By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Louis Charbonneau

AMMAN/UNITED NATIONS, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Syrian government forces reasserted control of Damascus suburbs on Tuesday after beating back rebels at the capital’s gates as diplomatic pressure mounted on President Bashar al-Assad at the United Nations.

Western and Arab diplomats pushed for a U.N. Security Council resolution which would call for Assad to step down to defuse a 10-month-old uprising against his family’s dynastic rule.

They will make the case for a resolution adopting a plan by the Arab League for Assad to quit, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and Britain’s William Hague presenting a united western front.

The resolution’s fate depends on whether the Arabs and their Western backers can persuade Russia not to veto it.

But a senior Russian diplomat said in Moscow the move would only set the stage for civil war, Interfax news agency reported.

“The Western draft Security Council resolution on Syria will not lead to a search for compromise,” it quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying. “Pushing it is a path to civil war.”

On the battlefront, activists in eastern districts of Damascus said troops fired in the air as they advanced beyond areas from which the defector Free Syrian Army withdrew, capping three days of fighting activists said killed at least 100 people. Tanks also swarmed into the area.

“The suburbs are under an unannounced curfew. A small grocery shop opened this morning and soldiers came and beat the owner and forced him to shut down,” said an activist in the Ain Tarma neighbourhood on Tuesday.

Others said residents of some eastern districts were allowed to flee their neighbourhoods in vehicles by advancing troops, but that security forces in the district of Irbin rounded up young men at gunpoint and detained them.

Events on the ground are difficult to confirm as the Syrian government restricts most access by journalists.

Activist groups said 25 people were killed on Monday in Damascus suburbs and dozens more died in other parts of the country, mostly in raids in and around the central city of Homs, which has seen some of the heaviest attacks by Assad’s forces.

Government troops were on the move as Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby and the prime minister of Qatar readied the appeal to the Security Council to back their call for Assad to quit power and prepare for elections.

NEW PHASE

The uprising against Assad – one of the most violent revolts of the “Arab Spring” – has entered a new phase in recent weeks, with an insurgency whose leadership is based in Turkey daring to show its face at the outskirts of the capital.

A last-ditch bid by Moscow to broker talks between Assad’s government and rebels foundered when the opposition refused to attend, citing the continued killing, torture and imprisonment of the president’s opponents.

Washington said countries needed to accept that Assad’s rule was doomed and stop shielding him in the Security Council.

“It is important to calculate into your considerations the fact that he will go,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday.

Syria dismissed the U.S. remarks.

“We are not surprised at the lack of wisdom or rationality of these statements and regret that they are still issued by countries that are used to making the Middle East an arena for their follies and failures,” the state news agency quoted a foreign ministry source as saying.

A draft of the U.N. Security Council resolution, obtained by Reuters, calls for a “political transition” in Syria, and says the Security Council could adopt unspecified further measures if Syria does not comply with its terms.

It endorses the Arab League power transfer plan. So far Moscow has shown little sign of being persuaded to let it pass.

Nevertheless, some Western diplomats said they hoped Russia and China could be persuaded not to block the draft.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for consensus among the Council to stop the bloodshed, saying: “Every day tens of people are killed … It is crucially important for the Security Council to act on this.”

REBELS SHOW FACE IN CAPITAL

Assad’s forces appear to have decisively beaten back an attempt by the opposition to assert themselves near Damascus.

An activist said armed defectors mounted scattered attacks on government troops who advanced through the district of Saqba, held by rebels just days earlier.

Their forays near the capital follow a negotiated victory in Zabadani – a town of 40,000 in mountains near the border with Lebanon – after government forces pulled back under a ceasefire.

Some rebel commanders have spoken of creating “liberated” territories to force diplomatic action.

Bloodshed and unrest are not confined to the capital.

Homs residents said fighting erupted on Monday in the al-Qusour neighbourhood, and several armoured vehicles belonging to loyalist forces where destroyed.

Demonstrations have rippled through the northern commercial hub of Aleppo since pro-Assad militiamen killed 10 people after a demonstration on Friday. Activists said security forces cut electricity to one district and arrested 100 youths after an anti-Assad protest.

The United Nations said in December more than 5,000 people had been killed in the protests and crackdown. Syria says more than 2,000 security force members have been killed by militants. (Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi and Steve Gutterman; Writing by Joseph Logan; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Former So Solid Crew rapper Mc Harvey has revealed he bonded with Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole following her split from ex-husband Ashley.

The star has sensationally revealed he grew close to Cheryl in 2010 when fans thought she was dating dancer Derek Hough.

When asked about his secret relationship with Cheryl, MC Harvey told Now magazine: “Oh my God, oh my God! How the hell do you know that? Gosh. She’s a good girl. We’ve got a great respect for each other.”

