Assad Calls On Syrians to Defend the Country

President Bashar Assad called on Syrians to defend their country against Islamic extremists seeking to destroy the nation, dismissing any prospect of dialogue with the "murderous criminals" he says are behind the uprising even as he outlined his vision for a peaceful settlement to the civil war.

In a one-hour speech to the nation in which he appeared confident and relaxed, Assad struck a defiant tone, ignoring international demands for him to step down and saying he is ready to hold a dialogue — but only with those "who have not betrayed Syria."

He offered a national reconciliation conference, elections and a new constitution but demanded regional and Western countries stop funding and arming rebels trying to overthrow him first.

Syria's opposition swiftly rejected the proposal. Those fighting to topple the regime, including rebels on the ground, have repeatedly said they will accept nothing less than the president's departure, dismissing any kind of settlement that leaves him in the picture.

"It is an excellent initiative that is only missing one crucial thing: His resignation," said Kamal Labwani, a veteran secular dissident and member of the opposition's Syrian National Coalition umbrella group.

"All what he is proposing will happen automatically, but only after he steps down," Labwani told The Associated Press by telephone from Sweden.

Remy de la Mauviniere/AP Photo

On top of that, Assad's new initiative is reminiscent of symbolic changes and concessions that his government made earlier in the uprising, which were rejected at the time as too little too late.

Speaking at the Opera House in central Damascus, Assad told the hall packed with supporters — who frequently broke out in cheers and applause — that "we are in a state of war."

"We are fighting an external aggression that is more dangerous than any others, because they use us to kill each other," he said. "It is a war between the nation and its enemies, between the people and the murderous criminals."

Assad has rarely spoken since the uprising against his rule began in March 2011, and Sunday's speech was his first since June. His last public comments came in an interview in November to Russian TV in which he vowed to die in Syria.

On Sunday, he seemed equally confident in his troops' ability to crush the rebels fighting his rule, even as they edge in closer than ever to his seat of power, Damascus.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad's speech was "beyond hypocritical." In a message posted on his official Twitter feed, Hague said "empty promises of reform fool no one."

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's office said in a statement that the bloc will "look carefully if there is anything new in the speech but we maintain our position that Assad has to step aside and allow for a political transition."

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Assad's speech was filled with "empty promises" and repetitive pledges of reform by a president appeared out of touch with reality of the Syrian people.

"It seems (Assad) has shut himself in his room, and for months has read intelligence reports that are presented to him by those trying to win his favor," Davutoglu told reporters in the Aegean port city of Izmir on Sunday.

Turkey is a former ally of Damascus, and while Ankara first backed Assad after the uprising erupted, it turned against the regime after its violent crackdown on dissent.

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Assad "peace plan" greeted with scorn by foes

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected peace talks with his enemies on Sunday in a defiant speech that his opponents described as a renewed declaration of war.

Although the speech was billed as the unveiling of a new peace plan, Assad offered no concessions and even appeared to harden many of his positions. He rallied Syrians for "a war to defend the nation" and disparaged the prospect of negotiations.

"We do not reject political dialogue ... but with whom should we hold a dialogue? With extremists who don't believe in any language but killing and terrorism?" Assad asked supporters who packed Damascus Opera House for his first speech since June.

"Should we speak to gangs recruited abroad that follow the orders of foreigners? Should we have official dialogue with a puppet made by the West, which has scripted its lines?"

It was his first public speech to an audience in six months. Since the last, rebels have reached the capital's outskirts.

George Sabra, vice president of the opposition National Coalition, told Reuters the peace plan Assad put at the heart of his speech did "not even deserve to be called an initiative":

"We should see it rather as a declaration that he will continue his war against the Syrian people," he said.

"The appropriate response is to continue to resist this unacceptable regime and for the Free Syrian Army to continue its work in liberating Syria until every inch of land is free."

The speech was seen by many as a response to U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who has been meeting U.S. and Russian officials to try to narrow differences between Washington and Moscow over a peace plan. Brahimi also met Assad in Syria late last month.

"Lakhdar Brahimi must feel foolish after that Assad speech, where his diplomacy is dismissed as intolerable intervention," said Rana Kabbani, a Syrian analyst who supports the opposition.

The United States, European Union, Turkey and most Arab states have called on Assad to quit. Russia, which sells arms to and leases a naval base from Syria, says it backs a transition of power but that Assad's departure should not be a precondition for any talks.

REPETITIONS

Assad's foreign foes were scornful and dismissive of the speech: "His remarks are just repetitions of what he's said all along," said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

"It seems he's locked himself up in a room and only reads the intelligence reports presented to him."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said "empty promises of reform fool no one". In a Twitter message, he added: "Death, violence and oppression engulfing Syria are of his own making."

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Brussels would "look carefully if there is anything new in the speech, but we maintain our position that Assad has to step aside and allow for a political transition".

The 47-year-old Assad, tall and mustachioed, in a business suit and tie, spoke confidently for about an hour before a crowd of cheering loyalists, who occasionally interrupted him to shout and applaud, at one point raising their fists and chanting: "With blood and soul we sacrifice for you, oh Bashar!"

At the end of the speech, supporters rushed to the stage, mobbing him and shouting: "God, Syria and Bashar is enough!" as a smiling president waved and was escorted from the hall past a backdrop showing a Syrian flag made of pictures of people whom state television described as "martyrs" of the conflict so far.

"We are now in a state of war in every sense of the word," Assad said in the speech, broadcast on Syrian state television. "This war targets Syria using a handful of Syrians and many foreigners. Thus, this is a war to defend the nation."

Independent media are largely barred from Damascus.

Giving the speech in the opera house, in a part of central Damascus that has been hit by rebel attacks, could be intended as a show of strength by a leader whose public appearances have grown rarer as the rebellion has gathered force.

Critics saw irony in the venue: "Assad speech appropriately made in Opera House!" tweeted Rami Khouri, a commentator for Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper. "It was operatic in its other-worldly fantasy, unrelated to realities outside the building."

DEATHS

The United Nations says 60,000 people have been killed in the civil war, the longest and bloodiest of the conflicts to emerge in two years of revolts in Arab states.

Rebels now control much of the north and east of the country, a crescent of suburbs on the outskirts of the capital and the main border crossings with Turkey in the north.

But Assad's forces are still firmly in control of most of the densely populated southwest, the main north-south highway and the Mediterranean coast. The army also holds military bases throughout the country from which its helicopters and jets can strike rebel-held areas with impunity, making it impossible for the insurgents to consolidate their grip on territory they hold.

Assad, an eye doctor, has ruled since 2000, succeeding his late father Hafez, who had seized power in a 1970 coup.

The rebels are drawn mainly from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, while Assad, a member of the Alawite sect related to Shi'ite Islam, is supported by some members of religious minorities who fear retribution if he falls.

The conflict has heightened confrontation in the Middle East between Shi'ite Iran and Sunni Arab rulers, particularly those in the Gulf who are allied with the West against Tehran.

The plan unveiled in Sunday's speech could hardly have been better designed to ensure its rejection by the opposition. Among its proposals: rebels would first be expected to halt operations before the army would cease fire, a certain non-starter.

Assad also repeatedly emphasized rebel links to al Qaeda and other Sunni Islamist radicals. Washington has also labeled one of the main rebel groups a terrorist organization and says it is linked to the network founded by Osama bin Laden.

Diplomacy has been largely irrelevant so far in the conflict, with Moscow vetoing U.N. resolutions against Assad.

U.N. mediator Brahimi has been trying to bridge the gap, meeting senior U.S. and Russian officials to discuss his own peace proposal, which does not explicitly mention Assad's fate.

National Coalition spokesman Walid Bunni said Assad's speech appeared timed to prevent a breakthrough in those talks, by taking a position that could not be reconciled with diplomacy.

"The talk by Brahimi and others that there could be a type of political solution being worked out has prompted him to come out and tell the others 'I won't accept a solution'," Bunni said, adding that Assad feared any deal would mean his downfall.

(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Gulsen Solaker in Ankara and Tim Castle in London; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

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US drones kill 12 Taliban in Pakistan: officials

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan: US drones fired a volley of missiles at militant hideouts in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 12 Taliban fighters near the Afghan border, security officials said.

The missile attack took place in Babar Ghar village in South Waziristan, a tribal district bordering Afghanistan which is a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.

"US drones fired several missiles at two militant compounds. At least 12 militants have been killed and several others were wounded," a security official in Miranshah told AFP under condition of anonymity.

The official earlier said eight militants were killed.

"There are members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) among those who have been killed," he said, adding that a close relative of TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud was among the dead.

"Most of the militants were from Punjabi Taliban group and a close relative of Hakimullah Mehsud," the official said.

Another security official in the northwestern city of Peshawar confirmed the drone attacks and casualties.

Intelligence officials in Miranshah said that militants had died after US drones fired up to 10 missiles on three militant compounds in the Babar Ghar attack, but the security officials could not verify that account.

Residents said that militants had cordoned off the area and were looking for more dead or wounded in the debris.

US drone strikes last week killed a prominent warlord who sent insurgents to fight NATO troops in Afghanistan along with nine other militants in Pakistan's tribal belt.

Mullah Nazir was the main militant commander in South Waziristan, part of the tribal zone where militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda have bases on the Afghan border. He is one of the highest-profile drone victims in recent years.

The covert US drone strikes are publicly criticised by the Pakistani government as a violation of sovereignty, but American officials believe they are a vital weapon in the war against Islamist militants.

A report commissioned by legal lobby group Reprieve in September estimated that between 474 and 881 civilians were among 2,562 to 3,325 people killed by drones in Pakistan between June 2004 and September 2012.

- AFP/xq

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Crafting spectacular high-end amplifiers in NYC

Alex Chorine built his very first amplifier when he was 15, and one amp led to the next. He kept building amps for friends and friends of friends. This was in the Soviet Union, where there was no established high-end audio industry. Chorine went on to earn an electrical engineering degree from the Moscow Institute of Technology, and started working with TVs, but audio was his passion. He took on side projects building guitar and bass amplifiers and pro sound systems. He modified European VCRs to work with Russian TVs. He came to the U.S. in 1992, and a few years later landed at the high-end audio store where I had once worked, Sound by Singer. He was there for 15 years, and put in thousands of hours repairing and installing some of the world's best gear. With that background he continued to refine his designs, and recently started his own company, Alexus Audio. He's still in demand and handles repairs for a number of NYC's best hi-fi shops.

The Alexus Audio mono power amplifier

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg/CNET)

He currently makes a power amp, stereo preamplifier, and a phono/turntable preamplifier, which I heard at the Audiophile Society meeting a few weeks ago. The sound was spot-on, tonally neutral, vivid, and most of all, musical. Which is to say, not like a hi-fi reproducing music -- it sounded like music. Chorine doesn't have a factory, he hand builds each component at his home in Brooklyn. Considering the amount of time he puts into building his components the prices are more than reasonable. He fine-tunes his designs with a series of "blind" listening tests, comparing Alexus electronics with much more expensive high-end gear, with experienced listeners.

To me Chorine is an artist who works in circuit design, he said he thinks of his soldering iron as his "sixth finger." Improving sound quality is his life's work.

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Pelosi: "Not enough" revenue in "fiscal cliff" deal

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., argued that additional revenue must be included in upcoming deficit reduction deals, calling the revenue secured by the "fiscal cliff" deal "significant" but "not enough."

"The President had originally said he wanted $1.6 trillion in revenue," she said on "Face the Nation." "He took it down to 1.2 as a compromise in this legislation. We get $620 billion dollars, very significant, high-end tax, changing the high-end tax rate to 39.6 percent, but that is not enough on the revenue side."

Pelosi declined to go into particulars, saying she was "fairly agnostic" about how to secure more revenue, but implied that closing loopholes and deductions was more likely than revisiting tax rates.

"Put it all on the table and see what is working," she said, identifying the carried interest loophole and oil subsidies as two examples of dubious tax expenditures that may be targeted.

Asked if Democrats are ready to significantly reform entitlement programs to address the deficit, Pelosi said, "We already have," pointing to the Affordable Care Act's $716 billion in Medicare provider cuts.

She replied with a quick "no" when asked whether she supports raising the Medicare eligibility age but signaled that she would be open to additional means testing to reduce Medicare payments to wealthy beneficiaries.

She also seemed disinclined to consider any cost of living adjustment that could reduce Social Security benefit payments, saying, "I do not think we should do anything to Social Security that reduces benefits to the beneficiaries." Tossed around during the "fiscal cliff" negotiations was the idea of "chained" CPI, which would have tied the cost of living adjustment for Social Security to the inflation rate. It ultimately was not included in the final deal.

Asked to respond to House Speaker John Boehner's proposal that Congress should match a debt ceiling hike with commensurate spending cuts, Pelosi said "I don't think these two things should be related."

"I think that we should subject what we spend, every taxpayer dollar, whether it be defense or domestic, to the harshest scrutiny," she said, but argued that has nothing to do with "whether the full faith and credit of the United States of America should be placed in jeopardy."

"The debt ceiling is about spending that has already occurred," Pelosi pointed out. "Right now, we have to pay the bills that have been incurred. And if you want to say 'cut spending for what we do next,' fine, but don't tie it to the debt ceiling."

If Pelosi were president, she said she'd invoke the 14th Amendment, which says the validity of the public debt of the United States "shall not be questioned," to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally.

And she lamented the state of the modern GOP, arguing that Democrats' record of cooperation with President George W. Bush during his two terms was not matched by today's "over-the-edge" GOP.

"I keep saying to my Republican friends, 'Take back your party'," Pelosi said. "This isn't the Grand Old Party that did so many things for America, that commanded so much respect."

"This is really an over-the-edge crowd, that's the way I see it," she said. "The fact is that it is dominated by an element that are anti-government ideologues, and are committed to not cooperating with this president, and it is hard to understand."

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Debt Limit Negotiating Tactic? No Negotiating

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden walk away from the podium after Obama made a statement regarding the passage of the fiscal cliff bill in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Analysis

New for 2013: In the Washington, D.C. fiscal wars we’ve gone from everything must be on the table to politicians declaring they won’t debate.

The fiscal cliff deal either averted disaster or compounded the problem, depending on who you ask. It certainly created new mini-cliffs in a few months as Congress and the president square off on the debt ceiling, spending cuts and government funding. But it also made sure the vast majority of Americans won’t see as big a tax hike as they might have.

President Obama was pretty clear late on New Year’s night as he reacted to Congress’s passage of a bill to take a turn away from the fiscal cliff. He won’t negotiate with Republicans about the debt ceiling.

“Now, one last point I want to make,” said the president, before wrapping up and hopping on Air Force One for a redeye to Hawaii. “While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up through the laws that they passed.”

(Read more here about the Fiscal Cliff)

That’s pretty clear. No debt ceiling negotiation. Then he added for emphasis: ”Let me repeat: We can’t not pay bills that we’ve already incurred. If Congress refuses to give the United States government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic — far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff.”

But in Washington, saying you won’t do something these days has almost become like an opening bid. At least, that’s how Republicans are treating the president’s line in the sand.

“The president may not want to have a fight about government spending over the next few months, but it’s the fight he is going to have because it’s a debate the country needs,” wrote Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican, in an op-Ed on Yahoo! News about 36 hours later. “For the sake of our future, the president must show up to this debate early and convince his party to do something that neither he nor they have been willing to do until now.”

“We simply cannot increase the nation’s borrowing limit without committing to long overdue reforms to spending programs that are the very cause of our debt,” McConnell said.

The national debt is soon set to reach $16.4 trillion. That’s not a problem that can be solved with one bill or budget. And the two sides will have to figure out some sort of way to talk about entitlement/social safety net reform – meaning things like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – in addition to cutting spending and, most importantly, hope for an improving economy, to deal with those deficits.

House Speaker John Boehner, who has several times now failed to reach a big, broad fiscal deal with President Obama, told colleagues, according to The Hill newspaper, that he’s done with secret White House negotiations. He wants to stick with the constitutional way of doing things, with hearings and bills that are debated on Capitol Hill rather than hatched by the vice president and Senate Republicans.

Okay. Obama won’t negotiate on the debt ceiling. McConnell won’t not negotiate on the debt ceiling. Boehner doesn’t to do things by the book.

But McConnell won’t negotiate on taxes any more.

“Predictably,” McConnell had written earlier in his post, “the president is already claiming that his tax hike on the ‘rich’ isn’t enough. I have news for him: the moment that he and virtually every elected Democrat in Washington signed off on the terms of the current arrangement, it was the last word on taxes. That debate is over.”

It’s a new chapter in the ongoing fiscal saga in Washington. Back when the two sides were talking about a grand bargain or a big deal – some sort of all-inclusive reform that would right the listing deficit with one flip of the rudder – the popular trope was that “everything must be on the table.” That’s basically how Obama put it back in the summer of 2011 when he and Boehner failed to reach a grand bargain. He wanted higher taxes – they were calling them revenues back then. More recently, after Obama won the election and when he and Boehner were trying to hammer out another grand bargain to avert the fiscal cliff, Boehner wanted entitlements on the table. That means he wanted to find ways to curb future spending.

Both sides are declaring they won’t debate certain points, but this far – a full two months – before the mini-cliffs start, those are easier declarations to make than they will be when the government is in danger of defaulting or shutting down.

Even though they’re trying to take elements off the table, both men hope that coming negotiations can be a little more cordial and a little less down-to-the wire.

“Over the next two months they need to deliver the same kind of bipartisan resolution to the spending problem we have now achieved on revenue — before the 11th hour,” wrote McConnell.

“The one thing that I think, hopefully, in the New Year we’ll focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, a little less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much,” said Obama.

That’ll be tough if neither side will talk about what the other side wants to talk about.

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Chavez swearing-in can be delayed: Venezuelan VP

CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez's formal swearing-in for a new six-year term scheduled for January 10 can be postponed if he is unable to attend due to his battle to recover from cancer surgery, Venezuela's vice president said on Friday.

Nicolas Maduro's comments were the clearest indication yet that the Venezuelan government is preparing to delay the swearing-in while avoiding naming a replacement for Chavez or calling a new election in the South American OPEC nation.

In power since 1999, the 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public for more than three weeks. Allies say he is in delicate condition after a fourth operation in two years for an undisclosed form of cancer in his pelvic area.

The political opposition argues that Chavez's presence on January 10 in Cuba - where there are rumors he may be dying - is tantamount to the president's stepping down.

But Maduro, waving a copy of the constitution during an interview with state TV, said there was no problem if Chavez was sworn in at a later date by the nation's top court.

"The interpretation being given is that the 2013-2019 constitutional period starts on January 10. In the case of President Chavez, he is a re-elected president and continues in his functions," he said.

"The formality of his swearing-in can be resolved in the Supreme Court at the time the court deems appropriate in coordination with the head of state."

In the increasing "Kremlinology"-style analysis of Venezuela's extraordinary political situation, that could be interpreted in different ways: that Maduro and other allies trust Chavez will recover eventually, or that they are buying time to cement succession plans before going into an election.

Despite his serious medical condition, there was no reason to declare Chavez's "complete absence" from office, Maduro said. Such a declaration would trigger a new vote within 30 days, according to Venezuela's charter.

RECOVERY POSSIBLE?

Chavez was conscious and fighting to recover, said Maduro, who traveled to Havana to see his boss this week.

"We will have the Commander well again," he said.

Maduro, 50, whom Chavez named as his preferred successor should he be forced to leave office, said Venezuela's opposition had no right to go against the will of the people as expressed in the October 7 vote to re-elect the president.

"The president right now is president ... Don't mess with the people. Respect democracy."

Despite insisting Chavez remains president and there is hope for recovery, the government has acknowledged the gravity of his condition, saying he is having trouble breathing due to a "severe" respiratory infection.

Social networks are abuzz with rumors he is on life support or facing uncontrollable metastasis of his cancer.

Chavez's abrupt exit from the political scene would be a huge shock for Venezuela. His oil-financed socialism has made him a hero to the poor, while critics call him a dictator seeking to impose Cuban-style communism on Venezuelans.

Should Chavez leave office, a new election is likely to pitch former bus driver and union activist Maduro against opposition leader Henrique Capriles, the 40-year-old governor of Miranda state.

Capriles lost to Chavez in the October presidential election, but won an impressive 44 percent of the vote. Though past polls have shown him to be more popular than all of Chavez's allies, the equation is now different given Maduro has received the president's personal blessing - a factor likely to fire up Chavez's fanatical supporters.

His condition is being watched closely by Latin American allies that have benefited from his help, as well as investors attracted by Venezuela's lucrative and widely traded debt.

"The odds are growing that the country will soon undergo a possibly tumultuous transition," the U.S.-based think tank Stratfor said this week.

(Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga; editing by Christopher Wilson)

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British team flies to Myanmar for buried Spitfire planes

LONDON: A team hunting for a rumoured hoard of World War II Spitfire planes in Myanmar left Britain on Saturday to start the dig, comparing the excitement to the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb.

The 21-strong team believe there could be 36 of the iconic single-seat British fighter aircraft buried in sealed crates up to 10 metres (33 feet) beneath Yangon airport, a wartime airfield, with more at two other sites in Myanmar.

Britain, the former colonial power in what was then Burma, is thought to have buried the brand new planes in 1945 as they were surplus by the time they arrived by sea.

The dig, set to start at Yangon airport on Monday, has excited military history and aviation enthusiasts around the world.

There are thought to be fewer than 50 airworthy Spitfires left in the world and the digs could potentially double their number if they remain in pristine condition.

Project leader David Cundall told AFP that getting a first glimpse of Spitfire would be like the 1922 discovery of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb.

"It's similar to the Tutankhamun find in Egypt many years ago and Lord Carnarvon said to Howard Carter when he was looking through the hole 'can you see anything?' , and he said, 'yes, wonderful things', and I'm going to say the same thing," he said.

Cundall, a farmer and aircraft enthusiast, has been on a long chase for the rumoured lost Spitfires.

"We've interviewed eight eyewitnesses pointing to the exact spot," he said.

"Some have told us in great detail how they were buried, the depth and the configuration all fits correctly the location.

"After 17 years you do get a little bit weary but there's now enough energy left in me to finish the project, and I'd like to do it as soon as possible: get the airplanes back to the UK, have them restored and see them flying at airshows."

Speaking at London Heathrow Airport before flying out, lead archeologist Andy Brockman said: "The evidence so far takes us to a particular part of former RAF Mingaladon. What our job is now is to follow those strands of evidence and turn all the rumour and speculation and hypothesis into facts in the ground from the archaeology that we discover."

Cundall's share of any planes found will be 30 per cent, his agents will have 20 per cent, while the Myanmar government will keep 50 per cent, according to agreements they have signed.

"There are very few Spitfires that you can actually say are 100 per cent original; these are brand new Mark XIV Spitfires," he said.

"The fuselages were wrapped in brown paper, grease paper to preserve them, the wooden joints were tarred to keep the water out.

"They did go to an awful lot of trouble to bury these.

"It was a tool of war, yes, but I'm trying to make it a tool of friendship to bring Burma and Britain closer together."

- AFP/xq

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Google may need history lesson on blocking rivals' products

With its decision to block Windows Phone users from accessing Google Maps, Google isn't the first browser maker to block users from accessing content with a competitive product. Microsoft has done the same in the distant and not-so-distant past. But that's still no excuse for what looks like nothing other than a petty, short-sighted move on Google's part.

Back in 2001, Microsoft was slammed for making MSN.com incompatible with browsers other than IE. Microsoft officials said the problem wasn't intentional and rewrote the site to work with non-Microsoft browsers. But the outcry -- even from the head of the Worldwide Web Consortium, Tim Berners-Lee -- was fast and furious.

More recently, I've heard from users frustrated because they couldn't access the Microsoft Careers site using Chrome. (A quick check today indicates those problems seem to have been resolved, either by Microsoft or Google.) And I can verify I've been unable to listen/view Webcasts on Microsoft's Investor site using anything other than IE, though this issue also seems to have been fixed some time in the last few days/weeks. Huzzah!

Am I citing Microsoft's transgressions to excuse Google? Hardly. Given that Windows Phone has only 3 percent market share in the U.S., compared with
Android's 54 percent, one could argue Google doesn't have the time/incentive to make sure its Maps work well with Windows Phone. I'm not buying that, though.

As others have noted and seemingly proved, Google's blocking of IE/Windows Phone users isn't attributable to Microsoft using its own Trident rendering engine instead of Webkit -- despite Google's claims to the contrary.

Google Maps works fine in IE10 on
Windows 8 and Windows RT and those products use the same Trident rendering engine that Windows Phone does. The two IE10 browsers are not completely identical; there are a number of features in IE10 on Windows 8 that aren't supported in IE10 on Windows Phone, including some programming interfaces, ActiveX, and VBScript. Nonetheless, the evidence is mounting that Google intentionally is redirecting Windows Phone users who are attempting to access its maps via IE.

Maybe the Googlers are trying to pay back Microsoft for trying and largely failing to get the U.S. Federal Trust Commission to take antitrust action against the company. Or maybe they're mad that Microsoft is managing to convince many/most of the Android licensees to pay Microsoft patent-licensing royalties to head off potential legal action.

I don't know how many of we the 3 percent need/want to use Google Maps via the browser. Whether it's a few (including me, on more than one occasion) or many, the move to block Windows Phone users still looks short-sighted. Wouldn't it make more sense to encourage those using your competitors' products (Bing, IE) to access your technology instead of theirs? Maybe you'll win over a new customer or three in the process.

I'm not the first to say it, and I'm sure I won't be the last. Google should brush up on its history lessons. It's emulating the old Microsoft. Even though Google largely beat the antitrust rap this time, maybe its luck won't hold out forever....

This story originally appeared on ZDNet under the headline "Google shouldn't forget history when blocking its competitors' products."

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Obama: Not raising debt ceiling could be "catastrophic"

President Obama sternly warned congressional Republicans today that if they don't agree to raise the debt ceiling next month, the consequences could be "catastrophic."

"If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic," the president said in his weekly address. "The last time Congress threatened this course of action, our entire economy suffered for it. Our families and our businesses cannot afford that dangerous game again."

House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Dave Camp, R- Mich., in the Republicans' address suggested simply raising the debt ceiling isn't the answer - major spending cuts are.

"Many of our Democrat colleagues just don't seem to get it," Camp said. "Throughout the fiscal cliff discussions, the President and the Democrats who control Washington repeatedly refused to take any meaningful steps to make Washington live within its means. That position is irresponsible and fails to acknowledge what every family in America already knows - when you have no more money in your account and your credit cards are maxed out, then the spending must stop."

The president also fired a shot across the bow of Republicans who would like to believe that this week's "fiscal cliff" agreement put the tax issue to rest, signaling that any further deficit reduction efforts must again include tax reform that asks the wealthy to pay more. "Spending cuts must be balanced with more reforms to our tax code," said the president. "The wealthiest individuals and biggest corporations shouldn't be able to take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren't available to most Americans."

Play Video

Rep. Camp delivers weekly GOP address

It seems this is an issue in which Mr. Obama and congressional Republicans can at least begin to have a conversation. Camp echoed the president on tax reform saying, "we have to start to work on real solutions to return accountability to our tax code by eliminating special interest loopholes."

"I believe in a simple principle," Camp continued. "When it comes to the tax code, everyone should play by the same rules. Your tax rate should be determined by what's fair, not who you know in Washington."

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