Protesters Worldwide Keep up Pressure Over Gaza

Published on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 by Agence France Presse

PARIS - Protesters denouncing Israel's deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip returned to the streets in demonstrations around the world to keep up the pressure for an end to the violence.

As Israel, under increasing diplomatic pressure, mulled a proposed 48-hour truce and the death toll from its onslaught rose to at least 373 Palestinians, the protesters made their voices heard again.
In France, more than 7,000 protesters marched in a dozen cities across the country to denounce the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip , which continued for the fourth day running Tuesday.
In Paris, around 3,500 people according to police -- 5,000 according to the organisers -- marched towards the French foreign ministry on the Quai D'Orsay by the River Seine, shouting slogans and carrying banners denouncing Israel.
Police said another 700 marched in the western city of Nantes, while demonstrations in at least a dozen cities and towns across the country each attracted hundreds of protesters.
In London, between 200 and 300 demonstrators protested peacefully outside the Israeli embassy, after the two previous days' rallies had descended into violence.
This demonstration was smaller than on Sunday and Monday, when scuffles erupted between police and protesters against Israel's air raids, leading to a total of 17 arrests over the two days.
Iranian demonstrators stormed the British diplomatic compound in Tehran Tuesday evening to protest London's stance towards the Israeli onslaught, state news agency IRNA reported.
"A large group of people and students entered the Gholhak gardens, which are occupied by the British embassy to protest at Britain's policies in supporting the Zionist regime and put up the Palestinian flag there," IRNA said.
A media officer at the British embassy in Tehran confirmed the report.
In Washington, between 2,500 and 5,000 people protested outside the US State Department chanting slogans like "Stop the Killing, Stop the War, Stop the Genocide of Palestinians" and with some carrying banners saying "Stop US Aid to Israel".
In Los Angeles, around 500 protesters and pro-Israel activists faced off peacefully near the Israeli Consulate.
At a separate demonstration attended by around 100 protesters in Westwood, actor Mike Farrell, a star of the hit 1970s television series "MASH", said he was "one of those people horrified by Israel's over-response."
"Not that I'm in favor of Hamas by any means, because firing rockets into Israel is not the way these things get resolved in a productive way," he said.
In Tunis, hundreds of lawyers and trade unionists joined opposition activists to defy a police ban and protest the bombing of Gaza, several sources reported.
As some protesters shouted slogans denouncing the lack of response from Arab countries in general and Egypt in particular, police headed off the demonstration as it headed towards the courthouse, said witnesses.
Tunisia's government has already condemned the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Saudi Arabia's interior ministry denied a report by Shiite news website Rasid.com that hundreds had demonstrated Monday afternoon in heavily Shiite Al Qatif, just west of Dammam, leading to several arrests.
Shiite news website Rasid.com reported that police had fired rubber bullets to break up the demonstrations Monday afternoon, which were attended by hundreds of people. But an interior ministry spokesman told AFP there had been no such demonstration.
Demonstrators in the Yemeni port city of Aden briefly broke into the Egyptian consulate to protest Cairo's response to the Israeli offensive, a security official said.
The protesters, mostly students from the university of Aden, "vandalized furniture before they were removed peacefully from the building," the official said, asking not to be identified.
Egypt has come in for strong criticism from Islamists and their sympathizers around the Muslim world for not fully opening its border with Gaza in the face of Israel's devastating air blitz.
In Algeria, about 100 people staged a protest in the capital Algiers after a call from politicians and editors of writers' and artists' magazines. They observed a minute's silence in memory of the dead.
In Panama City, around 200 people protested outside the Israeli embassy to condemn Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip.
In the Bulgarian capital Sofia, about 200 protesters called on the Bulgarian government to support the peace efforts. Demonstrators carried pro-Palestinian banners and others denouncing Israel.
Earlier Tuesday, about 200 people carrying flowers and candles offered a one-minute prayer in front of the Israeli embassy, with a Buddhist monk ringing a bell for the souls of the victims.
"This is nothing but a bloodbath," organiser Hiroshi Taniyama told demonstrators, who included Arabs living in Japan.

The Gaza Ghetto and Western Cant

December 30, 2008
counterpunch.org

By TARIQ ALI
The assault on the Gaza Ghetto, planned over six months and executed with perfect timing was designed largely to help the incumbent parties triumph in the forthcoming Israeli elections. The dead Palestinians are little more than election fodder in a cynical contest between the Right and the Far Right in Israel. Washington and its EU allies, perfectly aware that Gaza was about to be assaulted, as in the case of Lebanon a few years, sit back and watch. Washington, as is its wont, blames the pro-Hamas Palestinians, with Obama and Bush singing from the same AIPAC hymn sheet.

The EU politicians, having observed the build-up, the siege, the collective punishment inflicted on Gaza, the targeting of civilians, etc [See Harvard scholar Sara Roy’s chilling essay in the latest LRB] were convinced that it was the rocket attacks that had ‘provoked’ Israel but called on both sides to end the violence, with nil effect. The moth-eaten Mubarik dictatorship in Egypt and NATO’s favourite Islamists in Ankara, failed to even register a symbolic protest by recalling their Ambassadors from Israel. China and Russia did not convene a meeting of the UNSC to discuss the crisis.

As result of official apathy, one outcome of this latest attack will be to inflame Muslim communities throughout the world and swell the ranks of those very organisations that the West claims it is combating in the ‘war against terror’.

The bloodshed in Gaza raises broader strategic questions for both sides, issues related to recent history. One fact that needs to be recognised is that there is no Palestinian Authority. There never was one. The Oslo Accords were an unmitigated disaster for the Palestinians, creating a set of disconnected and shrivelled Palestinian ghettoes under the permanent watch of a brutal enforcer.

The PLO, once the repository of Palestinian hope, became little more than a supplicant for EU money. Western enthusiasm for democracy stops when those opposed to its policies are elected to office. The West and Israel tried everything to secure a Fatah victory: Palestinian voters rebuffed the concerted threats and bribes of the ‘international community’ in a campaign that saw Hamas members and other oppositionists routinely detained or assaulted by the IDF, their posters confiscated or destroyed, us and EU funds channelled into the Fatah campaign, and US Congressmen announcing that Hamas should not be allowed to run. Even the timing of the election was set by the determination to rig the outcome. Scheduled for the summer of 2005, it was delayed till January 2006 to give Abbas time to distribute assets in Gaza—in the words of an Egyptian intelligence officer: ‘the public will then support the Authority against Hamas’. Popular desire for a clean broom after ten years of corruption, bullying and bluster under Fatah proved stronger than all of this.

Hamas’s electoral triumph was treated as an ominous sign of rising fundamentalism, and a fearsome blow to the prospects of peace with Israel, by rulers and journalists across the Atlantic world. Immediate financial and diplomatic pressures were applied to force Hamas to adopt the same policies as those whom it defeated at the polls. Uncompromised by the Palestinian Authority’s combination of greed and dependency, the self-enrichment of its servile spokesmen and policemen, and their acquiescence in a ‘peace process’ that has brought only further expropriation and misery to the population under them, Hamas offered the alternative of a simple example. Without any of the resources of its rival, it set up clinics, schools, hospitals, vocational training and welfare programmes for the poor. Its leaders and cadres lived frugally, within reach of ordinary people. It is this response to everyday needs that has won Hamas the broad basis of its support, not daily recitation of verses from the Koran.

How far its conduct in the second Intifada has given it an additional degree of credibility is less clear. Its armed attacks on Israel, like those of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade or Islamic Jihad, have been retaliations against an occupation far more deadly than any actions it has ever undertaken. Measured on the scale of IDF killings, Palestinian strikes have been few and far between. The asymmetry was starkly exposed during Hamas’s unilateral ceasefire, begun in June 2003, and maintained throughout the summer despite the Israeli campaign of raids and mass arrests, which followed, in which some three hundred Hamas cadres were seized from the West Bank. On 19 August 2003 a self-proclaimed ‘Hamas’ cell from Hebron, disowned and denounced by the official leadership, blew up a bus in West Jerusalem, upon which Israel promptly assassinated the Hamas ceasefire’s negotiator, Ismail Abu Shanab. Hamas in turn responded. In return, the Palestinian Authority and Arab states cut funding to its charities and, in September 2003, the EU declared the whole Hamas movement to be a terrorist organization—a long-standing demand of Tel Aviv.

