In political messaging wars, White House deploys a Twitter army

By Roberta Rampton 14 hours ago White HouseTwitterBarack Obama

 View galleryWhite House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest speaks about Syria during a press briefing …By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Besieged by unflattering stories about the launch of President Barack Obama’s healthcare program, the White House saw a news report that it wanted to swiftly knock down.It was from NBC, which said that Obama had overpromised when he said Americans who liked their insurance could keep it, and that the president knew that many people would see their coverage change.White House officials quickly began firing off a barrage of tweets on Twitter, which has become one of the administration’s most potent and relied-upon weapons in trying to shape public opinion and media reports.Josh Earnest, the principal deputy press secretary to Obama, began the assault with a series of tweets that said the healthcare law did protect Americans against changes in their coverage – unless insurers altered such coverage.”NBC ‘scoop’ cites normal turnover in the indiv insurance market,” Earnest tweeted to his 9,500 followers on Twitter.The message was retweeted 166 times, potentially reaching another 164,000 people, according to Twitonomy, a Twitter analytics tool.During the next hour, White House staffers would tweet and retweet messages about the story more than a dozen times, including tweets directly to the NBC reporter.The debate continues over whether Obama has been misleading about the healthcare law. But it’s clear that in many ways, Twitter has become as important in the West Wing’s communications arsenal as daily press briefings. Twitter’s 140-character messages are faster than a press release, with broader and more direct reach than appearances on cable television.Under a strategy championed by Obama’s senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer, the White House has doubled its footprint on Twitter since July, giving official accounts on the social media web site to more than a dozen additional communications staffers.The White House’s Twitter army is the lead player in an intense war of messaging on social media in Washington, a conflict that also involves a range of lawmakers, bureaucrats, conservatives and liberals.Virtually every day, the White House is the focus of Twitter barbs from conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation, online personalities such as Erick Erickson of RedState.com and Republican staffers such as Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.But the White House operation stands alone in its aggressiveness, analysts say.”You never find an organization that is collectively this good at Twitter,” said Peter LaMotte, head of digital communications practice at Levick, who advises major corporations on using social media.SPINNING AND ‘SHAMING’—Obama’s White House was an early adopter in Washington’s Twitter wars. Obama’s campaign team helped get him elected and re-elected with its deft use of social media.Before its initial public offering on November 7, Twitter sought to show the web site’s potency by recalling in its regulatory filing how Obama’s campaign team had used Twitter to declare victory, tweeting „Four more years” in a message viewed about 25 million times.Since 2009, Obama’s administration has sent tweets through a raft of well-followed but faceless accounts such as @whitehouse and @blog44, gradually adding individuals who work there.The administration’s most prominent Twitter account, @BarackObama, has more than 39 million followers and is actually run by Organizing for Action, a pro-Obama group with close ties to the White House, rather than by Obama and his staff.Others are more directly engaged on Twitter. Press Secretary Jay Carney has tweeted as @PressSec since 2010 and has 455,360 followers. White House photographer Pete Souza has 92,000.After staffers were trained by the White House counsel’s office on what they could – and should not – say on social media, they recently began posting personality-driven tweets.”Hey @PressSec, finally got on twitter. #whatcouldpossiblygowrong?” Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz tweeted to Carney in his maiden tweet on August 1.Schultz said the West Wing views Twitter as a way to „engage in real time (communication) so that as many folks as possible understand our perspective.”That was the case during the 16-day government shutdown last month, as the administration used Twitter to boost its calls for Boehner to call a House vote to end the shutdown.At one point, Boehner appeared on ABC’s „This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” a popular Sunday morning political show.During and after the interview, the White House Twitter brigade fired off a flurry of tweets that amounted to the administration’s only comment that day on Boehner’s interview.”If there are not votes to open the government as Speaker Boehner says, why is (he) so afraid to call the vote and prove it?” Pfeiffer tweeted in one message to his 55,000 followers that was retweeted 126 times to more than 71,000 others.A similar tweet from Carney was retweeted 448 times to 203,000 people.During the shutdown, West Wing staffers frequently „corrected” storylines from reporters or Republican aides using Twitter.”It’s essentially public shaming,” said Levick’s LaMotte, wondering whether the White House’s Twitter strategy has dialed up the tension in the administration’s already adversarial relationship with some conservatives.Indeed, it often seems that conflicts on Twitter aren’t exactly elevating the public discourse on politics.Last month, West Wing staffers waded into Twitter fights with Republicans, even as Carney was giving a press briefing.Deputy Press Secretary Schultz traded darts with Rory Cooper, an aide to Republican House Leader Eric Cantor, about whether Obama had done enough outreach to Congress.”Five years, and you have to point out five social events,” Cooper tweeted.The pair went back and forth in an argument that eventually looped in Buck, Boehner’s spokesman, and reporters from Time, The Hill, the Washington Times, The Atlantic and ABC.Finally, one of the reporter’s followers named Aaron scolded the group: „Keep bickering about trivialities, that’s what Americans need.”WHAT COULD GO WRONG?—There are risks in the White House’s Twitter strategy, said Tevi Troy, a presidential historian and author of „What Jefferson read, Ike watched, and Obama tweeted,” a study of popular culture in the White House.While it is important for presidents to use the tools of the moment to reach out to Americans, it’s also important to protect the stature of the office, Troy said.”I think there are rules of decorum that should exist, no matter what the tools,” said Troy, who was a top domestic policy adviser in Republican George W. Bush’s administration.Previous White Houses have insisted on multi-layered approvals for all White House messages, known as the „staffing process,” Troy said, adding that, „There is no way that it is manageable to have tweets going through the staffing process.”All tweets from official White House accounts are preserved as part of Obama’s presidential record and could be drawn upon as part of congressional investigations.LaMotte said White House staffers new to Twitter likely have been told, „Don’t make personal attacks, be funny, be witty, be intelligent, be informative – but don’t do anything that’s going to get the president and the administration in trouble.”Security is also a risk, LaMotte said. Last week, the Syrian Electronic Army briefly hacked into a link-shortening service used in tweets from Organizing For America, the advocacy group that runs @barackobama.The hacked links directed readers to a video of the Syrian conflict instead of to a Washington Post story about immigration, as had been intended.And then there are rogue tweets, such as the unauthorized and very unofficial use of Twitter by former White House National Security Council staffer Jofi Joseph.Joseph was fired last month after being unmasked as @NatSecWonk, a Twitter account known for insulting public figures at the White House and on Capitol Hill.So far, the official White House tweeters seem to have walked the line between snark and personal attacks, LaMotte said.But, LaMotte said, it’s probably only a matter of time before someone goes too far.”The law of averages will suggest that at some point, someone’s going to go off-message and the press secretary’s going to have to backpedal and say, ‘That person’s no longer with the White House,’ ” LaMotte said.(Editing by David Lindsey and Cynthia Osterman)

