U.S. tells Libyans at secret meet: Gaddafi must go

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan and U.S. officials have met in secret, with Tripoli seeking talks with no preconditions, but Washington saying it delivered the clear message that Muammar Gaddafi must go.
The face-to-face meeting occurred at the weekend as Libyan government forces fought rebels for control of the oil port of Brega, which insurgents said on Monday they now had surrounded in what would be a major boost to their campaign. Tripoli denied this.
The meeting was held "to deliver a clear and firm message that the only way to move forward is for Gaddafi to step down," a U.S. State Department official said.
"This was not a negotiation. It was the delivery of a message." He said no more meetings were planned.
Libya said it welcomed discussions but only without preconditions.
"Any dialogue with the French, Americans, British is welcome," government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told journalists in Tripoli. "We will discuss everything, but do not condition your peace talks. Let Libyans decide their future."
He said the meeting was in Tunisia on Saturday. The U.S. official said it followed repeated contacts from the Libyan leader's emissaries.
France has also held similar talks with Libyan officials in the Tunisian resort of Djerba, insisting that Gaddafi must go into exile, the BBC reported.
"Clearly the situation is changing. If you had asked me 10 days ago I would have been more cautious," said French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet. "Clearly the situation is moving because Libyans of all origins are absolutely certain that Gaddafi is no longer an option for the future."
He said Gaddafi had to leave soon.
"The countdown has begun ... but I am cautious because Gaddafi is not rational and he could opt for a bunker strategy, taking the whole civilian population of Tripoli hostage."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declined comment on the Libyan-U.S. meeting, but said the world body was playing a central role in moves to present terms for Gaddafi to quit.
"There are many actors and the United Nations is playing a coordinating role. My special envoy is playing a central coordinating role," Ban told Reuters in Geneva on Tuesday.
He was referring to his envoy Abdul Elah al-Khatib who took part in the international contact group meeting in Istanbul which agreed a road map whereby Gaddafi should relinquish power and plans for Libya's transition to democracy. Khatib, a former Jordanian foreign minister, was authorized to present terms for Gaddafi to leave power.
MOSCOW MEETING
Libya's foreign minister is to meet his Russian opposite number in Moscow on Wednesday, Itar-Tass news agency said. The meeting, requested by the Libyans, would be first known visit by a Libyan government official to Moscow since the war began.
Russia has called for Gaddafi to go, but has criticized Western states for recognizing the rebel leadership as Libya's legitimate government, saying they were taking sides. Moscow emphasizes it is in contact with both rebels and government.
After a long period of stalemate in the desert along the eastern front, the rebels said they had routed most of Gaddafi's troops in Brega to the west, which has an oil refinery and terminal, and encircled the town.
More than 40 people on both sides were reported killed in the fighting since late last week for a city which for months marked the eastern limit of Gaddafi's control.
Rebel spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah said its streets were strewn with landmines, making it hard to secure full control.
"The main body (of Gaddafi's forces) retreated to Ras Lanuf," which lies to the west, he said by telephone from the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
The government denied the claim.
"Our brave soldiers are in Brega in their thousands and control it completely," spokesman Ibrahim said.
He said the government had lost 30 soldiers over five days of fighting, but rebels had lost many times more.
Abdulmolah said 12 rebels were killed and some 300 wounded on Saturday and Sunday. Most rebel forces were now past Brega and heading west.
Brega has changed hands several times in the back-and-forth fighting along Libya's Mediterranean coast since the rebellion began in February.
Libyan TV, in a bid to counter the rebel claims, showed what it said was footage taken on Monday of ordinary life in Brega, with students taking an exam and workers at a natural gas plant.
Gaddafi is refusing to step down despite the rebellion, NATO air strikes and defections of members of his inner circle.
On Saturday -- as his envoys met U.S. officials -- he called rebels traitors and said he had no plans to leave the country.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn in New Delhi, Nick Carey in Misrata, Steve Gutterman in Moscow, Yasmine Saleh and Omar Fahmy in Cairo, Peter Graff in Al-Qawalish, Libya, Joseph Nasr in Berlin, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Louise Ireland and Jon Hemming)

Create strong passwords

Strong passwords are important protections to help you have safer online transactions.

Keys to password strength: length and complexity

An ideal password is long and has letters, punctuation, symbols, and numbers.

• Whenever possible, use at least 14 characters or more.
• The greater the variety of characters in your password, the better.
• Use the entire keyboard, not just the letters and characters you use or see most often.

