Weekend Edition 102613

Iran 'hangs 16 rebels' in reprisal

Sixteen rebels have been hanged in Iran in retaliation for the deaths of at least 14 border guards in an ambush, say Iranian news agencies.

The rebels were "linked to groups hostile to the regime", the attorney general of Sistan-Baluchistan province was quoted as saying.
They were hanged in prison in Zahedan, north-east of Saravan, where the border deaths took place overnight.
It is not clear what link, if any, those hanged had to the border attack.
One report suggests they may already have been tried and convicted, but their executions brought forward following the ambush.
 'Guerrillas'
Friday night's attack in a mountainous region outside Saravan, on the south-eastern border with Pakistan, was blamed by Saravan's member of parliament, Hedayatollah Mirmoradzehi, on "anti-revolution guerrillas".
But reports that a rebel group called Jaish al-Adl had claimed responsibility for the ambush were "not confirmed," Mr Mirmoradzehi told local Tasnim news agency.
A parliamentary committee on national security will look into the attack on Sunday, meeting relevant officials, a committee member was quoted as saying.
An armed Sunni group, called Jundallah, has carried out a number of attacks against the state in recent years.
The Sunni Muslim population in Sistan-Baluchistan complains of discrimination by Iran's Shia establishment. 

Israel issues warning to Iran over nuclear bomb report 

An Israeli defense official says a new report claiming Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb in less than a month is further justification for why Israel will take military action before that happens.
Danny Danon, Israel's deputy defense minister told USA Today that Iran is speedily moving to develop advanced centrifuges that will enable it to enrich uranium needed for nuclear weapons within weeks.
"We have made it crystal clear – in all possible forums, that Israel will not stand by and watch Iran develop weaponry that will put us, the entire Middle East and eventually the world, under an Iranian umbrella of terror," Danny Danon, Israel's deputy defense minister told USA Today.
The United States and other world powers fear Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. The Islamic republic says its program is for peaceful energy production, and this week's meetings in part focused on how to scale back its enrichment of material that can be used to generate power or nuclear warhead material.

Leader Of Al Qaeda-Linked Rebels Killed In Syria, State TV Says

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state-run TV says the leader of the powerful al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra has been killed.

The one-line report, which could not be immediately confirmed, says Abu Mohammad al-Golani was killed in the coastal province of Latakia. It did not say when or give other details. Opposition groups had no immediate comment on the report.
Rebels have gained footholds in mountainous regions of Latakia, which is largely loyal to President Bashar Assad.
The extremist group, also known as Nusra Front, is on a U.S. State Department list of terrorist organizations. The group has emerged as one of the most effective among rebel groups fighting Assad.
Al-Golani's death would be a huge blow to rebels who have been fragmented and outgunned by Assad's forces.
Related Story : Syrian rebels cast doubt on leader's 'death'

Brazil city hit by transport protest

Hundreds of protesters have attacked a bus station in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, setting fire to a bus and destroying cash and ticket machines.

Riot police responded with tear gas and at least six people were arrested.
Protesters were demanding free public transport. High transport costs triggered protests in Sao Paulo in June that later spread across Brazil.
The clashes came as President Dilma Rousseff announced a plan to improve public transport in the city.
Friday's protests began with a march through the city that lasted about three hours.
Violence erupted when a section of the crowd broke off and attacked a bus terminal in the city centre, police said.
Masked protesters, said to include members of the so-called Black Bloc anarchist group, set light to a bus and vandalised cash machines and ticket turnstiles.
At one point a police colonel was struck by a rock and had to be rescued by fellow officers, Brazil's O Globo newspaper reported.
As police moved in, protesters fled, setting up barricades in some parts of the city centre.

Pakistan to bar Afghan refugees after Nato leaves

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan won't allow Afghan refugees to enter the country after the withdrawal of Nato forces from war-torn Afghanistan in 2014, a minister said.

"Pakistan will not welcome fresh influx of refugees from Afghanistan and use all legal channels in collaboration with the international community to block entry of Afghans on the border," the Dawn newspaper quoted Pakistan's state and frontier regions minister Lt.Gen. (retired) Abdul Qadir Baloch as saying on Friday.

The minister said Pakistan would utilise all options to stop Afghan refugees from crossing over the border.

"In case Afghanistan is unstable, then the local residents will be left with no choice but to flee to Pakistan but even then, we won't welcome them," he said.

US lead negotiator calls for delay in new Iran sanctions as nuclear talks continue

Undersecretary of state Wendy Sherman says 'pause' will let US see if talks over Iranian nuclear ambitions can 'gain traction'

The lead American negotiator in nuclear talks with Iran on Friday called for a delay in any new sanctions on the country, in order to let negotiations take hold.
"We think that this is a time for a pause, to see if these negotiations can gain traction," undersecretary of state Wendy Sherman said in a televised interview with Voice of America, the US foreign media service.
The Senate banking committee is debating whether to take up legislation, passed by the House last July, which could end Iranian oil exports. The White House hosted a meeting of Senate aides on Thursday, to argue against the measure.
The public nature of Sherman's statement was seen as a significant gesture to Tehran.
"I thought it was a very positive statement," said Reza Marashi, research director at the National Iranian American Council. "On this particular point about the sanctions, I think that's the most forward-leaning statement that I can recall an Obama administration official using, when discussing sanctions, at any time over the past four to five years.
"It was very specific. That not only sends a message to Congress but it also sends a message I think to the Iranians as well. That shows a certain level of seriousness to make these kinds of statements publicly."
The president has a great deal of leeway in enforcing sanctions – or not. Sherman called Congress a "partner" in sanctions, echoing language the White House used a day earlier.

U.S. ‘concerned’ about Turkey-China missile deal

The United States is talking to Turkey about its concern over Ankara’s decision to co-produce a long-range air and missile defense system with a Chinese firm under U.S. sanctions, U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone said on Thursday.
“We are very concerned about the prospective deal with the sanctioned Chinese firm. Yes this is a commercial decision, it is Turkey’s sovereign right, but we are concerned about what it means for allied air defense,” Ricciardone told reporters.
Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance, announced in September it had chosen the FD-2000 missile defense system from China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp, or CPMIEC, over rival systems from Russian, U.S. and European firms.
CPMIEC is under U.S. sanctions for violations of the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act.
“We have just begun expert discussions with Turkey and it will be done through official channels. We will have respectful conversations. We are concerned, but Turkey will make its own decision after examining the facts,” Ricciardone said.
Turkey has said it is likely to sign the $3.4 billion missile defense deal with CPMIEC but that its decision is not yet final. Some defense analysts had expected the contract to go to U.S. company Raytheon Co or the Franco-Italian Eurosam SAMP/T.

U.S.-Iranian citizen charged with trying to buy missiles for Tehran

WASHINGTON – A Northern California man with dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship has been arrested in Estonia and flown to New York on federal felony charges that he tried to acquire illegal surface-to-air missiles for the government in Tehran.
Federal authorities announced Friday that Reza Olangian, a resident of Los Gatos, faces life in prison if convicted of conspiring to obtain the weapons and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He is accused of repeatedly meeting, phoning and emailing a U.S. undercover agent disguised as someone who could provide the weapons designed to shoot down helicopters and other small aircraft.
Olangian allegedly told a confidential source that “if all is well, we will live happily ever after.”
Olangian was arrested at an airport in Estonia in October 2012 and extradited to this country in March. On Friday morning, a multi-count indictment was unsealed in U.S. District Court in New York. Olangian, a businessman nicknamed..

First public auction for solar energy rights on federal lands draws no bids

Federal officials are trying to figure out why the Bureau of Land Management's first-ever auction of public land for solar-energy development failed to attract any bids.
According to the Denver Post, no bidders showed up for the first auction for three parcels of land in Colorado's San Luis Valley, even though five solar development companies had expressed interest in the land.
Three parcels covering 3,700 acres in so-called solar-energy zones were offered on Thursday. The bureau has created 19 zones for large solar projects in six Western states, encompassing nearly 300,000 acres, the newspaper reported.
"We are going to have to regroup and figure out what didn't work," Maryanne Kurtinaitis, the renewable-energy program manager for the BLM's Colorado division, told the Denver Post. "It is always tough to be the first out of the chute. This is a learning experience."
Industry officials attributed the auction's failure to uncertainties about the solar energy market and federal regulations.
Ken Johnson, a spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries, told the Post that financing large-scale solar projects remains a challenge for the industry.

FEC: Obama’s Campaign Paid Over 5 Million To Law Firm... To Keep His Records Sealed?

The following is information that was compiled from the official Federal Elections Commission (FEC) website for disbursements from the Obama campaign to Robert Bauer's law firm of Perkins Coie, which represents Obama in various eligibility and records suits. 
Perkins Coie does not appear in the pre-general election filing. You are free to pursue any further information that is of interest.  But one would assume that the official FEC website to which the Obama and other campaigns must report their financial activity would be taken by even the most skeptical among us as valid documentation of the reported $1 million to $6 million, or anything in between, figure illegally expended to defend the eligibility suits.
This information is about the legal fees AND RENT(?) only of that one law firm, not the Department of Justice attorneys that have also represented Obama in several courts, court fees, or other related costs.