Gazette - 091813

Wednesday September 18the 2013

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Syrian 'proof' of rebel chemical use

Syria has given Russia new "material evidence" that Syrian rebels used chemical weapons in an attack on 21 August, a Russian minister has said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also said a report by UN inspectors on the alleged use of chemical weapons was politicised, biased and one-sided.
He said the inspectors had only investigated the attack in Ghouta on 21 August, not three previous incidents.
The UN team found the nerve agent Sarin was used in the Ghouta attack.

Turkey warns Syria not to retaliate over helicopter downing 

Turkey warned Damascus Sept.18 it would "face the consequences" if it sought to avenge the downing of a Syrian military chopper this week, but said it did not believe a border attack was a retaliatory strike. A car bomb exploded at Syria's rebel-held Bab al-Hawa border crossing into Turkey on Tuesday, wounding at least 12 people, according to a monitoring group, a day after Turkish warplanes shot down a Syrian helicopter which Ankara claimed violated its airspace. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Tuesday's bombing did not appear to be a revenge attack."Our security and intelligence units have been working on this but one should not reach an early conclusion that it was a retaliation," Davutoğlu told a press conference in Ankara."Such a retaliation against us within the Syrian territory cannot be considered," he said, warning: "The Syrian regime should know that it will face the consequences even if it thinks of a retaliation." Relations have deteriorated between once close allies Damascus and Ankara since the outbreak of the deadly conflict in Syria in March 2011.Turkey has lobbied for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad and provided shelter for Syrian rebels seeking to overthrow him.

The long and volatile border between the two countries has become increasingly tense, with a number of incidents in the area, which prompted NATO to station Patriot missile batteries there for defensive purposes.

Swedish-Lebanese man accused of Hezbollah ties jailed by Thai court for bomb materials
BANGKOK - A Swedish man of Lebanese origin accused of having militant links was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison by a Thai court on Wednesday for possessing explosive material.
Atris Hussein, a 49-year-old Swedish citizen, was found guilty of possessing material that could be used to make explosive devices but the court stopped short of implicating him in any plans to plant bombs.
"The accused hid bomb-making material that is illegal and could pose a security risk but because he was willing to cooperate with the authorities, his sentenced is reduced from four years to two years and eight months," a judge at a Bangkok criminal court said on Wednesday.
Hussein hugged and kissed his wife after the verdict, telling reporters gathered at the court that he was fine.

Nigeria's Boko Haram unrest: Scores killed in Borno state

Nigeria's army and Boko Haram militants have engaged in a fierce gun battle in the north-eastern Borno state, reportedly leaving scores dead on either side.

The army says it killed 150 militants, while 16 soldiers died and nine more are missing.
However, local media report that around 100 soldiers may have died.
BBC Nigeria analyst Bashir Abdullahi says it is clear that the army still faces a tough battle with Boko Haram.
He notes that the military often plays down its own casualty figures.
Army spokesman Ibrahim Attahiru said a heavily guarded militant base in the Kasiya forest was raided on 12 September - this is the first time the details have been made public.

North Korea Human Rights Probe: UN Says Pyongyang Won't Cooperate

GENEVA — The head of a U.N. human rights probe says he can't get answers from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un regarding harrowing testimony from victims of the enigmatic regime, including allegations of being forced to survive on vermin, drown babies and witness the execution of loved ones.
Michael Kirby, who heads the U.N. commission examining North Korea's human rights record, said Tuesday that his July 16 letter to the leader hasn't been answered, and the government has offered no evidence to contradict graphic testimony of human rights abuses.
Kirby, a former judge in Australia's highest court, told the U.N. Human Rights Council that the commission it created in March nonetheless gathered testimony from dozens of victims, including defectors, and experts at public hearings in Seoul and Tokyo last month that has "given a face and voice to great human suffering."
Overall, the testimony "points to widespread and serious violations in all areas that the Human Rights Council asked the commission to investigate. We heard from ordinary people who faced torture and imprisonment for doing nothing more than watching foreign soap operas or holding a religious belief," said Kirby.
For example, he said, the commission heard from a young man imprisoned from birth, who said he lived on rodents, lizards and grass and saw his mother and brother executed.