Despite refusing to confirm a full-on romance out of respect for Cheryl, he said: “There was a relationship and an attraction to each other’s aura. I am not going to sit here and say we went to that restaurant and this restaurant. But I’m sure people aren’t stupid.”

The rapper admitted Cheryl confided in him after the breakdown of her marriage to footballer Ashley Cole but Harvey is no angel himself – he left wife Alesha Dixon for pop star Javine Hylton, with whom he had daughter Angel in 2008, but the couple split the following year.

Revealing more about his relationship with Cheryl, he said: “We’ve known each other for years. But then (after Cheryl split with Ashley) we started confiding in each other. A lot of it was like, ‘We can’t trust anyone out there, so we’re just going to trust each other.’”

He added: “You know when two people have been through the same stuff and confide in each other? That’s what it was. And then naturally when you confide in each other you become more…. (goes silent)”

No! Why did you stop there?!

On the reason for not going public with the relationship, he said: “She’s a good person. But after she finished her last series of The X Factor and went to America, that was it. I just think that at the time, with the amount of stress she was going through with her own stuff and what I’d also been through, I wouldn’t have been right for her. Maybe we were both scared of the pressure.

“We’ve both had trouble in relationships. I was scared. I was thinking, ‘Am I ready for all this again?’ Someone got wind of it and wrote on my Twitter, ‘Cheryl, don’t go with that c**t.’ So we know what could happen. That sort of thing made me frightened.”

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The UN draft resolution on Syria calls for President Assad to hand power over to his deputy and clarifies that no foreign forces will be deployed to the country, the Associated Press reports.

The resolution also demands the Syrian government put “an end to all human rights violations and attacks against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression.”

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow has no intentions of telling President Assad to step down.

“Russian politics is not to ask someone to resign,” he told Australia’s ABC TV channel. “Regime change is not our profession,” the minister added.

He also rejected out of hand any accusation that Russia unconditionally supports the Syrian leader. “We are not President Assad’s friends or allies,” he stressed. Lavrov made it clear earlier on Tuesday that Assad’s continuing tenure as president is not a precondition for a settlement in Syria.

Western diplomacy is making another attempt to use the UN as a tool to promote its foreign policy agenda, drafting a new and ambiguous resolution on Syria which sets out a roadmap to topple President Bashar Assad.

The resolution fails to take account of the positions of countries like Russia and China, which have presented a united front opposing regime change in Damascus.

Moscow says the new resolution contains a threat to “adopt further measures if Syria does not comply with the terms of the resolution,” opening the door to a Libya-style foreign intervention in the conflict-torn Middle Eastern country.

However, the draft resolution does confirm Lavrov’s prior guarantee the UN Security Council would never support a tour de force against Syria.

“If [the Syrian] opposition refuses to sit at a negotiation table with the regime – what is the alternative? To bomb the regime? I’ve seen that before,” Lavrov said, “I guarantee the Security Council will never approve this.”

Reportedly, tensions are running so high that the US Secretary of State’s spokeswoman has accused Russian FM Sergey Lavrov, who is currently visiting Australia, of being unavailable by phone when Hillary Clinton allegedly called him to discuss the situation.

Syrian opposition’s hardline trade-off

Bashar Assad’s resignation is a non-negotiable precondition for talks on ending the bloody crisis engulfing Syria. Head of the opposition Syrian National Council Burhan Ghalioun stressed there could be “No negotiations without Assad’s exit.”

While Damascus accepted a Moscow proposal to host informal talks with all parties without any conditions, the Syrian opposition rejected Russia’s approach outright.

Burhan Ghalioun told the Lebanese Daily Star that Moscow has the power to urge Assad to leave, and offered to confirm the status of Russia’s naval base in Tartus in return.

Author and Middle East expert John Bradley told RT the National Council is now a pawn in greater Middle East game: “NATO is determined to bring the Assad regime to its knees as a prelude to invading Iran. The Syrian opposition is under huge pressure from outside powers who want these talks [between the Assad regime and the opposition] to fail even before they begin – most obviously NATO”.

The resolution on Syria has been worked out with no Russian participation whatsoever. Because Russia’s concerns were not taken into account, the resolution is one-dimensional, says Konstantin Kosachev, Deputy Chief of the Russian State Duma Committee for International Affairs.

“This draft resolution is addressed towards just one part of the conflict, namely President Assad and his government, to force them to resign. This undermines any perspective for a political solution to the crisis,” Kosachev said.

As well as rejecting peace talks, the Syrian opposition has gone so far as to state that President Assad and his family have lost their chance to make a peaceful exit, in an ultimatum which made reference to the brutal killing of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya last year.

Kosachev believes the Syrian opposition is simply listening to the message coming from abroad, from Washington or Brussels.  This message has always been “’this regime does not have a future, don’t talk to them’ – this message is wrong.”

