VOCR Gazette -070513

Friday July 5th 2013

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Egypt army allows 'peaceful protest'

Egypt's army has said it will guarantee the right to peaceful protest, ahead of the traditional day for major rallies.

Muslim Brotherhood supporters are expected to rally on Friday after the army deposed President Mohammed Morsi.
New interim leader Adly Mahmud Mansour, the top judge of Egypt's constitutional court, has pledged to hold elections based on "the genuine people's will".
Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad al-Haddad said it refused to co-operate with the new regime.

Mr Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected leader, is in detention, as are senior figures in the Brotherhood, the Islamist group of which he is a member. Arrests warrants have been for some 300 others.

Early on Friday, one soldier was reported killed after Islamist militants attacked military and police checkpoints in the Sinai Peninsula with rockets and mortar fire.
Security checkpoints at al-Arish airport, near the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip, and a police station in Rafah were targeted, officials said.
Sinai has seen a series of militant attacks on security installations and oil pipelines over the past two years and it is unclear whether the latest attacks are linked to the political upheaval.
Related story :Egyptian Islamists to protest Morsi's removal 

Egypt's army announces state of emergency in South Sinai, Suez

CAIRO - Egypt's army announced a state of emergency in the provinces of South Sinai and Suez on Friday after Islamist gunmen attacked an airport in the Sinai town of El Arish, state newspaper Al-Ahram reported.
The report quoted the commander of the Third Field Army Osama Asakar saying that the "state of readiness" had been raised to its highest level in the two provinces due to the attack.
The attack, the latest of a string of security incidents in the lawless region, came two days after the overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. It was not clear if the attacks were coordinated and in reaction to his removal.
Egypt has closed the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Friday indefinitely. Gaza is controlled by the Islamist organization Hamas.  
Maher Abu Sabha, director of border crossings in Gaza says Egypt told Hamas of the indefinite closure. 
The Egyptian director of the Rafah terminal, Sami al-Mitwali, said the crossing was closed due to security unrest, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.

France Intelligence Agency Spies On Phone Calls, Emails, Social Media Activity: Report 

France's external intelligence agency spies on the French public's phone calls, emails and social media activity in France and abroad, the daily Le Monde said on Thursday.

It said the DGSE intercepted signals from computers and telephones in France, and between France and other countries, although not the content of phone calls, to create a map of "who is talking to whom". It said the activity was illegal.
"All of our communications are spied on," wrote Le Monde, which based its report on unnamed intelligence sources as well as remarks made publicly by intelligence officials.
"Emails, text messages, telephone records, access to Facebook and Twitter are then stored for years," it said.
The activities described are similar to those carried out by the U.S. National Security Agency, as described in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The documents revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of Internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies such as Facebook and Google, under a programme known as Prism.
They also showed that the U.S. government had gathered so-called metadata - such as the time, duration and numbers called - on all telephone calls carried by service providers such as Verizon.

Iraq officials: car bomb kills 4 north of Baghdad

Officials say a car bomb explosion has killed four civilians and wounded 6 others north of Baghdad.

A police officer says the explosives-laden vehicle was parked near a protest camp in the city of Samarra when it exploded Friday. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to release information.
The head of the Salahuddin provincial health directorate, Raed Ibrahim, confirmed the casualty figures. Samarra is 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad.
Since December, Iraq's Sunni minority community has been staging demonstrations over what they call second-class treatment by the Shiite-led government. In some place clashes erupted between security forces and protesters. The deadliest was in the northern town of Hawija in April, where 23 people were killed.

Afghan suicide bomber 'kills 12' at Uruzgan police station

At least 12 people have been killed and five wounded in a suicide attack at a police station in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, officials say.

