Central African Republic rebels in capital, France sends troops

By Paul-Marin Ngoupana

BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic rebels clashed with government forces inside the capital on Saturday as they sought to topple President Francois Bozize, prompting France to send in more troops to secure the international airport.

The Seleka rebel coalition resumed hostilities this week in the mineral-rich former French colony, vowing to oust Bozize whom it accuses of breaking a January peace agreement to integrate its fighters into the army.

A Reuters reporter in the northern suburbs of the riverside capital said the rebels had taken control of the neighborhood around Bozize's private residence, known as PK12.

Government troops, however, retained control of the city center, home to the presidential palace, residents said.

As darkness fell, no further fighting was reported in the capital, which was left without electricity and water after the Seleka forces - who had seized the nearby town of Boali with its electricity station - turned off the power.

Many residents huddled in darkened homes with no access to radio or television. "We are in complete darkness without any information," said Saint Hardy, an accountant.

Nelson Ndjadder, a spokesman for the rebels, said that his fighters had shot down a military helicopter which had been harrying their columns since Friday and would push onwards to the presidential palace.

Government spokesman Crepin Mboli-Goumba said the government was still in control of the capital. "President Bozize is still in power," he told Reuters. "Bangui has still not fallen."

U.N. officials, who asked not to be identified, said that mobs of the pro-Bozize civilians had blocked the exit from their compound when they tried to evacuate non-essential staff.

CAR remains among the least developed countries in the world despite rich deposits of gold, diamonds and uranium.

NO THREAT TO FRENCH CITIZENS

Seleka, a loose umbrella group of insurgents, fought its way to the gates of the capital late last year after accusing Bozize of failing to honor an earlier peace deal to give its fighters cash and jobs in exchange for laying down their arms.

The violence is the latest in a series of rebel incursions, clashes and coups that have plagued the landlocked nation in the heart of Africa since its independence from France in 1960.

France, which already has some 250 soldiers stationed in the landlocked nation, sent in another company of troops to secure Bangui's international airport, a diplomatic source said.

"We have asked our citizens to remain at home. For the time being, there is nothing to be worried about," said the source. "There is no direct threat to our citizens at the moment."

The airport, close to the heart of the capital, would be an important exit point for France's 1,200 citizens who live in CAR, mostly in Bangui.

"We have asked for an urgent Security Council meeting to find a good solution," another French diplomat said.

South Africa has sent some 400 soldiers to train Bozize's army, joining hundreds of peacekeepers from the Central African regional bloc. Regional peacekeeping sources said the South Africans had fought alongside the Central African Republic's army.

State radio had announced late on Friday that South Africa would boost its troop presence after Bozize met his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma in Pretoria.

Captain Zamo Sithole, senior operations communications officer at South Africa's National Defence Force said: "We are there in the CAR to protect our properties there, and our troops there."

A South African Defence Ministry spokesman declined to comment.

(Additional reporting by Ange Aboa in Abidjan; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/central-african-republic-rebels-enter-capital-182507566--finance.html

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Verizon announces iMessaging clone for Android, iOS and Web [video]

(Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc said on Friday it would give away a free Nook Simple Touch e-reader to any customer who buys its high-definition Nook HD+ tablet next week, a sign it may still be grappling with excess inventory of the unpopular e-reader. The top U.S. bookstore chain last month reported poor holiday quarter results for its Nook business. Overall revenue fell 26 percent as it sold fewer devices, losing ground to products like Apple Inc's iPad and Amazon.com Inc's Kindle, and the Nook business' loss doubled. The offer is available from March 24 to March 30. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/verizon-announces-imessaging-clone-android-ios-video-021021381.html

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Police arrest 2 teens in Ga. baby killing

This photo provided Friday, March 22, 2013 by Sherry West, of Brunswick, Ga., shows her son Antonio Santiago celebrating his first Christmas in December of 2012. West says a teenager trying to rob her at gunpoint Thursday asked "Do you want me to kill your baby?" before he fatally shot 13-month-old Antonio in the head. West was walking with Antonio in his stroller near their home in coastal Brunswick. The mother was shot in the leg and says another bullet grazed her ear. Police are combing school records and canvassing neighborhoods as they search for the gunman and a young accomplice a day after the slaying Thursday. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Sherry West)

