Gazette 102113

Monday October 21st 2013

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Deadly attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt draws condemnation

Egypt's government and religious leaders on Monday condemned an attack outside a Coptic church in Cairo that killed four people, including an 8-year-old girl, the latest in a rising wave of assaults targeting the country's Christian minority.

The prime minister pledged the Sunday night attack would "not succeed in sowing divisions between the nation's Muslims and Christians." Hazem el-Beblawi called it a "callous and criminal act," and vowed perpetrators would be brought to justice.
Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 90 million and attacks targeting them have increased in the aftermath of the popularly-backed July 3 coup that ousted the country's Islamist president.

New NSA Bombshell Reveals U.S. Spying On French Phones

PARIS -- PARIS (AP) — The U.S. National Security Agency swept up 70.3 million French telephone records in a 30-day period, according to a newspaper report that offered new details of the massive scope of a surveillance operation that has angered some of the country's closest allies. The French government on Monday summoned the U.S. ambassador for an explanation.
The report in Le Monde, co-written by Glenn Greenwald who originally revealed the NSA surveillance program, found that when certain numbers were used, the conversations were automatically recorded. The surveillance operation also swept up text messages based on key words, Le Monde reported, based on records from Dec. 10 to Jan 7.

Egypt police clash with students at al-Azhar University

Egyptian police have fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of students staging an anti-military protest at Cairo's al-Azhar University, reports say.

Students had blocked the main road leading to the campus and threw rocks as security forces drew near.
Clashes at the country's top Islamic institution erupted when students tried to take their protest off the campus.
Supporters of former President Mohammed Morsi have staged regular anti-army protests since he was ousted on 3 July.
There were no immediate reports of casualties at the al-Azhar protest.
The campus is close to Rabaa Square where Islamists set up a huge protest camp that security forces raided in August, leaving hundreds dead and sparking days of unrest.
A Reuters witness said some of the students were trying to reach the square, when they were cut off by the security forces.

Female Suicide Bomber Strikes Russian Bus

MOSCOW -- MOSCOW (AP) — Russian investigators say a female suicide bomber has struck a passenger bus in the southern city of Volgograd, killing five people and injuring at least 20 others.
The state ITAR-Tass news agency cited Valery Safonov, an official with Russia's main investigative agency, saying the suspected bomber was the partner of a militant. He did not say where that militant was from.
The spokesman for the Investigative Committee confirmed that the explosion was an act of terrorism.
Monday's explosion was the first on a bus in Russia since a 2008 bombing carried out by a female suicide bomber in the North Caucasus, a region in southern Russia where an Islamic insurgency is simmering.

Mozambique military surrounds opposition base

Government troops in Mozambique have surrounded a base where the leader of an opposition group is living, following deadly clashes between the rival groups last week.

Media in Mozambique say fighting started when members of the opposition Renamo group ambushed troops on patrol in the Satunjira area in the central province of Sofala on Thursday. At least two Renamo fighters died and several other people were injured.
The governing Frelimo party and Renamo have held talks this year to try to resolve political differences. The two sides fought a civil war after independence from Portugal in 1975; a peace deal was signed in 1992.
Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, who is staying at the Satunjira base, has complained of discrimination against his supporters. The government says Renamo's security forces should disarm.

Pakistan train blast 'kills seven' in Balochistan

At least seven people have been killed after a bomb hit a passenger train in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, officials say.

It is unclear if the bomb was placed on the tracks or on board the train, which was travelling from Rawalpindi to Quetta, the main city in Balochistan.
No group has said it carried out the attack on the Jaffar Abad Express.
Balochistan sees frequent outbreaks of violence involving both Islamist militants and separatist rebels.
Baloch separatist insurgents have long demanded more autonomy and a greater share of Balochistan's natural resources.
The blast hit the train as it was travelling through the Notal area in the Nasir Abad District.
All traffic on that route was shut down and local reports said the impact of the blast left a large crater at the site.
Police said officers were still at the scene investigating the incident and that the injured were taken to the Dera Murad Jamali hospital. 

2 men arrested in London appear in court charged with terrorism offenses

Two 25-year-old British men have appeared in a London court charged with terrorist offenses.