What has actually distinguished Hamas in a hopelessly unequal combat is not dispatch of suicide bombers, to which a range of competing groups resorted, but its superior discipline—demonstrated by its ability to enforce a self-declared ceasefire against Israel over the past year. All civilian deaths are to be condemned, but since Israel is their principal practitioner, Euro-American cant serves only to expose those who utter it. Overwhelmingly, the boot of murder is on the other foot, ruthlessly stamped into Palestine by a modern army equipped with jets, tanks and missiles in the longest armed oppression of modern history. ‘Nobody can reject or condemn the revolt of a people that has been suffering under military occupation for forty-five years against occupation force’: the words of General Shlomo Gazit, former chief of Israeli military intelligence, in 1993.

The real grievance of the EU and US against Hamas is that it refused to accept the capitulation of the Oslo Accords, and has rejected every subsequent effort, from Taba to Geneva, to pass off their calamities on the Palestinians. The West’s priority ever since was to break this resistance. Cutting off funding to the Palestinian Authority is an obvious weapon with which to bludgeon Hamas into submission. Boosting the presidential powers of Abbas—as publicly picked for his post by Washington, as was Karzai in Kabul—at the expense of the Legislative Council is another.

No serious efforts were made to negotiate with the elected Palestinian leadership. I doubt if Hamas could have been rapidly suborned to Western and Israel but it would not have been unprecedented. Hamas’s programmatic heritage remains mortgaged to the most fatal weakness of Palestinian nationalism: the belief that the political choices before it are either rejection of the existence of Israel altogether, or acceptance of the dismembered remnants of a fifth of the country. From the fantasy maximalism of the first to the pathetic minimalism of the second, the path is all too short, as the history of Fatah has shown. The test for Hamas is not whether it can be house-trained to the satisfaction of Western opinion, but whether it can break with this crippling tradition. Soon after the Hamas victory I was asked in public by a Palestinian what I would do in their place. ‘Dissolve the Palestinian Authority’, was my response and end the make-belief. To do so would situate the Palestinian national cause on its proper basis, with the demand that the country and its resources be divided equitably, in proportion to two populations that are equal in size—not 80 per cent to one and 20 per cent to the other, a dispossession of such iniquity that no self-respecting people will ever submit to it in the long run. The only acceptable alternative is a single state for Jews and Palestinians alike, in which the exactions of Zionism are repaired.

There is no other way. And Israeli citizens might ponder the following words from Shakespeare [The Merchant of Venice] that I have slightly altered:
‘I am a Palestinian. Hath not a Palestinian eyes? Hath not a Palestinian hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Jew is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that…the villainy you teach me, I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.’

Tariq Ali’s latest book, ‘The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power’ is published by Scribner.

Israel opens Gaza crossings

By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters
Friday, 26 December 2008 independent.co.uk

Israel reopened border crossings with the Gaza Strip today, easing tensions a day after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued a "last-minute" warning to Hamas militants to stop firing rockets or pay a heavy price.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said he ordered the crossings opened for "essential humanitarian" supplies, in response to numerous requests from the international community.

Palestinian workers at the crossings said fuel had arrived for Gaza's main power plant and trucks loaded with grain had crossed into the impoverished enclave, which has been under a tight Israeli blockade since Hamas took control in 2007.

Raed Fattouh, coordinator of supplies, said about 90 trucks loaded with grain, humanitarian aid and goods for the private sector were due to come in to Gaza during the day.

The deliveries may ease tensions that Israeli media said would inevitably end in significant military action to end rocket attacks.

Tension has mounted since a six-month truce expired last week and exchanges of fire increased. At least six militants have been killed by Israeli air strikes. On Wednesday over 80 rockets and mortar shells were fired from Gaza into Israel.

TV appeal

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni discussed the crisis on Thursday with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, which borders Gaza to the west and which brokered the truce in June. Mubarak urged restraint on both sides.

At the same time, Olmert appeared on a widely-watched Arabic television channel, urging Gazans in an interview to reject their Islamist rulers and stop the rocket menace.

He said it was a last-minute appeal and warned he would not hesitate to use Israel's military might if they did not. About two dozen rockets and mortars were fired on Thursday, and later in the evening Barak announced the crossings would be opened.

Workers on the Gaza side of the Nahal Oz fuel depot said a delivery had arrived for the main power plant in Gaza, where shortages mean periodic blackouts for many of the 1.5 million residents, about half of whom also rely on food aid.

Despite the movement of aid, the shooting did not cease entirely. An Israeli military spokesman said the Erez border crossing, the main passage for people between Israel and Gaza, was closed after two mortar bombs fell in the area.

At least 10 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel from Gaza on Friday, he said.

Israel withdrew its forces and settlers from Gaza in 2005, and Olmert said it had no wish to re-occupy the coastal strip.

Israeli reports said no decision had been made on a major offensive which could involve ground combat likely to result in high casualties. But a phased, incremental response was likely if the rocket fire continued.

Pakistan Moves Forces as Tensions With India Rise

y RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and SALMAN MASOOD

Published: December 26, 2008
NYTimes

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has begun moving some troops away from its western border with Afghanistan and has stopped many soldiers from going on leave amid rising tensions with India, Pakistani officials said Friday.

The move is likely to frustrate the United States, which has been pressing Pakistan to battle militants in its lawless northwest territories and working hard to cool tempers in the two nuclear-armed nations following the terrorist attacks last month in Mumbai that left 171 dead.

Two of those officials said some troops were headed to the country’s border with India, but by late in the day there appeared to be little indication that the redeployment involved large numbers of soldiers.

One senior military official, who would not say where the troops were going, said the decision to redeploy forces and place restrictions on leave was made “in view of the prevailing environment,” namely the deteriorating relations with India since the terrorist attacks. India has blamed a Pakistani militant group for the three-day siege on hotels and other buildings in the country’s financial capital.

With so little information being presented, it was unclear Friday whether the troop movements reflected a serious fear of attack from India or were intended as a warning to the Indian government.

A senior American official said on Friday afternoon that the United States military “had yet to see anything to verify the movement of Pakistan forces eastward.”

Since the terrorist attacks, India’s leaders have repeatedly said that they do not want war, but have also expressed frustration with what they have called Pakistan’s unwillingness to curtail militant groups.

The situation is complicated by deep divisions within Pakistan about how to deal with Islamic extremists, including those in its northwest territories who cross into Afghanistan to attack NATO and American troops. Under intense pressure from the United States, the government has sent troops to battle the militants there in recent months, but many Pakistanis resent the American pressure. American officials have engaged in intense diplomacy in the last month, trying to keep the relationship between India and Pakistan from worsening. Officials were worried about hostilities, but also wanted to ensure that Pakistan’s focus was not diverted from fighting militants in the northwest.

On Friday, a White House spokesman, Gordon D. Johndroe, said: "We don’t want either side to take steps to raise tensions in an already tense situation."

Two Pakistani military officials who provided information on the troop movement, offered little detail and were careful and measured in their comments. They said nothing harsh or critical about India, even though they were speaking with the guarantee their names would not be used.

One of those officials confirmed that troops were being drawn from northwestern Pakistan, where the military is fighting Taliban militants on several fronts. He also said “essential troops in limited numbers are being pulled out of areas where no operations are being conducted,” or where winter weather had already limited their ability to maneuver.

Neither official would say where the troops were heading.

However, two Pakistani intelligence officials — one from military intelligence and one from the country’s premier Inter-Services Intelligence agency — suggested the situation was more serious and said some troops were moving toward the Indian border.

One of the intelligence officials described the situation as “tense” and said intelligence intercepts had led Pakistani officials to worry that India might launch a strike inside Pakistan as soon as the next three or four days. Troops on the border have been told to be on alert, the official said. The second intelligence official estimated the chance of armed conflict as about one in three.

Another Pakistani official said that for the past week the air force had been in a “point defense” posture, standing ready to defend specific key defense installations and cities — including Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore — as well as the Kahuta nuclear weapons laboratory. The forces include two squadrons of F-7 and F-16 fighters, the official said, adding that pilots are sleeping in uniform with their boots on.

The Associated Press quoted two Pakistani intelligence officials as saying that the Pakistani Army’s 14th division was being sent to Kasur and Sialkot, near the Indian border, and that around 20,000 troops were being redeployed. However, neither the scale nor the specific destination of the troops could be confirmed.

The redeployment came as Indian authorities warned their citizens not to travel to Pakistan, citing reports that Indian citizens had allegedly been arrested in Pakistan in connection with a bombing this week in Lahore. In India, the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, summoned the leaders of his country’s armed forces on Friday.

India has blamed the Mumbai attacks on Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned group based in Pakistan that has fought Indian forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir for years. But Pakistani leaders have said the Indian government has not yet proven that Lashkar was involved.

The troop movements away from northwestern Pakistan, if they later prove to be significant in size, are likely to deepen concerns among American officials about Pakistan’s commitment to battling Taliban militants.

If troops are being sent toward the Indian border, the action is in contrast to efforts earlier this month to cool hostilities between the two countries, which have fought three wars since 1947.

Two weeks ago, for example, Pakistani officials went out of their way to play down what they said were two incursions by Indian warplanes into Pakistani airspace, calling them inadvertent in public even though some privately said the incursions were likely a test or a provocation. Their response to the airspace violations — which the Indian military denied — won praise from United States leaders.

For its part, India on Friday accused its neighbor and rival of “diverting attention” from terror to war, but Indian officials refused to comment on the reports of troop movements inside Pakistan.

In advising against travel to Pakistan, Indian officials said there had been reports in the Pakistani media of arrests of Indian nationals in Lahore and Multan. But they took pains not to blame the elected civilian government in Pakistan. “It seems that this is the work of other agencies in Pakistan that operate outside the law and civilian control,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

The Indian Foreign Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, met with his counterpart from Saudi Arabia, among Pakistan’s staunchest allies, as part of India’s worldwide diplomatic campaign to put pressure on Pakistan to quash terrorist groups operating on its soil.

“Instead of diverting attention from the real issue, they should concentrate on how to fight against terrorism and bring to book the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack,” Mr. Mukherjee said.

Indian officials including Mr. Singh have repeatedly said that they are not keen to go to war. Nor has the political opposition pressed for military action in response to the siege in Mumbai.

Such action, even a limited strike on terror training camps, would invite swift retaliation, officials have said privately in recent weeks. Just as important, any military standoff would only make the Pakistani Army more central to power in Islamabad — precisely what India least desires.

German electronics company settles with SECPosted: 05:03 PM ET By David Goldman CNNMoney.com NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Electronic equipment maker Sie

By David Goldman

CNNMoney.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Electronic equipment maker Siemens AG has agreed to pay $1.4 billion Monday to U.S. and German authorities after the company allegedly engaged in bribery, the SEC said in a news release.

According to the SEC, the Munich-based company will pay a $350 million fine to the commission to pay back the money it wrongfully obtained after bribing several institutions and providing kickbacks to get construction jobs. The company will also pay $450 million to the U.S. Department of Justice to settle criminal charges and $569 million to the Office of the Prosecutor General in Munich.

The SEC alleged that Siemens paid bribes and kickbacks to organizations around the world between 2001 and 2007. The SEC said the bribes were paid to obtain licenses to design and construct the metro transit lines in Venezuela, and build power plans in Israel and refineries in Mexico.

Caroline Kennedy Is Seeking Seat Held by Clinton

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE

Published: December 15, 2008
NYTimes.com

ALBANY — Caroline Kennedy, the deeply private daughter of America’s most storied political dynasty, will seek the United States Senate seat in New York being vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Ms. Kennedy ended weeks of silence with a series of rapid-fire phone calls to the state’s leading political figures, including Gov. David A. Paterson, in which she emphatically and enthusiastically declared herself interested in the seat, according to several people who received the calls.

“She told me she was interested in the position,” Mr. Paterson said at a news conference outside Albany on Monday. He added, “She’d like at some point to sit down and tell me what she thinks her qualifications are.”

Moreover, friends said, Ms. Kennedy, whose own mother assiduously shielded her from scrutiny when she was young, has become less worried about subjecting her three children to the spotlight now that they have grown older. Ms. Kennedy’s two daughters — Rose, 20, and Tatiana, 18 — are in college. Her son, John, turns 16 next month.

“The kids are a big part of it. But part of it is she knows she can really do a great job at this,” said Ellen Alderman, a law school classmate of Ms. Kennedy and her co-author on two books.

Ms. Kennedy has also retained Knickerbocker SKD, a well-connected political consulting firm founded by Josh Isay, a former chief of staff to Mr. Schumer. The firm counts among its clients Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Ms. Quinn, and Mr. Brown, and enjoys close ties with some of New York’s powerful labor unions. Several of those called by Ms. Kennedy said that she had not asked for their endorsement, but merely expressed her interest in the job and willingness to earn it. Those discussions seemed intended to soothe some of the feathers already ruffled among the many elected officials, including some in New York’s Congressional delegation, who are seeking the seat.

“What we need, obviously, is someone of great stature to follow Hillary Clinton,” said Ms. Slaughter, who said she would support Ms. Kennedy’s bid for the office.

And, in a move that carries an unmistakable echo of the “listening tour” that jump-started Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy in 2000, Ms. Kennedy has made plans to visit parts of upstate New York, where she is perhaps least well known, and where her candidacy may draw the most skepticism.

Mr. Brown said that he expected to meet with her in western New York in the coming weeks.

“She wanted a lay of the land, she wanted to talk about some of the issues that are important to people from Buffalo and upstate,” Mr. Brown said.

Some friends said that they saw Ms. Kennedy’s interest in the seat as part of an evolution in recent years, one that has seen her grow more comfortable with the spotlight. In recent years, she helped raise millions of dollars for New York City schools. She also spent weeks campaigning for Barack Obama on the presidential campaign trail this year, an experience that friends say left her with a greater appetite for public life.

“I think what she learned from it was that she found it to be work that she liked and was excited about and it got her blood flowing,” said Joel I. Klein, chancellor of New York’s public schools.

Though Ms. Kennedy’s interest in the seat has already garnered enormous attention, several other elected officials who have expressed interest in the job said privately on Monday that they would continue to seek it.

And even if Ms. Kennedy does win the nod from Mr. Paterson, she will eventually face a much broader and tougher audience: New York voters, who expressed excitement, skepticism and every emotion in between as word of Ms. Kennedy’s decision spread.

Shannon R. Berkowsky, a teacher from Ms. Kennedy’s neighborhood on the Upper East Side, noted that Ms. Kennedy’s positions on many issues were all but unknown, unlike those of many elected officials who have expressed interest in the seat.

“There are people who have worked hard their whole lives for the greater good who don’t have the name, and should they be passed over?” Ms. Berkowsky said.

But Marie Owen, 69, a flute player who lives on the Upper West Side, expressed admiration for Ms. Kennedy.

“I somehow can’t see her as being corrupt. It’s not her legacy,” she said. “I kind of like the idea, maybe because I’m old.”

Reporting was contributed by Al Baker, Danny Hakim, David M. Halbfinger, David M. Herszenhorn, Winter Miller, Adam Nagourney, Jeremy W. Peters and Sam Roberts.

The governor, who has sole authority to fill the Senate vacancy, insisted that he had not yet chosen a successor to Mrs. Clinton and said that Monday’s conversation with Ms. Kennedy was the first he had had with her since an initial discussion almost two weeks ago.

But several people who have counseled the governor on the pending vacancy said that Ms. Kennedy has emerged as a clear front-runner, if she proves able to withstand the intense scrutiny and criticism that her decision to seek the seat is likely to provoke.

Still, some have questioned whether Ms. Kennedy is qualified for the job.

Ms. Kennedy is now launching a public effort to demonstrate that she has both the ability and the stomach to perform the job, with plans to visit parts of the upstate region. The governor, who has expressed frustration with other elected officials for campaigning too openly, has done nothing to discourage her, said a person who has spoken with Ms. Kennedy.

In addition, a person with direct knowledge of the conversations said that Ms. Kennedy and Mr. Paterson had spoken several times in recent days and that the governor had grown increasingly fond of her. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing the governor, said that Mr. Paterson also had come to see Ms. Kennedy as a strong potential candidate whose appointment would keep a woman in the seat and whose personal connections would allow her to raise the roughly $70 million required to hold on to the seat in the coming years.

Under state law, Ms. Kennedy would have to run and win in 2010, to finish out the last two years of Mrs. Clinton’s term, and again in 2012, to win a term of her own.

Another person who had advised Mr. Paterson said that Ms. Kennedy could offer political advantages to the governor, who was elevated to his position after Eliot Spitzer resigned in March and in two years must ask voters to actually elect him as governor.

“The upside of her candidacy is that the 2010 ballot will read Kennedy - Paterson,” said one of those advisers, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the governor’s thinking. “David craves national attention and money. If you connect the dots, it leads to her.”

For Ms. Kennedy, an appointment to the Senate would open a historic and exceedingly high-profile chapter to a life largely shielded from public view, and comes at a poignant time for her personally.

Her uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, is struggling with terminal brain cancer, and his illness has forced members of his extended family to contemplate the possibility that the Senate could be left without a Kennedy for the first time in a half century. Mr. Kennedy has encouraged his niece, to whom he talks nearly every day, to pursue Mrs. Clinton’s seat, a spokesman for the senator, Anthony Coley, said. Associates of the senator say he has made it clear he would not pressure her to do so. Still, they said nothing would make him happier or prouder than having his niece in the Senate, which — far more than the White House — has been the core of the family’s long record of public service.

Other members of the family, especially her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have also strongly encouraged Ms. Kennedy, who, if she were appointed, would become the first woman to lead the Kennedy dynasty, whose most successful and visible members have been men. Her brother, John F. Kennedy Jr., who died in a plane crash in 1999, had once been urged to run for the seat, which was held by their uncle, Robert F. Kennedy.

Ms. Kennedy, who initially seemed taken aback by questions about whether she would be interested in the position, has grown increasingly excited about and focused on the opportunity in recent days, those who have talked to her said. She has moved aggressively into campaignlike mode, albeit with careful attention to political protocol.

On Monday, she called dozens of political figures to let them know she was interested in the job. Besides Mr. Paterson and Christine C. Quinn, the New York City Council speaker, Ms. Kennedy called upstate officials like Representative Louise M. Slaughter and Byron Brown, the mayor of Buffalo; the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader; and Charles E. Schumer, New York’s senior senator.

(One name who may or may not have been on the list: Mrs. Clinton. Through spokesmen, Mrs. Clinton and Ms. Kennedy declined to say whether or not they had spoken. While Mrs. Clinton has said that she would leave the decision to Mr. Paterson, some officials close to her have publicly questioned Ms. Kennedy’s credentials for the job.)

White House announces deal on $14-billion auto bailout

Democrats drop provision that would have forced automakers to stop funding lawsuits against state limits on greenhouse emissions. Skeptical Republicans could give the bill a tough road in the Senate.

By Jim Puzzanghera
12:50 PM PST, December 10, 2008
latimes.com

Reporting from Washington -- The White House said this morning it had finalized a deal with congressional Democrats to provide $14 billion in emergency loans to U.S. automakers with strict oversight that would require restructuring plans or bankruptcy by the spring.

"It's a bill that provides bridge financing to one of two possibilities . . . fundamental restructuring or bankruptcy," said Joel Kaplan, White House deputy chief of staff for policy. "We wanted to make sure it was tough and that this was not a bridge financing to nowhere."

The legislation, which House Democrats finished drafting this morning, would create a presidentially appointed monitor, or auto czar, to negotiate the restructuring of any companies that take the money. General Motors and Chrysler both have said they need government money to survive until March 31.

If those restructuring agreements don't meet strict terms for future financial viability by March 31 -- or by April 30 if the monitor agrees to a one-time extension to complete productive talks -- the government would be required to recall the loan, Kaplan said. That move would trigger bankruptcy for any company that was desperate enough to need the emergency loans, he said.

The legislation would prohibit any additional federal money to the automakers if they fail to come up with an acceptable restructuring plan, but would open the door to longer-term government financing if they do.

"This gives these firms a chance to make these concessions voluntarily, but if they don't, the alternative path is quite clear," Kaplan said.

The final sticking point was overcome when congressional Democrats removed a controversial provision to require automakers to stop funding lawsuits against California and more than a dozen other states over new limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Kaplan said the White House had told Democratic leaders there was no chance the bill would pass if that provision remained.

The legislation faces a tough road in the Senate, where Democrats hold a slim 50-49 majority and need Republican support to get the 60 votes needed to avoid a threatened filibuster. This morning, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) vowed to use whatever procedural tactics he could to block the bill.

"This proposal at its core is about giving these companies $15 billion of loans ... on the promise of a detailed restructuring plan yet to come," Vitter said. "I think the average American would say, 'What? Isn't that putting the cart before the horse? Isn't that, to use a common phrase, just ass-backwards?'

Because of such opposition, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said he would not allow a vote to take place today, as Democrats and the White House had hoped. The White House was dispatching Chief of Staff Josh Bolten to Capitol Hill today to try to convince skeptical Senate Republicans, and President Bush was expected to personally lobby in coming days, Kaplan said.

Puzzanghera is a Times staff writer.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

Strike adds to unrest in Greece

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

news.bbc.co.uk

Several thousand people have marched through the Greek capital Athens to protest at the government's economic policies, as part of a general strike.

While turnout appeared lower than expected, the strike hit transport and the public sector and the city saw new unrest over the shooting of a teenager.

Rioters hurled petrol bombs at police outside a court where two policemen were remanded in custody for his death.

A defence lawyer says the youth was killed by a ricochet.

Greece's conservative prime minister has vowed to restore order and compensate businesses affected by the riots, which spread from Athens across Greek cities after the shooting on Saturday.

The leader of the socialist opposition, George Papandreou, made a call for public calm.

A lawyer for the officer who fired the shot which killed 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, who was buried on Tuesday, said ballistics tests on the fatal bullet had shown the death was an accident.

Police officer Epaminondas Korkoneas, 37, was charged with murder and police officer Vassilios Saraliotis, 31, was charged as an accomplice. The Athens court ordered both men to be held in jail pending their trial. No date for the trial was set.

The ballistics tests have not yet been published and the Grigoropoulos family has hired an independent pathologist to study the case to ensure there is no cover-up.

Union demands

The two main umbrella unions - the Greek General Confederation of Workers (GSEE) and the Civil Servants Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY) - are demanding increased social spending in light of the global financial crisis, as well as higher wages and pensions.

They represent about 2.5 million workers - roughly half of the total Greek workforce.

For union leaders, though, the number of people who took part in the demonstration in Constitution Square was almost embarrassingly small, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in the capital.

While flights in and out of Athens airport were cancelled, and some banks and businesses were closed, most private sector workers found ways to reach their work-places.

The Athens Traders Association estimates the rioting over the police shooting caused 1bn euros ($1.3bn, £874m) worth of damage.

Responding to the unrest, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis promised on Wednesday to restore order and announced measures to compensate businesses that have suffered.

In a televised address, he pledged immediate aid packages, including cash payments and tax freezes, for businesses whose buildings had been torched or property looted.

"The government is determined to consolidate the feeling of public safety and to help businesses get back on their feet," said Mr Karamanlis.

Mr Papandreou, who has called for early elections on the grounds that public confidence in the government has been shaken, urged calm on Wednesday.

"I appeal to all to show responsibility, restraint and to end the violence that our country is experiencing these days," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

Our correspondent says that the government has been badly wounded but will survive, as long as the prime minister can maintain party discipline.

New violence

Rioters hurled several petrol bombs near the courthouse where the two policemen were appearing before a magistrate for questioning.

The bombs were reportedly thrown as a defence lawyer was preparing to talk to reporters outside the building.

An Associated Press reporter witnessed running battles in the city centre as masked youths pelted police with rocks, bottles and blocks of marble smashed from a metro station entrance.

Windows newly replaced after four nights of rioting were smashed again.

"The government wanted us to postpone this protest, but they are the ones who have to do something to stop this violence and to improve the quality of our lives," said one demonstrator, drama student Kalypso Synenoglou.

High-school students chanting "Cops! Pigs! Murderers!" clapped and cheered each time a riot policeman was hit by a stone, AP adds.

Also on Wednesday, a group of about 100 Roma attacked a police station in the impoverished Athens suburb of Zefyri, where they attempted unsuccessfully to push a burning lorry into the station, Greek TV reports.

And in the port city of Patras, 215km (134 miles) west of Athens, a crowd of shop-owners is said to have turned on rioters and forced them to stop a wave of destruction, our correspondent says.

Entrepreneurs have been sleeping in their shops to defend them against rioters and looters.

---

Clashes break out as strike shuts down Greece

Associated Press 11:26 AM PST, December 10, 2008

LATimes.com

Protesters attacked Athens' main courthouse with firebombs during a hearing for police officers whose shooting of a teenager set off rioting that appeared to be tapering off today even as a general strike paralyzed the country.

The strike shut down schools, public services, hospitals and flights, increasing pressure on the fragile conservative government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

The police involved in the fatal shooting were testifying behind closed doors when youths hurled Molotov cocktails at the courthouse and smashed a television satellite truck. Riot police fired tear gas. At least two people were hurt.

Riot police and youths also clashed in the city center during a demonstration by more than 10,000 people to protest the conservative government's economic policies. But outbreaks of fighting were smaller and less widespread than in previous days, an indication that the most violent nationwide unrest Greeks have seen in years may be ending.

The demonstrations and the strike called by Greece's two largest labor unions -- umbrella groups that include virtually all public-sector and many private employees -- were scheduled before the riots broke out. They were fueled, however, by anger at the handling of the riots by the government, which holds a single-seat majority in the 300-member parliament.

"This country is not being governed. The government can no longer convince anyone," senior Socialist party member Evangelos Venizelos said in Parliament. "There is no way Mr. Karamanlis can come back from this.

"The policemen's lawyer, Alexis Cougias, told reporters that a ballistics examination showed that 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was killed by a ricochet and not a direct shot. One of the officers had claimed he had fired warning shots and did not shoot directly at the boy. That officer is charged with murder; the other is accused of acting as an accomplice.

"Unfortunately this tragedy is the result ... of an act by the policeman to fire into the air. The bullet ricocheted, we have an entry wound from above," Cougias told reporters outside the courthouse. "It proves irrefutably that it was a ricochet.

"He said the ballistics report was not yet complete but said he had been informed of its contents by authorities. There was no comment from prosecutors, who do not make public statements on pending cases.

Karamanlis' government has faced growing opposition over changes to the country's pension system, privatization and the loosening of state control of higher education, which many students oppose because they feel it will undermine their degrees.

The government's support dropped lower as gangs of youths marauded through cities across the country, torching businesses, looting shops and setting up burning barricades across streets.

The clashes in central Athens escalated into running battles through the city center, with masked youths pelting police with rocks, bottles and blocks of marble smashed from the Athens metro station entrance. The youths shattered windows newly replaced after four nights of rioting.

"The government wanted us to postpone this protest, but they are the ones who have to do something to stop this violence and to improve the quality of our lives," said one demonstrator, drama student Kalypso Synenoglou.

High-school students chanting "Cops! Pigs! Murderers!" clapped and cheered each time a riot policeman was hit by a rock. At least one person was hurt.

Clashes also broke out during demonstrations in the northern cities of Thessaloniki and Kavala.

Storeowners have accused authorities of leaving their businesses unprotected as rioters smashed and burned their way through popular shopping districts. Although police have responded when attacked by rock- and Molotov cocktail-throwing protesters, they held back when youths turned against buildings and cars.

But Karamanlis has ignored mounting calls for him to resign and call early elections.

An opinion poll for the conservative daily Kathimerini published today found 68 percent of Greece believe the government mishandled the crisis -- including nearly half of respondents who voted for Karamanlis' conservative party in general elections last year. Only 18 percent approved.

The Public Issues survey was based on a sample of 478 people questioned Monday and Tuesday and had a 4.5 percent margin of error.

Greece has a long legacy of activism; it was a student uprising that eventually brought down a seven-year military junta in 1974. Tensions persist between the security establishment and a phalanx of deeply entrenched leftist groups that often protest globalization and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The groups have now evolved into various mainly youth factions that claim to fight trends ranging from globalization to police surveillance cameras. Their impact is usually limited to graffiti and late-night firebomb attacks on targets such as stores and cash machines.

Amnesty International accused Greek police of heavy-handed tactics against protesters, saying police "engaged in punitive violence against peaceful demonstrators" instead of focusing on rioters.

Vote on Detroit Bailout Nears

Measure Would Create Car Czar To Oversee Rescue

By Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane

Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 10, 2008; Page A01

The White House and congressional Democrats yesterday reached an "agreement in concept" on a measure that would throw a government lifeline to the faltering Detroit auto industry but require the auto giants, their workers and creditors to quickly negotiate a plan to achieve profitability or face the prospect of bankruptcy.

The agreement calls for the government to speed $15 billion in emergency loans to the car companies as soon as next week, and for President Bush to immediately name a car czar to oversee the bailout. Under the agreement, the car czar would be required to revoke the loans unless the companies proved by March 31 that they were implementing a plan to achieve "a positive net present value," according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because final language was still under discussion.

Under the measure, if the firms fail to make progress, the car czar would be required to submit to Congress a new plan to restore them to financial viability, the official said, including the option of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. If no plan for the long-term survival of the companies were to emerge, the firms would be ineligible for any additional federal assistance.

The official said the agreement would create "three very serious sticks to ensure that this is truly what it was intended to be: bridge financing for firms that have a plan and a path to become competitive," rather than becoming "the first in a number of interminable loans that these guys can get to avoid making the hard choices."

The agreement cedes to the Bush administration its central demand that the auto giants move immediately to make changes in their operations or lose government funding. It would also ensure that the car companies would be held to a tough standard after President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

Last night, the agreement was still being drafted into legislation, which would be subject to review by both sides. But the official said "there's an agreement on the concept and the way forward" between the Bush administration and Democratic lawmakers.

House leaders said they would hold the first vote as soon as today. Still unclear was whether the plan would be accepted by congressional Republicans, whose support is crucial to pushing it through the closely divided Senate. Yesterday, a growing list of Republicans voiced opposition to the compromise.

Some Republicans said they were annoyed that they had been excluded from the negotiations. Others raised more fundamental objections, saying the plan didn't go far enough to compel the auto giants to make painful changes in their operations and to ensure that taxpayers are repaid. As the White House began working to shore up GOP support, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) said he plans to use Senate rules to block the measure, which could delay a vote in the Senate until early next week.

"Unless major changes are made that I can be convinced of, it would take a lot for me to move off where I am," said Ensign, who expressed skepticism toward the idea of investing vast powers in an auto czar.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) acknowledged the brewing battle in remarks on the Senate floor, but vowed to press ahead, even if it means keeping senators in Washington through the weekend. "We're going to have a vote on this sometime. We can either have it sooner or we can have it later," Reid said. "We cannot let a few people stop us from doing the people's business."

Until new members take office in January, Democrats have at best a 50-to-49 edge in the Senate, because of President-elect Barack Obama's resignation. It was unclear yesterday whether Obama's vice president, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), would cast a vote on the auto bill, meaning Democrats may need as many as 11 GOP votes to prevail over filibuster threats. A spokesman for Obama's pick for secretary of state, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), said she would be available for the vote.

The legislative maneuvering came as Democratic negotiators and White House officials were signing off on the final details of an agreement to speed $15 billion in emergency loans to the car companies as soon as next week -- less than half the $38 billion General Motors, Chrysler and Ford had been seeking. The money is intended to keep GM and Chrysler afloat through the end of March. Ford has said it does not expect to need the money immediately.

Under the proposal, the government would get warrants for equity equal to at least 20 percent of the loan it provides to each firm. Bush would immediately name a car czar or trustee to manage the bailout and set broad goals for the industry in January. By March 31, the companies would be required to submit detailed proposals for cutting costs, restructuring debt and producing fuel-efficient vehicles that can succeed in the marketplace. Otherwise, the car czar could demand immediate repayment of the loans, a move that would effectively force the firms into bankruptcy.

In talks yesterday, Democrats bowed to the White House on a series of key demands, including that the car czar be allowed less discretion over whether to extend long-term government assistance to the car companies. A senior Democratic aide said the measure was being redrafted to make clear that the car czar would be required to recall any federal loans or to deny additional government support to the companies if they fail to meet certain benchmarks on the road to financial solvency.

Democrats also agreed to increase the size of the investments, asset sales or other transactions that must be reported to the car czar from $25 million to $100 million. The provision is intended to prevent the firms from using taxpayer dollars to make investments abroad, but the Bush administration argued that the lower figure would amount to "micromanaging," according to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, whose staff was leading the talks for House Democrats.

Democrats kept a provision, opposed by the White House, that bars car companies that accept federal cash from pursuing lawsuits against California and other states trying to implement tailpipe emissions standards that are tougher than the federal guidelines.

Republicans say the move would undercut the automakers' profits, but Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said yesterday in a letter to Reid that GM and Ford have laid out business plans indicating that they already intend to exceed the California fuel economy standards within the next few years.

The administration official warned that if the provision stays in the measure, "it will not succeed."

Democrats also were pressing to include a provision stating that if the loans fail to save Chrysler from bankruptcy, the government could recover its money from Cerberus Capital Management, the private-equity firm that owns 80 percent of Chrysler's stock.

The White House was balking at that idea, congressional aides said. But even some Republicans are troubled by the possibility that public dollars could wind up in Cerberus's well-capitalized hands.

Yesterday, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said taxpayers should not pour cash into Chrysler if Cerberus was unwilling to do so. Grassley also objected to an unrelated provision in the developing measure that would enable transit agencies, such as the Washington area Metro, to continue benefiting from a financial arrangement that amounts to a tax shelter for foreign institutions.

"Taken together, these issues are a one-two punch. They insult the taxpayer by propping up tax evasion, and they insult every American feeling the brunt of the economic crisis by putting tax dollars on the line where private equity investors refuse to put any of their own money at risk," Grassley said in a statement.

In a statement, Cerberus said that it had "worked tirelessly to assist Chrysler" and would "continue to provide Congress with full transparency as to its financials."

Your request is being processed... Greece Update: Riots Break Out During Teen's Funeral, Opposition Leader Calls For Early Elections

NICHOLAS PAPHITIS and ELENA BECATOROS | December 9, 2008 09:17 PM

huffingtonpost.com

ATHEN, Greece — Masked youths and looters marauded through Greek cities for a fourth night Tuesday, in an explosion of rage triggered by the police shooting of a teenager that has unleashed the most violent riots in a quarter century.

The nightly scenes of burning street barricades, looted stores and overturned cars have threatened to topple the country's increasingly unpopular conservative government, which faces mounting calls for Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to resign.

Police fired tear gas at protesters Tuesday following the funeral of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, who was laid to rest in an Athens burial attended by about 6,000 people.

The rioting _ which has engulfed cities from Thessaloniki in the north to the holiday island of Corfu and Crete in the south _ threatens the 52-year-old Karamanlis, who already faced growing dissatisfaction over financial and social reforms at a time of deep anxiety over growing economic gloom.

Opposition Socialist leader George Papandreou called for early elections, charging the conservatives were incapable of defending the public from rioters.

"The government cannot handle this crisis and has lost the trust of the Greek people," Papandreou said. "The best thing it can do is resign and let the people find a solution ... We will protect the public."

The call was echoed by protesters, who, though they have not voiced any particular policy goals, say they want Karamanlis out.

"It's very simple _ we want the government to fall. This boy's death was the last straw for us," Petros Constantinou, an organizer with the Socialist Workers Party, said in Athens. "This government wants the poor to pay for all the country's problems _ never the rich _ and they keep those who protest in line using police oppression."

Karamanlis, whose New Democracy party narrowly won re-election a year ago, has ignored the calls.

Greece was torn by years of civil war between communists and right-wing nationalists in the wake of World War II, and was ruled by a military dictatorship from 1967 to 1974.

Though a student uprising succeeded in ending military rule in 1974, it also left a legacy of activism and simmering tensions between the security establishment and a phalanx of deeply entrenched leftist groups that often protest against globalization and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The groups have now evolved into various mainly youth factions that claim to fight trends ranging from globalization to police surveillance cameras. Their impact is usually limited to graffiti and late-night firebomb attacks on targets such as stores and cash machines.

But the latest riots have moved far beyond the small antiestablishment groups to become a siege of Karamanlis' government. Teenagers and university students have joined self-styled anarchists in much of the rioting and destruction.

The fallout from the riots, which has seen police stations nationwide come under attack by rock- and Molotov cocktail-throwing youths, could be far-reaching.

"This reaction will register as major discontent in the next public opinion polls, which will hobble the government's effectiveness," political analyst Anthony Livanios told The Associated Press. Whenever the government tries to pass reforms, "Greek society will react _ while the level of parliamentary opposition will increase."

The government is already facing public discontent over the state of the economy, the poor job prospects of students and a series of financial scandals that have badly rattled public confidence.

Greece is heavily dependent on tourism, which could decline as a result of the global economic crisis.

Karamanlis trails the Socialists in recent opinion polls and would struggle to win a general ballot now. His government clings to a single seat majority in the 300-member Parliament and could be brought down by a single defection, though it is unlikely any deputy would risk his political career to topple a government at a time of civil unrest.

A poll released Tuesday gave the Socialists a 4.8 percent lead over Karamanlis' conservatives. The poll gave no margin of error.

A senior Socialist party official, Christos Protopappas, blamed underlying social inequalities for the violence, saying the government's policies exacerbated the gap between rich and poor.

"If there is no change in policies, I fear that what will happen in six months or one year will be much worse," he said.

Analyst Livanios agreed. "This was an emotional reaction after public opinion was outraged by the unfortunate event of the teenager's killing," he said. "Clearly, during very negative economic conditions people with very low incomes and jobless people who can see no future for themselves became part of this social reaction."

On Tuesday, police fired tear gas to dispel dozens of youths throwing stones and sticks and setting trash cans on fire near the funeral for Grigoropoulos, whose death Saturday sparked the rioting. Dozens of local residents gathered on the streets, shouting at police to stop firing gas in the residential area.

Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis said "the winds of destruction are blowing through our city."

Schools and universities across Greece were closed for the funeral and hundreds of teachers, university lecturers and students rallied in central Athens, where hundreds of teenagers threw rocks and scuffled with officers.

Still, the clashes were less severe than the rioting over the past three nights.

Amnesty International accused Greek police of heavy-handed tactics against protesters, saying police "engaged in punitive violence against peaceful demonstrators" instead of focusing on rioters.

____

Associated Press writers Derek Gatopoulos and Menelaos Hadjicostis contributed to this report.

Funeral Leads to More Greece Mayhem

By RACHEL DONADIO and ANTHEE CARASSAVA

Published: December 9, 2008
NYTimes

ATHENS — A fourth day of rioting erupted here and around Greece on Tuesday, as a 15-year-old boy killed by the police over the weekend was buried and the nation’s shaky government grappled with how to contain the worst civil unrest in decades.

While clashes between the police and students have been common in Greece for decades, the ferocity of the reaction to the boy’s death took the nation — and its crippled government — by surprise.

Outrage over the death was widespread, fueled by what experts say is a growing frustration with unemployment and corruption in one of Western Europe’s consistently underperforming economies, worsened by global recession.

But it was expressed in violence in the streets by student anarchists, who had been quiet for several years but seemed revived by the crisis. Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, hanging on to power in Parliament by only one vote, seemed frozen, his government, once popular but now scandal-ridden, pushed a step closer to collapse.

“He’s seriously troubled” about the riots, said Nicholas Karahalios, a strategy adviser to the prime minister. “Whereas before we were dealing with a political andeconomic crisis, now there’s a third dimension attached to it: a security crisis which exacerbates the situ ation.”

Another day of demonstrations was expected in a national strike that was called for Wednesday.

On Tuesday, bands of militant youths threw gasoline bombs and smashed shop windows in downtown Athens, as rioters battled with the police here in the capital and in Salonika, Greece’s second largest city. In the port city of Patras, residents tried to protect their shops from rioters, while other rioters blocked the police station, the authorities said.

While widespread and violent, the protests on Tuesday were seen as slightly smaller than those the day before, when after dark hundreds of professed anarchists broke the windows of upscale shops, banks and five-star hotels in central Athens and burned a large Christmas tree in the plaza in front of Parliament.

At the Athens police headquarters, a spokesman said 12 police officers had been wounded in fighting with demonstrators that flared at 10 major flash points around the Greek capital on Monday night. He said 87 protesters were arrested and 176 people briefly detained.

In the shattered city center on Tuesday, street-cleaning trucks tackled the mess. Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis advised Athenians not to drive into the city center and asked them to keep their trash indoors; rioters burned 160 big garbage containers in the streets on Monday night.

On Tuesday, the opposition leader, George A. Papandreou, a Socialist, renewed his call for early elections. Yet it remained unclear whether the riots would cause the government to fall or whether the current stalemate would continue.

“What I foresee is a prolonged political crisis with no immediate results for two or three years,” said George Kirtsos, a political commentator and the publisher of City Press, an independent newspaper. “In that time, the country will be going from bad to worse.”

On Tuesday, as youths scuffled with the police outside Parliament, Mr. Karamanlis met with his cabinet council and opposition leaders in an effort to get their backing for security operations. But he seemed uncertain exactly how to contain the disturbances. The authorities seem to fear that cracking down on the demonstrators may lead to other unintended deaths, provoking more rioting. Asked why the riots had not been contained, a spokesman for the national police, Panayiotis Stathis, said “violence cannot be fought with violence.”

But in a news conference, Mr. Karamanlis issued warnings somewhat stronger than his actions, saying there would be no leniency for rioters.

“No one has the right to use this tragic incident as an alibi for actions of raw violence, for actions against innocent people, their property and society as a whole, and against democracy,” Mr. Karamanlis said after an emergency meeting with President Karolos Papoulias.

Mr. Karamanlis faced criticism for not acting with a stronger hand earlier, with some suggesting that this gave credibility to the rioters’ anger.

“They chose to show tolerance, which backfired,” said Nikos Kostandaras, the editor of Kathimerini, a daily newspaper. The riots, he added, “were radicalizing every sector of the population.”

On Tuesday, schools and universities were closed, and thousands of teachers and students joined generally peaceful protests through Athens.

George Dimitriou, 22, a member of the agriculture students’ union, said the teenager’s death was an opportunity to protest other issues. “Our generation is facing a tougher future than our parents,” Mr. Dimitriou said as he stood outside Athens University. “This is unheard of, because normally things get better.”

Demonstrations, even occasionally violent ones, are nothing new in Greece, which has a long history of political protest and has been relatively tolerant of the professed anarchist groups that routinely hold antigovernment demonstrations.

To many Greeks, scarred by the memories of military rule in the 1970s, the police remain a hostile remnant of the military junta.

While Greece has a comparatively high ratio of more than 45,000 police officers for 10.7 million people, in the popular imagination, they are seen as ineffective and corrupt, so many Greeks view the police as a fair target for regular demonstrations.

The 15-year-old whose death is at the heart of the disturbances, Alexandros Grigoropolos, was fatally shot on Saturday night while carousing with friends in the Athens neighborhood of Exarchia, where youths routinely battle the police. The police have said he died when officers clashed with a mob of some 30 youths.

One police officer has been charged with premeditated manslaughter in the case and another as an accomplice.

On Tuesday, thousands lined the street outside the small whitewashed chapel and the cemetery where he was buried in Paleo Faliro, a residential neighborhood where he had grown up in an upper-middle-class family. His father is a bank manager and his mother a jeweler.

Although the funeral passed peacefully, with mourners bearing wreaths of white carnations, afterward dozens of militant protesters smashed car windows and skirmished with police officers who sprayed tear gas, although no one was injured.

Earlier on Tuesday, two demonstrations by teachers, students and workers wound their way largely peacefully through downtown Athens, where some shop fronts remained shuttered after Monday night’s riots.

When some students neared the Parliament building, they shouted, “Down with the government of murderers!” and “Let it burn, let it burn, the brothel, the Parliament!” Other militant protesters scuffled with the police.

For much of his tenure, Mr. Karamanlis has been popular, even if his government is less so. He won by a wide margin in 2004 promising reform after two decades of Socialist rule. He was narrowly re-elected in 2007, when his center-right party’s lead fell to two votes in Parliament.

Yet this fall, the government has been stung by a corruption scandal in which it is accused of having sold prime Athens real estate to a monastery ahead of the 2004 Olympics in exchange for cheaper land elsewhere.

Last month, two top ministers resigned over reports of more than 250 land swaps, and lawmakers unanimously agreed to start a special investigation.

The scandals have deeply weakened the government and curbed the prime minister’s chances of reform. This week’s riots have weakened it even further.

Illinois Governor in Corruption Scandal

Gov. Blagojevich in Chicago on Monday.

By MONICA DAVEY

Published: December 9, 2008
NYtimes.com

CHICAGO — The governor of Illinois brazenly put up for sale his appointment of Barack Obama’s successor in the United States Senate, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

In taped conversations with advisers, the governor, Rod R. Blagojevich, seemed alternately boastful, flip and spiteful about the Senate choice, which he crassly likened at one point to that of a sports agent shopping around a free agent for the steepest price, a federal affidavit showed. At times, he even weighed aloud appointing himself to the job, the prosecutors said.

“I’ve got this thing,” Mr. Blagojevich said on one tape, according to the affidavit, “and it’s [expletive] golden. And I’m just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing. I’m not going to do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there.”

Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat, was arrested at his home at dawn Tuesday on charges of conspiracy and soliciting bribes. A lawyer for the governor said he denied any wrongdoing.

The corruption case extended well beyond the Senate appointment, stunned even a state that thought it had seen every brand of political corruption, created grave doubt over how or when President-elect Obama’s successor in the Senate might now be selected, and left many wondering who else might yet be implicated in Mr. Blagojevich’s brash negotiations, which were captured in phone calls taped by federal agents since before Election Day.

“The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave,” Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the United States attorney for the northern district of Illinois, said in announcing the arrest of Mr. Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris.

Under state law, Mr. Blagojevich is assigned to name a replacement for Mr. Obama, who recently resigned as Illinois’ junior senator with two years remaining in his term.

Mr. Obama, who Mr. Fitzgerald said was not implicated in the case, sought to put distance between himself and the governor during brief remarks on Tuesday afternoon and later in an interview with The Chicago Tribune, saying he did not discuss his Senate seat with Mr. Blagojevich.

“I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so we were not — I was not aware of what was happening,” Mr. Obama said. “And as I said, it’s a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment.”

Throughout his career, Mr. Obama has adroitly straddled the state’s bruising politics, forming alliances with some old-style politicians even as he pressed for ethics reform. But Mr. Obama had long been estranged from the governor, even though some in his political circle have had relationships with both of them, including Rahm Emanuel, his chief of staff, and Emil Jones Jr., the retiring State Senate president and a longtime mentor.

The federal accusations against Mr. Blagojevich span beyond the Senate question into what the authorities here described as a “political corruption crime spree.”

The governor is accused of racing to solicit millions of dollars in donations from people with state business before an ethics law bars such behavior in January, threatening to rescind state funds this fall from businesses whose executives refused to give him money, and pressuring The Chicago Tribune to fire members of its editorial board who had criticized him or lose the governor’s help on the possible sale of Wrigley Field, which is owned by the Tribune Company and is home to the Chicago Cubs.

Mr. Blagojevich, who looked somber during an afternoon appearance in federal court, was released from custody on a $4,500 recognizance bond after surrendering his passport. A hearing in federal court will be held in January to determine whether there is probable cause to go forward with the charges.

Sheldon Sorosky, his lawyer, later told reporters that the governor was “very surprised and certainly feels that he did not do anything wrong.”

According to the affidavit, in more than a month of recorded phone calls at his home and campaign office, Mr. Blagojevich considered numerous ways that he might personally and politically gain from the various Senate candidates, none of whom were identified by name in the court filing. One possible choice might be able to help him secure a post with the new administration as secretary of health and human services or energy; a “three way” deal involving a union and another candidate might win him a union leadership post; or perhaps, he could secure the high-paying helm of a nonprofit organization that could be created for him.

Mr. Blagojevich, whose administration has for years been known to be the subject of a federal corruption investigation, also spoke of his family’s financial woes and said he had three criteria for selecting the new senator: “Our legal situation, our personal situation, my political situation — this decision, like every other one, needs to be based on that.”

In several scenarios, the affidavit says, Mr. Blagojevich seemed to refer to plans already under way to make money or win a job (for him or his wife, Patti) in exchange for a particular Senate selection, raising the specter that there might be others, including some of the unnamed Senate candidates, who were participating or at least considering participating in such deals.

In one case, Mr. Blagojevich was taped telling an adviser that he was giving greater consideration to one candidate (described only as Senate Candidate 5) after an approach by “an associate” of that candidate who offered to raise $500,000 for Mr. Blagojevich, while another emissary of the Senate hopeful offered to raise $1 million. “We were approached ‘pay to play,’ ” Mr. Blagojevich said on tape.

But prosecutors, who have made it clear that the investigation is continuing and who issued a plea on Tuesday for people to come forward with information, warned against drawing any conclusions about the true roles of candidates or anyone else in Mr. Blagojevich’s plans. And they emphasized repeatedly that the affidavit made “no allegations against the president-elect whatsoever.”

Several people among the half-dozen whose names have been suggested publicly as Senate possibilities did not respond to requests for interviews. Others, including Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr. and Mr. Jones of the State Senate, who has been one of Mr. Blagojevich’s few allies in Springfield, issued statements expressing shock over the accusations, but they did not answer requests for interviews.

“If these allegations are proved true, I am outraged by the appalling, pay-to-play schemes hatched at the highest levels of our state government,” said Mr. Jackson, who had openly expressed interest in Mr. Obama’s old job and who met with Mr. Blagojevich, whom he is not known to be close to, for 90 minutes on Monday afternoon to discuss the post.

In November, Mr. Blagojevich asserted to an adviser, the affidavit says, that he knew whom Mr. Obama wanted named as his successor — described in the affidavit as Senate Candidate 1, an apparent reference to Valerie Jarrett, a top adviser to Mr. Obama — but cursed him in apparent frustration that “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation.”

Ms. Jarrett later took her name out of consideration for the post. But at one point, Mr. Blagojevich spoke to an official at the Service Employees International Union, the affidavit says, with the “understanding that the union official was an emissary” to discuss the possibility of a “three-way deal” that would put Ms. Jarrett in the Senate seat, Mr. Blagojevich at the leadership of Change to Win, a union-affiliated group, and “in exchange, the president-elect could help Change to Win with its legislative agenda.”

Officials at the service union said they had no reason to believe that any union officials were involved in wrongdoing, and a spokesman for Change to Win said the group had no involvement or discussion with Mr. Blagojevich. “The idea of a position at Change to Win was totally an invention of the governor,” the spokesman said.

Ms. Jarrett could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Mr. Obama’s advisers made the decision on Tuesday essentially to remain silent and ignored criticism for doing so from Republicans, a strategy reminiscent of how the Bush administration reacted to the last high-profile case of Mr. Fitzgerald, who was the special prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case. Still, David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, issued a statement late Tuesday saying he had misspoken in comments he made in November that now seemed to contradict Mr. Obama’s assertions that he had no contact with Mr. Blagojevich in the conversations over a replacement.

“I know he’s talked to the governor,” Mr. Axelrod said in an interview with “Fox News Sunday” on Nov. 23. “And there are a whole range of names, many of which have surfaced.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Axelrod said he had been wrong. “They did not then or at any time discuss the subject,” according to his statement.

The arrest leaves the fate of Mr. Obama’s vacant Senate seat in limbo. Mr. Blagojevich, who may remain in office while charged, still has the power to name a successor to Mr. Obama, though Illinois political experts suggested that the Legislature might move quickly to impeach him — and questioned whether anyone would want an appointment so tainted.

Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said that “no appointment by this governor under these circumstances could produce a credible replacement.”

Mr. Jones said he would call the State Senate back into session to write a law to schedule a special election for the seat.

And Illinois Republicans called for Mr. Blagojevich to resign immediately “for the good of the state,” a possibility that would put Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat who has clashed with Mr. Blagojevich for years and who said Tuesday that they had last spoken in the summer of 2007, in charge.

Of the accusations against Mr. Blagojevich, Mr. Quinn said he was astonished, adding, “Pray for every person and every family in Illinois.”

Mr. Blagojevich arrived in office in 2002, portraying himself as a fresh break from the investigations that had plagued the state for years — and most recently from the investigation and eventual conviction of Gov. George Ryan, a Republican whom Mr. Blagojevich succeeded.

Last month, Mr. Blagojevich said that despite his regular criticism of Mr. Ryan over the years, he believed that President Bush should commute Mr. Ryan’s 6 ½-year sentence even though he had served less than 13 months. It would be a “fine decision,” Mr. Blagojevich said.

On Monday, Mr. Blagojevich, who was visiting a factory sit-in here in Chicago, said he was unconcerned about reports of the corruption investigations that have swirled around his administration since at least 2005. The inquiries have swept up 14 other people, including, by Tuesday, Mr. Harris, the governor’s chief of staff.

“I don’t believe there’s any cloud that hangs over me,” he told reporters at the factory. “I think there’s nothing but sunshine hanging over me.”

Mr. Blagojevich seemed not to mind earlier news reports that his conversations had been taped. “I should say if anybody wants to tape my conversations, go right ahead, feel free to do it,” he said, though he added that those who carried out such tapings sneakily, “I would remind them that it kind of smells like Nixon and Watergate.”