World – Page 43 – praag.org

‘Black Jesus’ castrated by mob after human sacrifices

An infamous Papua New Guinea cult leader known as “Black Jesus” was castrated by an angry mob after being hacked to death for killing young girls as sacrifices, reports said on Monday.

Steven Tari, a convicted rapist who was suspected of cannibalism, was killed in a remote PNG village last week, with gory details of his death emerging.

The National newspaper said Tari, who had been on the run since escaping from a prison in Madang in the Pacific nation’s east during a mass break-out with 48 others in March, was hunted down by 80 men.

It said he was killed, castrated and then dragged with a cane tied around his neck to a shallow pit where his body was dumped.

The corpse was dug up by police, prison and health workers on Friday. Juith Gawi, a doctor at Modilion Hospital, said he had multiple knife wounds.

“He was chopped and slashed with bush knives on both arms and legs, chest and stomach which revealed his intestines. He was also castrated,” Gawi said.

Tari, a failed Lutheran pastor who was widely known as Black Jesus, was found guilty in 2010 of raping girls who belonged to his Christian-based sect and sentenced to up to 10 years.

At the time, he had thousands of village followers, including a core of armed warriors to protect him, in what is commonly referred to in PNG as a “cargo cult”.

As part of his “culture ministry”, he preached that young girls were to be “married” to him as it was God’s prophecy.

The National said villagers where he was hiding became fed up with cult beliefs and practices, which included “the killing of young girls as sacrifices”.

Local police official Ray Ban said Tari and his followers offered Rose Wagum, 15, last week as a “sacrifice”. She was found with stab wounds and reportedly died of blood loss.

The group also tried to offer another 14-year-old girl but were stopped by the mob which eventually killed Tari.

The National said Wagum’s aunt was the first known “flower girl” for Tari and found young virgins for him, and it was she who took her niece to his camp to be sacrificed.

Ban said at least one other girl was still missing.

“Tari is dead and this cult worship dies with him,” Ban said.

“Stop this worship now. If I hear any more cult worship here, I will return with my men.”

When he was captured in 2007, there were widespread allegations that Tari’s cult also practised cannibalism along with sacrificial blood rituals, but police only charged him with rape.

PNG is a sprawling nation where black magic, sorcery and cannibalism sometimes occur.

Last year, police arrested dozens of people linked to an alleged cannibal cult accused of killing at least seven people, eating their brains raw and making soup from their penises. – AFP

Racial motive in white killing denied despite tweets

US prosecutors handling the case of two black teenagers accused of shooting dead a white Australian baseball player said Friday there was no evidence to suggest the killing was racially-motivated.

The murder of Chris Lane, 22, in the small Oklahoma town of Duncan has triggered a race debate in America after it emerged that one of the victim’s alleged killers had posted racist comments on Twitter earlier this year.

Several commentators have questioned why authorities had not pressed to have hate crime charges added to the indictment of James Edwards, 15, and Chancey Luna, 16, who are both charged with murder.

However Stephens County District Attorney Jason Hicks said while authorities were aware of the comments made by Edwards, there was not enough evidence to pursue extra charges.

“At this point, the evidence does not support the theory that Christopher Lane was targeted based upon his race or nationality,” Hicks said in a statement.

“The evidence is insufficient to establish that race was the primary motive in the murder of Christopher Lane.”

In separate posts on Twitter earlier this year, Edwards spoke of his “hatred” of white people.

“90% of white ppl are nasty. #HATE THEM,” read one tweet.

In another post Edwards claimed to have assaulted several “woods” — a derogatory slang term for white people — following the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida.

Hicks later reiterated to CNN that he did not believe the crime was racially motivated. He noted that Luna came from a mixed race family, and that the third teenager arrested with the duo, 17-year-old Michael Dewayne Jones, was white.

“I have nothing in my files, paperwork or audio recordings that suggest that Christopher Lane was killed because of his race or nationality,” Hicks said on CNN.

Police have said Edwards and Luna shot Lane because they were “bored.”

“They were bored and just wanted to see someone die,” Duncan police chief Danny Ford told US media.

Hicks agreed that Ford’s explanation appeared to be the most likely.