This photo provided Friday, March 22, 2013 by Sherry West, of Brunswick, Ga., shows her son Antonio Santiago celebrating his first Christmas in December of 2012. West says a teenager trying to rob her at gunpoint Thursday asked "Do you want me to kill your baby?" before he fatally shot 13-month-old Antonio in the head. West was walking with Antonio in his stroller near their home in coastal Brunswick. The mother was shot in the leg and says another bullet grazed her ear. Police are combing school records and canvassing neighborhoods as they search for the gunman and a young accomplice a day after the slaying Thursday. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Sherry West)

This Friday, March 22, 2013 photo provided by the Glynn County Detention Center shows De'Marquise Elkins, 17, one of two teenagers arrested Friday and accused of fatally shooting a 13-month-old baby in the face and wounding his mother during their morning stroll in Brunswick, Ga. Elkins is charged as an adult with first-degree murder, along with a 14-year-old who was not identified because he is a juvenile, Police Chief Tobe Green said. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Glynn County Detention Center)

Sherry West breaks down in tears as she describes the incident the day before where her 13-month-old son was fatally shot and she was wounded Friday, March 22, 2013 in Brunswick, Ga. West said Friday a teenager trying to rob her at gunpoint asked "Do you want me to kill your baby?" before he fatally shot her 13-month-old son in the head. (AP Photo/The Brunswick News, Bobby Haven)

Luis Santiago tries to comfort Sherry West at her apartment Friday, March 22, 2013, in Brunswick, Ga., the day after their 13-month-old son, Antonio Santiago, was shot and killed. West says she was walking her baby in his stroller when a teenage gunman demanding money shot the baby in the face and shot her in the leg. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)

Authorities investigate the scene of shooting in Brunswick, Ga. on Thursday, March 21, 2013. A young boy opened fire on a woman pushing her baby in a stroller in a Georgia neighborhood, killing the 1-year-old boy and wounding the mother, police said. The woman, Sherry West, told WAWS-TV that two boys approached her and demanded money Thursday morning. Brunswick Police Chief Tobe Green said the boys are thought to be between 10 and 15 years old.(AP Photo/The Morning News, Terry Dickson)

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) ? In five years, Sherry West has lost two sons to unspeakable violence.

The Georgia mother was grieving from Thursday's shooting death of her 13-month-old son in his stroller during an attempted robbery while they took a morning stroll. In 2008, her 18-year-old son was stabbed in an altercation in New Jersey.

A pair of teenagers was arrested Friday in the most recent shooting. West had just been to the post office a few blocks from her apartment Thursday morning and was pushing her son, Antonio, in his stroller while they walked past gnarled oak trees and blooming azaleas in the coastal city of Brunswick.

West said a tall, skinny teenager, accompanied by a smaller boy, asked her for money.

"He asked me for money and I said I didn't have it," she told The Associated Press on Friday from her apartment, which was scattered with her son's toys and movies.

"When you have a baby, you spend all your money on babies. They're expensive. And he kept asking and I just said 'I don't have it.' And he said, 'Do you want me to kill your baby?' And I said, 'No, don't kill my baby!'"

One of the teens fired four shots, grazing West's ear and striking her in the leg, before he walked around to the stroller and shot the baby in the face.

Seventeen-year-old De'Marquis Elkins is charged as an adult with first-degree murder, along with a 14-year-old who was not identified because he is a juvenile, Police Chief Tobe Green said. It wasn't immediately clear whether the boys had attorneys.

Police announced the arrest Friday afternoon after combing school records and canvassing neighborhoods searching for the pair. The chief said the motive of the "horrendous act" was still under investigation and the weapon had not been found.

"I feel glad that justice will be served," West said. "It's not something I'm going to live with very well. I'm just glad they caught him."

West said detectives showed her mugshots of about 24 young men. She pointed to one, saying he looked like the gunman.

"After I picked him, they said they had him in custody," West said. "It looked just like him. So I think we got our man."

West said she thought the other suspect looked much younger: "That little boy did not look 14."

The slaying happened around the corner from West's apartment in the city's Old Town historic district. It's a street lined with grand Victorian homes from the late 1800s. Most have been neatly restored by their owners. Others, with faded and flaking paint, have been divided into rental units like the apartment West shared with her son. The slain boy's father, Luis Santiago, lives in a house across the street.

A neighbor dropped off a fruit basket and then a hot pot of coffee Friday as a friend from the post office dropped by to comfort West.

Santiago came and went. At one point he scooped up an armload of his son's stuffed animals, saying he wanted to take them home with him. He talked about Antonio's first birthday on Feb. 5 and how they had tried different party hats on the boy.

"He's all right," Santiago told the boy's mother, trying to smile. "He's potty training upstairs in heaven."

West said her son was walking well on his own and eight of his teeth had come in. But she also mourned the milestones that will never come, like Antonio's first day at school.

"I'm always going to wonder what his first word would be," West said.

Beverly Anderson, whose husband owns the property where West has lived for several years, said she was stunned by the violence in what's generally known as a safe neighborhood where children walk to school and families are frequently outdoors.

Jonathan Mayes and his wife were out walking their dogs Friday, right past the crime scene, and said they've never felt nervous about being out after dark.

"What is so mind-numbing about this is we don't have this kind of stuff happen here," Mayes said.

It's not the mother's first loss of a child to violence. West said her 18-year-old son, Shaun Glassey, was killed in New Jersey in 2008. She still has a newspaper clipping from the time.

Glassey was killed with a steak knife in March 2008 during an attack involving several other teens on a dark street corner in Gloucester County, N.J., according to news reports from the time.

"He and some other boys were going to ambush a kid," Bernie Weisenfeld, a spokesman for the Gloucester County prosecutor's office, told the AP Friday.

Glassey was armed with a knife, but the 17-year-old target of the attack was able to get the knife away from him "and Glassey ended up on the wrong end of the knife," Weisenfeld recalled.

Prosecutors decided the 17-year-old would not be charged because they determined that he acted in self-defense.

Sabrina Elkins, the sister of the older suspect in the Georgia baby's slaying, said Friday evening that she believed her brother was innocent of the charges. She didn't know whether he had a lawyer.

"He couldn't have done that to a little baby," she told AP. "My brother has a good heart."

She said that her brother had been living in Atlanta, and only returned to Brunswick a few months ago. Typically, he would come by her house in the morning and they'd go to breakfast. But Friday morning, police came to her door as her brother was approaching along the sidewalk.

"The police came pointing a Taser at him, telling him to get on the ground," she recalled by phone. "He said, 'What are you getting me for? Can you tell me what I did?'"

___

Associated Press Writer Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta and news researcher Monika Mathur in New York contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-23-US-Baby-In-Stroller-Slain/id-646fb41abc16424aa0cd124daa5e09fb

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PFT: Ravens to open season on road? |? Where?

Getty Images

The bad news for Browns running back Trent Richardson this week is that he can no longer use the top of his helmet to ram opponents.? The worse news is that he now faces civil charges of assaulting a pair of women last December.

The only good news is that he?s not accused of ramming them with the top of his helmet.

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Krystal Jones and Kathleen Hunter filed a lawsuit on Friday, claiming that Richardson, his girlfriend, and his brother, Terrell, verbally and physically assaulted the duo at Richardson?s home.

The incident occurred after the Browns? December 9 win over the Chiefs.? A celebration at Richardson?s house lasted into the morning hours of Monday, December 10, with Richardson?s girlfriend, Sevina Fatu, inviting Jones and Hunter to attend.

The women claim that Richardson at one point asked them to leave and that, while in the driveway, Richardson ?verbally accosted? them, ?shout[ing] and curs[ing]? that the women has ??disrespected his house?? by slamming a door.? Richardson then allegedly slammed a fist onto the hood of Jones? car, causing damage in excess of $1,500.

The women claim that, as they tried to leave, Richardson stood behind the car and called for Fatu to come out and ?attack? them.? Fatu then ?opened the driver?s door and began pummeling? Kathleen Hunter ?with her fists.?? Two other unnamed women joined the fray, beating Hunter at the alleged urging of Richardson.

Next, the trio allegedly ?proceeded to beat and pummel Plaintiff Krystal Jones with their fists and feet,? at the direction of Trent Richardson.

Jones and Hunter claim that, after they were able to drive away, they stopped the car, called police, and sought medical attention.

The Browns told the Plain Dealer that they are ?aware of the situation, but will not comment at this time.?

It?s unclear whether the situation was investigated by the authorities for criminal prosecution, and if so whether a decision was made to prosecute, or not.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/22/ravens-orioles-cant-reach-a-deal-for-thursday-opener/related/

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Business Manager, Abuja - See Jobberman.com for Nigeria Jobs

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Source: http://www.jobberman.com/job/195884/business-manager-in-abuja/

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'Something has been broken in Syria'

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Anxious to keep Syria's civil war from spiraling into even worse problems, President Barack Obama said Friday he worries about the country becoming a haven for extremists when ? not if ? President Bashar Assad is ousted from power.

Obama, standing side by side with Jordan's King Abdullah II, said the international community must work together to ensure there is a credible opposition ready to step into the breach.

"Something has been broken in Syria, and it's not going to be put back together perfectly immediately ? even after Assad leaves," Obama said. "But we can begin the process of moving it in a better direction, and having a cohesive opposition is critical to that."

He said Assad is sure to go but there is great uncertainty about what will happen after that.

"I am very concerned about Syria becoming an enclave for extremism," Obama said, adding that extremism thrives in chaos and failed states. He said the rest of the world has a huge stake in ensuring that a functioning Syria emerges.

"The outcome is Syria is not going to be ideal," he acknowledged, adding that strengthening a credible opposition was crucial to minimizing the difficulties.

Eager to resolve another source of tension in the region, the president earlier Friday helped broker a phone call between the Israeli and Turkish prime ministers that led to the restoration of normal diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Obama had come to Jordan from Israel, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu placed a call to Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan to apologize for the deaths of nine Turkish activists in a 2009 Israeli naval raid on a Gaza-bound international flotilla.

"The timing was good for that conversation to take place," Obama said.

Obama, at a joint news conference with Abdullah, said his administration is working with Congress to provide Jordan with an additional $200 million in aid this year to cope with the massive influx of refugees streaming into the country from Syria.

Abdullah said the refugee population in his country has topped 460,000 and is likely to double by the end of the year ? the equivalent of 60 million refugees in the United States, he said.

Obama also said he would "keep on plugging away" in hopes of getting the Israelis and Palestinians to reach a peace agreement.

"The window of opportunity still exists, but it's getting more and more difficult," the president said. "The mistrust is building instead of ebbing."

On Iran, Obama reiterated that the U.S. is open to "every option that's available" to keep the country from developing a nuclear weapon.

He said it would be "extraordinarily dangerous" for the world if Iran does become nuclear capable, and he expressed his desire for using diplomatic means to halt Iran's nuclear aspirations. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

"My hope and expectation is that among a menu of options, the option that involves negotiations, discussions, compromise and resolution of the problem is the one that's exercised," Obama said. "But as president of the United States I would never take any option off the table."

Obama arrived in Jordan on Friday evening, the final stop on a four-day visit to the Middle East that included his first stop in Israel as president.

He began his visit to Amman with an apology.

"I apologize for the delay," Obama told Abdullah after arriving about an hour behind schedule. "We ended up having a dust storm."

The two leaders headed to dinner after their news conference. On Saturday, Obama planned several hours of sightseeing, including a tour of the fabled ancient city of Petra, before the return trip to Washington.

Before leaving Israel, Obama paid his respects to the nation's heroes and to victims of the Holocaust. He also solemnly reaffirmed the Jewish state's right to exist.

Accompanied by Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, Obama laid wreaths at the graves of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism who died in 1904 before realizing his dream of a Jewish homeland, and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995.

He also toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, declaring afterward that it illustrates the depravity to which man can sink but also serves as a reminder of the "righteous among the nations who refused to be bystanders."

Friday's stop at Herzl's grave, together with Thursday's visit to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, the ancient Hebrew texts, were symbolic stops for Obama that acknowledged a rationale for Israel's existence that rests with its historical ties to the region and with a vision that predated the Holocaust. Obama has been criticized in Israel for his 2009 Cairo speech in which he gave only the example of the Holocaust as a reason for justifying Israel's existence.

"Here on your ancient land, let it be said for all the world to hear," Obama said. "The state of Israel does not exist because of the Holocaust, but with the survival of a strong Jewish state of Israel, such a holocaust will never happen again."

Obama and Netanyahu met for two hours over lunch. An Israeli official said that they discussed Israel's security challenges and that, in addressing the peace process with Palestinians, Netanyahu stressed the importance of security. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity under diplomatic protocol.

Obama also squeezed in a stop in Bethlehem in the West Bank to visit the Church of the Nativity.

He had been scheduled to take a helicopter to Bethlehem but had to change plans due to unusually high winds. The route gave Obama a clear look at Israel's separation barrier with the West Bank, which runs south of Jerusalem and is the subject of weekly protests by Palestinians.

