China sends long-missing lawyer Gao back to jail (AP)

BEIJING ? More than a year and a half after prominent civil rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng disappeared, China's government gave the first sign Friday that he is alive, saying he would be sent to prison for three years for violating his probation.

A brief report by the state-run Xinhua News Agency did not answer key questions about Gao ? the condition of his health and his whereabouts now and in the 20 months since he disappeared, presumably at the hands of the authorities.

"Are they sending him to a proper prison? Which prison was he at before? Where were they hiding him?" said Gao's brother, Gao Zhiyi, who has been on a quest to find his sibling.

Gao's wife said from the United States she was still uneasy because of the lack of information.

"When I heard what they said, all I could think was 'Oh, it means he's still alive,'" Geng He said, crying, in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

Charismatic and pugnacious, Gao was a galvanizing figure for the rights movement, advocating constitutional reform and arguing landmark cases to defend property rights and political and religious dissenters. Convicted in 2006 of subversion and sentenced to three years, he was quickly released on probation before being taken away by security agents in 2009 in the first of his forced disappearances that set off an international outcry.

The United States expressed deep disappointment over Friday's announcement, describing Gao's forced disappearance and treatment as a serious human rights concern.

"We're especially concerned about Gao's welfare and whereabouts, including reports that his family has been unable to communicate with him. We reiterate our calls for the Chinese government to immediately release Gao from custody and clarify his whereabouts," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington.

The Xinhua report referred to Gao's 2006 subversion conviction and said Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court found that he "had seriously violated probation rules for a number of times, which led to the court decision to withdraw the probation."

The report did not explain what violations Gao had committed but said his five-year probation was due to expire next Thursday ? timing which legal experts said may have prompted the government to send Gao back to jail. "He would serve his term in prison in the next three years," the report said.

Calls to the No. 1 court and the city's appeals court rang unanswered Friday.

Gao has been held incommunicado in apparent disregard of laws and regulations for all but two months of the last three years. When he emerged from the first 14-month bout in April 2010, he told The Associated Press that he had been shunted between detention centers, farm houses and apartments across north China and repeatedly beaten and abused.

He said he had been hooded several times. His captors made him sit motionless for up to 16 hours and threatened to kill him and dump his body in a river.

"'You must forget you're human. You're a beast,'" Gao said police told him in September 2009.

At one point, six plainclothes officers bound him with belts and put a wet towel around his face for an hour, bringing on a feeling of slow suffocation.

"It's hard to fathom what they might be referring to when they say that he violated his parole given that he seems to have been under constant supervision," said Joshua Rosenzweig, a human rights researcher based in Hong Kong. "It's kind of cynical."

Formalizing Gao's detention as a prison term, Rosenzweig said, gives Chinese leaders a ready response to queries from foreign governments and officials. Gao's case has repeatedly been raised by the U.S. and European governments, drawing cryptic responses if any from Chinese officials. U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke mentioned him in a public statement last weekend.

Gao's wife fled China with their two children, escorted by human traffickers overland to Southeast Asia, around the time he first disappeared. They now live in the United States.

Now living in California, Geng said she learned about the Xinhua report when a friend called her as she was taking her daughter to school. "We've asked them (the Chinese authorities) so many times, and they would never tell us anything," Geng said.

She said the family has yet to receive any notice from the police or courts about Gao's case and they still have no idea where he is.

Adding to the confusion and uncertainty, Geng said local police called Gao's elder sister in Shandong province on Thursday, and asked if Gao was there with her.

"I am not at ease," Geng said. "I still don't know where he is or what kind of condition he's in."

Activists in China seemed astounded and outraged by the news. Huang Qi, who runs a rights monitoring group in Sichuan province, strongly condemned what he said was the use of the judicial system to persecute dissidents and he offered his services to Gao's family.

"Gao Zhisheng has used his actions to write a glorious page in the history of the Chinese democracy movement," Huang said in a statement.

Amnesty International called the move to send Gao to prison "a travesty."