“I tend to think that the police chief’s comments, that is they did it out of boredom are probably accurate,” Hicks said.

Both Edwards and Luna were charged with first degree murder, a crime punishable by death in Oklahoma.

Jones has been charged with use of a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon and acting as an accessory after the fact. – Sapa/AFP

Dunkin’ Donuts apologises for ‘bizarre and racist’ advertisement

Dunkin’ Donuts has apologized for the “insensitivity” of an advertising campaign in Thailand featuring a woman in blackface makeup to promote a new chocolate flavored doughnut.

The Dunkin’ Donuts franchise in Thailand came under criticism Friday after Human Rights Watch called the advertisements “bizarre and racist.”

The company’s chief executive in Thailand initially defended the campaign, but the U.S. headquarters quickly followed up with an apology.

“We are working with our Thailand franchisee to immediately pull the ad. DD recognizes the insensitivity of this spot,” Dunkin’ Donuts said in a tweet posted on its official U.S. website after complaints erupted on Twitter, in a variety of blogs and in mainstream American media.

The local franchise launched the advertisement earlier this month to promote its new “Charcoal Donut.” In posters, TV commercials and on Facebook, the campaign shows a smiling woman with blackface makeup, bright pink lipstick and a jet black 1950s-style beehive hairdo holding up a bitten black doughnut. The slogan in Thai reads: “Break every rule of deliciousness.”

Critics say the image is reminiscent of 19th and early 20th century American stereotypes for black people that are now considered offensive symbols of a racist era.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said it was shocked to see an American brand name running an advertising campaign that would draw “howls of outrage” if released in the United States.

“It’s both bizarre and racist that Dunkin’ Donuts thinks that it must color a woman’s skin black and accentuate her lips with bright pink lipstick to sell a chocolate doughnut,” said Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch. “Dunkin’ Donuts should immediately withdraw this ad, publicly apologize to those it’s offended and ensure this never happens again.”

The campaign hasn’t ruffled many in Thailand, where it’s common for advertisements to inexplicably use racial stereotypes. A Thai brand of household mops and dustpans called “Black Man” uses a logo with a smiling black man in a tuxedo and bow tie. One Thai skin whitening cream runs TV commercials that say white-skinned people have better job prospects than those with dark skin. An herbal Thai toothpaste says its dark-colored product “is black, but it’s good.”

Hours before the apology was issued by Dunkin’ Donuts headquarters, the company’s chief executive in Thailand dismissed the criticism as “paranoid American thinking.”

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” the CEO Nadim Salhani said in a telephone interview. “We’re not allowed to use black to promote our doughnuts? I don’t get it. What’s the big fuss? What if the product was white and I painted someone white, would that be racist?”

Salhani said that the Thai franchise of Dunkin’ Donuts operates independently of the American operation and that doughnut sales have increased about 50 percent since the campaign was launched around two weeks ago, which he attributed to curiosity about the new advertisements.

“Not everybody in the world is paranoid about racism,” said Salhani, a Lebanese expatriate in Thailand who said his teenage daughter was the model featured in the campaign. “I’m sorry, but this is a marketing campaign, and it’s working very well for us.” – AP

Snowden reveals US ‘Black budget’

U.S. spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats, according to the government’s top-secret budget.

The $52.6 billion “black budget” for fiscal 2013, obtained by The Washington Post from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, maps a bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny. Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending since 2007, it has not divulged how it uses the money or how it performs against the goals set by the president and Congress.

Tables detail spending requests for agencies, as well as personnel breakdowns by pay grade, language expertise, and years of service.

The 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Program details the successes, failures and objectives of the 16 spy agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, which has 107,035 employees.

The summary describes cutting-edge technologies, agent recruiting and ongoing operations. The Post is withholding some information after consultation with U.S. officials who expressed concerns about the risk to intelligence sources and methods. Sensitive details are so pervasive in the documents that The Post is publishing only summary tables and charts online.

“The United States has made a considerable investment in the Intelligence Community since the terror attacks of 9/11, a time which includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technology, and asymmetric threats in such areas as cyber-warfare,” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. wrote in response to inquiries from The Post.

“Our budgets are classified as they could provide insight for foreign intelligence services to discern our top national priorities, capabilities and sources and methods that allow us to obtain information to counter threats,” he said.

