a proposed swap, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said firmly, "The United States does not negotiate with terrorists." She repeated the statement again when questioned further. She also said she was not prepared to get into any details about the status of Americans in "an ongoing hostage situation."

At least three Americans were being held hostage by the militants when the Algerian military mounted a rescue operation at the facility Thursday that reportedly resulted in casualties.

Five other Americans who were at the facility when it was attacked by the terrorists are now safe and believed to have left the country, according to U.S. officials.

Algeria Hostage Situation: Military Operation Mounted Watch Video

Reports that dozens of hostages were killed during the Algerian military's attempt to retake the compound have not been confirmed, though Algeria's information minister has confirmed that there were casualties. It's known by U.S. and foreign officials that multiple British, Japanese and Norwegian hostages were killed.

According to an unconfirmed report by an African news outlet, the militants said seven hostages survived the attack, including two Americans, one Briton, three Belgians and a Japanese national. U.S. officials monitoring the case had no information indicating any Americans have been injured or killed, but said the situation is fluid and casualties cannot be ruled out.

On Friday, a U.S. military plane evacuated between 10 and 20 people in need of medical attention, none of them American, from In Amenas and took them to an American medical facility in Europe. A second U.S. plane is preparing to evacuate additional passengers in need of medical attention.

British Prime Minister David Cameron told parliament today that the terror attack "appears to have been a large, well coordinated and heavily armed assault and it is probable that it had been pre-planned."

"The terrorist group is believed to have been operating under Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a criminal terrorist and smuggler who has been operating in Mali and in the region for a number of years," said Cameron.

Cameron said Algerian security forces are still in action at the facility. On Thursday, he said that the situation was "very bad … A number of British citizens have been taken hostage. Already, we know of one who has died. ... I think we should be prepared for the possibility for further bad news, very difficult news in this extremely difficult situation."

The kidnappers had earlier released a statement saying there are "more than 40 crusaders" held "including 7 Americans."

U.S. officials had previously confirmed to ABC News that there were at least three Americans held hostage at the natural gas facility jointly owned by BP, the Algerian national oil company and a Norwegian firm at In Amenas, Algeria.

"I want to assure the American people that the United States will take all necessary and proper steps that are required to deal with this situation," said Panetta. "I don't think there's any question that [this was] a terrorist act and that the terrorists have affiliation with al Qaeda."

He said the precise motivation of the kidnappers was unknown.

"They are terrorists, and they will do terrorist acts," he said.

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Only certain folks qualify for memorabilia

Eager to get a little presidential swag, a few gifts for people coming to town to attend the inauguration?

You can do it online at the Presidential Inauguration Store, where you’ll find items ranging from caps for $10 to fancy designer clothes for around $125, to a “medallion set” for $7,500.

It’s simple: You just click on the item you want and then “add to cart.” When you’re done shopping, you click on “Go to checkout.” Don’t forget to “apply discount code,” which is “2013” and gets you a 15 percent discount.

Then you fill out the standard billing form: name, address, credit card info. You also have to say who your employer is and give your occupation. Then there’s this: “If this donation is from an entity rather than an individual, please provide the name of that entity here.”

Donation? Well, whatever. But then, before you can get to the final purchase, there’s this:

“By clicking this button I certify” six things: that you are over 16, that you’re a citizen or lawful resident, that if you are a company it’s an American one, that the money is not from a political action committee, that no one’s giving you money to make the “donation,” and that you are not a registered lobbyist.

That’s right. While the committee has dropped the ban on corporate contributions that it had during the last inaugural preparations, it will not accept money from certain employees of those corporations.

Probably not a good idea to lie on the form, so some lobbyists, sadly, may be swag-less.

“My children will be devastated to learn that I will be unable to bring home the much-sought-after $5 presidential dog button,” said
Peter Goelz
, former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board and a current registered lobbyist. “Will the humiliation ever cease?”

But wait! If you’re in town — as many lobbyists naturally are — you can go to the inauguration store at 1155 F St. NW and buy stuff there, no questions asked.

But if you buy more than $200 worth of stuff, you have to sign a form (for the Federal Election Commission) and — uh-oh — you must “certify” that you are not a “currently registered lobbyist.”

So you can “donate” some cash for swag, just no more than $200. Unclear whether you can shop there every day.

Watch your back

The Oscars won’t be given for another month, but there are other awards worthy of note.

We got this announcement Thursday from the Italian American Democratic Leadership Council about Obama’s 2012 campaign manager: “Jim Messina to receive Machiavelli Award as the Italian American Democrat of the Year at Inaugural Reception Sunday.”