"This inhuman treatment must stop. Gao Zhisheng and his family have suffered enough and he must be freed," Catherine Baber, deputy director in Asia for the group, said in a statement.

German Human Rights Commissioner Markus Loening called the report on Gao a cause of "great worry" and said he would urge China once more to shed light on his case.

"I will push for Gao Zhisheng being able to live a life in dignity and freedom," he said in a statement.

Maran Turner, executive director of Freedom Now, a Washington D.C. rights group that has campaigned for Gao's release said that Gao's formal imprisonment was "blatant repression behind a thin facade of legality."

Bob Fu, the founder of China Aid, a Texas rights group that focuses on Chinese issues, and a friend of Gao's said in an email that the court decision was "totally unacceptable and laughable.

"The top Beijing government leadership owes a clear explanation to the international community and Gao's family for this new hideous detention," Fu said.

He added that "silence was not a diplomatic option" and urged the United States and global community to tell Beijing the Gao case would hinder its interest in the world.

While Gao may be the most prominent government critic to be treated so harshly in years, the authorities have done so with other dissidents.

Du Daobin, an outspoken critic also convicted of subversion and sentenced to three years in prison in 2004, did not immediately start his sentence, according to the Laogai Research Foundation, a Washington-based advocacy group that runs a website for which Du wrote. Instead, Du was released and lived under probation for four years before being sent to prison in 2008, apparently because he continued to criticize the government online.

Gao's family and supporters meanwhile have continued to campaign for him, with little result. His brother, Zhiyi, has been on a constant search for information. When he asked Beijing police in September about his brother, one officer told him Gao Zhisheng was a "missing person and no one knows where he is."

___

Associated Press writers Alexa Olesen and Gillian Wong contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_re_as/as_china_missing_lawyer

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IBM Acquires Emptoris in Smarter Commerce Move (NewsFactor)

IBM on Thursday announced an agreement to acquire a leader in the cloud and on-premise analytics software field. IBM will take over Emptoris for an undisclosed amount.

Emptoris makes software that works to add intelligence to procurement and supply-chain operations with spend, supplier and contract management. The acquisition is the latest addition to IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative the company launched earlier this year. The initiative aims to help companies respond to shifting customer buying patterns.

"Procurement officers need to manage the full engagement, integrating suppliers with key internal systems, and have the capability and visibility to manage compliance and mitigate supply risk," said Patrick Quirk, CEO of Emptoris. "That is the value we bring to the procurement organization."

Emptoris in Action

With the Emptoris acquisition, IBM builds on its capabilities in what it calls the "buy" aspect of Smarter Commerce, while also extending it to a new line of C-suite executives -- chief procurement officers. This growing list of decision makers includes chief information officers, chief financial officers, chief supply chain officers and chief marketing officers.

As IBM sees it, procurement and sourcing professionals increasingly need better supplier management, spend analysis and contract management solutions to lower sourcing costs and risks. Emptoris helps execs drive these benefits by automating vendor selection, negotiation, management and compliance.

Here's an example of Emptoris in action: A large global oil and gas company established a centralized sourcing network across its entire enterprise operating in more than 80 countries. The network allowed the firm to focus on the most strategic, highest-cost, frequently-purchased items. This brought speed, transparency and simplification to the sourcing process.

As a result, the company runs thousands of sourcing events per year, managing more than 15,000 suppliers in 10 languages, achieving more than 9 percent reduction on managed categories of goods.

IT's New Bar

"IBM is demonstrating that by moving forward in a very orderly and measured way, it is not only creating a large number of solutions that its customers can use to drive profits, but that it understands its customers' businesses in a very tangible, if not intimate way," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "That's the base of the Smarter Commerce strategy but it also creates a new bar for computing IT vendors to be able to meet."

King argued that it's no longer enough for IT vendors to sell hardware or databases or productivity software anymore. Rather, business organizations need IT vendors that understand the mechanics of their business and how technology can help them work better, smarter and faster.

"The world has become an increasingly competitive place, and the laggards get left behind and plowed over. Vendors like IBM in particular understand that. How many of the company's competitors understand that is open to speculation," King said.

