Veteran president 'leaves Yemen'

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22 January 2012 Last updated at 19:08 GMT Ali Abdullah Saleh seized power in 1978 Yemen's veteran President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has left the country to travel to the US for medical treatment, Yemeni officials say.

In a televised "farewell speech" he asked for forgiveness for "any shortcomings" during his 33-year rule.

His departure came a day after MPs approved a law giving him immunity from prosecution.

The law was part of a Gulf Co-operation Council-brokered deal under which he would relinquish power and leave Yemen.

A spokesman for Mr Saleh, Ahmed al-Soufi, said the president had flown out of the country late on Sunday bound for neighbouring Oman, from where he is expected to continue his journey.

Afterwards, a senior official in Washington said the Yemeni president had been cleared to go to the US for medical treatment, the Associated Press reported.

'In your hands' Continue reading the main story Sebastian Usher BBC Arab affairs editor

Yemenis could be forgiven if they had a sense of deja vu. All day there were rumours that President Saleh had flown out of the country or was about to. There was similar uncertainty when he left for Saudi Arabia after being seriously wounded in an assassination attempt last June.

Most people then felt that after months of mass unrest and growing civil conflict, his departure was an admission of defeat and he would not be returning. But he did.

This time, in what sounded like a valedictory speech, he stressed that he was not leaving for good, but would at some point return to lead his political party.

However long it lasts this time, Mr Saleh's absence will be seen as at least providing a breathing space for Yemen to hold new elections next month and try to make a fresh start - although the only candidate is the vice president.

"God willing, I will leave for treatment in the United States and I will return to Sanaa as head of the General People's Congress party," Mr Saleh earlier told party officials in his speech.

"I ask for forgiveness from all my people, men and women, for any shortcomings during my 33-year-long rule," he said.

One official who was at the early-morning event which brought together senior political, military and security officials, quoted Mr Saleh as saying: "Today, I leave the country in your hands.''

The president's aides say Mr Saleh also announced the promotion of Vice-President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi - who is set to replace him as president - to the rank of marshal.

Mr Saleh, 69, was badly injured in an attack on his presidential palace in June after which he spent several months in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

Protests continue

The capital Sanaa saw renewed protests on Sunday calling for him to be put on trial.

Demonstrators want Mr Saleh to be brought to justice for offences they say he committed, including the brutal suppression of a year-long uprising that left hundreds dead.

The bill approved on Saturday grants President Saleh full and irrevocable immunity from prosecution for anything he did while in office.

However, it was amended earlier this week to limit the immunity to government and military officials who served alongside Mr Saleh. They could still be prosecuted for actions deemed to be terrorism, or for corruption.

The outcry over immunity for Mr Saleh shows no sign of abating

Angry protesters carried banners on Sunday urging MPs to reverse their decision on Mr Saleh's immunity.

"It is our duty... to execute the butcher", chanted protesters in Change Square - the hub of the democracy movement over the past year, AFP news agency said.

Security forces controlled by the president and his family, as well as armed loyalists, have been accused of killing anti-government protesters.

Earlier this month, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said that anyone who committed abuses during the mass protests which erupted a year ago should not be allowed to escape justice.

Source BBC

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Fort Worth shooting leaves one dead, seven injured

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AUSTIN, Texas | Sun Oct 23, 2011 12:30pm EDT

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - One person was killed and seven others were injured in a shooting early Sunday at a home in Fort Worth, Texas, police said.

"Numerous individuals" were gathered at the home when "an unknown suspect approached on foot and began shooting in the direction of the victims," Officer Sharron Neal of the Fort Worth Police Department told Reuters in an email.

"Several victims were struck by the gunfire," she said.

One person was pronounced dead at the scene, and seven others were transported to two different hospitals, according to Neal.

Two of the victims were in surgery, and the other five did not have life-threatening injuries, she said.

An investigation was ongoing, and no further details were immediately available.