The council says the “award honors the legacy of Niccolo Machiavelli, the first political scientist, and showcases a current political mastermind.”

Quite so. Of course Machiavelli, author of “The Prince,” is best remembered for counseling that, on occasion, opponents need to be dealt with most forcefully. Hmmm.

Kerry’s orbit . . .

He’s been a senator for 28 years, ran for president in 2004 and chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but Secretary of State-in-waiting John Kerry doesn’t have a large stable of foreign policy aides and pals to take with him should he be confirmed.

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Euro gains despite US economic data; yen loses

NEW YORK: The US dollar slipped against the euro Thursday despite encouraging US data on housing and jobs, while the yen slumped to new multi-year lows on speculation of new easing.

The euro benefited from more positive remarks from regional leaders and solid results of a Spanish bond auction, analysts said.

"The Euro rallied to 1.3376 as the European Central Bank and European Union President Herman Van Rompuy stirred hopes of seeing the euro-area return to growth in 2013, but optimism surrounding the single currency may fail to materialize as the debt crisis continues to drag on the real economy," said David Song of DailyFX.

Also helping was strong investor enthusiasm at a US$4.5 billion Spanish bond auction, pushing the troubled government's borrowing costs lower.

At 2200 GMT the euro was at US$1.3375, compared to US$1.3286 late Wednesday.

The US dollar failed to get a boost from a strong fall in weekly jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, and a rebound in housing starts in December, showing sustained strength in the housing sector.

The yen meanwhile fell to a fresh 30 month low. The dollar topped the 90 yen level briefly before slipping back to 89.86 yen, compared to 88.37 a day earlier.

The euro rose to 120.20 yen, its best level since April 2011, up from 117.42 Wednesday.

David Gilmore of Foreign Exchange Analytics, said speculation was rising that the Bank of Japan could add to stimulus measures in its next policy meeting on January 21-22.

The British pound fell to US$1.5992 from US$1.6006, while the US dollar gained to 0.9322 Swiss francs from 0.9309 francs.

- AFP/jc

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MHA inquiry finds PCR response could have swifter in Nirbhaya case

NEW DELHI: An inquiry by the home ministry into allegations made by Nirbhaya's friend about the "tardy" response of Delhi Police in reaching her to hospital has found that the response time could indeed have been better.

The inquiry report by Veena Kumari Meena, a joint secretary in the home ministry, also said Dinesh Yadav, operator of the bus on which the gang rape took place, had been blatantly flouting norms by plying not only the rogue bus despite repeated challans, but was also running several other buses in his fleet without valid permits.

Sources in the government told TOI that Meena noted that though the PCRs responded to the distress call made on Nirbhaya's behalf within "reasonable" time and, as per PCR logs, left the spot within 15 minutes, this time could have been cut further had the police "reacted better" to the emergency.

Though exact details of the report are still awaited, sources hinted that the inquiry faulted Delhi Police for failing to immediately rush the victims to hospital despite the first PCR having reached the spot at 10.27 pm, by the police's own account. According to the Delhi Police, the control room received a call about the incident at 10.21 pm on December 16. PCR van Z-54 was assigned the call but another PCR, E-74, reached the spot on its own at 10.27 pm. Z-54 was there at 10.29 pm.

Z-54 finally left the spot with Nirbhaya and her friend at 10.39 pm, after arranging bed-sheets from a nearby hotel to cover them.

Nirbhaya's friend had, in an interview to a news channel, alleged that the PCRs which reached the spot wasted crucial time in arguing over jurisdiction and that the police were reluctant to shift an injured Nirbhaya to the PCR.

However, joint commissioner of police Vivek Gogia denied this, saying, "There was no issue over jurisdiction as PCR vans do not operate under police stations."

The inquiry was set up on January 7 to assess the alacrity of Delhi Police as well as the response of Safdarjung Hospital staff to the December 16 rape. Meena was asked to identify lapses and fix responsibility.

The terms of reference also included examining how the rogue bus continued to ply on Delhi roads despite being challaned several times, and to study the responsiveness of Dial 100 helpline.

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Opinion: Lance One of Many Tour de France Cheaters

Editor's note: England-based writer and photographer Roff Smith rides around 10,000 miles a year through the lanes of Sussex and Kent and writes a cycling blog at: www.my-bicycle-and-I.co.uk

And so, the television correspondent said to the former Tour de France champion, a man who had been lionised for years, feted as the greatest cyclist of his day, did you ever use drugs in the course of your career?

"Yes," came the reply. "Whenever it was necessary."