"When we see this kind of strategy that IBM is pursuing in commerce, you can see how the company could take the basic template of what they are doing in commerce and extend it into almost any other industry. And that's precisely what I expect IBM to do in the coming months and years."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111215/tc_nf/81399

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Terrence Howard Accused of Beating, Threatening to Kill Estranged Wife Michelle

Terrence Howard's estranged wife, Michelle Howard, was granted a restraining order against the actor this morning, saying beats and threatens to kill her.

Michelle filed court documents claiming Terrence began making threats and beating her up just seven days after the couple got married in January 2010.

She filed for divorce in February 2011. He denies any of this.

In the documents, Michelle claims Howard "slugged me across my face and neck" and threatened to throw her off a balcony, and that the actor also ...

• Said, "If you tell anyone about my business, I'll kill you and no one will ever know."
• Smacked her in the face, chipping her tooth with his wedding ring.
• Yelled, "B!tch, walk home. That's my car, I pay for it."
• Said, "I'll hit a woman quicker than I'd hit a man."
• Threw her to the ground in a parking lot.

Howard denies he ever threatened Michelle, who he accuses of trying to "release private materials to 3rd parties for her own personal financial gain."

The material in question: A video of Terrence Howard nude, singing in the shower. Obviously. That would fetch MILLIONS on the market tomorrow.

In any case, an L.A. County Superior Court judge granted Michelle a temporary restraining order preventing Howard from going near or contacting her.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/terrence-howard-accused-of-beating-threatening-to-kill-estranged/

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Decision time for EU, with euro's future at stake (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? The euro faces a decisive week as European Union leaders, urged on anxiously by the United States, seek agreement on a convincing rescue plan that has eluded them for two years.

Despite short-term market optimism about a possible deal to tackle Europe's sovereign debt crisis and underpin the survival of the single currency, the outcome is far from certain as the EU gears up for a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

"This week, the stable future of the euro and thus the economic recovery in Europe and employment are at stake," EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told Reuters. "This calls for a convincing package of measures from the European Council (summit)."

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho went further.

"We have to find a response" to the crisis, he told the daily Publico. "If we don't, clearly that could represent the end of the European Union."

If all goes according to plans being hatched in Berlin and Paris, the EU will have taken a step towards fiscal union by Friday night, agreeing on a treaty change to anchor coercive budget discipline for the 17-nation currency area.

The European Central Bank will have cut interest rates on Thursday to counter a looming recession and taken new measures to provide longer-term funding for Europe's teetering banks.

And new prime ministers in Italy, Greece and Spain will have demonstrated their commitment to tough austerity measures and structural economic reforms to tackle their debt problems and restore investor confidence.

World financial markets rallied last week on the prospect of such a masterplan after ECB chief Mario Draghi signalled that in response to a new "fiscal compact" in the euro zone, the central bank could act more decisively to fight the crisis.

A convincing show of political determination to stand behind the euro and surmount the crisis through closer euro zone integration could prompt the ECB to do more to support Italian and Spanish bonds, cementing that reversal of market sentiment.

"It all comes down to what the ECB does, and whether political leaders produce a sufficiently convincing plan to give the ECB a basis to intervene," a senior EU government source said, speaking on condition of anonymity to respect the independence of the central bank.

However, if the 27-nation EU is unable to agree, or settles for another half-measure after months of dithering, the flight from euro zone bond markets may accelerate, confidence may ebb further and the crisis could become acute in January, when Italy has to start a massive refinancing campaign.

The chief executives of leading Dutch multinationals published a joint newspaper ad warning it was now "one minute to midnight" for the euro zone.

"There is almost 1,000 billion euros in refinancing that needs to be done next year, while the risk premium on interest rates is increasing strongly. That means that it will be almost impossible for many countries to refinance. That indicates how urgent it is to take measures now," Frans van Houten, CEO of electronics giant Philips told TV programme Buitenhof.

MERKEL PERMISSIVE?