Most of the victims are thought to be police officers who were having lunch at the time the attacker struck.
The station is used by police guarding the road to neighbouring Kandahar.
Officials say it is still not clear how the attacker managed to gain entry to the dining hall. One report says he was wearing an Afghan police uniform.
Among the dead was Obaed Ullah, the chief of rapid action police in Uruzgan, officials told the BBC.
Afghan police have consistently been targeted by the Taliban. and this attack comes shortly after Nato handed over security responsibility over to local Afghan forces.

9 killed, 19 injured in Pakistan suicide bombing

KARACHI: At least nine people, including six Afghan security officials, were killed and 19 others injured today when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a check post on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the troubled Balochistan province.

There were six Afghan security officials among those killed and 19 others were injured in the suicide bombing in the Chaman region of Balochistan, according to security sources.

Pakistani security officials, who did not want to be named, told Dawn.com that the suicide bomber blew himself while targeting the vehicle of Afghan border forces close to a check post near the Friendship Gate at Pak-Afghan border.

"Our forces miraculously survived since the blast happened at Friendship Gate at Pak-Afghan border," the source said.

Afghan security officials told the Dawn news channel that Afghan border commander Akhtar Muhammad was the intended target of the suicide attack.

However, the sources said that Muhammad survived the attack.

The condition of five of the injured persons was stated to be serious and they were rushed to Quetta's bordering town of Chaman for medical treatment.

Frontier Corps sources, however, said that some Pakistanis were also among the injured.

Pak-Afghan border was immediately closed after the blast. Chaman is a small town in the southwestern province of Balochistan and is one of the two main crossing points for supplies for American and Nato troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Bolivia’s president threatens to close U.S. embassy over plane dispute

President Evo Morales warned on Thursday that he could close the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia, as South America’s leftist leaders rallied to support him after his presidential plane was rerouted amid suspicions that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was on board.
Mr. Morales again blamed Washington for pressuring European countries to refuse to allow his plane to fly through their airspace on Tuesday, forcing it to land in Vienna, Austria, in what he called a violation of international law. He had been returning from a summit in Russia during which he had suggested he would be willing to consider a request from Mr. Snowden for asylum.

Hundreds protest NSA surveillance in Washington 

Hundreds of people turned out on the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C. to protest U.S. government electronic surveillance of its citizens 

SEE VIDEO HERE 

China and Russia conduct joint drill

China and Russia are beginning joint naval drills which Beijing has described as the country's largest with a foreign partner.

The drills, which are taking place in the Sea of Japan, last from 5-12 July.
People's Liberation Army chief Gen Fang Fenghui said on Tuesday the drills did not "target any third parties", but aimed to deepen ties with Russia.
However they come amid tensions with regional neighbours including Japan and the Philippines over maritime disputes.
China has overlapping claims with Tokyo and Manila in the East China and South China Sea respectively - something which has led to a marked deterioration in ties in recent years as China has pressed its claim more assertively.
Last month the US and Japanese navies held joint exercises off San Diego.
'No aggression'
Earlier this week, China's Defence Ministry said the drills marked the navy's "single biggest deployment of military force in a China-foreign joint exercise".
"Assertions have been made that this drill has a symbolic significance in terms of safeguarding the sovereignty of islands in the area, and represents a response to the US-Japan alliance," Communist Party newspaper People's Daily wrote on Friday.
But, the paper said, it was part of series of routine exercises, with the drill focusing on joint escort and the recovery of kidnapped vessels.
"There will be no aggressive element to the joint drill," it said.
The Chinese fleet comprises four destroyers, two guided missile frigates and a support ship, Chinese state media say.
The fleet left its base on Monday in China's Qingdao port for the Peter the Great Bay in Russia.
Meanwhile, Russia is expected to deploy 11 warships, a submarine and three planes during the drills, reports say.
China and Russia conducted naval drills for the first time last year. Both countries have participated in military exercises since 2005.
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 National Guard troops and staff to be furloughed

