Iraq: New protests break out in Sunni stronghold

RAMADI, Iraq (AP) — Large, noisy demonstrations against Iraq's government flared for the third time in less than a week Wednesday in Iraq's western Anbar province, raising the prospect of a fresh bout of unrest in a onetime al-Qaida stronghold on Syria's doorstep.
The rallies find echoes in the Arab Spring. Protesters chanted "the people want the downfall of the regime," a slogan that has rippled across the region and was fulfilled in Tunisia and Egypt. Other rallying cries blasted Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government as illegitimate and warned that protesters "will cut off any hand that touches us."
While the demonstrators' tenacious show of force could signal the start of a more populist Sunni opposition movement, it risks widening the deep and increasingly bitter rifts with the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. If left unresolved, those disputes could lead to a new eruption of sectarian violence.
The car bombings and other indiscriminate attacks that still plague Iraq are primarily the work of Sunni extremists. Vast Anbar province was once the heart of the deadly Sunni insurgency that emerged after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and later the birthplace of a Sunni militia that helped American and Iraqi forces fight al-Qaida.
Today, al-Qaida is believed to be rebuilding in pockets of Anbar, and militants linked to it are thought to be helping Sunni rebels try to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The demonstrations follow the arrest last week of 10 bodyguards assigned to Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, who comes from Anbar and is one of the central government's most senior Sunni officials. He appeared before Wednesday's rally and was held aloft by the crowds.
Al-Issawi's case is exacerbating tensions between the Shiite-dominated government that rose to power following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and Iraq's Sunnis, who see the detentions as politically motivated.
"The danger is that the revolution in Syria is perpetuating Sunni opportunism and overconfidence in Iraq," said Ramzy Mardini, an analyst at the Beirut-based Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies. "Al-Maliki may have sparked a Sunni tribal movement that will attempt to harness and capitalize on the revolutionary spirit," he said.
Protesters turned out Wednesday near the provincial capital Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad. The city and nearby Fallujah were the scenes of some of the deadliest fighting between U.S. troops and Iraqi insurgents.
Demonstrators blocked the main highway linking Baghdad with neighboring Jordan and Syria, just as they did at another protest Sunday.
Wednesday's protesters held banners demanding that Sunni rights be respected and calling for the release of Sunni prisoners in Iraqi jails. "We warn the government not to draw the country into sectarian conflict," read one. Another declared: "We are not a minority."
Al-Issawi, the finance minister, addressed the rally after arriving in a long convoy of black SUVs protected by heavily armed bodyguards. He condemned last week's raid on his office and rattled off a list of grievances aimed at al-Maliki's government.
"Injustice, marginalization, discrimination and double standards, as well as the politicization of the judiciary system and a lack of respect for partnership, the law and the constitution ... have all turned our neighborhoods in Baghdad into huge prisons surrounded by concrete blocks," he declared.
Large numbers of protesters also took to the streets in Samarra, a Sunni-dominated town 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Baghdad, according to Salahuddin provincial spokesman Mohammed al-Asi.
Many Sunnis see the arrest of the finance minister's guards as the latest in a series of moves by the Shiite prime minister against their sect and other perceived political opponents.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, another top-ranking Sunni politician, is now living in exile in Turkey after being handed multiple death sentences for allegedly running death squads — a charge he dismisses as politically motivated.
Al-Maliki has defended the arrests of the finance minister's guards as legal and based on warrants issued by judicial authorities. He also recently warned against a return to sectarian strife in criticizing the responses of prominent Sunni officials to the detentions.
In a recent statement, the prime minister dismissed the rhetoric as political posturing ahead of provincial elections scheduled for April and warned his opponents not to forget the dark days of sectarian fighting "when we used to collect bodies and chopped heads from the streets."
Al-Maliki's spokesman, Ali al-Moussawi, criticized al-Issawi's participation in the protest Wednesday.
"He can't be in the government and use the street against it at the same time. If he can't shoulder his responsibilities then he has to step down so that another person can take over," he said.
The political tensions are rising at a sensitive time. Iraq's ailing President Jalal Talabani is incapacitated following a serious stroke last week and is being treated in a German hospital. The 79-year-old president, an ethnic Kurd, is widely seen as a unifying figure with the clout to mediate among the country's ethnic and sectarian groups.
Also Wednesday, the United Nations mission to Iraq said its monitors have determined that a hospital that treated a member of an Iranian exile group who died this week at a refugee camp near Baghdad did not consider his health condition serious enough to warrant hospitalization when he arrived for treatment in November.
An organization representing the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq exile group on Monday accused Iraqi authorities of preventing 56-year-old Behrooz Rahimian from being hospitalized, and alleged that the U.N. failed to take sufficient steps to intervene. Iraq considers the MEK a terrorist group and wants its members out of the country.
The U.N. mission in Baghdad said in a statement Wednesday that it "does not have any indication so far that treatment was obstructed by the Iraqi authorities." It noted that representatives for the refugee residents told U.N. monitors that Rahimian "appeared to be in good condition until the time of his death."

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Egypt's Morsi: Constitution sets up a new republic

 Egypt's president said Wednesday that the disputed constitution just approved in a referendum establishes a new republic and he called on the opposition to join a dialogue to heal rifts over the charter and shift the focus to repairing the economy.
In the first speech since official results a day earlier showing the constitution was approved, Mohammed Morsi said he acknowledges the "respectable" proportion that voted against the constitution drafted by his Islamist allies. But he offered no concrete gestures to an opposition that has so far rejected his offer of dialogue and vowed to fight the charter.
"As we set on a new phase moving from the first republic to the second republic, a republic that has this constitution as its strong base. ... I renew my pledge to respect the law and constitution," Morsi said, repeating his oath of office based on the new charter.
Morsi's comment signaled a break with the governing system in place in Egypt since 1952, when a military coup pushed out the Western-backed king, and Egypt was declared a republic.
The constitution is Egypt's first since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in Feb. 2011. The opposition questioned its legitimacy, arguing it passed with a very low turnout of around 33 percent and without a national consensus. They say the charter restricts freedoms, ignores rights of minorities and women and enshrines Islamic rule.
Morsi countered that argument, saying it was the country's first constitution passed and drafted through a popularly approved process. He said the charter respects human dignity and enshrines values of moderation. It protects freedoms and ensures the right to work, to education and to health, he said.
"The Egyptian people passed the constitution with nearly a two-thirds majority," he said. "But I acknowledge that a respectable proportion chose to say 'no,' and it is their right." The constitution passed with nearly 64 percent voting "yes."
He said there is room in Egypt for an effective, national opposition.
Morsi, the first elected president after Mubarak, said a national dialogue aimed to set "a road map" for the future. He renewed his invitation to political parties to join a dialogue he launched before the referendum results came out.
The main opposition National Salavation front said it refuses to join the current dialogue as it stands, calling it "farcical and simply theater" and saying it would only enter a "real and effective" dialogue.
"The president is talking to himself," said Hussein Abdel-Ghani, a leading figure in the group told a press conference after Morsi's speech. He pointed out that most of the representatives in that dialogue are either Islamist parties or "cardboard" opposition, likening it to old attempts by Mubarak's regime to appear to be reaching out to the opposition.
He said the group would study Morsi's speech to determine whether it was a serious call.
"We won't deal with dialogues based on pretention," Abdel-Ghani said. He said the opposition won't take part in an attempt by Morsi simply to convince the United States — which has called for compromise and talks — that he is reaching out to his opponents without offering real substance.
Morsi defended decrees he issued in November granting himself sweeping powers, which sparked a wave of protests. He said the decrees, since revoked, were necessary to swiftly push through the constitution to a referendum to end instability and open the road for development. The opposition had urged him to postpone the vote.
Under the new constitution, the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, the traditionally toothless upper house, was granted temporary legislative powers and began its work on Wednesday. It will legislate until elections for a new lower house are held within two months.
He said he asked the current prime minister to do a limited reshuffle to his Cabinet, and vowed that new investment projects will launched in the coming days, including moves to facilitate investment.

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Syrian minister leaves Beirut for fear of arrest

 Syria's wounded interior minister cut short his treatment at a Beirut hospital Wednesday and returned home for fear of being arrested by Lebanese authorities, while Syria's chief of military police defected to the opposition, becoming one of the highest-ranking officers to switch sides.
The twin developments reflected the deepening isolation of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, which has suffered a number of setbacks on the battlefield as well.
In the latest challenge, rebels launched a massive attack on a military base in the northern province of Idlib after laying siege to it for weeks.
The defector, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, becomes one of the most senior members of Assad's regime to join the opposition during the 21-month-old revolt against his authoritarian rule.
Al-Shallal appeared in a video aired on Arab TV late Tuesday saying that he was casting his lot with "the people's revolution."
He said the military "has become a gang for killing and destruction," and he accused it of "destroying cities and villages and committing massacres against our innocent people who came out to demand freedom."
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar, who was wounded in a suicide bombing Dec. 12 in Damascus and was brought to Beirut for treatment a week ago, left the hospital early and flew home to Damascus on a private jet, officials at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport said.
A top Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that al-Shaar was rushed out of Lebanon after authorities there received information that international arrest warrants could be issued against him because of his role in the deadly crackdown against protesters in Syria.
Over the past week, some Lebanese officials and individuals had also called for al-Shaar's arrest for his role in a bloody 1986 assault in the Lebanese city of Tripoli.
In the 1980s, al-Shaar was a top intelligence official in northern Lebanon when Syrian troops stormed Tripoli and crushed a Sunni Muslim group that supported Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat. Hundreds of people were killed in the battles, and since then, many in northern Lebanon have referred to al-Shaar as "the butcher of Tripoli."
It was a testament to just how internationally isolated Assad's regime has become that even in Lebanon, a country Syria controlled for decades, Syrian government officials cannot feel at ease.
"Lebanese officials contacted Syrian authorities, and that sped up his departure," said the security official, adding that a Lebanese medical team is expected to go to Damascus to continue al-Shaar's treatment there. "If such arrest warrants are issued, Lebanese judicial authorities will have to arrest him, and this could be an embarrassment for the country."
The airport and security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Lebanon and Syria have a long and bitter history.
Syrian forces moved into Lebanon in 1976 as peacekeepers after the country was swept into a civil war between Christian and Muslim militias. For nearly 30 years that followed, Lebanon lived under Syrian military and political domination. Damascus was eventually forced to withdraw its troops but has maintained considerable influence in Lebanon.
The defection of Syria's military police chief represented another setback for the Assad government and came as military pressure builds on the regime, with government bases falling to rebel assault near Damascus and elsewhere across the country.
Dozens of generals, along with thousands of ordinary soldiers, have defected since Syria's crisis began in March 2011. In July, Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass became the first member of Assad's inner circle to break ranks and join the opposition during the uprising, which anti-regime activists estimate has led to more than 40,000 deaths.
On Wednesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government shelling in the northeastern province of Raqqa killed at least 20 people, including eight children and three women.
Also, activists said rebels were attacking the Wadi Deif military base in the northern province of Idlib. The base, which is near the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan, has been under siege for weeks.

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Egypt's Morsi: constitution dawn of new republic

 Egypt's Islamist president proclaimed the country's newly adopted constitution as the dawning of a "new republic" in a television address Wednesday, calling on the opposition to join a dialogue with him after a month of violent turmoil and focus on repairing a damaged economy.
Mohammed Morsi sought to present the Islamist-drafter charter as the turning of a historic page for Egypt, but his speech did little to ease the suspicions of those who fear he and his Muslim Brotherhood are entrenching their power. He offered no concrete gestures to an opposition that has so far rejected his dialogue and vowed to fight the constitution.
Instead, with a triumphalist tone, he presented the constitution, which was approved by nearly 64 percent of voters in a referendum that ended last weekend, as creating a democracy with balanced powers between branches of government and political freedoms.
"We don't want to return to an era of one opinion and fake, manufactured majorities. The maturity and consciousness (of voters) heralds that Egypt has set on a path of democracy with no return," Morsi said. "Regardless of the results, for the sake of building the nation, efforts must unite. There is no alternative to a dialogue that is now a necessity."
The opposition says the constitution allows a dictatorship of the majority — which Islamists have won with repeated election victories the past two years. It says the charter's provisions for greater implementation of Islamic law, or Shariah, would allow Islamists who hold the presidency and overwhelmingly dominate the temporary legislature to restrict civil rights and limit the freedoms of minorities and women.
Opponents also say the low turnout in the referendum, just under 33 percent, undermines the document's legitimacy.
The main opposition National Salvation Front said it would study Morsi's speech to see if his call for dialogue is serious. But it dismissed a "national dialogue" body that he launched before the results emerged as "farcical and simply theater." The dialogue is mainly between Morsi and other Islamists.
"The president is talking to himself," said Hussein Abdel-Ghani, a leading figure in the Front told a press conference after Morsi's speech. He said the opposition would only enter "real and effective" talks, suggesting Morsi was aiming to assuage the United States, which has called for compromise and talks, without offering real substance. The Front said it will continue to be in opposition to the current rulers who "seek to establish a repressive regime in the name of religion."
Morsi's prerecorded address was his first speech since Dec. 6 after laying low amid the turmoil leading up to the referendum. It came a day after official referendum results were announced, formally bringing into effect the first constitution since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.
Morsi's main message: it is time to put aside differences and start "the epic battle for construction and production."
He said he had asked his Prime Minister Hesham Kandil to make changes to his Cabinet to meet the "needs of the coming period" and to introduce measure to facilitate investment. But he made no gesture of inviting the opposition to join the reshuffled government.
"As we set on a new phase moving from the first republic to the second republic, a republic that has this constitution as its strong base ... I renew my pledge to respect the law and constitution," Morsi said, repeating his oath of office based on the new charter.
The line signaled the formal end of the political system in place in Egypt since 1952, when a military coup pushed out the Western-backed king and Egypt was declared a republic.
Morsi acknowledged the "respectable" proportion that voted against the constitution, but gave no nod to the concerns opponents have over the charter. Liberals and Christians withdrew from the assembly writing the document, complaining that the Islamist majority was railroading it through. Opponents worry about provisions giving Muslim clerics a say over legislation, subordinating many civil rights to Shariah and providing little protection for women's rights.
Morsi declared the constitution Egypt's first to be drafted and passed through a popularly approved process, saying it protects human dignity, enshrines moderation, protects freedoms and ensures rights to work, education and health.
His implicit message to those who complain that the Muslim Brotherhood, from which he hails, is dominating government was that he could be trusted and that in the end, voters can remove them.
"God only knows I make no decision except for God, and for the interest of the nation," Morsi said. "As you know, I am not a lover of authority or someone who is keen to monopolize power. Power is with the people."
He defended decrees he issued in November granting himself sweeping powers, which sparked a wave of protests. He said the decrees, since revoked, were necessary to swiftly push through the constitution to a referendum to end instability. The opposition had urged him to postpone the vote.
The administrator of a Facebook page seen as a major mobilizer for the uprising that forced out Mubarak dismissed Morsi's speech, saying, "His words don't match his deeds."
Abdel-Rahman Mansour, of the "We are All Khaled Said" page, said Morsi had violated earlier promises to respect processes and institutions and is now calling for a dialogue after rushing through a constitution that was highly disputed.
"You can't talk about a second republic when it is based on a constitution that has no national consensus," Mansour said. "He says he doesn't want power but acts differently."
Under the new constitution, the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, the traditionally toothless upper house, was granted temporary legislative powers and began its work on Wednesday. It will legislate until elections for a new lower house are held within two months. Morsi has had legislative powers for months since a court dissolved the law-making lower house of parliament.
Morsi filled out the Shura Council this week by appointing 90 members to bring it to its full 270 members, adding a few non-Islamist members to the body recommended by the national dialogue. But the main liberal and secular opposition groups rejected the appointments as "political bribery."
The parliamentary affairs minister, Mohammed Mahsoub, told Wednesday's session that the government will prepare new legislation for the Shura Council to discuss, including a law to regulate the upcoming parliamentary elections, anti-corruption laws, and laws to organize Egypt's efforts to recover money from corrupt Mubarak-era officials.
Mahsoub said such bills can be ready as early as next week, when the council convenes again for its regular working session.
Nasser Amin, the head of the Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession, said that now the conflict has moved from dueling street protests between the regime and opposition to "a new phase of legal disputes over legislation and control of state institutions.

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New turmoil hits Egypt's tourism

At Egypt's Pyramids, the desperation of vendors to sell can be a little frightening for some tourists.
Young men descend on any car with foreigners in it blocks before it reaches the more than 4,500 year-old Wonder of the World. They bang on car doors and hoods, some waving the sticks and whips they use for driving camels, demanding the tourists come to their shop or ride their camel or just give money.
In the southern city of Aswan, tour operator Ashraf Ibrahim was recently taking a group to a historic mosque when a mob of angry horse carriage drivers trapped them inside, trying to force them to take rides. The drivers told Ibrahim to steer business their way in the future or else they'd burn his tourist buses, he said.
Egypt's touts have always been aggressive — but they're more desperate than ever after nearly two years of devastation in the tourism industry, a pillar of the economy.
December, traditionally the start of Egypt's peak season, has brought new pain. Many foreigners stayed away because of the televised scenes of protests and clashes on the streets of Cairo in the battle over a controversial constitution.
Arrivals this month were down 40 percent from November, according to airport officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Tourism workers have little hope that things will get better now that the constitution came into effect this week after a nationwide referendum. The power struggle between Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the opposition threatens to erupt at any time into more unrest in the streets.
More long term, many in the industry worry ruling Islamists will start making changes like banning alcohol or swimsuits on beaches that they fear will drive tourists away.
"Nobody can plan anything because one day you find that everything might be OK and another that everything is lost. You can't even take a right decision or plan for the next month," said Magda Fawzi, head of Sabena Management.
She's thinking of shutting down her company, which runs two hotels in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh and four luxury cruise boats on the Nile between the ancient cities of Luxor and Aswan. In one hotel, only 10 of 300 rooms are booked, and only one of her ships is operating, she said. She has already downsized from 850 employees before the revolution to 500.
"I don't think there will be any stability with this kind of constitution. People will not accept it," she said.
Tourism, one of Egypt's biggest foreign currency earners, was gutted by the turmoil of last year's 18-day uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Scared off by the upheaval, the number of tourists fell to 9.8 million in 2011 from 14.7 million the year before, and revenues plunged 30 percent to $8.8 billion.
This year, the industry struggled back. By the end of September, 8.1 million tourists had come, injecting $10 billion into the economy. The number for the full year is likely to surpass 2011 but is still considerably down from 2010.
For the public, it has meant a drying up of income, given that tourism provided direct or indirect employment to one in eight Egyptians in 2010, according to government figures.
Poverty swelled at the country's fastest rate in Luxor province, highly dependent on visitors to its monumental temples and the tombs of King Tutankamun and other pharaohs. In 2011, 39 percent of its population lived on less than $1 a day, compared to 18 percent in 2009, according to government figures.
For the government, the fall in tourism and foreign investment since the revolution has worsened a debt crisis and forced talks with the International Monetary Fund over a $4.8 billion loan.
Morsi has promised to expand tourism, but hotel owners and tour operators say he has yet to make clear any plans.
Their biggest fear is new violence causing shocks like December's. Ibrahim, of the Eagle Travels tourism company, said that because of this month's protests, two German operators he works with cancelled tours. They weren't even heading to Cairo, but to the Red Sea, Luxor and Aswan, far from the unrest.
But some in the industry fear that, with the constitution's provisions strengthening implementation of Shariah, Islamists will ban alcohol or restrict dress on Egypt's beaches, which rival antiquities sites as draws for tourism. Officials from the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, are vague about any plans.
Ultraconservative Salafis, who are key allies of Morsi, have been more direct.
Nader Bakkar, spokesman for the Salafi Nour Party, told a conference of tour guides in Aswan earlier this month that tourists should not be allowed to buy alcohol but could bring it with them and drink it in their rooms. Tourists should also be encouraged to wear conservative dress, he said.
"We welcome all tourists but we tell them ... there are traditions and beliefs in the country, so respect them," he said. "Most tourists will have no problem if you tell them" to bring their own alcohol.
One Salafi sheik earlier this year said the Pyramids and Sphinx should be demolished as anti-Islamic — like Afghanistan's then-Taliban rulers destroyed monumental Buddha statues in 2001. Bakkar dismissed the comments as the opinion of one cleric.
But tour guide Gladys Haddad sees the Salafis' attitude as a threat, saying the constitution should have said more to protect Egypt's pharaonic heritage. "We are talking about a civilization that they do not acknowledge. They see it as idolatrous."
"Why would a tourist come to a resort if he can't drink?" said Fawzi, of Sabena Management. "People are coming for tours and monuments, and to relax on the boats. If they feel that restriction, why should they come?"
Nahla Mofied of Escapade Travels said the Islamists might restrict what tourists can "wear and do" but, given its importance to the economy, "they may not destroy tourism fully."
Complicating attempts to draw tourists back is the lawlessness gripping Egypt the past two years. With police supervision low, tourist touts increasingly assault guides and even tourists to demand business. In September, 150 tour guides held a protest against attacks by vendors.
"We have struggled with this problem since before the revolution, but now the situation is completely out of control," Ibrahim said.
At the Giza Pyramids, police seem indifferent to the touts. Camel-riding police even join in, pushing tourists to take rides.
Gomaa al-Gabri, an antiquities employee, was infuriated at the sight, shouting, "You sons of dogs" and a slew of other insults at a policeman trying to get money off a tourist.
"They're trying to take away my income," said the father of 11. "In Mubarak's time we wouldn't dare talk to them like this. Now I can hit him with a shoe on his head and he can't speak."
For some tourists at the Pyramids, the chaos is part of the experience.

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Benitez demands more after Chelsea smash eight

LONDON (Reuters) - Rafael Benitez was still scribbling notes towards the end of Chelsea's 8-0 rout of Aston Villa on Sunday and after the game, the Spaniard said there was plenty of room for improvement.
As Chelsea made it 13 goals from two games since returning empty-handed from a 12,000-mile (19,312-kilometre) round trip to Japan for the Club World Cup a week ago, Benitez demanded even more from his players.
"I can see the team improving with the little things we wanted to improve," said Chelsea's interim manager after his team climbed to third in the English Premier League.
"But we can still improve some things. I say that after winning by eight."
Striker Fernando Torres, rediscovering the killer instinct he showed under Benitez at Liverpool, opening the scoring with a thumping header in the third minute at Stamford Bridge.
The goals kept flowing, Frank Lampard marking his 500th Premier League start with a sweetly struck fourth and Brazilian Ramires netting twice in an early Christmas stuffing of Villa.
"The players have been really focused since I arrived," Benitez, whose appointment angered Chelsea fans following last month's sacking of Roberto Di Matteo, said.
"They knew they had a new manager and they had to perform. We have to try to adjust things in every training session but I was impressed with the way we played.
"From day one, they were keen to learn and to improve," added the Spaniard, whose meticulous attention to detail are beginning to reap dividends for the Blues.
"Chelsea were a top side before I came here. They still are. You can see the team has confidence in themselves. They believe, they have good movement and they create chances."
Becoming the first holders to exit the Champions League at the group stage and then failing to compensate for it by lifting the Club World Cup, the pressure had been on Benitez.
Chelsea still trail Premier League pace-setters Manchester United by 11 points, and Manchester City by seven, albeit with a game in hand.
But Benitez, who has tinkered with his side to good effect since their gruelling trip to the Far East, believes Chelsea can climb back into the title race.
"Now we have to sustain this run and it will be easier for me to say we can compete," the Spaniard added.
Many of Chelsea's players had said while in Japan that having time away from the bearpit of the Premier League to work with and adapt to Benitez's style would bring its rewards.
"To win is always special, but the mentality of the players was good," said Benitez, game-by-game beginning to look the part in his official Chelsea suit.
Credited by the players for making the team more compact defensively, against a Villa side woefully out of their depth, Chelsea's attacking football was at times breath-taking.
"Even after we scored our sixth goal, we kept pushing forward for more," purred Benitez. "We had the balance we are looking for."

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Soccer-Van Persie has made same impact as Cantona, says Ferguson

MANCHESTER, England, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Robin van Persie's impact at Manchester United has been similar to the stunning transformation brought about by the signing of Eric Cantona, according to manager Alex Ferguson.
Dutch striker Van Persie has scored 15 goals since signing from Arsenal, drawing comparisons with Frenchman Cantona whose arrival at Old Trafford was the catalyst for United to win the league title for the first time in 26 years.
"I reckon here at Manchester United we got our Christmas present early - right at the start of the season in fact when Robin van Persie arrived at Old Trafford," Ferguson has written in the programme for Wednesday's home game against Newcastle United.
"I am reluctant to subscribe to the cult of an individual because I firmly believe the essence of a successful football team depends on teamwork, and neither are we a one-man team, but sometimes there really is a situation where you are lucky enough to find the last piece of the jigsaw."
Cantona was signed from Leeds United for 1.2 million pounds ($1.94 million) in 1992 with Ferguson's team languishing in eighth place in the table.
But he galvanised the side with his flair and a regular supply of goals, his arrogance and charisma inspiring a team who went on to win the 1993 title by 10 points, the first of Ferguson's 12 Premier League crowns.
"We did it when we brought Eric Cantona to Old Trafford where he proved to be the right player at the right club at the right time," Ferguson said.
"He became the catalyst and springboard for our surge to success.
"It doesn't have to be signing someone for a record fee. Cristiano Ronaldo was not a record buy either but he certainly made a difference as he prospered with us to the extent that he came to be regarded by a lot of people as the world's best player," added Ferguson.
Van Persie has formed a prolific attacking partnership with Wayne Rooney which has lifted United four points clear at the top of the Premier League and on course for a 20th English title.
They lost out to neighbours Manchester City on goal difference last season after the teams finished level on points at the end of the 38-match campaign.

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Soccer-Inter defender Chivu snubs calls for Romania return

BUCHAREST, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Inter Milan defender Cristian Chivu has refused to come out of international retirement to help Romania in next year's 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
"I was clear and concise two years ago and I do not know why every time I have to repeat the same thing," Chivu, capped 75 times by the Balkan country, told local media on Monday.
The versatile 32-year-old defender, who joined Inter from AS Roma for a reported fee of 16 million euros ($21.08 million) in 2007, quit the national team in May last year, saying that age and injuries were behind his decision.
This month, however, Romania coach Victor Piturca said he was planning to meet Chivu in Milan before Christmas or at the beginning of 2013, to try to persuade him to end his international exile.
"I miss the national team but I will not return," Chivu added. "The team can do without me, I liked how they played in Turkey (when Romania beat Turkey 1-0 in a world qualifier in October)."
Chivu has just recovered from a toe injury and played in Inter's 2-0 win over Verona in a Coppa Italia last-16 match on Tuesday and the 1-1 draw with Genoa on Saturday, his only appearances this season.
Romania are third in World Cup qualifying Group D with nine points from four matches, three behind leaders the Netherlands.
The Balkan side, who have not qualified for the World Cup finals since 1998, will resume their campaign in March with a much-anticipated visit to second-placed neighbours Hungary, who also have nine points.

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Van Persie has made same impact as Cantona, says Ferguson

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Robin van Persie's impact at Manchester United has been similar to the stunning transformation brought about by the signing of Eric Cantona, according to manager Alex Ferguson.
Dutch striker Van Persie has scored 15 goals since signing from Arsenal, drawing comparisons with Frenchman Cantona whose arrival at Old Trafford was the catalyst for United to win the league title for the first time in 26 years.
"I reckon here at Manchester United we got our Christmas present early - right at the start of the season in fact when Robin van Persie arrived at Old Trafford," Ferguson has written in the programme for Wednesday's home game against Newcastle United.
"I am reluctant to subscribe to the cult of an individual because I firmly believe the essence of a successful football team depends on teamwork, and neither are we a one-man team, but sometimes there really is a situation where you are lucky enough to find the last piece of the jigsaw."
Cantona was signed from Leeds United for 1.2 million pounds in 1992 with Ferguson's team languishing in eighth place in the table.
But he galvanised the side with his flair and a regular supply of goals, his arrogance and charisma inspiring a team who went on to win the 1993 title by 10 points, the first of Ferguson's 12 Premier League crowns.
"We did it when we brought Eric Cantona to Old Trafford where he proved to be the right player at the right club at the right time," Ferguson said.
"He became the catalyst and springboard for our surge to success.
"It doesn't have to be signing someone for a record fee. Cristiano Ronaldo was not a record buy either but he certainly made a difference as he prospered with us to the extent that he came to be regarded by a lot of people as the world's best player," added Ferguson.
Van Persie has formed a prolific attacking partnership with Wayne Rooney which has lifted United four points clear at the top of the Premier League and on course for a 20th English title.
They lost out to neighbours Manchester City on goal difference last season after the teams finished level on points at the end of the 38-match campaign.

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Soccer-Wiesinger and Reutershahn take over at Nuremberg

Michael Wiesinger and Armin Reutershahn were appointed joint coaches of struggling Nuremberg on Monday following Dieter Hecking's decision to take over at Bundesliga rivals VfL Wolfsburg at the weekend.
Wiesinger, 39, who has been working with the club's youth academy for a year and a half, and Reutershahn, 52, an assistant under Hecking, will take the reins for the second half of the season.
"In Michael Wiesinger and Armin Reutershahn we have two coaches from our own ranks that enjoy a great amount of trust and acceptance," sporting director Martin Bader said on Nuremberg's website (www.fcn.de).
Nuremberg are fifth from bottom in the table after drawing 1-1 at Werder Bremen on Dec. 16, their final match before the mid-season break.

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