Underlining Washington's vital interest in averting a euro zone meltdown, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will visit Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, Marseille and Milan from Tuesday -- his fourth trip to Europe since early September -- to urge key European officials to take decisive action.

Sources close to German Chancellor Angela Merkel say she is prepared, despite hostility from the German Bundesbank, to see the ECB step up buying of troubled states' bonds as a short-term bridging measure until stricter budget controls take hold.

But things may not go entirely according to plan.

Merkel visits French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Monday to outline joint proposals on economic governance, but Berlin and Paris still have significant differences about how the euro zone would control national budgets.

Merkel wants to empower the executive European Commission to veto national budget plans that breach EU limits before they go to parliament, with automatic sanctions for deficit sinners and the possibility to take serial offenders to the European Court of Justice for punishment.

Sarkozy, struggling to win re-election next May, wants euro zone leaders to have the final say, with no new supranational powers for EU institutions.

Several other governments, notably Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands, do not want treaty change at all because of the domestic political risks. Some fear it would be hard if they have to win public backing in referendums.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who chairs the crucial end-of-week summit in Brussels, will present options for stricter budget control without touching the treaty, as well as steps that would require amendments, aides said.

European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek warned last Friday that treaty change could be divisive and "dangerous." But diplomats say it is a political must for Merkel.

Veteran former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, 92, urged Germans on Sunday to soothe growing fears of German dominance in Europe and help rescue debt-stricken euro zone partners, warning that Berlin faced isolation otherwise.

For British Prime Minister David Cameron, the choice is between enraging eurosceptics at home by letting treaty change go ahead without winning a return of key powers to London, or seeing the 17 euro zone states reach a separate agreement outside the treaty that could cement a two-speed Europe.

SHORT-CIRCUIT

Germany and France want to short-circuit the complex treaty amendment procedure by wrapping the new budget procedures into a single amended protocol 14 on the euro zone. They hope to avoid a parliamentary convention and spare most, if not all, countries the need for a referendum on ratification.

That has outraged some lawmakers who say the EU's major powers are sidelining national parliamentary budget sovereignty without any democratic accountability.

In their defence, Paris and Berlin argue the debt crisis is an emergency that requires swift executive action to avert disaster, and that member states already signed up to the budget rules in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty.

New Prime Minister Mario Monti brought forward to Sunday a cabinet meeting to approve rigorous austerity measures and economic reforms designed to save Rome from requiring the next international bailout. And bailed-out Ireland will be presenting an eye-watering 2012 austerity budget.

Italy has become the centre of the debt crisis since yields on its 10-year bonds shot up above 7 percent, levels at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal were forced to seek EU/IMF help.

Government sources say Monti's mix of cuts and tax rises will total some 20 billion euros ($27 billion) over two years. About half will go to reduce the deficit and balance the budget by 2013 despite an economic downturn and rising borrowing costs.

The rest will free up resources to try to regenerate Italy's recession-bound economy.

On Tuesday, the Greek parliament is due to give final approval to a draconian 2012 austerity budget that is a condition for a second bailout package still under negotiation with private creditors, euro zone governments and the IMF.

On Wednesday and Thursday, centre-right leaders who control most EU governments meet in Marseille, France. That will provide the platform for incoming Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to outline his commitment to radical budget cuts and economic reforms to restore Madrid's parlous public finances.

It will also give "Merkozy" -- as the Franco-German leadership team has become known -- a last chance to lobby reticent partners, with Geithner in the wings, to accept treaty change as a crucial part of the long-term plan to secure the euro before the summit starts with a dinner on Thursday evening.

(Additional reporting by Madeline Chambers and Andreas Rinke in Berlin, Catherine Hornby in Rome and Gilbert Kreijger in the Netherlands; Writing by Paul Taylor, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111204/bs_nm/us_eurozone

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Italy PM meets unions ahead of crisis plan approval (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) ? Prime Minister Mario Monti met unions on Sunday to build support before the cabinet approves a 20-billion-euro package of austerity measures aimed at shoring up Italy's strained finances and stemming a crisis that threatens to overwhelm the euro zone.

