Gazette 12-23-13

Monday December 23rd 2013

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Jailed Egypt Muslim Brotherhood members on hunger strike

More than 450 jailed members of the Muslim Brotherhood have gone on hunger strike in Egypt in protest at their "inhumane treatment", the group says.

The prisoners, who include senior aides to deposed President Mohammed Morsi, say they have been denied family visits and access to medical care.
More than 2,000 members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested since the overthrow of Mr Morsi.
The Islamist president was ousted by the military in July.
The Muslim Brotherhood said on its Twitter account that its members had been "banned from family visits, legal counselling, medical care and [live in] overcrowded and unhygienic cells".
The Brotherhood said that senior figures were taking part in the hunger strike, including one-time presidential hopeful Khairat al-Shater, secretary-general of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party Mohammed al-Beltagi, and Mr Morsi's former foreign affairs adviser Essam al-Haddad.
The group did not say if Mr Morsi himself was taking part in the strike.

US evacuates but thousands of foreigners trapped in South Sudan amid violence

British, Canadian and Kenyan citizens are among 3,000 foreigners trapped in a South Sudan city experiencing bouts of heavy machine gun fire, one of the most violent areas of a weeklong conflict that has likely killed more than 1,000 people, a top U.N. official said Monday.

Australians, Ugandans and Ethiopians are also among 17,000 people seeking protection at a U.N. base in Bor, a city that could see increased violence in coming days, said Toby Lanzer, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator.
The death toll from a week of violence in South Sudan has likely surpassed 1,000 people, though there are no firm numbers available, he said. The number of internal refugees is probably more than 100,000, said Lanzer, who is seeking urgent financial assistance from the U.S., Britain and other European countries.
"I know there are many thousands of people seeking protection in churches," Lanzer said. "I know that we have our own staff that have literally walked into the bush and are communicating from there. That's where they say they are safest."

Russia Sends Trucks To Syria To Transport Chemical Arms

MOSCOW, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Russia has sent 25 armoured trucks and 50 other vehicles to Syria to help transport toxins that are to be destroyed under an international agreement to rid the nation of its chemical arsenal, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday.
In a report to President Vladimir Putin, Shoigu said Russian aircraft delivered 50 Kamaz trucks and 25 Ural armoured trucks to the Syrian port city of Latakia on Dec. 18-20 along with other equipment, state-run news agency RIA reported.

"The Defence Ministry has very swiftly implemented actions to deliver to Syria equipment and materiel to provide for the removal of Syrian chemical weapons and their destruction," Shoigu was quoted as saying.

Syria has agreed to abandon it chemical weapons under a deal proposed by Russia to avert potential U.S. military action after a deadly Aug. 21 sarin gas attack the United States blamed on President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Damascus agreed to transport the "most critical" chemicals, including around 20 tons of mustard nerve agent, out of the northern port of Latakia by Dec. 31 to be safely destroyed abroad away from the war zone.

Western powers has baulked at Syria's request for military transport equipment to transport chemical weapons material to Latakia because of concerns it could be used to fight Assad's opponents in the conflict or kill civilians.

Russia has been a major seller of conventional weapons to Syria and has given Assad crucial support during the conflict, blocking attempts to punish with sanctions and saying his exit must not be a precondition for a peace process.

Clashes as Turkey PM condemns 'plot'

Turkish police have used tear gas against thousands of anti-government protesters in Istanbul as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to break the hands of "plotters".

Clashes erupted between protesters and police in Kadikoy Square, in an echo of protests in the city earlier this year.
In a northern town Mr Erdogan denounced people he said were setting anti-Turkish "traps" to undermine his rule.
The sons of two cabinet ministers have been charged in a big corruption probe.
The investigation has led to charges against 24 people so far. They are suspected of involvement in bribery, in connection with urban development projects and the allocation of construction permits.
Baris Guler, the son of Interior Minister Muammer Guler, and Kaan Caglayan, son of Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, are among those detained, as is the chief executive of the state-owned Halkbank, Suleyman Aslan. 

People's Bank of China injects capital into economy to ease credit crunch fear

The People's Bank of China is seeking to allay fears of a credit crunch after a shortage of day-to-day cash among commercial banks in the world's second biggest economy drove market interest rates to almost 10% on Monday.
Beijing said it would top up the $50bn in liquidity provided to the markets last week as it sought to counter concerns that China's financial sector is gripped by the sort of squeeze that caused havoc among western banks during the crisis of 2007-08.
Benchmark interbank rates – the rates at which banks lend to each other rather than to the public – climbed to 9.8% at one stage on Monday, their highest for six months, despite the central bank's cash injections last week.
The actions by the PBoC were a response to signs of tensions in the far east's financial markets, caused by an earlier tightening of policy by the central bank, aimed at reducing the risk of cheap credit causing asset bubbles.
Banks in China often find themselves short of cash at the end of the year as companies increase their demand for capital and institutions have to meet tough regulatory requirements. China's growing shadow banking system, which tends to offer higher interest rates to investors, has also been draining funds from traditional banks.
Lorraine Tan, director of equity research at S&P Capital IQ, told CNCBC that the PBoC may need to take more action.
"I think it's just a momentary thing … it's a seasonal issue, a rush for cash. Definitely the PBoC needs to pump in more money, which it has been doing, but a little bit more is probably necessary."

Report: Netanyahu will ask Obama to free Pollard as condition in peace talks

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will ask US President Barack Obama to free Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard as a condition for Israel to sign a framework agreement with the Palestinians, Channel 2 reported on Monday.
According to the report, an additional possibility being considered is that Israel would release six Israeli-Arab security prisoners that it has refused to free as part of past prisoner swaps in exchange for Pollard.
Politicians from across the political spectrum renewed their call for the US to release Pollard Sunday, following revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on Israeli leaders.
The revelations gave momentum to the effort to encourage Obama to commute Pollard’s life sentence to the 28 years he has served.
However, Channel 10 quoted a White House official as saying on Monday that Obama has no intention of freeing Pollard and sees no connection between the Israeli agent and revelations of US spying on Israel.
Netanyahu met with Esther Pollard on Monday, amid increased calls for the US to free him in light of the NSA's spying on former Israeli prime ministers Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, as was revealed over the weekend in a document leaked by former NSA employee Edward Snowden.
"I met now with Esther Pollard and updated her on the nonstop efforts to win Jonathan's release. He should have been released long ago. I think this is understood by everyone here and I believe it is also understood to an increasingly larger crowd in the United States," Netanyahu said.

Jailed Pussy Riot members freed

Maria Alyokhina, one of two Pussy Riot bandmembers freed from prison under a Kremlin-backed amnesty, has slammed the measure as a mere publicity stunt and says she would have preferred to remain in prison.
"I don't think it's an amnesty, it's a profanation," she told the Dozhd television channel after her release on Monday, saying it only applied to a tiny minority of convicts.
"I don't think the amnesty is a humanitarian act, I think it's a PR stunt."
"If I had a choice to refuse (the amnesty), I would" have done so, she said.

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Alyokhina and bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 24, whose two-year sentences for hooliganism in a Moscow church would have run out in early March, were granted amnesty last week after parliament approved a Kremlin-backed bill.
Alyokhina's lawyer Pyotr Zaikin told RIA Novosti that the 25-year-old was apparently headed to the train station in the city in a prison convoy.
Reporters waiting for Alyokhina in colony number 2 in Nizhny Novgorod did not get a chance to speak with her after she was whisked away, her other lawyer told AFP.
"She is being driven away in a black car, which probably belongs to the head of the colony," said Irina Khrunova.
"They didn't hand her over to her lawyer, probably to avoid a media frenzy," she said.
The two women were convicted and jailed on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after staging a "punk prayer" in Moscow's largest cathedral in Februrary 2012, ahead of Vladimir Putin's reelection, to protest the Orthodox Church's support of the strongman during the campaign.
Their jailing turned them from almost unknown rebel punks on the fringes of Russian society to the stars of a global cause celebre symbolising the repression of civil dissent under Putin.

Marks & Spencer apologizes after saying Muslim staff may refuse to serve customers pork and alcohol

LONDON: Marks & Spencer appeared to backtrack on Sunday night by issuing an apology after a Muslim member of staff refused to serve a customer trying to buy champagne.

Previously the supermarket said Muslim staff can refuse to serve customers who are trying to buy pork or alcohol.

But a spokesperson for M&S last night said: "Where we have an employee whose religious beliefs restrict food or drink they can handle, we work closely with our member of staff to place them in suitable role, such as in our clothing department or bakery in foods.

"As a secular business we have an inclusive policy that welcomes all religious beliefs, whether across our customer or employee base ... We apologize that this policy was not followed in the case reported."

The issue arose after an unnamed customer told the Telegraph they were "taken aback" when "I had one bottle of champagne, and the lady, who was wearing a headscarf, was very apologetic but said she could not serve me".

It has highlighted a split amongst the major supermarkets, between those who will and those who will not excuse staff from certain tasks for religious reasons.

Morrisons said it had a great deal of experience dealing with the issue because it is based in Bradford, where there is a large Muslim community.

It said it would "respect and work around anyone's wishes not to handle specific products for religious or cultural reasons".

Bankruptcy judge in N.J. approves shutdown of Atlantic Club casino

A slowdown brought on by the rapid proliferation of casino gambling in the northeastern United States claimed its first victim in New Jersey on Monday when a federal bankruptcy judge approved the sale and shutdown of Atlantic City’s Atlantic Club Casino Hotel.
The casino, which opened in 1980 as the Golden Nugget and featured then-owner Steve Wynn bringing fresh towels to Frank Sinatra in its commercials, will shut its doors Jan. 13.
Judge Gloria Burns approved a deal that was reached Friday. Two rival casino companies with a presence in Atlantic City, Tropicana Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment, will buy the casino for $23.4-million, essentially strip it for parts and shut it down. The Tropicana will take the slot machines and table games, while Caesars will get the 800-plus-room hotel.
Neither has any interest in operating the business in Atlantic City’s now diminished market. Atlantic City will have 11 casinos after the shutdown.
Competition is a fact of life now for Atlantic City’s casinos, said David Rebuck, director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
“We realize this is a difficult time for the employees of Atlantic Club and all those who have been part of the history of their operation,” he said.
The Atlantic Club thus became the first Atlantic City casino to close due to the downward spiral touched off seven years ago by the arrival of casinos in neighbouring Pennsylvania, which for the first time will now have more casinos (12) than Atlantic City.

Bin Laden's son-in-law faces new charges

US prosecutors have added two new charges to an indictment against Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, who stands accused of conspiring to kill Americans.
A superseding indictment filed with the US District Court in Manhattan on Friday alleges that Abu Ghaith also provided material support and resources to terrorists and conspired to do so.
The indictment details a 2002 speech in which Abu Ghaith, who once served as a spokesman for al-Qaeda, allegedly praised the 9/11 attacks in the United States and warned that more strikes were coming.
"We were also granted victory when the world saw with its very own eyes what the mujahidin did for the sake of God the Almighty in New York and Washington," Abu Ghaith allegedly said.
Kuwaiti-born Abu Ghaith also spoke of planning to target American and Jewish interests "inside and abroad," threatening to launch attacks on the US "at a time, place, and a method of our choosing," according to court documents.
Stanley Cohen, a lawyer for Abu Ghaith, declined to comment on Friday, saying he had yet to review the indictment.
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Storms cut power in North America

Hundreds of thousands of households in Canada and the northern US are facing a Christmas without electricity after a severe ice storm on Sunday.

About 400,000 customers in eastern Canada and 280,000 in the US state of Michigan had no power as of Monday.
In Toronto, a utility has said power will be restored for most residents by Thursday, but that some may not have electricity until the weekend.
The city has opened several warming centres across the city.
Temperatures as low as -15C (5F) are expected in southern Canada over the next few days.
At least 11 deaths have been blamed on the storm system in North America, five of them in accidents on ice-covered Canadian roads.
'Truly catastrophic' An estimated 10-30 mm of ice built up on trees and other surfaces in the greater Toronto area during the storm. Sheets of ice fell from buildings and moving vehicles, Canadian TV channel CBC said.

US moving troops in prep for more action in Sudan

Defense officials say the U.S. is moving additional Marines and aircraft from Spain to the Horn of Africa to provide embassy security and help with evacuations from violence-wracked South Sudan.
Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, says the commander in Africa is getting the forces ready for any request that may come from the U.S. State Department.
A defense official says the extra forces moving to Djibouti will bring the total U.S. troops there to 150, with 10 aircraft, including Osprey helicopters and C-130 transport planes. The official was not authorized to speak publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.
Troops deployed last week helped evacuate Americans and other foreign nationals and provided security at the U.S. Embassy in Juba. Another couple hundred Americans remain in the country.

Health-care enrollment deadline is quietly extended

At midnight Monday, the official deadline arrives for Americans to sign up through the new federal health insurance exchange for health plans that begin Jan. 1. But, without any public announcement, Obama administration officials have changed the rules so that people will have an extra day to enroll, according to two individuals with knowledge of the switch.

Over the weekend, government officials and outside IT contractors working on the online marketplace’s computer system made a software change that automatically gives people a Jan. 1 start date for their coverage as long as they enroll by 11:59 p.m. Christmas Eve.
The switch is the most recent rule change — some by government officials, and at least one by the insurance industry — as a milestone approaches for what has been a tumultuous three-month start of the long-awaited opportunity for Americans to buy new health plans under a 2010 law intended to reshape the nation’s health-care system.
For the first two months of the sign-up, a federal Web site, HealthCare.gov, had so many software and hardware defects that many consumers who wanted to select insurance were frustrated by error messages. And administration officials held off on a planned campaign to urge people to take advantage of the opportunity for new insurance.

Susan Rice on Benghazi: 'I don't have time to think about false controversy'

In an apprearance on CBS's "60 Minutes" Sunday night, National Security Advisor Susan Rice told Leslie Stahl she does not regret her statements about the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya that led to the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stephens and three other Americans.
“I don’t have time to think about the false controversy,” Rice said. “In the midst of all of swirl about things like talking points, the administration has been working very, very hard across the globe to review our security of our embassies and our facilities. That’s what we ought to be focused on.”
Rice appeared on five Sunday shows following the attack where she repeated the Obama administration's lie that the attack was the result of a protest over an anti-Muslim video.
“This is not an expression of hostility in the broadest sense toward the United States or to U.S. policy,” Rice said when offering the explanation of the video as the catalyst for the attack.
Stahl also questioned Rice about the NSA domestic spying scandal during the interview, but was met with more obfuscation from Rice.
"Officials in the intelligence community have actually been untruthful both to the American public in hearings in Congress and to the FISA Court," Stahl said when discussing the NSA.

Obamas Go Out on the Town in Hawaii

HONOLULU — When President Obama left Washington on Friday, he said he was eager to soak up the sun and relax during his 17-day vacation in Hawaii. But on Sunday, the president — accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Sasha and Malia — hit the town, venturing out twice from their private vacation retreat on the windward side of Oahu.
First, the Obamas headed to the University of Hawaii, where the Oregon State Beavers were taking on the Akron Zips as part of Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic basketball tournament. Mrs. Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson, is the head coach at Oregon State, and the Obamas cheered on his team.
But the First Family did not bring any basketball magic; the Beavers, who never held the lead, lost, 83-71.
That, however, did not prevent the Obamas from enjoying the game from their courtside seats just behind the Oregon State bench. Mr. Obama, who was greeted with cheers when he entered the arena, high-fived fans during half-time, and was joined by his in-laws — Marian Robinson, Mrs. Obama’s mother and the “First Grandmother,” who lives in the White House with the family; and Mr. Robinson’s wife and children.
Also in attendance were Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman; Sam Kass, the White House chef; and Robert Titcomb, a childhood friend of the president’s who in 2011 pleaded guilty to soliciting a prostitute.
At one point, a man and a woman entered the arena to protest the Keystone pipeline, the man dressed in a polar bear suit. (“Beavers Hate Pipelines,” read their sign). The pair danced to the music during a second-half time-out, though it was unclear whether Mr. Obama noticed them. 
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