The result of such a stance will be clashes, casualties and blood, Kosachev predicted, “But not due to Russia’s position, but due to the very unilateral and unfair position taken by the US and their allies.”

By रतन भण्डारी

नेपाल भ्रमण वर्ष २०११ पछि २०१२ लाई नेपाल सरकारले लुम्बिनी भ्रमण घोषणा गरेको छ । बुद्ध जन्मस्थल लुम्बिनी प्रचारप्रसार तथा विकास निर्माणमा भ्रमण वर्षले योगदान पुर्याउनुको साथै पयर्टन प्रवद्र्धनमा समेत टेवा पुग्ने आशा लिइएको छ । भारतले संसारभर बुद्ध भारतमा जन्मेको कुप्रचारलाई चिर्न समेत भ्रमण वर्ष सहायकसिद्ध हुने कुरामा विश्वास गर्न सकिन्छ । तर चीन, कोरियाजस्ता छिमेकी तथा मित्र राष्ट्रहरुले लुम्बिनी विकासमा सहयोग उपलब्ध गराउन खोज्दा भारतले अनेकन बहानामा बखेडा झिक्दै आएको सत्य पनि कहीँबाट छुपेको छैन । यसका बाबजुद नेपाल सरकारले घोषणा गरेको लुम्बिनीलाई भ्रमण वर्षलाई सफल पार्नु आम नेपालीको कर्तव्य हो ।

सन् २०१० को मध्यतिर दक्षिणपूर्वी एशियाली राष्ट्र लाओस पुगेको थिएँ । बौद्ध धर्मावलम्बीहरुको बाहुल्यता रहेको लाओसको राजधानी भियन्टाइन शहर सुनौला बुद्ध मूर्ति तथा मन्दिरहरुले झकिझकाउ थियो । २५ सय वर्ष अघि आफ्नो देशमा जन्मेका बुद्धको ज्ञानको ज्योति लाओसमा प्रज्वलित भैरहेको देख्दा म कम्ता फुरुङ्ग भइनँ । ती सबै दृश्य देख्दा लाओसी जनता बुद्ध जन्मथलोबारे राम्रै जानकार होलान् भन्ने लागेको थियो । यसैबीच मैले त्यहाँका केही साथीहरुलाई आफू बुद्धको जन्मेको देशबाट आएको भन्दा उनीहरुले बुद्ध त भारतमा जन्मेका होइनन् र भने । बुद्धको जन्मस्थल नेपालको लुम्बिनी हो कसरी भारत हुन्छ भन्दा उनीहरुले भारतीय दूतावासले हरेक वर्ष आयोजना गर्ने साँस्कृतिक कार्यक्रममा बुद्ध भारतमा जन्मेको जानकारी दिइने गरेको बताए । यो सुनेर म चेत खाए । यो त एउटा सानो घटनामात्र हो । भारतले नेपालको दूतावास तथा कुटनीतिक नियोग नरहेका लाओसजस्ता अरु देशहरुमा यस्ता कुप्रचार कति विस्तार गरेको होला भन्ने कुरा यसैबाट अनुमान गर्न सकिन्छ ।

यसरी भारतले बुद्ध भारतमै जन्मेको कुप्रचार रोकेको छैन । सन् २००९ को शुरुतिर “चाँदनी चोक टु चाइना” नामक हिन्दी चलचित्रमा समेत बुद्ध भारतमा जन्मिएको विवादास्पद सम्वाद भारतीय सेन्सर बोर्डबाटै स्वीकृत भएको थियो । बोधगयालाई “अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय बुद्ध केन्द्र” बनाउने नाममा केही महिना अघि चीनको राजधानी बेइजिङमा भारतीय दूतावासले आयोजना गरेको कार्यक्रममा बुद्ध भारतमा जन्मेको खुलेयाम कुप्रचार गरिएको थियो । खासगरी नेपालले लुम्बिनी विकासमा देखाएको तत्परताबाट अतालिएको भारतले हतारहतार बेइजिङमा सो कार्यक्रम गरेको थियो । बेइजिङमा कार्यक्रम अघि भारतले काठमाडौँमै त्यसको पूर्वतयारी गरेको र केही नेपाली सहभागीहरुलाई पनि उक्त कार्यक्रममा सहभागी गराइएको पनि सुनिन्छ । यसरी विगतदेखि नै भारत बुद्ध भारतमा जन्मेको झुठलाई पुष्टि गर्न अनेकौँ हतकण्डा अपनाउँदैआएको छ । यसका लागि उसले सबै अश्त्र प्रयोगमा ल्याएको छ । एकताका भारत नेपालको लुम्बिनी पारी ईटा थुपारेर नक्कली कपिलवस्तुसम्म खडा गर्ने अभियानमा जुटेको थियो । शुद्धोदनको दरवार पिपरहवामा अनि बुद्धको मावली रामग्राम-देवदह नभइ भारतको महाराजगाज भन्ने हौवा मचाएको थियो । तर ऐतिहासिक-पुरातात्विक प्रमाण विनाको नक्कली भारतीय कपिलवस्तुलाई हावा खान धेरै दिन लागेन । केही नलागे पछि अजितकुमार त्रिपाठी तथा चन्द्रमान पटेलजस्ता तथाकथित भारतीय इतिहासकारहरुलाई अघि सार्दै भारतले बुद्धको जन्मथलो उडिसाको भुवनेश्वरनजिक कपिलेश्वरतिर भएको कुतर्क पेस गर् यो । उडन्ते कथाझै रचिएको उडिसाको ुतथाकथित कपिलवस्तु को पनि धेरै दिन टिकेन । भारत सरकारमात्र नभई भारतीय साधुसन्त समेत बेलाबखत बुद्ध भारतमा जन्मेको अभिव्यक्ति दिँने गरेका छन् । गत जेठ महिनामा भारतीय योगगुरु भनिने रामदेवले समेत उनको भ्रष्टाचार विरोधी आन्दोलनका बेला बुद्ध भारतमा जन्मेको भनेर खुला अभिव्यक्ति दिए । तर उनको भनाइको कतैबाट खण्डन भएन । 

