The force behind a 'bad year for bad guys'

By Srdja Popovic, Special to CNN

January 23, 2012 -- Updated 1458 GMT (2258 HKT)

An Egyptian man protesting against former president Hosni Mubarak in January. Mubarak's three decade rule ended in 2011.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Srdja Popovic says people power was the driving force behind the falls of dictator regimes
• He says policymakers often overlook the strategic value of supporting non-violent movements
• Popovic says the world should commit resources away from violent campaigns into non-violent pro-democracy movements

Editor's note: Srdja Popvic is executive director of the Center for applied nonviolent action and strategies (CANVAS) and a visiting scholar at Columbia University. He has written for CNN as part of its coverage of Davos, the theme of which is "The Great Transformation."

(CNN) -- It's been a bad year for bad guys. Twelve months ago, no one could have guessed that Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, North Korea's Kim Jong Il and al Qaeda's Osama bin Laden would be dead; Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia's former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali prosecuted and former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic in jail.
Further, Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh and Syria's president Bashar al-Assad are under intense pressure both internationally and within their own countries.
Top aide: Gadhafi's 'suicidal' flight to birthplace
The Arab Spring, that led to the fall of so many of the region's leaders, sent shockwaves around the world, leaving major powers struggling to make sense of the changing landscape -- and ensure their interests are preserved.

Srdja Popovic, executive director of CANVAS

The dramatic events, followed by unrest in societies considered "dormant" in terms of traditional activism -- including Spain and Russia -- leave one curious to discover the "common denominator." The obvious but unexpected answer is: People power, in all of these cases carried largely by non-partisan youth movements.
Much has been written on the revolutions driven by people power youth movements in Tunisia and Egypt. Their unity, planning and nonviolent discipline has inspired the world and given more than 100 million people a chance to change from dictatorship to democracy.
The revolutions inspired similar movements. Now leaders of Morocco, Jordan, and even Myanmar are promising reforms. The government of Algeria has emerged from its state of emergency after 19 years. Syrians have risked, and sacrificed, their lives in peaceful demonstrations for freedom and democracy.
Let me also note my own country -- Serbia. People power and nonviolent struggle driven by OTPOR, the resistance movement, brought an end to the rule of Slobodan Milosevic on October 5, 2000.
OTPOR -- which grew from 11 founders to 70,000 supporters over its two-year struggle -- is credited for stripping away the fear and passivity that keep a dictator's subjects under oppression.
During the presidential campaign of September 2000, OTPOR launched its "gotov je" (he's finished) and the "vreme je" (it's time) campaigns, which galvanized national discontent with Milosevic and eventually resulted in his defeat.
OTPOR became one of the defining symbols of the anti-Milosevic struggle and his subsequent overthrow. Milosevic was delivered to Hague in 2001, followed by former Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic, then Mladic. This has enabled Serbia to lift the burdens from the past and push towards European Union membership.
Srebrenica: Worst European atrocity since WWII
People power has been a phenomenon throughout history. It is credited with successes including India's independence movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi, the battles against racism led by Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, and the agitations of Polish activist Lech Walesa during the early stages of the Soviet Union's downfall.

Consider what would happen if 1% of the billions of dollars spent on foreign military interventions went to nonviolent pro-democracy movements.
Srdja Popovic, activist

Policymakers often overlook the strategic value of supporting non-violent movements. Fifty out of 67 transitions from dictatorships to democracies in the last 35 years came from non-violent struggle. Armed intervention was not the driving force.
The new book "Why Civil Resistance Works: The strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict," written by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan, studies 323 violent and non-violent campaigns from 1900 to 2006. It finds nonviolent campaigns are more than twice as likely to succeed as violent campaigns. They also found non-violent uprisings are 10 times more likely to end in stable and durable democracies.
The last year taught us an important lesson: What used to be called "realpolitik" is not actually "real" any more. There is a force more powerful at work shaping the new reality: Strategic nonviolent struggle.
Consider what would happen if 1% of the billions of dollars spent on foreign military interventions in Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq and, more recently, Libya, went to nonviolent pro-democracy movements. This could be done through education, the translation of books, movies and video clips, developing innovative uses for new media like Facebook or Twitter, and training in nonviolent, civic mobilization.
Rebuilding the ruins of Gadhafi
My organization, CANVAS, has worked with activists from more than 40 different countries -- and we have seen the power of such education at work in places including Georgia, Ukraine, the Maldives, Tunisia, Egypt and Myanmar.
Brave, young and oppressed people around the world are realizing there is immense power in nonviolent struggle. I know this, because they are calling me every day for help.
We must recognize the power of nonviolent struggle in promoting what some call the "fourth wave of democratization." We should commit these kinds of resources to show we have learnt the most important lesson from these revolutionary months.
That would mark 2011 as more than the "worst year for bad guys," but encourage and remind millions of oppressed in places like North Korea, Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Iran that power ultimately belongs to the people.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Srdja Popovic

