Gaddafi’s fall from power inevitable: Obama

When Gaddafi inevitably leaves or is forced from power, decades of provocation will come to an end and the transition to a democratic Libya can proceed,’ he said, defending his decision to take military action against the Libyan leader’s government.Three months into the unrest, rebels control eastern Libya and pockets in the west but the conflict has reached a stalemate as rebel attempts to advance on Tripoli have stalled.Obama’s comments echoed NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen who said military and political pressure was weakening Gaddafi and would eventually topple him.Obama is still delusional,’ Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said. ‘He believes the lies that his own government and media spread around the world...It’s not Obama who decides whether Muammar Gaddafi leaves Libya or not. It’s the Libyan people.Tripoli however reiterated a ceasefire offer, saying forces were ready to withdraw from cities if the rebels laid down arms. But the rebels have rejected all advances so far, saying they cannot trust Gaddafi and insisting on his departure.A series of apparent high-level defections suggest Gaddafi is struggling to hold his inner circle together. Libya’s top oil official Shokri Ghanem has left and not been heard from for days although his name has appeared on a list on a flight to Vienna.Tripoli says he is on an official visit to Europe but Tunisian and rebel sources say he has defected.Senegal late on Thursday recognized Libya’s Benghazi-based rebels as the legitimate opposition and said they should be given international support to lead transition to democratic elections.Acting under a UN mandate, NATO allies including France, Britain and the United States are conducting air strikes that aim to stop Gaddafi using military force against civilians.NATO aircraft sank eight warships in overnight attacks on the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, the alliance said.Libyan officials took journalists to Tripoli port where a small ship spewed smoke and flames, and cast doubt on whether boats targeted by NATO had been involved in fighting.Mohammad Ahmad Rashed, general manager of Tripoli’s port, said six boats had been hit by missiles.The boats, five belonging to the coastguard and a larger naval vessel, had been undergoing maintenance since before the start of the fighting, he told reporters, adding that the port was still functional and capable of handling commercial traffic,NATO bombs struck Tripoli, Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte and Zlitan east of the capital, state TV said late on Thursday.It also showed footage of Gaddafi meeting a Libyan politician in Tripoli. Government spokesman Ibrahim said the politician had been in a delegation that met Russian officials in Moscow to explore possibilities for a ceasefire.The footage zoomed in on a TV screen in the room that showed Thursday’s date displayed in the corner.Gaddafi was last seen on May 11 when state TV showed him meeting tribal leaders in Tripoli. NATO bombed his compound the next day, and a day later TV broadcast an audio clip in which he taunted NATO and said the alliance could not kill him.

The crimes of national pride

The language of statism has a remarkable capacity for transforming a turf war between two gangs of thugs into an all-embracing conflict between two nations. The notion that the disputed land ‘belongs’ to either state, that a government could possess rights in any legitimate sense, reveals the derisible assumption underlying the power of all ruling classes.Because the state is simply systemised aggression, it cannot so much as exist without violating rights. Any claim of right it asserts, then, is an invasion, a trespass against true freedom, and in the case of land a theft. Through confrontations like the one between Thailand and Cambodia, crimes are ennobled as matters of national pride.Politics is necessarily and inevitably divisive. Since political solutions are, perforce, coercive, they are not solutions at all, merely subjecting some to the will of others in violation of the latter group’s autonomy. The common man, the worker who goes about his life peacefully, producing and trading to fill his needs, should not at all identify his interests with those of his government. Appeals to patriotism are the gilding used by the political class to garner popular support for conflicts for power, stemming from power, with no mind to the woes of the productive class.Rather than a specific implication of the same sort of pride one feels with regard to one’s familial group or community, patriotism stands opposed to the kinds of friendly ties that bind human beings. It asks the Cambodians and the Thai to hate one another because they stand on the opposite side of a line on a map, one that has been drawn arbitrarily by members of a ruling class that have no interest but to plunder the societies that exists within their own borders.Besides its more obvious uses, war is of service to the elite in that it obscures the alignment of interestsacross all national, cultural, religious and language divides between all those who would use only nonviolent, voluntary means in their relations with others. Market anarchism, in advocating mutual respect for individuals’ rights and consensual exchange, does not prescribe a fixed or predetermined vision for society without the vulturine impositions of the state.It asks only that the ruling class be forbidden from using the artifices of the legal structure, ultimately enforced at the point of a gun, to gain from the constructive achievements of others. Renouncing the hope that the state ‘could be made an instrument in the hands of the oppressed to alleviate their sufferings,’ Lucy Parsons understood that governments are always a vehicle for ‘the machinations of the scheming few.’ And those few do not stand in for the people of Thailand or Cambodia, for the land itself, for separate individuals, or for society at large.The absurd nationalism at the heart of the Cambodia-Thailand clash, a needless waste of life for the elevation of governmentsn ot people displays the vile reality of statism. Thailand and Cambodia alike would be better off without their respective states, without a few malefactors exploiting people who could get along just fine without them.

Whitepaper: Enhancing Meetings Through Food

Food for thought" is more than just a figure of speech. It's also a scientific principle that can help meeting planners improve their meetings and events, according to The National Conference Center in Leesburg, Va., which yesterday released a new meetings industry whitepaper on the topic of food psychology.Titled "The Science of Food for Thought: Enhancing Meetings Through Food," the whitepaper is the first in a quarterly series of whitepapers from The National Conference Center. Showcasing research from Executive Chef Craig Mason, as well as Andrea Sullivan of BrainStrength Systems which specializes in education for "brain friendly" meetings  it presents tips for meeting planners on how to improve meeting productivity with food."Meeting planners everywhere are always looking for the answer to this question: How can I help my attendees gain and retain the most from their meeting experience?" reads the whitepaper. "One might answer that question by looking into conditional factors that may influence an attendee leading up to a meeting as well as during. Aside from sleep and stress levels, meals play a large role. The center of all brain focus at meetings comes down to: What are my attendees consuming and what is the timing of those meals?"Based on neuroscience research by Sullivan, and experiments conducted by Mason  who examined different food choices during lunch programs and breaks  The National Conference Center recommends: Reducing the quantity of red meat  which slows attendees down and makes them drowsy for the second half of the day  and replacing it with lighter options such as fish and chicken, which require less energy to digest.Sourcing in-season ingredients from within 150 miles of the meeting venue, as foods with the most nutritional value are always local.Serving vegetables cooked at higher temperatures for shorter periods, which maximizes nutritional content.Replenishing break stations with healthy snacks throughout the day so attendees can replenish their energy as needed. Instead of chips, cookies, candies and pastries, which result in a sugar rush and subsequent crash serve fresh fruits, nuts, yogurt and energy bars.Serving breakfasts that consist of a complex carbohydrate and a protein  for instance, a whole-grain bagel and a hard-boiled egg  in order to maximize attendee alertness.Putting spinach on the menu because it's high iron and folate, which are beneficial for thinking, learning and memory. Serving whole grains or pasta that produce tryptophan, which relaxes the brain and creates a sense of well-being, as well as items such as yogurt, bananas, beans, rice, peanuts and dark chocolate, all of which have been shown to improve cognitive functioning. Other good menu choices include water, granola, blueberries, mangos, broccoli and peanut butter.In conclusion, Mason and Sullivan say to: avoid sugar highs, keep things light and buy local.We often struggle with our body and mind, yet this science gives us insight and an understanding to apply to our daily lives," Sullivan says. "We learn to use our brain and be in charge of ourselves and become the person we want to be."To read "The Science of Food for Thought" in its entirety, download a complimentary copy at

Osama Bin Laden dead US President confirms news

terror strike, al Qaeda mastermind and world's most dreaded terrorist Osama bin Laden was today killed by US forces after being hounded in a special operation in Abbottabad in Pakistan.Bin Laden, 54, is dead and his body is in US custody, President Barack Obama announced today at half past 11 Sunday US time as crowds outside White House chanted 'USA, USA'.Giving details of the operation, Obama said last week he determined that "we had enough intelligence to take action and authorised an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan". Abbottabad is about 150 kms north of Islamabad.

Thai soldier dies as ceasefire with Cambodia breached

Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged fire early on Friday, breaking a ceasefire agreed the day before to end a week of border clashes that have killed 16 people and wounded scores in Southeast Asia’s deadliest border dispute in years.Each side blamed the other for firing first, but both said they still wanted to give the truce a chance.Brief clashes with guns and small hand grenades broke out twice overnight, Thai regional army commander Thawatchai Samutsakorn said. The clash killed one Thai soldier and wounded four others. It was not clear if there were casualties on the Cambodian side.The ceasefire was supposed to end a week of sporadic artillery and small-rocket fire that fanned nationalist passions in both countries, threatened to overshadow elections in Thailand and reinforced doubts over Southeast Asia’s ambitions to form a European Union-style community by 2015.The guns have been silent since 3 a.m. but tension remained high with troops still stationed in close proximity around two ancient temples in the poorly demarcated Dongrak Mountain Range.Thailand blamed the latest skirmish on a misunderstanding on the ground in Cambodia.

Gunfire echoes around Syria’s Deraa

Gunfire and artillery echoed early on Tuesday around the besieged city of Deraa, the heart of Syria’s month-long uprising, as civilians sought refuge indoors from tanks and snipers on the streets, a resident said.

The president, Bashar al-Assad, facing a nationwide challenge to his 11-year autocratic rule, sent the army into Deraa and two restive suburbs of Damascus on Monday to crush protesters, killing 20 people according to a prominent Syrian rights group.Assad’s use of force, echoing his father’s suppression of Islamists in Hama in 1982, was condemned by the United States, but Western countries which launched air strikes against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi have taken no action against the Syrian leader.Western criticism of the crackdown was initially muted, partly because of fears that a collapse of his minority Alawite rule in the majority Sunni country might lead to sectarian conflict, and because Washington had hoped to loosen Syria’s alliance with Iran and move it toward a peace deal with Israel.Arab states, quick to criticise Gaddafi’s repression of Libyan rebels, have similar concerns and also remained silent as the death toll in more than five weeks of Syrian unrest rose to over 350. Some are also putting down pro-reform protests on their own soil.Syrian rights organisation Sawasiah said on Tuesday security forces had arrested 500 pro-democracy sympathisers across Syria after tanks rolled into Deraa. It said 20 people were killed in the southern city and two others in Douma, one of the Damascus suburbs stormed by security forces on Monday.Amnesty international, citing sources in Deraa, said at least 23 people were killed when tanks shelled Deraa in what it called ‘a brutal reaction to people’s demands.’Last week Assad lifted Syria’s 48-year state of emergency and abolished a hated state security court. But the next day 100 people were killed during protests across the country.Activists say Friday’s violence and the storming of Deraa on Monday showed Assad had decided on force, not reforms, to deal with the protests, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world which toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.‘The regime has chosen to use excessive violence. It worked in 1982, but there is no guarantee it will work again in the age of the Internet and phone cameras,’ said a diplomat referring to Hafez al-Assad’s Hama crackdown which killed up to 30,000.

Thai-Cambodia troops trade fire

Thai and Cambodia troops briefly clashed Tuesday near Preah Vihear temple, about 150 km away from where they have fought for the past four days, raising concern the conflict could spread to other poorly demarcated border areas.Thai army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the two sides battled with short-range rockets and guns for about 30 minutes near the 11th-century Hindu temple, which sits on a jungle-clad escarpment claimed by both Southeast Asian neighbours.We are keeping it contained to a small area,’ he said, describing the confrontation as a ‘misunderstanding.’ Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan said Thai fighter jets fired into Cambodian territory near the temple. ‘A fighter jet flew over and just started shelling,’ he said.The neighbours had been exchanging sporadic fire in another area of the border near the 12th-century Ta Moan and Ta Krabey temples, where at least 13 people have been killed since Friday and more than 50,000 evacuated.Preah Vihear, scene of intense fighting on February 4-7 that killed 11 soldiers and wounded scores, has been a source of tension for generations and the two countries have been locked in a standoff since July 2008, when Preah Vihear was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.