In public shift, Israel calls for Assad’s fall

The Israeli ambassador to the United States says Israel has wanted to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad removed from power since before the outbreak of war there – a shift from its publicly-stated position.
It sees his defeat by rebels who include al-Qaeda-linked Islamists as preferable to his current alliance with Iran, ambassador Michael Oren said.
His comments in an interview with the Jerusalem Post marked a move in Israel’s public position on the civil war in Syria. Though old enemies, a stable stand-off has endured between the two countries during Assad’s rule.
Unlike Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stopped short of publicly urging al-Assad’s overthrow and Israeli officials have long warned of the danger that al Qaeda-aligned rebel forces could turn their guns on Israel if the Syrian leader fell.
But, Oren said: “The initial message about the Syrian issue was that we always wanted Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren’t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran.” Oren said.
This was Israel’s position well before the outbreak of war in Syria and had continued to be so, he said.

Philippine rebels abduct police chief of southern city facing hostage crisis 

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines - Life in a southern Philippine city at the centre of a hostage crisis is slowly returning to normal, as troops went house-to-house Wednesday searching for the remaining Muslim rebels and their hostages in a 10-day standoff that displaced more than 100,000 people.
As the worst fighting in years between Muslim rebels and government troops eased, the military warned the rebel holdouts that they faced two choices: surrender unconditionally, or "suffer the consequences and feel the weight of the suffering of so many innocent people in your hands," said military spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala.
The standoff began Sept. 9 when Moro National Liberation Front rebels tried to take control of Zamboanga, a major port city of nearly 1 million people. They were foiled by troops but still managed to take scores of people hostage.
The military pressure has resulted in the release of 178 hostages so far. The fighting has killed 14 soldiers and police and seven civilians, while 86 rebels have died and 93 others have been captured.


Jerusalem police arrest Islamic Movement leaders for allegedly disturbing the peace

Two leaders of the Northern branch of the Islamic Movement were arrested by police on Wednesday for disturbing the peace, Israel Radio reported.
Jerusalem policemen were attacked this morning near the Temple Mount in the old city, by Palestinian stone throwers.
Three men were arrested as a result, including the two Islamic Movement leaders, while two policemen were injured after being hit by rocks.
Police dispersed the rioters using pepper spray and have said that the situation has calmed down.
Police arrested the head of the Islamic Movement’s northern branch, Sheikh Raed Salah, on suspicions of incitement two weeks ago.
The arrest was made after Salah allegedly accused Israel and the Israeli occupation of trying to torch the Aksa Mosque and the wider Arab world as a whole, during a speech in Kfar Kara in the Galilee.

US to seize New York skyscraper secretly owned by Iran

NEW YORK CITY: The United States is set seize control of a midtown Manhattan skyscraper prosecutors claim is secretly owned by Iran, the justice department said on Tuesday, though the ruling is to be appealed.

The seizure and sale of the 36-story building, in the heart of New York City on Fifth Avenue, would be "the largest-ever terrorism-related forfeiture," the statement added.

A federal judge ruled in favor of the government's suit this week, saying the building's owners had violated Iran sanctions and money laundering laws.

Manhattan Federal Prosecutor Preet Bharara said the decision upholds the justice department claims the owner of the building "was (and is) a front for Bank Melli, and thus a front for the Government of Iran."

Bharara said the funds from selling the building would provide "a means of compensating victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism."

Prosecutors allege the building's owners, the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corporation, transferred rental income and other funds to Iran's state-owned Bank Melli.

Alavi also ran a charitable organization for Iran and managed the building for the Iranian government, the statement said.

US gunman 'had mental health issues'

The man who killed 12 people at a Washington DC Navy installation had received treatment for mental health issues, US media report.

Former US Navy reservist Aaron Alexis, 34, had been treated for paranoia, hearing voices and sleeplessness, the Associated Press reported.
The military contractor had a valid pass for Washington Navy Yard, where the attack unfolded, authorities said.
Alexis was shot and killed by police during Monday's assault.
Alexis reportedly approached the US Department of Veterans Affairs in August to seek psychological help.
'Microwave delusion' It has also emerged that last month he called police from a hotel in the US state of Rhode Island to say he kept hearing voices.

