York police widow reaches out to another

York police widow reaches out to another

Sonja Plunkett told reporters her family has been on an 'unimaginable journey.' CBC

The wife of an Ontario police officer who died in 2007 in the line of duty is extending her condolences to the family of Const. Garrett Styles, the York Region officer who lost his life after being dragged by a car allegedly driven by an unlicensed 15-year-old.

Sonja Plunkett spoke to reporters briefly Wednesday after the sentencing of Nadeem Jiwa, who was convicted of manslaughter in the death of her husband, York police Det.-Const. Robert Plunkett.

Jiwa, 23, was sentenced to 12 years in prison but was given two-for-one credit of seven years and two months for time spent in pre-trial detention, which means he only has to serve another four years and two months behind bars.

"Our family has been taken on a very long and unimaginable journey, one that no family, let alone a police family, should ever have to endure,” Plunkett said.

"My attention is now turning towards the Styles family and all members of the York Regional Police at this most difficult time. My family extends their deepest condolences. Another journey has just begun."

Styles died the day before Jiwa's sentencing after he stopped a car on a rural highway east of Newmarket, Ont. He is survived by his wife, Melissa, a civilian employee of the York Regional Police Service, and two young children — Meredith, 2½, and nine-week-old Nolan.

A funeral for Styles will be held Tuesday in Newmarket. Some 6,000 officers from across North America are expected to attend.

Styles's wife and children will also be there, although it is not known if she will address those in attendance. She has not spoken publicly about her husband's death.

'Police deserve our respect'

Police "do an honourable, difficult and selfless job," Plunkett said Wednesday. "That is what my husband, Robert Plunkett, was all about."

Robert was trying to arrest Jiwa on a residential street in Markham on Aug. 2, 2007, during an investigation into airbag thefts. Jiwa reversed the car and pinned Plunkett between a tree and the car's open door.

Plunkett died later in hospital.

“The police deserve our respect," Sonja Plunkett said. "When asked to stop, you have to stop. Had [Jiwa] just listened and shown just a touch of respect, my husband and the father of my three children would still be here today."

The 32-year veteran of the force and a father of three died in hospital of his injuries. He won awards for his bravery on the job, and was once named "toughest cop alive" at the Canadian Law Enforcement Games for his strength and athleticism.

The teen who allegedly drove the minivan that Styles stopped just before he died has been charged with first degree murder.

Styles was dragged by a minivan for 300 metres before the vehicle flipped, pinning him underneath. Styles died in hospital of his injuries.
 
Trust account set up

The teen suffered massive head injuries when the van rolled over and doctors fear he could be paralyzed. He is to appear in court on July 7, two days after Styles's funeral, which will be held in Newmarket Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Styles, who died five days before his 33rd birthday, joined the York police force seven years ago and was on his way to becoming a sergeant.

A trust fund has been set up for his family. Anyone who wishes to contribute can do so at the Police Credit Union, 18025 Yonge St., Newmarket.

Despair turns to protest for Greece's 'Indignants'

Despair turns to protest for Greece's 'Indignants'

Thousands of Greek "Indignants" have been protesting outside parliament in Athens for more than 30 days

(CNN) -- With fiery slogans on their lips and sturdy shoes on their feet, some 30 Spartans last week began marching to Athens to join the thousands of anti-austerity demonstrators occupying the large square opposite Greece's parliament.

Four days and more than 150 miles later, the determined group of men and women from the ancient city in southern Greece reached Syntagma Square to the cheers of the elated crowd.

Despite the burns and blisters on their feet, the Spartans added their loud voice to the chorus of public discontent that has been reverberating across Greece's capital as the country falls deeper into financial crisis.

"None of us are athletes or runners, so this was a symbolic move to say no to the sell-out of Greece," said George Pentafronimos.

Thousands of Greek "Indignants" -- protesters who take their name from their Spanish "Indignado" counterparts -- have been gathering outside Athens' Parliament House for more than 30 days, vehemently protesting against further belt-tightening measures and the loan deals signed last year between debt-ridden Greece and its foreign lenders.

While labor unions and teachers have hit the streets in recent weeks to protest government austerity proposals, the Indignants said they are careful to avoid links with established parties.

"We did it to show everyone that when we are united and when we help each other, even us, ordinary people, can achieve incredible things," added Pentafronimos. "At the end of the day we, the simple people have the power and not the banks or the governments."

Cash-strapped Greece is in need of funds to avoid a default on debt repayments that are due as soon as mid-July.

A 48-hour general strike kicked off on Tuesday morning and the Greek parliament is expected to vote Wednesday on a tough five-year package of tax increases and spending cuts. International creditors insist the country imposes a series of additional austerity measures in exchange for a further bailout package to keep it afloat.

Rising unemployment, new taxes, salary cuts and a potential fire sale of Greek national assets -- including ports, banks, airports and highways -- have brought together a diverse group of demonstrators and laid bare a deeper feeling of despondence that some say has been simmering in the country.

"It has been accumulating a long time now," said Eftychia Salta, a 33-year-old sound engineer who has been without a job for more than a year.

"In the last five or six years people have started to feel disgusted with the political system, especially when there is unemployment, when you have no money," she added. "All this accumulated and led to something more collective."

Syntagma Square has been serving as a meeting place for people of all ages and ideologies -- from moderates who typically refrain from street protests to the hardcore activists who have made the square their new home.

"This is something very far from the misery of the crisis, it's a kind of medicine," according to 34-year-old architect Yiannis Stathopoulos.

Web designer Aggeliki Grevia, 36, agreed: "When I go there my morale is boosted so much -- when I stay home and watch the TV analysts, it drops sharply."

Some commentators have questioned the longevity of the Syntagma camp as the movement seems to lack specific political direction.

Yet uncertainty about the future and the prospect of further economic pain is already driving the movement into its second month.

They advocate direct democracy and take turns speaking at makeshift assembly meetings. They use the internet to organize themselves and refrain from assigning leadership roles.

"We see that our political leaders are essentially marionettes, they don't represent anyone," said Grevia. "They are marionettes who obey their narcissism and the orders of those above them."

"The common slogan is 'no more,' the knife is against our neck," she added.

Protesters say new financial help that comes at the cost of further austerity measures will only aggravate the already dire situation -- having already been through a year of rigid economic measures that failed to deliver results, they fear the prospect of an even bleaker future.

"I'm not against the implementation of some measures but I believe that no one can impose such measures without offering some prospect -- that if you do this, things will get better," said Stathopoulos.

"There's going to be a big crash in the economy, I don't think they'll bring the desired results -- our experience from last year shows us that such measures don't lead anywhere."

"What we're taking, we're essentially giving it back to pay the interest," said Grevia.

"As long as we keep borrowing this becomes a vicious cycle. We'll receive the next bailout, for what? In order to become indebted again and so the big banking institutions get the money we owe them," she added.

G20/G8 summit opponents infiltrated by police

G20/G8 summit opponents infiltrated by police

Police arrest a protester during a G20 march in downtown Toronto on June 27. 

Newly released G8/G20 summit documents reveal the RCMP and various Ontario police forces spent several months infiltrating anti-war, anti-globalization and anarchist groups with the use of undercover officers ahead of last June's summits in Huntsville and Toronto.

The reports by the Joint Intelligence Group formed by the RCMP-led ISU (Integrated Security Unit) show that various police services contributed at least 12 undercover officers to take part in covert surveillance of potential "criminal extremists" in a bid to "detect … and disrupt" any threats.

The reports omit details on specific individuals or groups, nor do they offer conclusions about what, if any, crimes or plots of violence were detected.

"There's a lot of stuff that isn't in there, that's been redacted, or isn't spelled out. But it says these undercover operations were going on, that there were 12 officers," says Tim Groves, who requested and obtained the reports through an access to information request. "The problem is that, looking at these documents, police expected criminal extremism everywhere."

Groves, an investigative journalist and active participant in the alternative media centre during last summer's G20 summit in Toronto, agreed to share the police documents with CBC News.

CBC's independent analysis of the police records reveals:
The RCMP set up a Joint Intelligence Group in January 2009, which in turn assigned a dozen officers to a covert PIIT (Primary Intelligence Investigative Team) expressly for monitoring and infiltrating suspected extremist networks.
The joint-forces PITT had a mandate to use undercover officers and informants from within the ranks of protest networks, not just to monitor potential criminal activity by organizers, but also to "deter, prevent, investigate and/or disrupt" threats to the summit.
The investigative team created and shared files on a long list of individuals, colour coding them according to perceived risk level as red (suspect), orange (person of interest) and yellow (associate).

Police identified "criminal extremists" as a significant threat to the Canadian summits, targeting anti-capitalist groups with grievances tied to the environment, animal rights and First Nations resource-based issues. They noted, however, that "in Canada the criminal extremist activity has never reached the level experienced in some European countries."

RCMP history of citizen surveillance

Laurentian University Prof. Gary Kinsman, a sociologist and historian who has written extensively on RCMP surveillance, says "anti-capitalist perspectives, anarchist perspectives, socialist perspectives, almost get criminalized."

"This is part of a long history of Canadian security police [involved in] major forms of surveillance including infiltration of various different social movements, including the union movement, the gay movement at times, " Kinsman says.

Kinsman acknowledges police may well have legitimately targeted people who were actively plotting violence or criminal activity. What surprises him, though, is that according to the ISU documents, undercover officers had an expressed mandate to do more than simply watch and wait for crimes to be committed.

He says their intelligence gathering was used as a basis for pre-emptive arrests of some 50 protest organizers on charges of conspiracy (many of which have been dropped, while 17 remain before the courts.)

"A large number of the people charged with conspiracy were arrested prior to anything happening on that Saturday demonstration," Kinsman told CBC News, saying he himself was among the peaceful demonstrators at last year's Toronto summit.

"So the evidence collected from the people who infiltrated the activist groups was basically used to criminalize the organizers, prior to anything actually taking place."

Undercover officers among demonstrators

In addition to the advance surveillance, plainclothes officers, in teams of at least four, were stationed throughout the crowds at the G8/G20 demonstrations as "event monitors" who were required to "provide real time intelligence of demonstration or large gatherings of protesters where there is pre-existing intelligence and/or evidence of violence," according to the ISU documents

These event monitors were also charged with tracking and reporting on the movements of buses, vans and trains carrying protest groups to and from the summits.

Groves, who initially obtained the police surveillance reports, notes that "they did all this intelligence gathering and there are still things getting broken on the street."

He questions whether all the undercover work served any purpose, given the agitators who still managed to smash windows, loot stores and set police cars on fire with virtually no police intervention.

News of the police surveillance has only served to send a chill through the activist community, he says, making many of its members more distrusting of police, and perhaps hardening their anti-state views.

Toronto police admit G20 intelligence lapses

Toronto police in a report released Thursday reviewing the success and failures of the G20 summit gave credit to the advance intelligence gathering by the RCMP and the Integrated Security Unit, but also identified problems.

"In the dynamic public order events on June 26 and June 27 there were delays in the timely delivery of important tactical intelligence to the end users in the [central police command centre]."

Comedian Ahmed Ahmed stands up for Arabs' right to laugh

Comedian Ahmed Ahmed stands up for Arabs' right to laugh

Comedian Ahmed Ahmed visits the Pyramids in his native Egypt.

(CNN) -- When Ahmed Ahmed, an Egyptian-American stand-up comic, started doing comedy tours of the Middle East his friends in the U.S. assumed he was performing at military bases.

"They were surprised to learn that I was performing for Arabs, that they understood English and that people actually laughed," said Ahmed.

His frustration at the response from his fellow Americans prompted Ahmed to make a documentary film called "Just Like Us" about comedy in the Middle East.

Ahmed, 40, said he wanted to challenge the American misconception that Arabs have no sense of humor.

The film follows Ahmed and fellow comedians on a tour taking in Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

It charts the rapidly growing popularity of stand-up comedy in the Middle East.

"There's always been comedy in the Middle East, but in the form of story-telling or one-man shows, not stand-up in the contemporary American sense," said Ahmed.

"Stand-up comedy is relatively new but evolving quickly and is now happening in most Middle Eastern countries."

Ahmed, who was born in Egypt but moved to California as a baby, began doing comedy shows in the Middle East in 2005, but started with small, private functions. Although he had regularly visited Egypt as a child, the 2005 tour was the first time in 20 years he had returned to his country of birth.

It was while taking part in the "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour" in 2007 that he first saw large audiences.

The shows filmed for "Just Like Us" had audiences totaling 20,000 people, he said.

The theme of the film is that Arab sense of humor is just like that of Americans, although there were some differences in the expectations of audiences.

Ahmed said: "My material in the Middle East is pretty similar to that in the U.S. except for deleting religious or sexually explicit content. The exception is Lebanon where pretty much anything goes.

"We used to be told not to touch Arab politics either, but that's changed since the Arab Spring and people are now keen to hear about politics."

"Just Like Us" was filmed last year before the start of the Arab Spring, but Ahmed said the seeds for political change were visible.

"The film was at the cutting edge before the revolution and was pre-emptive of it," he said. "A lot of people who attended our shows were the same people who were marching in the streets."

Ahmed also observed differences between audiences in each of the countries he visited.

"Every Middle East country I've visited had a big sense of humor. It was refreshing and enlightening," he said.

"We had the biggest laughs in Saudi Arabia because they have the least amount of entertainment. Because they are so entertainment deprived, they are very ready to laugh at anything."

Ahmed added: "I love performing in Egypt because it feels like a homecoming. It's my planet.

"Lebanon is another favorite because it's so open and free. You can say whatever you like."

CNN reported in 2010 that stand-up comedy was doing serious business in the Middle East and that home-grown talent had taken off alongside tours by Western comics.

Jamil Abu-Wardeh, a television producer who moved from London to Dubai and helped launch the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour did a TED talk in July 2010 in which he spoke of the "rise and rise of stand-up comedy in the Middle East."

"Just Like Us" premiered at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival last year and is currently touring the United States.

It won a best documentary award at the Tallahassee Film Festival 2011 and a special mention at Santa Cruz Film Festival 2011, as well as a host of film official selections.

It will be shown in Dallas, Texas on June 24 and in Boston, Massachusetts, and Royal Oak, Michigan, on July 8. Tickets can be booked here.

Flooding takes financial, emotional toll on south China villagers

Flooding takes financial, emotional toll on south China villagers

Zhoushang Village, China (CNN) -- Riding a small rowboat headed home, Deng Jiangyi examined the muddy water all around him -- eerily dotted with treetops, electrical poles and flocks of ducks.

"This year's floods were so extreme that almost the entire village got submerged," lamented the 66-year-old farmer. "Everything is gone -- everything."

Nearly all of the village's 1,600 residents lost their livelihood -- with their crops and livestock under water.

The last time Deng saw his village turn to a lake was in 1955, when heavy flooding similarly inundated Zhoushang in southern China.

"We had to flee to the mountain nearby and took refuge in the big temple there," he recalled.

This time Deng managed to seek sanctuary on the upper floors of his three-story house, though he said water level reached chest high on the ground floor.

More than half of his less fortunate fellow villagers had to be evacuated by the government. In the whole Zhejiang province, where Zhoushang Village is located, authorities said Monday they moved 292,000 people to shelters after severe flooding destroyed 8,400 houses and caused $1.2 billion in economic losses.

The flooding, which began with heavy rainfall on June 3, has claimed at least 175 lives in southern and eastern China, the country's Ministry of Civil Affairs said this week. Another 86 people are missing. Thirteen provinces have been affected, more than 1.6 million people have been evacuated, and the direct economic losses have reached 32.02 billion yuan ($4.9 billion), the ministry said.

Deng said he lost several thousand dollars on cotton and peanuts but, despite the lack of agricultural insurance, he tried to put on a brave face.

"The state cares about us," he said. "I'm sure there will be government compensations."

Others in the village aren't so certain, privately complaining to CNN about what they perceived as official ineptitude and indifference.

Even with the scorching sun replacing torrential rain, some villagers said the government's slow effort to drain the floodwater would make the village a "hot pot" for at least one more week.

That prospect frightens villagers such as Hu Xiaolan. With her husband hospitalized and both children working out of town, the floods couldn't have arrived at a worse time.

Standing next to her house ravaged by the flood, Hu, 54, said she simply felt overwhelmed.

"I don't have money to repair the collapsed kitchen, and I still need to pay my husband's medical bills," she said, her voice breaking. "And all my harvests are gone this year."

"I've heard there may be even more water coming," she added, wiping tears away. "I hope the government will give us a hand, offering some financial help to alleviate our burden."

Icann increases web domain suffixes

Icann increases web domain suffixes

The move has opened up new possibilities for the internet, Icann says

A global internet body has voted to allow the creation of new website domain suffixes, the biggest change for the online world in years.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) plans to dramatically increase the number of domain endings from the current 22.

Internet address names will end with almost any word and be in any language.

Icann will begin taking applications next year, with corporations and cities expected to be among the first.

"Icann has opened the internet's addressing system to the limitless possibilities of the human imagination," said Rod Beckstrom, president and chief executive officer for Icann.

"No one can predict where this historic decision will take us."

There will be several hundred new generic top-level domain names (gTLDs), which could include such addresses as .google, .coke, or even .BBC.

There are currently 22 gTLDs, as well as about 250 country-level domain names such as .uk or .de.

Costly process

It will cost $185,000 (£114,000) to apply for the suffixes, and companies would need to show they have a legitimate claim to the name they are buying.

Analysts say it is a price that global giants might be willing to pay - in order to maximise their internet presence.

The money will be used to cover costs incurred by Icann in developing the new gTLDs and employing experts to scrutinise the many thousands of expected applications.

A portion will be set-aside to deal with potential legal actions, raised by parties who fail to get the domains they want.

The vote completes a six-year negotiation process and is the biggest change to the system since .com was first introduced 26 years ago.

Icann said it was beginning a global communications programme to raise awareness of the new domain names.

Applications will start on 12 January.
 
High standards

Companies and organisations seeking one of the new gTLDs will have to meet high technical standards, according to Bruce Tonkin, chief strategy officer at Melbourne IT, a domain registry service.

"You need IT robustness and you need intellectual property protections beyond what is available in the dot com space.

"You have to have 24/7 abuse team. You have to have mechanisms where a trademark holder has first right to get their name," he said.

The higher standards, said Mr Tonkin, meant the application process would be extremely rigorous.

"Using a real estate analogy, it would be roughly the equivalent of getting approval to build a sky scraper.

"There's roughly 50 questions, roughly 2-3 pages per question. Icann will then use experts in each field to evaluate them.

"The concern that some people have is that the standards of these buildings will be so high, that they will never get built. It will be too expensive," he said.

Western premiers to stress disaster relief

Western premiers to stress disaster relief

Trade and economic development are on the agenda when premiers from Western Canada and the North meet in Yellowknife starting Monday, but perhaps a more pressing topic will be how best to deal with natural disasters in Canadians’ own backyards.

Premier Floyd Roland of the Northwest Territories, host of this year’s three-day Western Premiers' Conference, said the premiers want to put more pressure on the federal government to get funding quickly to regions hit by disasters such as floods and forest fires.

“How does the funding flow to jurisdictions, the timeliness of that, what is defined as a disaster” are among areas that need to be discussed, he said.

Driving home the importance of addressing disaster preparedness and the after-effects is the fact Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is delaying his trip to the conference to tour flooded southeast areas of his province.

Wall is visiting Estevan, Radville, Weyburn and Yellow Grass on Monday after up to 75 millimetres of rain caused significant swelling of the Souris River and flash floods on the weekend.

Between Friday and Saturday, firefighters used a boat to rescue about 30 people from a mobile home park on the outskirts of Weyburn. The water was more than a metre deep and up to the floors of many of the trailers.

Both Wall and Premier Greg Selinger of Manitoba, where there has also been significant flooding and damages to areas this spring, also want to discuss strategies for pressing Ottawa for a national disaster strategy.

Provinces, territories discuss their needs

Roland said health care and climate change will be among other areas up for discussion.

He emphasized that the annual conference also serves as an important vehicle for the territories to explain their needs to the provinces, so they’re on board for projects such as the Mackenzie gas project and the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

As for the provinces, Selinger, for one is emphasizing the serious challenges facing the agricultural economy on the Prairies, such as the amount of unseeded land.

The Canadian Wheat Board said last week that between 2.4 million and 3.2 million hectares of farmland will go unseeded in the West, mostly in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which could result in a loss of $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion from the prairie economy.

For Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, who will be attending his last conference before stepping down this fall, his top agenda item will be how to tap into new economic markets and trade.

"Our future prosperity will be determined by our ability to tap into rapidly growing Asian economies," Stelmach said in a release. "If we're going to sell our products in countries like China or India, we need to be able to get those products to market. It's critical that we in the West work together to ensure the infrastructure we need — the pipelines, the ports, the railways — is in place and up to date."
 
'Knocking on the door'

Other premiers will also be thinking outside the Canadian box, notably, discussing how to more effectively tap into international markets.

“Our mineral sector is going to continue to grow, and we’re just gong to have to be ready to step up and be more involved when [interested communities come] knocking on the door,” said Roland.

He said he plans to bring up the proposed expansion of the Taltson hydroelectric facility expansion with his Alberta and Saskatchewan counterparts because southern markets hooking into the power grid could make the project viable. The facility is owned and operated by the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, and located in the southeast portion of the Northwest Territories, about 56 kilometres northeast of the border with Alberta.

“When we talk about green energy, hydro is one of those key ones for us and we need to have the U.S. recognize that hydro should be counted as a clean energy concept.”

Also attending the conference will be British Columbia’s Christy Clark, Yukon’s Darrell Pasloski and Nunavut's Eva Aariak.

The premiers are scheduled to head to Fort Simpson on Tuesday for Aboriginal Day celebrations.

Roland noted that the trip is a good opportunity to show the other leaders the challenges of travelling in the North.

NATO strike in Tripoli kills 9 civilians, Libya government says

NATO strike in Tripoli kills 9 civilians, Libya government says

NATO admitted its aircraft mistakenly hit vehicles aligned with the Libyan opposition in the eastern oil city of al-Brega.

Dafniya, Libya (CNN) -- A NATO strike hit a residential neighborhood in Tripoli on Sunday, killing at least nine people and injuring six, Libya's government claimed.

"This is cold-blooded murder," government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said at the scene in Tripoli. "Is this the protection of civilians? Is this really the search for peace and democracy in the Libya, to attack peaceful neighborhoods of Tripoli?"

NATO said it was looking into the allegations and takes them "very seriously indeed."

The alliance was operating in the area of the alleged strike overnight, Commander Mike Bracken told CNN Sunday. He said NATO was doing everything it could to avoid civilian casualties, citing a case in which a missile had been diverted after it was fired last week.

He said surface-to-air missiles were based in the area that was allegedly hit early Sunday.

On Saturday, the alliance denied earlier Libyan claims it was killing civilians.

"The claims made by Gadhafi and members of his regime are outrageous. It is Gadhafi and his regime that have been systematically and brutally attacking the Libyan people," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu in response to Libyan government accusations.

Separately, at least six people were killed and 30 were wounded in fighting in Dafniya, west of Misrata, according to the publicly viewable hospital records at Al-Hikma hospital, which is treating casualties. Most of the dead appear to be rebel fighters.

A rebel who identified himself only as Walid said he and fellow fighters came under "intense, intense, intense" shelling when they tried to advance on Gadhafi forces Sunday. They were forced to retreat, allowing Gadhafi forces to advance, he told CNN.

Bombardments began in the Dafniya area on Sunday morning, and a CNN crew could hear them continue on a fairly regular basis through the day.

A stream of wounded people flowed into a makeshift hospital in Dafniya, and witnesses reported seeing intense artillery fire coming from both sides of the clashes.

A local radio station in Misrata was calling for people to donate O-positive blood to meet increased demand after the fighting Sunday.

Ibrahim, the Libyan government spokesman, said the government holds NATO, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S. President Barack Obama "responsible morally and legally for this murder and crimes" for the alleged strike that killed nine in Tripoli on Sunday.

State TV reported that the three of the people killed belonged to the same family. The network broadcast footage of a destroyed building and a chaotic scene of rescue teams and civilians pulling a body from the rubble.

The incident occurred a day after NATO acknowledged that its aircraft had mistakenly struck vehicles aligned with the Libyan opposition in the hotly contested eastern oil city of al-Brega. On Saturday, NATO expressed regret over the incident.

NATO did not provide details as to how many people, if any, died or were injured in the al-Brega strike, which took place on Thursday. But in a statement released Saturday, NATO admitted that its forces hit vehicles that were "part of an opposition patrol" -- an incident the military alliance described as "unfortunate."

For weeks, NATO forces have been targeting forces loyal to Gadhafi in an effort to prevent civilian casualties. Most of those strikes have come from missiles fired from off-shore ships or aircraft flying high above the north African nation, though earlier this month British and French attack helicopters did fly closer to the ground in al-Brega to go after targets in that city more precisely.

Al-Brega is on a frontline -- east of Gadhafi's base in Tripoli and west of the rebels headquarters in Benghazi -- in fighting that has taken place between the two sides over the past several months.

In its statement, NATO said that "a column of military vehicles, including tanks," were spotted Thursday around al-Brega where Gadhafi forces "had recently been operating." During what it called "a particularly complex and fluid battle scenario," leaders in the military alliance ordered a strike after determining these vehicles posed "a threat to civilians."

"We regret any possible loss of life or injuries caused by this unfortunate incident," NATO said in its statement.

Paris Air Show set for take-off

Paris Air Show set for take-off

Solar-powered plane Solar Impulse is expected to take part in flying displays at the 2011 Paris Air Show.

(CNN) -- If the smell of jet fuel or the mere sight of a vapor trail is enough to get your pulse racing, then chances are you don't need to be told that the biggest event in the airline industry is about to take place.

For one week from 19 June 2011, an airfield on the outskirts of Paris will become the center of the airline universe, as anyone who is anyone in the business flocks to Le Bourget for the International Paris Air Show.

The event, held every two years at the very airfield where Charles Lindbergh landed after the first solo transatlantic flight, is the largest and oldest of its kind -- it celebrated its centenary in 2009.

Traditionally it is the venue at which aircraft manufacturers unveil the next big thing: Concorde, the Airbus A380 and countless other innovations all made their debut in Paris.

Organizers hope that one of the biggest draws at this year's show will be Solar Impulse, the solar-powered plane which hit the headlines last year when it flew for 26 hours non-stop fueled only by the sun.

They hope, because the plane's size (it has a 64-meter wingspan), light weight and slow speed mean it will only be able to take part in flying displays "so long as weather conditions are favorable," they have warned.

Another aircraft likely to wow the crowds is the Eurocopter X3, a hybrid helicopter with fixed wings as well as rotors, which flies at more than 300 km an hour.

"The Eurocopter X3 concept is pretty interesting," Murdo Morrison, editor of Flight International magazine, told CNN.

"The thing about helicopters is they have a lot of advantages," Morrison continued. "They can hover, take off vertically, move very slowly, but the one problem they all have is speed, and this prototype is an attempt by Eurocopter to try and do something different."


But the industry will be watching the debut of Boeing's 747-8, the latest version of its long-running wide body jumbo jet, which has been in development for more than six years.

And Morrison says Boeing is likely to be closely watched, too, for a decision on its narrow body strategy.

"The 737 is an old design, its engines use old technology. So will they introduce new generation engines, or will they opt for a whole new plane?" he asked.

"It is a big gamble, an incredible investment -- if you get it wrong it is not unreasonable to say you could bankrupt the company -- we're talking billions of dollars," he continued.

And there will be plenty of talk worth billions of dollars: Paris is where the industry's power brokers come to seal deals worth vast sums, and manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus -- along with smaller firms further down the supply chain -- will all be hoping to come away from the show with order books bulging.

Another company that will be hoping to make an impact at the show is Bombardier, best known for smaller planes like the Lear jet.

"All eyes are on the C series, the new Bombardier attempt to break into the lucrative 'narrow body' market, and to break the Airbus - Boeing duopoly," said Morrison.

"It's very risky, a real gamble. Lots of people think they won't be able to sell enough," he continued. "They've had a few orders, but they'll be going in to Paris hoping to be able to announce a blue chip order."

And all of this will happen well before the public -- plane enthusiasts from around the world -- are even allowed through the gates.

"There are two sides to the Paris Air Show," Morrison told CNN. "One is the aircraft on display, the fact that it is a showpiece event, that the eyes of the world are upon you, but the other is the stories that happen behind the scenes, the negotiations, the wheeling and dealing.

"On the surface, it is about the latest sexy aircraft making their debut -- when the A380 first appeared, you had business meetings grinding to a halt so CEOs could watch this beast flying over --- the spectacle, but it is also where all the business is done: the deals, the glad-handing.

"Paris is very much a trade show. Pretty much everyone has to be there -- it is THE industry show -- the oldest, the one show where the whole industry comes together. If you're not there, your customers, your clients would wonder why. It is where the big deals are done."

One thing is certain: Events on the runway and in the skies above Le Bourget -- and perhaps more importantly in the VIP chalets lining the airfield -- are likely to set the agenda for the airline industry for the years to come.

Rare fungal infection strikes Joplin tornado victims

Rare fungal infection strikes Joplin tornado victims

Deep skin infections can occur when material kicked up by tornadic winds becomes lodged under the skin.

(CNN) -- Eight people injured by the devastating Joplin, Missouri, tornado have contracted a rare fungal infection, and three have died, officials said Friday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is assisting state and local health officials, who are investigating the cases.

All three individuals who died had serious injuries, as well as fungus, Jasper County Coroner Rob Chappel said. One of the deaths was caused by the infection, called mucormycosis, but the cause of death for the other two victims has not been determined, he said.

All eight patients sustained multiple injuries and secondary wound infections, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

The infection can occur when dirt, vegetation or other material becomes lodged under the skin.

The death toll from the May tornado stood at 151 on Friday.

CDC researcher Dr. Benjamin Park told CNN that in most cases, people with weakened immune systems inhale spores and develop sinus or nasal infections that spread.

The Joplin cases apparently are a form of the severe infection that appears with soft-tissue injuries.

A spore on the tip of a tree, for example, can pierce the skin, Park said. The infection can progress a few weeks later and cause significant damage to tissue, which can require hospitalization, antibiotics and even removal of the tissue.

Although this is a rare infection, it can have extremely serious consequences, requiring prompt medical attention, Park said.

Anyone in the tornado area that is suffering wounds that are not healing should seek prompt medical attention, he added.

Deep skin fungal infection does not spread from human to human, Missouri officials said. No cases were attributed to air, food or water.

Postal strikes to continue over weekend

Postal strikes to continue over weekend

Striking postal workers in urban centres will deliver letters only three days a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Postal workers will target Red Deer, Alta., over the weekend after a meeting Friday between Canada Post, union representatives, and the federal labour minister failed to settle the ongoing strike.

In a statement after the meeting in Ottawa, Lisa Raitt said she asked each side to make concessions.

"I am requesting a sign of good will from both parties to immediately suspend the cost reduction measures and the rotating strike measures that have been taken lately by Canada Post and CUPW — Urban Operations Unit," Raitt said. "I urge the parties to focus on the task at hand and reach a prompt agreement."

Raitt said Canadians and businesses are starting to feel the impact after eight days of rotating strikes by postal workers across Canada.

"The best solution in any dispute is one that the parties reach themselves," she said.

Following the meeting, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers said it had agreed to suspend strike activity, with its only condition that the terms of its collective agreement be reinstated.

But the union said Canada Post’s management rejected the offer. “This behaviour on the part of Canada Post Corporation is totally unacceptable,” said Denis Lemelin, CUPW National President and chief negotiator, in a statement. “We are showing that we are willing to suspend our strike in good faith and with goodwill, as the Minister requested. Once again, Canada Post is rejecting any of our efforts to resolve the issues.”

Canada Post called the union's demand to reinstate the old collective agreement "completely unacceptable."

"By maintaining the uncertainty for customers and hurting our revenues, the union's proposal is tantamount to asking for full pay to remain on strike," said a Canada Post statement issued late Friday. "No company would accept that, especially with the damage already done to the business."

The union said negotiations are scheduled for Friday evening and will continue over the weekend. The meeting with Raitt came as 1,500 postal workers held strikes Friday in Quebec City and Kitchener, Ont.

Canada Post said contract talks have stalled as the two sides remain far apart on a number of issues, among them starting salaries and working conditions.

The Crown corporation has said the union is resisting efforts to cut costs and meet the challenge of declining mail volumes.

Canada Post said the Crown corporation's revenue and mail volumes are down since the first walkout last week. It also announced it will be cutting mail delivery to three days per week.

Arrested for Feeding the Homeless in Violation of New Orlando Law

Arrested for Feeding the Homeless in Violation of New Orlando Law

On April 4, 2007 Food Not Bombs volunteer Eric Montanez was arrested by police. 

Members of the organization Food Not Bombs were in good spirits as they passed out corn on the cob, rice, beans and other vegetarian dishes to the homeless and hungry in an Orlando park. This cheer was interrupted when police officers on bicycles arrived and arrested five of the volunteers.

This is not the first time this scene has played out for members of Food Not Bombs.

Since June 1, a dozen members of the group have been arrested for violating a new Orlando city ordinance that prohibits sharing food with large groups in downtown parks more than twice a year.

The mayor of Orlando even branded them "food terrorists."

Food Not Bombs is an international political organization that protests war, poverty and the destruction of the environment, according to their website. The group meets to distribute food twice a week in downtown Orlando's Lake Eola Park.

They won a district court case to prevent the enforcement of the new ordinance , but the decision was overturned in the appellate court.

A spokesperson for the city of Orlando said that the ordinance had its origins in complaints from residents and business owners about trash left after the food distribution, public urination and concerns about crime.

Breaking the Law By Feeding the Homeless

Lake Eola Park is the city's "crown jewel and a signature part of the city right in the middle of Orlando," according to the spokesperson. The city says the ordinance is a permit system that allows them to be aware of what is happening and where so that they can provide necessary services such as clean-up.

In regards to Food Not Bombs, the spokesperson says, "We would really like to find a solution and a compromise."

The court decision says, "The City of Orlando enacted the ordinance to spread the burden that feedings of large groups have on parks and their surrounding neighborhoods."

The document also says that Food Not Bombs could obtain two permits a year for each of the 42 parks in downtown Orlando, for a total of 84 large group feedings a year. The ordinance does not put restrictions on group feedings outside of the downtown area.

"The idea that every week we have to move to a different part of the city and that people have to find us just doesn't make any sense," said Keith McHenry, one of the founders of Food Not Bombs and the first to be arrested in Orlando.

"It's a really wonderful experience to save food, cook it with your friends, and hand it out," McHenry said. "You can't imagine the government saying this beautiful thing can't happen."

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has been quoted calling the group "food terrorists." He told ABC's Orlando affiliate WTFV, "I think they are using food or the feeding of the homeless for different purposes."


Arrested for Feeding the Homeless in Orlando

Cathy Jackson, the executive director of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, agrees that motives may be more about self-promotion.

"The meal service that's being provided by Food Not Bombs is an unnecessary service," Jackson said. She says there are at least seven shelter operations within less than a mile and a half of Lake Eola Park that provide daily meal services for the hungry.

"What the general public needs to understand is that it's a wonderfully motivated act of generosity when a group wants to feed the hungry, but this is only helpful when skilled counselors are participating and connecting with those they are serving to channel them back into a direction of housing and self-sufficiency," Jackson said.

 Food Not Bombs has no intentions of stopping their distribution of food in Lake Eola Park. They are planning on collecting enough signatures on a petition to challenge the ordinance again.

Hurricane Adrian expected to remain offshore

Hurricane Adrian expected to remain offshore

Hurricane Adrian is not expected to make landfall

(CNN) -- Hurricane Adrian churned across the Pacific early Thursday as forecasters warned of dangerous surf and rip currents on the southwestern coast of Mexico.

Adrian -- a Category 1 hurricane -- could intensify into a major hurricane in the next day or two, the National Weather Service said.

The first hurricane of the season is expected to stay offshore, sparing Mexico.

But "any deviation to the right of the forecast track could bring tropical storm conditions" to parts of Mexico on Thursday and into Friday, according to the hurricane center.

Adrian's maximum sustained winds increased to nearly 80 mph (130 kph) late Wednesday.

"Additional strength is likely," the weather service said.

The storm was about 275 miles (440 kilometers) south of the town of Zihuatanejo late Wednesday.

Swells caused by the storm were expected to affect the southwestern coast of Mexico.

AG turns spotlight on RCMP, G8/G20 summit cost

AG turns spotlight on RCMP, G8/G20 summit cost

Leaders pose for a G8 group photo session at Deerhurst Resort in Ontario, June 25, 2010. Infrastructure funding for the summit will be examined in the auditor general's report. 

The auditor general's office finally releases a final report Thursday on the costs of the controversial G8 and G20 summits hosted by Canada last summer.

Acting auditor general John Wiersema will table the office's spring 2011 report in the House of Commons at 10 a.m. ET. It includes two highly anticipated chapters on last June's meetings in Huntsville, Ont., and Toronto, including a look at millions spent on projects in Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement's Parry Sound-Muskoka riding.

The third chapter focuses on how the Department of National Defence developed a pension plan for its reserve force.

Wiersema, who was named to replace Sheila Fraser until a permanent successor for the retired auditor general is chosen, will also table the 2011 status report containing seven chapters.

One chapter that will stand out is on the performance of Health Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs and other departments in charge of managing programs to improve the lives of First Nations and Inuit people.

Another part of the report that could make an impact is an audit of four key services of the RCMP including its forensics laboratory and DNA data bank. Wiersema will report on police services as a whole and the approach the federal government uses to funding them.

The reports on the G8 and G20, however, will attract the most interest. The first chapter looks at the budgets, the funding requests and the expenditures for hosting the two meetings. Price tags for various aspects of the summits have been publicized before — more than $1 billion for security for example — but Thursday's report should paint a good overall picture of the total costs.

The auditor general will not be pronouncing, however, on the effectiveness of the summits, or "the merits" of the goods and services that the summit planners said they needed.

Draft report caused election campaign furor

The G20 meeting in Toronto was the scene of violent protests and resulted in the largest mass arrest of citizens in Canadian history. The Conservative government was highly criticized for its decision to hold the brief meeting in the downtown core of Canada's biggest city, and for the enormous costs of hosting the G8 and G20 meetings, which some critics say produced few results.

The second chapter of the spring report is on the controversial G8 Legacy Infrastructure Fund, worth $50 million. The purpose of the fund according to the government was to help the Muskoka region prepare for the summit, make infrastructure upgrades since it was on display to foreign dignitaries and media, and provide a lasting legacy for the region.

Towns more than 100 kilometres away from the summit site benefited from the fund, which prompted opposition critics to call it a slush fund that was designed to help the local MP, Clement, get re-elected.

Draft versions of the chapter caused a stir when they were leaked to the media during the spring campaign. A draft written in January said the government allegedly misinformed Parliament to win approval for the fund and that it may have been illegal if MPs were misled. A February version of the report had removed the reference to Parliament being misled.

Fraser cautioned at the time that only the final version of her report would represent the findings of her audit.

The leaks of the drafts prompted widespread calls for the final report to be released early, but Fraser said the documents could only be tabled in the House of Commons.

Juarez's top cop confident of restoring peace

Juarez's top cop confident of restoring peace

"If the criminals resist giving up ... well then there will be incidents of confrontation," says Julian Leyzaola.

(CNN) -- On the job for barely three months, the new police chief of Ciudad Juarez -- the globally recognized hotspot in Mexico's drug wars -- predicts bold changes in his new border home.

Juarez will be pacified in the year ahead and public confidence will return by 2012, said Julian Leyzaola, who officially carries the title of secretary of municipal public safety.

It's the kind of comment one would expect from a man who made his reputation wrangling another border city, Tijuana, under control. But in an exclusive interview with CNN, he sat calmly with a chocolate milk in his hand.

"I understand that this will not be free. The citizens are not going to start believing in the authorities just because I arrived," he said. "We have to show the people with deeds, not rhetoric."

Despite his strong predictions for a turnaround of Juarez's woes, Leyzaola said fighting between criminal groups and the police will continue until the cartels fighting in Juarez's streets bow to police.

"If the criminals resist giving up ... well then there will be incidents of confrontation. Until what point? As long as necessary," he said.

With an average of eight to 11 murders a day in 2010 and an average of five to six daily killings this year, at first glance it seems like a long war is ahead.

But the police chief says confidently: "The police will regain the city."

The first thing he observed once he arrived was that the biggest problem in Juarez is not drug trafficking but extortion and organized crime by adolescents who have taken advantage of "impunity" in the city, he said.

Of the claim that Juarez is the deadliest city in Mexico, he says, "If it's true that there are a lot of killings in Juarez, it is also true that organized crime here is disorganized." He explained that in an atmosphere of lawlessness, gangsters are just as likely to kill bystanders along with their intended targets because there is no price to pay.

"There was anarchy. There was a lack of police presence in the street. A lack of control. A lack of order in the city, which is what permitted the growth of mafias, of delinquent groups who at any moment could do what they pleased," he said.

And in Juarez, most of those crimes are carried out by teenagers who do not face the same penalties as adults, another factor they use in their favor.

"We are well aware that kids as young as 16 years old commit crimes, just like any adult," Leyzaola said.

Youths in the border city are "brainwashed" to believe they can have money and women, and become capos.

Youths are worse offenders than adult criminals because they are more "aggressive" and "thoughtless," he said. "They still don't have the ability to reason."

"It's exclusively youth that we've detained. It's rare that we find someone who is 25, 30 years old. Those guys are already too old to be delinquents. The majority of the people we've detained have been between 16 and 19 years old," he said.

It's because of this that Leyzaola supports changing the law to make it easier to charge youths as adults.

The new police chief claims that Juarez will no longer be labeled "deadliest city" by the end of the year.

To achieve that, he plans to follow the strategy that he says led to success in Tijuana.

Leyzaola believes in enforcing all laws to create an atmosphere of lawfulness that will trickle up through society.

So his police department goes after smaller crimes such as selling pirated DVDs, small-time corner drug dealing, prostitution without a license and operating gambling joints.

Those arrested complain often, saying that police are overstepping their bounds or not focusing on the narcos.

But the way Leyzaola sees it, the areas with prostitutes and piracy are also areas with kidnappings and killings.

His logic can be understood through this analogy he makes: A counterfeit salesman complained that the police were taking away his livelihood. Leyzaola's response is that a crime is a crime. If you are willing to sell pirated goods to feed your family, what's stopping you from kidnapping or killing to feed your family?

In Tijuana, he said, he put more patrol cars on the streets, following this same formula, in essence making it more difficult for the cartels and their organized crime syndicates to operate. They couldn't move around as easily. It was a direct hit against their structure, he said.

Leyzaola came to the embattled city in early March after being appointed by Mayor Hector "Teto" Murguia Lardizabal. The move was widely seen as a message to the public that the administration would be tough on crime.

What Leyzaola found was that he inherited a police department with low morale and high corruption.

"Inside the police I found details of many personnel who either voluntarily or involuntarily participated in activities to protect the criminals," he said. "Some of them did act directly in their actions."

As a result, Leyzaola has fired 160 police officers in three months but admitted it remains a "long and slow process" to rid the department of bad apples.

"First you need to clean house before you clean the city," he said.

In March 2008, more than 8,000 soldiers arrived in Juarez to initiate the Joint Operation Chihuahua, the federal government's strategic plan submitted by Mexican President Felipe Calderon. As its name implies, the joint initiative intended to coordinate all government bodies, including the municipal, state and federal police. But Leyzaola said there are challenges, acknowledging a rift between the local and federal police.

He said his plan always involves working with federal agents, including approximately 2,000 federal police who have patrolled the border since 2009. But he admits the strategy is flawed.

Coordination between the municipal police and federal police "doesn't exist," he said. "There is no coordination. They do their work on their side, and we do it on ours."

While in Tijuana, Leyzaola earned a reputation for going on the offensive against the cartels.

"We hope he can do the same here in Juarez," a Juarez police spokesman said when the new chief was sworn in.

But in Tijuana, Leyzaola's success was stained with accusations of human rights abuse, particularly torture during interrogations by his police force.

In Juarez, Leyzaola is already facing allegations of abuse from Human Rights Watch.

The group asked him to respond to accusations that police under his command in the so-called Delta Group were involved in the disappearance of four young men in Juarez in late March.

Leyzaola denies that he has broken any laws.

"You cannot combat crime with another crime," he said. Regarding some of the complaints about his office, he said, "People aren't used to applying the law."

Despite his attempt at a lower profile in Juarez, Leyzaola has received several public death threats since he took office. At one point, the mayor asked the local media to not publicize the threats so as not to embolden those making them.

In 2009, a similar thing occurred to Leyzaola when a drug gang in Tijuana declared war on him, threatening to kill five police officers per week until he stepped down. Leyzaola, a former colonel general in the Mexican Army, did not. Months later, Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental, a leader of the gang that declared war, was captured by Mexican officials with Leyzaola's help.

During a recent trip to Juarez, Calderon claimed that crime in Juarez had fallen 60%, a figure that critics assailed as misleading and political.

Asked if the government in Juarez is winning the war against drug trafficking, Leyzaola preferred to remain silent. But he warned that to achieve a significant result against the cartels, it is necessary attack both the "head" and "body "of the criminal groups.

"We are going to advance and recover parts of the city," he said. "Criminals are subject to the authority, or they will be confronted."

In the end, Leyzaola firmly believes that for Juarez to begin its recuperation, the city's social decomposition must be addressed.

The people's trust in authorities, the economy and opportunities for youth all play a role in his view.

Canada Post workers could strike at midnight

Canada Post workers could strike at midnight

President and CEO of Canada Post Deepak Chopra is meeting with Canadian Union of Postal Workers president Denis Lemelin in Ottawa to try to avert a strike.

A meeting of the president of Canada Post, his union counterpart and the federal labour minister appears to have made little progress in averting a possible postal workers' strike.

Deepak Chopra, the president and CEO of Canada Post, and Canadian Union of Postal Workers president Denis Lemelin met in Ottawa on Wednesday to try to reach a deal and avoid a disruption of mail service. They also met with Labour Minister Lisa Raitt.

"As of 5 p.m. EDT, there are no meetings scheduled between the parties. To date, [Canada Post] has not responded to any of the new positions advanced by the union in our final offer except to say no," the union said in a statement after the meeting.

Earlier, Raitt declined to answer a reporter's question about legislating postal workers back to work in the event of a labour disruption.

The two sides have been in contract talks for more than seven months. The union rejected Canada Post's final offer and tabled its own counter-offer on Monday.

Canada Post called the union's offer "out of touch" with the challenges currently facing the Crown corporation, which includes a core letter mail business that has fallen by more than 17 per cent since 2006, and a deficit of $3.2 billion.

Postal workers have indicated they are prepared to walk off the job at midnight Thursday if their contract demands aren't met.

Canada Post said small businesses, rural communities and seniors who rely on mail service to deliver their pension cheques would be particularly hard hit by a strike.

The union, which represents close to 50,000 letter carriers and other workers, is asking for a four-year contract with wage increases of 3.3 per cent in the first year and 2.75 per cent in years two and three. Sick leave and pensions are also issues.

The average starting wage for postal workers is $23 an hour.

Canada Post has tabled an offer that includes a defined benefit pension plan for both new and existing employees, up to seven weeks vacation and job security.

Same man, different strategy, for Romney's second White House bid

Same man, different strategy, for Romney's second White House bid

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will start his second campaign for the White House in New Hampshire on Thursday

(CNN) -- As Mitt Romney makes it official, it appears to be all about the economy and about New Hampshire. But the man who many considered the early front-runner in the race for the GOP presidential nomination will have to share the spotlight on the day he officially jumps in the race.

The former Massachusetts governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate will formally announce his second bid for the White House, declaring his candidacy at an event Thursday in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary in the presidential caucus and primary calendar.

Romney will sharply criticize President Barack Obama over the state of the economy, saying "Barack Obama has failed America."

According to excerpts of his speech released in advance by his campaign, Romney will attack Obama for expanding the role of the federal government, adding, "we are only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy. I will cap federal spending at 20 percent or less of the GDP and finally, finally balance the budget."

It's no surprise that Romney will focus on the economy. He was criticized during his first bid for the White House for trying to be everything to everyone, weighing in often on domestic, international and social issues. This time around it appears to be different.

"Mitt Romney will talk about the number one issue facing the nation, and the reason he is compelled to get into this race - jobs and the economy. We are in the third year of Obama's presidency, and he has failed to lift the nation out of its economic downturn," a senior Romney adviser tells CNN.

"Mitt Romney, from a lifetime spent in the private sector, has the skills and the ability to lead an economic turnaround."

National polls indicate that the economy remains the top issue on the mind of Americans.

"The issue that most Americans are concerned about happens to be in my wheelhouse," Romney boasted last week at a campaign event in Iowa.

Romney has repeatedly criticized the president's handling of the economic recovery, blaming Obama for creating a climate of uncertainty for small business owners. He highlights his private sector experience, saying it gives him a better understanding of how to create jobs.

"From my first day in office my number one job will be to see that America once again is number one in job creation," Romney will say as he announces his candidacy.

Romney makes it official at a noontime barbecue at Stratham farm, a must-stop location for GOP contenders. But he isn't the only big name Republican in New Hampshire Thursday. Two people flirting with bids for the Republican presidential nomination, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, also hold events in the Granite State. Palin has grabbed the spotlight this week as she's made her way from the nation's capital to New England during a well-publicized tour that could be the first step toward a possible run for the White House.

This will be the second time this spring Romney is using New Hampshire as a backdrop to make news, which tells us a lot about his strategy for his second bid for the GOP presidential nomination. On April 11, Romney announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee with a video he taped that day at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

Romney is well known in New Hampshire. He was governor of neighboring Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, is seen often on TV in New Hampshire (much of the more populated southern part of the state is in the Boston media market), he has a vacation home in the state's "lakes region" and he spent lots of time in the state in 2007 and 2008 in his first bid for the White House and last year as well, when he lent a helping hand to New Hampshire Republicans in the midterm election campaign.

"Republicans in the Granite State have been closely watching Gov. Romney for 10 years since he was elected in Massachusetts in 2002. He needs to win in a state where voters know him best," says Rich Galen, a Republican strategist who advised Fred Thompson during his 2008 GOP presidential bid, and who is the author of Mullings.com, an on-line column.

The strong name recognition and his past efforts in the state are most likely one reason why Romney's far ahead of the rest of the field in a CNN/WMUR poll. The survey, conducted by the University of New Hampshire and released late last month indicates that 33 percent of probable GOP primary voters in New Hampshire back Romney, with Rep. Ron Paul of Texas a distant second at nine percent.

"The shifting nature of the Republican field and a perception that the 'perfect candidate' candidate has not appeared, has led many New Hampshire Republicans to support the best known candidate, Mitt Romney," says Andrew Smith, Director of the UNH Survey Center. "Romney has been the clear favorite among New Hampshire Republicans for more than two years and no other candidate has persuaded voters to move away from Romney."

The poll also indicates that a desire by New Hampshire Republicans to pick someone who can beat President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election may be behind his poll numbers.

"Republicans are looking for someone who can take on President Obama, and right now, Romney is seen as the only Republican who can do that," adds Smith.

Last week Romney made his first visit this cycle to Iowa, with three stops across the state that kicks off the presidential primary and caucus calendar. Romney also recently made his first stop in South Carolina, the first southern state to vote in the road to the White House.

"You will see me more than you like, I'm afraid, in Iowa," Romney said during a forum at the State Historical Building in Des Moines. "I will be here plenty and you will get to know what I stand for. Iowa plays a critical role in the process of selecting our nominee and selecting our president."

But Romney told reporters during his visit to the Hawkeye state that he'll run a "lean" campaign in 2012 and said his strategy would not hinge on any single state. He deflected questions about the Ames Straw Poll, a crucial test of each campaign's Iowa organization that will take place in August. Romney spent heavily to win the straw poll vote in the summer of 2007. But he ended up losing the caucuses to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. He also had a large campaign in New Hampshire, but came in second to Sen. John McCain of Arizona. This time around it seems Romney will be concentrating his firepower in the Granite State rather than Iowa or South Carolina.

"Whoever wins New Hampshire and the money and momentum that comes with it, has the nomination in his hands," says Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist and CNN contributor.

Castellanos was a top media adviser to the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign and to Romney's 2008 bid for the GOP presidential nomination, but has not taken sides in this cycle.

Romney is at or near the top of the most recent national polls of the Republican nomination horserace. He also appears to be the leading Republican presidential candidate when it comes to the battle for campaign cash. Romney aides say the campaign brought in more than $10 million from donors across the country during an all day phone bank held last month in Las Vegas.

Romney also spent much of April touring the country meeting with donors and fundraisers. He hopes to bring in an impressive haul for the crucial second quarter to show his strength as a candidate.

Romney raised $65.1 million in contributions for his 2008 bid for the GOP nomination. In addition he loaned his campaign $42.3 million from his personal funds.

Thanks to his standing in the polls, his fundraising strength, and his formidable campaign operation, Romney is considered by many to be the front-runner at this stage of the election cycle. And that's one reason why Democrats have increasingly attacked Romney.

"Since Mitt Romney bowed out of the Republican Primary in 2008, he and his handlers have been meticulously planning today's announcement - banking on a 2012 New Hampshire primary victory to slingshot him to the nomination," says Ray Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic party. "However, the problem for Mitt Romney is that the reason Granite Staters rejected him three years ago remains the same today: they believe he is a wishy-washy, flip-flopping politician who will say anything or take any position to suit his own immediate political needs."

National Democrats are also characterizing Romney as a "flip-flopper." The Democratic National Committee is out Thursday with a web video titled "Romney: Same candidate, different positions."

Democrats, as well as rival Republicans, have also fired away at Romney over a universal health care measure the then Massachusetts governor signed into law five years ago.

Democrats, including the president, have recently praised Romney's 2006 law for setting the stage for health care reform on the national stage.

"In fact, I agree with Mitt Romney, who recently said he's proud of what he accomplished on health care in Massachusetts and supports giving states the power to determine their own health care solutions," Obama said earlier this year.

The law insured almost every resident of Massachusetts. At the time, it was praised by supporters of health care reform as a landmark achievement for Romney. The lynchpin of the law was an insurance mandate that required the people of Massachusetts to get health insurance.

The insurance mandate in "Romneycare" wasn't a major liability in his first presidential run in 2008 because Obama's health care law wasn't born yet.

But it's a major issue now. Rival campaigns have attacked him and the issue could hurt him with tea party activists and other grassroots conservatives, who will be very influential in picking the next Republican presidential nominee.

Romney addressed his record in a March speech, explaining the law was a "state plan intended to address problems that were in many ways unique to Massachusetts."

"Our experiment wasn't perfect. Some things worked. Some didn't. And some things I'd change," Romney said. "One thing I would never do is to usurp the constitutional power of states with a one-size-fits-all federal takeover."

Last month Romney traveled to Michigan to give a major speech on health care, in which he issued a defense of the health care "experiment" he implemented while governor, saying "I, in fact, did what I thought was right for the people of our state."

But he also attempted to put distance between the president and himself, while moving closer to the Republican base, by calling the health care reform law passed last year a federal "power grab," describing it as "an economic nightmare" and the reason "why this recession has taken so long to move on from."

In the speech and in an op-ed the same day in the USA Today, Romney said he would "issue waivers for all 50 states" to opt-out of health care reform on his first day in office should he be "lucky" enough to become president.

The spotlights on health care and the economy aren't the only differences between the Romney of 2008 and 2012. Another is his appearance. Mostly gone are the suits and ties that the candidate wore in his first bid for the White House. The new Romney is a more casual candidate who didn't even wear a tie in his April video to announce the formation of his presidential exploratory committee. On Memorial Day, he even sent a tweet to his followers off a Romney family photo, in which he was wearing a polo shirt with slightly disheveled hair.

Hopes fade for peaceful Arab transition to democracy

Hopes fade for peaceful Arab transition to democracy

Protesters shout during a demonstration calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa on Wednesday

(CNN) -- The roar of the jubilant crowd assembled in Cairo's Tahrir Square said it all.

Nearly four months ago, longtime Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak finally yielded to political reality and stepped down from power. Mubarak's fall -- coming on the heels of the ouster of neighboring Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali -- was seen by many as part of a domino effect.

The Arab world, it seemed, was finally on the brink of a peaceful democratic transition that had eluded the troubled region for generations.

Today, however, the promise of a peaceful Arab Spring appears to be yielding to the reality of a long, violent summer as dictators across the Middle East and North Africa draw a line in the sand and fight to maintain control of their countries.

Protesters, meanwhile, are showing no sign of backing down.

"We've seen the last (Middle East) dictator leave voluntarily," Michael Rubin, a regional expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank, recently told CNN.

U.S. President Barack Obama and other Western leaders will continue to push for peaceful change when possible, Rubin said. But dictators in the region have been spooked by the fate of Mubarak, who is now facing trial and a possible death sentence, and Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, who is facing an onslaught from armed rebels and NATO air forces.

They "see there is no possibility of a peaceful retirement," Rubin said. And many of them also "believe that their country is their personal fight."

While it is possible to identify trends that pertain to the entire region, a number of analysts stress that each country has unique circumstances and challenges that throw the notion of an all-encompassing Arab Spring into question.

Libya: No signs of waning

In Libya, opposition to Gadhafi has been hampered by the fact that the country's sense of national identity is "very weak," according to Robert Danin, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Tribal loyalty in the sparsely populated North African country comes first, a fact that has made it extremely tough for Gadhafi's opponents to present a unified front.

Gadhafi's violent reaction to protesters -- and threats of a massacre in the rebel-held city of Benghazi -- led to the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing military steps to protect civilians. NATO leaders, who believe the safety of Libyan civilians can't be secured without Gadhafi's ouster, have since embarked on a two-month bombing campaign targeting government forces.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced Wednesday that the alliance has decided to extend its mission in the country by 90 days.

Gadhafi still refuses to step aside, but has been discussing a possible African Union-brokered cease-fire with South African President Jacob Zuma.

Libya's war has the potential to become a "protracted and costly stalemate," Max Boot, another senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, recently told reporters.

There's a "real danger of chaos" and protracted tribal warfare if Gadhafi falls, Boot said. Al Qaeda may be able to exploit such a situation, he warned.

5 options for the U.S. in Libya

Close to 900,000 people have fled Libya since that country's conflict began in February, according to the United Nations.

Egypt: Tension escalates

Meanwhile, in nearby Egypt reformers are upset with the pace of change since Mubarak's fall.

"We've waited ... and nothing has happened," Mehdi Ibrahim, 43, said Friday at a demonstration in Tahrir Square. "Mubarak and his men have not (yet) been punished for their crimes. We need accountability."

Some protesters on Friday urged the creation of a civil presidential council to replace the military regime now running the country until democratic elections are held in September. Others called for the expeditious return of stolen assets, as well as a generally more open society.

Fareed Zakaria: Military threatens Egypt's revolution

Tension continues to exist between some of the more secular, liberal-minded activists and the more conservative Muslim Brotherhood, Mubarak's primary opposition for years.

"We need rules and regulations to guide us and to protect individual freedoms and the rights of minorities" before the elections, said law student Mohamed Badawi.

But Saffa Mohamed, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, said the September election will be good for the country, even if it benefits more established groups like his or remnants of the once-ruling National Democratic Party at the expense of newer political parties.

"Why won't Egyptians just accept the results of the recent referendum?" he asked. "The date ... has already been set."

Syrian powder keg

To the northeast, Syria's government stands accused of committing atrocities against its own people.

The international watchdog group Human Rights Watch released a report Wednesday alleging that President Bashar al-Assad's regime has carried out a "systematic" series of abuses against protesters that could "qualify as crimes against humanity."

The group's 57-page document contains details from dozens of victims and witnesses to abuses in Daraa province, the southwestern Syrian powder keg where the unrest engulfing the country began in mid-March before spreading across the country.

At present, the report said, there have been around 887 deaths across Syria, including at least 418 people in Daraa.

The crackdown in Daraa last month became so intense that eyewitnesses spoke of bodies bloating in the streets and injured people being treated at makeshift secret clinics to avoid detection by government security forces.

Human Rights Watch is urging the United Nations to hold al-Assad's regime accountable. Western leaders have imposed new sanctions against al-Assad and several of his most prominent supporters.

For its part, the Syrian protest movement shows no sign of waning. A two and a half minute YouTube video clip showing multiple wounds on the body of a 13-year-old boy from Daraa -- Hamza Ali al-Khateeb -- has prompted international outrage. A Facebook page calling itself "We are all the martyr, the child Hamza Ali Al-Khateeb" had 60,000 followers by Tuesday.

Bahrain: 'Iran's Kuwait'

The push for democratic reform is also encountering fierce resistance on the strategically critical Arabian Peninsula. The leaders of two key U.S. allies, Bahrain and Yemen, are struggling to maintain control despite slowly mounting international pressure.

On Wednesday, Bahrain lifted state of emergency laws in place since March that had allowed the silencing of opposition leaders and journalists. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has appealed for dialogue, saying that talks with opposition groups will begin in July.

The minority Sunni government, however, continued its crackdown on the country's major Shiite political opposition movement.

Among other things, security forces fired tear gas to disperse pro-reform demonstrators in several Shiite residential areas, according to one human rights activist.

A source for the opposition told CNN that "sporadic sounds of bombs and bird-shot clusters were also heard."

The government also filed charges Wednesday against four top opposition leaders in a move that could weaken the country's Al Wefaq party, according to two opposition sources.

Regional monarchies eye Bahrain unrest

Bahrain is set to hold parliamentary elections in September, filling seats vacated by members of Al Wefaq, which left parliament in protest over the crackdown.

The question of how hard Western powers -- the United States in particular -- should push for change in Bahrain is complicated by the fact that the tiny Persian Gulf country is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. Neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United States are both worried that a successful Shiite uprising would transform Bahrain into an Iranian client state.

"Bahrain is Iran's Kuwait," Rubin said, referencing former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein's insistence that Kuwait was rightfully an Iraqi province.

If Bahrain's government falls, "there is no question -- no ifs, ands or buts -- Bahrain would become an Iranian satellite, and the Fifth Fleet would be sent packing," he predicted.

Bahrain is "pretty much the one country where (Washington) can't afford regime change," he said.

Yemen: Possible al Qaeda stronghold?

Finally, nearby Yemen continues to be rocked by escalating clashes between rebels and forces loyal to embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom on the worsening crisis in Yemen

Four missiles struck a compound Wednesday where generals who defected from the Yemeni regime were meeting, according to a spokesman for the generals.

Fierce clashes also erupted between government security forces and Hashed tribesmen Wednesday in front of the Ministry of Local Administration in Sanna, eyewitnesses and residents said.

The Hashed tribe has opposed government forces in intermittent fighting for more than a month.

Fifteen tribesmen have died and 31 have been injured from clashes in the past two days, said Abdul Qawi Qaisi, spokesman for the head of Hashed tribe.

Witnesses also reported seeing at least three houses on fire near where the clashes were taking place Wednesday.

Saleh, who has ruled his poor, arid country since 1978, "does not want peace," said the spokesman for the head of the Hashed tribe. "Saleh thrives with blood being spilt. They attacked us and we had to defend."

Government spokesman Tarek Shami said mediation efforts meant to stem the rash of recent violence between the country's tribal groups and Saleh's government ended Saturday without a peace accord because Hashed tribesmen would not negotiate.

At least 100 people have also been arrested in the city of Taiz, while hundreds more have been injured across the country in recent fighting, according to a U.N. statement released Tuesday.

The U.S. Embassy in Sanaa has condemned what it called the "unprovoked and unjustified attack" on demonstrators in Taiz. It praised the protesters and called on Saleh "to move immediately" on the president's previous promise to transfer power.

Saleh, however, has been a leading U.S. ally against al Qaeda, which has a Yemen-based branch that has claimed responsibility for two attempted attacks on the United States.

America's main concern regarding Yemen is that the country could become an al Qaeda stronghold if Saleh falls, Rubin said. But U.S. policymakers also "have to recognize that al Qaeda rose under Saleh," he said. "Keeping him in doesn't keep al Qaeda out."