छिमेकी राष्ट्रहरुको सहअस्थित्वको विश्वास गर्न नसक्नु र अरुको प्रगति नदेख्नु भारतीय चरित्र नै हो । त्यसैले भारत नेपालको ऐतिहासिक पुरातात्विक तथा भौगोलिक पहिचान मेटाउन हरतरहले प्रयत्नरत छ । बुद्ध जन्मथलो विवाद त्यस्को एउटा पाटोमात्र हो । तर यस मामिलामा भारतले भ्रम सिर्जना गर् यो भनेर आफू जिम्मेवारीबाट पन्छिने अधिकार नेपाल सरकारलाई छैन । हाम्रो सरकार आफ्नो स्रोतसम्पदा रक्षार्थ जति जिम्मेवार हुनु पर्ने हो त्यो हुन नसक्दाको नाजायज फाइदा भारतले उठाइरहेको अवस्था हो । बुद्ध जन्मथलोबारे भ्रम छर्नमा भारतजति दोषी छ नेपाल सरकार पनि त्यत्तिकै जिम्मेवार छ । यतिसम्मकी त्रिभुवन विश्वविद्यालयको एमएको अङ्ग्रेजीको पाठ्यक्रममै दुईवर्ष अघिसम्म बुद्धको जन्मथलो भारतमा हो भनेर पठनपाठन भइरहेको अवस्थामा भारतलाई मात्र दोष दिने कुरा आउँदैन । बुद्धबारे भारतले बेलाबेला फैलाउने यस्ता कुप्रचारका विरुद्ध सरकारले अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय जगतमै सन्देश जाने गरी कडा प्रतिवाद नगर्नुले पनि भारतले यो धृष्टता गरेको हो ।

गौतम बुद्धको जन्मथलो नेपालको लुम्बिनीको कपिलवस्तुमा भएकोमा कुनै शङ्का छैन । थुप्रै ऐतिहासिक पुरातात्विक प्रमाणहरुले बुद्धजन्मथलो लुम्बिनीको कपिलवस्तुमा भएको कुरा निसन्देह मात्र छैन उहिल्यै पुष्टि भइसकेको छ । बुद्ध जन्मथलो बारे थुप्रै तथ्यहरु बुद्धले आफ्नो जीवनको पूवाद्र्धका २९ वर्ष बिताएको तिलौराकोट दरवारको भग्नावशेषको गर्भमा अझै छन् । भारतीय मौर्य सम्राट अशोकले ई.पू. २४९ मा लुम्बिनी यात्राको क्रममा स्थापना गरेको ‘स्तम्भ’ र ‘मार्कट स्टोन’ अझै जस्ताको त्यस्तै छन् । सन् १८९६ मा पुरातत्वविद खड्गशम्शेर राणाको अनुसन्धान टोलीले अशोक स्तम्भ पत्ता लगाएको थियो । राणाको उक्त टोलीमा बेलायतका प्रशिद्ध पुरातत्वविद डा. फुहरर समेत संलग्न थिए । ऐतिहासिक एवं पुरातात्विक महत्वलाई दृष्टिगत गर्दै यूनेस्कोले समेत सन् १९९७ मा लुम्बिनी बुद्ध जन्मभूमिका रुपमा विश्व सम्पदा सूचीमा सूचीकृत गरेको छ । सन् १९६७ मा तत्कालीन संयुक्त राष्ट्रसङ्घीय महासचिव ऊथान्त हुँदै पछिल्लोपटक वर्तमान राष्ट्रसङ्घीय महासचिव वान्की मुनदेखि लिएर भुटानी रानी तथा श्रीलङ्काली राष्ट्रपति महिन्द्रा राजापाक्षसम्मले बुद्ध जन्मभूमि लुम्बिनीको भ्रमण गरेका छन् ।

सबै कुरा हुँदा पनि पछि पर्नु नेपाली जनताको नियति बनेको छ । सर्वोच्च शिखर सगरमाथा बुद्धको जन्मथलो लुम्बिनी नदीनाला विशाल हिमालय पर्वत के छैन हामीसँग बुद्ध हाम्रो देशमा जन्मेका छन् तर बुद्धको नाममा भारतले व्यापार गरिरहेको छ । हामी भने शान्तिका अग्रदूत बुद्धको देशका नागरिक भएर पनि आफ्नो परिचय बेलायत तथा भारतको बन्दूक बोक्ने ुकथित बहादुरु का रुपमा दिइरहेका छौँ । अरु देशहरुले कूटनीति बौद्धिकता विद्वता तथा ज्ञानलाई आफ्नो चिनारी बनाइरहेको परिवेशमा हाम्रो चिनारी पाखुरा सुर्कने बहादुर मै सीमित छ । कवि भूपि शेरचनको “बुद्धु छौँ र न बहादुर छौँ” भनेर उहिल्यै व्यंग्य कस्दासमेत हाम्रो घैटोमा अझै घाम लागेको छैन । अझै हामी बुद्ध होइन खुकुरीको प्रचारमा छौँ । ज्ञानको होइन पाखुरा सुर्कन्छौँ ।

बुद्धको जन्मथलो बारे भारतले फैलाउँदै गएको भ्रमलाई चिर्न तत्काल अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय जगतमै त्यसको कडारुपमा प्रतिवाद हुनु जरुरी छ । भारतमा बुद्ध नजन्मकै भएपनि भारतीय दूतावासले संसारभर भारतमा बुद्ध जन्मेको कुप्रचारलाई काउण्टर गर्न विदेशस्थित नेपाली दूतावास तथा कुटनीतिक नियोगमार्फत लुम्बिनीको प्रचार-प्रसार व्यापक तथा नियमित गरिनुपर्दछ । लुम्बिनीलाई धार्मिक पर्यटकीय नगरीका रुपमा विकास गरिनुपर्दछ । लुम्बिनीमा भइरहेको मानवीय अतिक्रमण रोक्दै त्यहाँ सुविधासम्पन्न पाँचतारे होटेल अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय विमानस्थललगायतका पूर्वाधार निर्माणको खाँचो छ । धार्मिक पयर्टन विस्तारका लागि सरकारले बौद्ध धर्मावलम्बीको बाहुल्यता रहेका चीन मङ्गोलिया जापान कोरिया लाओस भियतनाम काम्बोडिया थाइल्याण्ड बर्मा भुटान श्रीलङ्काजस्ता मुलुकहरुमा प्रचार-प्रसार तीब्र पारिनुपर्दछ । भारतको गयामा थाइल्याण्डको थाइ एयर तथा भुटानको ड्रुक एयरले सेवा संचालनमा ल्याइ त्यहाँ धार्मिक पर्यटकहरुको ओइरो लागिरहेको परिवेशमा ती धार्मिक पर्यटकलाई लुम्बिनी भित्र्याउन हामीले पनि सोहीअनुसारको तयारी गर्नु जरुरी छ । हामीले लुम्बिनी विकासमा साँच्चिकै अग्रसरता देखाउन सके त्यसले एकातिर हाम्रो पर्यटन विकासमा सहयोग पुग्न गइ रोजगारीका साथै राष्ट्रिय अन्र्थतन्त्रमा टेवा पुग्नेछ भने अर्कोतिर बुद्धको देशका रुपमा नेपालको चिनारी अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय जगतमा फैलने छ ।

साभारः मानवअधिकार सन्देश २०६८ पुस-माघ
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His supporters might be a bit more generous however and say that the former leader’s forthcoming new book 2025: Shaping a New Future – a prediction of how the world will be in 2025 – could be the former Labour leader’s magnum opus, the tome we’ve all been waiting for from one of the towering political intellects of our time.

Due out in November, 2025: Shaping a New Future will be the eleventh book Brown has either edited or penned himself and his first since 2010’s Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalisation.

A spokesperson for Simon & Schuster told The Bookseller: “In [the book], Brown charts the massive technological, demographic social and political forces – including the explosive growth of a global middle class, reinventing our world.”

