U.S. Embassy in Syria Halts Operations as Violence Flares - NYTimes.com

The United States closed its embassy in Syria on Monday and withdrew all staff members amid escalating mayhem in what American officials called the Syrian government's unbridled repression of an 11-month-old uprising that has become the bloodiest conflict in the Arab revolts.

The confrontation in Syria has turned even more violent and more unpredictable, while diplomatic efforts have largely collapsed, save for a Russian delegation visiting Damascus on Tuesday. Both the Syrian government and its opposition have signaled that each believes the grinding conflict will only be resolved through force of arms.

For weeks, Western embassies have reduced their staffs, and on Monday, Britain also recalled its ambassador for consultations. Echoing a cascade of diplomatic invective, the British foreign secretary, William Hague, described the mounting violence as yet more evidence that President Bashar al-Assad had no option but to surrender power.

"This is a doomed regime as well as a murdering regime," he said in a statement to the House of Commons. "There is no way it can recover its credibility internationally."

Obama tightens sanctions on Iran's finances - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

US President Barack Obama has tightened sanctions on Iran, including its central bank, seeking to increase pressure on the country's economy as a nuclear showdown intensifies.

Obama signed an executive order on Sunday that implements parts of a new sanctions regime passed by congress late last year, allowing US institutions to freeze all property and interests of the Iranian government. The order took effect on Monday.

Obama's decision comes amid high tensions with Iran, which has threatened to close the crucial Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil and natural gas shipping lane from the Gulf. Israel has also suggested it may attack Iran's nuclear sites soon, insisting that the government in Tehran is close to being able to build a nuclear weapon.

The executive order allows US institutions to freeze all property and interests of the Iranian government, the central bank of Iran and all Iranian financial institutions that come within US jurisdiction. Previously, US banks were required to reject and send back, rather than block and freeze, Iranian transactions.

In a letter to Congress, Obama said more sanctions were warranted, "particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks.'' He said the problems included the hiding of transactions of sanctioned parties, the deficiencies of Iran's anti-money laundering regime and the unacceptably high risk posed to the entire international financial system by Iran's activities.

The measures, passed with wide majorities in congress last year, also included a requirement for Obama to impose sanctions on foreign financial institutions that do business with the Iranian central bank or other finance firms, but Obama did not implement those sanctions on Monday.

Over 1 500 Malians flee Tuareg conflict - News - Mail & Guardian Online

More than 1 500 Malians fleeing a Tuareg rebellion in the north and reprisal attacks in Bamako have found refuge in neighbouring Burkina Faso, a security official said on Monday.

"We have more than 1 500 Malians who have found refuge inside our borders," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"There are those who are fleeing the fighting in the north and those fleeing the abuses committed in Bamako," he said, adding that deserting soldiers and paramilitary forces were also among the refugees.

He said that the refugees had come to the capital Ouagadougou and to the country's second city of Bobo Dioulasso, 365km to the west.

The Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA) and other Tuareg rebels seeking more autonomy launched a major offensive in north Mali on January 17, sparking clashes that have killed dozens on both sides.

Retaliatory mob attacks in Bamako mainly targeting property owned by Tuaregs -- a nomadic tribe of Berber origin -- and other light-skinned communities such as Arabs and Mauritanians have also been reported.

Army Colonel Challenges Pentagon's Afghanistan Reports - NYTimes.com

And then, late last month, Colonel Davis, 48, began an unusual one-man campaign of military truth-telling. He wrote two reports, one unclassified and the other classified, summarizing his observations on the candor gap with respect to Afghanistan. He briefed four members of Congress and a dozen staff members, spoke with a reporter for The New York Times, sent his reports to the Defense Department's inspector general -- and only then informed his chain of command that he had done so.

"How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding?" Colonel Davis asks in an article summarizing his views titled "Truth, Lies and Afghanistan: How Military Leaders Have Let Us Down." It was published online Sunday in The Armed Forces Journal, the nation's oldest independent periodical on military affairs. "No one expects our leaders to always have a successful plan," he says in the article. "But we do expect -- and the men who do the living, fighting and dying deserve -- to have our leaders tell us the truth about what's going on."

Colonel Davis says his experience has caused him to doubt reports of progress in the war from numerous military leaders, including David H. Petraeus, who commanded the troops in Afghanistan before becoming the director of the Central Intelligence Agency in June.

