James Bond's 'Quantum of Solace' speedboat is show's star turn

The Scotland Boat Show in Inverkip, west Scotland, has a James Bond theme this year.

One of three custom-built Sunseeker boats used in the latest Bond blockbuster, "Quantum of Solace" is on display at the Scotland Boat Show.

The "Quantum of Solace" Sunseeker hoisted up on a transporter with James Bond's favorite car, an Aston Martin, alongside.

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 'Quantum of Solace', a 43-foot Sunseeker, was on display during Scotland Boat Show
• Boat one of three used during chase sequences in 2008 film of same name
• Owner had no idea it was used in the James Bond blockbuster until later
• Superboat to be part of larger Bond theme at event

London, England (CNN) -- A superboat custom built for the most recent James Bond blockbuster was the star act at the Scotland Boat Show, a three-day show at the weekend.
The "Quantum of Solace," a 43-foot Sunseeker Superhawk, is one of three used during the chase sequence in the 2008 film of the same name.
And its owner, Robin Porter, had his own action adventure while test-driving the boat off the coast of Marmaris in Turkey.
Porter, who bought the vessel in late January but did not realize its celebrity origins at the time, says he found himself in a James Bond-like scenario, when he unwittingly traveled into dangerous waters.
He says, "It was a beautiful, nice day and we took the boat for a run. Out of the harbor and into the bay, from out of nowhere really, there was a boat with men wearing balaclavas covering their faces and AK-47s.

We took the boat for a run ... From out of nowhere, there was a boat with men wearing balaclavas covering their faces and AK-47s.
Robin Porter, owner of the 'Quantum of Solace'

"We were in restricted waters and the little hamlet bay nearby was actually part of naval waters," he continued. "We were taken to be questioned and we didn't have the ship's papers because this was a test drive of the boat so we had to get the coast guard involved.
"Then they asked 'Have you been drinking?' We had to be taken to the hospital for a drugs test. We couldn't even go to the bathroom without a guard outside. We got interrogated about why we were in Turkey and we wanted to buy this boat, " he added.
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Eventually their eight-hour detention came to an end as authorities involved realized it was a simple case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Despite this slight hiccup, Porter says things have been smooth sailing since his return to the UK and is delighted the boat was part of the show.
Since he found out about "Quantum of Solace"'s Hollywood provenance, he has decked out the boat with custom James Bond accessories.
"Recently we've done up the boat and it has been liveried up with 'Quantum of Solace' along the side, monograms, James Bond things," he says.
Porter declined to tell CNN how much he paid for the boat. Other Sunseeker Superhawks are currently on sale for between £250,000-£300,000 ($400,000-$475,000).
"If some people get some sort of enjoyment out of seeing or use out of it, then we are happy ... It's as fast as it looks and extremely comfortable," he said.
"Quantum of Solace" was on display for the public to visit during the show at at Kip Marina, Inverkip, west Scotland.
Around 7,000 visitors visited the show, organizers said.
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The 43-foot Sunseeker was part of a larger Bond theme at the show: More James Bond icons lined the shore including a collection of five Aston Martins and the full range of all five Rolls Royce vehicles usually reserved for villains of the blockbusters.

Climate change is shrinking species, study warns

Cold-blooded species like toads, as well as many other animal and plant species shrink in warming periods, scientists say

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• New study warns on impact of shrinking plant and animal species
• Fossil data, experiments and research conclude that shrinkage happens during warming periods
• Cold-blooded animals most affected, but impacts felt by warm-blooded animals too
• Plant species also display "negative correlations between growth and temperature"

London (CNN) -- Climate change is shrinking many plant and animal species and is likely to have a negative impact on human nutrition in the future, according to a new study.
Rising temperatures and growing variability in rainfall are affecting the size of all species in the ecosystem from microscopic sea organisms to land-based predators, say researchers.
"Our study suggests that ectotherms (cold-blooded animals like toads, turtles, and snakes that rely on environmental heat sources) are already changing a lot," said David Bickford from the National University of Singapore and co-author of the study.
Both aquatic and terrestrial ectotherms have been shrinking, according to the study, with common toads' size and condition decreasing as temperatures rose 1.5 degrees Celsius over a 22-year period.
The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, draws on evidence from fossil records, experimental and comparative studies, as well as research implicating anthropogenic climate change over the last 100 years.
"What was most surprising to me was that it was such a uniform signal across all these different organisms," Bickford said.

What was most surprising to me was that it was such a uniform signal across all these different organisms
David Bickford, National University of Singapore

Fossils from a warming phase during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (around 55 million years ago) reveal that burrowing invertebrates such as beetles, bees and ants shrank in size by up to 75%.
Other fossil records indicated that animals including pocket gophers, woodrats and California squirrels, also shrank during past warming periods, say researchers.
Experimental studies which increased water acidification -- an observed effect of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels -- revealed marine species like corals, scallops and oysters become smaller.
Each degree of warming has been shown to decrease the size of marine invertebrates by up to 4%, salamanders up to 14% and fish by up to a maximum of 22%, according to the study.
But perhaps most worrying for marine life was the reduced growth rates of phytoplankton in response to acidification which "could negatively affect all ocean life because (it) forms the basis of the marine food web."
Researchers also say plants, which were generally expected to get larger as CO2 levels rise, are not immune from reductions.
"Over the past century, various plant species have shown significant negative correlations between growth and temperature...resulting in smaller grasses, annual plants and trees in areas that are getting warmer and drier," according to the study.
The study cites experiments manipulating temperature showing biomass in some grass, grain and fruit plants was 3-17% smaller for every degree Celsius of warming.
But there are exceptions to the trend.
Recent studies have indicated that the common lizard, mallard and teal ducks, otters and some birds are increasing in body size, say researchers, but many of these inhabit high latitudes which have witnessed increased growing seasons associated with global warming making patterns of shrinking less common.

What we might see is that there are many ecological buffers out there. These systems are incredibly resilient
David Bickford, National University of Singapore

However, this might be short-lived if climate change increases in severity, according to the study.
Average global temperatures rose by nearly one degree Celsius over the past 100 years, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), but worst-case scenarios predict warming of up to seven degrees Celsius by 2100.
The study's authors concede many factors will play their part in the size of organisms if warming trends continue, but highlight reduced availability of water and lower levels of soil nutrients as key factors for plants, and the animals that feed off them.
Bickford says more experiments need to be done to find out which mechanisms are important to different organisms in different places.
And scientists also need to discover how ecological balances are going to be disrupted in the future and what this will mean for different species up and down the food chain, he says.
"What we might see is that there are many ecological buffers out there. These systems are incredibly resilient. Nature has an amazing adaptive capacity," Bickford said.
But shrinking trends in the ecosystem are likely to impact heavily on humans, say the authors.
The study points out that nearly one billion people rely on fish as their main source of protein, and increasing variability in rain will make crop cultivation more difficult in many areas in the future.
"We've probably got such diverse food source system out there already that its going to a long time before it affects richer countries certainly. But it might not be so long for poorer countries unfortunately," Bickford said.

