Gazette 12-27-13

Friday December 27th 2013

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South Sudan government 'agrees to truce'

The government of South Sudan has agreed to an immediate end to fighting with rebels, East African leaders meeting in Nairobi say.

The leaders said they "welcomed the commitment by the government of the Republic of South Sudan to an immediate cessation of hostilities".
They called on rebel leader Riek Machar to "make similar commitments".
More than 1,000 people are said to have died in recent fighting in the world's newest state.
At least 100,000 people have fled their homes, with about 60,000 seeking refuge at UN compounds across the country, according to the UN, which is sending extra peacekeepers.

There has been no confirmation from President Salva Kiir's office that he has agreed to end hostilities, amid reports of heavy fighting at Malakal in oil-rich Upper Nile State.

He is engaged in a deadly power struggle with Mr Machar, his former vice-president. Members of Mr Kiir's Dinka ethnic group and Mr Machar's Nuer community have both been targeted in the violence.
The violence erupted after President Kiir accused his former vice-president, who was sacked in July, of plotting a coup. The fighting quickly spread to half of Sudan's 10 states.

Lebanon bombing kills 6, including ex-ambassador to US 

A powerful car bomb tore through a business district in the center of the Lebanese capital Friday, killing a prominent pro-Western politician and at least five other people in an assassination certain to hike sectarian tensions already soaring because of the civil war in neighboring Syria.

The blast, which wounded more than 70 others, set cars ablaze, shredded trees and shattered windows in a main street of the posh downtown Beirut area of five-star hotels, luxury high-rises and high-end boutiques. It sent a pall of thick black smoke above the nearby government headquarters and the seafront.
The bomb targeted the car of Mohammed Chatah, a former finance minister and a senior aide to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, security officials said. Chatah, his driver and four others were killed, the National News Agency said.
Hariri, a Sunni politician, heads the main, Western-backed coalition in Lebanon, which is engaged in bitter feuding with the militant Shiite Hezbollah group, a top ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Egypt's Security Forces Clash With Hundreds Of Morsi Supporters

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces fired tear gas and clashed with hundreds of supporters of Mohammed Morsi around the country Friday and arrested more than 100, including women, as authorities tightened security measures in the capital after the ousted president's Muslim Brotherhood and its allies renewed calls for mass rallies.
Riot police chased student protesters chanting against the military and the police at the Islamic Al-Azhar University. Footage on private TV networks showed demonstrators hurling stones and setting fire on tree branches to defuse tear gas smoke.
The night before, one person was killed when similar clashes broke near the dormitory of the same university. Anti-Morsi civilians also joined the fray in the eastern district of Cairo, fighting against the protesters, according to Egypt's official news agency.
Clashes also erupted Friday in several other districts of the capital. Al-Jazeera Mubashir Misr TV showed footage of police vehicle on fire in a highway linking Cairo with Giza.
Armored vehicles closed main squares and city centers in Cairo and other major cities after Morsi's group, the Muslim Brotherhood, and its allies announced new protests in defiance of the interim government's latest move labeling the group as a terrorist organization. The announcement was meant to further cripple the group ahead of a key vote on draft constitution on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15 seen by the interim government as a milestone in the transition plan.

Ambush kills dozens of Syria rebels

Dozens of Islamist rebels have been killed by a Syrian army ambush in a strategic area near the capital Damascus.

Activists and state media say the attack took place on Friday morning to the north of the town of Maaloula.
State media said the men were linked to the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.
The region lies next to key roads linking Damascus with the north of the country and has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent months.
The state-run Sana news agency said that an army unit had "ambushed terrorists, killing dozens of them and seizing their criminal tools".
Pictures displayed on state media showed many bodies.
The UK-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that around 20 rebels had also been injured in Friday's attack.
SOHR also said that the rebels targeted in the attack belonged to Islamist brigades.
While the initial character of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 was not sectarian, Islamist groups have emerged as having the best training and equipment and are now at the forefront of fighting the government.

Suicide car bomber kills 3 service members in Afghanistan

A suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of international troops in an eastern district of the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday, killing three service members and wounding six Afghans, officials said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the insurgent group was behind the attack. Television images showed remains of the exploded car in the street, and several armored vehicles stopped nearby.
The bomber struck the convoy about a half mile from NATO's Camp Phoenix base, Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanakzai, who reported the Afghan injuries.
The International Security Assistance Force didn't provide details on the identities or nationalities of the three service members killed.
Twelve coalition troops have died in Afghanistan so far this month including six U.S. soldiers who died in a helicopter crash Dec. 17.
So far this year 151 coalition troops have been killed in Afghanistan, according to a tally kept by The Associated Press. 

Thai army chief fails to rule out coup
General Prayuth Chan-ocha says 'door is neither open nor closed' to military intervention after two months of protests

Thailand's army chief has urged both sides in the country's bitter political dispute to show restraint, but did not explicitly rule out the possibility of a coup.
Thailand has been rocked by two months of violent street protests and political tensions pitting the government of the prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, against protesters seeking to remove her from power. The army has staged 11 successful coups in the country's history; in the current volatile climate, its intentions are being watched carefully.
"That door is neither open nor closed," the army chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, said in response to questions from reporters as to whether a military intervention was likely.
He also reiterated a request that people stop asking the army to take sides in the dispute. "Please don't bring the army into the centre of this conflict," he said.
On Thursday, protesters seeking to disrupt elections scheduled for 2 February fought police in clashes that left two people dead.
Thailand's election commission also called for a delay in the polls, a blow to Yingluck, who expects to win them handily thanks to her overwhelming support in the country's north and north-east.
Prayuth said the army had shown "red traffic lights to both sides, so things will calm down", and called for an end to street violence. "You ask: 'Who wins?' Who wins?' No one," he said.

Erekat: New Israeli settlement building would 'destroy peace process'

Israeli official says government is planning to build 1,400 housing units over Green Line; chief Palestinian negotiator warns PA would apply for membership in 63 int'l organizations, including the ICC, if Israel makes move.

The Palestinian Authority said it would plan to appeal the the internationl community, including the International Criminal Court if Israel announces plans for new settlement construction next week follow the third release of Palestinian prisoner as part of an agreement for resuming negotiations.
The Palestinians have said any further expansion of Israeli settlements on land they seek for a state could derail US-brokered peace talks that resumed in July after a three-year break and are set to last until April.

Okinawa OKs US base relocation

Tokyo: Okinawan officials have approved the relocation of a US military base, Japan's defence ministry says, in a breakthrough that looks set to remove a decades-long source of friction between the two countries.
Local officials signed a document that gives the green light to a landfill, paving the way for the construction of a new base on the coast. The defence ministry's Okinawa bureau confirmed that it received the document, which bore the governor's seal, from local government officials.
"The office received the document at 10.50am. It was approved," said an official of the ministry's branch office on Okinawa.
After years of staunch opposition, Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima this week met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who pledged a big cash injection into Okinawa's economy every year until 2021. Mr Nakaima's nod marks a breakthrough on an original 1996 agreement to shut the Futenma airbase, which is in a densely populated urban area.

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The United States reaffirmed in 2006 that it would re-site the base on the coast, but the move has been stymied by opposition throughout Okinawa, which feels overburdened by its outsized share of the American military presence in Japan. The governor was expected to hold a press conference on Okinawa and announce his decision on Friday afternoon. 

Over 30,000 Ethiopian maids ran away in Saudi Arabia
 RIYADH: Saudi Arabia registered over 30,000 cases of Ethiopian domestic workers walking out of their jobs over the past year, authorities said.

According to official statistics from the Ministry of Labour, around 31,700 Ethiopian maids ran away from their jobs. Economists estimate that the citizens were left with a heavy financial burden as a result of these cases.

The overall number of domestic workers who left their sponsors high and dry was estimated at 58,715 based on a report prepared by the Ministry of Labour.

The report indicated that 54 percent of absconding expatriates were maids, while 45 percent were drivers.

Riyadh registered the highest number of runaway housekeepers, followed by the Eastern Province and Makkah. The Northern Province and Al-Baha witnessed the least number of absconding domestic workers.

The report also pointed out that around 500,000 expatriates were absent from their jobs in various companies and establishments across the country during the first quarter of the year, with rates of absenteeism pegged at 6 percent.-

 'Counter-punch': Federal judge rules NSA data collection legal

A federal judge in New York has ruled the National Security Agency's massive data collection program is legal, one week after another federal judge ruled the opposite. 
The conflicting rulings increase the likelihood that the challenges could someday end up before the Supreme Court. 
The ruling on Friday came from District Judge William H. Pauley III, in the case of the ACLU vs. James Clapper, the director of national intelligence. The judge agreed with the federal government's request to dismiss the case. 
"No doubt, the bulky telephony metadata collection program vacuums up information about virtually every telephone call to, from, or within the United States," the judge wrote. 
But he added: "As the September 11th attacks demonstrate, the cost of missing such a thread can be horrific. Technology allowed Al Qaeda to operate decentralized and plot international terrorist attacks remotely. The bulky telephone metadata collection program represents the Government's counter-punch: connecting fragmented and fleeting communications to re-construct and eliminate al-Qaeda's terror network." 
The decision was a victory for the Obama administration after a string of setbacks. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, in Washington, D.C., ruled that the NSA phone record collection program likely violates the Constitution. 
The ruling was the first major legal defeat for the NSA since former contractor Edward Snowden began exposing secrets about the NSA's data collection over the summer.

President Obama signs defense law

HONOLULU — President Obama signed a sweeping defense policy law here Thursday that cracks down on sexual assault in the military and eases restrictions on transferring detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the custody of foreign countries.

Marking a rare step toward achieving his goal of closing the controversial detention facility, Obama released a statement crediting Congress for relaxing regulations that he said had significantly hindered efforts to transfer detainees who had been cleared to leave.

1.3 million losing unemployment benefits Saturday

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 1 million Americans are bracing for a harrowing, post-Christmas jolt as federal unemployment benefits come to a sudden halt this weekend.
The development entails potentially significant implications for the recovering U.S. economy and sets up a tense battle when Congress reconvenes in the new year.
For families dependent on cash assistance, the end of the federal government's "emergency unemployment compensation" will mean some difficult belt-tightening as enrollees lose their average monthly stipend of $1,166.
Jobless rates could drop.
But analysts say the economy may suffer with less money for consumers to spend on everything from clothes to cars. Having let the "emergency" program expire as part of a budget deal, it's unclear if Congress has the appetite to start it anew.

Lawmakers, veterans groups push to restore military benefits

Lawmakers and veterans groups are stepping up efforts to fight cuts to benefits for military retirees under the bipartisan budget agreement passed by Congress before the holiday break.  
President Obama on Thursday put his signature on the two-year budget bill, which includes a contentious provision to pare down annual cost of living increases in benefits for military retirees under age 62, saving the government an estimated $6.3 billion over a decade.   
Bills were introduced in the House this week by members on both sides of the aisle that would effectively undo pension cuts to military retirees. 
On Monday, Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., introduced a bill that would repeal the provision that curtails annual cost of living increases in benefits that go to military retirees under age 62.
“As a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, I believe our service members, veterans, and their families must receive the benefits they have earned and deserve,” Brownley said in a statement. “These benefits are owed to them without equivocation. That is why I have introduced legislation to repeal the military retiree COLA reduction.”
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, introduced a similar bill on Monday, according to The Hill. It was unclear whether either proposal included provisions to offset the costs of eliminating the cuts.

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