Create a strong password you can remember

There are many ways to create a long, complex password. Here is one way that may make remembering it easier:

What to do	Suggestion	Example
Start with a sentence or two (about 10 words total).	Think of something meaningful to you.	Long and complex passwords are safest.
Turn your sentences into a row of letters.	Use the first letter of each word.	lacpasikms (10 characters)
Add complexity.	Make only the letters in the first half of the alphabet uppercase.	lACpAsIKMs (10 characters)
Add length with numbers.	Put two numbers that are meaningful to you between the two sentences.	lACpAs56IKMs (12 characters)
Add length with punctuation.	Put a punctuation mark at the beginning.	?lACpAs56IKMs (13 characters)
Add length with symbols.	Put a symbol at the end.	?lACpAs56IKMs" (14 characters)

Test your password with a password checker

A password checker evaluates you

6 rules for safer password transactions online

Whether you go online to check your bank balance, pay a bill, give money, shop, or sell something, these six rules can help you keep the risks to a minimum.

• Defend your computer against Internet threats

  Help protect your online transactions by using firewall, antivirus, and antispyware software. Encrypt your wireless connection at home. Keep all software (including your web browser) current with automatic updates. For more information, see How to boost your malware defense and protect your PC.

• Create strong passwords

  Strong passwords are easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess. They are at least 14 characters long (the longer the password, the better) and include numbers, symbols, and upper and lower case letters. For more information, see Learn how to create strong passwords. If you already have a password in mind, check your password strength.)
  
  • Keep passwords and PINs (personal identification numbers) secret. Do not share them in email, instant messages, or over the phone.
  • Use unique passwords for bank accounts and other important financial information. Avoid using the same password everywhere. If someone steals that password, all the information that the password protects is at risk.

• Find the web address yourself

  Links in email messages, text messages, instant messages, or pop-up ads can take you to websites that look legitimate but are not. To visit websites, type the address yourself or use your own bookmark or favorite.

• Look for signs that your information is safe

  Before you enter sensitive data on a web page, ensure that:
  
  • The site uses encryption, a security measure that helps protect your data as it traverses the Internet. Signs of encryption include a web address with https ("s" stands for secure) and a closed padlock beside it. (The lock might also be in the lower right corner of the window.)
    
  • You are at the correct website—for example, at your bank's site, not a fake one. If you are using Internet Explorer, one sign of trustworthiness is a green address bar like the one above.

• Save financial transactions for your home computer

  Never pay bills, bank, shop, or do other financial business on a public or shared computer or on devices such as laptops or mobile phones that are on public wireless networks. The security is unreliable.

• Use common sense

  To protect yourself against fraud, watch out for scams. For example, be wary of deals that sound too good to be true, alerts from your "bank" that your account will be closed unless you take some immediate action, notices that you have won a lottery, or a refusal to meet in person for a local transaction.
  Typically this kind of message, whether sent by computer or phone, is designed to entice you to visit a phony website where criminals collect your financial data. (If you doubt the message's authenticity, call the company.) Learn to spot phishing scams and defend against them

california history

The history of California can be divided into several periods: the Native American period; European exploration period from 1542 to 1769; the Spanish colonial period, 1769 to 1821; the Mexican period, 1821 to 1848; and United States statehood, which continues to the present day.

The early history of California is characterized by being surrounded by barriers nearly isolating the state: the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Sierra Nevada mountains backed by the nearly barren Great Basin in the east, the Mojave Desert and Sonora Desert areas in the southeast and Redwood–Douglas fir forests to the northwest. The near isolation of the California Indian tribes led them to develop cultures different than the other Indian cultures in the Americas. California Indians tribes had essentially no agriculture (with the exception of the Colorado River Indians) and were hunter-gatherers. The Indians had no crops, advanced cities, accumulated wealth or organized civilizations to exploit. The Spaniards, after initial explorations, left Alta California alone for over 200 years. Relative isolation continued even after Spanish Mission, Presidio and pueblo settlements began in 1769. The only easy communication with the rest of New Spain (Mexico) was by ship as the Quechan (Yuma) Indians shut down the Anza Trail in 1781. This trail (discovered 1776) across Arizona along the Gila and the Colorado River crossing (Yuma Crossing) was the only "easy" way by land from Mexico to California. Essentially the only communication from Mexico to California was via a 30-50 day sailing ship voyage against the south bound California Current and the often opposing winds. The sailing ship trip from California to

spanish history

The history of Spain involves all the other peoples and nations within the Iberian peninsula formerly known as Hispania, and includes still today the nations of Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. It spans from prehistoric Iberia, through the rise and decline of a global empire, to the recent history of Spain as a member of the European Union. Modern humans entered the Iberian Peninsula about 32,000 years ago. Different populations and cultures followed over the millennia, including the Iberians, the Tartessians, Celts and Celtiberians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Suebi and Visigoths. In 711, the Moors, a Berber and Arab army, invaded and conquered nearly the entire peninsula. During the next 750 years, independent Muslim states were established, and the entire area of Muslim control became known as Al-Andalus. Meanwhile the Christian kingdoms in the north began the long and slow recovery of the peninsula, a process called the Reconquista, which was concluded in 1492 with the fall of Granada.

The Kingdom of Spain was created in 1492 with the unification of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon.[1] The first voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World took place that same year, beginning the development of the Spanish Empire. The Inquisition was established and Jews and Muslims who refused to convert were expelled from the country.

For the next three centuries Spain was the most important colonial power in the world. It was the most powerful state in Europe and the foremost global power during the 16th century and the greater part of the 17th century. Spanish literature and fine arts, scholarship and philosophy flourished during this time. Spain established a vast empire in the Americas, stretching from California to Patagonia, and colonies in the western Pacific. Financed in part by the riches pouring in from its colonies, Spain became embroiled in the religiously charged wars and intrigues of Europe, including, for example, obtaining and losing possessions in today's Netherlands, Italy, France, and Germany, and engaging in wars with France, England, Sweden, and the Ottomans in the Mediterranean Sea and northern Africa. Spain's European wars, however, led to economic damage, and the latter part of the 17th century saw a gradual decline of power under an increasingly neglectful and inept Habsburg regime. The decline culminated in the War of Spanish Succession, which ended with the relegation of Spain from the position of a leading western power, to that of a secondary one, although it remained (with Russia) the leading colonial power.

The 18th century saw a new dynasty, the Bourbons, which directed considerable efforts towards the renewal of state institutions, with some success, finishing in a successful involvement in the American War of Independence. However, as the century ended, a reaction set in with the accession of a new monarch. The end of the eighteenth and the start of the 19th centuries saw turmoil unleashed throughout Europe by the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, which finally led to a French occupation of much of the continent, including Spain. This triggered a successful but devastating war of independence that shattered the country and created an opening for what would ultimately be the successful independence of Spain's mainland American colonies. Shattered by the war, Spain was destabilised as different political parties representing "liberal", "reactionary" and "moderate" groups throughout the remainder of the century fought for and won short-lived control without any being sufficiently strong to bring about lasting stability. Nationalist movements emerged in the last significant remnants of the old empire (Cuba and the Philippines) which led to a brief war with the United States and the loss of the remaining old colonies at the end of the century.

Following a period of growing political instability in the early 20th century, in 1936 Spain was plunged into a bloody civil war. The war ended in a nationalist dictatorship, led by Francisco Franco which controlled the Spanish government until 1975. Spain was officially neutral during World War II, although many Spanish volunteers fought on both sides. The post-war decades were relatively stable (with the notable exception of an armed independence movement in the Basque Country), and the country experienced rapid economic growth in the 1960s and early 1970s. The death of Franco in 1975 resulted in the return of the Bourbon monarchy headed by Prince Juan Carlos. While tensions remain (for example, with Muslim immigrants and in the Basque region), modern Spain has seen the development of a robust, modern democracy as a constitutional monarchy with popular King Juan Carlos, one of the fastest-growing standards of living in Europe, entry into the European Community, and the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Contents
[hide]

    1 Early history
    2 Roman Hispania
    3 Germanic Occupation of Hispania (5th–8th centuries)
    4 Muslim Era—al-Andalus (8th–15th centuries)
    5 Dynastic Union
        5.1 The Spanish language and universities
    6 Imperial Spain
    7 Spanish Kingdoms under the Habsburgs (16th–17th centuries)
        7.1 The Golden Age (Siglo de Oro)
    8 Enlightenment: Spain under the Bourbons (18th century)
    9 Napoleonic Wars: War of Spanish Independence (1808–1814)
    10 Spain in the nineteenth century (1814–1873)
    11 First Spanish Republic (1873–1874)
    12 The Restoration (1874–1931)
        12.1 Disaster of 1898
        12.2 World War I
    13 Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939)
    14 Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)
    15 The dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1936–1975)
    16 Spain since 1975
        16.1 Transition to democracy
        16.2 Modern Spain
    17 Notes
    18 Bibliography
    19 External links
    20 See also
 Early history
Main article: Prehistoric Iberia

The earliest record of hominids living in Europe has been found in the Spanish cave of Atapuerca; fossils found there date to roughly 1.2 million years ago.[2] Modern humans in the form of Cro-Magnons began arriving in the Iberian Peninsula from north of the Pyrenees some 35,000 years ago. The most conspicuous sign of prehistoric human settlements are the famous paintings in the northern Spanish cave of Altamira, which were done c. 15,000 BC and are regarded as paramount instances of cave art.[3] Furthermore, archeological evidence in places like Los Millares in Almería and in El Argar in Murcia suggests developed cultures existed in the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula during the late Neolithic and the Bronze Age.[4]

The seafaring Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians successively settled along the Mediterranean Sea near Tartessos, modern day Cádiz. Regarding Tartessos, it should also be mentioned that according to John Koch[5] Cunliffe, Karl, Wodtko and other highly respected scholars, Celtic culture may well have developed first in far Southern Portugal and Southwestern Spain, approximately 500 years prior to anything recorded in Central Europe.[6][7] The Tartessian language from the southwest of Spain, written in a version of the Phoenician script in use around 825 BC, has been readily translated by John T. Koch as Celtic and is being accepted by a growing number of philologists and other linguists as the first Celtic language.[5][8][9] In the 9th century BC, the first Greek colonies, such as Emporion (modern Empúries), were founded along the Mediterranean coast on the east, leaving the south coast to the Phoenicians. The Greeks are responsible for the name Iberia, apparently after the river Iber (Ebro in Spanish). In the 6th century BC, the Carthaginians arrived in Iberia, struggling first with the Greeks, and shortly after, with the newly arriving Romans for control of the Western Mediterranean. Their most important colony was Carthago Nova (Latin name of modern day Cartagena).[10]

The native peoples whom the Romans met at the time of their invasion in what is now known as Spain were the Iberians, inhabiting from the southwest part of the Peninsula through the northeast part of it, and then the Celts, mostly inhabiting the north and northwest part of the Peninsula. In the inner part of the Peninsula, where both groups were in contact, a mixed, distinctive, culture was present, the one known as Celtiberian.[2] The Celtiberian Wars or Spanish Wars were fought between the advancing legions of the Roman Republic and the Celtiberian tribes of Hispania Citerior from 181 to 133 BC.[11][12]
 Roman Hispania
Main article: Hispania
Further information: Roman conquest of Hispania
Further information: Romanization of Hispania
Roman bridge in Cordoba

Hispania was divided: Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior during the late Roman Republic; and, during the Roman Empire, Hispania Taraconensis in the northeast, Hispania Baetica in the south (roughly corresponding to Andalucia), and Lusitania in the southwe

Roman history Battle of Veii (1998 )

The Battle of Veii, also known as the Siege of VeiiMichael Grant, The History of Rome, p. 42 is a battle of ancient Rome, approximately dated at 396 BC. The main source about it is Livy's Ab Urbe Condita.The Romans were led by a dictator (in Roman Republic, this was an emergency general rather than a tyrant) named Marcus Furius Camillus. Their opponent, the Etruscan city of Veii, a large city close to Rome had engaged the Romans in a long and inconclusive war during which it had often been under siege. In order to break the siege once and for all, a tunnel was reputedly built beneath the city.Livy describes the scene with the Veientines holed up in their city, the main Roman force encamped outside and a second force set to attack from within via the tunnel. After this prayer from Camillus,Pythian Apollo, guided and inspired by thy will I go forth to destroy the city of Veii, and a tenth part of its spoils I devote to thee. Thee too, Queen Juno, who now dwellest in Veii, I beseech, that thou wouldst follow us, after our victory, to the City which is ours and which will soon be thine, where a temple worthy of thy majesty will receive thee. He attacked from all sides.The Veientines wondered "what had happened to make the Romans, after never stirring from their lines for so many days, now run recklessly up to the walls as though struck with sudden frenzy".At this time, the Romans emerged from the entrance of the tunnel inside the temple of Juno and the forces inside and out quickly overwhelmed Veii. After the fighting slackened, Camillus offered to spare the unarmed who began to surrender as the soldiers gathered booty.The wealth so impressed Camillus that he gave a speech, d...

World History Battles of Lexington and Concord

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America.

About 700 British Army regulars, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, were ordered to capture and destroy military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. Dr. Joseph Warren alerted the colonists of this. The Patriot colonists had received intelligence weeks before the expedition which warned of an impending British search, and had moved much, but not all, of the supplies to safety. They had also received details about British plans on the night before the battle, and information was rapidly supplied to the militia.

The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. The militia were outnumbered and fell back. Other British colonists, hours later at the North Bridge in Concord, fought and defeated three companies of the king's troops. The outnumbered soldiers of the British Army fell back from the Minutemen after a pitched battle in open territory.

More Minutemen arrived soon thereafter and inflicted heavy damage on the British regulars as they marched back towards Boston. Upon returning to Lexington, Smith's expedition was rescued by reinforcements under Hugh, Earl Percy. A combined force of fewer than 1,700 men marched back ...