Somali militants threaten to enter Kenya if troops don't withdraw

A masked member of the Al Shabaab militia, pictured in a photograph dated December 14, 2008.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Al-Shabaab says Kenyan planes are killing Somali citizens
• "We shall come into Kenya if you do not go back," the group says on a website
• Kenya is pursuing militants after recent abductions

Narobi, Kenya (CNN) -- Islamic militants in Somalia have threatened to "come into Kenya" if Kenyan forces do not leave Somalia, according to an online message posted on a jihadist website.
"Kenyan troops have entered 100 kilometers into Somalia, and their planes are bombarding and killing residents," said Sheikh Ali Mahmud Ragi, spokesman for Al-Shabaab, an Islamic extremist group considered a terrorist organization by the United States, in the posting. "We shall come into Kenya if you do not go back."
Kenyan forces crossed into Somalia to pursue Al-Shabaab fighters after the recent abductions of tourists and aid workers in Kenya heightened tensions in East Africa. Kenya invoked the United Nations charter allowing military action in self-defense against its largely lawless neighbor.
"If you are attacked by an enemy, you have to pursue that enemy through hot pursuit and to try (to) hit wherever that enemy is," said Kenyan Defense Minister Yusuf Haji in a news conference aired on CNN affiliate NTV on Sunday.
Al-Shabaab, which is linked to al Qaeda, has been fighting to impose its own interpretation of Islamic law, or sharia, on Somalia.
On September 11, armed bandits broke into a beachfront cottage where Britons Judith and David Tebbutt, both in their 50s, were staying. David Tebbutt was shot dead while trying to resist the attack. His wife was grabbed and spirited away onboard a speedboat, and is believed to have been taken into Somalia.
On October 1, pirates made another cross-border raid, this time snatching a French woman in her 60s from a holiday home on Manda Island where she lived part of the year.
Earlier this month, gunmen abducted two Spanish workers from the medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) from the Dadaab refugee complex, about 80 kilometers from the Somali border.
Kenya announced its new tactics days after African Union forces claimed victory against Al-Shabaab in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. The military said last week it had taken the remaining Al-Shabaab strongholds in the far northeast of the city.
"The challenge is now to protect civilians from the sort of terror attack we saw last week, as they attempt to rebuild their lives," African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) spokesman Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda said. He was referring to a suicide truck bombing in Mogadishu earlier this month that left dozens dead. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility. Other Al-Shabaab attacks that week led to the deaths of at least 10 civilians.
Federal and African Union forces have battled Al-Shabaab in the impoverished and chaotic nation for years. Many analysts believe the AMISOM military push has severely affected Al-Shabaab, along with targeted strikes against organization members and the weakening of al Qaeda.
Al-Shabaab said in August it was withdrawing from Mogadishu, and Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, backed by African Union peacekeepers, now controls most districts of the capital city, the United Nations office has said.
However, the group still poses a threat, Ankunda has previously said.

17 NTC fighters killed in Libyan city of Bani Walid

An NTC official said that a total of 17 fighters died in clashes with Qaddafi loyalists in Bani Walid. (Photo by Reuters)

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By AFP
TRIPOLI

Seventeen fighters of Libya’s new regime were killed and 50 wounded in clashes with Muammar Qaddafi loyalists in the desert town of Bani Walid, a military official in Tripoli said on Monday.

“We lost 17 fighters in fierce clashes on Sunday and our forces have withdrawn from the airport where they had taken control,” said Salem Gheith, head of the National Transitional Council (NTC) military command center.

The military spokesman for Libya’s new leadership said NTC fighters also pulled back late on Sunday from forward positions in the town, 170 kilometers (105 miles) southeast of Tripoli, in what he termed a “tactical pullback.”

“We’ve received reinforcements from Tripoli and the Nafusa mountains, and we will resume the offensive,” he said.

Yunes Mussa, the NTC commander for the region, announced the capture of the airport on Sunday, before the fightback by pro-Qaddafi forces in Bani Walid, a holdout of the fallen strongman along with his hometown Sirte.

EU ministers say Egypt must protect minorities Monday, 10 October 2011

European ministers condemned the violence in Cairo, which left at least 36 people dead in clashes between military police and Christians. (Photo by AFP)

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By REUTERS
LUXEMBOURG

European Union ministers expressed alarm on Monday about the deaths of at least 25 people in clashes between military police and Christians in Egypt and said the authorities had a duty to protect religious minorities.

The violence, some of the worst in Egypt since an uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak in February, occurred on Sunday in Cairo, where Christians staged protests about an attack on a church.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was “very alarmed” and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said violence against religious minorities was “unacceptable.”

“I think it is very important the Egyptian authorities and all concerned reaffirm freedom of worship in Egypt and that all sides step back from violence,” Hague told reporters ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovendal called for a strong condemnation of the violence. “Nothing in this world gives people the right to move into a religious fight. And I think it’s a bit scary that we come to that point in Egypt.”

Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal called the violence “extremely worrisome” and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the events in Egypt and violence in Tunis – where police used tear gas against Islamist protesters on Sunday – would be at the core of ministers’ discussions in Luxembourg.

“We really do expect that Egypt will move towards its elections with the desire to see all people as part of those elections and to protect the people whoever they are, wherever they come from and whatever belief and faith they have,” she said.

The Cairo violence casts a shadow over Egypt’s first parliamentary election since Mubarak’s fall. Voting starts on Nov. 28 with candidates due to begin registering during the week starting on Wednesday.

“Egypt needs to move forward politically and economically against the backdrop of recognising that what happened in the Arab spring now needs to turn into a real democracy of a country where people of a country where people can...recognise that their human rights are respected,” Ashton said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said he was “very worried,” adding: “The authorities have the responsibility to protect each and everyone; also their right to express their opinions. So it was highly regrettable.”

At least 36 dead in clashes between Copts and Egyptian security forces

Clashes in Cairo between Christian Copts and state security forces left 24 dead. (Photo by Reuters)

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By Al Arabiya And Agencies
CAIRO

At least 36 people were killed and 272 injured in clashes between Coptic Christians and Egyptian security forces on Sunday near the state television building, known as Maspero, in Cairo, Egypt’s health ministry said.

Egypt’s army rulers, meanwhile, imposed a curfew on Cairo’s Tahrir Square and downtown area, the state media announced. Tahrir Square was the epicenter of the February uprising that overthrew former President Hosni Mubarak.

A correspondent of Al Arabiya, whose office buildings are in the Maspero area, said there was heavy gunfire in the clashes as protesters seized weapons from torched military vehicles. She said she saw bodies outside the building but did not know if they were wounded or dead.

The clashes were prompted by an attack on a Coptic Christian church in Merinab village in Aswan on Sept. 30 by Muslims who said the church did not have the proper license to build a dome.

State television said the church was attacked after Aswan governor Mustafa al-Seyyed was reported as saying Copts had built it without the required planning permission.

“Down with the marshal,” the demonstrators chanted on the march to Maspero, referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi who took power in February after Mubarak’s ouster in the face of mass street protests.

“We were marching peacefully,” Talaat Youssef, a 23-year old Christian trader, told Reuters at the scene.