Among the notable revelations in the budget summary:

●Spending by the CIA has surged past that of every other spy agency, with $14.7 billion in requested funding for 2013. The figure vastly exceeds outside estimates and is nearly 50 percent above that of the National Security Agency, which conducts eavesdropping operations and has long been considered the behemoth of the community.

●The CIA and the NSA have begun aggressive new efforts to hack into foreign computer networks to steal information or sabotage enemy systems, embracing what the budget refers to as “offensive cyber operations.”

●Long before Snowden’s leaks, the U.S. intelligence community worried about “anomalous behavior” by employees and contractors with access to classified material. The NSA planned to ward off a “potential insider compromise of sensitive information” by re-investigating at least 4,000 people this year who hold high-level security clearances.

●U.S. intelligence officials take an active interest in friends as well as foes. Pakistan is described in detail as an “intractable target,” and counterintelligence operations “are strategically focused against [the] priority targets of China, Russia, Iran, Cuba and Israel.” The latter is a U.S. ally but has a history of espionage attempts against the United States. – Washington Post

British Parliament vote against Syrian attack

The British vote against military strikes in Syria is a tough blow to Prime Minister David Cameron’s domestic political fortunes.

Since taking office in 2010, he has on numerous occasions been undercut not just from opposition parties, but also from elements within both his own Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, the junior member of the UK’s governing coalition.

That was the combination that once again hurt Cameron late Thursday. The government lost a vote—by a tally of 285 to 272—that would have supported in principle military intervention in Syria. Members of all major parties—including his own Tories—opposed the measure.

Mr. Cameron said it is clear that the British Parliament, reflecting the view of the British people, doesn’t want to see the UK get involved in military action and “the government will act accordingly.”

The outcome marks a significant moment in British politics—it is highly unusual for a prime minister to be defeated on foreign policy and raises the prospect of whether the UK’s role on the world stage going forward.

It is also a rare setback for Anglo-American relations that will spur questions about the so-called “special relationship” between the two nations. In recent decades, the UK. has rarely if ever parted ways with the US on such a significant strategic issue.

While the government doesn’t require parliamentary approval to take military action, it would now be politically difficult to do so. A further parliamentary vote had been due to take place early next week on whether the UK should be directly involved in that action. A spokesman for the prime minister confirmed that the UK now won’t take part in the Syrian action.

The outcome of the UK. vote could make it more difficult for President Barack Obama and other Western allies—already weary from years of difficult military intervention in the Middle East—to convince their own publics of the need for intervention in Syria.

The defense secretary, Philip Hammond, said America “will be disappointed that Britain won’t be involved.” Mr. Hammond, speaking in an interview with BBC, said he still expected other countries to continue to look at a response.

The setback also raises questions about Cameron’s authority. The prime minister, who wasn’t required to hold a parliamentary vote but chose to, had personally laid out his case at length to parliament earlier in the day about why military action was needed and why it would be justified, citing humanitarian grounds and the need to prevent the use of chemical weapons in the future.

US officials said Mr. Obama is prepared to act in coming days without Britain. They added that unlike U.S. involvement in the 2011 military operations in Libya, the options being considered in Syria are on a smaller scale and wouldn’t require a coalition to be effective.

Britain’s about turn leaves France as the last European country still considering conducting air attacks on the Assad regime. French officials have said the country’s military had prepared plans for possible action in Syria but repeated on Thursday that no final decision had been made yet.

The French government can engage force overseas without prior Parliamentary approval.

Zuma warns West that bombing won’t solve Syrian crisis

South African President Jacob Zuma hit out at what it called “dangerous rhetoric” concerning possible strikes against Syria and warned any military action must have United Nations backing.

“We are concerned by the rhetoric pointing to the possibility of a military intervention,” said Zuma while condemning “the chemical weapons attack” in Damascus.

“South Africa does not believe that bombing the already suffering people and crumbling infrastructure of Syria, will contribute to a sustainable solution.”

“Military intervention will serve no other purpose than hurting the possibility of a speedy diplomatic solution to the conflict.”