GOP goes all-in on ‘de-fund ObamaCare,’ as shutdown looms

House Speaker John Boehner, in an abrupt turnaround, plans to let Tea Party lawmakers have a vote on de-funding ObamaCare as part of a politically risky strategy which Democrats warn could result in a government shutdown. 
Fox News has learned the general outline of a complex legislative approach that GOP leaders plan to unveil to their members on Wednesday -- the proposed bill would tie the vote to de-fund the health care law to a vote on a stopgap spending bill. Current funding for the government is set to expire at the end of the month, and lawmakers must approve the stopgap bill in order to keep Washington open; conservatives see this as leverage to force a suspension of ObamaCare. 
Effectively, Boehner and his deputies are backing off a compromise approach they earlier tried to sell to rank-and-file conservatives. Under that plan, the House would have sent two bills to the Senate -- one to de-fund ObamaCare, the other to fund the government. The Senate, then, would have been able to easily bypass the ObamaCare bill and send the spending measure straight to the White House, in turn averting a government shutdown. 

Obama rules out freezing most deportations

President Obama on Tuesday ruled out using his executive authority to freeze deportations for most of the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally, saying such a move would violate federal law.

With a comprehensive immigration overhaul stalled on Capitol Hill, advocates have called on the president to move forward without congressional approval to halt the deportations, estimated at more than 1,000 per day.

American poverty figure edges up to 46.5 million

The number of Americans in poverty rose slightly last year to 46.5 million, according to US Census data, despite a stock market recovery.

The figure edged up from 46.2 million in 2011, meaning the national poverty rate remains unchanged at 15%.
It is the sixth year in a row that the rate failed to improve, despite the US being out of recession since 2009.
The poverty threshold last year was income below $23,492 (£14,700) for a family of four.
Some analysts blame the lingering poverty on changing employment patterns and tightening of the social safety net.
Many jobs added since the recession have been in the lower-paying services industry, including retail and restaurants.


Obama distress signal: President seeks help from first-term A-Team

A struggling President Obama is calling for help from members of his first-term A-Team, who have left the White House for other jobs. 
With his poll numbers falling and his second-term floundering so far, Obama has sought help from the former aides who helped catapult him to the presidency.

When the president held a recent strategy meeting on the Syria conflict, for example, he invited former political adviser David Plouffe, former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, former chief speechwriter Jon Favreau and former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor to attend.Ex-advisers like Plouffe, Gibbs and David Axelrod routinely participate in calls with current White House staffers, and Obama has invited the first-term all-stars to strategy sessions on other issues too, former aides said.

Obama Says He’s Not Worried About Style Points. He Should Be.

When President Obama told ABC News he was "less concerned about style points" than "getting the policy right," he was trying to hasten into oblivion a foreign-policy week from hell. But it's a risky business to disregard style.
From his Syria gyrations to Monday's ill-timed economic speech attacking Republicans as a mass shooting was in progress at the nearby Washington Navy Yard, Obama's apparently willful dismissal of style could do more than just hurt his poll numbers. It could yield midterm election losses and create perhaps insurmountable obstacles to achieving his policy goals.
The Syria moves were head-spinning, from beginning (Obama's stunning decision to ask Congress to authorize a military strike) to end (Russia convening negotiations on Syria's chemical weapons). What with Congress poised to reject Obama's request and Vladimir Putin's twin tours de force – coming up with a viable diplomatic path and landing an annoying op-ed in The New York Times – the commander in chief has appeared to be in a less than commanding position.

White House Brags About Accomplishment That Actually Hurts The Economy, For Some Reason 

The White House has been full-court pressing on the fifth anniversary of the financial crisis, making the case for all it's done to ameliorate the after-effects of the economic collapse. Most of this is vintage 2012-era stump speeches: the country was pulled back from the brink of a second Great Depression, the automobile industry is alive, banks are lending again, laws have been passed to prevent future crises, but more work needs to be done because too many people are still out of work, et cetera.
There's plenty to nitpick there, but the biggest and most tenacious nit is the Obama administration's weird insistence on bragging about the wrong thing. Here's Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, speaking to the Economic Club of Washington on Tuesday:
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