“When we got to the state television building, the army started firing live ammunition,” he said, adding that military vehicles ran over protesters, killing five. His account could not be immediately confirmed.

“The army is supposed to be protecting us,” Youssef said.

Hundreds fought with sticks on a Cairo bridge and protests later spread to Tahrir Square, the focal point of the February uprising, as Muslims joined the rally in a show of solidarity.

Smoke from tear gas swirled over the square as thousands of protesters chanted “The people demand the fall of the field marshal”.

A Reuters witness said the army had moved in to contain the unrest, beating some protesters with batons.

State TV and sources said at least 150 people were injured on Sunday, without saying how many of them were protesters. It had earlier said three the dead were soldiers.

The government has appealed for calm. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said he had contacted security and church authorities to contain the situation.

In a televised speech he called the clashes unjustified violence that raised fears about Egypt's transition to democracy.

“The only beneficiary of these events and acts of violence are the enemies of the January revolution and the enemies of the Egyptian people, both Muslim and Christian,” he said on his Facebook page.

“The absence of a state of law is the cause of what is happening. Freedom of expression is the basis of a democratic society and a state of law,”Political analyst Amr Hashim Rabei told Al Arabiya.

“This has not happened for months. Coptic leaders should ask protesters to exercise calm and follow their case in courts.”

Speaking to Al Arabiya from Tahrir Square, Bashir Abdel-Fattah, of the official daily Al-Ahram, said more numbers of Copts were heading to the area of clashes.

“Copts from different neighborhoods of Cairo are still coming to the area in increasing numbers,” Abdel-Fattah said.

Sectarian clashes are frequent in Egypt where Copts, who make up 10 percent of the 80-million-strong population, have been the target of attacks and have repeatedly accused the authorities of systematic discrimination

Pepper spray used on demonstrators at Air and Space Museum

Protesters against the war in Afghanistan and government spending march to the Air and Space Museum for Occupy D.C.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Anti-war and Occupy Wall Street-aligned protesters march in Washington
• Some tried to enter the Air and Space Museum over its military drone display
• A guard pepper sprayed after another guard was pushed, a museum official says
• The museum closed early Saturday, but is set to reopen on time Sunday

Washington (CNN) -- Authorities used pepper spray on a group of protesters trying to enter the National Air and Space Museum on Saturday, forcing the building to close about two hours early.
One person was arrested, according to Linda St. Thomas, a spokeswoman for the Smithsonian Institution, which runs that and numerous other museums in Washington. She estimated between 100 and 200 people were in the crowd.
Demonstrators railing against U.S. participation in the war in Afghanistan initially gathered Saturday, along with protesters aligned with the national Occupy Wall Street movement, in Washington's Freedom Plaza. The latter effort started in New York more than three weeks ago, targeting the nation's financial sector and various social ills, and has since spread to more than a dozen cities.
The Washington demonstrators Saturday chanted "Occupy Wall Street, Occupy H Street, Occupy Everything, and never give it back." Some moved from Freedom Plaza toward the museum, which is along the National Mall, escorted by District of Columbia police.
Some started to enter the museum to demonstrate against displays of military drones used during the war in Afghanistan. St. Thomas said that one of the protesters pushed a museum security guard against a wall, prompting another guard to respond with pepper spray to force demonstrators outside.
"We wanted to go inside and protest at those particular items of destruction, and the crowd was pepper sprayed going in and was forced out of the building," said Brian Morrison, one of the protesters.
Araz Alali, a spokesman with the D.C. Police, said his department had no knowledge the museum security was going to pepper spray the protesters.
Demonstrator Greg Slater carried a sign that read "Occupy Wall Street, not Afghanistan." He said that the protest did not warrant the type of reaction it got from the museum security guards.
"This is absolutely meant to be a nonviolent protest," said Slater. "It's about peacefully taking back of democracy and ending the war in Afghanistan."
St. Thomas said that the Air and Space Museum will open at its regularly scheduled time of 10 a.m. Sunday.

Merkel to hold talks with Sarkozy amid euro crisis By the CNN Wire Staff

German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Christian Social Union Party conference in Germany, on October 7, 2011.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• France's President Sarkozy visits Germany for talks with Chancellor Merkel
• Europe is facing a debt crisis and Greece is running out of cash
• A Greek default would affect the world banking system
• Experts say talk of the collapse of the euro is alarmist

Berlin (CNN) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy sits down for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Sunday as the leaders of Europe's two biggest economies fight to keep the continent's currency experiment from collapsing.
The meeting comes amid fears that Greece will default on at least some of it debts, having warned it will run out of money this month.
That will put pressure on the euro, the common currency used by Greece and 16 other European Union countries.

Eurozone crisis at heart of meeting

But Merkel cheered European stock markets on Thursday, hinting that governments could inject cash into troubled banks.
Merkel said providing government money for European banks that are struggling with liquidity issues "is sensibly invested" if it's clear that such action is needed to prevent a broader financial crisis.
"We should not hesitate," she said, "because otherwise there will be far greater damage to our systems."
European banks have been struggling with fears about potential losses on government bonds issued by troubled European governments such as Greece. The threat of a so-called sovereign debt contagion has also led to a pullback in lending between banks.
The IMF recently estimated that European banks face an overall credit risk of up to 300 billion euros ($401 billion) stemming from bonds issued by Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Belgium.
Analysts suggest the euro will survive, but that tense times lie ahead.
"The system will hold together but it will not be a stress-free exercise. The benefits of keeping Europe and the euro together outweigh the risks over the long-term," said James Rickards, senior managing director at Tangent Capital Partners. "What's going on in Europe is classic brinksmanship."
Dan Dorrow, senior vice president of research at Faros Trading, an independent currency broker-dealer, agreed.
"The risk of someone leaving the euro is a small tail risk probability," said Dorrow.
Merkel and Sarkozy's meeting Sunday comes ahead of a meeting of finance ministers of the Group of 20 nations in France October 14-15.

Don't pigeonhole us, say Saudi women artists

Reem Al Faisal's photography focuses on people and landscapes

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• Critics expect our work to address women's rights, says Reem Al Faisal
• Having women judges is more important than driving, she adds
• People stereotype us as Saudi women, says artist Lulwah Al-Homoud

Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- As Saudi women artists, Reem Al Faisal and Lulwah Al Homoud, feel they are fighting against multiple stereotypes.
They are caught between conservative attitudes at home and western critics who expect them to address women's rights in their work.
"They want you to talk about very limited things like sexual oppression, search for identity and if you don't fit these criteria you're excluded and you are not considered a good artist," said Al Faisal.
Al Faisal, a photographer, has another reason for being wary of people's expectations: She is a princess, a granddaughter of the first king of Saudi Arabia. She avoids being photographed or showing her face in interviews to allow her to travel the world anonymously without bodyguards.

