Kerry: Window on Iran not open 'indefinitely'

Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah, second from right, is greeted as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, second from left, speaks with an advisor before the start of their meeting at Yamamah Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Monday, March 4, 2013. Saudi Arabia is the seventh leg of Kerry's first official overseas trip. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah, second from right, is greeted as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, second from left, speaks with an advisor before the start of their meeting at Yamamah Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Monday, March 4, 2013. Saudi Arabia is the seventh leg of Kerry's first official overseas trip. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, meets with Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah at Yamamah Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Monday, March 4, 2013. Saudi Arabia is the seventh leg of Kerry's first official overseas trip. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry drinks coffee with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, during a welcoming ceremony on his arrival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, March 3, 2013. Saudi Arabia is the seventh leg of Kerry's first official overseas trip. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in Saudi Arabia for talks with Saudi and Gulf Arab officials, said Monday the window of opportunity for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear problem "cannot by definition remain open indefinitely."

But Kerry, who was meeting in Riyadh with the foreign ministers of Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman as well as the Saudi crown prince and foreign minister, added that "there is time to resolve this issue providing the Iranians are prepared to engage seriously" on proposals to defuse it.

"But talks will not go on for the sake of talks and talks cannot become an instrument for delay that will make the situation more dangerous," he said. Kerry said he and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal "discussed our shared determination to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon."

Saud said that Saudi Arabia "supports the efforts to resolve the crisis diplomatically in order to alleviate all doubts surrounding the program."

"Therefore, we hope that the negotiations will result in putting an end to this problem rather than containing it," he said, "taking into account that the clock is ticking and negotiations cannot go on forever."

In addition to Iran, Kerry, who is on his first overseas trip as secretary of state after succeeding Hillary Rodham Clinton, also held discussions about the situation in violence-torn Syria. He repeated U.S. pressure on Syria's President Bashar Assad to step down, saying that Assad "is destroying his country ? and his people in the process ? to hold onto power that is not his anymore."

"The United States will continue to work with our friends to empower the Syrian opposition to hopefully be able to bring about a peaceful resolution, but if not, to increase pressure on Assad," he said. The United States last week agreed to increase non-lethal aid to Syrian opposition groups.

Saudi Arabia and several other Gulf states are believed to be involved in shipping weapons to Syrian rebels, who have yet to receive lethal aid from the West. They share deep U.S. concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions and increasing assertiveness in the region.

Saud said that in the talks here Monday, "The Kingdom stressed the importance of enabling the Syrian people to exercise its legitimate right to defend itself against the regime's killing regime."

"Saudi Arabia will do everything within its capacity, and we do believe that what is happening in Syria is a slaughter," he said, "... and we can't bring ourselves to remain quiet. Morally we have a duty."

Kerry also was to meet in Riyadh with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who is visiting the Saudi capital. Kerry's working lunch with Abbas was coming two weeks before the secretary is to accompany President Barack Obama to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan to explore ways of restarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Kerry travels next to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar before returning to Washington Wednesday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-04-Kerry/id-a40395ba5b9d4348909b0c8b729e76db

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Kate Phizackerley Means Business: Customer Service

One mistake some bricks and mortar companies make when transferring
online is to treat Monday to Friday only a work days. If customers have
problems it is just as likely to be at the weekend or after 'office
hours'. Not answering queries from Friday evening until Monday is not
going to give a good impression in a fast moving consumer goods
business, although it may well be acceptable for b2b services.

Source: http://business.phiz.eu/2013/03/customer-service.html

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Nurse refuses to perform CPR despite 911 plea

A disturbing 911 call released after an elderly woman's death reveals employees at some senior centers are not allowed to perform CPR on residents. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

An elderly woman being cared for at a California retirement facility died following the refusal of a nurse at the facility to perform CPR on the woman after she collapsed, authorities said.

When Lorraine Bayless, an 87-year-old resident of Glenwood Gardens, Bakersfield, collapsed at the facility around 11 a.m. Tuesday, a staff member called 911 but refused to give the woman CPR, according to a recording of the call.

In refusing the 911 dispatcher's insistence that she perform CPR, the nurse can be heard telling the dispatcher that it was against the retirement facility's policy to perform CPR.