South Africa, the continent’s largest economy and a G20 member, has largely opposed non-UN Western military intervention since becoming a fully democratic state in 1994, with the fall of apartheid.

“Any attack on Syria without the UN Security Council authorisation would constitute a grave violation of international law and dangerously undermine international order,” Zuma said.

South Africa has long sought a seat on the United Nations Security Council, but has irked Western powers with its stance on Zimbabwe and Libya — where it backed authoritarian rulers’ bids to remain in power.

In recent years South Africa has moved to deepen ties with China and Russia, long-time supporters of the ruling ANC during the anti-apartheid struggle.

Zuma was speaking during a meeting with his counterpart from Sao Tome and Principe, Manuel Pinto da Costa. – Sapa/AFP

BRICS agree on structure of bank

The BRICS bloc of large emerging economies have agreed on the capital structure for a proposed development bank that aims to reduce their reliance on Western financial institutions, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Officials from Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa agreed to set up the bank with a total capital of $50 billion, shared equally among them, it quoted an unnamed senior Indian government official as saying.

The decision was made at a meeting in New Delhi in the first week of August, the newspaper said. The move would likely end disagreements over the funding and management of the bank as China had earlier proposed total bank capital of $100 billion and sought a bigger share, it said.

The bank would support the financing needs in emerging and developing nations for roads, modern-day port facilities, and reliable power and rail services.

Officials have previously said the BRICS aimed to inject an initial $50 billion into the bank, but there was disagreement over whether each state should contribute $10 billion or if contributions should vary by the size of their economies.

China’s economy is about 20 times the size of South Africa’s and four times as big as Russia’s or India’s. Other key issues, such as proposals within the group to offer a stake to developed nations, needed further discussion, the Indian official said. The group is considering offering a stake of 40-45% to non-BRICS nations, the official added.

That would help the bank get a higher credit rating and enable it to raise cheaper funds from the market, the newspaper said. The bloc has yet to make a decision on where the bank would be located, the official added.

Those issues are likely to be discussed when finance ministers from the group meet on the side-lines of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington in October, the official added.

The five countries represent a fifth of global GDP but have struggled to find common ground that would convert their economic weight into joint political clout. – Reuters

Fighting rages outside Goma

Fresh fighting raged Thursday outside the flashpoint city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the M23 rebels and regular army said, blaming each other for the new hostilities.

An army officer said rebels had attacked government-held positions on Wednesday night 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the capital of North Kivu province, sparking clashes with heavy weaponry that continued into Thursday.

The territory, near the villages of Mutaho and Kibati, has been in government hands since mid-July, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

M23 intelligence officer Modeste Bahati confirmed the renewed fighting but blamed the army for starting it by attacking rebel positions around Kibati.

“Our forces are holding their positions,” he told AFP.

The rebels accused the army of wanting to “broaden” an offensive against them.

“The absurd war relaunched by the Congolese government appears to be an outburst of anger after the failure of military-style diplomacy in these past weeks,” the movement’s spokesman Amani Kabasha said in a statement.

Kabasha accused the army of breaching “recent recommendations by the UN Security Council, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, and the SADC (Southern African Development Community) for the resumption of peace talks.”

Both sides said they were not yet able to say how many people had been killed or wounded.

The rebellion by the M23, a movement launched by Tutsi ex-soldiers who mutinied from the army in April 2012, is the latest insurgency to ravage the vast central African country’s mineral-rich but conflict-torn east.

The rebels, estimated to number about 1000, have been active in North Kivu province since May 2012. Founded by members of a previous rebel group integrated into the military under a 2009 peace deal, they left the army because they accused the government of failing to abide by the terms of the agreement.

The M23 occupied Goma – a city of about one million people and the hub around which most of the fighting has revolved for 10 days in November 2012 before withdrawing under international pressure.

The latest bout of fighting, which erupted in mid-July and has flared up periodically ever since, ended an almost two-month truce reached in May when UN chief Ban Ki-moon visited the region. – Sapa/AFP

Al Qaeda from Benghazi attack trains Jihadists for Syrian rebels

U.S. intelligence agencies earlier this month uncovered new evidence that al Qaeda-linked terrorists in Benghazi are training foreign jihadists to fight with Syria’s Islamist rebels, according to U.S. officials.

