US Live Blog

Syrian authorities have halted payments to French oil major Total for its oil production activities in the troubled country, a spokesman for the company said on Friday.

This is a further indication that U.S. and European Union sanctions imposed in response to President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on dissent are starting to bite.

Oil exports worth $400m a month are at a standstill.

"We are not paid by the Syrian government any longer," a spokesman for Total said, adding the group had observed a slight production fall in the country.

Reuters - The future of US military support for Bahrain, starting with a $53m arms deal now on the line, hinges on the findings of a human rights investigation into the Gulf kingdom's handling of popular protests earlier this year. 

The jury is out. 

Originally due last month, the report was pushed back to November 23 after Bahrain's longtime superpower ally said it would reassess weapons sales once it had seen the result of the inquiry, a move analysts say has given it more political clout. 

Not only could the report help decide whether Bahrain gets arms that human rights activists fear could be used to crush further dissent, it could also dictate whether Bahrain heads for more communal violence or towards political reconciliation.

"There will be almost certainly some behind-the-scenes wrangling before the final report is released because there is more at stake than was originally assumed," said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. 

"The US Congress is paying more attention and the arms deal is being called into question. So there is quite a bit at stake for the Bahraini government and the report is going to get a lot of attention, for better or worse." 

A Senate subcommittee held a hearing on US policy towards Syria yesterday. You can watch a recording of the hearing here.

This video, also from filmmaker Alex Kopel, shows Occupy Oakland protesters taking over a building which used to house an organisation called "Traveler's Aid", which provided services to homeless and transient people, until it was closed down due to foreclosure.

Activists say the building takeover is the next logical step in the Occupy movement.

The video shows part of the building occupation and the subsequent police response. 

An Oakland man says a police officer shot him with a rubber bullet or beanbag while he was videotaping last week's standoff between law enforcement and a small group that took over a building and lit fires after a day of peaceful anti-Wall Street protests.

Experts in police use of force who reviewed the footage Scott Campbell captured say it appears the volley was unprovoked and inappropriate, the Oakland Tribune reported Tuesday.

In the video posted on YouTube, Campbell, 30, is heard calling, "Is this OK?" to a line of riot gear-clad officers. He told the newspaper that he was asking if his distance from them was adequate because an officer had asked him to step back.

A firearm held by an officer then is seen going off, followed by Campbell's yelps of pain. The Oakland Police Department, which also has been criticized for wounding an Iraq War veteran during an October 25 skirmish, did not respond to a request for comment.

University of South Carolina criminal justice professor Geoffrey Alpert said that unless something occurred off-camera to provoke the officer, the shooting was "one of the most outrageous uses of a firearm" he'd ever seen.

"Unless there's a threat that you can't see in the video, that just looks like absolute punishment, which is the worst type of excessive force," Alpert said.

Campbell, who identifies himself as an anarchist, said he took video of the confrontation that occurred early November 3 because he wanted to document any instances of excessive force, but did not imagine that he would be a target. [AP]

Syria's rule on Monday urged the Arab League to help it against the US, which it accused of involvement in "bloody events," as the opposition called for the "international protection" of civilians.

The pan-Arab group, which is trying to implement its blueprint to end the Syrian government's deadly eight-month crackdown on protesters, said it  received the request in a letter from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.

The letter accused Washington "of actual involvement in bloody events in Syria" and asked the League to "condemn the involvement and to do what is necessary to end it," the group said in a statement.

It did not provide any details on the charges of US involvement in the Syrian bloodshed.

[Source: AFP]

 

The White House on Wednesday reiterated its call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, despite an Arab League announcement that Damascus had accepted its plan aimed at ending a violent crackdown on protesters.

"Our position remains that President Assad has lost his legitimacy to rule and should step down," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

"We support all international efforts that are aimed toward convincing the regime to stop attacking its own people." [Reuters]

An early snowstorm has made its way up the northeast coast of the US, and is now proving to be a challenge for the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators who have set up camp in New York's financial district.

The snow is predicted to be between five to 10 cm over the next 24 hours. Tents started to spring up earlier this week but many people are still sleeping under makeshift tarpaulins, exposed to the weather.

Volunteer medics say hypothermia is already a problem.

Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey reports from New York.

A US firm specialising in internet censoring equipment on Friday confirmed that Syria was using its products to block web activity.

Northern California-based Blue Coat Systems told AFP that internet filtering equipment sold to Iraq's communications ministry has mysteriously been put to use in Syria but insisted it did not know how the equipment changed hands.

The United States bars selling any such equipment to Syria.

"The evidence points to it being in Syria," a Blue Coat official said, referring to analysis of data logs and computer address numbers from Syria's internet posted by "hactivists."

The official said that it appears that at least 13 of the 14 Web censoring "appliances" shipped to Iraq - which combine computer hardware and software - are being used in Syria.

That would be enough equipment to effectively curb internet traffic in that country, according to the company, which said the equipment was shipped to Dubai for delivery to the Iraqi government. [AFP]

The United States on Monday condemned the Syrian army's incursions into neighbouring Lebanon and suggested that dissidents of the Damascus regime had either been killed or taken prisoner at the border, AFP news agency reported.

"Over the course of the lst few weeks, it appears Syrian forces have entered Lebanese territory," a state department spokesman told reporters.

"We are also deeply concerned by indications that Syrian dissidents may have been captured and possibly killed during operations near the border."