"And how often was that?" came the follow-up question.

"Almost all the time!"

This is not a leak of a transcript from Oprah Winfrey's much anticipated tell-all with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, but instead was lifted from a decades-old interview with Fausto Coppi, the great Italian road cycling champion of the 1940s and 1950s.

To this day, though, Coppi is lauded as one of the gods of cycling, an icon of a distant and mythical golden age in the sport.

So is five-time Tour winner Jacques Anquetil (1957, 1961-64) who famously remarked that it was impossible "to ride the Tour on mineral water."

"You would have to be an imbecile or a crook to imagine that a professional cyclist who races for 235 days a year can hold the pace without stimulants," Anquetil said.

And then there's British cycling champion Tommy Simpson, who died of heart failure while trying to race up Mont Ventoux during the 1967 Tour de France, a victim of heat, stress, and a heady cocktail of amphetamines.

All are heroes today. If their performance-enhancing peccadillos are not forgotten, they have at least been glossed over in the popular imagination.

As the latest chapter of the sorry Lance Armstrong saga unfolds, it is worth looking at the history of cheating in the Tour de France to get a sense of perspective. This is not an attempt at rationalisation or justification for what Lance did. Far from it.

But the simple, unpalatable fact is that cheating, drugs, and dirty tricks have been part and parcel of the Tour de France nearly from its inception in 1903.

Cheating was so rife in the 1904 event that Henri Desgrange, the founder and organiser of the Tour, declared he would never run the race again. Not only was the overall winner, Maurice Garin, disqualified for taking the train over significant stretches of the course, but so were next three cyclists who placed, along with the winner of every single stage of the course.

Of the 27 cyclists who actually finished the 1904 race, 12 were disqualified and given bans ranging from one year to life. The race's eventual official winner, 19-year-old Henri Cornet, was not determined until four months after the event.

And so it went. Desgrange relented on his threat to scrub the Tour de France and the great race survived and prospered-as did the antics. Trains were hopped, taxis taken, nails scattered along the roads, partisan supporters enlisted to beat up rivals on late-night lonely stretches of the course, signposts tampered with, bicycles sabotaged, itching powder sprinkled in competitors' jerseys and shorts, food doctored, and inkwells smashed so riders yet to arrive couldn't sign the control documents to prove they'd taken the correct route.

And then of course there were the stimulants-brandy, strychnine, ether, whatever-anything to get a rider through the nightmarishly tough days and nights of racing along stages that were often over 200 miles long. In a way the race was tailor-made to encourage this sort of thing. Desgrange once famously said that his idea of a perfect Tour de France would be one that was so tough that only one rider finished.

Add to this the big prizes at a time when money was hard to come by, a Tour largely comprising young riders from impoverished backgrounds for whom bicycle racing was their one big chance to get ahead, and the passionate following cycling enjoyed, and you had the perfect recipe for a desperate, high stakes, win-at-all-costs mentality, especially given the generally tolerant views on alcohol and drugs in those days.

After World War II came the amphetamines. Devised to keep soldiers awake and aggressive through long hours of battle they were equally handy for bicycle racers competing in the world's longest and toughest race.

So what makes the Lance Armstrong story any different, his road to redemption any rougher? For one thing, none of the aforementioned riders were ever the point man for what the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has described in a thousand-page report as the most sophisticated, cynical, and far-reaching doping program the world of sport has ever seen-one whose secrecy and efficiency was maintained by ruthlessness, bullying, fear, and intimidation.

Somewhere along the line, the casualness of cheating in the past evolved into an almost Frankenstein sort of science in which cyclists, aided by creepy doctors and trainers, were receiving blood transfusions in hotel rooms and tinkering around with their bodies at the molecular level many months before they ever lined up for a race.

To be sure, Armstrong didn't invent all of this, any more than he invented original sin-nor was he acting alone. But with his success, money, intelligence, influence, and cohort of thousand-dollar-an-hour lawyers-and the way he used all this to prop up the Lance brand and the Lance machine at any cost-he became the poster boy and lightning rod for all that went wrong with cycling, his high profile eclipsing even the heads of the Union Cycliste Internationale, the global cycling union, who richly deserve their share of the blame.

It is not his PED popping that is the hard-to-forgive part of the Lance story. Armstrong cheated better than his peers, that's all.

What I find troubling is the bullying and calculated destruction of anyone who got in his way, raised a question, or cast a doubt. By all accounts Armstrong was absolutely vicious, vindictive as hell. Former U.S. Postal team masseuse Emma O'Reilly found herself being described publicly as a "prostitute" and an "alcoholic," and had her life put through a legal grinder when she spoke out about Armstrong's use of PEDs.

Journalists were sued, intimidated, and blacklisted from events, press conferences, and interviews if they so much as questioned the Lance miracle or well-greased machine that kept winning Le Tour.

Armstrong left a lot of wreckage behind him.

If he is genuinely sorry, if he truly repents for his past "indiscretions," one would think his first act would be to try to find some way of not only seeking forgiveness from those whom he brutally put down, but to do something meaningful to repair the damage he did to their lives and livelihoods.

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Biden Confirms Support for Second Amendment

Jan 17, 2013 6:41pm

Alex Wong/Getty Images

One day after President Obama unveiled the administration’s plan to curb gun violence, Vice President Joe Biden today defended their intentions, answering critics who have spoken out against the plan for potentially infringing on the Second Amendment rights of Americans.

“The president and I support the Second Amendment,”  Biden said definitively.

Biden, who’s led the task force on gun violence since the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, noted that he owns guns.

“I have two shotguns, a 20-gauge and a 12-gauge shotgun,” he said. Later in the speech he said his son Beau was a better shot than he is but that is because Beau is in the Army.

Biden spoke today before the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors’ meeting in Washington, D.C. Not everyone in the audience, Biden noted today, agrees with recommendations the White House put forward yesterday. But he defended the administration’s move to push this issue, at one point addressing the roomful of mayors as if he were speaking to them individually, saying that “murder rates in both of our towns are …  well beyond … what’s remotely tolerable for a civilized circumstance.”

“We’re going to take this fight to the halls of Congress,” he said. “We’re going to take it beyond that. We’re going to take it to the American people. We’re going to go around the country making our case, and we’re going to let the voices, the voice, of the American people be heard. ”

Biden again noted that there will not be consensus across the nation, given cultural differences among the states. In many states, he added, hunting is  “big deal.”

But, he quipped, addressing the use of high-capacity magazines in hunting, “As one hunter told me, if you got 12 rounds — you got 12 rounds, it means you’ve already missed the deer 11 times. You should pack the sucker in at that point. You don’t deserve to have a gun, period, if you’re that bad.”

High-capacity ammunition magazines “leave victims with no chance,” Biden said.

He summed up saying, “Recognizing those differences doesn’t in any way negate the rational prospect of being able to come up with common-sense approaches how to deal with the myriad of problems that relate to gun ownership.”

Biden said the “time is now” to make these changes and scoffed at some alternative strategies, like the proposal from the NRA for an armed guard to be placed in every school.

“We don’t want rent-a-cops in schools armed,” he said. “We don’t want people in schools who aren’t trained like police officers.”

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Ken Salazar, and his bolo tie, let loose

Deficit hawks might be alarmed by the news that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
plans to step down. Salazar, after all, was a tremendous bargain for taxpayers: Thanks to a constitutional provision, he was paid only $180,000 a year, about 20 grand less than most other Cabinet secretaries (the Constitution bars legislators from holding positions in the executive branch for which they raised the salaries, and Salazar voted to hike Cabinet pay when he was in the Senate. So, under the dodge known as “The Saxbe Fix,” he has to make do with the previous salary level.

It’s unlikely that his successor, whomever that may be, will face similar constraints, so the new guy (or gal?) will cost a bit more.

But there’s reason for those who fear for the nation’s debt to take heart. According to the Loop’s back-of-the-envelope calculations, the federal purse will still come out way ahead in the changing of the Cabinet guard during President Obama’s second term. That’s because we’ll wind up saving millions when we no longer have to pay for CIA Director Leon Panetta
to fly back and forth from Washington to his California home.

It’s not clear what the final tally will be for Panetta’s cross-country commute — made on a military jet, a mode of transportation required for his sensitive security-crucial position — but it was estimated at $800,000 back in April of last year, and the bill has been steadily growing since then.

Panetta announced this month that he’s stepping down. Ka-ching!

Makes the Salazar savings seem like a drop in the bucket.

That song again?

How can you tell when budget season is approaching? It’s when you start getting missives from the agencies explaining why their work is absolutely essential and costs taxpayers peanuts.

For example, we got a “fact sheet” from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development titled “Ten Things You Should Know About the State Department.”

“We create American jobs,” the handout says, and “directly support 20 million U.S. jobs” by promoting open markets and such. They also provide emergency aid to Americans abroad, try to “make the world a safer place,” work to improve global health, development and the like.