Ansar al-Sharia, the al Qaeda-affiliated militia that U.S. officials say orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound and a CIA facility in Benghazi, is running several training camps for jihadists in Benghazi and nearby Darnah, another port city further east, said officials who discussed some details of the camps on condition of anonymity.

The officials said the terror training camps have been in operation since at least May and are part of a network that funnels foreign fighters to Syrian rebel groups, including the Al-Nusra Front, the most organized of the Islamist rebel groups fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus.

The officials said the jihadist training is a clear indication that Ansar al-Sharia continues to conduct terrorist activities and is linked to jihadists in both Syria and North Africa.

Disclosure of the terror training camps also bolsters earlier intelligence assessments that Libya, following the death of Muammar Qaddafi, is now a focal point for al Qaeda terrorist activity in North Africa.

Information about the terrorist training camps in northeastern Libya was uncovered after the arrest of several jihadists near the port city of Darnah in early August.

Other information about the camps appeared online at jihadist social media outlets around the same time.

Two men identified as Tunisians disclosed the existence of the training camps in Benghazi after they were interrogated by a local militia group in northern Libya.

At the time of their arrest, the Tunisians stated that they were trained in small arms use and were on their way to join Syria rebels by traveling first to Benghazi, then Istanbul, and over land across Turkey and into northern Syria.

According to the officials, the Tunisians were arrested Aug. 3. Inside their car, the militia found six passports, an AK-47 assault rifle, and foreign currency. A total of four people traveling in the car, including two Libyans, clashed with guards at a security checkpoint at the time of the arrest.

One of the men said he was an associate of Ansar al-Sharia’s leader Sufian Ben Qumu, an al Qaeda terrorist released from the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2007.

Details of the number of jihadist training camps and jihadists was not disclosed, but the officials said there are several training camps.

The Ansar al-Sharia Brigade in Benghazi was formed in early 2012 from several Islamist militias that fought during the 2011 revolution that ousted Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. The group was forced to relocate its operating bases based on local opposition to the group’s role in attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound.

Ansar al-Sharia is engaged in overt charitable activities and armed patrols in Benghazi, in addition to the covert terrorist training. The group has sought to play down its role in jihadist activities to avoid both the Libyan government and international scrutiny.

Ansar al-Sharia in Darnah was founded by former members of the terrorist Salim Martyrs Brigade and operates a base west of Darnah.

Libyan officials told Britain’s Arabic language newspaper Al Sharq al Awsat earlier this month that some type of covert U.S. military action was taken against al Qaeda bases in Darnah. However, Pentagon spokesmen said they had no information about such attack that reportedly took place Aug. 11.

U.S. intelligence agencies believe Libya has produced more jihadist rebels for the Syrian conflict than any other outside nation. Some 20 percent of foreign jihadists in Syria came from Libya and that several hundred are currently in the country.

Over 100 Libyans were reported killed in Syrian fighting for such rebel groups as Al-Nusra Front, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, Umma Brigade, Muhajirin Brigade, and Ahrar al-Sham, an Al-Nusra offshoot.

The jihadist training highlights the danger that Libya is becoming a breeding ground for al Qaeda terrorists. Officials said the weak central government in Tripoli has allowed Islamist militias to flourish, including in Benghazi and Darnah where the two factions Ansar al-Sharia groups operate.

The Ansar al-Sharia Brigade was blamed by U.S. officials for carrying out the deadly Benghazi terrorist attack Sept. 11.

The Obama administration sought to cover up the terrorist attack in the weeks before the presidential election by initially claiming the action was the result of a spontaneous demonstration triggered by an anti-Islamic Internet video.

Four Americans were killed in the attack, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.

A Pentagon report from August 2012 published by the Library of Congress stated that al Qaeda senior leaders and the group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) “have sought to take advantage of the Libyan Revolution to recruit militants and to reinforce their operational capabilities in an attempt to create a safe haven and possibly to extend their area of operations to Libya.”

The report said al Qaeda is developing a “clandestine network” in Libya that could be used in the future to destabilize the government and offer logistical support for al Qaeda activities in the region.

