VOCR-SPIII 070613

Saturday July 6th 2013

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EGYPT IN CHAOS: 36 Killed, More Than 200 Injured in Violent Clashes

Egyptians were on edge Saturday after clashes between supporters and opponents of ousted president Mohammed Morsi left at least 30 people dead across the divided country.
Emergency services official Amr Salama said 12 people were killed Friday in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria when hundreds of Islamists descended on a rally by opponents of Morsi, opening fire with guns.
Besides the 30 killed throughout the day, some 210 were wounded, Heath Ministry official Khaled el-Khatib told The Associated Press.


Syrian Troops Pummel Rebel-Held Areas In Homs

BEIRUT — The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group has elected a former political prisoner as its new president.
The Syrian National Coalition says on its Twitter account that Ahmad al-Jarba received 55 votes of the 114-member council.
The council also elected three vice presidents including Mohammed Farouk Taifour, a senior official with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The voted took place Saturday in Istanbul.
The president's post had been empty since April when former SNC President Mouaz al-Khatib resigned, citing frustration over what he called a lack of international support and constraints imposed on the body itself.


Since then, senior opposition figure George Sabra served as acting president of the SNC.

Syria's main opposition picks new leader

Syria's main political opposition on Saturday elected Ahmad Assi Jarba to lead the movement which groups opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, spokesman Khaled Saleh said.

Jarba, who represents the faction of veteran secular dissident Michel Kilo and who is seen as close to Saudi Arabia, obtained 55 votes in the deeply divided Syrian National Coalition, edging out the group's secretary general Mustafa al-Sabbagh, who obtained 52 votes.

Baghdad mosque suicide bomb kills 15

At least 15 people have died in a suicide bomb attack targeting a Shia mosque in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, officials say.

More than 30 people were wounded in the attack, which happened during night prayers, AP news agency reported.
More than 2,500 Iraqis have died in violent attacks since April, according to UN figures released this week.
On Monday a suicide bomber targeted a Shia mosque in Muqdadiyah, 50 miles (80 km) north-east of Baghdad, killing 22.
Iraq has been suffering its worst sectarian violence in several years, with May the bloodiest month since June 2008, according to UN figures.

The recent surge in violence comes amid heightened tensions between Iraq's Sunni and Shia communities, amid claims by the Sunnis that they are being marginalised by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Shia-led government.

Violence erupted in April when Iraqi security forces stormed an anti-government Sunni protest in the city of Hawija, killing and wounding dozens of protesters.
Although the violence is less deadly than that seen during the heights of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007, it is the most widespread since the US military withdrawal in 2011.

HORROR: Islamic Miltants Massacre Students At Boarding School

POTISKUM, Nigeria — Islamic militants attacked a boarding school before dawn Saturday, dousing a dormitory in fuel and lighting it ablaze as students slept, survivors said. At least 30 people were killed in the deadliest attack yet on schools in Nigeria's embattled northeast.
Authorities blamed the violence on Boko Haram, a radical group whose name means "Western education is sacrilege." The militants have been behind a series of recent attacks on schools in the region, including one in which gunmen opened fire on children taking exams in a classroom.
"We were sleeping when we heard gunshots. When I woke up, someone was pointing a gun at me," Musa Hassan, 15, told The Associated Press of the assault on Government Secondary School in Mamudo village in Yobe state.
He put his arm up in defense, and suffered a gunshot that blew off all four fingers on his right hand, the one he uses to write. His life was spared when the militants moved on after shooting him.
Hassan recalled how the gunmen came armed with jerry cans of fuel that they used to torch the school's administrative block and one of the dormitories.
"They burned the children alive," he said, the horror showing in his wide eyes.
He and teachers at the morgue said dozens of children from the 1,200-student school escaped into the bush but have not been seen since.

Fearful Lebanese Sunnis drawn to hard-line leaders

Lebanese pop idol Fadel Shaker shot to stardom crooning ballads that earned him the nickname "The King of Romance." He disappeared as a bearded, gun-toting Sunni hard-liner in a shootout with the army in the coastal city of Sidon.

Shaker's transformation from entertainer to militant extremist spotlights a broader phenomenon in Lebanon: the drift of its Sunni Muslim community away from its traditional moderate leadership to — in some cases — hard-line, sectarian preachers.
The drift is rooted in part in a years-long leadership vacuum among Lebanese Sunnis that has seen the community's fortunes fall as those of rival Shiites have risen on the back of their powerful Hezbollah group. That shift has fuelled sectarian tensions that have only worsened with the civil war in neighboring Syria, where Hezbollah is fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's regime to crush a rebellion dominated by Syria's Sunni majority.
Now, in perhaps an ominous development for Lebanon, some Sunnis are voicing fears that the Lebanese army, considered the country's most independent institution, is quietly aligning itself with Hezbollah — a charge the military denies.
"There's a general mood of anger and oppression among Sunnis in Lebanon of being lorded over by Hezbollah," said Mohamad Chatah, a former advisor to slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whose 2005 assassination robbed the Sunni community of its most powerful and charismatic leader.
With many Sunnis feeling that traditional politicians aren't moving to check the rising power of the heavily armed Shiite party, militant Sunni extremists are filling the void, Chatah said.
There are no polls to demonstrate the phenomenon, and observers disagree about its extent. But few deny the trend exists, or that it's grown stronger since Hezbollah openly joined the war in Syria.

Koreas hold talks on Kaesong zone

Officials from North and South Korea are holding talks on reopening the Kaesong industrial complex.

The two sides sat down together on Saturday at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone.
Work at the factory park was halted in April amid high regional tensions.
Kaesong, a major source of income for the North, was seen as a symbol of inter-Korean ties, and correspondents say its closure showed how serious this year's political tensions were.
Attempts to hold high-level talks last month failed on procedural grounds.
The meeting is being held on the North Korea side of Panmunjom, South Korean officials said.
Seoul suggested the working-level talks on Thursday, a day after Pyongyang said South Korean businessmen could visit the closed complex to inspect and maintain equipment.
Late on Thursday, North Korea accepted the offer, the South said.
Prior to operations being suspended, there were around 120 South Korean businesses in the factory park. The companies have been unable to retrieve goods and materials for three months.
Some have since threatened to abandon the zone entirely and relocate their equipment.

Taliban blow up truck at gates of NATO supply compound in Afghanistan, killing American, 6 others

Taliban suicide attackers who detonated a truck bomb early Tuesday at the gates of a NATO supplier's compound in Kabul and sprayed gunfire at security personnel killed at least 7 people, including an American, a western contractor familiar with the facility said.
The source has told Fox News that an American civilian and Romanian are among the dead, and 30 others are injured, seven in critical condition. Afghan officials say five guards and two civilians were killed in the attack, which lasted two and a half hours, according to the source.
The assault was the latest in a series targeting high-profile locations in the Afghan capital. The attacks have made clear the Taliban have no intention of ending the violence, even as they say they are willing to enter peace negotiations.
The U.N. deputy chief, Jan Eliasson, who was in Kabul wrapping up a five-day trip to Afghanistan when the attack took place, said continued violence could only harm the Taliban's own cause.
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Turkish Police fire teargas, water cannon to disperse protesters in Istanbul

ISTANBUL: Turkish Police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse protesters in a central Istanbul square on Saturday as they gathered to enter a park that was the centre of anti-government protests last month.

The Taksim Solidarity Platform, combining an array of political groups, had called for a march to enter the sealed off Gezi park, but the governor of Istanbul warned any such gathering would be confronted by the police.

A police crackdown on a group protesting against the planned redevelopment of Gezi Park, a leafy corner of Taksim, triggered a nationwide wave or protest last month against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, accused by his critics of becoming increasingly authoritarian after a decade in power.

OOPS: Obama Can't Pronounce French President's Name

Good try, but no. That's not how you say the French president's name.
President Barack Obama stumbled a bit during a press conference Monday when he attempted to pronounce Francois Hollande's name -- the French way. In a video of his speech in Tanzania, Obama mispronounces "Hollande" by saying "oo-lawn."
"If I want to know what President Hollande is thinking on a particular issue, I'll call President Hollande," Obama says in the clip.
For non-French speakers, Hollande is correctly pronounced "o-lond."