They want you to talk about very limited things like sexual oppression
Reem Al Faisal

Her work has taken her to China, Japan, India, Europe, America and all around the Middle East, capturing striking black-and-white photographs of people and landscapes.
Al Homoud, a single mother who brought up her two sons in London, creates abstract art, often geometric black-and-white drawings.
She said: "People kind of concentrate on you and give you more attention because you have female Saudi artists, but it's kind of upsetting because it's related to stereotype, and I think what we are doing is changing this stereotype."
Her work includes "infinite square," in which she uses the word Allah -- the Arabic word for God -- to create geometric shapes and lines connecting the artist to a timeless world unlimited by borders.
Al Homoud said: "I am trying to say that I am not a prisoner of a moment or a place. My work is -- I would say -- eternal. It's not restricted to an event or an experience or anything. It's spiritual, it's higher than senses."

A Reem Al Faisal shot of people using umbrellas to protect them from the sun

Al Faisal and Al Homoud, along with other Saudi artists, displayed their work at the Nabatt exhibition of modern Saudi artists in Shanghai last year and more recently in Beirut.
The position of Saudi women has gained attention worldwide after King Abdullah announced in September that women will in future be allowed to serve as members of the Shura Council, the appointed consultative council that advises the king.
He also said women will be allowed to run as candidates and nominate candidates in the next set of municipal elections.
They could not participate in municipal elections that were held last month for only the second time in the kingdom's history.
Women are also subject to male guardianship laws, in which they have to seek permission from their husband, father or even son to work, travel, study and many other activities.
Saudi women have been campaigning for the right to drive. Last month King Abdullah revoked a flogging sentence of 10 lashes for a woman allegedly arrested for driving a car.
Nuha Al Sulaiman, who founded the Saudi Women Revolution earlier this year to campaign for greater rights, welcomed King Abdullah's announcements but said they did not go far enough.

It's kind of upsetting because it's related to stereotype
Lulwah Al-Homoud

"We are afraid that it's not going to happen the way we want it to," she said. "Also we think that this decision is good but it's not enough."
Al Sulaiman said she still wanted to see the end of male guardianship, the introduction of laws to protect women from violence and discrimination, and driving licenses for women.
She said: "We suffer every day. The improvement process is so slow we wish the next step won't delay more.
"The king mentioned very impressive and effective words in his speech towards women's dignity and rights, we hope it's an obligation to give Saudi women back their dignity step by step."
Al Faisal, too, wants to see an improvement in women's rights, but believes sometimes the issue of driving has distracted from more important issues.
"I would like to see women in the judiciary system as far more important for me. A car will come naturally if she is a supreme court judge or traveling without a permission."

cnn

40-year low in America's view of Wall Street

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Lindsay Owens: Polls show a spike in Americans' lack of confidence in finance
• She says Americans react to scandals such as the 2007-8 financial crisis
• Financial turmoil is another factor that weakens confidence in Wall Street, she says
• Owens says key question is whether this disapproval translates into reforms

Editor's note: Lindsay A. Owens is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University and a research associate at Stanford's Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality. Her paper, "Confidence in Banks, Financial Institutions and Wall Street, 1971-2011," is forthcoming in Public Opinion Quarterly. She is also a contributing author to the new book, "The Great Recession."

(CNN) -- The Occupy Wall Street protest may be the answer to a favorite question of social scientists ever since the bank bailouts of 2008 -- where is the social movement? Americans are famously willing to tolerate a relatively large amount of income inequality (especially compared to our European counterparts). Americans love meritocracy, and are typically quite happy to see hard work rewarded, even to the tune of millions of dollars, as is often the case on Wall Street. But there is a catch — we want the rules of the game to be fair.
Recent scandals involving Wall Street banks and financial institutions, headed by some of the world's most well-paid managers, executives and analysts, have many Americans asking themselves whether this game is rigged. It is this sense of injustice, coupled with economic insecurity, that animates changes in Americans' attitudes toward Wall Street. It's not just a small number of Americans, those who are actually "occupying" Wall Street, who feel such injustice. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Lindsay Owens

In a paper forthcoming in the journal Public Opinion Quarterly, I examine Americans' attitudes toward banks, financial institutions and Wall Street over the last 40 years and look at historical trends in how Americans perceive the honesty and ethical practices of bankers.
Animosity toward Wall Street is at its highest level in at least 40 years. Americans have never exactly loved Wall Street stockbrokers or bankers—but we certainly didn't always hate them. Why this increasing hostility? The answer is a "perfect storm" of financial turmoil and a series of major scandals on Wall Street.
The public has been down on big Wall Street banks and financial institutions for some time now. The General Social Survey, administered by the National Opinion Research Council, has asked Americans about their confidence in banks and financial institutions since 1973. Between March of 2006 and March of 2010, the percent of Americans with a great deal of confidence in banks and financial institutions plummeted 19 percentage points, from 30 percent to an all-time low of 11 percent. According to a similar trend from Harris Interactive, the percent of Americans with a great deal of confidence in the people running Wall Street had already reached an all-time low of just 4 percent by February of 2009. These figures are not just a reflection of Americans' dissatisfaction with the size of their bank accounts — they also reflect the increasing belief that Wall Street is playing a game that only the bankers can win.

Occupy protests reach from East to West

Paul: Economy biased against the poor

Cain: 'Occupy' protests waste of time

'Occupiers' get Obama's attention

Economic hard times, such as global recessions, do tend to bring about small, but noticeable drops in the public's confidence in Wall Street, just as we might expect falling confidence in a military that is losing a war.
But when economic downturns coincide with major scandals, as in the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s and our current dilemma, the biggest changes in public confidence result — changes that may have contributed to the protests we are seeing on Wall Street today. In other words, Americans really begin to get angry when there is evidence of systematic foul play.
To be sure, material hardships such as unemployment rates in the 9 percent range and the continuing high levels of foreclosures and bankruptcies undoubtedly set the stage for a public outcry. But this outcry has a distinctly moral tenor. The sentiments of the Occupy protestors holding signs reading "Blame Wall Street Greed," "People not Profits" and "Wall Street was the Real Weapons of Mass Destruction" certainly echo the wider American public's sense of moral indignation.
Just 26 percent of Americans in an April 2011 Harris poll thought the people working on Wall Street were "as honest and moral as other people" (for a point of comparison, the percentage was 51 in 1997). In that same poll, 67 percent of Americans agreed that "most people on Wall Street would be willing to break the law if they believed they could make a lot of money and get away with it."
Ultimately, whether Occupy Wall Street is a watershed moment or a momentary disturbance remains to be seen.
The key question, however, is whether the bubbling populist outrage evidenced in Occupy's "We are the 99%" signs will translate into populist-friendly politics. The Buffett Rule, calling for millionaires to pay taxes at higher rates than their employees, is one, albeit timid (as the political scientist Larry Bartels has recently articulated), indication that the new political calculus involves tapping into this brand of populism. Elizabeth Warren's Senate campaign is another.
At minimum, the visibility of the Occupy Wall Street's movement should bring renewed attention to a political and economic issue the majority of Americans on Main Street agree upon—something's not quite right on Wall Street and something has got to be done about it.