(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan, editing by Ellen Wulfhorst)

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Qadhafi's Death Leaves Libyan Oil Industry Uncertain

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The death of Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi marks the end of an era, both for the nation and its once-booming oil industry, choked off by the turmoil of the revolution. And as with prospects for the liberated Libyans to form a united, democratic government, the post-Qadhafi era begins with a sense of cautious optimism in the petroleum fields so essential to the nation's recovery.

Oil exports accounted for more than 95 percent of Libya's export earnings in 2010, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Since the fall of Tripoli in August, Libya's national oil company has moved quickly to restore output, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), but thus far most production—down to around 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day from a peak of about 1.6 million barrels daily—has been diverted to satisfy domestic demand.

Projections for the country's oil output have been revised slightly upwards, but questions remain about the extent of infrastructure damage caused by fighting, and power struggles within the nascent National Transitional Council could undermine efforts to get Libya's oil industry back online.

[Read: Qadhafi's Death Won't Mean End for U.S. Role in Libya.]

"If this leads to greater political clarity within Libya, and to a more stable operating and investment environment, then it may result in a more rapid restoration of the Libyan oil sector," David Fyfe, head of the IEA's oil industry and markets division, said in a statement. "However, many logistical, operational, and security-related challenges remain in that country, so we are not changing our underlying assumptions on Libyan production recovery for now. We still believe it could take many months for production to regain pre-crisis levels."

[Read: Politicians, World Leaders React to Qadhafi's Death.]

Most of the current oil production is derived from fields in the western and southern parts of the country, largely unaffected by fighting. While restoring production to pre-war levels may prove more difficult as the dust settles and damage is assessed, Libya has many advantages in its efforts to revitalize its oil industry.

For one, damage to the oilfields as a result of clashes between pro-Qadhafi forces and rebels appear to be relatively localized with the most damage affecting terminals and pipelines in the eastern side of the country. Production facilities in the western and southern regions have already started ramping up, according to Sarah Emerson, president of Energy Security Analysis Inc., who expects output to exceed 450,000 barrels by December.

"Now the question is as [production] continues to ramp up in excess of the refining requirements, then [Libya] can begin to export and that's where the money comes in," Emerson says. "[Qadhafi's death] is really incidental to the process. It starts a clock ticking, which says, 'Can you get the political stability together?'"

Emerson predicts conservatively that the country could see production of 800,000 to 1 million barrels by the end of next year, but full capacity very likely won't return until the end of 2013, she says.

[See photos of Muammar Qadhafi.]

The gradual re-entry of Libya—which holds Africa's largest proven oil reserves, according to the EIA—into global oil markets will likely ease pressure on supply and lower prices for refiners around the world.

"It's good news for the Europeans. It's good news for the East Coast United States," Emerson says.

mhandley@usnews.com

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'Toxic vessel' leaves Bangladesh

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 08:50 GMT By Anbarasan Ethirajan BBC News, Dhaka Hundreds of obsolete ships are dismantled every year in Chittagong The suspected toxic ship MV Asia Union, which last week sought to enter Bangladesh, left the country's waters in the last few days, officials say.

The ship's agents wanted permission for the Chinese-owned vessel to be dismantled in Bangladesh.

But officials last week told the coast guard to turn it back after complaints that it may contain harmful chemicals and pose a health and safety threat.

Bangladesh has become one of the world's leading ship-breaking nations.

Dozens of cargo ships and tankers from around the world are brought to yards - mostly in the Chittagong region - to be dismantled.

"As per the request of the department of environment, the Coast Guard acted and the ship left the territorial waters of Bangladesh. We are not sure about its next port of call," Captain Nazmul Alam, deputy conservator of Chittagong port told the BBC.

The ship was anchored around eight nautical miles (12km) off the coast of the southern port of Chittagong.

Environmental groups said the vessel might possess hazardous substances including asbestos, toxic paints and chemical residues which are harmful to human health and the environment.

