Gazette - Weekend Edition 12-21-13

Weekend Edition

Saturday December 21st 2013

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Nasa astronauts begin spacewalk to carry out urgent repairs

Astronauts at the International Space Station have begun a spacewalk to carry out urgent repairs.

The two Americans on the crew have gone outside the station to disconnect a pump containing a faulty valve.
It is the first of three spacewalks needed to mend the station's critical cooling system.
Half of the system automatically shut down last week after detecting abnormal temperatures.
Nasa said the situation was potentially serious but not life-threatening.
The six-man crew had to turn off all non-essential equipment because of the malfunction.
Faulty pump The two astronauts, Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, began their spacewalk at about 1200 GMT and are expected to be outside the space station for six and a half hours.
Their first task is to disconnect a faulty ammonia pump, which is about the size of a refrigerator.
On their second spacewalk, planned for next Monday, the astronauts will remove the pump so it can be replaced with a spare.
It is possible that a third expedition will be needed, on Christmas Day, to make final installations.
The fault relates to the external cooling loops that circulate ammonia outside the station to keep both internal and external equipment cool.
Nasa said the repairs would take priority over the launch of a supply ship from Virginia, which has now been postponed until January.

Arab League rejects US proposal in Mideast deal

The Arab League says it rejects a continued Israeli troop presence on the eastern border of a future state of Palestine, a proposal Palestinians say was floated by the U.S. earlier this month.

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said Saturday no peace deal would work with Israeli presence in a Palestinian state.
Palestinian officials said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry proposed Israel control Palestine's future border with Jordan for at least 10 years to address Israeli concerns about a potential influx of militants and weapons.
Aides to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have criticized the plan. One aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the negotiations, said Saturday the Palestinians are trying to soften the proposal to shorten the span of any Israeli withdrawal.

U.S. Military Aircraft Hit In South Sudan

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Rebel fire hit two U.S. military aircraft responding to the outbreak in violence in South Sudan on Saturday, wounding three U.S. service members and heavily damaging at least one of the aircraft, officials said. South Sudan blamed the attack on renegade troops in control of the breakaway region.
The U.S. military aircraft were heading to Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation's worst violence over the last week. One American service member was reported to be in critical condition. Officials said after the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and headed to Kampala, Uganda. From there the service members were flown on to Nairobi, Kenya for medical treatment, the officials said.
Both officials demanded anonymity to share information not yet made public. Both officials work in East Africa and are in a position to know the information. It was not immediately known what the U.S. aircraft were doing in Bor. One official said it appeared the aircraft were Ospreys, the type of aircraft that can fly like a helicopter and a plane.
Officials at the U.S. military's Africa Command did not immediately answer phone calls or emails on Saturday.
South Sudan's military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, said that government troops are not in control of Bor, so the attack on the U.S. aircraft has to be blamed on renegade soldiers, he said.
"Bor is under the control of the forces of Riek Machar," Aguer said.

Thai opposition to boycott elections

Thailand's main opposition Democrat Party has announced it will boycott snap elections set for 2 February.

Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva told a news conference it would not be fielding candidates, saying: "Thai politics is at a failed stage".
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called the election earlier this month in a bid to end weeks of mass protests.
The head of the Thai army has warned the country's political divisions could "trigger a civil war".
General Prayuth Chan-ocha has proposed a "people's assembly" - made up of civilians from both sides, not the leaders, to heal the divisions.

The opposition-backed protests in Bangkok have caused Thailand's most serious political turmoil since 2010.

Ms Yingluck won the last elections in 2011, but protesters say her brother - the controversial ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra - remains in charge.
'Lost faith' At his news conference, Mr Abhisit told reporters his party had agreed it would not field candidates in the snap elections.
"The Thai people have lost their faith in the democratic system," he said.
The prime minister dissolved parliament and called the election on 9 December in a bid, she said, to avoid violence on the streets and "to give back the power to the Thai people".
Her Pheu Thai party has a majority in parliament, and draws significant support from Thailand's rural areas. It is seen as well-placed to win February's election.
General Prayuth Chan-ocha said he was deeply concerned by the latest crisis, with divisions not just in Bangkok but across the whole country.
"The situation could trigger a civil war," he told the Bangkok Post.
Setting out his vision of a "people's assembly", he said it should be made up of people from both sides of the political divide - known as the "red shirts", those who support Thaksin Shinawatra, and the "yellow shirts", those who oppose him.
"It must be from a neutral group and comprise non-core representatives of all colours, and all colour leaders must be excluded," he said.
He did not give details on how or when the assembly would be set up, but said any proposal "must come from a public consensus and the public must brainstorm how to reach that consensus".
He stressed his grouping would be different to the "people's council" proposed by the opposition.