Chavez opponents optimistic heading into 2012

Opposition leader and Caracas Mayor, Antonio Ledezma gestures a during press conference on September 1, 2009.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The Venezuelan opposition will have a primary to decide on a presidential candidate
• Antonio Ledezma is one of the top contenders in the race
• He says the opposition is better positioned than in past failed attempts
• Ledezma says education and firearms would be among his points of focus as president

(CNN) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a divisive leftist, but nonetheless has bested (fairly or unfairly, as some say) his political challengers in two re-elections and one recall referendum since taking office in 1999.
With the next presidential elections a year away, the Venezuelan opposition is once again hopeful of a victory. The parties that make up the opposition were buoyed recently by the Inter-American Human Rights Court ruling that opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez had been unjustly banned from running for the presidency by the Chavez government.
Meanwhile, Miranda state Gov. Henrique Capriles' profile continues to rise as he polls at the top among potential presidential candidates.
Another of the top contenders for the opposition, Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, spoke with CNN Tuesday about why the challengers are optimistic about 2012.
"Today's opposition is more balanced and has a joint agenda," Ledezma said as he compared the current race with previous failed attempts.
The Venezuelan opposition in the past was more fractious and more prone to anxiety when they didn't see an immediate impact from their campaigns, he said. This time, there is a strategy and a set of rules everyone is following, starting with a primary process that he said all the opposition parties will back.
Even though he is in competition with Capriles and Lopez, Ledezma said they do not see each other as foes.

Today's opposition is more balanced and has a joint agenda
Antonio Ledezma, Mayor of Caracas

The opposition's overarching goal, as Ledezma put it, is "to restore democracy to Venezuela."
Pieces of the opposition's platform include ushering in economic recovery, mending the social fabric and building unity among Venezuelans.
Chavez's tenure has been defined by what he calls "21st century socialism." Thanks to a number of social programs, paid in part through the state's oil money, poverty rates in Venezuela have decreased significantly since Chavez came to power. But charges of favoritism to political followers and accusations that the social programs are not sustainable have dogged the president. He is seen as an autocrat who has sought to punish perceived enemies in the media and in the opposition.
A majority of Chavez's support comes from Venezuela's poor, a group that the opposition has traditionally had difficulty connecting with.
Ledezma said that rather than scrap the social programs that Chavez has designed, he would restructure and improve them.
What is needed, he said, are "not crumbs like they currently get, but opportunities for education and learning. Not a handout, but something permanent."
The message coming from the opposition also has to be more emotional than in the past, Ledezma said. Their messages have not connected with the people, he said.
If victorious, one of Ledezma's pet projects would be the creation of guarderias familiares, or "family nurseries." These centers would help tackle one of the social problems that Ledezma is most concerned about -- teen pregnancy. With 100,000 teen pregnancies a year, Venezuela leads South America in this category, he said.
To help these young mothers and their children, the family nurseries would be home-based centers that would care for eight to 10 children, providing food, activities and an alternative to being at home alone or on the streets.
He wants to see the creation of more technical schools to prepare students for jobs, and wants to see the pay and stature of educators elevated.
"I aspire to be the president who makes education the bedrock of the modernization of Venezuela," he said.
Ledezma also would implement a disarmament incentive for the public -- there are currently more than 11 million weapons in the country, he said.
The candidates vying in the February primary to run on behalf of the opposition differ in their specific plans, but the overall goals remain the same, Ledezma said.
These include reinforcing the separation of powers, restoring the independence of the judiciary and tackling impunity, he said.

Deadly gunfire at funeral of Syrian opposition leader

October 8, 2011 -- Updated 1609 GMT (0009 HKT)

Supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at a recent demonstration. The U.S. asked Assad to"step down now" following the assassination of a prominent Kurdish opposition figure.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Syrians in Turkey gather to remember slain opposition leader
• His killing sparks protests in Syria that turn deadly
• A general strike is called in the city where he was killed Friday
• Syria remains tense as a violent government crackdown continues

(CNN) -- Anti-government protests across Syria -- one propelled by the funeral of an assassinated Kurdish opposition leader -- turned deadly again Saturday as security forces cracked down, activist groups said.
Mashaal Tammo, a spokesman for the Kurdish Future Party and a member of the newly formed Syria National Council, was shot dead Friday at a private residence in the northeastern city of Qamishli.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said after Tammo's funeral, more than 50,000 people joined a mass demonstration demanding the overthrow of the government of Bashar al-Assad. It said two people were killed.
The group said a 14-year-old child was killed in Damascus province and 14 others were injured when security forces opened fire on a funeral procession for protesters killed Friday.
The Local Coordination Committees (LCC) of Syria reported a different toll. It said five people were killed in Qamishili. Another two died in Hama; one in Douma; and one in the Damascus suburb of Dumair.
Meanwhile in London Saturday, five protesters were arrested outside the Syrian Embassy.
A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said three people were arrested after climbing the roof of the embassy and two others were taken into custody for separate incidents related to the protest. There was no breach of security, the spokesman said.
In Qamishili, anti-government activists were also staging a general strike to mourn Tammo, the LCC said.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported Friday that he was killed by "an armed terrorist group." Local activists said he was slain by members of a pro-government militia.
Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, condemned the assassination "in the strongest terms," in a statement Saturday.
"Mr. Tammo's death follows other targeted assassinations in the past days, which are totally unacceptable. These appalling crimes further add to the EU's grave concern over the situation in Syria. All those responsible for and complicit in these crimes must be held accountable," the statement said.
Tammo had previously spent more than three years as a political prisoner for his criticism of the Syrian government, it added.
In Istanbul, Turkey, several dozen Syrians gathered in a hotel basement to remember Tammo.
"The regime is trying to play a game of ethnicity so people fight each other," said Omar Shawaf, a Syrian opposition activist. "Mashaal Tammo was someone who represented unity of ethnic groups. This dirty regime will not keep quiet until they destroy the country and create a civil war."
Mourners relied on some of the same technology that has publicized the uprising in Syria, a country where the media is strictly controlled..
"The government tried to kill him one day before his murder and one month before his murder," said Abdul Ghafar Mohammed, speaking via Skype from Qamishli. "Now Tammo has become a flame of the revolution."
In Arabic, Tammo's first name, Mashaal, means flame.
The EU's Ashton also condemned the beating of opposition leader Riad Saif and urged an end to all violence to allow for a peaceful transition to democracy.
A White House statement Friday said Saif was subjected to a "vicious and unprovoked assault."
The LCC described the attack on Saif, who was beaten in the Damascus neighborhood of Medan, as a "dangerous development" and said the Syrian government was taking advantage of the "lax attitude" of the international community to repress political opponents by violent means.
The Syrian Observatory said Saturday that tens of military tanks were blocking routes out of the western city of Homs, a day after protests over the death of Tammo were held there. Mobile and landline networks were reported to be down.
Clashes also broke out Saturday between security forces and protesters who had pulled down a statue of al-Assad, the LCC said.
The United States called Friday for al-Assad to "step down now" following the assassination and amid continuing violence in the nation.
Assad should resign "before taking his country farther down this very dangerous path," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in the White House statement.
"It is also notable that these acts of violence took place just three days after the U.N. Security Council failed to pass a resolution calling for international human rights monitors in Syria in face of brutal repression," he said, referring to a resolution vetoed by Russia and China.
Earlier this week, Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council draft resolution condemning Syrian authorities for using violence against anti-government demonstrators.
The two nations argued the proposed resolution would lead to military intervention similar to the NATO operation to protect anti-government protesters in Libya.