The report said that AQIM has formed sleeper cells that “are probably connected to an al Qaeda underground network in Libya, likely as a way, primarily, to secure the supply of arms for its ongoing jihadist operations in Algeria and the Sahel.”

“The al Qaeda clandestine network is currently in an expansion phase, running training camps and media campaigns on social-media platforms, such as Facebook and YouTube,” the report said. “However it will likely continue to mask its presence under the umbrella of the Libyan Salafist movement, with which it shares a radical ideology and a general intent to implement sharia in Libya and elsewhere.”

To avoid attacks, Ansar al-Sharia in Libya “could be the new face of al Qaeda in Libya despite its leader’s denial.” – Washington Free Beacon

‘Reconcile Egypt’ but bomb Syria

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday that he opposes cutting off US military aid to Egypt but vowed Washington would keep pressing for “reconciliation” in the country.

The United States earlier this month condemned Egyptian security forces for firing on protesters backing ousted president Mohamed Morsi, in a crackdown that left nearly 1,000 people dead.

“The interim government has to get back on the path to reconciliation, stop the violence, put Egypt back on the path of economic, democratic reform,” Hagel said in an interview with the BBC aired Wednesday.

“Now do you do that best by cutting off all aid? Maybe eventually that happens, but I don’t think you can take that approach initially, you have to respond and we’ve made it clear what we’d like to see happen,” said Hagel, in Brunei for a meeting of regional defence ministers.

Hagel did not rule out eventually shutting off the flow of $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Cairo, but he stressed the importance of maintaining the decades-long alliance with Egypt, calling it a source of stability that had reinforced US interests.

“We’ve had strong partnerships with Egypt for many years starting with the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt that the US brokered in 1979 that essentially prevented the region from breaking out into a regional war,” he said.

The United States “wouldn’t necessarily agree with the forms of government, the dictatorships, but… we would not want to see the disintegration of a relationship with a large important country like Egypt,” he said.

Echoing similar remarks he made earlier this month, Hagel said America’s influence with Egypt had limits.

“So we’ve tried to help where we can, within the boundaries where we can affect influence where we can,” Hagel said. “You can’t go in and impose. It’s up to the Egyptian people what kind of future they want and what kind of government they want.” – Sapa/AFP

West acting ‘like a monkey with a grenade’

Russia has begun to evacuate its citizens from Syria and its deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, has said the West is acting in the Islamic world like “a monkey with a grenade”.

Envoys from the US and its allies have told rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad that Western powers might attack Syria within days.

US forces in the region are “ready to go”, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said, as Washington and its European and Middle East partners honed their plans for punishing Assad for a major poison-gas attack last week that killed hundreds of civilians.

Several sources who attended a meeting in Istanbul on Monday between Syrian opposition leaders and diplomats said that the rebels were told to expect military action and get ready to negotiate a peace.

“The opposition was told in clear terms that action to deter further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime could come as early as the next few days, and that they should prepare for peace talks in Geneva,” one of the sources said.

Ahmad Jarba, president of the Syrian National Coalition, met envoys from 11 states in the Friends of Syria group, including Robert Ford, the US ambassador to Syria, at an Istanbul hotel.

UN chemical weapons investigators, who finally crossed the frontline to take samples on Monday, put off a second trip to rebel-held suburbs of Damascus.

But Washington said it already held Assad responsible for a “moral obscenity”.

However, with Russian and Chinese opposition complicating efforts to satisfy international law – and Western voters wary of new, far-off wars – world leaders might not pull the trigger just yet. British Prime Minister David Cameron called parliament back from its summer recess for an emergency session on Syria tomorrow.

He and US President Barack Obama, as well as French President Francois Hollande, face tough questions about how an intervention, likely to be limited to air strikes, will end – and whether they risk handing power to anti-Western democracy Islamists if Assad is overthrown.

In an indication of support from Arab states that might help the Western powers argue the case for war against UN vetoes by Moscow and Beijing, the Arab League issued a statement holding Assad’s government fully responsible for the chemical-weapons attack.

Asked if US forces were ready to strike Syria just “like that”, Hagel told the BBC: “We are ready to go, like that. We have moved assets in place to be able to fulfil and comply with whatever option the president wants to take.”