Ministers are scheduled to sign off on the package of tax increases and spending cuts on Monday, though sources in the prime minister's office said the cabinet meeting may be brought forward to Sunday afternoon.

Expected measures include an increase in the retirement age for many workers, liberalization of professional services, a hike in income tax for higher income brackets and new taxes on private assets and housing.

The measures come at the start of one of the most crucial weeks since the creation of the single currency more than a decade ago with European leaders due to meet on Thursday in Brussels to try to agree a broader rescue plan for the bloc.

Italy, with a public debt of around 120 percent of gross domestic product, has been at the centre of Europe's debt crisis since yields on its 10-year bonds shot up to around 7 percent, similar to levels seen when countries such as Greece and Ireland were forced to seek a bailout.

Adoption of the package is seen as vital for re-establishing Italy's shattered credibility with financial markets after a series of unfulfilled promises by the previous centre-right government of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Unions said the cuts will hit poorer workers and pensioners hard but there was broad political support for Monti's plan, which is expected to be approved in parliament before Christmas.

"The choice isn't between a light package and a tough package, it's between a tough package today and the risk of bankruptcy for the country tomorrow," Angelino Alfano, secretary of the centre-right PDL party told SkyTG24 television.

With Italy, the euro zone's third-largest economy, close to a debt emergency that would destroy Europe's financial defenses, EU leaders will meet in Brussels this week hoping to agree steps to bind the bloc more closely with tougher fiscal rules.

SEVERE

Sources present at discussions on the new fiscal measures said they would total around 20 billion euros ($27 billion).

An extra 4 billion euros would come from automatic cuts to tax breaks and welfare measures outlined but not clearly identified in the austerity package presented by the previous government.

Monti will have to balance the competing needs of showing budget rigor while not choking off growth, without which it will be impossible to reduce a 1.8-trillion-euro debt mountain.

About half of the overall package will be used to cut the budget deficit and help balance the budget by 2013 despite the economic downturn and rising borrowing costs.

The other half will free up resources to try to regenerate Italy's chronically stagnant economy, which is widely expected to go into recession next year.

Changes to pensions will be key in the new reform plan, with eligibility requirements toughened up for so-called seniority pensions which are based on a combination of workers' age and the years for which they have paid contributions.

Programmed cuts to the national health service budget are expected to be accelerated by one year, to reduce spending by 2.5 billion euros in 2012 and 5 billion euros from 2013, a local government source said.

A local housing tax (ICI) may also be reintroduced, bringing in estimated revenue of at least 3.5 billion euros per year, although this total could increase depending on possible adjustments to the assessment basis on which the tax is raised.

Other expected measures include further increases in value added tax rates and a ban on cash transactions above 500 euros in an effort to tackle tax evasion.

But the package will contain no reform of job contracts which hinder companies from laying off workers, a measure seen as key to overhauling the labor market but which is bitterly opposed by unions.

($1 = 0.7446 euros)

(Writing By Catherine Hornby and James Mackenzie; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111204/bs_nm/us_italy

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3-D TV Doesn't Raise Seizure Risk for Kids With Epilepsy: Study (HealthDay)

SUNDAY, Dec. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Children with epilepsy do not appear to face an increased risk for seizures while watching 3-D TV, a new German-Austrian study suggests.

However, the results did reveal that about one in five of these children is vulnerable to other unpleasant reactions when viewing 3-D television, including nausea, headaches and dizziness.

"Normal people have a very low risk to get a seizure while watching 3-D," explained study author Dr. Herbert Plischke, executive director of the University of Munich's Generation Research Program. In contrast, he noted that people with epilepsy --particularly children -- could be expected to have a "higher vulnerability" in terms of overall seizure risk in such a setting.

However, among a group of young people with epilepsy, "we could not see any provoked seizure which was caused by 3-D," Plischke said.

He and his colleagues from the University of Salzburg in Austria are scheduled to present their findings Sunday at the American Epilepsy Society annual meeting in Baltimore.

