MADRID/LISBON, Nov 14 – Demonstrations turned violent in Spain and Portugal after millions took part in a mostly peaceful general strike on Wednesday in organised labour’s biggest Europe-wide challenge to austerity policies since the debt crisis began three years ago.
[FULL ARTICLE]Nov 14 - The reputed head of the New England mafia was sentenced on Wednesday to 6-1/2 years in prison for his role in a scheme to extort protection money from Rhode Island strip clubs and adult bookstores.
[FULL ARTICLE]By Ghaith Shennib
TRIPOLI, Oct 31 – Libya’s national assembly approved new Prime Minister Ali Zeidan’s proposed government on Wednesday after rejecting his predecessor’s line-up, but members still queried the suitability of several nominations.
In a reminder of the volatility still plaguing Libya a year after Muammar Gaddafi’s ouster, the General National Congress cut its session short soon after the vote as security forces fended off protesters outside.
The assembly had met on Tuesday to vote but its session was postponed after protesters, opposed to some of the ministerial nominations, stormed the building. Some protesters said some of the nominees had past links with the Gaddafi regime.
In a televised vote, 105 members were in favour of Zeidan’s government drawn from liberal and Islamist parties. The congress is made up of 200 members but only 132 were present.
Zeidan needed approval from congress to take office. His transitional government will focus on restoring security in the oil-producing country where many militias have yet to disarm since Gaddafi’s overthrow.
“There are some objections about some of the ministries but we don’t want to obstruct the government taking up its job,” congress spokesman Omar Hmaidan told a news conference.
Asked which ministries had been called into question, he said: “I think interior, religious affairs and also oil, local government and foreign affairs.”
Some congress members said the ministers called into question would be referred to its integrity committee.
“Even though I have some reservations, I personally hope the government will succeed because it was chosen in a democratic way,” congress member Mohammed Tommy said.
Some ministers come from the liberal National Forces Alliance and the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, the Justice and Construction Party, the two biggest parties in congress. Others are independents.
Aware of Libya’s sharp regional tensions, Zeidan said he had tried to strike a geographic balance among his 27 ministers.
He nominated Ali Aujali, Libya’s ambassador to the United States, as foreign minister; Mohammed al-Barghathi, who served in the Libyan air force, as defence minister; and Abdelbari al-Arusi, from the western town Zawiyah, as oil minister.
As congress met amid tight security, Libyan security forces briefly fired shots in the air to disperse protesters outside the building, a Reuters witness said.
On Tuesday about 100 people charged into the congress meeting hall as it voted on Zeidan’s line-up. In chaotic televised scenes, congress members negotiated with the protesters to leave before the session was suspended.
“We delayed our vote yesterday because we did not want to be put under pressure,” Hmaidan said.
A former diplomat who defected in the 1980s to become an outspoken Gaddafi critic, Zeidan will govern the country while the congress, elected in July, passes laws and helps draft a new constitution to be put to a national referendum next year.
Congress elected Zeidan prime minister this month after his predecessor, Mustafa Abushagur, lost a confidence vote on his choice of ministers.
[FULL ARTICLE]By Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON, Oct 31 – Guards at the U.S. government’s maximum-security facility for weapons-grade uranium were given a copy of a test and its answers before they were to take it, an official report by the Energy Department’s Inspector General said on Wednesday.
The test was prompted by a major security breach at the government’s Y-12 nuclear facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in July, when an 82-year-old nun and two aging peace activists broke into the complex and vandalized it.
The building, designed after the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, was supposed to be one of the most secure complexes in the United States.
The recent break-in led to a series of detailed reviews of the Energy Department’s oversight of its nuclear weapons facilities.
A federal inspector from the Energy Department’s Office of Health, Safety and Security was at the site on Aug. 29, the day before the test was to be given. He found a copy of the test and answer key, in the car of the security guard who was his escort, the report said.
The compromised test was pulled, and a revised version was given.
An investigation found the test’s questions and answers had been widely distributed as a “training aide” for guards by WSI Oak Ridge, owned by international security firm G4S.
G4S was the focus of a political and media storm this summer after it failed to provide enough guards for the London Olympics, forcing the British government to mobilize thousands of troops at the last minute to help with security.
WSI officials said there was “no intent to cheat” on the test, Inspector General Gregory Friedman wrote in his report, terming the credibility of their testimony “questionable.”
The firm was fired from Y-12 on Oct 1, and the security work was taken over by contractor B&W Y-12, a unit of Babcock & Wilcox Co, which operates the site for the Energy Department.
The test had been shared with B&W to get comments on its accuracy, but Friedman said federal officials did not give detailed instructions on keeping the information secure.
A spokeswoman for B&W Y-12 was not immediately available for comment.
“Based on disclosures by contractor officials, there is also a possibility that compromises of test materials may have occurred at other sites without discovery,” Friedman wrote.
‘TROUBLING DISPLAYS OF INEPTITUDE’
In an earlier report, Friedman had excoriated the department for “troubling displays of ineptitude” at the plant, where among other missteps a broken security camera was left unfixed for about six months.
His review of the incident in July found guards ignored motion sensors tripped by the peace activists because they were routinely triggered by wildlife.
“Security of the nation’s most sensitive nuclear material storage and processing facilities must not be left to chance,” he said.
The Energy Department’s Office of Health, Safety and Security said it has tightened its test procedures as a result.
But the head of the Nuclear National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the agency in the department responsible for the sites, disagreed that problems with its oversight of contractors played a role in the compromised test.
In an official response, Thomas D’Agostino said the issue was due to “the unilateral decision on the part of the contractor to make further internal dissemination to a broader number of individuals.”
The NNSA has said it fixed the immediate security issues. A task force is currently assessing its oversight of the nuclear weapons complex.
[FULL ARTICLE]LISBON, Oct 31 - Portugal’s parliament approved the biggest tax increases in the country’s modern history on Wednesday, paving the way for a court battle over a budget which the government says is vital to keep its international bailout afloat.
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Thanks to the Ford Foundation for its generous support of 100 Reporters.
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