According to the Guardian, in it he will argue that by 2025:

• A billion people will have a degree

• A minority of young westerners will choose marriage

• Women will become more empowered and their leadership will be a force for change

• A new wave of scientific and medical progress will end avoidable poverty

So, not exactly earth-shattering predictions – but then anyone expecting Gordon to guess whether they’ll still be an American superpower, if the European Union will be united and if the UK will be in the grip of an Ed Miliband-led dynasty were probably likely to be disappointed.

Brown has kept fairly busy since resigning as Prime Minister in 2010.

He returned to the backbenches to represent his constituency Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath and has joined the board of the World Wide Web Foundation to help find ways to get the internet into poorer communities.

He’s also took on an unpaid role as an advisor to the the World Economic Forum and was appointed an ‘Distinguished Leader in Residence’ by New York University where he lectures on global economics and globalisation.

In terms of publishing, Brown’s many contributions of serious political writing – including collections of his speeches and a reflection on eight historical figures he admires – have all so far failed to match his great rival Tony Blair’s success.

Blair’s memoirs, A Journey, became the fastest-selling autobiography of all time in 2010, selling hundreds of thousands of copies in 24 hours.

“Huffington Post

Like ·  · Saturday at 11:27am

A typical 2005 Chrysler 300C, fully loaded and in pristine condition, is expected to fetch up to $19,142 on the market, according to Kelley Blue Book, the authority on used-car prices. But what if the vehicle had been leased by none other than the President of the United States of America? An eBay seller is hoping that detail will justify a $980,000 price hike.

Lisa Czibor, a seasoned eBay car seller based near Chicago, is pulling out all the stops to prove that Barack Obama once piloted the grey 300C she has listed for sale on behalf of its owner Tim O’Boyle. She even posted a photograph of the car’s title written in Obama’s name. But the most shocking detail associated with the sale: the price. Owning then-senator Obama’s ride will cost a cool $1 million.

(PHOTOS: Obama’s First Two Years: An Inside View)

The buyer also has to pay in full within 10 days of purchase. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that the auction, which closes February 1, has been live for 11 days with nary a bid.

But Czibor is confident the car is worth the budget-busting sum. And that’s not just because of the car’s low mileage (only 20,800 miles over the course of seven years) or its maxed-out options, including leather seats, a sunroof and a navigation system. Obama put more than 19,000 miles on the car driving around Chicago. And the listing cites a host of other cars with famous owners that have fetched record sums on the auction block, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 1977 Peugeot, which sold for $2.35 million (£1.5 million) in March 2011. That money was donated to charity, though, while Obama’s ride was put on the market by a private seller.

Obama got rid of the 300C in July 2007 as he launched his presidential campaign. He traded in the Chrysler – which has a 5.7-liter Hemi V8 engine – for a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid after taking flak for driving the guzzler while pressuring Detroit to build more fuel-efficient cars.

The 300C was put up for auction on eBay in late 2008 to coincide with Obama’s inauguration. Back then, the minimum bid was $100,000, which seems like a bargain compared to the current price. But O’Boyle, the owner, had to take down the auction because it was overrun by fake bidders who rocketed the price to $100 million, MSNBC reports. Four years later, O’Boyle recruited the help of Czibor, and with a few security measures to ensure that only serious buyers can bid, the car has been listed again. But is the famous former owner enough to justify a 5,000% markup? It doesn’t even get good gas mileage, after all.

PHOTOS: Barack Obama: The Best TIME Photographs

@ http://newsfeed.time.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Facebook makes its long-expected debut as a public company this spring, the social-networking company will likely vault into the ranks of the largest public companies in the world, alongside McDonald’s, Amazon.com and Bank of America.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Facebook is preparing to file initial paperwork for an offering that could raise as much as $10 billion and value the company at $75 billion to $100 billion. The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission could come as early as Wednesday, with an initial public offering of stock in three or four months.

The targeted amount would slot it among the world’s 25 largest IPOs, although as recently as November 2010, General Motors raised $15.8 billion when it shed majority control by the U.S. government.

The IPOs of 14 companies would rank higher than Facebook’s, according to investment adviser Renaissance Capital. Among them were Visa Inc.’s $17.9 billion IPO in March 2008, the largest for a U.S. company, and world-topper Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., which raised $19.3 billion in July 2010, not including extra shares issued to meet demand.

Facebook spokesman Larry Wu said the company will not comment on IPO-related speculation. The Journal had cited unnamed people familiar with the matter.

The Journal also said that Facebook was close to picking Morgan Stanley as the lead underwriter, which would be a setback for rival Goldman Sachs. Both declined comment to The Associated Press.

