Even before Moammar Gadhafi’s death Thursday, the Treasury Department was already starting to thaw some $37 billion worth of frozen Libyan assets to make them available to the new government in Tripoli.

The new Libyan government will get all the money. Eventually.

Earlier this year, the United States froze its piece of what some analysts believe to be as much as $150 billion in assets that had been available to the Gadhafi regime around the world.

Outside of the United States, those assets range from real estate to stakes in the Italian bank UniCredit, the British publisher Pearson, which owns the Financial Times, and Italy’s soccer club Juventus.

In September, the United Nations gave the United States the green light to release $1.5 billion in U.S.-held Libyan assets as humanitarian aid to the Transitional National Council, which was recognized as the new government of Libya in July. So far $700 million has been distributed, according to Treasury.

“We remain in close contact with the TNC, the State Department and our international partners, and are committed to releasing assets frozen worldwide in a manner consistent with the wishes of the Government of Libya,” a Treasury spokeswoman said.

Last month, Treasury also partially lifted some Libya sanctions. That opened the door for U.S. companies and individuals to do business with the Libyan National Oil Corp. and other companies in Libya, as long as the transactions don’t benefit anyone affiliated with the Gadhafi regime.

The question of what to do with the frozen assets has been a big talker in Congress, especially in the wake of mounting budget deficits that have only widened with years of navigating conflict in the Middle East and Africa.

Some lawmakers want to use frozen Libyan assets to reimburse NATO countries for military operations. Others want to link frozen assets to Libyan cooperation with investigations into Gadhafi-era terrorist attacks, according to a Congressional Research Service report released Sept. 29.

Sen. John McCain told CNN on Thursday that, during his visit to Tripoli a few weeks ago, new government officials told him they’re willing to reimburse the United States for its role in helping end the Gadhafi regime. So far, that tab has run about $1.2 billion, according to Pentagon and State Department officials.

“Obviously, it’s their money,” said McCain, in Arizona Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “They are willing to reimburse us and our allies. They’re obviously are going to be a very wealthy country.”

The Transitional National Council has been lobbying for months for a broader release of frozen funds for its use.

And international financial analysts say that, using Iraq as an example, the United States will try to release those funds, which will likely go first to reconstruction, as soon as possible.

“It’s anyone’s guess on how quickly we can free that up, but they’ll probably move pretty quickly,” said Glenn Simpson, a senior fellow in corruption and transnational crime at the International Assessment and Strategy Center.

The Congressional Research Service report said the Transitional National Council will be under pressure to maintain order and support for the new regime.

“While a lively political atmosphere has emerged in opposition-controlled areas, political support for the TNC among the broader population may be contingent on the council’s ability to provide basic services and financial support via salaries and subsidies,” the report stated.

Indeed, the report suggested that the transition period will require “sustained attention and resources beyond the scope of the current fighting.”

Via CNN

At 7 a.m. tomorrow, Mayor Bloomberg is evicting the Occupy Wall Street protesters from their occupation of Zuccotti Park, unless you can help. Zuccotti Park is the birthplace of the Occupy protests sweeping the nation and capturing the public’s attention. It’s where a community of committed Americans are standing up against Wall Street and the corporate capture of our democracy for the 99% of us trying to take back the American Dream.

But tomorrow at 7 a.m., under Mayor Bloomberg’s orders, the NYPD is coming to Zuccotti Park to kick the 99% protesters out. It’s being done under the guise of “cleaning” the park, but new rules will mean the end of the occupation.

There is very little time to act. There is a need to gather a huge national petition as soon as possible, so it can be delivered to City Hall tonight and have it for the protesters in Zuccotti Park. So act now. Sign the petition and tell Mayor Bloomberg: “Respect the protesters’ First Amendment rights. Don’t try to evict Occupy Wall Street.”

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

Sir Richard Branson aims to introduce a “green aviation fuel” on Virgin Atlantic aircraft within three years claiming “one of the most exciting developments of our lifetime and a major breakthrough in the war on carbon”.

His company hopes to help convert waste gases from industrial steel production into a jet propuslion that could ultimately account for nearly a fifth of the present annual global consumption of aviation fuel. A demonstration flight is planned within 12-18 months, the airline announced on Tuesday.

The plan to recycle gases that would otherwise be burnt into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide caught environmental campaigners by surprise but Friends of the Earth (FoE) gave the idea a cautious welcome since it would not raise the same land use problems as a Virgin biofuel experiment using coconut oil more than three years ago.

Branson said: “With oil running out, it is important that new fuel solutions are sustainable and, with the steel industry alone able to deliver over 15bn gallons of jet fuel annually, the potential is very exciting.

“This new technology is scalable, sustainable and can be commercially produced at a cost comparable to conventional jet fuel.”

He announced the plans to partner with low-carbon development firm LanzaTech at a press conference in London. Plane-making company Boeing and Swedish Fuels are also involved. The Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels, an international initiative monitoring standards for alternative fuels, will guide the experiment.

On his blog, Branson claimed: “This could turn aviation from a dirty industry to one of the cleanest … Within three years we aim to fly Virgin Atlantic planes with the new fuel on flights from Shanghai to London and Delhi to London, and to follow this with operations in the UK and the rest of the world.”

The technology is being trialled in New Zealand with a larger demonstration plant being commissioned in Shanghai and the first commercial operation expected in China in 2014.

Virgin has admitted that the coconut experiment was never likely to be developed commercially and had been done to prove to sceptics that it was possible to develop alternatives to aviation fuel.

LanzaTech estimates the new recyling process could apply to 65% of the world’s steel mills and could also be used in other metal processing and chemical industries. “We are confident that we will have a facility with the capacity to produce fuel for commercial use by 2014,” said Jennifer Holmgren, its chief executive.

FoE’s transport campaigner, Richard Dyer, said: “On the face of it, it does look promising in that they are getting round the issues of biofuels and land use. It is a very long way from commercial use. It has got to be very safe and cheap enough for airlines to be interested in using it.”

He also pointed out Virgin had lobbied for airport expansion and against air passenger duty, an environmental levy.

The famine in Somalia has killed 30,000 children in 3 months. In 2011 we have the opportunity to make famine a thing of the past. Lives are in your hands. Please help fund Feed the Future and help break the cycle of famine for good.

The reasons for the famine in the Horn of Africa are complex and solutions are difficult, especially in Somalia, but we can’t lose sight of some simple facts:

1. 30,000 children have died in just 3 months. Thirty thousand. With over 12 million people at risk.

2. Famine is not a natural catastrophe – drought doesn’t have to lead to famine. It can be prevented, as we have seen in much of Kenya and Ethiopia.

In the 21st century, it’s an obscenity that people are dying because they can’t get enough food to eat. Every one of those 30,000 children is part of a family – a son, a daughter, sister or brother. We can’t imagine what it must be like to starve to death, but most of us know what it’s like to lose someone we love.

Please watch the film and make use of the voice you have — sign the petition. It will make a difference in putting pressure on world leaders to do more to help those in need right now, and live up to promises already made to invest in the things proven to work – early warning systems, irrigation, drought resistant seeds… and of course, peace and security.

Bono, George Clooney, Jessica Alba, Idris Elba and more unite behind ONE’s new campaign to help focus the world’s attention again on the famine and food crisis in the Horn of Africa.

My Fellow American is an online film and social media project that calls upon concerned Americans to pledge and spread a message that Muslims are our fellow Americans. It asks people of other backgrounds to pledge, and share a real life story about a Muslim friend, neighbor, or colleague that they admire. Using the power of social media, My Fellow American seeks to change the narrative – from Muslims as the other, to Muslims as our fellow Americans.

Most Americans have never met an American Muslim. Many only know Muslims through the way they are portrayed in the media. American Muslims are so often vilified as “the other” that it is possible not to recognize that most were born in the U.S. Or that those who immigrated here came seeking the same freedoms and opportunities that have always attracted people to America.

Muslims are fellow Americans, who today face threats to their civil rights and even their personal safety because of the fearful and often hateful rhetoric that would not be tolerated were it uttered about any other minority group.

My Fellow American was produced by Unity Productions Foundation in association with Gardner Films, Inc (www.gardnerfilms.com). It was directed by the Oscar-nominated, multiple Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker, Robert Gardner. My Fellow American was shot in Baltimore using some of the personnel who worked on the popular television series, The Wire. The voices heard in the film are actual excerpts found on youtube, and were a small sample of such comments from various public figures, including law makers, radio and television personalities, and leading religious leaders.

The Jubilee Project is excited to partner with The Supply to build the first secondary school in Lenana, Kenya. This school would service orphans and slum children in Lenana, providing them with an affordable education and advancing their educational pursuits.

Education is an global issue that we all feel strongly about. You can become a sponsor by emailing them at project.jubilee@gmail.com and pledging to donate one penny per view. You can also set a cap on the total amount you want to donate.

The Jubilee Project makes videos for a good cause. Our vision is to make entertaining videos that will empower, enable, and inspire others to do good as well.

This idea was born out of the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in January 2010. Jason and his friends decided to busk in a New York subway station and they made a video of it that raised over $700 for Haiti earthquake relief.

Encouraged by the result, since then Jason, Eddie and Eric have joined together to continue making videos for a good cause. Jason does consulting with Bain, Eddie creates videos for the Obama campaign and the Department of Education, and Eric is a student at Harvard Medical School. But The Jubilee Project is more than just 3 guys and one camera. The work they do goes beyond them and certainly requires all of us together, united, with a common goal of doing good.

Questions were being raised in the US over Rupert Murdoch‘s position at the head of the embattled News Corporation as the media mogul prepared to appear before MPs investigating the phone-hacking scandal in London.

This article titled “Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp backing in doubt as he faces MPs’ grilling” was written by James Meikle, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 19th July 2011 08.35 UTC

Questions were being raised in the US over Rupert Murdoch’s position at the head of the embattled News Corporation as the media mogul prepared to appear before MPs investigating the phone-hacking scandal in London.

The Bloomberg business and financial news website reported that independent directors had been weighing up the possibility of replacing Murdoch as chief executive – although he would remain as chairman.

A leading independent board member denied this, but speculation that 80-year-old Murdoch’s future could depend in part on his performance when questioned – along with his son James and Rebekah Brooks – by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, typified the febrile atmosphere as the crisis over relations between politicians, police and the press entered its third week.

Two Scotland Yard casualties – outgoing commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and former assistant commissioner John Yates – face a separate grilling by the home affairs committee, earlier on Tuesday.

Politicians’ attempts to find out who knew what and when about the allegations centred on Murdoch’s News Of the World newspaper came as Hertfordshire police continued to investigate the death on Monday of Sean Hoare. Hoare was the first named journalist who had worked on the News of the World to allege that Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s former communications chief, was aware of phone hacking by his staff when he edited the paper.

Police said Hoare’s death was unexplained but not thought to be suspicious. The prime minister cut short an already curtailed trip to Africa to prepare for another Commons debate on the scandal on Wednesday.

In another development, the Times and Sun’s websites were taken down last night, after a hacking collective redirected people accessing the Sun site to a page falsely reporting Rupert Murdoch had been found dead. The Times’s site was still down on Tuesday morning although the Sun’s was operating normally.

The Bloomberg report, said to be based on information from “people with knowledge of the situation”, suggested that News Corp’s chief operating officer, Chase Carey, might replace Murdoch because of the scandal linked to the company’s News International group in the UK.

Independent director Thomas Perkins later told the Associated Press news agency that such a succession had not been discussed, and that there had been no directors’ meeting on Monday. “I can assure you, there has been no discussion at the board level in connection with this current scandal of making any changes. The board supports top management totally,” he said. “The board has been misled, as has top management been misled, by very bad people at a very low level in the organisation.”

Brooks who resigned as the chief executive of News International on Friday and was arrested on Sunday was due to appear before the Commons culture committee separately from Rupert Murdoch and his son James, whose chairmanship of BSkyB is also under question.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.

Special Olympics World Summer Games Organizing President Joanna Despotopoulou greeted the parade of athletes, as more than 7000 athletes from nearly 180 nations made their way into the Kallimarmaron Panthinaikon Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece to roaring applause from the fans.

As Special Olympics athletes and coaches from across the world settled in to the stadium, everyone welcomed legendary singer, songwriter, musician and producer Stevie Wonder. Stevie opened with his song ‘You can feel it’ followed by ‘You are the sunshine of my life’ which got the crowd on their feet and dancing. Wonder, one of the great personalities in music history, spoke to the audience about the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of Special Olympics: “Her vision has helped the world appreciate the value of all human beings. Eunice made us understand that we are all special. Our dreams are only limited by our vision.”

Wonder also performed a duet of the song ‘That’s what friends are for’ with longtime Special Olympics supporter and recording artist Vanessa Williams. Williams co-hosted the show with tenor Mario Frangouli.

Members of Special Olympics Team Hellas and Special Olympics Team USA lead the athletes in the Special Olympics athlete oath and finally the Flame of Hope was run through the stadium. Law enforcement officers from across the globe helped usher the torch in through the hands of athletes representing all seven Special Olympics regions of the world. Finally the torch was lit to mark the start of the Games.

Special Olympics World Summer Games Athens 2011 are now officially under way. For the next 10 days, from 25 June to 4 July, more than 7,000 Special Olympics Athletes from nearly 180 countries around the world will compete in the largest international multi-sport event of the year, featuring 22 Olympic-type sports.

Last week Billabong held its fifth annual Design For Humanity event at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, CA. Billabong once again successfully brought together three very separate elements of fashion, music and art and rose over $120,000 for The VH1 Save The Music Foundation.

The sold out fashion-music-art block party was a blow out with indie band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros playing an incredible set and Hanni El Khatib performing it on the financial district stage.

The runway fashion show lead by Billabong design director Mandy Robinson, paid homage to this year’s charity, the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, with looks inspired by some of Billabong’s favorite artists, Mick Jagger, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, and Hendrix. The styling was reminiscent of this Rock & Roll era with itsy bitsy snake bikinis, crochet dresses, cropped snake skin jackets, exaggerated bell bottoms, fringed hi-waisted shorts, and floor length sheer maxi dresses.

As always there was a huge art element to Design for Humanity. Morgan Maassen, who worked with Billabong to shoot their team riders all over the world, created a “Soundwaves” photo exhibit with the photos and video playing on plasma screens from the various shoots.

The VH1 Save The Music Foundation created a one-of a kind guitar installation onsite, with signed instruments that went for auction. 4 Taylor guitars were donated with musicians; Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Natasha Bedingfield, My Morning Jacket, and David Cook all signing them. 100% of this year’s ticket sales and proceeds from will be donated to The VH1 Save the Music Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education in America’s public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child’s complete education.

The Roots and Shepard Fairey will join Van Jones and MoveOn.org in New York City on June 23rd to kick off a major new economic campaign called, “Rebuild the Dream”. While big banks and other major corporations are once again thriving, countless Americans continue to face high unemployment, low wages, home foreclosures and little hope about their economic future. Meanwhile in Washington, the debate is not about jobs, but rather deficit reduction.

The Rebuild the Dream campaign will promote an economic agenda to protect and expand America’s middle class. The campaign will harness the power of culture and technology to mobilize, organize and broaden the base of people committed to economic solutions that will work for the middle class, and all who aspire to belong to it.

The Roots and Shepard Fairey will join Van Jones on stage as Van lays out the new campaign.

Thursday, June 23, 2011 – 8:00 PM
Town Hall
123 West 43rd Street, New York