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US slams Richard Falk's 'despicable and deeply offensive comments'

The United States condemned UN Human Rights Council special investigator Richard Falk on Friday, after he accused Israel of having "genocidal" intentions against the Palestinians in an interview with Russian television earlier this week.

"The Administration has repeatedly condemned in the strongest terms his despicable and deeply offensive comments, particularly his anti-Semitic blog postings, his endorsement of 9/11 conspiracy theories, and more recently, his deplorable statements with regard to the terrorist attacks in Boston," US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said, referring to an April blog post in which Falk implied that the Boston Marathon terror attack was perpetrated as a result of Washington's close ties with Israel.
Friday's State Department comments came in the aftermath of Falk’s brief appearance on December 15 on Russia’s English television news program RT. Falk was interviewed for only a few seconds as part of a larger program on Israel that included an argument that it was Israel, not Iran, which had a dangerous nuclear program.

Britain agrees to destroy part of Syria's chemical stockpile

Britain will help eliminate Syria's chemical stockpile by taking and destroying 165 tonnes of substances that could be used to make highly toxic nerve agents, British officials said on Friday.

The industrial-grade chemicals are to be shipped to Britain in securely sealed containers, then transferred to a commercial facility and incinerated there, the government said.
By themselves, the chemicals, known as ''B precursors'', are not very dangerous, officials said. Only when combined with other specific substances, known as ''A precursors'', do they create a poisonous nerve agent. As a precaution, the two types of chemicals are being removed from Syria and destroyed separately.

Since Syrian President Bashar Assad agreed in September to a deal brokered by the US and Russia to give up his chemical arsenal by the middle of next year, finding countries willing to take and neutralise portions of the stockpile has been a tough task.
Some of the most hazardous substances are to be destroyed by the United States at sea, because they are considered too dangerous to import into any country. China pledged this week to provide a military ship to help protect the American vessel charged with destroying those chemicals.
Britain said Friday it would send one of its own naval vessels to guard the Danish and Norwegian cargo ships that will remove President Assad's stockpile from Syria.
''The international mission to destroy Syria's chemical weapons program is essential to ensure that Assad can never again use these horrific weapons to murder his own people,'' the British government said in a statement.
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Iraqi general, 14 soldiers killed in raid on al-Qaida 

RAMADI: Five senior Iraqi officers, including a divisional commander, and 10 soldiers were killed on Saturday in a raid on an al-Qaida hideout in the west of the country, military officers said.

Violence elsewhere killed 10 people, including a police chief, four other police and a soldier, security officials and doctors said.

Mohamed al-Karoui, the commander of the army's 7th Division, was leading an operation to attack "hideouts of militants belonging to the al-Qaida organization" in Sunni-majority Anbar province, which borders Syria.

He was killed along with four other senior army officers and 10 soldiers when they attacked a camp near Rutba, 380 kilometres (235 miles) west of Baghdad, the military officers said.

Soldiers were attacked by suicide bombers during the assault on the camp and hit by bombs that exploded when they entered buildings, the sources said, without specifying at what point the officers died.

The defence ministry said the operation was launched after reports that al-Qaida militants had set up camps in the area to train militants in bomb-making.

Lockerbie memorials held to mark 25th anniversary of airliner bombing attack  

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and other officials are expected to speak at a 25th anniversary memorial service for victims of the 1988 Pan Am airliner bombing over Scotland.
The memorial ceremony is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery.
Pan Am 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, soon after takeoff from London.
The terror attack killed 270 people either aboard the plane or on the ground. Many of the victims were American college students flying home for Christmas.
The only man convicted in the bombing, former Libyan intelligence official Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, died of cancer last year. Scottish authorities released him on humanitarian grounds, to the outrage of victims’ relatives.
Related Stories :
Libya Dying Lockerbie bomber says his role was exaggerated   
Revealed: US 'knew of other Lockerbie suspects'

India attempts to calm anti-US tensions

India has tried to defuse a growing diplomatic conflict with the United States, damping down its initial uproar over the arrest and strip-search of one of its diplomats in New York.
The country's foreign minister on Saturday insisted the episode should not be allowed to derail "strong" ties with the United States.
Salman Khurshid said a dialogue with Washington was under way to defuse the crisis sparked by the 48-hour detention of deputy consular general Devyani Khobragade on December 12.
"Our relationship is that of partners. Our mutual relations are very strong," Khurshid told reporters in New Delhi.
"I believe people in both the countries wouldn't want the old ties we share to get unsettled by this one incident," he said
"I speak to America through diplomatic channels and my diplomatic channels have been interrupted. That is my concern," he added.
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ObamaCare may make finding treatment harder for mentally ill

To the outside world, it came across as mood swings and anger. But Regina Cullison would later be told by psychiatrists she struggled with depression and anxiety—and that she needed help. And that is where her trouble began and ended.
According to her mother, there were few psychiatrists in the county who took private insurance. When Ms. Cullison lost her job as a dentist's assistant, and with it her insurance, she switched to a nonprofit facility. Doctors came and went, and none stayed long enough to establish a regular pattern of treatment.
After two years, Ms. Cullison abandoned her search for professional help and tried marijuana. Her mother, Carolyn Cullison, who is the director of a mental-health peer support group, said that helped push away the demons. But in May, while living together, the pair argued. Ms. Cullison apologized, retreated to a bedroom and shot herself. She was 26.
As hard as it might be to acknowledge having a mental-health illness, finding professional help can be even harder.
Last year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, almost 91 million adults lived in areas like here where shortages of mental-health professionals made obtaining treatment difficult. A departmental report to Congress earlier this year said 55 percent of the nation's 3,100 counties have no practicing psychiatrists, psychologists or social workers, a combination of budget cuts and doctors leaving the profession.
Even in well-served areas, such as Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts, demand is so high practitioners frequently decline to take new patients or private insurance, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

Health insurance cancellation notices leave 500,000 uncovered

WASHINGTON -- Fewer than 500,000 people who received health insurance cancellation notices have not yet signed up for new coverage, Obama administration officials said Thursday.
The senior administration officials said they had arrived at the estimate over weeks of contacting insurers and combing through the administration’s own enrollment data.
The officials, who would not be identified talking about data that had not been formally released, acknowledged that the number was an estimate and a moving target. Thousands of people are enrolling daily in new health plans on state- and federally-run websites created under the Affordable Care Act.
Still, the figure is a notable data point in one of the most politically damaging fights over the healthcare law this fall. In the weeks after the law’s Oct. 1 launch, insurers sent millions of cancellation notices to consumers who had bought insurance on the individual market in previous years. The letters typically told consumers that...

President Obama commutes drug sentence of Deval Patrick’s first cousin

ASHINGTON -- President Obama on Thursday granted a rare commutation to the first cousin of Governor Deval Patrick, allowing the release of a man who in 1994 was given a life sentence on charges of dealing crack cocaine.
Patrick said that he does not recall ever meeting his first cousin Reynolds Allen Wintersmith Jr., 39 of Rockford, Ill., and had no involvement in his application for clemency, which has been a cause of national advocates for years and has been featured in the national media.
“There’s a significant age gap between the two and the governor has no recollection of having met Mr. Wintersmith,” said Patrick’s spokeswoman Jesse Mermell. “Governor Patrick had no involvement in any application for a commutation of Mr. Wintersmith.”
He was aware of Wintersmith’s imprisonment, she said, but did not know the specifics of his case or the request for a commutation.
Patrick, who declined requests for an interview, has a close relationship with President Obama, dining with him at the White House and Martha’s Vineyard. Mermell said the White House did not alert the governor about the commutation, and that Patrick learned of it only through the news media.
A White House spokesman would not say whether Obama knew that Wintersmith was related to Patrick when he signed off on the commutation.
Wintersmith was one of eight convicts who received presidential commutations Thursday. He is expected to be released by April. Obama also granted 13 pardons.
Obama said he was granting the commutations because they were unduly harsh. The president in 2010 signed the Fair Sentencing Act, which narrowed the disparity between penalties for crack and powder cocaine offenses.
- See more at: http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2013/12/19/president-obama-commutes-drug-sentence-deval-patrick-first-cousin/jeF0HSB99B0tkHd7QISRIN/story.html#sthash.1r1DtGoH.dpuf

WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Thursday granted a rare commutation to the first cousin of Governor Deval Patrick, allowing the release of a man who in 1994 was given a life sentence on charges of dealing crack cocaine.

Patrick said that he does not recall ever meeting his first cousin Reynolds Allen Wintersmith Jr., 39 of Rockford, Ill., and had no involvement in his application for clemency, which has been a cause of national advocates for years and has been featured in the national media.

“There’s a significant age gap between the two and the governor has no recollection of having met Mr. Wintersmith,” said Patrick’s spokeswoman Jesse Mermell. “Governor Patrick had no involvement in any application for a commutation of Mr. Wintersmith.”

He was aware of Wintersmith’s imprisonment, she said, but did not know the specifics of his case or the request for a commutation.

Patrick, who declined requests for an interview, has a close relationship with President Obama, dining with him at the White House and Martha’s Vineyard. Mermell said the White House did not alert the governor about the commutation, and that Patrick learned of it only through the news media.

A White House spokesman would not say whether Obama knew that Wintersmith was related to Patrick when he signed off on the commutation.

Wintersmith was one of eight convicts who received presidential commutations Thursday. He is expected to be released by April. Obama also granted 13 pardons.

Obama said he was granting the commutations because they were unduly harsh. The president in 2010 signed the Fair Sentencing Act, which narrowed the disparity between penalties for crack and powder cocaine offenses.
Related Political Story : Patrick to host political fundraiser, a day after returning from Asia trip

You'll Never Guess Where This FBI Agent Left a Secret Interrogation Manual 

In a lapse that national security experts call baffling, a high-ranking FBI agent filed a sensitive internal manual detailing the bureau's secret interrogation procedures with the Library of Congress, where anyone with a library card can read it.
For years, the American Civil Liberties Union fought a legal battle to force the FBI to release a range of documents concerning FBI guidelines, including this one, which covers the practices agents are supposed to employ when questioning suspects. Through all this, unbeknownst to the ACLU and the FBI, the manual sat in a government archive open to the public. When the FBI finally relented and provided the ACLU a version of the interrogation guidebook last year, it was heavily redacted; entire pages were blacked out. But the version available at the Library of Congress, which a Mother Jones reporter reviewed last week, contains no redactions.
The 70-plus-page manual ended up in the Library of Congress, thanks to its author, an FBI official who made an unexplainable mistake. This FBI supervisory special agent, who once worked as a unit chief in the FBI's counterterrorism division, registered a copyright for the manual in 2010 and deposited a copy with the US Copyright Office, where members of the public can inspect it upon request. What's particularly strange about this episode is that government documents cannot be copyrighted.
"A document that has not been released does not even need a copyright," says Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert at the Federation of American Scientists. "Who is going to plagiarize from it? Even if you wanted to, you couldn't violate the copyright because you don't have the document. It isn't available."
"The whole thing is a comedy of errors," he adds. "It sounds like gross incompetence and ignorance.

Weary Obama at Break, Hoping for a Breakthrough

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s news conference on Friday was full of banter and holiday wishes, in keeping with the year-end White House ritual. But Mr. Obama’s demeanor and words were often downbeat, leaving no doubt that the gathering was not, as he said at the beginning, “the most wonderful news conference of the year.”

That was fitting — 2013 was far from the most wonderful of Mr. Obama’s five crisis-filled years. And though he held out hope as he parried with reporters for more than an hour that “2014 can be a breakthrough year for America,” he offered little hint of new ideas or strategies to advance his once-ambitious agenda past hostile Republicans.

“The end of the year is always a good time to reflect and see what can you do better next year. That’s how I intend to approach it,” Mr. Obama said. “I am sure that I will have even better ideas after a couple days of sleep and sun.”