---

During the exchange between the nurse and the dispatcher, the dispatcher can be heard saying, "I don't understand why you're not willing to help this patient.''

Read more stories at NBCLosAngeles.com

An ambulance arrived several minutes after the call and took Bayless to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. She has been identified as a resident of the home's independent facility, which is separate from the skilled and assisted nursing facility.

The retirement facility released a statement extending its condolences to the family and said its "practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives.''

The statement also said a "thorough internal review of the matter'' would be conducted.

A call to the facility by The Associated Press seeking more information on the incident was not immediately returned.

Bayless' daughter told a reporter for KGET, the NBC affiliate in Bakersfield, that she was also a nurse and was satisfied with the care her mother received.

Read KGET's account of the 911 call

The Associated Press

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/03/17167379-nurse-refuses-to-perform-cpr-despite-911-dispatchers-plea?lite

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Video: Both sides look ahead to budget talks

>> the politics of this impasse let's bring in david gregory moderator of "meet the press." david, you sat down with speaker boehner for an interview. do you get a sense there is a face saving solution for either side in this?

>> reporter: well, i think for the republicans they have rallied around the idea this may be a clumsy way of cutting spending but is still a spending cut and that is preferable to raising taxes . i talked about the dynamic with speaker boehner between him and the president harkening back to the meeting they had friday. here is part of that exchange. what goes on in these meetings? you talk about a nice conversation. you keep talking about your relationship being pretty good with the president. it's hard for any of us to believe that, given how personal it seems, given how pointed the language seems to be, and that you're just at such a basic philosophical, ideological, practical disagreement. i mean, you've got -- congress left town.

>> we had a very pleasant meeting, but it was also a very frank meeting. i made it clear to the president that he got a trillion dollars worth of tax hikes in obama care. he got another $650 billion worth of tax hikes on january 1st . you can't tax our way out of this problem.

>> this is the issue. right now as speaker of the house , boehner has already faced the revolt among tea party conservatives, other conservatives in his caucus. he can't do any more in his estimation and, you know, you think about the leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell , he's up for re-election in kentucky next year, so he has little room to maneuver. it seems like this is going to go a little farther down the line, lester, into the big budget talks. that's where you could see some trading around taxes and entitlement cuts then.

>> that leads to my next question because as kristen pointed out the sky didn't fall today. this is going to roll out over a series of weeks. is there another deadline that may be a bit more subtle but that both sides have their eye on to get this done?

>> i really think it's the budget talks. what we learned yesterday, the president and speaker boehner say they don't want to shut the government down in several weeks over the rest of the funding for this year.

>> all right. david gregory , thanks very much. a reminder you can see david's entire interview with house speaker boehner tomorrow on "meet the press" here on nbc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/51020873/

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Elon Musk says Tesla will repay Department of Energy loan well before 2022 due date

Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, has been the focus of many headlines lately due to a certain, well-documented kerfuffle with The New York Times. Today, however, the automotive company's chief isn't questioning any reviews. Instead, he's taken to the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy summit to share his belief that Tesla Motors will pay off that $465 million loan from the US Department of Energy well ahead of when it's expected to -- in five years, rather than ten, to be precise. Musk's comments shouldn't come as a surprise, however, given that the Model S maker has been paying its DOE-borrowed cash on time and before the deadlines -- something it's been able to accomplish despite being far from a money-making machine at the moment. For the Department of Energy, meanwhile, this all sounds like music to the ears, especially since it knows that not all EVs always work out as planned.

Filed under: Transportation

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Source: Technology Review

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/27/elon-musk-tesla-doe-loan/

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Crowds await funeral of slain Tunisian opposition leader

TUNIS (Reuters) - A general strike gripped Tunis on Friday as mourners gathered for the funeral of opposition politician Chokri Belaid, whose assassination has plunged Tunisia into a deep political crisis.

In chilly, showery weather, about 3,000 mourners waited outside the city's Cultural Centre, where Belaid's body lay before the funeral. "Belaid, rest in peace, we will continue the struggle," they chanted, holding portraits of the slain leader.

Some shouted slogans against Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party. "Ghannouchi, assassin, criminal," they chanted. "Tunisia is free, terrorism out."

Tunisia, cradle of the Arab uprisings, is riven by tensions between dominant Islamists and their secular opponents, and by frustration at the lack of social and economic progress since President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in January 2011.

