Syrian envoy appears to quit on TV, then deny it

PARIS – Syria's ambassador to France appeared to resign Tuesday on a French television network, then about an hour later Syrian state television aired her angry denial and threat to sue.

It was not immediately possible for The Associated Press to reconcile the two accounts or tell if the voices on the two networks belonged to the same woman. There was no video.

A top editor at France 24 said the network called a telephone number they had used previously for Ambassador Lamia Shakkour and she agreed to join a debate show, then abruptly announced her resignation in French and English.

Syria has been beset by 11 weeks of growing protests and a crackdown that activists say has left more than 1,300 people dead.

Syrian President Bashar Assad's government has maintained a unified front until now, with only two members of parliament resigning since the start of the uprising in mid-March, one of whom later went back on his resignation.

The ambassador's unwillingness or inability to appear in person to deny or confirm the resignation underscored the complexity of the messages coming out of Syria. Foreign reporters have been expelled, the government keeps tight control of information, and people fear retribution if they talk.

On France 24, the woman said she could remain silent no more.

"Even if I always admired the courage of our armed forces, I cannot support this cycle of violence. I cannot ignore all the demonstrators who died in honor, and whose families today live in pain," the woman said on France 24's French language station, which was aired as audio with a photo of her. "My resignation as ambassador of Syria in France takes effect immediately." France 24 broadcasts in French, English and Arabic.

Roughly an hour later, Syrian state television aired a statement with a woman identifying herself as the ambassador and denying she had resigned.

"It's part of this biased campaign of misinformation that seeks to do one thing: to destroy the credibility of this great nation, this nation of great people, great youth, great young women, this homeland that his worth more than anything else in this world," the woman said in Arabic. There was no video.

The woman also promised a press conference "in moments, at the closest possible opportunity" in French on "the biggest French channels" — which didn't immediately materialize.

In a later interview on al-Arabiya, the woman called the report of her resignation a Zionist conspiracy.

Renee Kaplan, deputy editorial director at France 24, said the network had invited Shakkour to appear on its live debate show, and she declared first in English and then in French that she was resigning.

"We invited her and called her directly. We called on a number we have had for her that we have reached her on before," Kaplan said. There was no answer at that number or response to text messages when AP tried it later Tuesday.

A small group of reporters stood outside the Syrian Embassy in Paris late Tuesday, where several staffers insisted that Shakkour had not resigned. The staffers, however, would not identify themselves.

A local French television crew was invited inside the embassy, which appeared to be buzzing with activity despite the late hour.

The embassy's website also appeared to be down or hacked. France's Foreign Ministry declined immediate comment about the reports.

Australia suspends live cattle trade to Indonesia

SYDNEY – Australia late Tuesday suspended its 330 million Australian dollar ($350 million) a year live cattle trade with Indonesia after gruesome televised images exposed slaughterhouse practices there.

The ban would last until proper treatment of the animals was assured, said Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig, who signed the order, according to The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. The government had temporarily suspended exports to 11 slaughterhouses after the footage aired nationally last week.

Ludwig's office said he would hold a press conference to outline the trade suspension later Wednesday.

Cattle sales agent Tim McHugh said the suspension would have a huge economic impact on cattle ranches across northern Australia, where there are no export meat slaughterhouses.

"This is criminal to think that people can manipulate markets the way they have using emotive issues," McHugh told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio Wednesday.

"The reality is that it shouldn't be our responsibility with regard to foreign countries buying our product and what they do with it once it's in their hands," he added.

ABC television on May 30 broadcast footage from Indonesian slaughterhouses that showed steers being whipped and taking minutes to die after their throats were slit repeatedly. Australian slaughterhouses stun the animals first.

The government responded the following day by halting trade with slaughterhouses that featured in the documentary, as Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd assured colleagues that trade suspensions with individual slaughterhouses would not harm Australia's "strong and robust relationship" with Indonesia.

Live Australian cattle account for up to 40 percent of Indonesia's beef consumption, while Indonesia buys 60 percent of Australia's live cattle exports.

About 770 slaughterhouses operate in Indonesia and only five use the stun-gun method, according to Lyn White, campaign director of the animal welfare group Animals Australia, which filmed the footage.

Indonesia's methods of slaughtering animals are based on Islamic teachings, For Riwantoro, a senior official at Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture, told The Associated Press last week.

"We have to protect consumers by ensuring they consume not only healthy and clean meat, but most important, it must be halal," Riwantoro said.

He said without Australian cattle, Indonesia would rely more on local cattle or would look for imports from other countries.

Prime Minster Julia Gillard was quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald saying Australia would work with Indonesians and the cattle industry to bring about changes in the slaughterhouses.

Key lawmakers and Animals Australia and the Australian Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, better known as the RSPCA, had sought the ban on cruelty grounds. The animal welfare groups cooperated with Australian Broadcasting Corp. to produce the television footage aired nationally.

Gadhafi daughter files lawsuits over NATO campaign

PARIS – Lawyers for Moammar Gadhafi's daughter filed suits Tuesday in Paris and Brussels, claiming war crimes by NATO and the alleged assassination in late April of four of the Libyan leader's relatives.

Attorneys for Aisha al-Gadhafi say the complaint do not name a specific defendant, but center on the recent bombing raids in Libya by the Brussels-based military alliance and France's role in them.

State prosecutors said officials are assessing whether the case can be admitted, a process that could take weeks.

A NATO-led alliance has launched air strikes on Libya under a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed to protect civilians from Gadhafi's forces. Tuesday marked the heaviest and most punishing NATO airstrikes yet — with more than 40 daylight attacks.

Dominique Atdjian, one of three French attorneys behind both filings, said the Brussels suit accuses NATO for alleged "war crimes."

The Paris complaint, he said, asks judicial authorities in France to "find, identify and punish the perpetrators and the accomplices" involved in the April 30 airstrike by the alliance, that authorities in Tripoli say killed Gadhafi's son Seif al-Arab and three of Gadhafi's grandchildren. The complaint says that one of the grandchildren killed in the compound was Aisha's daughter.

There have been conflicting accounts about whether Gadhafi's relatives even died in the April 30 airstrike.

Libyan officials said Gadhafi was in the compound when that strike occurred but escaped unharmed. NATO has repeatedly said all its targets in Libya are military and that it is not targeting Gadhafi.