An official last week said a team would be sent to the ship to find out whether it contained any toxic material before taking a final decision. But Captain Alam said that nobody visited the ship.

Every year, dozens of old ships are brought to Bangladesh to be dismantled for scrap.

Ship-breakers say that recycled steel from dismantled ships supplies around 60% of Bangladesh's total steel demands.

They say that the industry also provides jobs to thousands of people.

But environmentalists allege that many old ships come with hazardous materials which are dumped in coastal areas, posing a danger to the environment and to workers.

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Bernanke Leaves Door Open for More Easing, Chides Congress

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Ben Bernanke 2.0 turned out to be a lot more sober than the original version.

Last year, at the annual Federal Reserve symposium in Jackson Hole, Bernanke outlined an array of monetary policy options, including what came to be known as QE2 for "quantitative easing," a second dose of the nation's central bank buying up hundreds of billions of dollars in assets held by financial instituions in order to boost money supply.

But with the U.S. economy moribund—growth in the second-quarter gross domestic product was revised downward today to 1.0 percent from an already weak 1.3 percent—Bernanke has few options left. So, he spoke instead of doing all that is possible to keep the economy afloat while tossing a few barbs in the direction of Capitol Hill. But that was enough to send the stock market soaring, even though Hurricane Irene was steaming full speed toward Wall Street.

[Read about how Rick Perry pushed Bernanke into the political limelight.]

In his long-awaited remarks, Bernanke asserted that the Fed "has a range of tools that could be used to provide additional monetary stimulus," and that the central bank would continue to consider those tools at the September Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which has now been extended from one day to two days. Instead, Bernanke emphasized the need for sound economic policy on a broader scale, touching briefly on a range of topics, including housing, trade, taxation, education, healthcare, and the recent debt ceiling fight.

Bernanke's lack of expansiveness surprised some. "I would have expected him to expand a little bit more on [the possibility of more monetary stimulus], and instead, he kept his cards very close to his vest this time around, which is different from one year ago," says Adolfo Laurenti, deputy chief economist at Mesirow Financial, a Chicago-based financial services firm.

Bernanke instead spent a significant portion of his speech examining the financial crisis, recession, and recovery that created the current U.S. economic situation, and then addressed broader economic conditions that could affect future growth, like weaknesses in the educational system and an aging population. He also emphasized the need for creating a "sustainable path" for U.S. fiscal policy without disregarding the "fragility of the current economic recovery."

The Fed chairman also issued a rebuke to Capitol Hill for the recent shenanigans over the debt ceiling. As the final point in his speech, Bernanke noted that the months-long fight over whether to pay the nation's bills could lead to future troubles, including a global crisis of confidence. "The negotiations that took place over the summer disrupted financial markets and probably the economy as well, and similar events in the future could, over time, seriously jeopardize the willingness of investors around the world to hold U.S. financial assets or to make direct investments in job-creating U.S. businesses," he said.

[See how EU austerity could hurt economic growth.]

The pointedness of these remarks was uncharacteristic of the rhetoric that usually emanates from the cloisters of the Fed. "I think it was interesting the emphasis the chairman put on discussing fiscal policy and policy-making at large," says Laurenti. "I really think the surprising thing to me was how broad his remarks were, and I think that was an implicit rebuke of the debacle that we have seen [surrounding raising the debt ceiling]. He was very explicit about that."

While the speech did not include specific discussion of further monetary stimulus, it also did not rule out such a move. In fact, Bernanke's remarks hinted that the door is still open to further easing. Bernanke said that the FOMC "is prepared to employ its tools as appropriate," and also crucially discounted the risk of inflation, saying that the Fed expects inflation to "settle, over coming quarters, at levels at or below the rate of 2 percent, or a bit less, that most [Federal Open Market] Committee participants view as being consistent with our dual mandate." This is a key point, as one drawback to major monetary stimulus is the possibility of spurring or accelerating inflation.

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