RTC Director

US Senators Warn Egypt of ‘Disastrous Rupture’ in Relations

Three United States Senators are warning of a “disastrous rupture” in relations with Egypt if the case of 19 Americans charged with illegal fundraising is not resolved soon.

Republicans John McCain and Kelly Ayotte and Independent Joe Lieberman said Tuesday that congressional support for Egypt, including financial aid, is in jeopardy.

The senators say those inside the Egyptian government who oppose relations with the United States are exacerbating tensions and inflaming public opinion. But they say there are people of good will in both countries who are working hard to resolve the crisis.

Egypt says 43 activists, including 19 Americans, who were working with non-governmental organizations will be put on trial on charges of illegally finding pro-democracy groups. One of the Americans is Sam LaHood, son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The State Department says the Americans and others were working to support Egyptian elections. It says they are completely non-partisan and were not raising money to support any individual candidate.

Egypt is in the midst of a presidential election aimed at replacing the interim military government with a democratically-elected civilian administration. Parliamentary elections were held last month.

Thousands of Egyptians have been demanding a faster transition to civilian rule, including violent street protests. Egypt has been under a military government since President Hosni Mubarak fled last year.

by RTC Director

Santorum Leading in Minnesota Caucus, Missouri Primary

U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum appears poised for a campaign boost with a strong showing in two of Tuesday's nominating caucuses.

The former senator from Pennsylvania has a solid initial lead in Minnesota, earning 43 percent of the vote with about six percent of precincts reporting. And his early lead in Missouri is even greater at 54 percent with nearly a quarter of the votes counted.

Mitt Romney, who had been hoping to solidify his front-runner status in Tuesday's contests, is more than 20 points behind Santorum in Missouri and lagging in third place in Minnesota.

The former Massachusetts governor may be helped by voters in Colorado, however, where Tuesday's caucus results have not yet been posted. Romney won the state by a large margin when he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and was expected to win again Tuesday.

A total of 70 delegates are up for grabs in the Colorado and Minnesota, although they will be awarded later at district and state conventions. Missouri's primary is non-binding, with no delegates at stake.

To be selected to face Mr. Obama, a Republican needs to have the support of 1,144 delegates at the Republican nominating convention in Florida in August. To date, Romney has a reported 101 committed delegates, Gingrich 32, Santorum 17 and Paul 9.

Despite Romney's wins in the primaries in Florida, Nevada, and New Hampshire, a new poll Tuesday indicated Republican support for him nationwide has fallen during the past month. In the Reuters/Ipsos telephone survey conducted this month, 29 percent of Republican voters backed Romney, down one percent from a survey in early January. The latest survey showed Texas Congressman Ron Paul's support growing by 5 percent to 21 percent, putting him in second place ahead of former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich . Santorum also saw a 5 percent rise in support to land close behind Gingrich .

The Reuters news agency says the results suggest Romney still has many doubters among Republicans.

Gingrich, once considered Romney's top rival for the nomination, held a large lead in the Colorado polls late last year. But he has since lost ground in that state and was focusing his attention Tuesday on Ohio, as the state begins early voting ahead of its primary on March 6. Gingrich has vowed to fight all the way to the August nominating convention.

Meanwhile, Paul holds an election event in Minnesota Tuesday night.

In a hypothetical election match-up, an ABC News-Washington Post poll indicates President Obama would beat Romney. The survey shows Mr. Obama ahead 51 percent to 45 percent among registered voters . The poll found that half of those surveyed approve of President Obama's job performance and believe he deserves a second term.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found Mr. Obama's approval rating is up one percent from the January survey to reach 48 percent, but his disapproval rating is the same at 49 percent.

by RTC Director

California Court Rules Voter-Approved Ban on Gay Marriage Unconstitutional

A California appeals court has ruled that a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

The judges said in their ruling Tuesday the ban, known as Proposition 8, “serves no purpose” other than to lessen the “status and human dignity” of homosexuals in the state. The dissenting judge in the 2-to-1 decision said he thought the government could have a “legitimate reason” to restrict same-sex couples from marrying.