As a concept, 3-D technology is hardly a cutting-edge idea, harkening back more than half a century to the 1950s Vincent Price classic film "House of Wax." But the experience of donning special glasses to view an "extra-dimensional" effect has undergone a cinematic renaissance in recent years, led by the box-office success of the movie "Avatar."

Jumping on the bandwagon, TV manufacturers have sought to bring the experience right into the living room, with TV sets that are hard-wired to provide 3-D viewing of properly formatted shows.

The move has raised concerns over how the technology may impact various audiences. Recently, some researchers cautioned that nearly one-third of all viewers may be prone to experiencing headaches and/or eye fatigue when viewing a 3-D movie because of poor eye coordination. The resulting strain, they said, could prompt an unpleasant experience equivalent to that of seasickness.

People with epilepsy are a more specific worry, given their sensitivity to the flashing lights and red and blue light alterations contained in certain TV programming and video games. As a result, some TV manufacturers (such as Samsung) have published public warnings, alerting viewers to the potential risk for epileptic seizures or stroke when viewing 3-D technology.

Against that backdrop, the current investigation set out to assess the impact of 3-D on children with epilepsy viewing the technology on TV.

The team focused on 100 children (average age 12) who had epilepsy or were deemed to be at risk for epilepsy.

All the kids underwent a standard test for photosensitivity. Each was then asked to wear 3-D glasses and sit about six-and-a-half feet away from a 50-inch plasma 3-D TV.

During 15 minutes of viewing, only one child experienced a seizure, and that particular child was noted as being prone to routinely experiencing three to four seizures per day.

Symptoms of nausea, headache and dizziness went up during both photosensitivity testing and 3-D TV-watching (in 15 percent and 20 percent of cases, respectively). But the near total absence of seizures, combined with the benign results of EEG readings taken during sensitivity testing and 3-D viewing, led the team to conclude that 3-D TV viewing posed little risk to children with epilepsy.

The team suggested that seizure risk is probably more a function of differences in TV content rather than TV technology, with certain patterns, colors and flickering images raising the threat of seizure more than 3-D images.

Dr. Orrin Devinsky, director of NYU Langone Medical Center's Epilepsy Center, agreed.

"It sounds perfectly in line with what I might expect," he said. "If there was to be a problem, it would be with the content, namely flashing imagery. And that would be a present concern in 2-D or 3-D."

"So I wouldn't expect 3-D TV to be a specific issue," said Devinsky, who is also a professor of neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine. "I wouldn't say that no child in ten thousand would have a problem. But I would expect it to be very rare, if it occurs at all."

Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

For more on epileptic seizures, visit the Epilepsy Foundation.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111205/hl_hsn/3dtvdoesntraiseseizureriskforkidswithepilepsystudy

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Rights body condemns Syria; Shell pulls out (Reuters)

BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) ? The main U.N. human rights forum condemned Syria's crackdown on protests on Friday and Royal Dutch Shell shut down oil work there because of EU sanctions, signs of the deepening isolation of President Bashar al-Assad.

The 47-member rights forum overwhelmingly voted to adopt a resolution put forward by the European Union, condemning "gross and systematic" rights violations. Russia and China, which have so far protected Assad by vetoing measures at the U.N. Security Council, were among the four countries to vote against it.

The United States, which voted in favour, welcomed the result at the third emergency session held on Syria this year.

"The evidence we have seen leaves no doubt about the complicity of Syrian authorities and provides a very strong basis for accountability to go forward in other institutions where that is their mandate," U.S. ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe told Reuters.

Asked whether this could mean charges in the International Criminal Court, she replied: "Absolutely, including the ICC if the Security Council chooses to refer this matter."

All five Arab members - Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar and Saudi Arabia - also backed the text, a sign of isolation in the region that could hurt Assad more than pressure from the West.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement: "Those who trample over human rights in this way must reckon with ostracism and sanctions. It is high time that the U.N. Security Council sends an unambiguous signal."

But the Council cannot do so without Russia and China. Envoys from both countries took the floor to warn against external intervention.