Where is Col. Bristol – Benghazi Cover-up

Marine Corps Col. George Bristol was in a key position in the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) chain of command the night of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. As such, he’s high on the list of people that some Republican members of Congress want to interview. But they don’t know where he is and the Pentagon isn’t telling.
Pentagon spokesman Major Robert Firman told CBS News that the Department of Defense “cannot compel retired members to testify before Congress.”
“They say he’s retired and they can’t reach out to him,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told CBS News. “That’s hogwash.”
Bristol, a martial arts master, was commander of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara based in Stuttgart, Germany until he retired last March. In an article in Stars and Stripes, Bristol is quoted at his retirement ceremony as telling his troops that “an evil” has descended on Africa, referring to Islamic militant groups. “It is on us to stomp it out.”
Members of Congress in both the House and Senate, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have asked the Pentagon for assistance in locating Bristol so that they can question him about events the night of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi. But those efforts have come up empty.
“The Department of Defense has been entirely forthcoming on all matters related to our response to the attacks in Benghazi from the outset,” said Pentagon spokesman Firman. He added that “any congressional committee can call the witnesses it needs” through subpoena, if necessary.
On June 26, the House Armed Services Committee questioned other military members in the AFRICOM chain of command in a closed hearing. The witnesses included Bristol’s former superiors: commander of Special Operations Command Africa Rear Adm. Brian Losey and former AFRICOM commander Gen. Carter Ham.
As to why the Defense Department made Ham available but not Bristol, when Ham is also retired from his post, the Pentagon said Ham was not yet officially retired.
Chaffetz says the Defense Department has actually been more responsive on Benghazi than other federal agencies, with a few exceptions including helping locate Bristol.
“We will end up talking to [Bristol] at some point,” said Chaffetz. “He had a very important role and we want to talk to him about it…All this raises concern when there’s so much resistance to letting us speak with him.”

Snowden gets asylum offers

Venezuela has offered to give ''humanitarian asylum'' to US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, who has been in limbo at Moscow's international airport since June 23.
''As head of state of the Boliviarian republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young Snowden … to protect this young man from the persecution launched by the most powerful empire in the world,'' President Nicolas Maduro said.
Moments earlier in Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega had also said his government was willing to give asylum to the US fugitive.

WikiLeaks said Mr Snowden, who remains trapped in a diplomatic no-man's land at Sheremetyevo airport, Moscow, had sent out appeals for asylum to six more countries.

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But he lacks documents that would allow him to enter Russia or travel to a country willing to damage relations with Washington to give him refuge.
The 30-year-old former contract worker for the National Security Agency has been on the run for more than a month since telling journalists about massive US efforts to track telephone conversations and internet traffic around the world.
Mr Snowden lost what was probably his best shot for reprieve on Thursday, when minor parties in Iceland's parliament proposed granting him immediate citizenship.
But the proposal by the liberal Left-Green, Pirate and Brighter Future parties fizzled, with only six of the parliament's 63 members expressing support, the Russia Today network reported.

Kerry was in Nantucket during Egypt coup

As the crisis in Egypt unfolded this past week, a far more minor intrigue arose in Nantucket: Was Secretary of State John F. Kerry on a yacht Wednesday or not?

Briefly, he was.
On the same day that Egypt’s military ousted the country’s first democratically elected leader, a CBS News producer snapped a picture of a yacht and reported that Kerry was aboard. The State Department called that report “completely inaccurate” but did not elaborate on the secretary’s whereabouts, saying only that he was working all day and phoned in to a Situation Room meeting on Egypt that afternoon.
After the yacht photo was published, the Boston Herald began tracking Kerry’s whereabouts on the Massachusetts island. On Thursday, the paper photographed the former senator walking down Federal Street, following this with pictures of him getting into a kayak that same day.
“While he was briefly on his boat on Wednesday,” State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said Friday, “Secretary Kerry worked around the clock all day, including participating in the president’s meeting with his National Security Council and calls with Norwegian Foreign Minister Eade, Qatari Foreign Minister al-Attiyah, Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu, Egyptian Constitution Party President ElBaradei and five calls to Ambassador Patterson on that day alone.”
An aide said Kerry was not on the boat during the Situation Room meeting or while working with Anne Patterson, the U.S. envoy to Cairo, or with foreign leaders.
Kerry had just returned from a two-week, 22,500-mile trip to Asia and the Middle East, his fifth to the region since taking his post in February. His main focus was on restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, as well as those in Syria.
On Thursday, Independence Day, Kerry held phone conversations with more foreign officials, including Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Fuel train explodes in Canadian town

A train carrying petrochemicals has exploded in a Canadian town, forcing the evacuation of up to 1,000 people.

The blast sent a fireball and black smoke into the air, destroying dozens of buildings in Lac-Megantic, some 155 miles (250 km) east of Montreal.
The train derailed early on Saturday; police who worked through the night said several people were missing, but no casualties had yet been confirmed.
Firefighters from across the border in the US are helping tackle the blaze.
"When you see the centre of your town almost destroyed, you'll understand that we're asking ourselves how we are going to get through this event," an emotional Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche told a televised news briefing.
The train had more than 70 cars filled with petroleum products, some of which exploded, setting fire to nearby homes.
It is not clear what caused the explosion.
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