Gay marriage supporters cheered the ruling, while Proposition 8's proponents said they would appeal it, either to a higher California Court or directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But some legal analysts said Tuesday the Supreme Court may choose not to weigh in, because Tuesday's ruling only applies to California's specific circumstances. The judges said the Proposition 8 was illegitimate because it took away a right that had already been granted.

California Senator Dianne Feinstein told VOA she thought the ruling, though narrow, was indicative of the broader issue, that no laws can change the U.S. constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.

“On page 79 of the decision, there is one sentence: 'By using their initiative power to target a minority group, and withdraw a right it possessed without a legitimate reason for doing so, the people of California violated the Equal Protection clause. We hold Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional'. Now, what this means is that, in a very narrow sense, the court is saying that an initiative cannot change the guarantee that the constitution gives with respect to equal protection. So, it is a narrow decision, but it is really dispositive of the question.”

She said the federal law restricting gay marriage, known as the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, should likewise be overturned.

“My belief is that DOMA should fall on the same basis that Proposition 8 fell. But in the event it does not, or will not, we have produced a bill that would essentially repeal DOMA.”

Proposition 8 passed in 2008 with 52 percent of the vote, just months after the state had approved gay marriages.

Homosexual couples will still be prevented from marrying in California until the appeals process is complete.

The appeals court Tuesday also ruled that the judge who declared the ban unconstitutional in 2010 did not have a conflict of interest. Lawyers for the ban's supporters argued the judge should have been disqualified or recused himself because his long-term same-sex relationship meant he could have had a personal interest in allowing marriages between homosexual couples.

Several U.S. states and the District of Columbia allow gay couples to marry.

by RTC Director

Britain Marks Charles Dickens’ 200th Birthday

Britain's Prince Charles has led ceremonies marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, one of English literature's most famous and celebrated novelists.

The prince laid a wreath at Dickens' grave Tuesday at Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner, where the writer was buried in 1870 — alongside Geoffrey Chaucer, Tennyson, Samuel Johnson and other literary greats.

The writer's descendants attended the ceremony. His great-grandson Mark Dickens said the writer was very committed to social reform.

“The fact that we're celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens is an opportunity to be able to look back at what he did in his works and in particular with his social reform because that was very, very important to him throughout his life.''

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla also toured the Dickens Museum in central London where they cut a book-shaped as cake and listened to a reading by Actress Gillian Anderson from an old Dickens book. Anderson recently played Miss Haversham in the British TV drama “Great Expectations” based on Dickens' novel. She praised Dickens for describing the human condition in England of his time.

“He's obviously very well talented in many different ways, but he was so specific about the human condition of the time. And his descriptions of characters and of the state of being at that time in England was, you know, is part of our historical record of what it was like back then.''

Dickens' difficult early life led him to campaign for social reform in Victorian England through his writing. His novels, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities, have been read by millions of people worldwide. In championing the problems of the poor and underprivileged, his stories about social inequality, greed and corrupt politicians remain relevant today.

More events are being held in the southern city of Portsmouth, where Dickens was born on February 7, 1812.

by RTC Director

Hezbollah’s Nasrallah Admits Receiving Material Support from Iran

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has acknowledged for the first time that the Lebanese militant group receives financial and material support from Iran, a longtime ally.

He made the admission in a video-link speech to supporters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. He said Hezbollah previously only confirmed receiving political and moral support from Iran to avoid embarrassing the Islamic state.

The United States considers Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization and has long accused Iran of arming the group by smuggling weapons through Syria, another Hezbollah supporter. The militant group began fighting Israel in 1982, when Israeli forces invaded Lebanon to drive out Palestinian militants who attacked the Jewish state.

Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, but Hezbollah vowed to keep pursuing its goal of eliminating the Jewish state. In 2006, Hezbollah and Israel fought a month-long war that killed about 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis.

Some observers have said Hezbollah may strike Israel again if Israeli forces take military action against Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons to try to destroy the Jewish state and refuses to rule out an attack to stop the program. Iran says its nuclear activities are peaceful.

Nasrallah said in the event of an Israeli strike on Iran, the Iranian government “will not ask Hezbollah to do anything.” He said his group will make its own decision about how to react.

by RTC Director