Hagel said the US would have intelligence to present “very shortly” about last week’s mass poisoning. But he noted, after speaking to his British and French counterparts, that there was little doubt among US allies that “the most basic … international humanitarian standard was violated”.

Turkey, Syria’s neighbour and part of the US-led Nato military pact, called the Damascus deaths a “crime against humanity”.

The Syrian government, which denies using gas or obstructing the UN inspectors, said it would press on with its offensive against the rebels. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said: “We have means of defending ourselves; we will surprise them.”

Russia has criticised Washington for cancelling bilateral talks on Syria that were set for today. A Russian aircraft is about to evacuate Russians and citizens of former Soviet states from Syria. The jet landed at the Latakia airport with 20t of humanitarian aid .

About 180 people who “have expressed a desire to leave Syria”, 100 of them Russian, are to be flown out. Russia evacuated its defence personnel from Syria in June.

Epic fail: All 25 000 Liberian students fail university entrance

Not one of the nearly 25,000 students applying for one of Africa’s two state-run universities has passed the entrance exam, to the surprise of the country’s education minister. So the University of Liberia faces a new term with no first years turning up to class.

Etmonia David-Tarpeh, who described the widespread failure as “like mass murder”, plans to meet with university officials after school-leavers paid a fee of $25 each to take the test, only to see their dreams dashed.

Speaking to the BBC Focus on Africa programme, she said: “I know there are a lot of weaknesses in the schools but for a whole group of people to take exams and every single one of them to fail, I have my doubts about that. I’d really like to see the results of the students.”

A bloody civil war that ended a decade ago has left the education system in tatters, with many schools deprived of the simplest education resources and in dire need of qualified teachers. But a lack of enthusiasm and a basic grasp of English are behind the latest shocking statistic, a university spokesperson has said.

Defending the university’s decision, spokesman Momodu Getaweh confirmed that it would not be changing its stance, arguing that the government must put the war behind them and act fast on students’ complete ignorance of the “mechanics” of English.

‘Extremist Jews’ vandalise Arab area in Jerusalem

In an unrelated incident, Israeli mounted police confront Palestinian protestors in Arab East Jerusalem (file photo)

Police say vandals have slashed car tires in an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem, the latest in a series of similar incidents blamed on a fringe group of extremists.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said ten cars were damaged in the Arab neighborhood of Beit Safafa early Tuesday. The words “price tag” was sprayed on walls nearby. The phrase is used by a small group of Jewish extremists to protest what they perceive as the Israeli government’s pro-Palestinian policies.

The acts have been condemned by Israeli leaders across the political spectrum. Police said they are investigating.

Mosques, churches, dovish Israeli groups and even Israeli military bases have been targeted by the vandals in recent years. Two weeks ago a monastery near Jerusalem was defaced. – AP

CIA: US helped Saddam as he gassed Iran

The U.S. government may be considering military action in response to chemical strikes near Damascus. But a generation ago, America’s military and intelligence communities knew about and did nothing to stop a series of nerve gas attacks far more devastating than anything Syria has seen, Foreign Policy has learned.

In 1988, during the waning days of Iraq’s war with Iran, the United States learned through satellite imagery that Iran was about to gain a major strategic advantage by exploiting a hole in Iraqi defenses. U.S. intelligence officials conveyed the location of the Iranian troops to Iraq, fully aware that Hussein’s military would attack with chemical weapons, including sarin, a lethal nerve agent.

The intelligence included imagery and maps about Iranian troop movements, as well as the locations of Iranian logistics facilities and details about Iranian air defenses. The Iraqis used mustard gas and sarin prior to four major offensives in early 1988 that relied on U.S. satellite imagery, maps, and other intelligence. These attacks helped to tilt the war in Iraq’s favor and bring Iran to the negotiating table, and they ensured that the Reagan administration’s long-standing policy of securing an Iraqi victory would succeed. But they were also the last in a series of chemical strikes stretching back several years that the Reagan administration knew about and didn’t disclose.

U.S. officials have long denied acquiescing to Iraqi chemical attacks, insisting that Hussein’s government never announced he was going to use the weapons. But retired Air Force Col. Rick Francona, who was a military attaché in Baghdad during the 1988 strikes, paints a different picture. – Foreign Policy