The bombings were the deadliest attacks in the Syrian capital, Damascus, since an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began 14 months ago.

“The United States condemns in the strongest terms the attacks that took place today in Damascus,” the U.S. embassy said in statements posted on Twitter.

“The indiscriminate targeting and killing of civilians is reprehensible and unacceptable in any context,” it said.

The U.S. embassy in Damascus was closed earlier this year when tensions between the two countries rose as Washington voiced support for the revolt against Assad’s rule.

The United States has criticized Assad for not sticking to a ceasefire deal and peace plan brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan. International observers say both rebels and the government have violated the agreement as violence continued.

“We continue to call on the Syrian regime to fully and immediately implement the Annan plan,” the U.S. embassy in Lebanon said. Yahoo Daily News

The standoff at the Scarborough Shoal, sparked April 10 when the Philippines accused Chinese fishermen of poaching in its territory, is being closely watched to see how far Beijing will go in its increasingly assertive stance on territorial claims in the region. The South China Sea is home to a myriad of competing claims, also involving Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

The latest Chinese patrol vessel was dispatched after the Philippines refused to withdraw its coast guard ship from Scarborough Shoal, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez told a news conference in Manila that China’s move was seen as an escalation of the standoff originally sparked when two Chinese maritime surveillance ships prevented a Philippine warship from arresting several Chinese fishermen. The fishermen slipped away from the shoal, angering Philippine officials.

The Philippines subsequently replaced the warship with a smaller coast guard vessel that was facing off with the two Chinese ships, with each side demanding the other pull out first.

Hernandez said that his government plans to ask China’s representatives why they violated an earlier agreement not to aggravate the situation.

“We understand that the world is watching, and the issue at hand has a wider implication on how China is asserting its territorial claims, which have no basis in international law,” Hernandez said.

Foreign Secretary Alberto del Rosario, who is currently on a visit to the U.S., said earlier that the Philippines cannot compete with China militarily and was seeking a diplomatic solution.

Hernandez said the Philippines was ready to take the dispute to an international court despite China’s earlier rejection of that idea.

“It is the proper and competent forum to decide the issue,” he said.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said that the reason for the third ship was because the Philippines violated China’s jurisdiction and interfered with Chinese fishermen.

He said Beijing hoped the Philippine side would “work with us to ease tension” and that senior Philippine officials “won’t mislead the public any more.”

The shoal, which lies in what the Philippines considers its 370-kilometer (230-mile) exclusive economic zone, is among numerous islands, reefs and coral outcrops in the South China Sea claimed by China, the Philippines and other nations for their potential oil and gas deposits, rich fishing grounds and proximity to busy commercial sea lanes.

About 100 Filipino demonstrators called on China to withdraw from the shoal in a third day of protests outside the Chinese Consulate in Manila. CNBC

Manila Congressmen Teodoro Casiño and Neri Colmenares filed a resolution in the House of Representatives condemning China’s claim to Scarborough Shoal, which lies 230km west of Subuc Bay in central Luzon.

“We do not want to go to war, but we must assert our sovereignty, through whatever means we can,” Casiño said.

The two also called for a congressional inquiry on the inability of the Armed Forces, the Philippine Navy, the Philippine Coast Guard to assert the country’s sovereignty over the shoal.

Archaeology mission

At the same time, Zhang Hua, Chinese embassy spokesperson in Manila, insisted that a Philippine-registered ship, MV Saranggani, had no right to help eight French archaeologists in salvaging a Chinese shipwreck near the Scarborough Shoal.

Filipino scientists were also part of the archaeological team that has been studying a Chinese shipwreck near the Scarborough Shoal.

“We urge the archaeological vessel to leave the area immediately,” Zhang said in a statement.

Explaining China’s right on the Scarborough Shoal, Zhang said the Philippines could not exercise sovereignty on areas already claimed in the past by China and other countries.

China, Taiwan, and Vietnam claim the whole of the South China Sea, based on historical maps. By Barbara Mae Dacanay, Gulf News

The files provide an insight into President Bashar al-Assad’s strategy to suppress anti-government protests, including the lengths the government went to for protecting its strongholds.

The documents, running into hundreds of pages, pointed to a government that was desperate to keep control of the capital Damascus and included clear orders to stop protesters from getting into the city.

They also revealed detailed security plans for crushing protests in the cities of Aleppo and Idlib.