The buzz surrounding an outsized haul for Facebook’s founders, employees and early investors remains a hopeful sign for capital markets following a deep recession. At the reported price, Facebook’s IPO would be the biggest for a U.S. Internet company ever — topping the debut of one of its main rivals, Google Inc.

“We are expecting 2012 to be a year of recovery for the IPO market led by the Facebook IPO,” said Kathy Smith, Renaissance Capital’s principal.

The event will follow a string of tepid debuts by technology startups including social game maker Zynga and discount advertiser Groupon. The stocks of both companies are just pennies above their offering prices in December and November respectively. Zynga’s stock fell 5 percent below the IPO price on its first day of trading.

Facebook’s will be the most anticipated tech IPO since Google went public in August 2004. Not including shares sold by early investors, the Internet search giant raised $1.2 billion and grabbed a market value of $23 billion, the biggest so far for a U.S. Internet company. The IPO raised $1.9 billion, including shares sold by early investors and extra stock issued to meet the heavy demand. It’s not known whether Facebook’s $10 billion target includes shares owned by early investors.

Facebook’s reported valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion compares with about $100 billion for McDonald’s Corp., $90 billion for Citigroup Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. and $75 billion for Bank of America Corp. It would exceed the market cap of $55 billion for Hewlett-Packard Co., one of the world’s largest technology companies by revenue.

Both Facebook and Google earn most of their money from advertising and are now competing to gain as much information as possible about their users to help advertisers target niche audiences.

According to eMarketer, Facebook is expected to grow its share of the U.S. display ad market to about 20 percent this year from 16 percent in 2011, above second-ranked Yahoo’s expected share of about 13 percent. For overall online ad revenue, Facebook is seen grabbing just 8 percent of the market this year, compared with 45 percent for Google.

EMarketer estimates that Facebook’s ad revenue will grow 52 percent to $5.78 billion this year and will reach $7 billion in 2013.

Despite presumably topping Google’s public launch, Facebook spent more time growing behind the veil of private ownership than its rival.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates in 2004 and is debuting on stock markets in its eighth year. Google’s IPO came six years after being founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. When Google turned eight in August 2006, its market cap was roughly $116 billion. Today, the company is worth nearly $190 billion — down from a peak of about $235 billion in November 2007.

Investors may be asked to bet heavily on the belief that Facebook will continue to revolutionize the way people communicate around the globe. Even with Facebook’s heady growth rate, Google had ad revenue last year of more than five times what Facebook is expected to get in 2013. Yet it is Google that is mimicking Facebook in building a rival social network called Plus.

“There’s the general feeling that Facebook might be the future of the way the Internet works,” said eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

Zuckerberg, 27, is already worth $17.5 billion, based on the latest estimates from Forbes magazine. Most of that wealth is drawn from the value of Facebook shares that have traded among a small universe of well-heeled investors that buy stakes in companies before they go public.

As the company gauges public demand for its stock, the number of shares offered and the price asked could change significantly. Groupon had to refile its securities paperwork repeatedly as regulators questioned some of its accounting methods. Even Google took in less than it hoped as people shunned an unorthodox auction-based offering.

John Fitzgibbon Jr., publisher of IPOScoop.com, said it’s too early to get excited.

“Until they actually put the ink on the paper and push it across the desk of the SEC, it’s all speculation,” he said.

The possible filing next week isn’t all that surprising.

Federal rules require companies with at least $10 million in assets and more than 500 shareholders to disclose its quarterly financial results and other details. The reporting requirement kicks in 120 days after the fiscal year in which a company exceeds the shareholder threshold for the first time.

Facebook’s fiscal year ends Dec. 31, so it has until late April 2012 to comply with this requirement, having hit the 500-shareholder threshold last year. Because it typically takes three or four months after filing paperwork to issue the IPO, a Wednesday filing would allow it to meet the deadline. If it happens in May, it could become a lucrative birthday gift for Zuckerberg, who will turn 28 that month.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

MOSCOW — Russia’s defiance of international efforts to end Syrian President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on protests is rooted in a calculation that it can keep a Mideast presence by propping up its last remaining ally in the region – and has nothing to lose if it fails.

The Kremlin has put itself in conflict with the West as it shields Assad’s regime from United Nations sanctions and continues to provide it with weapons even as others impose arms embargoes.

But Moscow’s relations with Washington are already strained amid controversy over U.S. missile defense plans and other disputes. And Prime Minister Vladimir Putin seems eager to defy the U.S. as he campaigns to reclaim the presidency in March elections.

“It would make no sense for Russia to drop its support for Assad,” said Ruslan Pukhov, head of the independent Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. “He is Russia’s last remaining ally in the Middle East, allowing it to preserve some influence in the region.”

Moscow may also hope that Assad can hang on to power with its help and repay Moscow with more weapons contracts and other lucrative deals.

And observers note that even as it has nothing to lose from backing Assad, it has nothing to gain from switching course and supporting the opposition.

“Russia has crossed the Rubicon,” said Igor Korotchenko, head of the Center for Analysis of Global Weapons Trade.

He said Russia will always be marked as the patron of the Assad regime regardless of the conflict’s outcome, so there’s little incentive to build bridges with the protesters. The U.N. estimates that more than 5,400 people have been killed since the uprising began in March.

“Russia will be seen as the dictator’s ally. If Assad’s regime is driven from power, it will mean an end to Russia’s presence,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the magazine Russia in Global Affairs.

Syria has been Moscow’s top ally in the Middle East since Soviet times, when it was led by the incumbent’s father, Hafez Assad. The Kremlin saw it as a bulwark for countering U.S. influence in the region and heavily armed Syria against Israel.

While Russia’s relations with Israel have improved greatly since the Soviet collapse, ties with Damascus helped Russia retain its clout as a member of the Quartet of international mediators trying to negotiate peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

After Bashar Assad succeeded his father in 2000, Russia sought to boost ties by agreeing to annul 73 percent of Syria’s Soviet-era debt. In the mid-2000s, Putin said Russia would re-establish its place in the Mideast via “the Syria route.”

Syria’s port of Tartus is now the only naval base Russia has outside the former Soviet Union. A Russian navy squadron made a call there this month in what was seen by many as a show of support for Assad.

For decades, Syria has been a major customer for the Russian arms industries, buying billions of dollars’ worth of combat jets, missiles, tanks and other heavy weapons. And unlike some other nations, such as Venezuela, which obtained Russian weapons on Kremlin loans, Assad’s regime paid cash.

The respected newspaper Kommersant reported this week that Syria has ordered 36 Yak-130 combat jets worth $550 million. The deal, which officials wouldn’t confirm or deny, may signal preparations for even bigger purchases of combat planes.

Korotchenko said Syria needs the jets to train its pilots to fly the advanced MiG-29M or MiG-35 fighter jets it wants to purchase: “It’s a precursor of future deals.”

Korotchenko said Syria’s importance as a leading importer of Russian weapons in the region grew after the loss of the lucrative Iraqi and Libyan markets.

Russia, whose abstention in a U.N. vote cleared the way for military intervention in Libya, later voiced frustration with what it described as a disproportional use of force by NATO.

The Kremlin has vowed not to allow a replay of the Libyan strategy in Syria, warning that it would block any U.N. resolution on Syria lacking a clear ban on any foreign military interference.

Moscow accuses the West of turning a blind eye to shipments of weapons to the Syrian opposition and warns it won’t be bound by Western sanctions.

Earlier this month, a Syria-bound Russian ship allegedly carrying tons of munitions was stopped by officials in Cyprus, an EU member, who said it was violating an EU arms embargo. The ship’s captain promised to head to Turkey but then made a dash to Syria.

Asked about the ship, Russia’s foreign minister bluntly responded that Moscow owes neither explanation nor apology to anyone because it has broken no international rules.

Nonetheless, Moscow has shown restraint in its arms trade with Damascus, avoiding the sales of weapons that could significantly tilt the military balance in the region.

In one example, the Kremlin has turned down Damascus’ requests for truck-mounted Iskander missiles that can hit ground targets 280 kilometers (175 miles) away with deadly precision. While the sale of such missiles wouldn’t be banned under any international agreements, Moscow has apparently heeded strong U.S. and Israeli objections to such a deal.

Moscow also has stonewalled Damascus’ request for the advanced S-300 air defense missile system, only agreeing to sell short-range ground-to-air missiles.

“Russia has taken a very careful and cautious stance on contracts with Syria,” Korotchenko said.

The most powerful Russian weapon reportedly delivered to Syria is the Bastion anti-ship missile complex intended to protect its coast. The Bastion is armed with supersonic Yakhont cruise missiles that can sink any warship at a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles) and are extremely difficult to intercept, providing a strong deterrent against any attack from the sea.

Observers in Moscow said that Russia can do little else to help Assad. The chief of the Russian upper house’s foreign affairs committee, Mikhail Margelov, openly acknowledged that this week, saying that Russia has “exhausted its arsenal” of means to support Syria by protecting it from the U.N. sanctions.

Lukyanov said Russia has made it clear it would block any attempts to give U.N. cover to any foreign military intervention in Syria, but wouldn’t be able to prevent Syria’s neighbors from mounting such action.

“Russia realizes that it has limited opportunities and can’t play a decisive role,” he said.

Pukhov also predicted that Russia wouldn’t take any stronger moves in support for Damascus.

“Going further would mean an open confrontation with the West, and Russia doesn’t need that,” he said.

____

Elizabeth A. Kennedy contributed from Beirut.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost