SPIII -Morning Gazette -071013

Wednesday July 10th 2013

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Egypt orders Brotherhood head arrest

Egypt's state prosecutor has issued an arrest warrant for the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, and a number of other senior figures.

Mr Badie is accused of inciting the violence in Cairo on Monday in which more than 50 people were killed.
Many Brotherhood members are already in detention and warrants are said to have been been issued for hundreds more.
It comes as the interim prime minister attempts to form a government after the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi.
The Brotherhood, to which Mr Morsi belongs, says his ousting by the military a week ago amounted to a coup.
Its supporters have since been staging large protests outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in the capital, demanding his release from detention and reinstatement.

Death Toll In Turkish Protests Rises

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's parliament banned a union from approving construction projects, with opposition parties saying Wednesday the group of architects and city planners was being punished by the government for challenging redevelopment plans in Istanbul that ignited nationwide protests last month.
The surprise measure was passed late Tuesday with the votes of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party, which holds a parliamentary majority.
The move, which requires the president's approval before taking effect, would hand over the powers of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects to the ministry in charge of the environment and urban planning. It also deprives the union of a major source of revenue.
Ali Uzunirmak, a member of Turkey's nationalist party, called the measure "pirate" legislation that avoided discussions in parliamentary committees since it was debated in a midnight session.
The government defended the measure saying it would benefit architects and engineers who are not members of the union.
Union members had opposed construction plans for Istanbul's Taksim Square, including the demolition of Gezi Park, one of a few remaining green spaces in the area.
A police crackdown on a sit-in to protect the park ignited nationwide protests in June that turned into expression of discontent with what opponents say is Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian style of governing. The death toll in the protests, meanwhile, increased to five Wednesday when a demonstrator who was in a coma died.

Protest in rebel-held Syria area against Islamists

A British-based group that follows clashes in Syria says there has been a rare protest against Islamists who rule a rebel-held area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that protests happened in the towns of Minbaj and Tabou in the northern province of Aleppo. Youths demonstrated against an al-Qaida-linked group called "The Islamic State of Iraq and Sham." Sham is another word for Syria.
The observatory says clashes also took place in two nearby towns between the group and residents.
It wasn't immediately clear why residents were upset. In the past, some Syrians in rebel-held areas have complained that ruling militants are too extreme for their liking.
Syria is entering its third year of a war that began as an uprising against the rule of President Bashar Assad.

Car bomb rocks south Beirut suburbs

A car bomb has wounded dozens of people in a stronghold of Lebanon's Shia militant group Hezbollah in Beirut.

Lebanon's Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil says 53 people were hurt in the blast, in the Beir el-Abed area.
No group has said it was behind the attack.
Rebels in neighbouring Syria have threatened to target Hezbollah in Lebanon, which intervened in the fighting over the border to support President Bashar al-Assad.
Two rockets hit south Beirut in May.

Tuesday's explosion in the city's southern suburbs took place in a car park near an Islamic centre; no-one was in the car at the time.

Dramatic footage broadcast by Hezbollah-run al-Manar TV showed firefighters trying to put out the flames.

Syria jihadists may obtain chemical weapons, MPs warn

 Islamic extremists fighting in Syria pose one of the most worrying threats to Britain and its allies, particularly if they gain access to the regime's stocks of chemical weapons, parliament's intelligence committee said on Wednesday.

In their annual report, lawmakers said the consequences of Al-Qaeda-linked extremists getting hold of President Bashar al-Assad's reported stocks of the sarin and VX nerve agents, ricin and mustard gas would be "catastrophic".
The committee, which oversees the work of Britain's intelligence agencies, also urged the government to speed up efforts to tackle the "disturbing" threat of cyber attacks.
"Al-Qaeda elements and individual jihadists in Syria currently represent the most worrying emerging terrorist threat to the UK and the West," the report says.
It quotes a warning from the head of external intelligence agency MI6, John Sawers, about the risk of "a highly worrying proliferation around the time of regime fall".

Taliban Close Controversial Qatar Office

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan's Taliban have shuttered a newly opened office in the Gulf state of Qatar, vowing to fight on against President Hamid Karzai's government while abandoning a diplomatic approach seen as the best hope of finding a political end to the protracted 12-year war.
Experts said Tuesday that the final withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan in 2014 offered the Taliban the hope of a military victory while limiting their incentive to press ahead with peace talks. The Taliban, they said, envisioned the talks more as a means of gaining legitimacy than as a road to peace.
"I think the big gorilla in the room is the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. It decreases the likelihood of a settlement because it raises the prospects of Taliban military gains," said Seth Jones, a counterinsurgency expert at the Rand Corp., a Washington-based think tank that receives U.S. funding. "Settlements usually occur when both sides reach a stalemate and see little prospect for change in the foreseeable future."
The Taliban office, which opened less than a month ago to facilitate peace talks with the U.S. and Afghan government, was mired in controversy from the outset after the religious movement was accused of trying to set up a government-in-exile by identifying its office as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. It also hoisted the same white flag flown during the Taliban's five-year rule of Afghanistan that ended with the 2001 American-led invasion.
Karzai reacted furiously and the Taliban lowered the flag and removed the sign. Both the U.S. and Qatar quickly chastised the Taliban and accused them of reneging on a promise to refrain from using either the name or the flag.
Now the office itself has been temporarily closed, a Taliban official familiar with the talks in Qatar said.

China warns of grim trade outlook after surprise 3% fall in exports

China has warned of a grim outlook for trade as the world's second-largest economy surprised financial markets by reporting a fall in exports and imports when both had been expected to rise.
The figures, which follow a government crackdown on the use of fake invoicing that had exaggerated exports earlier this year, are likely to raise fresh concerns about the extent of the slowdown in the economy and global demand.
The June data, showing that exports fell 3.1% from a year earlier and imports dropped 0.7%, may now reflect the true trade picture, customs officials said.
"China faces relatively stern challenges in trade currently," customs spokesman Zheng Yuesheng told a news briefing. "Exports in the third quarter look grim."
The customs agency said exporters were losing confidence in the face of weak overseas demand, rising labour costs and a strong yuan currency.
The export fall was the first since January 2012. Economists had expected exports to increase 4.0% and imports to rise 8.0%.
China's trade data is volatile and has been distorted by speculative capital flows across the country's border. Doubts about the accuracy of the figures had abated slightly since the customs office and top foreign exchange regulator launched a campaign in May to crack down on fake export invoices.
Fake invoicing inflated China's official import and export totals by $75bn (£50bn) in the first four months of 2013, local media reported on 14 June, citing an internal review by China's commerce ministry.

Japan warns of China, North Korea threats

Tokyo: Japan sounded the alarm on Tuesday on rising security threats in Northeast Asia, warning in a government report of a potential military confrontation with China over maritime disputes, as well as a North Korean weapons program that appeared intent on producing longer-range nuclear missiles.
Japan's annual defence paper, the first since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December, also raised concerns that budget cuts in the United States and a range of other distractions would hinder Washington's much-touted "pivot to Asia" - a strategic reorienting of US interests from Europe and the Middle East toward East Asia.

Shinzo Abe has been keen to revamp Japan's military strategy to offset China's growing military power. 

"In its defence strategic guidance, the US presented policies emphasising a rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region," the report drawn up by Japan's Defence Ministry said. "But how its harsh financial situation will impact efforts to translate these policies into reality attracts attention."
Mr Abe, a conservative, has been keen to revamp Japan's military strategy to offset China's growing military power and the continuing instability on the Korean Peninsula.

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In January, he ordered his government to replace the nation's five-year military spending plan and to review guidelines adopted in 2010 by the left-leaning Democratic Party, which would have shrunk the Japanese military's ranks. Instead, Mr Abe plans to increase Tokyo's military spending for the first time in a decade.
Mr Abe has also sought to bolster military cooperation with the United States, including holding joint military training drills with Tokyo's longtime security ally. But Japan has struggled to hold America's attention. President Barack Obama skipped a meeting with Mr Abe on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland last month.
Even as Washington has remained distracted by other matters, the report warned, the security situation in Northeast Asia was turning increasingly volatile.
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China defends its latest Ladakh incursion

BEIJING: Virtually defending the latest incursion by the PLA in the Chumar sector in Ladakh, China today said its troops were patrolling on its side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and asserted that "status quo" should not be changed pending a final settlement.

"I have seen the relevant reports but I am not aware of the specific situation", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson HuaChunying told a media briefing when asked about the incident that took place ahead of defence minister A K Antony's visit here last week.

"Chinese Defence forces have been patrolling along the Chinese side of the LAC of the China-India border", she said.

"The general situation in the border areas is stable. We have the consensus that pending the final settlement of the boundary question no one of us (none from India or China) should change the status quo along the LAC", she said, indirectly asserting that neither side should resort to any infrastructure development.

"China would like to make joint efforts with the Indian side to safeguard peace and tranquillity of the border areas", Hua said.

The incident took place on June 17 when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops intruded into the Chumar sector in Ladakh and smashed some bunkers besides cutting wires of cameras installed at the Indian border post.

Boston Marathon bomb accused Dzhokhar Tsarnaev due in court

Victims of the Boston Marathon bombing will come face-to-face with the young man accused of the attack as he makes his first court appearance later.

The federal court in Boston is expected to be packed for the arraignment of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
It will be the first time he has been seen in public since his arrest.
He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in the 15 April blasts that killed three people, including an eight-year-old boy.
The accused could face the death penalty if convicted over what was the worst mass-casualty attack on US soil since 11 September 2001.
A spokeswoman for the US attorney's office said space was being reserved in the main courtroom for families of the victims on Wednesday.
The accused will be able to make a plea at the hearing, which some 260 people wounded in the explosions have also reportedly been invited to attend.
Mr Tsarnaev was not in court last month during an indictment hearing, when a federal grand jury agreed that he should be tried on 30 charges.
His first court appearance took place at his hospital bedside, where he was recovering from injuries received in a shoot-out with police during the manhunt for the bombers. He was later transferred to a prison hospital near Boston.
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Military dumps $34M into Afghanistan HQ that US forces won't use 

The U.S. military blew through $34 million on a hulking headquarters in southwestern Afghanistan that probably will never be used by U.S. forces, in an example of government waste that has military commanders fuming. 
John F. Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, exposed the problems in a letter this week to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other military leaders. The Washington Post first reported on the controversy, writing that the construction of the building continued for years despite warnings from the Marine commander in Helmand that it was not needed.  
The military is now investigating what went wrong, and is trying to figure out what to do with the 64,000-square-foot facility in Camp Leatherneck. 
"The building will probably be demolished," Sopko said in his letter, citing the opinion of military officials his office spoke with. Another option is to give it to the Afghans, but doing so would require another major overhaul. 
Sopko and others are raising alarm at the fact the project continued despite the diminishing need for it. In his letter, Sopko said it appeared to be one of the "best constructed" buildings he's seen in the country. 
"Unfortunately, it is unused, unoccupied, and presumably will never be used for its intended purpose," he said. "Military officials explained that this is an example of what is wrong with military construction in general -- once a project is started, it is very difficult to stop." 

Ready For Hillary Super PAC Hires Obama Campaign Veterans

WASHINGTON -- Veterans of President Barack Obama's two presidential campaigns are signing up to help a Democratic group supporting a potential Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign.
The Ready for Hillary super PAC says it has hired a Democratic firm called 270 Strategies to oversee grassroots organizing, volunteer training and recruitment. The firm was started by former Obama campaign aides who oversaw the president's campaign in 2008 when he defeated Clinton in the Democratic primaries – and his 2012 re-election.
The pro-Clinton group does not have direct ties to the former secretary of state but is trying to lay the foundation of volunteers and supporters to help Clinton if she runs for president.
Clinton has not said whether she'll seek the White House in 2016 but is the early front-runner among Democrats.

House Democrats propose national park on the moon

Two House Democrats are proposing that the next national park be out of this world.
Reps. Donna Edwards, D-Md., and Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, propose in the "Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act" that a national historical park on the moon be created to ensure the American landing sites are preserved for future generations.
The lawmakers say the legislation is necessary to protect the Apollo landing sites for "posterity," as commercial space exploration increases and more foreign nations head to space.
The Hill reports the bill would allow the federal government to accept donations to help preserve the landing sites and would create visitor services and administrative offices "within reasonable proximity to the Historical Park."

White House ramps up effort to sell Obamacare

The White House is dramatically expanding its efforts to sell the Affordable Care Act, hiring additional staffers, formulating a public-relations strategy and reaching out to key lawmakers as the new health-insurance system prepares to launch in coming months.

The administration’s push comes as Republican leaders signal their intent to focus on the law’s implementation, and any problems it encounters, in their quest to retake the Senate and maintain their House advantage in 2014.
GOP lawmakers announced Tuesday that they will hold hearings on the administration’s decision to delay the law’s requirement that large employers provide health-care coverage for workers. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) also vowed to hold a House vote this month to delay key elements of the law, commonly known as Obamacare.

Experts: Obama’s plan to predict future leakers unproven, unlikely to work

WASHINGTON — In an initiative aimed at rooting out future leakers and other security violators, President Barack Obama has ordered federal employees to report suspicious actions of their colleagues based on behavioral profiling techniques that are not scientifically proven to work, according to experts and government documents.
The techniques are a key pillar of the Insider Threat Program, an unprecedented government-wide crackdown under which millions of federal bureaucrats and contractors must watch out for “high-risk persons or behaviors” among co-workers. Those who fail to report them could face penalties, including criminal charges.
Obama mandated the program in an October 2011 executive order after Army Pfc. Bradley Manning downloaded hundreds of thousands of documents from a classified computer network and gave them to WikiLeaks, the anti-government secrecy group. The order covers virtually every federal department and agency, including the Peace Corps, the Department of Education and others not directly involved in national security.
Under the program, which is being implemented with little public attention, security investigations can be launched when government employees showing “indicators of insider threat behavior” are reported by co-workers, according to previously undisclosed administration documents obtained by McClatchy. Investigations also can be triggered when “suspicious user behavior” is detected by computer network monitoring and reported to “insider threat personnel.”

Congress derails Obama plans to arm Syrian rebels

Though the Obama administration has authorized military aid to the rebel opposition currently engaged in a civil war with the government of Bashar Assad, it now appears that the US Congress has essentially blocked that move over terrorism fears.
Members of both the House and Senate intelligence committees have moved to enact stringent restrictions on funding the Syrian rebels, a move sufficient to prevent the White House from delivering on arms shipments according to sources who spoke with The Hill.

In mid-June, following allegations from the White House that the Assad government had used chemical weapons against opposition forces moving to depose him, the Obama administration authorized arms shipments in a marked escalation of US involvement in the region.

"This is going to be different in both scope and scale in terms of what we are providing," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser at the time.

Now, according to sources familiar with committee activity, restrictions on that increased aid to Syria’s opposition may have essentially stopped the administration in its tracks.

According to The Hill, lawmakers moved to block the military aid out of fears that weapons would fall into the hands of terrorist groups. US analysts are in particular concerned over the strengthening of the Syrian al-Qaeda-affiliated group Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the al-Nusra Front.

Though the Obama administration had long stated that the use of chemical weapons by Assad’s government constituted a “red line,” it seems that lawmakers on the intelligence committees are more worried about the regional threat posed by Islamist elements now engaged against Syrian government forces.