Hundreds of anti-riot police deployed in Habib Bourguiba Avenue, a flashpoint for anti-government protests in the Tunisian capital. Banks, factories and some shops were closed in response to a strike called by unions in protest at Wednesday's killing of Belaid, but buses were running normally.

After Belaid's assassination, Prime Minister Hamdi Jebali, an Islamist, said he would dissolve the government and form a non-partisan cabinet of technocrats to rule until elections could be held.

But his own Ennahda party and its secular coalition partners complained they had not been consulted, casting doubt over the status of the government and compounding political uncertainty.

No one has claimed responsibility for the killing of Belaid, a lawyer and secular opposition figure, shot dead outside his home by a gunman who fled on the back of a motorcycle.

ENNAHDA OFFICES TARGETED

His family have blamed Ennahda but the party has denied any hand in the shooting. Crowds have attacked several Ennahda party offices in Tunis and other cities in the past two days.

While Belaid had only a modest political following, his criticism of Ennahda policies spoke for many Tunisians who fear religious radicals are bent on snuffing out freedoms won in the first of the revolts that rippled through the Arab world.

"Criminals assassinated Chokri, but will not assassinate his struggle," his widow Besma said on Thursday. "My sadness ended when I saw thousands flocking to the streets...At that moment I knew that the country is fine and men and women in my country are defending democracy, freedom and life."

All three ruling parties and sections of the opposition rebuffed Jebali's plan to create a small, technocrat government to take over day-to-day matters until elections could be held, demanding they be consulted before any such move.

"In the likely event that there is no agreement, civil unrest will increase, reaching a level that cannot be contained by the police," said Firas Abi Ali of the London-based Exclusive Analysis think-tank.

"If unrest continued for more than two weeks, the army would probably reluctantly step in and back a technocrat government, as well as fresh elections for a new Constituent Assembly."

The economic effect of political uncertainty and street unrest could be serious in a country which has yet to draft a new constitution and which relies heavily on the tourist trade.

Mohamed Ali Toumi, president of the Tunisian Federation of Travel Agencies, described the week's events as a catastrophe that would have a negative impact on tourism, but he told the national news agency TAP no cancellations had been reported yet.

The cost of insuring Tunisian government bonds against default rose to its highest level in more than four years on Thursday and ratings agency Fitch said it could further downgrade Tunisia if political instability continues or worsens.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/opposition-leaders-funeral-brings-day-reckoning-tunisia-060200824.html

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Senators, Brennan brace for CIA hearings showdown

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

CIA director nominee John Brennan during a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 31, 2013.

By Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News

Amid new developments and revelations, President Barack Obama?s national security policies, past and future, are set to come under Senate scrutiny Thursday.

Most notably, Obama?s nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, will address what role the targeted killings of terrorists, either by using drone strikes or other means, have played and should play in national security policy.

Questions about targeted killings intensified Monday after a report by NBC News revealed a Justice Department memo which argued it was lawful for the president to target U.S. citizens who are leaders of al-Qaida or ?an associated force.? Brennan will be appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee for his confirmation hearing.

On Wednesday, an Obama administration official said the president had directed the Justice Department to give the congressional intelligence committees access to classified memos justifying the targeted killings policy. Until now the administration had refused to do this.??

Addressing the past on Thursday will be Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as they testify before the Armed Services Committee about the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

Senators on the panel -- especially Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. -- want to know how the U.S. military reacted to the attack, and what the Defense Department?s internal review revealed after the event.

The two hearings will feature contrasting political color: Republicans -- led by Graham, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire -- have been the ones who have made an issue of the Benghazi attack almost since it took place. They?ve implied that a full accounting of what happened was delayed until after the presidential election. Graham held up Obama?s nomination of Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary until he could get a chance to question Panetta about Benghazi.

But Obama?s drone policy -- directed largely by Brennan in his role as Obama?s counter-terrorism adviser -- has drawn criticism both from progressives on the left and those on the right who are fearful of an excessive concentration of power in the presidency.

On Benghazi, much is already known. In its report on the attack, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said last December that Panetta?s Defense Department and Hillary Clinton?s State Department hadn't jointly studied the availability of U.S. military forces to defend or rescue the U.S. diplomats in Benghazi in the event of a crisis.

The Pentagon?s Africa Command didn?t have planes, helicopters, or other forces close to Benghazi on the day of the attack. ?The Djibouti base was several thousand miles away. There was no Marine expeditionary unit, carrier group or a smaller group of U.S. ships closely located in the Mediterranean Sea that could have provided aerial or ground support or helped evacuate personnel from Benghazi,? the report said.

As for Brennan and drones, Micah Zenko, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of a new report called ?Reforming U.S. Drone Strike Policies,? said Obama?s choice of him as CIA director ?now places him as the lead executive authority over all CIA drone strikes. The real question is whether John Brennan?s move from the White House to Langley to be director of the CIA is in fact an effort for the CIA to get out of the drone strikes business.?

Zenko noted that Panetta recently said that the Pentagon, not the CIA, should be conducting the drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects.

But Zenko cautioned against those who would head into the Brennan hearing with high hopes for new information. Having read transcripts of the past 10 CIA director confirmation hearings, he said, ?It would be unprecedented if there were an in-depth discussion about ongoing covert activities.? The Senate Intelligence Committee ?simply doesn't work that way, especially under chairman Sen. (Dianne) Feinstein? of California, he said.

A memo from the Justice Department, provided to NBC News, provides new information about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration's controversial policies. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.

Zenko added that the most useful line of questioning of Brenna would be regarding his conceptions of airpower. Brennan has repeatedly used the cancer analogy for air strikes killing terrorists without damaging the surrounding ?tissue.?

?That's a dangerous, antiseptic, and unrealistic conception of military force,? Zenko said.

Interrogation vs. deadly strikes
But Obama spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a White House briefing Wednesday, ?Far fewer civilians lose their lives in an effort to go after senior leadership in al-Qaida? by using drone attacks ?as opposed to an effort to invade a country with hundreds and thousands of troops and take cities and towns.? Implication: if you want to avoid another Iraq or Afghanistan, then support Obama?s drone policy.

Carney said Obama believes ?that we need to move forward with more transparency as well as create, in his words, a legal framework around how these decisions are made.? But Obama believes he has the full constitutional authority to order targeted killings -- ?transparency? or no transparency.

For those skeptical of Obama?s policy, there will be two other possible lines of questioning directed at Brennan:

1. Do the foreign policy costs of Obama?s use of drones -- alienating and angering people in Muslim countries -- outweigh its benefits?
2. Does the drone policy suggest that Obama would rather kill jihadists than capture them? Adding more detainees to those already held at Guantanamo -- a facility he pledged to close but hasn?t -- could amount to a political public relations headache.

The drone strikes have been unpopular in Pakistan and other countries. Making the case that drone strikes have high costs as well as benefits, the former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, told Reuters recently, ?What scares me about drone strikes is how they are perceived around the world. The resentment created by American use of unmanned strikes ? is much greater than the average American appreciates.?

Brennan has an opportunity on Thursday to rebut this view. He argued last August that ?contrary to conventional wisdom, we see little evidence that these actions (drone strikes) are generating widespread anti-American sentiment or recruits? for al-Qaida. The targeted strikes against terrorists, he said, ?are not the problem, they are part of the solution.?

Finally, Thursday?s Brennan hearing is a chance for senators on the panel to ask him whether Obama is using drone strikes as a less politically troublesome option than capturing detainees and putting them in Guantanamo.

This is an argument that former Bush administration officials such as ex-CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden and former CIA legal counsel John Rizzo have made.

Last week in a panel discussion at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank, Hayden said interrogating al-Qaida operatives is a vital source of insight into the terrorists? plans and capabilities:

But he warned, ?We have made it so legally difficult and so politically dangerous to capture that it seems, from the outside looking in, that the default option is to take the terrorists off the battlefield in another sort of way? ? in other words, by killing them. This could result in a loss of valuable intelligence.

Rizzo said, ?It?s always been in the agency?s institutional DNA to want to collect intelligence by all sorts of means, especially human intelligence. You can?t collect human intelligence from a dead guy.?

Related:

White House: Congress to get classified drone info

4 key questions about controversial Justice Department drone memo

Legal experts fear implications of White House drone memo

Source: http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/07/16873208-senators-john-brennan-brace-for-national-security-showdown-in-cia-hearings?lite

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