One leaked paper spelt out clear orders to top officials to give financial and moral support to Assad’s supporters in Aleppo, the second major city.

Whistleblower

The documents were passed on to Al Jazeera by Abdel Majid Barakat, who until recently was one of the government’s most trusted officials.

The former Baath party member, who was in charge of collating information from across Syria at the secret joint crisis management cell in Damascus, has fled to Turkey.

“For months, the opposition had a mole at the heart of Assad’s security apparatus working in this joint co-ordination cell that co-ordinates the work of all the intelligence agencies across the country, “ Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from Turkey, said.

In one leaked cable marked confidential, the government cautioned the Syrian foreign minister about countries trying to influence Syrian diplomats to defect.

“Every evening at 7:00 pm Damascus time, there is a meeting of all the intelligence and security chiefs looking back at what happened across the country during the day, making their plans, making their orders for the next day,” Bays said.

“These orders then go to the office of the president the next morning and he himself signs all the orders, the final go ahead,“ he said.

The documents indicate that the government spied on the Arab League monitoring mission, which was in Syria at the end of last year.

They also spell out where protests have been taking place, and how many people were involved. They show that some of the biggest rallies have been in the province of Idlib.

Barakat, the whistleblower, told Al Jazeera “any person reading these reports will be shocked, will realise that Syria is living a true crisis: killings, criminality and suppression of protesters”.

“However security chiefs paint [a] beautiful picture in their reports. They ignore many substantial facts on the ground, simply to boost the president’s morale,” he said. Al Jazeera

Two people, including a member of Iran’s special operations unit known as the Quds Force, were charged in New York federal court. Holder said the bomb plot was a flagrant violation of U.S. and international law.

“We will not let other countries use our soil as their battleground,” Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said at a press conference in Washington with Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen who also holds an Iranian passport, was charged along with Gholam Shakuri, whom authorities said was a Quds Force member.

FBI Director Robert Mueller says many lives could have been lost in the plot to kill the ambassador with bombs in the U.S.

Holder said the U.S. government would be taking unspecified action against the Iranian government as early as Tuesday afternoon. Asked whether the plot was blessed by the top echelons of the Iranian government, Holder said the Justice Department was not making that accusation. The Florida Times Union

President Barack Obama met Saturday with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders _ but only briefly_ the day after House Speaker John Boehner abruptly broke off his own once-promising compromise talks with the White House. Staff members kept up detailed efforts.

The goal now is to produce at least a framework agreement to raise the nation’s debt limit by Monday, congressional officials said. Even that would allow scarcely enough time for the House and Senate to clear legislation in time for Obama’s signature by the Aug. 2 deadline, a week from Tuesday.

House Speaker John Boehner told rank-and-file Republicans in a conference call after Saturday’s meeting that he hoped to be able to announce a “viable framework for progress” by 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) on Sunday, before the stock markets open in Japan and elsewhere in Asia, according to two participants.

Lawmakers fear a big drop ininvestor confidence in U.S. stocks and bonds could start inAsia and sweep towardEurope and the Americas, causing U.S. stock values to plunge on Monday.

Barring action by Aug. 2, the Treasury will run out of the money needed to pay all its bills, triggering a possible default that could seriously damage the domestic economy and send damaging waves across the globe. Obama has warned repeatedly of the possibility of a spike in interest rates that could affect Americans’ mortgages, credit cards and other forms of personal debt.

`The bipartisan leadership in Congress is committed to working on new legislation that will prevent default while substantially reducing Washington spending,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a written statement not long after he, Boehner and Democratic leaders met with Obama at the White House.

Obama appeared grim-faced as he convened the meeting around the big table in the White House Cabinet Room. He was flanked by Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Vice President Joe Biden, McConnell and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi also attended.

The four congressional leaders planned to meet again, at the Capitol, in the early evening.

The only aides attending the White House meeting were budget director Jack Lew and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who emphasized the concern about Asian markets.

Afterward, White House press secretary Jay Carney issued a stern statement: “Congress should refrain from playing reckless political games with our economy. Instead, it should be responsible and do its job, avoiding default and cutting the deficit.”

The statement renewed Obama’s insistence that any agreement tide the government over until after the 2012 elections, to avoid a rerun of the debt dispute in the heat of the campaign.

Sixteen blocks away at the Capitol, congressional aides said the White House would not have a presence at the bargaining table with House and Senate leaders.