The pair — one of Turkish descent and one with an Algerian background — were arrested Oct. 13 in a London street in an operation that saw armed officers shoot out the tires of their car.
Both are charged with possession of a computer file including information on bomb making, and one is also charged with preparing a terrorist act.
Unusually, a judge made an order barring reporting of their names to protect the security of an ongoing investigation.
On Monday they were ordered detained until their next court appearance on Nov. 18.
Two other men arrested in the same swoop have been released without charge

US quietly releases $1.6bn in aid to Pakistan after thaw in relations

Nato supply routes have reopened, drone strikes are down and the uncomfortable allies have resumed their 'strategic dialogue'

The US has quietly decided to release more than $1.6bn (£1bn) in military and economic aid to Pakistan that was suspended when relations between the two countries disintegrated over the covert raid that killed Osama bin Laden and deadly US air strikes against Pakistani soldiers. Officials and congressional aides said ties have improved enough to allow the money to flow again.
US and Nato supply routes to Afghanistan are open. Controversial US drone strikes are down. The US and Pakistan recently announced the restart of their "strategic dialogue" after a long pause. Pakistan's new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, is travelling to Washington for talks this coming week with President Barack Obama.
But in a summer dominated by foreign policy debates over the coup in Egypt and chemical weapons attacks in Syria, the US has not promoted its revamped aid relationship with Pakistan. Neither has Pakistan.
The silence reflects the lingering mutual suspicions between the two.
The Pakistanis do not like being seen as dependent on their heavy-handed partners. The Americans are uncomfortable highlighting the billions provided to a government that is plagued by corruption and perceived as often duplicitous in fighting terrorism.
Congress has cleared most of the money, which should start moving early next year, officials and congressional aides said.
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'Zionists' want to sabotage negotiations, Iran's deputy FM says 

Abbas Araqchi accuses "entity that is occupying Jerusalem" of spreading disinformation about talks, which he believes could wrap up within a year.

Israel is attempting to sabotage the negotiations between Iran and the Western powers over Tehran’s nuclear program by spreading disinformation about their contents, the Islamic Republic’s deputy foreign minister charged on Monday.
In an interview with state-owned Arab-language news channel Al Alam, Abbas Araqchi repeated his government’s position that his country’s right to enrich uranium on its own soil is not negotiable. Araqchi reiterated that Iran would not stop refining uranium, saying domestic enrichment was a right of the Iranian people - but that the extent of enrichment was negotiable.

Israel to release second group of Palestinian prisoners

JERUSALEM: Israel will Oct 29 release the second group of Palestinian prisoners in line with a cabinet decision taken in July, Xinhua reported on Monday.

In July, the Israeli cabinet voted in favour of releasing 104 Palestinian prisoners in batches, as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority, amid the renewal of peace talks between two sides later that month.

The Israeli Prison Service will publish in the upcoming week a list of 30 prisoners set to be released, Xinhua cited the Walla news website, based on accounts of Palestinian officials.

The first of 26 prisoners was released Aug 13.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been resumed in July after a three-year hiatus, due to Israel's settlements expansion in the West Bank, on lands annexed during the 1967 Mideast War.

British soldiers involved in 1972 ‘Bloody Sunday’ killings may be arrested: report

Police in Northern Ireland said on Sunday they plan to question witnesses to the killing by British soldiers of 13 Roman Catholic civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland 40 years ago.
The interviews form part of a murder investigation announced by the police in 2012 in relation to the “Bloody Sunday” killings, one of the most notorious episodes during 30 years of sectarian violence in the British-ruled province.
On Sunday, January 30, 1972, British troops opened fire during an unauthorized march in the Bogside, a nationalist area of Londonderry. They killed 13 people and wounded 14, one of whom died later. The victims were all unarmed Catholics.
“Preliminary work has begun into what will be a lengthy and complex investigation,” the Police Service of Northern Ireland said. “For the investigation to be as comprehensive and effective as possible, police will be asking for public support in the form of witnesses who gave evidence to the Saville Inquiry now making statements to detectives.”
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Obama: 'No excuse' for health glitches

President Barack Obama has acknowledged widespread technical issues that have plagued the rollout of a major element of his 2010 healthcare law.

In a White House press conference on Monday, Mr Obama said that despite that its problems, the website was delivering affordable coverage.
Those attempting to sign up for health insurance have reported persistent issues since the 1 October rollout.
US health officials have ordered a "tech surge" to fix the site.
The website's issues have been overshadowed by the recent partial government shutdown, in which Republican lawmakers attempted to gut the law through US budgetary brinkmanship.
'It's really good' Mr Obama conceded that healthcare.gov "hasn't worked as smoothly as it was supposed to work".
"The number of people who've visited the site has been overwhelming, which has aggravated some of these underlying problems."
Mr Obama added: "There's no sugar coating - the website has been too slow, people have been getting stuck during the application process, and I think it's fair to say that nobody's more frustrated by that than I am."
He said that notwithstanding the website's problems, there was "massive demand" and the homepage had been visited nearly 20 million times since its launch.

Lawmakers making thousands, funding lavish trips from ‘slush funds’

Members of Congress are routinely using campaign committees as a personal “slush fund,” according to a detailed report by “60 Minutes.”
The report found that lawmakers are using what’s known as “Leadership PACs” to fund trips to high-ranking golf courses, NFL games and other destinations – and are even personally making money off the PACs by lending to them and charging steep interest. 
In the most egregious examples, CBS’ “60 Minutes” found that Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., loaned her PAC $150,000 – and made $228,000 over a 12-year period by charging 18 percent interest.
Napolitano admitted to doing it, and an ethics watchdog said the practice is technically legal. In fact, the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington found at least 15 cases where politicians were making loans to their campaign funds.
Napolitano, though, conceded she wasn’t giving campaign donors the details of her personal loan. “Well, you don't go out and publicize that, but they know that I had a campaign debt,” she said.
The congresswoman reportedly said she did it because banks wouldn’t lend her money and she had to withdraw the funds from another investment account.

AFL-CIO To Democrats: We'll Work To End Your Career If You Cut Social Security Or Medicare 

WASHINGTON -- With fresh Capitol Hill budget battles on the horizon, the head of the leading labor federation planned to issue a blistering warning to unions' Democratic allies on Monday, saying the AFL-CIO would "never stop working" to end the political careers of Democrats who cut entitlement programs.
"No politician … I don’t care the political party … will get away with cutting Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits. Don’t try it," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said, according to prepared remarks for a speech in Las Vegas, Nev.
According to the draft, which was supplied to HuffPost by the AFL-CIO, Trumka stressed his point for Democrats who may be wobbly on the issue.
"This warning goes double for Democrats," he said. "We will never forget. We will never forgive. And we will never stop working to end your career."
The AFL-CIO has long opposed any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, and the labor federation has suggested in the past that it would consider pulling support from Democrats who help make those cuts happen. But Trumka's remarks on the issue Monday amounted to a far more aggressive threat: That the AFL-CIO would actively use its war chest to unseat Democrats on the other side of the issue.

JP Morgan 'may pay record $13bn fine'

US banking giant JP Morgan is set for a record $13bn (£8bn) fine to settle investigations into its mortgage-backed securities, US media reports have said.

A tentative deal is believed to have been reached in talks with senior US Justice Department officials.
The fine relates to the sale of securities based on home loans, which led to the near-collapse of the banking system in 2007.
If confirmed, it would be the biggest settlement ever paid by an US company.
Last month, JP Morgan was fined almost $1bn in the "London Whale" scandal, which arose from huge disastrous bets on the financial markets placed by former bank employee Bruno Iksil.
Risky assets The tentative deal to pay the $13bn fine to the Justice Department was reached during the talks on Friday, between JP Morgan lawyers with US Attorney General Eric Holder and his deputy Tony West, the Wall Street Journal said, citing officials familiar with the decision.

Sebelius 'will testify' on ObamaCare website woes, Durbin says

A top Democratic senator said Sunday that Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will testify before Congress about the problem-plagued ObamaCare website, amid a growing call for her to accept requests to testify.
“Ultimately, Secretary Sebelius will testify,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, told “Fox News Sunday.”
Sebelius and the entire Obama administration has declined requests to testify on Capitol Hill about the site, which has been plagued by crashes, slow responses and other glitches since it went online Oct. 1.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter directly to Sebelius last week asking her to testify Thursday on the matter.
Sebelius has yet to respond publicly, but reportedly plans to attend a gala the night before in Boston, which has fueled calls for resignation.
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said he’s “reluctant” to call for an immediate dismissal in such situations, but was critical of Sebelius for so far not agreeing to testify.
“Her refusal to testify and be transparent has undermined her credibility,” he told Fox News, adding her not testifying could lead to her resignation.
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