Jesse Jackson: Occupy in memory of Martin Luther King

By Rev. Jesse Jackson, Special to CNN

January 24, 2012 -- Updated 1136 GMT (1936 HKT)

Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses the crowd at the Occupy camp, St Paul's Cathedral, London on December 15, 2011.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Rev. Jesse Jackson supports the non-violent protests that took place on Wall Street.
• He thinks the Occupy movements have spotted the widening gap between rich and poor.
• Many spiritual and oppositional leaders from history carried an occupier spirit, finds Jackson.
• Jackson calls for further movements to commemorate Dr. King's birthday this month.

Editor's note: Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is a leading civil rights activist and president and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

(CNN) -- People are turning. The misery is too widespread. The privileged are too brazen. The injustice too apparent.
On Wall Street, young students have created a free democratic space in a place they call Liberty Square. They protest that Wall Street has been rescued, but there is no help for most Americans. In a moving statement, they presented their view: "We are the 99%. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we are working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99%."
Their demonstrators were scorned in the beginning. They had no clear demands. They were organized with no formal structure. They were squatting out in the rain, not allowed tents or bedding.
But they understood the value of nonviolence. In the face of pepper spray and police provocation, they stayed disciplined. As they were being dragged away to be arrested, they said to the police: "We are the 99%. We are fighting for your pensions. You should stand with us."

The year in iReport: 2011 in review

Occupy protester gets job on Wall Street

They made no demands but their analysis was dead on. The wealthiest few are capturing all the rewards of growth in this society, while the large majority falls behind. Wall Street got bailed out, rescued without being reorganized, while homeowners were left to fend for themselves.
Inequality has reached levels not seen since before the Great Depression. With this kind of inequality -- with the top 1% having as much income as the bottom 60%, according to the Campaign for America's Future -- the economy doesn't work well. The rich turn to speculation. The middle class sinks. And the country suffers.
Now conservatives are talking about sending the bill for Wall Street's excesses to the most vulnerable -- cutting Medicare and Social Security, slashing spending on public education.
Many of the kids in Occupy Wall Street are graduating from college with thousands in college debt and no jobs are to be found. They are the 99%.
The discipline of their demonstrations, the clarity of their moral voice, has touched a chord. Now groups are organizing to occupy financial districts all over the world. I've been to many of the occupy sites: in New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Phoenix, Atlanta, just last month in London. I've seen the faces and places of the Occupy movement.

"Occupy is a spirit whose time has come, capturing the people and the world's imagination with a keen focus on the gaps of inequality, unfairness and corruption."
Rev. Jesse Jackson

But Occupy is more than places. Occupy is a spirit whose time has come, capturing the people and the world's imagination with a keen focus on the gaps of inequality, unfairness and corruption. The Occupiers' cause is a just cause, a moral cause. It cannot and will not be dismissed, but heard. Listen to the message:
They are the canary in the mine warning us of the dangers...
Too few have too much; too many have too little; too much poverty, too much wanting in the land of plenty; too many costly wars.
Biblically, Jesus was an occupier. Born under occupation, facing a death warrant on his life, He fled to Egypt -- an immigrant, a political refugee. He represented hope for the oppressed; his mission was to serve the poor. He challenged the prevailing ethos and power of Rome.
Gandhi was an occupier. He marched to the sea protesting colonialism and British occupation. He prevailed.
Mandela was an occupier, his country occupied by the ruthlessness of apartheid. But Mandela occupied his jail cell on Robben Island, turning it into a library, a center for peaceful, non-violent revolution. He prevailed.
Dr. King was an occupier, our country occupied by the vicious and divisive legal segregation. His last great campaign was the Poor People's Campaign, aimed at occupying the Mall in the nation's Capitol to address abounding poverty, the demands for a job or an income for all, health care for all.
When Dr. King was shot down on April 4, the campaign moved on to Washington DC, setting up Resurrection City and occupying the nation's Capitol in tents. It was the precursor to today's Occupy movement. We prevailed.
Deep into a recession that nearly drove the world economy over the brink in 2008, the eurozone crisis and the recent downgrades of European countries remind us ever to starkly that the dangers of economic collapse remain with us today.
Banks got bailed out; people got left out. Banks are making record profits and issuing billions in executive compensation bonuses again. But protestors are criminalized -- homeowners are still being foreclosed on while others find themselves "underwater" with debt exceeding the value of their homes. Student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt, and our youth are finding it increasingly difficult to enter, and stay in, college. Big banks are still not lending to small businesses.

Dr. King was an occupier, our country occupied by the vicious and divisive legal segregation.
Reverend Jesse Jackson, acitvist

Yet for all of the excess and scandalous trading practices and policies, not a single top executive from a U.S. bank has gone to jail for their crimes of corruption and greed that drove the global economy to the brink of disaster.
In this mirror, a movement for change is building across the country.
It was reported that the Wall Street traders drank champagne in their offices as they looked down on the drenched and straggly demonstrators in Liberty Square. They should hold their scorn. This is how change takes place. The courageous stand up -- and more and more people come to their side. The movement for jobs and justice has started up again.
As we commemorate Dr. King's birthday this month, we occupy. We are not just dreaming, we are occupying. Occupying until justice rolls down like mighty water. Occupying until a new day of justice appears. Occupying until the bright morning appears. Occupying until peace and love, hope and justice prevails in our land.
Keep hope alive.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Reverend Jesse Jackson.

'Metal Gear Rising' game to emerge from ashes

By Mark Milian, CNN January 24, 2012 -- Updated 1602 GMT (0002 HKT) | Filed under: Gaming and Gadgets

"Metal Gear" protagonist Solid Snake will be replaced in the new game by a swordsman named Raiden.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The "Metal Gear Solid: Rising" game was initially canceled
• The project was revived with the help of a third-party developer
• "Rising" involves action and sword fighting instead of the usual sneaking around

(CNN) -- The name he chose for the next installment in his "Metal Gear" video game series makes Hideo Kojima seem prescient.
As the famed shepherd of the spy franchise he created 25 years ago, Kojima remains deeply involved in the game development process. Yet, Kojima hadn't foreseen that his project would undergo a death and rebirth, like the phoenix bird from Greek mythology.
As it turns out, the irony of the name "Metal Gear Rising" is unintentional.
"I canceled it," Kojima said of the game, in a recent phone interview with CNN. "I made the decision. I just thought that nothing good would come out of this."
Instead, "Rising" is back on track. The new chapter is meant to be a sort of departure for the series, emphasizing action and swordplay over the stealth movements that "Metal Gear" games are renowned for. In June, a fresh take on the game that was once killed will be ready for gamers to play for the first time at the E3 industry trade show, reports Japan's Famitsu magazine.
Developers at Konami and Kojima Productions had initially spearheaded the project, then called "Metal Gear Solid: Rising," as they've done for most games in the franchise. A version for Xbox 360 was announced in the summer of 2009.
Kojima had placed "Rising" in the hands of some young developers within his company, but they didn't have the expertise to deliver the action game he wanted, he said.
"It was almost lost when they were making it," Kojima said. "It's not that we do not have any good game designers in our development team. However, the concept for 'Rising' was completely new."
With "Rising" shelved, Kojima and his teams continued to work on their various other "Metal Gear" projects, including a high-definition remaster of older games that hit stores in November and a mysterious open-ended game that Kojima is reluctant to talk much about.
Rumors had begun to surface that the game would not get made, and that piqued the interest of a little-known Osaka, Japan, developer named Platinum Games. When Kojima spoke with executives there about reviving the project, they were enthusiastic, he said. Platinum delivered a thorough proposal, which won Kojima over, he said.
The game and its story have changed considerably from the original concept, said Kojima, who is an executive producer on the project. Even the name is different. It will be called "Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance" when it debuts this year.
"If this game becomes hugely successful and popular, then we might make it into a franchise," Kojima said.
In a game about sword fighting, support for the latest motion-control gaming systems -- Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's PlayStation Move -- would seem to be a natural fit, but Konami has not described how it will be controlled. In a previous interview, Konami President Shinji Hirano declined to comment on the game's control scheme.
After "Rising," Kojima expects more "Metal Gear Solid" games to be made, but he hasn't decided whether he will design them, he said. Gamers recognize Kojima's meticulousness, which is why he has such a dedicated following. (He has about 136,000 people following his Japanese Twitter account, and another 89,000 following an official English-translation page.)
Evidence of his perfectionism can be found in the development of "Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D," a remake of an 8-year-old game to be released on Nintendo's 3DS hand-held system. The 3DS has two screens, one of which can display games in three dimensions without requiring the player to wear special glasses.
"We are trying to make it as easy to use as possible," Kojima said. "We're taking a lot of care in the very small details, like when you lay down, using the screen below to change your weapons."