About 300 Palestinians and international pilgrims gathered near the Nativity Church, awaiting Obama's arrival. But a knot of protesters along the route held up signs stating: "Gringo, return to your colony" and "US supports Israeli injustice."

At a nearby mosque, Mohammed Ayesh, a Muslim religious official in Bethlehem, issued a plea to Obama in a speech to worshippers: "America, where are your values? Where are the human rights? Isn't it time that you interfere to make it stop?"

Amid high security, Obama toured the church with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. They stopped at the Grotto of the Nativity, which is said to stand where Jesus Christ was born. About 20 children waving U.S. and Palestinian flags greeted Obama in a courtyard outside the sanctuary. He posed for photographs with Abbas and Bethlehem's mayor, Vera Baboun.

At Yad Vashem, Obama donned a skull cap and was accompanied by Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, a survivor of the Buchenwald Concentration camp who lost both parents in the Holocaust. Among his stops was Yad Vashem's Hall of Names, a circular chamber that contains original testimony documenting every Holocaust victim ever identified.

"Nothing could be more powerful," Obama said.

___

Associated Press writers Dalia Nammari in Bethlehem, West Bank, and Daniel Estrin in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-warns-extremist-threat-syria-180949203--politics.html

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Obama to Israel: Compromise for peace

JERUSALEM (AP) ? President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned appeal Thursday for Israel to recognize that compromise will be necessary to secure peace and lasting security for the Jewish state.

Telling an audience of university students that the United States is their country's best friend and most important ally, Obama said the U.S. will never compromise in its own commitment to Israel's defense, particularly against threats such as the one posed by Iran and its nuclear program.

But he also stressed that Israel must make peace with the Palestinians if it is to ensure its survival and long-term viability as a homeland for the Jewish people. Israeli occupation of areas that the Palestinians claim for their state must end, he said.

"The Palestinian people's right to self-determination and justice must ... be recognized," he said. "Put yourself in their shoes - look at the world through their eyes. It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day."

Obama made no explicit demands of Israel but said its people should understand that specific actions, notably ongoing construction of Jewish housing on disputed territory, can hurt the chances for restarting stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, who have made a halt to such building a demand for returning to negotiations.

"Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable ? that real borders will have to be drawn," Obama said.

Earlier Thursday in the West Bank, standing alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Obama made similar comments but essentially abandoned his previous support for the Palestinian demand that settlement activity end before talks resume.

Obama said the United States continues to oppose the construction of Jewish housing on land claimed by the Palestinians but stressed that issues of disagreement between the two sides should not be used as an "excuse" to do nothing.

"If the expectation is that we can only have direct negotiations when everything is settled ahead of time, then there is no point for negotiations, so I think it is important to work through this process even if there are irritants on both sides," Obama said at a joint news conference with Abbas in Ramallah.

Abbas and other Palestinian officials said they would not drop the demand, noting that much of the world considers the settlements to be illegal and not merely an impediment to peace talks.

"We require the Israeli government to stop settlements in order to discuss all our issues and their concerns," Abbas told the news conference, a marquee event during Obama's brief visit to the West Bank on the second day of his Mideast visit. "It's the duty of the Israeli government to stop the settlement activities to enable us to talk about the issues in the negotiations."

During his first four years in office, Obama had sided with the Palestinians on the issue. He and his surrogates repeatedly have demanded that all settlement activity cease. However, when Israel reluctantly declared a 10-month moratorium on construction, the Palestinians balked at returning to negotiations until shortly before it expired and talks foundered shortly thereafter.

The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem ? territories Israel captured in the 1967 war ? but are ready for minor adjustments to accommodate some settlements closest to Israel. Since 1967, Israel has built dozens of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that are now home to 560,000 Israelis ? an increase of 60,000 since Obama became president four years ago.

Obama's comments in Ramallah echoed those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly called for the Palestinians to drop preconditions for re-launching the stalled peace talks. Obama's remarks were sure to reinforce deep skepticism among Palestinians about whether he is willing or able to use U.S. influence to push Israel on key issues.

In what appeared to be an attempt to blunt such criticism, Obama used his speech to the Israeli students to appeal to their love of freedom, respect for human rights and common values with Americans to do the right thing.

He offered profuse praise for Israel's history as a haven for refugees fleeing social and religious persecution. He hailed the technological innovations made by Israeli scientists and engineers.

___

Associated Press writers Karin Laub in Ramallah and Ian Deitch and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-urges-israelis-compromise-peace-151103893--politics.html

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