Under normal procedures, Boehner would need to have legislation on the House floor by Wednesday to allow enough time for a measure to reach Obama’s desk in time to meet the debt-limit deadline.

Negotiators were working against two avowedly non-negotiable demands _ Obama’s insistence on a plan that assures no rerun of the current crisis until 2013 at the earliest, and Boehner’s requirement that spending cuts over 10 years must exceed the size of any increase in borrowing authority _ without any rise in taxes. The Economic Times

The Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia all issued tsunami alerts, reviving memories of the giant tsunami which struck Asia in 2004. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued alerts for countries as far away as Colombia and Peru.

There were several strong aftershocks. In the capital Tokyo, buildings shook violently. An oil refinery near Tokyo was on fire, with dozens of storage tanks under threat.

“I was terrified and I’m still frightened,” said Hidekatsu Hata, 36, manager of a Chinese noodle restaurant in Tokyo’s Akasaka area. “I’ve never experienced such a big quake before.”

TV pictures showed the tsunami carrying the debris and fires across a large swathe of coastal farmland near the city of Sendai, which has a population of one million. The pictures suggested the death toll was going to rise.

NHK showed flames and black smoke billowing from a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the north of the country were halted.

Black smoke was also pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama’s Isogo area. TV footage showed boats, cars and trucks floating in water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan. An overpass, location unknown, appeared to have collapsed into the water.

Kyodo news agency said there were reports of fires in Sendai where waves carried cars across the runway at the airport.

The western prefecture of Wakayama ordered 20,000 people to evacuate after further tsunami warnings.

The building shook for what seemed a long time and many people in the newsroom grabbed their helmets and some got under their desks,” Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg said in Tokyo.

“It was probably the worst I have felt since I came to Japan more than 20 years ago.”

Great Kanto Quake

The quake was the biggest in 140 years. It surpasses the Great Kanto quake of Sept. 1, 1923, which killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area. Seismologists had said another such quake could strike the city any time.

The 1995 Kobe quake caused $100 billion in damage and was the most expensive natural disaster in history. Economic damage from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was estimated at about $10 billion.

The Tokyo stock market extended losses after the quake. The central bank said it would do everything to ensure financial stability.

Passengers on a subway line in Tokyo screamed and grabbed other passengers’ hands during the quake. The shaking was so bad it was hard to stand, said Reuters reporter Mariko Katsumura.

Hundreds of office workers and shoppers spilled into Hitotsugi street, a shopping street in Akasaka in downtown Tokyo.

Household goods ranging from toilet paper to clingfilm were flung into the street from outdoor shelves in front of a drugstore.

Crowds gathered in front of televisions in a shop next to the drugstore for details. After the shaking from the first quake subsided, crowds were watching and pointing to construction cranes on an office building up the street with voices saying, “They’re still shaking!”, “Are they going to fall?”

Asagi Machida, 27, a web designer in Tokyo, sprinted from a coffee shop when the quake hit.

“The images from the New Zealand earthquake are still fresh in my mind so I was really scared. I couldn’t believe such a big earthquake was happening in Tokyo.”

The U.S. Geological Survey earlier verified a magnitude of 7.9 at a depth of 15.1 miles and located the quake 81 miles east of Sendai, on the main island of Honshu. It later upgraded it to 8.9.

A police car drove down Hitotsugi Street, lights flashing, announcing through a bullhorn that there was still a danger of shaking.

Japan’s northeast Pacific coast, called Sanriku, has suffered from quakes and tsunamis in the past and a 7.2 quake struck on Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area killed more than 3,000 people. Last year fishing facilities were damaged after by a tsunami caused by a strong tremor in Chile.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater. Khaleej Times

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Agrimero A. Cruz, Jr. said former Manila police officer Rolando Mendoza used the wrong way to try to clear his name from extortion, robbery, grave threat, and physical injuries.

“Definitely that’s the wrong way. That’s the illegal way. Definitely, he’s in deeper trouble because of this hostage-taking,” Cruz said.

Cruz said the PNP has not been able verify whether Cruz has already been dismissed from the service.

If he has, Cruz said Mendoza is no longer authorized to wear a police uniform nor carry firearms. Mendoza is armed with an M-16 rifle inside the tourist bus in front of the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

Cruz said Mendoza may have to face other raps such as usurpation of authority, illegal possession of firearms other than hostage-taking.

Police records show Mendoza was suspended in 2008 and dismissed from the service in February 2009. His retirement benefits were forfeited and disqualified from government service.

