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BEIRUT- Syrian rebels reject Russian claims on chemicals
<html>BEIRUT Syria's main Western-backed opposition group on Wednesday rejected Russian accusations that rebels made sarin nerve gas and used it in a deadly chemical attack outside Aleppo in March. The Syrian National Coalition called the charges "desperate" and "fabricated." Russia is a key ally of President Bashar Assad's regime. Use of chemical weapons is an explosive issue, potentially guiding whether the West increases its aid to rebel forces. President Barack Obama called chemical weapons use by the Assad government a "red line," while such accusations against the rebels could reinforce Western misgivings about arming them. Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, blamed opposition fighters for the March 19 attack in the government-controlled Aleppo suburb of Khan al-Assal, which he said killed 26 people, including 16 government troops, and injured 86 others. The rebels have blamed the government for the attack. The U.S., Britain and France have said they have seen no evidence that the opposition has acquired or used chemical weapons. "Evidence provided by parties that support Assad's tyrannical regime with money,Mets 57 Santana Cream(Black Stripe) Jerseys, weapons, and ammunition is false and clearly fabricated," said the statement by the SNC, a group made up mostly of exiled dissidents. "The recent Russian analysis on the use of chemical weapons in Khan al-Assal is a desperate attempt by Russia to deceive the world and justify Assad's crimes," it added. "The Syrian people consider Russia (to be) Assad's partner in the murder of innocent Syrian civilians." The Coalition invited a U.N. fact-finding mission to enter areas under rebel control in Syria to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. On Monday,Nike Colts 93 Freeney Grey Elite Jerseys, the Syrian government also invited Ake Sellstrom, the Swedish head of the U.N. fact-finding mission on allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria, and U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane to visit Damascus for foreign minister level talks on conducting an inquiry into the Khan al-Assal attack alone. The U.N. has sought wider access. Up to now the government and U.N. have not been able to agree on the scope of an inquiry, and there has been no independent investigation. Sellstrom was expected to meet Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at U.N. in New York later Wednesday. A U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters, said Sellstrom and U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane are likely to visit Damascus "quite quickly" for high-level talks on a possible U.N. investigation. Churkin delivered an 80-page report to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday. He said Syria asked its ally Russia to investigate the attack because of the impasse with the U.N. The samples taken from the impact site were analyzed at a Russian laboratory, Churkin said, and "there is every reason to believe that it was the armed opposition fighters who used the chemical weapons in Khan al-Assal." British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters Wednesday, "It's nice that the Syrian regime has given access to Russian experts to collect samples of alleged chemical weapons use, but it is considerably more important that they give access to independent and credible U.N. investigators." In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney replied, "We have yet to see any evidence that backs up the assertion that anybody besides the Syrian government has had the ability to use chemical weapons or has used chemical weapons." The U.S. says it has "high confidence" that Assad's forces have killed up to 150 people with sarin gas. In violence Wednesday, woman and her four children were killed as they fled shelling near Damascus, the Observatory said. Residents of two northern Syrian towns demonstrated against al-Qaida-linked rebels, an activist said Wednesday, suggesting growing discontent in opposition areas toward hard-line Islamists fighting against the Syrian regime. There have been similar protests over the past month in rebel-held areas, said Rami Abdul-Rahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The organization receives its information through a wide network of activists on the ground. "There's clear dissatisfaction against them," Abdul-Rahman said. He said most residents' anger was directed against one specific group, "The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant," an al-Qaida-linked coalition announced by the head of Iraq's al-Qaida arm, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in April. The Syrian al-Qaida element, the Al-Nusra Front,Search Engine Optimization California, rejected the merger. Last month Al-Qaida's global leader,Directory Submission King Give You Best SEO Result, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was said to be trying to end the squabbling,Letters to Ellie- Memorial Day, ordering that the merger be dissolved. Hard-line Sunni fighters, some from other countries, form the most organized part of the chaotic brigades battling Assad's rule. The war in Syria is now in its third year, and different groups of rebels control northern and southern parts of the country. Abdul-Rahman said it seemed residents were angry because fighters had been arresting youths on flimsy pretexts. "They are trying to show their muscle," he said. Similar demonstrations took place in Aleppo province. --- Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the U.N. contributed this report.
