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USA TODAY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2011 WORLD 9A
Arab League monitors gathered accountsabout the Syrian government’s crackdown ondissent in the city of Homs on Wednesday asfresh violence flared just dozens of miles away.
In the two days since the Arab monitors ar-rived, activists said troops have killed at least 39people, including six shot in the central city ofHama on Wednesday.
“This mission has absolutely no mandate, noauthority, no teeth,” said Ausama Monajed, amember of the Syrian National Council, the mainopposition group.
The 60 monitors — the first Syria has allowedin during the nine-month uprising — are sup-posed to be ensuring the regime is complyingwith terms of a plan to end a crackdown theUnited Nations says has killed more than 5,000people. Syria released 755 prisoners Wednesdayafter Human Rights Watch accused authorities ofhiding hundreds of detainees from the monitors.
Former rebels apply for jobs in LibyaHundreds of former rebels in Libya who helped
topple Moammar Gadhafi are filling out applica-tions for jobs with the new government as a firststep to disarmament, the interior minister said.
Fawzy Abdul-Ali said former rebels will beasked to turn in their weapons after training andworking with the government.
The ownership of weapons has been a securityconcern since the end of the eight-month civilwar that toppled Gadhafi in October. Abdul-Alisaid former rebels have until the end of Januaryto apply for government posts.
Iranian exiles in Iraq agree to moveThe head of an Iranian exile group holed up at a
camp in Iraq said the first of the camp’s residentsare ready to move to a new location picked by theIraqi government, solving a potential crisis.
The announcement by Maryam Rajavi, theParis-based leader of the group, averted what
could have been a bloody showdown with Iraqiauthorities if the residents had refused to move.
Rajavi said about 400 residents of Camp Ashrafare ready to go to Camp Liberty. Camp Liberty isthe former U.S. military base in Baghdad that hasbeen chosen as the group’s new home.
The Iraqi government vowed to close CampAshraf, home to about 3,400 Iranian exiles, by theend of this year.
Samoa to cross international date lineThe tiny South Pacific nation of Samoa and its
neighbor Tokelau jump forward in time today,crossing westward over the international dateline to align themselves with their 21st centurytrading partners in the region.
At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 29, time inSamoa and Tokelau will leap forward to Dec. 31— New Year’s Eve. For Samoa’s 186,000 citizens,and the 1,500 in Tokelau, Friday, Dec. 30, 2011,will simply not exist.
Samoa and Tokelau had been nearly a full daybehind Australia and New Zealand.
The Associated Press
AFP/Getty Images
Crash landing injures 31Under investigation: Rescuers work near anoverturned Tupolev 134 passenger jet Wednes-day at an airfield outside Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Thejet broke its wing, overturned and caught fire asit tried to land in fog, injuring 31 people, officialssaid. The fire was put out, and 82 passengers andsix crewmembers were evacuated.
Violence flares withobservers in Syria
TEHRAN, Iran — The UnitedStates strongly warned Iran onWednesday against closing a vi-tal Persian Gulf waterway thatcarries one-sixth of the world’soil supply. Iran threatened tochoke off traffic through theStrait of Hormuz if Washingtonimposes sanctions targeting thecountry’s crude exports.
The increasingly heated ex-change raises tensions in astandoff that has the potential tospark military reprisals andspike oil prices to levels thatcould batter a fragile globaleconomy.
Iran’s navy chief saidWednesday that it would be“very easy” for his country’sforces to close the strategicStrait of Hormuz, the passage atthe mouth of the Persian Gulfthrough which about 15 millionbarrels of oil pass daily.
It was the second such warn-ing by Iran in two days, reflect-ing Tehran’s concern that theWest is about to impose newsanctions that could hit thecountry’s biggest source of reve-nue, oil.
“Iran has comprehensive con-trol over the strategic water-way,” Adm. Habibollah Sayyaritold state-run Press TV as thecountry was in the midst of a
10-day military drill near thestrait.
The comments drew a quickresponse from the United States.
“This is not just an importantissue for security and stability inthe region, but is an economiclifeline for countries in the Gulf,to include Iran,” Pentagonspokesman George Little said.“Interference with the transit orpassage of vessels through theStrait of Hormuz will not be tol-erated.”
Separately, Lt. Rebecca Rebar-ich, spokeswoman for the Bah-rain-based U.S. Navy 5th Fleet,said the Navy is “always ready tocounter malevolent actions toensure freedom of navigation.”
Rebarich declined to saywhether the U.S. force had ad-justed its presence or readinessin the Gulf in response to Iran’s
comments but said the Navy“maintains a robust presence inthe region to deter or counterdestabilizing activities, whilesafeguarding the region’s vitallinks to the international com-munity.”
Iran’s threat to seal off theGulf, surrounded by oil-richcountries, reflects its concernsover the prospect that the Oba-ma administration will imposesanctions over the country’s nu-clear program.
Iran is the world’s fourth-larg-est oil producer, pumping about4 million barrels a day.
A senior Saudi Arabian oil offi-cial told the Associated Pressthat Gulf Arab nations are readyto step in to offset any potentialloss of exports from Iran.
The official spoke on condi-tion of anonymity because hewas not authorized to commenton the issue.
Saudi Arabia, which has beenproducing about 10 million bar-rels per day, has an overall pro-duction capacity of more than12 million barrels per day andmay be the only OPEC memberwith sufficient spare capacity tooffset major shortages.
What remains unclear is whatroutes the Gulf nations couldtake to move the oil to marketsif Iran goes through with itsthreat.
U.S. warns it won’t tolerateIran blocking oil passage
N
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By Janet Loehrke, USA TODAY
I r anTehran
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The Associated Press
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Wednesday’s Puzzle Answer
12/2
9
ACROSS1 Marble chunk5 A fl. oz. contains six9 Lewis Carroll’s Boojum14 Break, as a horse15 Architect Saarinen16 Holy shroud city17 “I smell ___!” (“Something’s fishyhere!”)
18 Material for some night signs19 Ham it up20Words shouted to a noisybeagle?
22 Extend, as a magazinesubscription
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DOWN1 “60Minutes” correspondentLesley2 Lash ofWesterns3 Accumulate4 Second Hebrew letters
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50 Mailing stickers52 Die down54 Indiana’s state flower55 Texas A&M athlete56 Mea ___57 Made ___ of (botched)58 Project detail59 Star that brightens and then fades60 Copycat62 Baby sitter’s nightmare
12/2
8
Complete thegrid so that everyrow, column and3x2 box containsthe numbers 1th rough 6 ( n orepeats).
Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 boxcontains the numbers 1 through 9 (no repeats).
DIFFICULTYRATING:
Wednesday’s Puzzle Answer12/28
12/29
12/29
4 52
4 5 13 5 6
35 2
2 8 5 79 3 6 8
5 9 41 5 8
8 6 2 5 39 6 81 9 5
2 3 6 49 7 8 3
3 2 9 4 6 5 1 7 88 1 7 3 9 2 5 4 66 5 4 1 7 8 9 3 21 4 8 2 3 7 6 9 55 9 2 6 4 1 3 8 77 6 3 5 8 9 2 1 42 3 5 7 1 4 8 6 94 8 1 9 2 6 7 5 39 7 6 8 5 3 4 2 1
3 2 5 4 6 11 4 6 3 5 26 5 1 2 4 34 3 2 5 1 65 6 3 1 2 42 1 4 6 3 5
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Wednesday’s Puzzle Answer
12/28
12/29
--> “Dynamite” artist
Nestle candy bar soldoverseas
“Break Your Heart” & -->
Tolkien creatures
____ Institute
Bring up children
Acid that canlead to gout
Animal parks
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P E O N
O V E N
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Rearrange the words to complete the quote.
*%&"# (!%#' )'$
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12/29
AuthorMason Cooley talksabout innocence.
12/28
“__________ is _______ __________ _______ it offers
__________ __________ for __________.”
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