"We would like to warn against illegal interference by outside forces even under the pretext of protecting human rights. This will have serious and unforeseen consequences," Russia's Valery Loshchinin told the Council session.

"We hear that the conflict in Syria continues to be fuelled by outside forces, armed and terrorist groups being organized and supplied with weapons and money from abroad," he said, echoing Assad's portrayal of his opponents.

MANIFEST FAILURE

U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay told the session that more than 4,000 people have been killed in the crackdown against protesters that began in March, and more than 14,000 people are believed to be in detention.

"In light of the manifest failure of the Syrian authorities to protect their citizens, the international community needs to take urgent and effective measures to protect the Syrian people," Pillay said. "All acts of murder, torture and other forms of violence must be immediately stopped.

The United States, the EU, members of the Arab League and neighboring Turkey have imposed sanctions, but the West has so far shown no appetite for intervention like the air strikes on Libya that helped rebels topple Muammar Gaddafi.

In continuing bloodshed, Syrian army defectors killed eight Air Force intelligence personnel in an attack on their base in the north of the country, according to an opposition group.

Thursday's incident suggested that armed deserters are turning increasingly from defending civilian protesters against violent repression by Assad's security forces to an offensive of ambushes and roadside bombs, raising the spectre of civil war.

On Friday, Syrian troops fired at random into an anti-Assad demonstration after Muslim prayers in the village of Kfar Laha northwest of the city of Homs, killing one man and wounding 10 people, opposition activists said.

Royal Dutch Shell said it would be shutting down in Syria to comply with EU sanctions slapped on Syria's economically vital oil and financial sectors the day before.

"Our main priority is the safety of our employees," a Shell spokesman said. "We hope the situation improves quickly for all Syrians."

The EU on Friday extended sanctions to three Syrian oil concerns, including the state-owned General Petroleum Corporation (GPC) and Syria Trading Oil (Sytrol), to crank up the financial pressure on the Assad government.

The three oil concerns were among 11 entities and 12 Syrian leadership figures added to an EU blacklist now aimed in part at bringing the Syrian ventures of oil giants to a halt. Shell was the first to bow out.

Syria's oil production - in recent years about 400,000 barrels per day - is less than 1 percent of daily world output but accounts for a big chunk of government earnings.

The expanded EU sanctions list encompasses media companies and firms the EU says supply sensitive equipment to a research centre that supports Assad's suppression of dissent.

ATTACK ON INTELLIGENCE BASE

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack on Air Force intelligence occurred on Thursday in Idlib province, between the towns of Jisr al-Shughour and the Mediterranean port of Latakia.

"A clash ensued for three hours which led to the death of at least eight members of the Air Force Intelligence," it said.

The Syrian state news agency SANA said security forces "on Thursday killed 5 armed men and arrested 35 others during a clash with armed terrorist members in the Hama countryside."

It said dozens of Kalashnikov assault rifles, shotguns, grenades and explosives were seized.

The anti-Assad Syrian Free Army has formed a military council of nine defecting officers. They issued a declaration pledging to "bring down the regime and protect citizens from the repression ... and prevent chaos as soon as the regime falls."

The main civilian opposition group, the Syrian National Council, held a first meeting with Free Army leaders in Istanbul this week. A Council spokeswoman said the Council only supports a peaceful uprising and the Free Army is not its armed wing.

Syrian armed forces defectors began organizing three months ago and now number around 10,000, say opposition sources.

They cite increased operations in the last 10 days by defectors and insurgents in the central regions Hama and Homs, Idlib on the border with Turkey, and the southern province of Deraa where armoured convoys have been attacked.

U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, on a visit to Ankara, praised Turkey for being "a real leader" on the Syrian crisis. "We also welcome the government's giving space in Turkey to the political opposition," he told Hurriyet newspaper.

Turkey, formerly an ally of Assad, has suspended a trade pact, halted financial credit dealings with Syria and frozen Syrian government assets.

(Additional reporting by Alister Bull in Iraq, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Dmitry Zhdannikov in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111202/wl_nm/us_syria

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