Last March, for example, Mr. Petraeus, then an Army general, testified before the Senate that the Taliban's momentum had been "arrested in much of the country" and that progress was "significant," though fragile, and "on the right azimuth" to allow Afghan forces to take the lead in combat by the end of 2014.

Colonel Davis fiercely disputes such assertions and says few of the troops believe them. At the same time, he is acutely aware of the chasm in stature that separates him from those he is criticizing, and he has no illusions about the impact his public stance may have on his career.

Saudi Women Sue for Right to Drive - WSJ.com

A court in Saudi Arabia agreed to hear the first lawsuits by Saudi women challenging the kingdom's de facto ban on women driving, a lawyer for one of the women said.

The legal push is a shift by activists after years of simply appealing to Saudi leaders for permission to drive and, more rarely, taking to the roads in small numbers to test enforcement.

Since mid-2011, the limited push to win women the right to drive has been one of the few fronts in a country largely bypassed by the Arab Spring activist movements of the past year.

The lawsuits, one of them by Manal al-Sharif, who founded small movement last year called Women2Drive, risk a backlash from the public and officials in the conservative kingdom.

But with no breakthroughs in a campaign for the right to drive begun by Saudi women during the first Gulf war in the early 1990s, it was time to change tactics, said Ms. Sharif, a 32-year-old Saudi computer consultant.

"It's 22 years now," she said. "We have to just finish it."

BBC News - Tibetan officials warned to maintain stability

The Tibetan regional government has warned its officials to maintain stability or face dismissal or criminal charges ahead of the Tibetan new year.

The notice was posted on the regional government website.

It follows a series of deadly protests in Sichuan province in January and the self-immolations of 19 ethnic Tibetans in the past year in apparent protest against Chinese rule.

Tibet celebrates its new year on 22 February.

The anniversary of deadly 2008 riots in Lhasa falls shortly afterwards, on 14 March.

BBC News - Thousands evacuated from Queensland flooding

Floods continue to threaten Queensland in eastern Australia, with the town of St George expected to be worst hit.

Thousands have been evacuated from the area, which is seeing its third major flood in less than two years.

The Balonne River in St George reached 13.48 metres on Monday and was expected to keep rising to a peak of 14-15 metres by late Tuesday.

Despite a mandatory order to leave, about 400 residents remained in town, Australian media reported.

''The danger area now is St George,'' Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told ABC News.

The evacuation, which she said was the largest ever for a town in the state, was orderly.

MercoPress: Troops locked down the northeast Brazilian city of Salvador on Sunday as an elite unit prepared to besiege the legislature and arrest armed police officers whose strike action has sent homicides spiralling.

MEXICO CITY - The capital's Human Rights Commission said Monday that 134 attacks on communications professionals, including 11 murders, took place in Mexico last year.

SANTO DOMINGO - Eighteen people are now confirmed dead in a shipwreck over the weekend off the northeastern Dominican Republic, while rescue teams continue to search for dozens of people missing in the accident, officials said Monday. The small boat, which was carrying more than 70 illegal immigrants bound for Puerto Rico, sank early Saturday.

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- The leader of the Cuban Revolution and former president of Cuba, Fidel Castro, attended the launch on Friday of his memoirs, a two-volume book titled "Fidel Castro Ruz: Guerrillero del Tiempo" (Fidel Castro Ruz: Guerrilla of Time), at Havana's Convention Palace.

HAVANA - Cuba has begun to employ a new technology to produce white sugar, a measure that improves its quality, avoids the refining process and reduces the cost of manufacture, local media reported Sunday.  The technology, which to date had never been used in the island's sugar industry, uses a sulfur salt produced in Guatemala that - once dissolved in water - directly adds to the bleaching, according to official daily Juventud Rebelde.

Institute of the Americas Energy Podcast Series.

"Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne

Israeli cabinet approves construction of high-speed train line between Tel Aviv and Eilat | Ha'aretz

Israel's cabinet on Sunday morning approved construction of a new high-speed train line between Tel Aviv and the southern port city of Eilat.

The electrified rail line will reach top speeds of 186 miles (300 km) per hour, allowing it to complete the trip in two and a half hours. The 220-mile long (350 km) route will include 63 bridges and five tunnels.

[...]

Netanyahu emphasized the line's advantages as an overland route for passenger and cargo traffic. "We have the ability to create an alternative transportation route that bypasses the Suez Canal - this is an insurance policy," he said.

300 km/h line to a city of 50,000 in a country where nothing else goes over 200? High-speed shared with freight? Does this make any sense? And how does a high-speed train take 2 1/2 hours to do 350km?