More than 1,100 National Guard soldiers and airmen in Hawaii -- and thousands in other states -- will be living with 20 percent less pay over the next three months as the Defense Department carries out automatic federal budget cuts.
Guard members will be furloughed for one day a week starting Monday, so helicopter pilots and mechanics, pay and finance clerks and others who keep the guard operating will have eight hours less each week to do their jobs.
It's not clear precisely what effects the unprecedented cuts will have. They could, however, make it more difficult for the guard to fly helicopters to help put out wildfires or rush to the scene of natural disasters in trucks.
"Our general sense is that short-term, it's going to be a terrible hardship for those soldiers, airmen and their families. But if it goes on for any length of time, that may have a negative impact on our readiness and our ability to respond," said Hawaii National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony. 

Clinton: '[Expletive] The White House Correspondents' Dinner'

The Washington Post reviewed Mark Leibovich's upcoming book, "This Town," on Wednesday, revealing that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton didn't care much for concerns that the press might get suspicious if President Barack Obama were to skip the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner, which took place just hours before the successful operation that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
“[Expletive] the White House Correspondents’ Dinner," she said, according to the Post's review, responding to a suggestion made by an unnamed national-security official.
As it turned out, Obama didn't need to miss the dinner. He made the order hours before the dinner, and it was carried out the next day, while he watched with other top administration officials -- including Clinton -- from the Situation Room.
While many of the sources have been questioned, Clinton has long been rumored to be a fan of profanity. The upcoming biopic, "Rodham," is expected to prominently feature that alleged habit.

IRS ‘BOLOs’ raise new questions about political targeting scandal

Internal Revenue Service documents showing that the agency might have scrutinized politically liberal groups before it inappropriately targeted conservative ones intensified debate on Capitol Hill last week, leaving the agency and its watchdog scrambling to explain themselves.

The result may be an already embattled IRS that faces even more criticism, and an inspector general risking a compromised reputation.
J. Russell George’s May report about the IRS’s treatment of conservative groups led to public outrage, agency apologies, congressional hearings, a Justice Department probe and several dismissals, including the forced resignation of acting commissioner Steven Miller by the White House.
But Democrats are now questioning the Treasury inspector general’s audit in light of the new IRS documents, which show that terms such as “progressive,” “health care legislation” and “medical marijuana” appeared on a multipart “Be on the Lookout” list, or BOLO, that helped agents determine which groups deserved additional screening.
In a June 26 letter to the inspector general, Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.) said: “There is increasing evidence that the May 14, 2013 audit was fundamentally flawed and that your handling of it has failed to meet the necessary test of objectivity and forthrightness.”

Republicans launch probe into ObamaCare mandate delay 

House Republicans are investigating the Obama administration's move to delay a key part of the health care overhaul, claiming the announcement was "completely at odds" with prior claims that ObamaCare was running on schedule and questioning what provisions might be delayed next. 
"It's clear we have no idea the full scope of delays and disarray that may be coming. The American public deserves answers," Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a  statement. 
Republicans on Upton's committee fired off a pair of letters on Wednesday to both the Treasury Department and Department of Health and Human Services. They demanded records detailing deliberations regarding the recently announced delay and ongoing talks about other "elements" of the law that some groups want "changed, delayed or repealed." 
The intense scrutiny comes after the administration, at the start of the holiday week, announced it was delaying until 2015 a requirement that large employers provide health insurance or pay a fine. In explaining the decision, officials said they were responding to businesses' concerns that the reporting requirements were too onerous -- they said they would simplify that system and give employers an additional year to comply. 
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid described the change as merely a "willingness to be flexible" and work with businesses. 
"Flexibility is a good thing," he said. "It is better to do this right than fast." 
But Republicans, while claiming the decision was a political move to push the mandate past the 2014 elections, said the abrupt delay was also a sign of the broader problems with the law. 
Many of the law's most significant provisions are still scheduled to take effect at the beginning of 2014, and Republicans want to know whether there are other under-the-radar problems that the administration has not yet acknowledged.
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