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Judge scolds Alaska Redistricting Board
<html>A Fairbanks judge gave a stern rebuke to the Alaska Redistricting Board, saying in a decision Thursday that it was not worthy of the trust placed in it by the courts and accusing it of acting in a "dilatory" and "disingenuous" manner. Superior Court Judge Michael McConahy, the judge hearing challenges to the failed redistricting plan under which the 2012 election was held, said the board's proposal to wait until August to begin crafting a new plan was unsatisfactory. He said the board had the computer power to draw new boundaries in a matter of days should it choose. "There is no reason to delay this process further," he said. As for whether the board should hold public hearings on a new plan, McConahy was even more blunt. "The Board contends it is not required to hold hearings," McConahy wrote in his ruling. "It is wrong. Any argument that the hearings held in 2011 on plans that were found to be unconstitutional is inartful at best. At worst it is a sad commentary upon Alaskan life and constitutional principles." The board's attorney, Michael White, declined to comment. Chairman John Torgerson, a former Republican state senator from Kasilof and one of two board members appointed by Gov. Sean Parnell, didn't return messages left by telephone and email. The board is directed by the Alaska Constitution to set new legislative boundaries after each 10-year census to account for population movements. Its original plan, completed in 2012,MLM Compensation Plans - Are You Able To Draw a Ci, was declared by the Alaska Supreme Court to be unconstitutional but the 2012 election was held using those districts anyway because there wasn't enough time for a new plan to be developed. Democrats say the board, with its 4-to-1 Republican majority,Obtain One-way Links From A Reputable Backlink Bui, gerrymandered enough districts to ensure one-party Republican rule in Juneau and ease passage of oil-tax cuts and other controversial measures. Republicans counter that the board fixed gerrymandered districts from redistricting in 2002 that favored Democrats. The Supreme Court hasn't directly said whether districts were drawn to favor one party over another. Rather,NBA Caps-008, it has said on several occasions that the board has failed to follow what has become known as the "Hickel process," named after a redistricting case in which then-Gov. Wally Hickel was a party. At issue is how to match the requirements of the Alaska Constitution with those of the U.S. Voting Rights Act. The constitution requires districts that are compact,2013 New Link Building Techniques, contiguous, of near equal population and of similar socioeconomic status. The Voting Rights Act mandates that Alaska Native votes not be improperly diluted in rural areas. Under the Hickel process, state requirements must be set first, then adjusted to comply with federal law. The Alaska Supreme Court found that the redistricting board took the Voting Rights Act into consideration first in several House districts. McConahy's ruling Thursday was an advisory opinion based on clarifications sought by the board and by opponents of the board's redistricting plan. Michael Walleri, an attorney for a pair of those opponents -- two voters from the Fairbanks area -- said he plans now to ask the Alaska Supreme Court to appoint a master to take over from the redistricting board. "The Hickel process has been explained to the board by the courts five times already and they still say, at the meeting in February, they don't know what that means," Walleri said. "Either the board is being disingenuous and acting like they don't understand when they understand very well -- they just simply don't want to comply with it -- or that their failure to understand is in fact genuine, which would suggest that they're incompetent." Despite McConahy's strong language, Walleri said the courts have been "profoundly restrained" in their dealings with the board. "The board has been close to insulting to the courts,2011 All Star Knicks 1 Stoudemire Jersey, both to the Superior Court and the Supreme Court," Walleri said. "Judge McConahy is known for his literary flair. He was very careful to explain in strong language his thoughts but he never ordered them to do anything." McConahy gave the board a quick lesson in civics lest it fail to understand that its actions are subject to judicial review. He cited Marbury v. Madison, the 1803 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court took the authority of judicial review of executive branch decisions, and he noted that military force was used to protect children in Arkansas attending schools that were opened to African-Americans under a 1955 Supreme Court decision. Adapting a lament by a U.S. Supreme Court justice in a child protection case in 1989 -- then it was "Poor Joshua!" -- McConahy wrote: "Alaskans have not had finalized house and senate districts since the announcement of 2010 census. The lament today is 'Poor Alaskans.' " Reach Richard Mauer at or 257-4345.</html>