CNN's Ivan Watson and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

Don McCullin's war with guilt

October 8, 2011 -- Updated 1226 GMT (2026 HKT)

Don McCullin's last war

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Photographer Don McCullin's exhibition "Shaped by War" opened in London Friday
• McCullin has photographed wars in Vietnam, Congo, Biafra and the Middle East for more than 30 years
• Today McCullin is more comfortable shooting landscapes and Roman ruins
• McCullin: I've got a last chapter of my life and I want it to be enjoyable

London, England (CNN) -- Don McCullin is best known for the unwavering gaze of his war photography.
For thirty years he traveled to places most people run from, depicting horror unflinchingly and with enormous compassion for the people he captured in unimaginable situations.
Considered one of the greatest war photographers, McCullin's pictures chart conflicts in Vietnam, Bangladesh, the Congo, El Salvador, Biafra, Cambodia and the Middle East, including the Six-Day War in June 1967.
He has, as he puts it, taken "terrible liberties" with his life -- dashing through rice paddies in Vietnam to escape snipers' bullets; jumping up to snap a shot during gun battles -- to bring home images that are, at times, excruciating to look at but often unforgettable.

Don McCullin's first photograph of the Vietnam War: South Vietnamese soldiers wait for helicopter transport at a Landing Zone in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

And yet, as enduring as these images are, forgetting them is exactly what McCullin now wants to do. "That war stuff... I don't even want to print it anymore," he says. "I want to put it right out of my mind."
But, along with his photos of poverty, "that war stuff" has won McCullin a handful of photography awards and filled tens of books and exhibitions across the world, including his latest, "Shaped by War," which opened Friday at the Imperial War Museum in London.
Much of the photography that appears in the exhibition he shot during the 18 years he worked for the UK's Sunday Times Magazine. He went to his first war in Cyprus in 1967 and covered every major conflict of his generation until the Falklands War.
The thrill of war
McCullin, now 76, admits that at first he found war "incredibly exciting."
"You've got to remember I grew up as a child looking at Hollywood films where no one seemed to die," he says.

You can't learn about survival after a certain point. After that, it's sheer luck really
Don McCullin

He liked the thrill of making it home alive and seeing his images published even more: "I felt as if I could levitate and forget gravity as a human being -- I felt really amazing."
How he made it home alive is another matter. As McCullin himself admits: "You can't learn about survival after a certain point. After that, it's sheer luck really."
But his bravery under fire is well known. Harold Evans, then editor of The Sunday Times wrote of McCullin in The Guardian newspaper many years later: "Don McCullin has the bottle. This is the man who, amid a fusillade of bullets, would stop to take a light reading."
Shell shock in Vietnam
In 1968, one of McCullin's greatest moments of "bottle" produced arguably his most celebrated image: A shell-shocked solider in Vietnam that he photographed during a huge battle for the ancient city of Hue.

A US Marine suffering from severe shell shock waits to be evacuated to safety during the Battle for Hue, Vietnam, 1968.

The battle raged for two weeks, McCullin remembers. The city was being shelled constantly from navy boats in the Gulf of Tonkin 17 miles away, and phantom bombers were dropping napalm just a few streets from where he was.
He said: "When you saw those napalm tumbling, carrying molten death, you'd say to yourself, 'Keep going. Keep going. Keep going." And he did, staying with the 5th Marine Corps for the duration of the battle, during which time, he says, they lost 70 men and 300 wounded.
McCullin came away having taken some of the most powerful photographs of his career -- but he was left suffering combat stress, much like the soldier in his photograph.
A personal battle
McCullin himself says he was "completely insane," by the end of the battle. When he finally got back to the press center and changed and showered, he realised some remnants of that fight would be harder to get rid of.

Don McCullin has the bottle. This is the man who, amid a fusillade of bullets, would stop to take a light reading
Harold Evans, former editor The Sunday Times

"I thought, you know, it (the shower) could cleanse the filth of war off me. It didn't, really, because by then it had all gotten into my brain.
"I was sleeping next to bodies and things (in Hue)... and then you say, 'What the hell's this got to do with photography?' 'Who am I?' 'Where the hell have I just been?' 'What's happened to me?'"
McCullin has spent many years battling the psychological after effects of war, trying to balance the quest for excellence in his work with the horrors he's witnessed.
"It really messes you up," he said. "It's incomprehensible the way human beings can slaughter each other in front of you. And you take it home with you. And it's like you haven't cleaned your teeth in several months, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth."
McCullin's gentle approach

It's incomprehensible the way human beings can slaughter each other in front of you. And you take it home with you
Don McCullin

Throughout his career, McCullin has been driven by a search for equality. He puts it down to his background growing up, ill-educated and impoverished, in London's Finsbury Park.
That empathy comes through in his gentle approach to the victims he photographed.
"I was very gentle with people. I would come to people that were injured and try to get their consent," he says. "I would not be brash the way I've seen lots of journalists operating... pushing and shoving and having fist fights in front of victims.
"I would seek out the chance to take my photographs and I would look at the person I was photographing and try to convey my disgust to them and I would try to bring them to me in a trusting way."
Landscapes and ruins

Somerset Levels near Glastonbury circa 1990

Nowadays, McCullin is more content photographing inanimate objects -- like the landscapes around his house in the south of England. He says he shoots his landscapes mainly in winter because he likes the drama of the naked trees, the "threat" of winter.
"People say my landscapes look like war scenes because I do (print) them very dark," he admits. "But, you know, I suppose the darkness is in me, really."
Last year, he also published "Southern Frontiers," a book of photographs of Roman ruins in the Middle East and North Africa.
It was inspired, he says, by a spur-of-the-moment trip to Algiers many years ago with travel writer Bruce Chatwin. They journeyed around and found themselves, to their surprise, in a Roman town "with these great slabs of granite as roadways."
He's stored the memory ever since and when he wanted to do one more project and "totally get away from war" it fitted. Of course, he says, the irony is that today war would have stopped him from going to some of the places in the book.

I don't want to be persecuted by myself anymore, by my guilt anymore -- I've had all that
Don McCullin

"Look at it [the region] now. I couldn't possibly do it today with war in Libya and war in Syria," he said.
Searching for peace
Mainly, though, McCullin's current quest is for peace of mind. He'll never forget the wars he's witnessed -- "It took me all my life to try and understand, you know, why do people do this to each other and I still haven't come to any conclusions about it" -- but they don't haunt him they way they used to.
A far cry from the macho war photographer image, McCullin says the thing that gave him the most joy recently was coming home after a holiday and picking some blackberries in the field behind his house.
"I felt real human freedom," he said. "Just having the choice of going and picking those blackberries and ambling home and washing them.
"It's a funny thing to say, but you have to find your own place in the world, eventually.
"I've got a last chapter of my life and I want it to be enjoyable. I don't want to be persecuted by myself anymore, by my guilt anymore -- I've had all that."

