RTC Director

US Senate passes sanctions on Iran central bank

The US Senate has unanimously approved economic sanctions on Iran targeting the country's oil industry, despite warnings the move could backfire.

The measures, passed by 100 votes to nil, would ban foreign firms from doing business with the Iranian central bank.

Before it can become law, it must be approved by the House and President Barack Obama, who is sceptical.

The effort to thwart Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions followed new EU sanctions imposed earlier on Thursday.

Meanwhile, diplomats at the Iranian embassy in London must leave Britain by Friday afternoon.

They were ordered to go after hundreds of Iranian protesters stormed the UK embassy in Tehran on Tuesday.

Oil-price rise?

In recent weeks the US has introduced sanctions against Iran's financial sector, although it has stopped short of targeting the central bank outright.

President Barack Obama has been cautious about harsher sanctions, fearing such a move could disrupt the oil markets at a time of economic uncertainty for many Americans, and alienate potential allies.

US officials have also warned that depriving global markets of Iranian exports could send oil prices sharply higher, gifting Tehran a funding boost.

Unless a compromise is reached, the president will have to decide whether to veto it.

The US has already forbidden its own banks from dealing directly with the Iranian central bank.

Under the new sanctions, drafted by Democrat Robert Menendez and Republican Mark Kirk, foreign banks that do business with Iran's central bank would be cut off from the US financial system.

The sanctions are designed to come into effect after a six-month grace period - in order to give oil markets time to factor them in.

The measures were part of a much larger $662bn (£422bn) defence bill, which also cruised through the Senate on Thursday night.

Europe's new sanctions blacklist 180 Iranian officials and firms, but do not impose an oil embargo on Iran, because some European countries are dependent on Iranian oil.

Ministers meeting in Brussels also agreed on Thursday to work on other measures targeting Iran's energy sector.

The latest round of sanctions follow a recent UN report that linked Iran with the development of a nuclear weapon.

Tehran insists its nuclear programme is strictly for civilian purposes.

Officials say the latest round of sanctions is not related to this week's storming of the UK embassy in Iran.

The British government says all UK diplomatic staff in Tehran have been evacuated and the embassy closed.

Iran has said it regretted the incident, which it described as "unacceptable behaviour by a small number of protesters".

by RTC Director

Clinton Offers Rewards for Reforms in Burma

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the United States is ready to support Burma's transition to democracy and will consider re-establishing diplomatic relations if political and economic reforms there take hold.

Secretary Clinton said Thursday during a landmark visit to Burma's capital Naypyidaw that any step Burma's government takes will be carefully considered.

She urged the government to speed up reconciliation efforts by releasing more political prisoners and stop violent campaigns against ethnic minorities. Clinton also urged Burma to end any “illicit” military ties to North Korea and respect international consensus against the spread of nuclear weapons.

She spoke to reporters after a historic meeting with Burmese President Thein Sein who has overseen tentative steps to reform since he took over in March. The former military officer hailed what he called a new chapter in U.S.-Burmese relations.

Later Thursday, the U.S. secretary of state dined with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in her home. The two are scheduled to hold formal talks Friday.

Clinton will also meet with representatives of Burma's ethnic minorities and civil society representatives before departing Burma Friday afternoon.

Clinton is the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Burma in 50 years.

The new Burmese government has released about 200 political prisoners, eased some press restrictions and opened a dialogue with some of its critics, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel peace prize laureate was freed from house arrest last year after spending much of the previous 20 years in detention. Her party won a national election in 1990 by a landslide, but was stopped from taking power. She confirmed Wednesday that she will run for parliament in upcoming elections.

The United States and other Western nations imposed sanctions on the former Burmese military government because of its harsh human rights abuses, including military operations against ethnic groups and the jailing of up to 2,000 political prisoners.

Clinton stressed Thursday that the sanctions will not be lifted until Burma makes concrete steps toward democracy.

The Associated Press quoted Burma's state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar Thursday as saying that a high-level delegation met with a six-man team from the Kachin Independence Organization in China's Yunnan province. Kachin people make up one of Burma's largest ethnic minorities in the north that have had armed clashes with the Burmese army. The report says the two sides agreed to hold more talks toward establishing dialogue and ending violence.

by RTC Director

Syria Battling Civil War

The United Nations' top human rights official says Syria's bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters has degenerated into a civil war.

Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay told reporters in Geneva Thursday an increasing number of soldiers are defecting and taking up arms against the government. She also said the “reliable information” from Syria indicates the death toll from the past eight months of unrest is far higher than the confirmed U.N. figure of 4,000.

The U.N. Human Rights Council will hold an urgent meeting Friday to discuss the crisis.

But U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the violence in Syria should not be characterized as a civil war, because, he said, the government is overwhelmingly responsible for the use of force.

Syria has refused to end the crackdown, saying it is a necessary response to attacks by “armed terrorists” on civilians and security personnel.

Meanwhile, a report Thursday by the Russian news agency Interfax says Moscow delivered supersonic cruise missiles to Syria, despite calls from the U.S. and Europe for a weapons embargo against the government.

The European Union said it is tightening sanctions on Syria. EU officials also said they added 11 more entities and 12 more individuals to a blacklist hit by travel bans and asset freezes.

An Arab League committee in Cairo also released a list of 17 Syrians banned from traveling to Arab states. Those banned include the brother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, top Cabinet ministers and the country's richest businessman.

Officials say the list and other recommendations will be presented to Arab League members meeting in Doha on Sunday.

Arab League member Kuwait on Thursday urged its nationals to leave Syria due to safety concerns. The move follows mob attacks in Damascus on the embassies of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE after the Arab League decided to suspend Syria's membership.

by RTC Director

Al-Qaeda says it kidnapped Warren Weinstein in Pakistan

Al-Qaeda says it has 70-year-old US aid expert Warren Weinstein, who was kidnapped by armed men in the Pakistani city of Lahore nearly four months ago.

In a video, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said he would be freed if the US stopped air strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan, among other demands.

Mr Weinstein is a former USAID worker who has lived in Pakistan for five years.

US officials have not said publicly who they believed was holding him.

"Just as the Americans detain whomever they suspect may be connected to al-Qaeda or the Taliban even in the slightest of ways, we have detained this man who has been involved with US aid to Pakistan since the 1970s," Zawahiri said in the 31-minute video.

'Retaliation'

He also demanded that America stop air strikes on Somalia and Yemen, according to a US monitoring group, Site Intelligence.

And he called for the release of al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects around the world, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombers.

Zawahiri confirmed, too, an announcement by US officials in August that his Libyan deputy, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, had been killed in an air strike in Pakistan's north-western tribal region.

"The retaliation, with permission from Allah, will be taken against those crusader Westerners who killed him [Rahman] and his two sons, and killed hundreds of thousands of our brothers, sons, women, and sheikhs, and occupied our countries [and] looted our wealth," said Zawahiri.

He took over at the top of the militant network this year after Osama Bin Laden was killed in May by US special forces at his hideout in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

In the video, Zawahiri reportedly addressed Mr Weinstein's family, telling them not to believe any claim by US President Barack Obama that he would try to free the hostage.

"He might say to you, 'I sought to release your relative, but al-Qaeda was stubborn.' Do not believe him," Zawahiri was quoting as saying.

"He might say to you, 'I tried to contact them and they did not answer.' Do not believe him."

Twelve days after Mr Weinstein's abduction on 13 August, Lahore police said he had been freed, but they then retracted the claim. The US embassy in Islamabad said at the time it had no evidence he had been released.

by RTC Director

Herman Cain gave cash to Ginger White

Republican candidate Herman Cain has admitted giving money to Ginger White, the woman who says they had a 13-year affair.

In an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper, he also said he had not told his wife, Gloria, about the friendship.

But Mr Cain still insists he never had sexual relations with Ms White.

Rival contender Newt Gingrich, who has surged in polls as Mr Cain has dropped, now predicts he will win the race.

The former House Speaker said in an interview with ABC News on Thursday: "It's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high I'm going to be the nominee."

'Soft-hearted person'

In response to Mr Gingrich's sudden rise, frontrunner Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is preparing to launch attack ads in the key election state of Iowa on Friday.

In January, Iowa holds the first of a series of state-by-state contests that will pick the Republican nominee to challenge Barack Obama for the White House in November 2012.

Asked whether the most recent allegations of sexual misconduct to blight his campaign could force him to drop out of the race, Mr Cain told the New Hampshire newspaper: "Yes, it is an option."

He said he repeatedly gave Ms White money to help her with "month-to-month bills and expenses".

"I'm a soft-hearted person when it comes to that stuff," Mr Cain was quoted as saying. "I have helped members of my church. I have helped members of my family."

His wife of 42 years "did not know that we were friends until she [Ms White] came out with this story", he said.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper reported that it had reviewed Ms White's mobile phone records.

It found as many as 70 text messages had been exchanged between her phone and Mr Cain's between 22 October and 18 November, some in the early hours and some late at night.

Mr Cain's lawyer, Lin Wood, has asked for Ms White's phone records to "test her credibility and motive".

The former pizza executive has said he will make a decision about his campaign after a face-to-face meeting with Mrs Cain on Friday.

Ms White's emergence follows allegations of sexual harassment against Mr Cain by four women, during his time as head of a restaurant lobby group in the 1990s.

by RTC Director