Gazette 110913 -Weekend 1 of 2

November 9th 2013 Pt1 of 2

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Hundreds feared dead in typhoon

Hundreds of people are feared dead in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan swept through on Friday.

Among the worst hit areas were the eastern island of Leyte and the coastal city of Tacloban, which saw buildings flattened in a storm surge.
First reports said 100 bodies had been found there but the Red Cross later estimated a figure of more than 1,000, with 200 more deaths in Samar province.
Hundreds of thousands of people are reported displaced from their homes.
President Benigno Aquino said he feared there would be "substantially more casualties".
Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said: "All systems are down. There is no power, no water, nothing. People are desperate. They're looting."
Typhoon Haiyan - one of the most powerful storms on record to make landfall - is now bearing down on Vietnam, where tens of thousands are being evacuated.
The BBC Weather Centre says the typhoon is expected to make landfall south of Hanoi on Monday afternoon local time (between 03:00 and 09:00 GMT), although it will have decreased markedly in strength.
Related story: Rescue efforts underway after Philippines typhoon leaves an estimated 1,200 dead, reports say 

New Round Of Talks Needed For Iran Nuclear Deal

GENEVA -- GENEVA (AP) — France raised questions Saturday about whether a proposed deal to temporarily curb Iran's nuclear program went far enough, complicating negotiations with the Iranians and casting doubt on whether an agreement could be reached during the current round of negotiations.
Chances of that appeared to diminish as the day went on.
A Western diplomat in Geneva for the talks told The Associated Press it appeared that a new round of negotiations would be needed to agree on all points of a startup deal meant to lead to a comprehensive agreement ensuring that Tehran's nuclear work remains peaceful.
He said preparations were being made by both sides for an announcement later in the day of a new meeting within a few weeks. He said earlier that the French were holding out for conditions on the Iranians tougher than those agreed to by the U.S. and France's other negotiating partners, diminishing hopes of a done deal Saturday.
However, the talks in Geneva were still underway, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, and foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany and Russia meeting with one another, and some of them with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Baodong Li also arrived Friday evening.
Related story: Political sources: US folded during Iran nuclear talks

Colombia drug baron seized in Spain

The notorious leader of one of Colombia's most violent drug gangs has been arrested in Spain, police say.

Cipriam Manuel Palencia Gonzalez, the head of the Urabenos gang, is wanted for a string of crimes including the murder of a police officer in Colombia.
He was detained in Madrid on Friday while planning new drug routes to Spain, according to police.
Gonzalez, 34, broke out of jail in Colombia in 2009 and was wounded in a police raid there earlier this year.
Six members of the gang were detained in the raid and a police captain was killed. Colombia police allege Mr Gonzalez then hatched a plot to kill more police.
He escaped, travelling first to Venezuela and then to Brazil before flying to Madrid in recent days under an assumed name, a police statement said.
An international arrest warrant issued by Interpol warned that he could be armed and dangerous.
The Urabenos gang he is alleged to have run was partly formed from members of old paramilitary groups that were established in the 1980s to tackle left-wing guerrillas during Colombia's long civil war.
Mr Gonzalez, also known as Visaje, is accused of drug-smuggling, extortion and ordering the murder of police officers.
Colombian authorities have reportedly linked his gang to 52 murders.

Bombings around Iraqi capital kill 5

 Officials in Iraq say a series of attacks on soldiers and government employees have killed five people around the capital, Baghdad.
Police officials say the deadliest of Saturday's attacks took place shortly after sunset when a roadside bomb struck an army patrol in the town of Jurf al-Shkakr, killing three soldiers and wounding two.
The town, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Baghdad, is a former insurgent stronghold. Attacks on Iraqi security forces and nearby Shiite areas have been launched there in the past.
In Baghdad, police say two government employees were killed in separate attacks by bombs attached to their cars.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to speak to journalists.

In Mexico, Locals Take Fight Directly To Drug Cartel.. And Win

TEPALCATEPEC, Mexico -- TEPALCATEPEC, Mexico (AP) — For lime grower Hipolito Mora, it was time to organize and pick up arms when a packing company controlled by a brutal drug cartel refused to buy his fruit. For Bishop Miguel Patino Velazquez, it was seeing civilians forced to fight back with their own guns that made him speak out. For Leticia, a lime picker too afraid of retribution to give her last name, it was the day she saw a taxi driver kidnapped in front of his two young children that convinced her to join those taking the law into their own hands.
In Mexico they call it "the drop that makes the glass overflow," and it came at different points for the people living for years in fear of the brutal Knights Templar in the western Valley of Apatzingan, an emerald green tapestry of orchards bordered by blue-gray peaks.
"We lived in bondage, threatened by organized crime," said Leticia, 40, who ekes out a living picking fruit and selling chicken on the side. "They wanted to treat people like animals."
Eight months after locals formed self-defense groups, they say they are free of the cartel in six municipalities of the Tierra Caliente, or "Hot Land," which earned its moniker for the scorching weather but whose name has also come to signify criminal activity. What's more, the self-defense group leaders, who are clearly breaking Mexican law by picking up military-style arms to fight criminals, say the federal government is no longer arresting them, but recruiting them to help federal forces identify cartel members.

Palestine official: Israel killed Arafat


But head of Palestinian inquiry refuses to say Palestinian leader was poisoned by radioactive substance polonium
Israel was the "first, fundamental and only suspect" in the suspicious death of Yasser Arafat, a senior Palestinian official said on Friday after receiving reports by Swiss and Russian scientists on samples taken from the exhumed corpse of the late Palestinian leader.
Tawfik Tirawi, who heads a Palestinian committee investigating Arafat's death nine years ago, said he did not die from natural causes, but was evasive when asked repeatedly whether he believed Arafat was poisoned by the radioactive substance polonium-210.
"It is not important that I say here that he was killed by polonium," said Tirawi. "But I say, with all the details available about Yasser Arafat's death, that he was killed, and that Israel killed him."
He later described Israel as the "first, fundamental and only suspect in the assassination of Yasser Arafat".
However, the Russian report said the evidence of polonium-210 was inconclusive. "The outcome of the comprehensive report on the levels of polonium-210 and the development of his illness does not give sufficient evidence to support the decision that polonium-210 caused acute radiation syndrome leading to death," said Dr Abdullah Bashir, quoting the conclusions of the Russian report.
But Bashir said that both the Swiss and Russian reports found large amounts of the radioactive isotope in his remains.

Greece stops ship carrying 20,000 Kalashnikov guns

The Greek coastguard has intercepted a Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship in the south-eastern Aegean Sea with about 20,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles on board, officials say.
The cargo ship, Nour M, was taken to the island of Rhodes, where its Turkish captain and seven crew members were arrested.
The coastguard said efforts to give a full account of the firearms and ammunition on board the cargo ship were continuing.
"The exact destination of the arms and ammunition has yet to be verified," the it said.

The state-run Athens News Agency reported that the vessel, which was intercepted near the island of Symi, had set sail from Ukraine and was destined for the Turkish port of Iskenderun.
The ship was also allegedly carrying a large quantity of explosives, ANA said.
It said the ports of Tartus in Syria and Tripoli in Libya had also been declared as destination ports to marine traffic authorities. The ship's captain had declared Iskenderun as the destination port.
The Nour M was also believed to have been used in the past for drug trafficking, ANA said.

7 dead in Nigeria raid on insurgents plotting 'attacks'

KANO, Nigeria: Nigerian security forces staged lethal raids on Saturday on suspected Boko Haram insurgents in the northern city of Kano allegedly plotting "suicide attacks" there and in the capital Abuja, the military said.

Five suspected "terrorists" and two soldiers died in gunbattles during the swoop on two addresses in Kano conducted by elite troops and domestic intelligence officers, military spokesman Captain Iweha Ikedichi said in a statement.

"Intelligence available indicates that the terrorists were in the process of finalizing plans to carry out simultaneous suicide attacks in Abuja and Kano respectively," he said.

Troops recovered a cache of arms and ammunition, he said. Nigerian forces are waging an offensive against Boko Haram after President Goodluck Jonathan extended a state of emergency in three states in the volatile northeast in a bid to quell the Islamist group's bloody insurgency.

Kano is the stronghold of Boko Haram, a radical Islamist group that since mid-2009 has attacked Christians, Muslims, students, politicians and other groups opposed to its ambition to impose sharia, or strict Islamic law.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and top oil producer. The northern half is mostly  Muslim and the more prosperous south is predominately Christian.- 

'Suicide attack' at Mogadishu hotel

At least six people have been killed after a suspected suicide attack at a hotel in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

Interior Minister Abdikarim Hussein Guled told the BBC that 15 people had been injured after a car exploded outside the Hotel Maka.
The hotel lies on one of the capital's main roads, which the authorities say is usually safe.
Islamist militant group al-Shabab was driven out of Mogadishu two years ago but often stages attacks in the city.
Wreckage The BBC's Ibrahim Mohamed Adan in Mogadishu says a loud explosion was heard in the city's administrative centre just before 20:00 local time (17:00 GMT).
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Pakistani Taliban warns of revenge attacks 

The Pakistani Taliban has vowed to orchestrate a wave of revenge attacks against government targets after naming commander Mullah Fazlullah as its new leader.
The threat on Friday came a week after Hakimullah Mehsud, the previous leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was killed in a US drone strike.
"We will target security forces, government installations, political leaders and police," Asmatullah Shaheen, head of the Taliban shura, or leadership council, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
He said the Taliban's main target included army and government installations in Punjab province, the political stronghold of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
"We have a plan. But I want to make one thing clear. We will not target civilians, bazaars or public places. People do not need to be afraid," Shaheen added.
The TTP, an umbrella organisation grouping numerous armed factions, has killed tens of thousands of soldiers, police and civilians in its campaign against the Pakistani state since it was first established in 2007.
Peace process stalled
The killing of Mehsud on Friday came as government representatives prepared to meet the TTP with a view to opening peace talks.
But a spokesman of the group said Fazlullah's appointment meant that negotiations were now off the table.
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US Navy carrier departing Persian Gulf region

The U.S. is bringing an aircraft carrier home from the Persian Gulf region, the Defense Department said Friday, after keeping two of the warships there for months as the Obama administration considered a military strike on Syria.
The decision to bring back the USS Nimitz underscores the shift from a pointed military threat against the Syrian government to a broader diplomatic approach. It comes as international experts work to meet a mid-2014 deadline to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons program.
According to officials, the Nimitz moved through the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea, and is expected to be back at its home port on the West Coast before Christmas. The Navy destroyer the USS Graveley also has left the Mediterranean Sea and is returning home, reducing the U.S. naval presence there as well.

Toronto mayor 'may seek treatment'

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, under pressure to quit after admitting he smoked crack cocaine and had a drink problem, could enter rehab, his lawyer says.

Dennis Morris told the Globe and Mail that the mayor of Canada's largest city was "considering options".
"And we'll stay tuned to see what he says in the next few days," Mr Morris told the newspaper.
His comments come a day after Mr Ford apologised for a video of him threatening to kill an unknown person.
The 44-year-old married father of two said he was "extremely, extremely inebriated" at the time it was filmed and he was "embarrassed" by it.
Toronto police said last week they have a separate video apparently showing Mr Ford smoking crack cocaine, which has not been made public.

Issa subpoenas White House tech official for ObamaCare hearing

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa issued a subpoena late Friday to Todd Park, President Obama's top adviser on technology, requiring him to appear before his committee next week and testify on the glitch-ridden rollout of ObamaCare.
The California Republican rejected the administration's offer to receive a briefing from Park later this month and said his unwillingness to testify "continues an unfortunate pattern of the current administration when it comes to matters of transparency and Congressional oversight."
“Reliable testimony about the status of efforts to address problems with HealthCare.gov is highly relevant to ongoing concerns about security vulnerabilities as well as legislative proposals Congress is currently considering that would allow Americans to keep individual insurance plans cancelled because of ObamaCare regulations,” Issa said in a letter to Park.
Issa claimed in an interview Thursday on Fox News that Park had engaged in a “pattern of interference and false statements” related to the testing of HealthCare.gov. and that White House spokesman Jay Carney "is paid to say things that just aren’t so." 
Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the top Democrat on the committee, called on Issa to apologize to Park and Carney for making "unsubstantiated accusations against them," accusing his Republican counterpart of selectively releasing administration documents on the website's rollout.

Obama’s vision of government still unfulfilled 

Milwaukee — The gleaming red-and-white trains sit motionless in a cavernous warehouse in Century City, an industrial neighborhood that cranked out 100 million car and truck frames in its heyday. The seats are draped in plastic; an electronic screen on one reads, “Quiet Car. 11:10 a.m. 000 MPH.”
President Obama once hoped that these high-speed trains would be transporting passengers from Milwaukee to Madison, Wis., part of a broader system crisscrossing the Midwest and the nation. 
But Wisconsin’s Republican governor, Scott Walker , rejected $823 million in funding that the federal government was offering, and the Transportation Department transferred the funds to California. The two trains now sit idle, with five employees of a Spanish manufacturer left behind to tend them.
High-speed rail was once a central part of Obama's vision for government — one in which the nation’s infrastructure, schools and health-care systems would be modernized to meet the challenges of globalization and expand the middle class.

A White House in Crisis Mode, but Some Allies Prod for More Action

WASHINGTON — President Obama was seething. Two weeks after the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov, Mr. Obama gathered his senior staff members in the Oval Office for what one aide recalled as an “unsparing” dressing-down. 

The public accepts that technology sometimes fails, the president said, but he had personally trumpeted that HealthCare.gov would be ready on Oct. 1, and it wasn’t.

“If I had known,” Mr. Obama said, according to the aide, “we could have delayed the website.”

Mr. Obama’s anger, described by a White House that has repeatedly sought to show that the president was unaware of the extent of the website’s problems, has lit a fire under the West Wing staff. Senior aides are racing to make sure the website is fixed by the end of the month as they confront the political fallout from presidential promises, now broken, that all Americans who liked their existing health care plans could keep them. 

Obama Approval Rating Drops On Economy, Immigration

President Barack Obama's approval rating has continued to drop during his second term, according to a Pew Research survey released Friday.
The poll found Obama's approval rating to be just 41 percent, down 11 points since January.
The decline in the president's rating this year has been more gradual than abrupt. Obama's numbers have declined across a variety of issues. His rating on immigration dropped significantly in the past six months, falling from 43 percent in June to 32 percent today. His approval rating on the economy, which had hovered in the low 40s for most of this year, is now at 31 percent -- the lowest received by Obama or any of his three presidential predecessors, according to Pew.
His approval on health care is at a record low of 37 percent, slightly below where it stood during the 2010 battle over passing the Affordable Care Act. His rating on foreign policy, a winning issue for him until this year, is now at just 34 percent, little changed from September. A bare majority still approves of the way Obama has handled the threat of terrorism, the poll found -- the only issue tested for which he did not earn a negative rating.
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