Killer whales in danger of being stuck in frozen Alaska river

Two orcas swim in Alaska's Nushagak River on Tuesday.

October 7th, 2011

10:55 AM ET

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Three wayward killer whales are loitering 30 miles up an Alaska river, and federal wildlife officials are concerned they may be iced in when the river freezes over, possibly at the end of the month.

For three weeks, the whales have been spotted in the Nushagak River near Ekwok, Alaska. Marine mammal scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service say the whales are likely suffering stress from being in fresh water for such an extended period. The scientists say they're also concerned that if the whales don't head downstream soon, they'll be trapped in the river.
Water levels are dropping as colder temperatures reduce the flow from glaciers into the river. That could make it difficult for the whales to navigate certain sections of the river. And the Nushagak could freeze over by the end of October, according to the fisheries service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA biologist Barbara Mahoney said killer whales are sometimes seen where the Nushagak empties into Nushagak Bay near Dillingham, but none had ever been reported this far inland. In fact, this is the first time killer whales have spent a prolonged period of time in an Alaska river, according to NOAA.
Officials said the orcas are in an area when they are unlikely to encounter humans, but they are asking that people stay 100 yards away for their own safety and that of the animals.
The fisheries service, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and the local Bristol Bay Native Association are monitoring the situation to determine if and how the whales could be returned to salt water, federal officials said.

Ten years on, a new generation has learned to oppose war

October 7, 2011 -- Updated 1225 GMT (2025 HKT)

A policeman at Downing Street, London, clears away placards left by an anti-war protest on the 10-year anniversary.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• World did not really question logic of invasion, lawmaker says
• Bin Laden associated with U.S. and even reportedly Bush family
• By summer 2002, Bush and Blair barely mentioned Afghanistan
• On every continent there were demonstrations against war

Editor's note: Jeremy Corbyn is a member of parliament in Britain, and chair of the Stop the War Coalition.

(CNN) -- Ten years ago, in the wake of 9/11, the U.S. led the invasion of Afghanistan to capture Osama Bin Laden and defeat the Taliban.
Bush, enthusiastically supported by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, sought and received unprecedented powers from Congress, a vast increase in military spending took place, and war was on.
The world, barely recovered from the shock of 9/11 and seeing iconic buildings in New York and Washington in flames, did not really question the logic of this decision by Bush.
The invasion duly happened; predictably the Afghan forces were over-run and the hunt was on for Bin Laden.

A look back at the battle of Tora Bora
There were many contradictions in all this.
Bin Laden and his companies had been associated with the U.S. and even reportedly the Bush family. The statements by Bin Laden were more concerned about U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia than anything else.
Far from being a clear declaration of war, the forces merely attacked and opponents were labeled by a hitherto unknown tag as "enemy combatants," rounded up at Bagram Air Base and flown off to the handily out of reach U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay.
In the U.S., the Homeland Security Act gave enormous powers of surveillance over citizens and introduced concepts of executive detention; in the UK new anti-terror laws did much the same.
Afghanistan was quiet for a while and gradually became more and more opposed to the Western presence.
By summer 2002, Bush and Blair barely mentioned Afghanistan and following the "axis of evil" speech and "the war on terror" the invasion of Iraq was demanded on the utterly spurious grounds that it had weapons of mass destruction. Despite verifiable U.N. reports to the contrary, the invasion went ahead.

The world, barely recovered from the shock of 9/11 and seeing iconic buildings in New York and Washington in flames, did not really question the logic of this decision by Bush.

This weekend in London, the Stop the War Coalition is remembering the past 10 years -- the dead, the waste, the loss of liberty and celebrating those who have dared to oppose the notion that the world is made safer by war.
Only two weeks after 9/11, 3,000 people attended a hastily-arranged meeting at Friends House, the Quaker Centre, in London, and founded the Stop the War Coalition.
An amalgamation of peace groups and people from all parties and none, it rapidly drew a remarkable range of support and musical and artistic talent.
Young Muslims joined thousands of others on early marches and demonstrations as a new generation found their feet and their voice.
Joined by older campaigners from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, STW became a crucial feature of the public debate on the rush to war, something sadly missing in the UK parliament.
Only a handful of us voted against the Afghan adventure in 2001, but we always believed the support in parliament did not reflect the reality outside.
As Blair repeated the ever less believable claims about Iraq, the opposition grew to the largest ever mobilization of people in British history, when more than a million crammed into London's Hyde Park, with hundreds of thousands more in the surrounding streets to oppose the war.
Across the globe on every continent there were parallel demonstrations.
It did not stop the war, any more than the earlier ones stopped the Afghan war.
But now, after all the deaths, the prisons, the violations of human rights and the vast profits by armaments and security companies, can anyone say we were wrong?
Differing numbers on Afghan violence

The 10th anniversary of the war makes grim reading for those who led us to it.

As with the 1930s support for Republican Spain and the 1960s opposition to the Vietnam War a new global generation have learned to oppose war.
The 10th anniversary of the war makes grim reading for those who led us to it. Drones killing villagers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, rampant corruption alongside terrible poverty in Afghanistan, and a greater schism between the peoples of Europe and North America and the Muslim world than ever before.
Expectations vs. reality on the ground
Successive U.S. presidents have authorized the killing of selected targets outside national jurisdiction.
Despite every condemnation in legal and humanitarian terms Guantanamo Bay has still not been closed.
We were told neither were wars for minerals, yet oil and mining companies are getting easy deals.
We were told it was for our safety, yet 4,000 U.S. soldiers, 400 British and many others have already died. Thousands of Afghan people have also died in conflict, many in poverty, and the largest refugee stream comes from the conflict.
Sacrifices in America's longest war
After 10 years it is past time to learn the lesson, stop and get out and start an international dialogue of peace, understanding and sharing. Otherwise we all lose.

Hundreds of fighters storm Gadhafi's birthplace

Libyan fighters gather on the eastern outskirts of Sirte.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: ICRC intent on evacuating more wounded people
• Battles are raging in the eastern part of the city
• Libya's new leadership plans to declare "liberation" if and when Sirte falls
• Hundreds of NTC fighters storm the west part of Sirte

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Battles raged on Friday as the new Libyan leaders sought to gain control of the coastal birthplace of ousted ruler Moammar Gadhafi.
Hundreds of National Transitional Council fighters were ordered to start attacking the western part of Sirte, said Mohammed Ibrahim, a field military commander.
Battles were already ongoing in the eastern part of the city as NTC fighters continued to try and root out a contingent of Gadhafi loyalists.

El ataque final a Sirte

"The battle will be difficult but we have to finish it," Ibrahim said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it evacuated three wounded people from Ibn Sina hospital in Sirte to a field hospital on another side of the front line on Thursday.
Dibeh Fakhr, an ICRC spokesman in Misrata, said on Friday the group is committed to entering Sirte again to evacuate more wounded people.
The ICRC says thousands of civilians remain inside Sirte. But Ghafar Bishtawi, an ICRC delegate, east of Sirte, said "waves of civilians are leaving the city almost every day."
"We even saw entire families leaving on foot, bringing their small children with them, without any food or water," Bishtawi said. The ICRC says more than 18,000 people, including many women, children and elderly people are displaced east of Sirte and hundreds have moved to safer locations west of the city.
The cities of Bani Walid and Sirte remain contested even as the National Transitional Council moves forward to form new governance in Libya.
Libya's new leadership plans to declare "liberation" if and when Sirte falls.
But Gadhafi's men have put up stiff resistance in the two cities and the fighting has been ongoing for weeks.
The transitional council's leader and the interim prime minister have promised to step down once Sirte is taken to clear the way for a new government.
Together with Libyan Red Crescent volunteers, the ICRC is distributing potable water, baby food, baby milk and hygiene items to most of the displaced people.

Vandals paint swastikas on walls of Jewish holy site

Jewish worshippers pray outside Joseph's Tomb on 4 July, in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• It is unclear when the graffiti was sprayed on the walls of the tomb
• Joseph's Tomb is in the northern West Bank city of Nablus
• It is under Palestinian Authority rule

Jerusalem (CNN) -- Worshippers who came to pray at Joseph's Tomb, a Jewish holy site in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, found swastikas and graffiti sprayed on the walls.
Israel Defense Forces tried to cover up the graffiti with white paint, a spokesman said.
It is unclear when the graffiti was sprayed on the walls. Joseph's Tomb is under Palestinian Authority rule and Jewish worshippers arrive every couple of months to pray at the holy site. The visit to the tomb is coordinated by the Israeli forces, who escorted the 1,300 people who came to pray overnight Wednesday.
The Israeli Civil Administration filed a complaint with the Palestinian Authority.

'Price tag' attacks against Palestinians

"Joseph's Tomb was abandoned exactly 11 years ago after Palestinians forcefully took over the place. According to the Oslo agreements, it should be under Israeli rule and this proves that freedom of religion and worship can only be achieved if Israel controls the tomb," said Dani Dayan, the Yesha Council chairman, an umbrella group for settlements.
The discovery of the graffiti comes a few days after the burning of a mosque in the Israeli village of Tuba Zangariyye, which led to confrontations between residents and Israeli police.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Shimon Peres and the chief rabbis strongly condemned the attack in the village.

Three women's rights activists share Nobel Peace Prize

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, was Africa's first democratically elected female president.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Rights group Amnesty International welcomes the award
• Karman's award will give people hope after months of struggle, Yemeni activist says
• Johnson Sirleaf says she accepts the prize on behalf of all Liberians
• The prize is divided between three women; two in Liberia and one in Yemen

(CNN) -- This year's Nobel Peace Prize is shared between three women, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and activist Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and rights activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen, the Nobel committee in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, announced Friday.
The women were awarded the prize "for their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work," the committee said.
"We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society."
Jan Egeland, of Human Rights Watch, told CNN the Nobel committee had come up with a great prize that merged the efforts of Liberian women in achieving "momentous change" in their country with the vital role of women in the ongoing Arab Spring movement.
Rights group Amnesty International said the award would encourage women everywhere to continue fighting for their rights.
Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia's 72-year-old president and Africa's first elected female head of state, told CNN she was very excited about the prize, which she said was shared by all her country's people.

Three share Nobel Peace Prize

Past Nobel Peace Prize winners

Gbowee talks about empowering women

How to win a Nobel Peace Prize

"I'm accepting this on behalf of the Liberian people, so credit goes to them," she said. "For the past eight years, we have had peace and each and every one of them has contributed to this peace."
She said the peace that had ended 14 years of civil war should be attributed to the country's women.
They were "women from all walks of life, who challenged the dictatorship of former President Charles Taylor and who stayed out in the sun and the rain working for peace in our country," she said.
Johnson Sirleaf, whose political resilience and tough reputation have earned her the nickname "Iron Lady," is currently campaigning for re-election.
The Harvard graduate's commencement address in high school in 1972 sharply criticized the government, a rare defiance in Africa, especially at the time. She has also worked at the World Bank and the United Nations.
Liberian Information Minister Cletus Sieh told CNN that Johnson Sirleaf was a role model for many women in Africa.
Gbowee, a founder and executive director of Women Peace and Security Network-Africa, was also a recipient in 2009 of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
She was the focus of the documentary "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," which shows how women confronted Taylor with a demand for peace to end the bloody 14-year civil war.
She "mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia," the Nobel committee said, as well as encouraging women's participation in elections.
And in Yemen, Karman has played a leading role in the struggle for women's rights for democracy and peace, the committee said.
Karman is the president of Women Journalists Without Chains, a group campaigning for press freedom.
Prominent Yemeni human rights activist Khaled Al-Anesi, who is also heavily involved in anti-government demonstrations, said he was very happy Karman had won the award.
"She has been my partner during our struggle for democracy, for freedom. I feel this is a reward for every Yemeni looking for peace, for freedom, for democracy," he said.
"The Nobel Peace Prize will bring attention to our revolution, which doesn't have enough international attention and attention from the foreign media. This will help us as human rights activists and revolutionaries."
Yemeni online activist Atiaf Alwazir said it was "great news for Yemen."
"Tawakkol has become such a figure in the revolution. It's a prize for Yemen -- it's a prize for all Arab women and it's a show of international support and solidarity for the peaceful movement here.
"I'm very happy she received this award, as a woman and as an activist. It shows that if you work hard enough, maybe the world will listen. I think the best thing about this is that it's for everybody.
"An award like this is really a way to restore faith in the peaceful movement and to give people moral support -- after nine months, people here are tired -- and this gives people hope."
A profile of Karman by Time Magazine describes the mother-of-three as "Yemen's most active activist."
As well as leading demonstrations demanding freedom of speech, she can often be seen trying to get other protesters out of jail. "It's a place she is familiar with as well, having been there several times herself," the profile says.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it hoped that the prize will help end suppression of women in many countries and to "realize the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent."
The award, which includes a cash prize (10 million Swedish kronor, or about U.S. $1.4 million) will be shared in three equal parts between the winners, the committee said.
"This Nobel Peace Prize recognizes what human rights activists have known for decades: that the promotion of equality is essential to building just and peaceful societies worldwide," said Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty.
"The tireless work of these and countless other activists brings us closer to a world where women will see their rights protected and enjoy growing influence at all levels of government."
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and EU President Jose Manuel Barroso issued a joint statement congratulating the winners.
They said the prize was "recognition of the pivotal role that women play in the peaceful settlement of conflicts and democratic transformation throughout the world. This is a victory for a new democratic Africa and for a new democratic Arab world that live in peace and respect for human rights."
Last year, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won the prize but could not attend the award ceremony. The political activist and longtime critic of communist rule in China is serving an 11-year prison term for what the Chinese government calls "inciting subversion of state power."
U.S. President Barack Obama won for what the committee called "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" in 2009.
Nobel prizes in literature, chemistry, physics and physiology or medicine were awarded earlier this week.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by a committee of five people chosen by Norway's parliament and is named for Alfred Nobel, a Swedish scientist and inventor of dynamite.
Nominations come from lawmakers around the world, university professors, previous Nobel laureates and members of the Nobel committee.