Friday November 1st 2013

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China Moves Spy Ship to Hawaiian Waters in Provocative “Retaliation” Against U.S.

China has sent a surveillance ship to Hawaiian waters for the very first time in an unprecedented move which is being described as a provocative retaliation to the U.S. naval presence in the East China Sea.

The report was also picked up by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, which ran an article entitled China moves spy ship near isles, Asian media say. According to a report by GoldSea.com, a news outlet aimed at Asian-Americans, a 4,000 ton People’s Liberation Army electronic reconnaissance ship was recently spotted near Hawaii within the U.S. 200-nautical mile EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone).
The ship “is equipped with various electronic gear for eavesdropping on radio communications and tracking ships and aircraft. It is also believed to have jamming equipment to interfere with the radio communications of other ships,” according to the report.
The development is unprecedented because China has never sent a ship within the U.S. EEZ, although the U.S. has entered the Chinese EEZ on numerous occasions for decades. It is not known whether the ship violated the territorial waters of the United States, which extend to 12 nautical miles under the 1982 UN convention on the Law of the Sea.

Flare-up in Israel-Gaza violence

Four Palestinian militants have been killed and five Israeli soldiers injured in violence in the Gaza Strip, Israeli and Palestinian sources say.

The soldiers were wounded when they were hit by a bomb as they were destroying a tunnel found last month running from Gaza to Israel.
A militant died when troops returned fire. Three more were killed in an Israeli air strike, Palestinians said.
The flare-up is one of the bloodiest between Israel and Gaza for months.
The Israeli military said the soldiers were detonating part of the tunnel on Thursday night when militants blew up an explosive device, causing casualties.
One of the soldiers was seriously hurt, officials said.

The shadow war against the Iranian-Hezbollah armament program

Thursday’s strike on a Syrian air defense missile base near Latakia could be the latest chapter in a long, covert Israeli campaign to disrupt Iran’s massive program to arm Hezbollah via Syria.
Iran continues to try to supply Hezbollah with advanced weapons for use against Israel, and the Assad regime, which owes its survival to Tehran and Hezbollah, has never been more compliant with Iranian requests to transfer or provide weapons to the Shi’ite terror organization in Lebanon.
With Hezbollah already in possession of 80,000 rockets and missiles, some of which can strike any target in Israel, Jerusalem faces a daily dilemma on when to intervene to stop the armament program – a step that could trigger a wider conflict – and when to step back and allow the force buildup to continue.
In principle, low-profile strikes allow for pinpoint action to disrupt the arms flow, without getting dragged into a wider conflict.

U.S. troops increasing efforts to help capture African warlord Joseph Kony

U.S. Special Forces have ramped up their efforts to help track and locate notorious African warlord Joseph Kony in the nearly two years since an upstart NGO released a viral video campaign calling for his capture.
The troops have been on the ground in the Congo region for two years, simply assisting local troops across four countries in the region, but they recently have expanded their efforts to capture Kony, leader of the guerilla group the Lord’s Resistance Army. Their frontline efforts may be due to the recent KONY 2012 campaign by the California-based group Invisible Children.
“We are encouraged by the way that our work may have been a factor,” Ben Keesey, co-founder of Invisible Children, told FoxNews.com. “If you look at all the factors in bringing someone to justice, Joseph Kony and the LRA checks all the boxes.”

US discovers huge hi-tech Mexican drug-smuggling tunnel

Cross-border Tijuana-San Diego tunnel sporting lights and electric railway among most sophisticated ever unearthed by US authorities

A smuggling tunnel running from Tijuana in Mexico to San Diego in the United States, equipped with lighting, ventilation and an electric rail system, has been uncovered by US authorities. It is one of the most sophisticated secret passages to be discovered along the US-Mexico border.
Three men who authorities claim worked as drivers have been charged with possession of marijuana and cocaine with intent to distribute. They face prison sentences of between 10 years and life if convicted.
Authorities who found the underground network seized 8.5 tonnes of marijuana and 148kg (327lb) of cocaine. The tunnel – dug 11 metres (35 feet) underground, 1.3 metres high and 1 metre wide – was shut down before the drugs could be distributed.
The tunnel, which zigzags the length of nearly six football fields, links warehouses in Tijuana and San Diego's Otay Mesa – an industrial area filled with nondescript warehouses, convenient for loading trucks with drugs.
Federal agents had the San Diego warehouse under surveillance after being tipped off by an informant who told them operators bought drills and other construction equipment in August and September.
As US border security has heightened on land, Mexican drug cartels have turned to ultralight aircraft, small fishing boats and tunnels to smuggle drugs. More than 75 underground passages have been discovered along the border since 2008, designed largely to smuggle marijuana.

Gibraltar armed stand-off concern

The UK is to protest to the Spanish government "at the highest level" after an armed stand-off in Gibraltarian territorial waters.

The Ministry of Defence has accused a Guardia Civil patrol boat of "manoeuvring in a provocative and dangerous manner in the vicinity of Royal Navy vessels".
No shots were fired in the incident.
But there was a minor collision between the Spanish vessel and a Gibraltar Defence Police boat.
The incident happened on Wednesday while the Gibraltar Squadron was providing force protection to a Royal Navy Fleet Auxiliary tanker in Gibraltarian territorial waters.
According to the Gibraltar Chronicle, the Spanish patrol boat Rio Tormes sailed too close to a a Royal Navy vessel after breaching a security cordon off the British territory.
Armed crew members on HMS Scimitar ordered the Spanish vessel to leave the area but the Guardia Civil vessel reportedly ignored the warning, resulting in a stand-off.
Speaking in the House of Lords on Thursday, Conservative peer Baroness Hooper said "guns were pointed at each other" during Wednesday's incident.

Pakistan-Taliban dialogue 'started'

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said dialogue with the Taliban "has started".

Mr Sharif's comments came during a meeting in London and were later released by the Pakistani embassy.
He said the dialogue should be "within the constitutional framework", but that he "could not wait and see" as innocent people were being killed in Pakistan.
A Taliban source in Pakistan told the BBC there had been no direct approach so far from Islamabad.
The source said no government envoys had travelled to the tribal region of north-west Pakistan where the Taliban were based.
Earlier this month, Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud told the BBC he was open to "serious talks" with the government, but added that he had not yet been approached.
In a rare interview, he denied carrying out recent deadly attacks in public places but said he would continue to target "America and its friends".
After being elected prime minister in May, Mr Sharif announced he would open unconditional talks with the Taliban.

Japanese disrupt Chinese military exercises

Beijing: China's Defence Ministry said on Thursday it has lodged a formal diplomatic complaint over what it called "dangerous provocation" by Japan for shadowing Chinese military exercises in the western Pacific.

Sino-Japanese ties have been strained for months by a dispute over tiny islands in the East China Sea believed to be surrounded by energy-rich waters. They have also been overshadowed by what China says is Japan's refusal to admit to atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in China between 1931 and 1945.

Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said that a Japanese naval and air patrol disrupted a Chinese live ammunition military drill last Friday, without giving the precise location.

Mr Yang also said Japanese patrols of ships and aircraft were gathering information about the exercises.

"Not only did this interfere with our normal exercises, but endangered the safety of our ships and aircraft, which could have led to a miscalculation or mishap or other sudden incident," Mr Yang told a news briefing.

"This is a highly dangerous provocation, and China's Defence Ministry has made solemn representations to the Japanese side," he added, according to a transcript of his remarks on the ministry's website.

Policeman arrested, 6 suspended over deadly shooting in China

BEIJING: A Chinese policeman was arrested after he allegedly shot a woman dead and injured another in China's southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Head of Pingnan County's public security bureau, where the policeman worked, as well as five other lower-ranking police officers, were suspended from their duties for investigation yesterday, according to officials.

The policeman surnamed Hu, who was reportedly drunk, went to a rice noodle shop to buy food and shot and injured the female shop owner surnamed Wu and her husband after a brawl.

Wu died later after emergency treatment failed while her husband's condition was stated to be stable, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

German MP meets Snowden, says he is willing to come to Germany for inquiry

A German lawmaker said he met Edward Snowden in Moscow on Thursday and the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor was willing to come to Germany to assist investigations into alleged U.S. surveillance of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Hans-Christian Stroebele, a legislator for the opposition Greens party, told German broadcaster ARD it was clear Snowden “knew a lot” and that he would share details of their surprise meeting including a letter from Snowden addressed to the German government and chief federal prosecutor on Friday.
Stroebele, a well-known maverick in German politics, tweeted a photograph of himself and Snowden and ARD showed images of the two shaking hands in a room before their three-hour meeting.
“He made it clear he knows a lot and that as long as the National Security Agency (NSA) blocks investigations..., he is prepared to come to Germany and give testimony, but the conditions must be discussed,” said Stroebele.
His trip came a day after top American and German security officials met in Washington to try and ease tensions caused by reports that NSA, for which Snowden worked, monitored Merkel’s mobile phone. Germany is a close ally of the United States.
Stroebele, 74, sits on the German parliament’s control committee, which monitors the work of intelligence agencies.
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US cuts food aid benefits for poor

US food aid benefits are being cut from Friday as an extension of the government programme expires, while legislators fight over further cuts.

Benefits to the supplemental nutrition assistance program (Snap) will be lowered by $36 (£22) a month for a family of four, officials say.
Some 47 million low income Americans will be affected by the cuts.
Food aid in the US has grown to $80bn a year due to higher unemployment and rising food costs.
About one in seven Americans relies on Snap, also known as food stamps.
The benefits were originally expanded during the recent economic recession to stimulate the economy and help the poorest Americans.
Republicans in Congress are seeking further reductions to the programme and say it should be better targeted at the most needy.
Retailers and grocers around the US are concerned about the possible negative impact the reduction will have on consumer spending.

Toronto police say they have video of mayor smoking crack pipe; Ford vows not to resign

Calls for the resignation of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford intensified after police said they had obtained a video that appears to show him smoking a crack pipe, discovered in a massive surveillance operation of a friend who is suspected of supplying the mayor with drugs.

Police said they did not have enough evidence to file charges against the mayor, who had claimed the video didn't exist and vowed not to resign, repeating the pledge Thursday.
Voters could have the final word on the strange career of the populist mayor whose travails have captivated and embarrassed Canadians for months. Ford has promised to run for a second term next year.
"I have no reason to resign," Ford told reporters with a smile, as his office welcomed visitors to check out its Halloween decorations Thursday.

Book says Obama aides considered replacing Biden with Clinton: NYT

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top aides considered replacing Vice President Joe Biden with Hillary Clinton for Obama's 2012 re-election campaign but decided it would not significantly help, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing a new book about the campaign.
It was often rumored but always denied by officials that the Obama team was thinking of replacing Biden with then-Secretary of State Clinton.
According to the Times account of the book "Double Down" by journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, Obama's top aides secretly had extensive focus-group sessions and polling conducted to consider such a move.
They ultimately decided that adding Clinton would not materially improve Obama's odds, according to the account.
The White House chief of staff at the time, William Daley, told the Times: "I was vocal about looking into a whole bunch of things, and this was one of them."
"You have to remember, at that point the president was in awful shape, so we were like, 'Holy Christ, what do we do?'" Daley said.
With Biden on the ticket, Obama decisively defeated Republican Mitt Romney in the November 2012 election.
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Benghazi witnesses grilled in secret on Capitol Hill

The Justice Department had asked GOP Rep. Darrell Issa not to interview the two security agents, saying it could jeopardize prosecution of the terrorists who attacked the U.S. mission in Libya in 2012.

WASHINGTON — Two of the Justice Department's key witnesses in last year's terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, were summoned to Capitol Hill this month and grilled for hours in separate legal depositions.
Responding to congressional subpoenas, the State Department security agents were asked how the Libyan terrorists stormed the mission and set parts of it on fire, how they were armed and how they killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, sources with knowledge of the matter said. The agents also were asked about security breakdowns and whether the administration reacted appropriately to the Sept. 11, 2012, assault.
How those highly guarded and secret interviews came about was part of an increasingly bitter dispute between two branches of the federal government.
Prosecutors are under intense pressure to arrest and convict the terrorists, while the Republican-led House is determined to find who is responsible for any lapse in security that night, and whether the administration misled the public when officials initially said the attack stemmed from a protest.

Government paid millions in Medicare to deceased, illegal immigrants

The federal government has paid tens of millions of dollars in Medicare benefits to dead people and illegal immigrants, according to a pair of reports from federal watchdogs released on Thursday.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services paid out $23 million to beneficiaries after their deaths in 2011, according to one report from HHS’ inspector general.
Another report tallied more than $28 million in payments from 2009 to 2011 to individuals who were in the country illegally.
In all, CMS paid Medicare benefits to 4,139 illegal immigrants and 17,403 deceased people, according to the two reports.
Federal regulations prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving Medicare benefits. CMS has policies in place to prevent people who are unlawfully present from receiving benefits under Medicare Parts A and B, but no such protections for Medicare Part D benefits.

Senate scandal puts Harper's brand at risk, poll suggests

More Canadians judging PM on handling of Senate scandal than economy, according to survey

Canadians may be judging Stephen Harper more on how he handled the Senate scandal than on how he's managed the economy, a new poll suggests.
That could put the Conservative brand at risk, along with the defence invoked by Conservatives as they kick off the party's biannual policy convention in Calgary.

Many Conservatives arriving at the convention yesterday pointed to Harper's economic management when asked how they felt about the Senate scandal.
But a new Nanos Research poll suggests that's not how many Canadians feel.
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11/01/2013

Gazette - 110113