'Hugo,' 'The Artist' lead Oscar nominations

By Alan Duke, CNN

January 24, 2012 -- Updated 1705 GMT (0105 HKT)

And the Oscar nominees are...

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Brad Pitt and George Clooney among nominees for best actor
• Golden Globe winners Meryl Streep and Michelle Williams are up for the best actress Oscar
• Best picture contenders include Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" and "The Descendants"
• The 84th Academy Awards will be presented February 26 in Hollywood

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Martin Scorsese's "Hugo," with 11 Academy Award nominations, and Golden Globe winner "The Artist," with 10, lead the list of best picture Oscar contenders announced Tuesday.
Brad Pitt and George Clooney will face off in the best actor category at the Oscars next month, with Pitt's "Moneyball" contending for six awards and Clooney's "The Descendants" up for five. Both films were also nominated for best picture.
Other best picture nominees include Steven Spielberg's "War Horse," nominated in six categories; Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," up for four Oscars; "The Help," with four nominations; "The Tree of Life" with three; and "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," competing in two categories.
Meryl Streep's performance as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady" earned her a best actress nomination, as did Michelle Williams' role as movie legend Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn."
Both women won Golden Globe acting honors last week, but Streep was competing in the drama film category, while Williams was in the comedy competition.
"I am honored to be in company with such beautiful artists, and touched deeply by my fellow actors for their generosity in giving me this acknowledgment," Streep said Tuesday.

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Branagh on 'My Week with Marilyn'

Gary Oldman's Bowie-singing past

The academy also nominated Viola Davis for best actress for her portrayal of a civil rights-era maid in "The Help" as well as Glenn Close, who played a woman passing as a 19th-century man in "Albert Nobbs," and Rooney Mara for her title role in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."
Competing against Pitt and Clooney for best actor are "The Artist" star Jean Dujardin, Demián Bichir in "A Better Life" and Gary Oldman for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."
Christopher Plummer, who won the best supporting actor Golden Globe last week for "Beginners," picked up a supporting actor Oscar nod for that film.
Other best supporting actor nominees include "Moneyball" co-star Jonah Hill, Nick Nolte in "Warrior," Kenneth Branagh in "My Week With Marilyn" and Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."
Golden Globe supporting actress winner Octavia Spencer from "The Help" is nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar, along with co-star Jessica Chastain. "The Artist" actress Berenice Bejo, Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids" and Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs" are also nominated.
"I'm overjoyed and filled with happiness," Bejo said. "I can't believe that a year ago I was learning how to tap dance and today I am nominated for an Academy Award."
While "Hugo" is not up for any acting honors, Scorsese's 3-D film dominates elsewhere with nominations for best art direction, cinematography, costume design, film editing, original music score, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects and adapted screenplay. Scorsese is also nominated for best director, an honor he won at the Golden Globes.
Along with the best actor and supporting actress nominations, "The Artist" earned a best director and original screenplay bids for Michel Hazanavicius.
"Filming 'The Artist' in Los Angeles was a dream come true, and to receive this recognition today is far beyond what I ever imagined," Hazanavicius said.
His movie competes with "Hugo" for best art direction, cinematography, costume design, film editing and original music score. Unlike "Hugo," "The Artist" was not nominated for best sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects, which is not surprising considering it is a black-and-white silent movie. It won the Golden Globe for best comedy or musical last week.
Allen is up for best director and original screenplay Oscars for his film about a time-traveling American writer, "Midnight in Paris." He won the Golden Globe for best screenplay. His best picture contender is also nominated for best art direction.
Other best director contenders include Alexander Payne for "The Descendants," which carried home the best drama film at the Golden Globes, and Terrence Malick for "The Tree of Life."
The animated feature film category is proof that Golden Globe wins don't make you an automatic Oscar nominee. Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin" won at the Globes last week, but it was not among the five films nominated for an Academy Award.
The Oscar nominees in that category include "A Cat in Paris," "Chico & Rita," "Kung Fu Panda 2," "Puss in Boots" and "Rango." Only the latter two were nominated for Golden Globes.
The 84th annual Academy Awards will be televised live from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on February 26.

Nigerians arrest Islamist militant suspects, sources say

By Nima Elbagir, CNN

January 24, 2012 -- Updated 1548 GMT (2348 HKT)

A paramedic helps a man who was injured during one of the attacks in the Nigerian city of Kano

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: "This is a time for all Nigerians to stand united," the U.S. State Department says
• A military task force arrests 158 suspected Boko Haram members, sources say
• Police report seizing hundreds of explosives hidden in soft drink cans
• Boko Haram, an Islamist group, says it carried out recent attacks, a newspaper says

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- A joint military task force in Nigeria arrested 158 suspected members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, security sources told CNN Tuesday, three days after a spate of bombings and shootings left more than 200 people dead in Nigeria's second-largest city.
Some suspects resisted arrest and exchanged gunfire with the task force in the city of Kano, said security sources who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
No casualties have been reported so far, they said.
The arrests come as community leaders said the number of dead from the Kano bombing and gun attacks has risen to at least 211.
Community leaders have been keeping their own count of the number of dead from Friday's attacks, they told CNN Tuesday, including victims who never made it to hospitals. They declined to be quoted by name for security reasons.
Government officials declined to confirm the number of victims. They previously put the death toll at 157.
Police in Kano announced Tuesday that they had seized 10 cars laden with explosives and about 300 improvised explosive devices hidden in soft drink cans and bottles at a number of locations in the city.
The state police commissioner, Ibrahim Idris, said a mass search turned up the explosives after police found undetonated devices at a police barracks in Kano.
President Goodluck Jonathan toured the city Sunday after the attacks there left the police headquarters and other government buildings in charred ruins Friday night.
"The message I had for the people of Kano is the same message I have for all Nigerians: A terrorist attack on one person is an attack on all of us," Jonathan said in a post on his official Facebook page after the visit.
Boko Haram -- whose name means "western education is sacrilege" -- claimed responsibility for the blast in a phone call to the Daily Trust, according to journalists at the newspaper.

Death toll climbs after Nigeria attacks

Have militants found Nigeria's flaw?

Atmosphere tense after Kano attacks

The group has been blamed for months of widespread bloodshed, with churches and police stations among the targets.
The United States Tuesday strongly condemned the "terrorist attacks" carried out in Kano on Friday and in the neighboring state of Bauchi on Sunday, State Department representative Victoria Nuland said.
"This is a time for all Nigerians to stand united against the enemies of civility and peace," she said in a written statement.
"Nigeria's ethnic and religious diversity is a source of strength for the country and those who seek to undermine that strength with divisive tactics cannot succeed," she insisted.
The bombings hit eight government sites Friday.
Shell-shocked residents wandered the streets, looking for loved ones. Others hid behind barricaded doors, too scared to leave for fear of more attacks.
"That's the scary part, not knowing," said Faruk Mohammed, 27, who lives near one of the bombed police stations. "We don't know what's going to happen next. No one thought this would ever happen here. There's a general sense of despair."
The attacks paired bomb blasts with shootings at various sites including police stations, the passport office, state security headquarters and the immigration office.
During the attack, assailants entered a police station, freed detainees and bombed it, authorities said.
They later canvassed the area in a car led by motorcycles, spraying targets with gunfire.
"I counted at least 25 explosions," Mohammed said. "... Then it went deathly quiet. Kano is a bustling city. ... I've lived here for years and it has never been quiet, even at night. But after the bombings stopped, the only noise you could hear were dogs barking."
On Sunday, two churches and a security checkpoint were attacked in Bauchi state, the state police commissioner said in a written release. At least 11 people, including police and army personnel, were killed in the checkpoint attack, the commissioner said. There were no casualties reported from the church attacks.
Police said they suspect Boko Haram was involved in the checkpoint attack.
In December, Jonathan declared a state of emergency in four northern states after a series of Christmas Day attacks on churches blamed on Boko Haram.
The man suspected of orchestrating those attacks was briefly captured before escaping police custody while being transferred to another prison.
Depending on the faction, Boko Haram's ambitions range from the stricter enforcement of their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law to the total destruction of the government.
Its grievances remain local, but it has attacked international institutions --- such as the United Nations -- on Nigerian soil.
An August 26 attack -- during which a Boko Haram suicide bomber drove a Jeep laden with explosives into the U.N. headquarters in Abuja -- was one of the deadliest in the world body's history. Twenty-four people were killed, including 12 U.N. staff members.
The group was formed in 2002 by Islamic preacher Mohammad Yusuf as an outgrowth of ethnic tensions in the country in the 1990s.
Nigeria's population is split between mostly Muslims living in the north and predominantly Christians in the south. Yusuf advocated the institution of Sharia law throughout the northern states and opposed democracy.
The group operated openly out of northeastern Nigeria and staged small-scale attacks against government targets.
In 2009, Nigerian police forces moved to crack down on Boko Haram. Harsh police tactics led to an armed uprising and the arrest of Yusuf, who later died in police custody.
The death spurred the group to begin its attacks on police stations. Ensuing clashes between group members and the police killed hundreds.
The following year, Boko Haram re-emerged as a more radicalized, insurgent-style group, staging assassinations and attacks against not only government targets, but also churches and even a beer garden.
"We're dealing with a movement of inchoate rage," said John Campbell, a U.S. ambassador to Nigeria who left his post in 2007.
"It's highly decentralized, but what it has in common is a strongly Islamic character, and hatred for the secular, political economy of Nigeria, particularly the federal and state governments," he said.

CNN's Faith Karimi and journalist Hassan John contributed to this story.

Costa Concordia: Bodies found as fuel pumping to start

Fuel spill experts have been examining the wreck, which is carrying about 1.9m litres of fuel

Continue reading the main story

Cruise disaster

• 'I never saw the captain'
• What next for ship?
• How safe are cruise ships?
• How crash happened

Searchers have found the bodies of two women on the wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, bringing the confirmed death toll to 15.

Italian authorities say the pumping of fuel from the stricken vessel can proceed in tandem with the search of the wreck.
The Costa Concordia ran aground off the Tuscan coast on 13 January with 4,200 people on board.
It is carrying about 1.9m litres of fuel in 13 tanks.
An Italian naval vessel is on standby in case of oil leaks.
'Green light'

Continue reading the main story

List of dead and missing

• Confirmed dead: Sandor Feher, Hungary, crew; French nationals Pierre Gregoire, Jeanne Gannard, Jean-Pierre Micheaud, Francis Servil, passengers; Italian Giovanni Masia, passenger; Spaniard Guillermo Gual, passenger; Peruvian Thomas Alberto Costilla Mendoza, crew.
• Missing: 18 people plus seven unidentified bodies. Nationalities include German, Italian, French, American, Peruvian and Indian nationals

• Evacuating a cruise ship
• Official missing list
• Relatives seek the missing
• Full coverage

The BBC's Luisa Baldini, on the Tuscan island of Giglio, says the bodies of the two women were found near the internet cafe, on the fourth deck.

There is no decision yet on when fuel pumping will begin but the civil protection agency has said it is likely to start within the next 24 hours.
Civil protection official Franco Gabrielli told reporters on Giglio there was no risk the Costa Concordia would drop down to a lower seabed.
"We are ready to go," an official from the Dutch salvage company Smit told the BBC. "As soon as we get the green light, we start the work".
But our correspondent says the salvagers must first attach steel moorings to the front of the ship. They will not want to start pumping in the dark, she says, so work is likely to begin on Tuesday.
Although there has been no leak so far, the civil protection agency says there is pollution in the water from solvents and disinfectants which were on board the vessel.
Search and rescue work has been suspended several times owing to poor weather.
Coastguard and navy divers have been blasting their way into submerged areas of the vessel using explosives in an effort to find those unaccounted for.
Emergency officials said on Saturday they would not end the search until the whole ship had been examined.
The captain of the Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest in his home town of Meta di Sorrento, near Naples, while his actions are investigated.
He is accused of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning ship before all passengers were evacuated. He denies the allegations.
Capt Schettino tested negative for drugs, his lawyer said on Monday.

EU Iran sanctions: Ministers adopt Iran oil imports ban

Comments (91)

Tensions over Iran's nuclear programme are raising fears of a confrontation over oil supplies.

Continue reading the main story

Iran nuclear crisis

• Oil embargo impact
• Q&A: Nuclear issue
• Fears of Dubai Iranians
• Q&A: Sanctions

European Union foreign ministers have formally adopted an oil embargo against Iran over its nuclear programme.

The sanctions involve an immediate ban on all new oil contracts with Iran, while existing contracts will be honoured until 1 July.
Tehran denies that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons and says talks and not sanctions are the only way to resolve the dispute.
The EU currently buys about 20% of Iran's oil exports.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog has confirmed it is sending a team to Iran between 29 and 31 January "to resolve all outstanding substantive issues".
Last November the IAEA said in a report that it had information suggesting Iran had carried out tests "relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device" - sparking the decision by the US and EU to issue tougher sanctions.
Earlier on Monday, the Pentagon said the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, as well as a British Royal Navy frigate and a French warship, have passed through the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf without incident in the wake of Iranian threats to block the trade route.
'Substantial impact'
Under the new deal, EU governments are expected to stop signing new contracts with Iran when the ban comes into place - which could be as soon as this week, Reuters news agency reports.
All existing contracts will have to be phased out by 1 July.

Additional restrictions on Iran's central bank are also expected to be agreed by EU ministers, although no further details have been given.
BBC Europe Editor Gavin Hewitt says it is one of the toughest steps the EU has ever taken.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Jonathan Marcus BBC Diplomatic Correspondent

---

So once the new measures are in place how successful will they be? Even western diplomats are uncertain.
There is no doubting that the Iranian economy will suffer. But the nuclear programme is a matter of national pride and ultimately national security.
Iran has seen the demise of regimes in Iraq and Libya and noted the survival of that in North Korea - the one so-called "rogue state" that has nuclear weapons.
Iran's rulers may well believe that having at least the potential for a nuclear bomb is something that could secure the country against outside threat.
Seen in this light one can imagine the Iranian authorities being willing to absorb considerable economic pain to pursue their nuclear research effort.

• Impact of EU ban on Iranian oil

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the embargo showed "the resolve of the European Union on this issue".

"It is absolutely right to do this when Iran is continuing to breach United Nations resolutions and refusing to come to meaningful negotiations on its nuclear programme," he added.
In response to the EU announcement, one senior Iranian politician said Tehran should halt all oil sales to European countries immediately.
Ali Fallahian was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying that Iran should stop the export of oil before the 1 July deadline "so that the price of oil soars and the Europeans... have trouble".
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reacted to the embargo by saying that such "unilateral sanctions do not help matters" and called for a resumption of talks between Iran and the international community.
Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the aim of the sanctions was to "make sure that Iran takes seriously our request to come to the table".
She said world powers had yet to receive a reply to an offer made to Iran in October to hold new talks.
Rising tensions
BBC Iran correspondent James Reynolds says oil is the country's most valuable asset and sales help to keep the Iranian government in money and power.
A decision by the EU to stop buying from Iran may damage the Iranian economy - but in itself it won't destroy it, our correspondent says.

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The BBC's James Reynolds visits Dubai where many people export goods to Iran

Iran sells most of its oil to countries in Asia. The EU and the United States are now working to persuade Asian countries to reduce their purchases from Iran as well.
Iran has already threatened to retaliate over the sanctions by blocking the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, through which 20% of the world's oil exports pass.
The US has said it will keep the trade route open, raising the possibility of a confrontation.
Late last year Iran conducted 10 days of military exercises near the Strait of Hormuz, test-firing several missiles.
Oil prices have risen already because of the increasing tension and the expected impact of an EU ban on oil supplies to Europe.

A French warship also accompanied US and UK naval vessels through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday