As details emerge of the death of four Americans, including US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, in an attack on 11 September on the American Consulate in Benghazi, six minutes on why Mitt Romney's focus on the issue is political manipulation rather than a contribution to "security" and US foreign policy....
Human Rights Watch has published a 50-page report, "Death of a Dictator: Bloody Vengeance in Sirte", which charges Misurata-based militias with the apparent execution of dozens of detainees, including former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, in Sirte in October 2011.
HRW claims the militias captured and disarmed members of the Qaddafi convoy. They brutally beat the men and executed at least 66 of them at the nearby Mahari Hotel. The organisation alleges that militias took Qaddafi’s wounded son Mutassim from Sirte to Misrata and killed him there.
Among the new evidence is a mobile phone video, filmed by opposition militia members, that shows the abuse of captured convoy members. At least 17 of the detainees in the video were later executed at the Mahari Hotel.
1959 GMT:Bahrain. Five medics whose convictions were recently upheld have gone on hunger strike, according to their lawyers.
The five were among 20 medical staff who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms by a military court last year after they gave medical treatment to demonstrators. The sentences were reduced this summer; however, after they were reaffirmed by an appeal court last month, the five medics were detained.
Calling their action "The Lost Justice", the medics repeated that the authorities used "harsh and systematic torture" during their detention, which "caused injuries and disabilities whose traces remain on [their] bodies.
National Public Radio recaps the key points from Mitt Romney's foreign policy speech at the Virginia Military Institute
A real criticism of Barack Obama might be that he did not change enough. He has continued and escalated the drone war, has surged in Afghanistan, has not reset the diplomatic situation with Iran or North Korea, and has not closed Guantanamo Bay.
But Romney is not challenging any of this, because he is likely to support these measures, albeit in private rather in public statements. Instead, he is pursuing the verbal trickery of turning a "hawkish" Obama into a dove.
Whether that is effective politics, time will tell. But no one should mistake it for a realistic view of US politics.
On Monday night, three Libyan authors will be reading from their work at the Birmingham Book Festival in the United Kingdom.
Ghazi Gheblawi, Giuma Bukleb, and Mohamed Mesrati will talk about life for writers under the Qaddafi regime and their visions of the "new Libya". The readings begin at 7 p.m. at the Bayleaf Restaurant in The Custard Factory.
1954 GMT:Bahrain. Earlier we noted that there were clashes between police and protesters as crowds, gathered to mourn the loss of a prisoner of conscience who dies this week fro sickle cell anemia, were disrupted by teargas. It seems that some of the youth reportedly threw molotov cocktails, and injuries are reported. The Ministry of Interior released this statement, along with a phone number to call:
The General Director of Northern Police announced that a group of lawbreakers targeted on-duty policemen on Friday, while trying to secure Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman road near Buquwa. They attacked the police with Molotov Cocktails. The car gutted and one policeman was injured.
1841 GMT:Turkey/Syria. More escalation near the border:
As stated on 26 June 20l2, the Alliance continues to closely follow the situation in Syria. In view of the Syrian regime’s recent aggressive acts at NATO’s southeastern border, which are a flagrant breach of international law and a clear and present danger to the security of one of its Allies, the North Atlantic Council met today, within the framework of Article 4 of the Washington Treaty, and discussed the continuous shelling of locations in Turkey adjacent to the Turkish-Syrian border by the Syrian regime forces.
The most recent shelling on 3 October 20l2, which caused the death of five Turkish citizens and injured many, constitutes a cause of greatest concern for, and is strongly condemned by, all Allies.
In the spirit of indivisibility of security and solidarity deriving from the Washington Treaty, the Alliance continues to stand by Turkey and demands the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts against an Ally, and urges the Syrian regime to put an end to flagrant violations of international law.
"Five million people, or 22 percent of the population, can't feed themselves or buy enough to feed themselves....These are mostly landless laborers, so they don't grow their own food, and with high food prices they can't buy it either," WFP spokesman Barry Came said. "In addition, there is another five million who are being really hard hit by high food prices and on the edge of being food insecure. So 10 million people in this country go to bed hungry every night."
The number of Yemenis receiving daily WFP food rations has risen from 1.2 million in January to more than 3.8 million, but poor infrastructure and fear of kidnappings have complicated the logistics of providing food aid.
Thirteen percent of Yemeni children are now acutely malnourished.
1820 GMT:Syria. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has upheld his initiative of a four-nation contact group --- Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran --- and declared, "The bloodshed in Syria and the
humanitarian crisis that has unfolded, must be stopped."
1720 GMT:Syria. Back from a long break for a business meeting to find the official casualty figure for today's double bombing near Army Staff Headquarters is six dead –-- t four security guards and two suicide bombers --- and 14 wounded.
Security has been increased in the area of the explosions with roadblocks and checkpoints. A resident said, "Most of the people who work at governmental institutions could not go to work today."
Meanwhile, the Local Coordination Committees report one of the bloodiest days in the 18-month conflict, with 290 people killed by security forces. The 162 dead in Damascus and its suburbs include a claim of 107 people slain in a mass killing in al-Thiabieh. There are also 37 killed in Deir Ez Zor Province, 26 in Homs Province, and 25 in Daraa Province.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 11:10 | 