Romney: Obama ‘dishonest’ about ObamacareBy Dylan Stableford, Yahoo News November 3, 2013 9:09 AMRomney Compares Massachusetts, National Health Care Programs   Mitt Romney lashed out at Barack Obama on Sunday, saying the president has been dishonest about the Affordable Care Act better known as Obamacare.”He told people that they could keep their insurance and that was not the truth,” Romney said on „Meet The Press” via satellite from Salt Lake City, Utah, nearly a year after he lost to Obama in the 2012 presidential election.The former Massachusetts governor said the president „failed to learn the lessons” that came from his state’s groundbreaking 2006 health care law, on which Obamacare is based.”The most important lesson the president, I think, failed to learn was, you have to tell the American people the truth,” Romney said. „And when he told the American people that you could keep your health insurance if you wanted to keep that plan — period, he said that time and again — he wasn’t telling the truth.”Romney continued: „He went out as a centerpiece of his campaign and as a centerpiece of Obamacare over the last several years saying time and time again that fundamental to his plan was the right people would have to keep their insurance plan, and he knew that was not the case.”Obama’s „fundamental dishonesty” about his signature health care law, Romney said, has „undermined the president’s credibility” and „put in peril the whole foundation of his second term.””We’ve got to have a president that can lead, and right now he cannot do so,” he said.Recalling the 2012 campaign, the former Republican nominee disputed the notion that his heart wasn’t fully in it. „No one could have worked harder than myself and my family did,” Romney said. „We were all in 110 percent. And we wanted to win very desperately.””Frankly, I was concerned that if the president were reelected, the economy would continue to dwindle along, we would continue to lose credibility around the world, the American people would find it harder and harder to get jobs,” he said. „And we’re seeing those things happen before our very eyes.”Romney also brushed aside assertions made in „Double Down: Game Change 2012,” an upcoming book about the 2012 election, that Romney did not choose Chris Christie as his running mate because of serious reservations he had about the New Jersey governor.”There’s nothing they found that wasn’t part of the [public] record,” Romney said. „There’s nothing new there.”Christie, he said, has „the kind of popularity and track record the GOP needs if we’re going to take back the White House.”Romney said Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, Romney’s 2012 running mate, would all be formidable presidential nominees for the Republican party in 2016.

Mohammed Morsi hearing in Egypt Amr Nabil 4 hours agoView gallery16 photos  Egypt’s deposed Islamist president was brought from the secret location of his four-month detention to face trial Monday on charges of incitement of violence and murder. It was Mohammed Morsi’s first public appearance since his ouster in a coup on July 3. The start of the hearing was delayed by nearly two hours over what security officials inside the courtroom said was a dispute over Morsi’s refusal to wear a prison uniform, part of his rejection of the trial’s legitimacy. (AP)

Obama’s health law finally gets real for AmericaBy RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR 6 hours ago

View galleryFILE – In this Oct. 30, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall about the federal health care law. Now is when Americans start figuring out that President Barack Obama’s health care law goes beyond political talk, and really does affect them and people they know. With a cranky federal website complicating access to new coverage and some consumers being notified their existing plans are going away, the potential for winners and losers is creating anxiety and confusion. A look at three broad groups: those losing coverage, those gaining coverage, and those wondering if their coverage will change. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — Now is when Americans start figuring out that President Barack Obama’s health care law goes beyond political talk, and really does affect them and people they know.With a cranky federal website complicating access to new coverage and some consumers being notified their existing plans are going away, the potential for winners and losers is creating anxiety and confusion.”I’ve had questions like, ‘Are they going to put me in jail if I don’t buy insurance? Because nobody will sell it to me,'” said Bonnie Burns, a longtime community-level insurance counselor from California. „We have family members who are violently opposed to ‘Obamacare’ and they are on Medicaid — they don’t understand that they’re already covered by taxpayer benefits.”And then there is a young man with lupus who would have never been insurable,” Burns continued. „He is on his parents’ plan, and he’ll be able to buy his own coverage. They are very relieved.”A poll just out from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation documents shifts in the country in the month since insurance sign-ups began.Fifty-five percent now say they have enough information to understand the law’s impact on their family, up 8 percentage points in just one month. Part of the reason is that advertising about how to get coverage is beginning to register.”The law is getting more and more real for people,” said Drew Altman, the foundation’s president. „A lot of this will turn on whether there’s a perception that there have been more winners than losers. … It’s not whether an expert thinks something is a better insurance policy, it’s whether people perceive it that way.”The administration is continuing its efforts to influence those perceptions. On Wednesday, Obama will meet with volunteers in Dallas who are helping people enroll in health insurance plans. Cabinet officials are also expected to make stops around the country in the coming weeks to encourage people to sign up for insurance even as the website problems persist.A look at three groups impacted by the law’s rollout:___LOSING CURRENT PLAN-The Obama administration insists nobody will lose coverage as a result of cancellation notices going out to millions of people. At least 3.5 million Americans have been issued cancellations, but the exact number is unclear. Associated Press checks find that data is unavailable in a half the states.Mainly they are people who buy directly from an insurer, instead of having workplace coverage. Officials say these consumers aren’t getting „canceled” but „transitioned” or „migrated” to better plans because their current coverage doesn’t meet minimum standards. They won’t have to go uninsured, and some could save a lot if they qualify for the law’s tax credits.Speaking in Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall this past week, Obama said the problem is limited to fewer than 5 percent of Americans „who’ve got cut-rate plans that don’t offer real financial protection in the event of a serious illness or an accident.”But in a nation of more than 300 million, 5 percent is a big number — about 15 million people. Among them are Ian and Sara Hodge of Lancaster, Pa., in their early 60s and paying $1,041 a month for a policy.After insurer Highmark Inc., sent the Hodges a cancellation notice, the cheapest rate they say they’ve been able to find is $1,400 for a comparable plan. Ian is worried they may not qualify for tax credits and doesn’t trust that the federal website is secure enough to enter personal financial information in order to find out.”We feel like we’re being punished for doing the right thing,” he said.Their policy may not have met the government’s standards, „but it certainly met our minimum standards,” Hodge added.”The main thing that upsets us is the president … said over and over and over again: If you like your health plan, you will be able to keep your health plan, guaranteed.”There’s a chance the number of people getting unwanted terminations may grow. In 2015, the law’s requirement that larger companies provide health insurance will take effect. It’s expected that a small share of firms will drop coverage, deciding that it’s cheaper to pay fines imposed under the law.___GAINING COVERAGE—Before the law’s online health care markets launched Oct. 1, the administration estimated nearly 500,000 people would enroll for subsidized private insurance within the first month. Despite high consumer interest, a computer system beset by gremlins has kept most from doing so.The administration refuses to release enrollment numbers until mid-November, when a crash program of computer fixes may be showing results. The numbers are expected to be disappointingly low; officials acknowledge as much.A different prong of Obama’s coverage expansion seems to be doing fairly well. It’s an expanded version of Medicaid, embraced so far by 25 states and the District of Columbia. An informal survey of 14 of those states by The Associated Press shows that at least 240,000 people had enrolled in or applied for the expanded safety-net program as of the third week of October.Private coverage is what interests Cecilia Fontenot of Houston, a part-time accountant in her early 60s. She has diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Though she manages well, she has been unable to find affordable insurance. Under Obama’s law, insurers will not be able to turn away people with medical problems or charge them more.Fontenot gave up on HealthCare.gov and instead applied through a call center on Oct. 19.”They said it may take a while because so many people had called in,” Fontenot explained. „I’m a very patient person, and I’m looking forward to getting that insurance.”She wants a plan that covers a better diabetes drug than the one she can afford now by paying out of pocket. Her doctor has also recommended a high-tech imaging test for a breast lump.___WONDERING WHETHER COVERAGE WILL CHANGE—Americans are still divided over the Affordable Care Act, with negative views outweighing positives. But they also lean against repealing it. The final judgment may be in the hands of people who now have employer-provided health insurance. They’re about half the population, and they’ve noted Obama’s assurances that their coverage won’t be disrupted.Up to now, the changes for employer plans have been incremental. They tend to expand benefits, not take things away.For example, young adults can stay on a parent’s coverage until they turn 26. Employers cover women’s birth control as a preventive service, free of charge. Screening tests such as colonoscopies are also free.But cost control provisions, mainly a tax on expensive insurance plans that starts in 2018, are converging with the long-standing push by employers to tame health costs. Some companies have raised deductibles and copayments for employees, saying they need to scale back to avoid tangling with the coming tax. Others are giving employees a fixed amount of money to shop in private health insurance markets that resemble those created by the law.Expect cutbacks to be blamed on the law. Sorting out whether that’s warranted may be difficult.”What the Affordable Care Act did was give companies a very convenient excuse to say ‘Oh, gosh, we really have to get serious about insurance costs,'” said Paul Keckley, an independent health benefits consultant. „I think there’s a bit of a bob and weave. The ACA was a convenient excuse for doing what (corporate) human resources departments have been calculating to do for years.”___Associated Press writer Michael Rubinkam in Allentown, Pa., contributed to this report.

Thousands protest at former US Embassy in IranBy ALI AKBAR DAREINI 35 minutes ago

View gallery Iranian demonstrators hold a cartoon effigy of the US president Barack Obama during a demonstration marking the 34th anniversary of US Embassy takeover in front of the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, 04 November 2013.Thousands of protesters chanting „Death to America” gathered on 04 November at the former US embassy in Tehran to mark the 34th anniversary of the start of the Iran hostage crisis. American flags were stomped on and burned by participants, who take to the streets every year on November 4 in what is called a „day of national confrontation against world imperialism.” EPA/ABEDIN TAHRKENAREHTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Tens of thousands of demonstrators packed the streets Monday outside the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran in the biggest anti-American rally in years, a show of support for hard-line opponents of President Hassan Rouhani’s historic outreach to Washington.Such protests occur every year outside the former embassy compound to mark the anniversary of the 1979 embassy takeover following the Islamic Revolution. But the latest demonstration is the largest in years after calls by groups such as the powerful Revolutionary Guard for a major showing, including chants of „death to America” that some of Rouhani’s backers have urged halted.The crowds also send a message to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who cautiously has backed Rouhani’s overtures to the U.S. and efforts to end the impasse with the West over Tehran’s nuclear program.Opponents of thawing relations with the U.S. say they will not back down, opening the prospect of deeper internal rifts and tensions that could put pressure on Khamenei to reconsider his backing of Rouhani’s groundbreaking exchanges with the U.S.In September, Rouhani accepted from a call from U.S. President Barack Obama following the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York, where U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held talks with Iran’s foreign minister. Ties between the two countries were severed after the embassy siege, which began a hostage crisis with 52 people held for 444 days.Critics of the dialogue made their views immediately known, hurling insults and eggs at Rouhani’s entourage upon their return from New York. Late last month, huge banners appeared around Tehran depicting the U.S. as a sinister and deceitful adversary that seeks to weaken Iran. Tehran officials ordered the signs removed, but they appeared in poster form at the demonstration Monday outside the former embassy compound.Protesters also stomped on images of Obama and the U.S. flag. Others carried well-known banners reading „We trample America under our feet” and „The U.S. is the Great Satan.” One image showed Obama in a wrestling uniform with Star of David earrings, symbolizing Israel.On Sunday, Khamenei appeared to chide hard-liners by denouncing any attempts to undermine Iran’s nuclear negotiators. Talks with world powers are scheduled to resume Thursday in Geneva.Diplomats „are on a difficult mission and nobody should weaken those who are on assignment,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, as telling a group of students.Iran seeks to have painful economic sanctions eased in exchange for concessions in its nuclear program to address concerns by the West, which fears Iran’s uranium enrichment could eventually produce weapons-grade material. Iran insists it only seeks reactors for energy and medical applications, but has not made public its possible confidence-building offers at the talks.Outside the former embassy’s brick walls — covered with anti-U.S. murals — students carried a model of a centrifuge used in uranium enrichment. A slogan on it read: „Result of resistance against sanctions: 18,000 active centrifuges in Iran.”Another banner quoted Khamenei: „The aim of sanctions is to make the Iranian nation desperate.”Khamenei’s backing of Rouhani also puts him in an unfamiliar spot of having to reassure hard-liners he has not abandoned their views.Khamenei on Sunday praised Iranian militant students who stormed the U.S. Embassy in 1979.”Thirty years ago, our young people called the U.S. Embassy a ‘den of spies.’ … It means our young people were 30 years ahead of their time,” he said, a reference to a series of reports of U.S. eavesdropping on foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Protester Mohsen Rajabi echoed the thought Monday.”They illegally wiretap the mobile phone of the German chancellor and the Brazilian president. They wiretap their allies and are not faithful to them. How can they compromise?” Rajabi said. „They won’t compromise with us. These are lies, these are tricks to hinder our progress.”

Arab League backs Syria peace talks, urges opposition to goBy Yara Bayoumy 2 hours ago View galleryPresident of the Syrian National Coalition Ahmad Jarba attends the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in …By Yara Bayoumy CAIRO (Reuters) – Arab states formally endorsed proposed peace talks to end the Syrian civil war that have been delayed by disputes between world powers and divisions among the opposition.A final communiqué after an emergency meeting of Arab League foreign ministers on Sunday called on the opposition swiftly to form a delegation under the leadership of the mainstream Syrian National Coalition, to attend the „Geneva 2” talks.The Arab League’s position indicated Gulf rivals Qatar and Saudi Arabia – who have backed different rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad – had put their differences aside to urge opposition chief Ahmad Jarba to head to Geneva.But even with regional diplomatic weight thrown behind the talks, it is unclear when they will go ahead and what they can achieve. The mainly exiled political opposition has limited clout over rebel fighters on the ground, who include al Qaeda-linked brigades.The Geneva talks are meant to bring Syria’s warring sides to the negotiating table, but many disputes still remain including the issue of whether Iran, Assad’s biggest regional supporter, should attend.Jarba, who is backed by Iran’s foe Saudi Arabia, told Arab foreign ministers the opposition coalition would not attend if Iran was there. He also said there had to be a clear time frame for Assad to leave power, and called for more weapons to be delivered to rebels fighting Assad.The growing influence of radical Islamist fighters and divisions among rebel forces have made Western powers reluctant to intervene directly in a conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people and driven millions from their homes.DIFFERENCES OVER IRAN World powers are divided over Iran’s participation in the talks. Tehran, which backs Assad’s regime, has said it is ready to come and international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says the United Nations would prefer Iran to attend.Saudi Arabia, the United States’ main Arab ally, opposes any role for Tehran and is angry over what it sees as a weak U.S. commitment to removing Assad, especially in the past two months since Obama abandoned a threat to launch strikes.After more than two years of calling for Assad’s downfall but taking little action, Obama threatened in August to punish Syria for what he said was government blame for chemical weapons attacks that killed more than 1,000 people. But he quickly called off armed action, accepting instead a Russian proposal that Assad give up Syria’s poison gas stocks.A senior State Department official, speaking ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to Riyadh, said the top U.S. diplomat would make clear to the Saudis that Iran would not be welcome to attend the Syria peace talks unless it endorsed a past agreement that would see Assad give up power.Kerry met Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on Monday and was due to meet King Abdullah.Syria’s Foreign Ministry reiterated on Sunday that it must be up to Syrians alone „to choose their leadership and political future without political interference”.Accusing Kerry of trying to derail the talks, it said in a statement he „must realize that the success of the Geneva conference depends on the will of the Syria people themselves”.The Arab League, however, said only pressure from major powers could ensure a successful outcome in Geneva.In its communiqué it „reaffirmed the Arab position that demands the necessity of the required international guarantees to supervise and ensure the success of a peaceful solution at the Geneva 2 conference”.The League is dominated by states ruled by Sunni Muslims, and has lined up against Assad throughout the conflict. Assad, a member of the Alawite sect which is derived from Shi’ite Islam, has enjoyed the support of Shi’ite Iran in a conflict that has exacerbated the Sunni-Shi’ite split across the Middle East.Opposition member Burhan Ghalioun told Reuters on Monday the communiqué showed „the Arab League’s support for the Syrian opposition and the Syrian people in confronting … Assad’s regime and for Geneva 2 to be able to put forth a political solution that ends with the demise of the current regime and the emergence of the next one”.Brahimi has said he hoped the conference could still be held in the next few weeks despite the obstacles and said there should be no preconditions to attend the meeting.But rebels say they will consider any process which does not lead to the end of Assad’s rule – and accountability for him and his supporters – as a betrayal of their campaign.A statement signed by several powerful Islamist militias a week ago said that attending Geneva talks on any other basis would amount to „treason that requires trial by our courts”.Rebel strength has been eroding on the battlefield, with Assad’s forces making slow but gradual gains as they consolidate control near Damascus and the central city of Homs.Last week they also recaptured the town of Safira, southeast of the city of Aleppo, a further rebel setback which prompted the resignation of local rebel leader Abdeljabbar al-Oqaidi from the Western-backed Supreme Military Council.In a resignation video issued on Sunday, Oqaidi blamed rifts among rebels for losing Safira, and bitterly congratulated the opposition in exile „for your hotels and your political posts”.State television said on Monday Assad’s forces had taken a village on the northern edge of Safira and were attacking the rebel-held town of Tel Arn about 2 miles further north. Live TV footage showed columns of smoke rising from Tel Arn.(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir in Cairo and Dominic Evans in Beirut; Editing by Peter Graff)

New book: Obama told aides that drones make him ‘really good at killing people’ By Jay Busbee 8 minutes agoView galleryPresident Obama in a 2012 photo in the Oval Office.President Obama is criticized every day for the problems and difficulties associated with the Affordable Care Act. But in the long term, it’s likely history will scrutinize the CIA’s use of drone strikes during his administration with a far more critical eye.A quote from a new book on the 2012 presidential campaign, “Double Down: Game Change 2012,” will surely stoke that interest. As first reported in a book review by the Washington Post’s Peter Hamby, Obama told aides in connection with the CIA’s drone program that he is “really good at killing people.”It’s the kind of quote likely to make Obama supporters cringe or scramble for justifying explanations, perhaps by rationalizing the quote as either false or out of context, or critiquing the information-gathering methods of authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. The writers spent two years interviewing dozens of people connected with both the Obama and Romney campaigns.Whether uttered in jest or in resignation, the Obama quote will only add to the concerns of those wondering whether the president has embraced the godlike, life-and-death power of the Oval Office. After campaigning against the intense interrogation procedures pursued under President George W. Bush, Obama has vastly expanded the drone program. Despite its intense unpopularity overseas, in part because of civilian casualties and in part because of its unclear, secretive mandates, the Pakistan drone program continues as it has since 2004.According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the CIA has conducted 378 strikes in the program’s 10-year history. Of those, 326 are classified as “Obama strikes.” The total number of people killed by drones is estimated at 2,528 to 3,648. Civilian casualties are estimated at 416 to 948, with 168 to 200 of those being children. As many as another 1,545 are estimated to have been injured in those strikes.”We conduct those strikes because they are necessary to mitigate ongoing actual threats — to stop plots, prevent future attacks and, again, save American lives,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in February. “These strikes are legal, they are ethical, and they are wise.” And, thanks to this book, the motivations of the man who orders them will remain under scrutiny.“Double Down” is a sequel of sorts to “Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime,” a bestselling book made into an HBO movie. The book tracks the 2012 campaign through the voices of campaign strategists and other insiders for both President Obama and Mitt Romney, as well as the half-dozen other ancillary campaigns on the Republican side.What emerges is a look at two men and two campaigns with singular visions and yet singular weaknesses. Here, via the Post’s Hamby, is a summary of “Double Down”’s through-line:The book’s loose argument is that both Obama and Romney placed their bets about the race early on and “doubled down” throughout the contest. It’s an apt take on Obama World. The “Obamans,” as the authors call them, set out to annihilate Romney almost two years before the election and executed their plan with brutal efficiency. There were hiccups along the way, specifically Obama’s dreary debate-prep sessions and his cringe-worthy performance in Denver, but his deputies in Chicago rarely deviated from their search-and-destroy mission. Romney’s campaign, though, with its bad habit of reacting to news cycles with snap decisions, always felt more ad hoc, with tactics trumping strategy.Per Hamby, Obama comes off as “brilliant but peevish, allergic to the nitty-gritty of politics,” while Romney “is a decent man but hopelessly ham-fisted on the stump and oblivious to why voters can’t seem to appreciate his private-equity résumé.”The drone quote will garner notice, but the book actually saves much of its harshest criticism for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is apparently already making plans for a 2016 presidential bid. The book makes use of the research performed by the Romney campaign on Christie; the vetting is termed “disturbing,” with “garish controversies.” A Justice Department investigation into Christie’s spending, a defamation lawsuit, questions about lobbying and contract awards, Christie’s physical health – these were all fair game for Romney’s investigators, and in turn for the authors of “Double Down.” Christie’s people could be busy for months trying to mitigate the damage this book will do to his reputation.The Obama administration has brushed off the book’s claims about the back-room dealings of the 2012 campaign, critiquing the sources as much as the content. “The president is always frustrated about leaks,” White House senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I haven’t talked to him about this book. I haven’t read it. He hasn’t read it. But he hates leaks.”But that’s inside-the-Beltway politicking, the kind of give-and-take where reputations, not lives, are the casualties. The debate over drone use has far more dramatic reach and effect. Lost in the day-to-day squabbling over politics is the fact that, for instance, the Justice Department has a disturbingly vague protocol for sending drones to kill U.S. citizens. “Double Down” may open the door to issues far more significant than who likes whom in Washington, issues that speak to the very heart of what it means to stand for American principles. This is a story that’s not going away anytime soon. Contact Jay Busbee at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or on Twitter at @jaybusbee.

Nazi-looted modern art found in Munich flat -German magazine2 hours agoView galleryA general view of an apartment building in Munich November 4, 2013, where it is believed that German …BERLIN (Reuters) – A vast trove of modern art seized under Germany’s Nazi regime, including works by Picasso, Matisse and Chagall, has been discovered in a Munich apartment among stacks of rotting groceries, German magazine Focus reported. The 1,500 art works, missing for more than 70 years, and discovered by chance by customs authorities in the southern German state of Bavaria in 2011, could be worth well over 1 billion euros ($1.35 billion), Focus said.There was no word on why the find had taken so long to come to light. Bavarian officials declined any comment on what could be one of the largest recoveries of Nazi-looted art.Focus said experts were now valuing the paintings, drawings and prints, being held in a customs depot, and trying to determine their ownership.Some may once have been on display in German museums, then removed from 1937 onwards because Hitler’s Third Reich considered them „degenerate”, while others were seized, or forcibly sold for a pittance by persecuted Jewish collectors. The collection was also believed to contain a painting of a woman by Henri Matisse which belonged to Paris-based Jewish art collector Paul Rosenberg, Focus said.Customs investigators made the sensational find in 2011 after a 76-year-old man travelling by train from Zurich to Munich aroused suspicion at the border when he was found carrying a large, albeit legal, amount of cash. The man was Cornelius Gurlitt, son of art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt, who was a specialist in the modern art of the early 20th century that the Nazis branded as un-German.Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels recruited him to sell abroad the „degenerate art” to try and generate cash for the state. Gurlitt also independently bought art from desperate Jewish dealers forced to sell.After the war he persuaded the Americans that, as he had a Jewish grandmother, he himself had been persecuted. He continued working as a dealer and died in a traffic accident in 1956.Focus said Cornelius Gurlitt, a recluse, had funded himself by occasionally selling a painting. The magazine printed an image of a painting of horses by German expressionist Franz Marc which it said came from the collection. ($1 = 0.7414 euros)(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

S.Africa defends investment law overhaul, Brussels concernedBy Ed Cropley 29 minutes ago

View gallerySouth African Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies attends a session at the World Economic Forum …By Ed Cropley JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A new South African investment law should come into force next year to replace a raft of individual, 20-year-old treaties but foreign investors will be adequately protected and have nothing to fear, trade minister Rob Davies said on Monday.Pretoria let bilateral treaties agreed with European nations shortly before the end of apartheid lapse last month, to the concern of investors and diplomats who say the replacement law does not offer the same protections.The draft Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill, published last week, rolls over guarantees against state seizure of assets but analysts say it narrows the definition of expropriation and attaches caveats to compensation.It also removes the option of international arbitration in the event of a dispute with a government decision.”If you wanted to sue, you would have to sue them in the South African domestic courts or take them to domestic arbitration,” said Peter Leon of Johannesburg-based law firm Webber Wentzel.”International arbitration is a very important issue for investors. It gives one access to an independent forum which is not connected with the state.”European nations affected so far include Germany, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland.However, Davies insisted the bill was fair in balancing the interests of the public with those of investors in Africa’s biggest economy.”The bill confirms that South Africa remains open to foreign investment. It does not impose any new obligations on investors,” he told a media briefing.He also said the international arbitration clauses inserted in the turbulent transition from white-minority rule to democracy in 1994 were no longer necessary given the quality and probity of South Africa’s legal system.”International arbitration was established to address situations where national court systems are weak, ineffective or biased against foreigners,” he said. „This is not the case in South Africa.”‘GREAT CONCERN’ IN BRUSSELS-However, the fact remains that South Africa desperately needs foreign investment to power an economy plagued by persistent 25 percent unemployment and creaking infrastructure, and so can ill-afford to ward off potential partners.In a report released ahead of next year’s 20th anniversary of democracy, Goldman Sachs said if South Africa wanted to lift its growth rate to 5 percent, it needed to attract $5-$10 billion a year in foreign direct investment from $1.9 billion over the last two decades.”This will require a much more determined and coherent focus on improving the investment climate,” Goldman country head Colin Coleman said. „This is not a time for finger pointing.”Although Pretoria has been pushing hard to attract capital from other big emerging markets such as China and Brazil, Europe still accounts for three-quarters of all foreign direct investment stock.EU ambassador Roeland van de Geer, who has been a vocal critic of Pretoria’s ‘Look East’ policy if it comes at the expense of established relations with Europe, came out strongly against the ending of the investment treaties.”It must be noted that their unilateral cancellation remains of great concern,” he said in a statement.

Warne blasts Alastair Cook’s captaincy as ‘boring’ in Ashes volley

5 hours ago

.View gallerySydney (AFP) – Shane Warne has blasted Alastair Cook’s captaincy as boring and negative, warning that Australia will regain the Ashes if the England skipper does not show more imagination.The Australian Test great also said England would be better served by having Michael Carberry opening their innings rather than Joe Root.In an interview with the British press and widely reported in Australia on Monday, Warne had harsh words about Cook’s captaincy as England bid for their fourth straight Ashes series triumph in the series starting this month.”Cook can be negative, boring, not very imaginative — and still win and be pretty happy,” Warne said.”But I think he needs to be more imaginative. If Australia play well and he continues to captain the way he does, I think England are going to lose the series.”He lets the game drift. He waits for the game to come to him. I don’t think he can captain the side like that.”For me, (Australia’s) Michael Clarke is the best captain in the world at the moment. He just has a lot of imagination. Cook would never have a leg slip, bat-pad and leg gully, like Clarke did for Jonathan Trott in the (English) summer.”View gallery.”England batsman Michael Carberry plays a shot on day two of the Ashes cricket tour match against a W …Warne also had a frank assessment of Root, claiming the young Yorkshireman will be „crucified” by Australia’s bowlers if he opens the batting again in the series that starts in Brisbane on November 21.”I don’t think Root’s an opener because of his technique. Australia found him out in England and in Australian conditions they’ll find him out more,” he said.”You can’t get stuck on the crease in Australia because of the pace of the wickets. It could be crucifying him if he’s got to face Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson on some fast, bouncy pitches.”I think he’s (Root) just going to nick off a lot. Besides Lord’s, where he got 180, Australia really did have his number.”Former Test leg-spinner Warne said England would be better served by demoting Root to number six and bringing in Carberry to open with Cook.Warne also took aim at former Australia Test captain Ricky Ponting, saying criticisms he made of Michael Clarke in his recently released autobiography could be a result of „jealousy”.”To bring up the stuff about Pup (Clarke) — maybe there was a bit of jealousy, because Pup was batting so well and Ricky was not making any runs,” Warne said.”To me, Michael’s very well respected. The best captains keep stuff in the dressing room. No one ever finds out about it. That’s what good leaders are about. So to hear all this in a book is pretty ordinary.'”

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Cameron welcomes British business call to stay in EU3 hours agoView gallery London (AFP) – British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday welcomed a call from the nation’s business leaders for Britain to remain in the European Union, ahead of a referendum in 2017.EU membership is „overwhelmingly” in Britain’s economic interests, but major reform is needed, the Confederation of British Industry said Monday in a key study published at its annual gathering in London.Cameron, addressing delegates at the conference, welcomed the CBI’s study and agreed that reforms were „badly needed” amid „wafer thin” British public support for membership.The premier has pledged to win back some powers from Brussels and put the new terms of Britain’s membership to the public in an in-out referendum by the end of 2017.”The CBI have hugely helped this morning with a very positive report,” said Cameron.View gallery.”A European Flag and the Union Jack are pictured in front of the European Union headquarters in Bruss …”This is one of the most important questions facing our country. It is my judgement that our current consent for remaining inside the EU is wafer thin.”He told delegates: „We haven’t made the argument enough about why Europe matters and frankly there are lots of things in the European Union that badly need reform. It is too costly; it is not flexible enough; it is not competitive enough; it needs to change.”He said: „The argument I have made is not some short term tactical ploy. It is a long term strategic choice for Britain: let us reform this organisation, let’s make changes to how it works, and then let’s put those changes to the British people in a referendum.”Cameron, whose Conservative party heads a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, is seeking a majority in the 2015 general election but faces fierce pressure on the right from the anti-EU UK Independence Party.He added on Monday that eurozone member states wanted reforms including tax rate coordination and a banking union.View gallery.”

Violence disrupts Kosovo election

 Play VideoKosovo Serbs and NATO peacekeepers in shootoutPlay VideoRaw: Sufi Followers in Kosovo Celebrate SpringPlay VideoMiss. Soldiers Headed To KosovoPlay VideoUpstate Guard troops return from KosovoPlay VideoNews – Kosovo, Sophie Turner, ItalyPlay VideoWisconsin Soldiers Head To KosovoPlay VideoNATO asks more troops for KosovoPlay VideoGovernor takes trip to Kosovo to visit state troopsPlay VideoLaw & Crime News – Kosovo, Mississippi, Everett DutschkePlay VideoClinton/Kosovo Cold OpenPlay VideoFormer NATO commander: Syria strike a bad moveCandidates busy before election Play video .Voters Head To The Polls For NJ Special Election Play video .Cyclists work to get younger voters to the polls on … Play video .Mayoral election around the corner Play video .Special Election Tomorrow For NJ Senate Seat Play video .7 hrs ago 1:01 Reuters Videos Group storms polling centers in northern Kosovo during council and mayoral elections. Julie Noce reports.