The department has put out this information in the past, but it doesn’t seem to get through. The polls consistently show that strong majorities of Americans favor cutting aid programs and think foreign aid is up to 25 percent of the budget. (Actually, the cost for State and USAID combined is about 1 percent of the budget, the fact sheet says.)

As defense secretary, Robert Gates
drew laughs when he quoted his predecessor Condoleezza Rice as saying that “we have more people in military bands than they have in the Foreign Service.” The bands cost an estimated $500 million a year.

So maybe if the Foreign Service officers practiced and got better at playing tubas and timbales, they could wow visiting congressional delegations and boost the budget?

Across the pond

Think you know who the next U.S. ambassadors to Ireland and the United Kingdom will be?

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Cricket: Warne faces new ban

SYDNEY: Australian veteran Shane Warne is facing a new ban for an alleged breach of the spirit of the game in a domestic Twenty20 match, Cricket Australia said Thursday.

The bowling great apologised last week after a foul-mouthed rant against West Indian all-rounder Marlon Samuels that earned him a ban and a fine in Australia's Big Bash League.

But in Wednesday night's semi-final Warne, the official Melbourne Stars skipper, was not listed as captain for the match they lost against Perth Scorchers.

Cricket Australia said they had recently sent a memo to BBL teams about the captaincy role.

"If a team's official captain is selected but not named as captain, this will be considered against the spirit of cricket and may attract a code of behaviour charge," CA said.

"Warne has been reported for breaching CA's code of behaviour," it said.

The time and date of Warne's hearing was yet to be fixed.

The 43-year-old spinner, who was banned for one match and fined A$4,500 over the Samuels row, claimed 708 Test wickets in a celebrated career.

But he has also courted controversy, notably when he was fined for accepting money from a bookmaker and sent home from the 2003 World Cup for taking a banned diuretic.

- AFP/jc

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Pak commerce minister’s India visit under cloud

NEW DELHI: Economic engagement can be carried forward in an environment of peace and stability and it is for Pakistan to realize where the well-being of its economy lies, commerce minister Anand Sharma said on Wednesday.

Sharma said the incident along the Line of Control was "horrific, unacceptable and highly provocative", but he did not announce any scrapping of trade ties or a pause in the trade dialogue.

India and Pakistan have made considerable progress in normalizing trade and economic relations. The two countries have held several rounds of discussions while Sharma has led a high profile business delegation to Pakistan. The two sides have also vowed to boost economic ties and Islamabad had promised to accord Most Favoured Nation status to India. Although it has missed the December deadline, expectations are that Pakistan will fulfil its promise shortly.

Pakistani trade minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim is expected to take part in a conference in Agra later this month. Officials say Pakistan is expected to announce full MFN status to India during his visit but the heightened tension between the two nuclear-armed neighbours has cast doubts on the trip.

"As of now, we have not given any consideration to this matter in a negative sense, because, yes what has happened is horrific, it is unacceptable, highly provocative," Sharma said. He added, "And this is for Pakistan to realize that where the well-being of the economies of the countries lies. Economic engagement can be enhanced in an environment of peace and stability and anything which undermines that environment is not conducive."

Sharma said economic engagement was the only way forward to peace and stability. "And there is no other way forward for this region. So it is for Pakistan to take action and hold those who are responsible for this horrific act not only accountable but to punish them. That would be in Pakistan's own interest, not only for bilateral relations but its global image as a responsible nation state," he added.

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6 Ways Climate Change Will Affect You

Photograph by AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

The planet keeps getting hotter, new data showed this week. Especially in America, where 2012 was the warmest year ever recorded, by far. Every few years, the U.S. federal government engages hundreds of experts to assess the impacts of climate change, now and in the future.

From agriculture (pictured) to infrastructure to how humans consume energy, the National Climate Assessment Development Advisory Committee spotlights how a warming world may bring widespread disruption.

Farmers will see declines in some crops, while others will reap increased yields.

Won't more atmospheric carbon mean longer growing seasons? Not quite. Over the next several decades, the yield of virtually every crop in California's fertile Central Valley, from corn to wheat to rice and cotton, will drop by up to 30 percent, researchers expect. (Read about "The Carbon Bathtub" in National Geographic magazine.)

Lackluster pollination, driven by declines in bees due partly to the changing climate, is one reason. Government scientists also expect the warmer climate to shorten the length of the frosting season necessary for many crops to grow in the spring.

Aside from yields, climate change will also affect food processing, storage, and transportation—industries that require an increasing amount of expensive water and energy as global demand rises—leading to higher food prices.

—Daniel Stone

Published January 16, 2013

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