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UNITED NATIONS, Mar 10 (IPS/TerraViva) - Whenever gender empowerment is a vibrant topic of discussion internationally, some of the countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America are invariably singled out for their success stories in politics, education, health care or civil liberties even as Africa is mostly left out of political reckoning - and wrongly so.

NAIROBI, Mar 10 (IPS) - Kenyans affected by the violence that erupted after the country’s disputed presidential elections in 2007 may soon be able to speak out without fear. A new bill will offer better protection to state witnesses.

DAR-ES-SALAAM, Mar 10 (IPS) - Pregnancy is the leading cause of dropouts for school girls in Tanzania. And a national law forbidding young mothers to return to school after giving birth did not make it any easier for them to continue their education.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The FBI arrested a reputed U.S. mobster Wednesday on charges he provided protection for a Sicilian counterpart mapping out criminal turf in Florida - part of an international sweep aimed at further crippling the storied Gambino organized crime family and disrupting its ties to the Italian mob....

The head of the global financial lending body, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has said it is still not prepared to offer Zimbabwe any new loans, citing the ongoing political crisis in the country.

The Principals to the Global Political Agreement on Monday failed to come to an agreement concerning the unilateral re-assignment of ministerial functions that were gazetted by government last week Friday.

A damning report outlining how Mugabe's regime has used torture and imprisonment to manipulate elections and other political processes will be launched at the Book Café in Harare on Thursday. The report entitled 'Cries from Goromonzi - Inside Zimbabwe's Torture Chambers' was commissioned by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and contains 23 harrowing testimonies from individuals tortured between 2000 and 2009.

Lyon draw 1-1 in the Bernebau to earn a 2-1 aggregate win over Real Madrid.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democratic leaders announced Wednesday that they will ban the much-criticized practice of using annual spending bills to direct pet projects to companies that often return the favor with campaign contributions....

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Myanmar's military regime took yet another step to expunge Aung San Suu Kyi from the political scene Wednesday by effectively barring her from the first elections in 20 years and pressuring her opposition party to expel her from its ranks....

Wayne Rooney scores twice in another irresistible display as Manchester United ease into the Champions League quarter-finals at AC Milan's expense.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Wednesday passed a $149 billion package of jobless aid and tax breaks, as Democrats continued efforts to lower the 9.7 percent unemployment rate before congressional elections in November.

BOSTON (AP) -- The federal government has recommended an endangered-species listing for loggerhead turtles in U.S. waters, a decision that could have big implications for the fishing industry....

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The self-dubbed "Jihad Jane" who thought her blond, all-American profile would help mask her plan to kill a Swedish cartoonist is a rare case of a U.S. woman inciting foreign terrorism and shows the latest evolution of the global threat, authorities say....

Arrest of 'cat lady', suspected of plot to kill Prophet cartoonist, linked to terror suspects held in Ireland

She lived in Main Street, Pennsburg, which in hindsight is about as rich a paradox as could be. Her apartment on the second floor of a block of flats in the Pennsylvania town was nondescript, except for some wind chimes and a star hanging from the balcony.

But today the world learned of Colleen LaRose's alleged second life, one quite out of keeping with the low-key figure she presented. She was blonde, blue-eyed, 5ft 2ins tall and wholly unassuming, according to a former boyfriend, Kurt Gorman. "She seemed normal to me. She was a good person," he told the Philadelphia Daily News.

But to the FBI agents who had been tracking her every move from at least as early as July last year, she was potentially a dangerous would-be terrorist intent on martyrdom and using the aliases Jihad Jane and Fatima LaRose.

Today, an indictment was unsealed accusing her of plotting to murder a Swedish man in order to frighten "the whole Kufar (nonbeliever) world".

Although the indictment does not name him, her intended victim is reported to have been Lars Vilks, a cartoonist who drew a satirical picture of the head of the prophet Muhammad on top of a dog's body.

US media have reported that LaRose's case is linked to the arrest in Ireland on Tuesday of seven suspected plotters from Algeria, Croatia, Palestine, Libya and the US. Al-Qaida had placed a $100,000 (£67,000) bounty on Vilks's head.

The arrest of LaRose, 46, has been seized on by US national security officials as a warning that terrorist groups want to recruit white Americans to circumvent tight travel controls.

David Kris of the justice department said the allegation "that a woman from suburban America agreed to carry out murder overseas ... underscores the evolving nature of the threat we face".

The US prosecutor for Pennsylvania, Michael Levy, said: "The case demonstrates that terrorists are looking for Americans to join them in their cause, and it shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance."

LaRose was arrested on 15 October as she returned to the US from a trip to Europe, but details have only now been released to allow international agents to track her contacts. She is being held at a federal prison in Philadelphia.

She grew up in Texas but moved to Philadelphia in 2004. Neighbours in Pennsburg told the Los Angeles Times she had a reputation for eccentricity. "She was the weird, weird, weird lady who lived across the hall. We always called her the crazy lady," said Eric Newell, adding that despite that he never thought she was dangerous. His wife, Kristy, said LaRose used to talk a lot to her cats.

Why and when LaRose converted to Islam is not known, but the indictment pinpoints her involvement in jihadist conspiracy to June 2008, when she allegedly posted a comment on YouTube under the alias Jihad Jane, saying she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" the suffering Muslim people.

The charges detail how over the next few months she came into contact through the internet with five separate unnamed but known jihadists in Europe and south Asia. The first connection was allegedly in December 2008 with a south Asian resident who wanted to "wage jihad and become a 'shaheed' (martyr)".

LaRose replied she too wanted to martyr herself, the indictment says. On 20 February last year she sent an email saying that her physical appearance would allow her to "blend in with many people", which "may be a way to achieve what is in my heart", the indictment says.

The following month one of her contacts suggests she "can get access to many places due to ur nationality". LaRose is also alleged to have used the internet to recruit women with passports and easy travel access around Europe in support of violent jihad.

The FBI questioned her about soliciting funds for terrorism and posting on terrorist websites under the username Jihad Jane in July last year. But LaRose showed considerable naivety.

On 23 August she suddenly disappeared from her apartment, to her boyfriend's amazement. "I came home and she's gone," he said, adding that she stole his passport, for which she has also been charged.

That day she travelled to Europe and by September, the indictment says, she was actively searching for her Swedish target, becoming a "citizen" of the artist's cyber community. On 30 September she sent an email saying it was "an honour & great pleasure to die or kill" and pledging that "only death will stop me here that i am so close to the target!"

It is not clear why, but she did not go through with the attack and returned to the US on 15 October, when she was arrested.

If convicted she faces life in prison and fines of up to $1m.

Homegrown terrorism

News of the existence of "Jihad Jane" comes at a time of mounting anxiety in the US about the incidence of American citizens engaging in jihadist activities. It is a phenomenon of homegrown terrorism that has previously been considered rare in the country.

In December last year FBI agents and their Pakistani colleagues interrogated five young American Muslims who were suspected of being on their way to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban, against US-led forces. The five, aged 19 to 25, had formed a close-knit social group in the Alexandria area of Virginia. They had all disappeared from their family homes in late November, reportedly leaving behind a video featuring war scenes and statements about the defence of Muslims.

Earlier in December, another US citizen, David Headley, was charged with helping to plan the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people in 2008. Headley, 49, who lived in Chicago, is accused of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim people, and to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group. Headley was born in Washington DC to a Pakistani diplomat based at the country's embassy and an American mother. He adopted his mother's surname in 2006, which investigators claim allowed him to move more easily across borders.

• Global terrorism
• Sweden
• FBI
• United States

Ed Pilkington
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Mr. Tantawi was leader of Al Azhar, the oldest and most prestigious center of learning in the Sunni Muslim world.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Last year, Palm thought it had all the pieces for a turnaround in the market it pioneered: A new CEO known for making the iPod a household name, a sleek new smart phone called the Pre and fresh, intuitive operating software....

I've been looking for this for a few days, and finally I found it. It's a study, by the Urban Institute, of number of uninsured by congressional district.

Open it up and have a look, especially Exhibit 1 on page 4 of the pdf (the map in green).

Now open up another tab and get this map up on that screen. This is the ever-handy map of presidential results by congressional district.

Toggling back and forth between these two you can see the percentage of uninsured in every district, the person who represents that district, how much he/she won by, how long he/she has served, and whether McCain or Obama carried his/her district.

That last data point helps us answer the question, is the member under unique political pressure? But remember, it does not dispositively answer it. For that, you should take care to compare the Congress member's margin of victory versus McCain's in that district.

So for example, let's look at old Bart Stupak, 1st district of Michigan. Obama won the district 50-49. But Stupak won it 65-33 and has served for nearly 20 years.

Meanwhile, over to the green map: somewhere between 25% and 34% of his non-elderly constituents have no private insurance (non-elderly because all seniors have Medicare). So Stupak has, oh, roughly 140,000 adult constituents with no private insurance who may be denied the chance of getting coverage because he needs to make his point about abortions, very few of which ever get reported by women to their insurance companies anyway.

Isn't this fun?! Go enjoy.

Housekeeping note: This is the last pre-vacation post. I'll be gone for a week but: a, I have a print column coming up in Friday's paper, it seems; b, I will scribble as developments warrant; c, if the House votes, obviously I'll haul myself out of the Closerie de Lilas and make a beeline for the laptop.

I'm actually stopping off in London before I head over to Elitism Central. But this time, friends, I have a conference to attend, and, this time, I'm not traveling alone. Perhaps we can partake of the cup on my next trip. Bon courage for now.

• US Congress
• US healthcare

Michael Tomasky
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CAIRO (AP) -- The Arab League recommended on Wednesday to withdraw its support for indirect talks between Palestinians and Israelis due to recent announcements of new settlement building in east Jerusalem....

Moves aims to restore public confidence in science of global warming after mistake over melting rates of glaciers

The UN called in the world's top scientists today to review a report by its climate body, four months after public confidence in the science of global warming was shaken by the discovery of a mistake about the melting rates of Himalayan glaciers.

In an announcement at the UN in New York Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, and Rajendra Pachauri, the much-criticised head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the InterAcademy Council, which represents 15 national academies of science, would conduct the independent review.

The announcement follows months of controversy which, while not altering the scientific consensus on climate change, has given fresh ammunition to opponents of action on global warming.

Pachauri has faced calls for his resignation, a controversy he acknowledged obliquely today. "We have received some criticism. We are receptive and sensitive to that and we are doing something about it," he said.

The review, which is to complete its work by August, will not undertake a dissection of the 2007 report, which has been pored over by climate sceptics, or re-examine the scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change, said Robert Dijksgraaf, the head of the InterAcademy Council.

"It will definitely not go over vast amounts of data," he told reporters. "Our goal will be to assure nations around the world that they will receive sound scientific advice on climate science."

Instead, he said it would focus on putting in place better quality control procedures for the next report, which is due in 2014.

These would include guidelines for dealing with material that has not undergone peer review such as the item on Himalayan glaciers.

One focus of the review would be the role played by Pachauri who has been criticised for his handling of the error when it first came to light.

Djiksgraaf also said the panel, likely to be made up of 10 experts, would also look at procedures for making corrections in a timely and transparent manner.

The report has been pored over by climate sceptics for errors since last November when it emerged that the IPCC had stated, wrongly, that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035. As Pachauri and Ban noted today, the solid body of the 3,000 page report remained unchallenged.

The discovery of the error goes to the core of criticism of Pachauri whose first response to questions about the accuracy of the IPCC's prediction on the melting of the Himalayan glaciers was to dismiss it as "voodoo science".

Pachauri had also rankled critics by refusing to apologise for the mistakes.

But a spokesman for Pachauri today said the IPCC had initiated the independent review, and had pressed the UN to call in the scientists.

In his brief comments, Pachauri said the work of the IPCC, which shared a Nobel prize with Al Gore in 2007, remained the gold standard of climate science. "We believe the conclusions of that report are really beyond any reasonable doubt," Pachauri said.

Environmental and science organisations supported the UN's decision.

"This is the right move," said Peter Frumhoff, the science director for the Union of Concerned Scientist and a lead author on the IPCC report.

"If this independent review is carried out with rigour and transparency, it will help strengthen the IPCC's commitment to robust scientific assessments and restore public confidence that has been shaken by an aggressive campaign to sow confusion about climate science."

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• Climate change
• Rajendra Pachauri
• Climate change
• United Nations

Suzanne Goldenberg
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