Cruz said Mendoza should have used the proper channels to clear his name instead of taking tourists as hostages.

Cruz said the PNP was optimistic the hostage crisis would be resolved within the day. However, it is sad to note that the incident ended with a bloody confrontation around 8:40 in the evening resulting to the death of eight (8) people as of this writing including the hostage-taker himself.

In a 78-page resolution, the DOJ eight-man panel of investigation prosecutors led by Senior State Prosecutor Leo Dacera said “the confluence of events before and immediately after” the massacre took place led them to conclude that Ampatuan Sr., his son Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov.  Datu Zaldy “Puti” U. Ampatuan, Datu Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan, Sr., Datu Norodin Ampatuan, and Datu Jimmy Ampatuan connived with the actual perpetrators.

The panel said evidence on record showed that the respondents instigated the plan to ambush members of the Mangudadatu clan on their way to the office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Cotabato City to file the certificate of candidacy of Esmael Mangudadatu for the gubernatorial post in Maguindanao.

It said witnesses identified respondents Datu Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan, Jr., Datu Kanor Ampatuan, Datu Bahnarin A. Ampatuan, Datu Mama Ampatuan, Datu Sajid Islam U. Ampatuan, Datu Anwar Ampatuan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Jr., Datu Ulo Ampatuan, Datu Ipi Ampatuan, Datu Harris Ampatuan, Datu Moning Ampatuan, Mogira Hadji Anggulat, Parido Zangkala Gogo, Jun Pendatun, Kagi Faizal and Sukarno Badal as having directly participated in the massacre.

“These respondents were plainly pinpointed as among those who fired their high-powered firearms which consequently ended the lives of their intended victims. Positive identification of a person being implicated in a crime, when categorical, resounding, consistent, and without any ill motive on the part of the eyewitnesses testifying on the matter, is given credence. Considering such positive identification of these respondents as direct participants in the commission of the crime of murder, they should be indicted,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ panel said there is viable evidence to prove that some members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) “dipped their fingers in the preparation and subsequent consummation of the despicable killing of the victims.”

“There is direct evidence that these respondents agreed to commit the crime.  Their acts and the attendant circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime unveil a common aim that would make all of them co-principals in the crime committed.  We can deduce from their communal conduct a common design, concerted action and concurrence of sentiments… All the conspirators are answerable as co-principals regardless of the extent or degree of their participation,” the resolution said.

Aside from the murder charges, Ampatuan Sr. and the 196 accused are also facing rebellion charges for allegedly mobilizing supporters to resist, defy and undermine security forces who were investigating the massacre last November.

Judge Vivencio Baclig of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 77 is currently conducting the hearing on the rebellion charges in Camp Crame. He is expected to rule on the defense lawyers’ motion to stop the transfer of the suspects from Cotabato City to Manila.

Prosecutors asked the court to transfer the Ampatuans after the Supreme Court granted a petition seeking the transfer of the rebellion case from Cotabato City Regional Trial Court to Quezon City due to the Ampatuans’ strong influence in the ARMM.

Andal Sr. is currently detained at the Camp Panacan Hospital in Davao City. Other Ampatuan clan members linked to the massacre were also arrested and confined in military camps. Yahoo Daily News

Benchmark crude for January delivery surged by $1.97, nearly 3 percent, to settle at $72.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for January delivery added $1.50 to settle at $73.55 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The Energy Information Administration said that crude supplies fell by 3.7 million barrels last week and distillate fuels including heating oil dropped by 2.9 million barrels. Analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., expected more moderate draws of 2 million barrels of crude and 750,000 barrels of distillates.

Refineries tend to try to get rid of as much crude as possible toward the end of the year to avoid paying higher taxes. But heating oil supplies also dropped as frigid temperatures blanketed the Midwest and Northeast.

“The cold weather has really been pushing prices right now,” analyst Peter Beutel said.

At the pump, retail gas prices fell by less than a penny overnight to a new national average of $2.594 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular unleaded is 3.7 cents cheaper than it was last month, but it’s 93.3 cents more expensive than the same time last year.

In other Nymex trading in January contracts, heating oil climbed 6.25 cents to settle at $1.9658 a gallon while gasoline gained 2.88 cents to settle at $1.8739 a gallon. Natural gas lost 6.1 cents to settle at $5.462 per 1,000 cubic feet. By Chris Khan, The Seattle Times