Gazette 03-24-14

Monday March 24th 2014

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Egypt court sentences 529 Morsi supporters to death

A court in Egypt has sentenced to death 529 supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

They were convicted of charges including murdering a policeman and attacks on people and property.
The group is among over 1,200 supporters of Mr Morsi on trial, including senior Brotherhood members.
Authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since Mr Morsi was removed by the military in July. Hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested.
They are expected to appeal.
The verdict now goes to Egypt's supreme religious authority, the Grand Mufti (a senior Islamic scholar), for approval or rejection, says the BBC's Orla Guerin in Cairo.
Campaigners say that while death sentences are often handed down in Egypt, few have been carried out in recent years.
The final trial session will not be held until 28 April. so there is some time left before the sentence is confirmed and there will be time to appeal in that period, our correspondent adds.

Islamic militants blamed for blast that kills 32 in northeast Nigerian village

Hospital and local government officials say an explosion at a village market near hideouts of Islamic extremists in northeast Nigeria has killed 32 people.

Local government officials said 29 people died at the scene at Ngurosoye village. The explosion happened on Thursday and because of poor communications it is only now that word of it is getting out. The military has cut cell phone service in the area. Ngurosoye is near the Sambisa forest in Borno state bordering Cameroon where the military has been carrying out aerial bombardments and ground assaults on camps of Islamic militants.
A hospital official said three of the injured died at the hospital on Friday and Saturday. The death toll could rise with some victims seriously injured. Most victims were traders.

NATO: Russia Has 'Sizeable' And 'Very, Very Ready' Forces At Ukraine Border

NATO's top military commander said on Sunday that Russia had a large force on Ukraine's eastern border and said he was worried it could pose a threat to Moldova's mainly Russian-speaking separatist Transdniestria region.

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, voiced concern about Moscow using a tactic of snap military exercises to prepare its forces for possible rapid incursions into a neighbouring state, as it had done in the case of Ukraine's Crimea region.

Russia launched a new military exercise, involving 8,500 artillery men, near Ukraine's border 10 days ago.

"The (Russian) force that is at the Ukrainian border now to the east is very, very sizeable and very, very ready," Breedlove told an event held by the German Marshall Fund think-tank.

The president of ex-Soviet Moldova warned Russia last Tuesday against considering any move to annex Transdniestria, which lies on Ukraine's western border, in the same way that it has taken control of Crimea.

The speaker of Transdniestria's separatist parliament had urged Russia earlier to incorporate his mainly Russian-speaking region.

Transdniestria split away from Moldova in 1990, one year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, amid fears that Moldova would shortly merge with neighbouring Romania, whose language and culture it broadly shares.

Breedlove said NATO was very concerned about the threat to Transdniestria, which he said, in Russia's view, was the "next place where Russian-speaking people may need to be incorporated."

"There is absolutely sufficient (Russian) force postured on the eastern border of Ukraine to run to Transdniestria if the decision was made to do that and that is very worrisome."

NATO had tried to make Russia a partner but "now it is very clear that Russia is acting much more like an adversary than a partner," he said.

Assad's cousin killed in fighting with Syrian rebels near Turkish border 

A cousin of Syrian President Bashar Assad was killed Sunday during clashes with rebels near the town of Kasab on tyhe Turkish border, Lebanon's Daily Star reported.
Hilal Assad had been the head of the National Defense paramilitary force in the province of Latakia, according to Syrian state media, which confirmed his death.
Islamist fighters in the area have been battling Syrian army forces for control of a bordser crossing with Turkey in the area in recent days.
Heavy clashes continued around Kasab crossing and a nearby village of the same name - both about 5 miles (8 km) from the Mediterranean coast - a day after rebels launched their assault.
Assad's forces have already lost control of most border crossings with Turkey during the three year civil war but had held on to Kasab, gateway to the coastal province of Latakia which has remained an Assad stronghold.
Syrian authorities accused Turkey of helping the fighters launch their attack on Kasab from Turkish territory, saying Ankara's army "provided cover for this terrorist attack" on the wooded and hilly border region.
On Sunday, Turkish armed forces shot down a Syrian plane which Turkey said had crossed into its air space in the area of Kasab crossing.

Yemen attack on military checkpoint 'kills 20 soldiers'

Twenty Yemeni soldiers have been killed in an attack on a military checkpoint in eastern Yemen, reports say.

Yemen's state-run Saba news agency says the attack took place in the province of Hadramawt.
Security sources earlier said eight had died and six were wounded in an attack that one source attributed to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The Yemeni military has been tackling a powerful al-Qaeda insurgency in the province in recent years.
Hadramawt is a centre of oil production and seen as a stronghold for AQAP, which has been waging a campaign against the Western-backed government.
"Twenty soldiers were killed in the armed attack on an army checkpoint" near Reida, located 135km (85 miles) east of the provincial capital Mukalla, Saba news agency reported.
One source told the AFP news agency that the attack was carried out by gunmen in several vehicles.
Yemen has been struggling to restore state authority after opposition protests drove out veteran leader Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012.
Al-Qaeda militants have taken advantage of the upheaval and breakdown of central government control to gain ground again in Yemen.

Ebola Kills Dozens In Guinea, May Have Spread To Sierra Leone

Guinea has received confirmation that a mysterious disease that has killed up to 59 people in the West African country, and may have spread to neighbouring Sierra Leone, is the haemorrhagic fever Ebola, the government said on Saturday.

Cases of the disease - among the most virulent pathogens known to infect humans, with a fatality rate of up to 90 percent - have been registered in three southeastern towns and in the capital Conakry since Feb. 9. It has never before been recorded in Guinea.

"It is indeed Ebola fever. A laboratory in Lyon (France) confirmed the information," Damantang Albert Camara told Reuters.

Six of the 12 samples sent for analysis tested positive for Ebola, Dr. Sakoba Keita, who heads the epidemics prevention division at Guinea's health ministry, told Reuters.

He added that health officials had registered 80 suspected cases of the disease, including 59 deaths.

"But you have to understand that not all the cases are necessarily due to Ebola fever. Some will have other origins, including a form of severe dysentery," Keita said.

World Health Organisation (WHO) officials said that cases showing similar symptoms, including fever, diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding, had also been reported in an area of Sierra Leone near the border with Guinea.

Clashes as Taiwan students storm government HQ

Taiwanese police have clashed with hundreds of students who occupied government headquarters to protest at a trade deal with China.

Police used water cannon and dragged out students one by one, clearing the building by dawn on Monday.
Close to 60 people were arrested and more than 100 hurt, reports said.
The protesters say the agreement with China would hurt Taiwan's economy and leave it vulnerable to pressure from Beijing.
Another group of students and activists have occupied Taiwan's parliament since early last week.
The BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei says the students wants more scrutiny over all future dealings with China, including any trade agreements.
They also want the current deal - which would allow the two sides to invest more freely in each other's services markets - to be scrapped.

In Spain, Anti-Austerity March Draws Tens Of Thousands Of Protesters From All Over Country

MADRID (AP) — Spanish police and protesters clashed during an anti-austerity demonstration that drew tens of thousands of people to central Madrid on Saturday. Police said in a statement that six officers were injured and 12 people were arrested.
As a final speech was being given, some protesters attempted to break through a police barrier and make their way toward the nearby headquarters of the governing conservative Popular Party. Riot police then charged the protesters, who hurled bottles and other objects, and beat them back with batons.
One police vehicle and a bank were damaged by protesters. It wasn't immediately clear how many protesters were injured, and if anybody was seriously hurt on either side.
Protesters say Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government has eroded Spain's much-valued public health and education systems, while saddling Spaniards with sky-high unemployment and more debt.
Six columns of protesters — each from a different region of Spain — had arrived at the outskirts of the city early Saturday before heading for Colon square, carrying banners bearing the slogan "Marching for Dignity."
By late afternoon, Madrid's principal boulevard, Paseo del Prado, was packed with people chanting against government's austerity policies and the cuts they have entailed.
"I don't want corruption, government cuts and unemployment," said office worker Susana Roldan, 24. "What I want is a secure future in Spain."

Pakistan erases NYT lead story on Islamabad-bin Laden ties

A New York Times story saying Pakistan's government protected Taliban forces was censored by the publisher's printing partner in that country, resulting in a blank hole on the front page of its international edition.

The article, a 4,800-word excerpt from a forthcoming book by Times reporter Carlotta Gall to be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt next month, appeared in New York Times magazine in the US and was intended as a front-page article of International New York Times. While the story appears on most copies of the international edition, it doesn't show up in papers distributed in Pakistan, about 9,000 copies, according to the publisher.
Gall's reporting looks at the ties between Pakistan's main intelligence service, ISI, and the Taliban. Her article points to Pervez Musharraf, former Pakistani president, as one of the Taliban's protectors who knew about Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts in Afghanistan. (In a counterpoint, CNN's national security analyst, Peter Bergen, writes he is "convinced that there is no evidence that anyone in the Pakistani government, military or intelligence agencies knowingly sheltered bin Laden.")

The missing story played out on Twitter as Gall herself made light of the censorship by posting a photo of the errant edition on her account with the note: "Breakfast in Islamabad".

The missing story played out on Twitter as Gall herself made light of the censorship by posting a photo of the errant edition on her account with the note: "Breakfast in Islamabad". 

Iran says replica US aircraft carrier is really a movie prop

A replica of a US aircraft carrier spotted near the coast of Iran is nothing more sinister than a movie set, Iranian media said on Sunday.
The New York Times, quoting US intelligence, said last week that the Iranians were building a mock-up of a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, possibly so they could then blow it up for propaganda purposes.
Satellite photos showed what looked like one of the US Navy's Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, complete with planes, rising from Iran's Gachin shipyard, near the port of Bandar Abbas.
Iranian newspapers said it was "part of the decor" of a movie being made by the Iranian director Nader Talebzadeh on the 1988 shooting down of an Iran Air civilian plane by the USS Vincennes. The United States says the downing of the plane, which killed all 290 passengers and crew, was an accident.
"The issue has turned into a good excuse for another wave of hype against Iran," said the Alef news website which carries views close to the official line in Iran. "Without any proof or real basis, western media have jumped again to paint a more negative picture of Iran."
A spokesman for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain acknowledged that the replica was "more akin to a Hollywood set than a warship".
"We know it's not an actual aircraft carrier. It's made to look like one of ours ... but makes us wonder: what is it all for?" Jason Salata told Reuters by telephone.
"We've seen them make target barges before and tow them and shoot them out as missile exercises and use it for state-run media. This one is a little bit of a head-scratcher. If you're spending resources on this, what would it be for?"
Iranian officials were not available to comment.
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Obama says Ukraine crisis not 'a zero-sum game' as Russian forces overrun third Crimea base

President Obama has told a Dutch newspaper that the United States does not see the ongoing crisis in Crimea and Ukraine as a "zero-sum game" between Washington and Moscow as pro-Russian forces reportedly overran a third Ukrainian military base in the Black Sea peninsula Monday.
In the interview, published in Monday's edition of de Volkskrant, Obama said, "The United States does not view Europe as a battleground between East and West, nor do we see the situation in Ukraine as a zero-sum game. That’s the kind of thinking that should have ended with the Cold War."
The president went on to say, "The Ukrainian people do not have to choose between East and West. On the contrary, it’s important that Ukraine have good relations with the United States, Russia, and Europe. As I’ve said, the future of Ukraine ought to be decided by the people of Ukraine."
Obama also addressed the possibility of additional sanctions against Russia, saying "There have to be consequences," if the crisis continued to escalate. "And if Russia continues to escalate the situation," Obama continued, "we need to be prepared to impose a greater cost."

Romney: Obama's 'Naivete' On Putin Helped Lead To Crisis In Ukraine

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Sunday that President Barack Obama has been naive about Russia's "intentions and objectives," and that the president's "faulty judgment" on Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the current situation in Ukraine worse.
"The president's naivete with regards to Russia and his faulty judgment about Russia's intentions and objectives has led to a number of foreign policy challenges that we are facing," Romney told Bob Schieffer on CBS's "Face the Nation." "Unfortunately, not having anticipated Russia's intentions, the president wasn't able to shape the kind of events that may have been able to prevent the kinds of circumstances that you're seeing in the Ukraine."
Putin formally annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, where a majority of the population is Russian, on Friday. Russian forces have seized Ukraine's military bases in the area. The annexation has led to the worst crisis in the region since the end of the Cold War, and brought U.S.-Russian relations to a new low.
The escalation has served as an unfortunate vindication for Romney, who was mocked by Obama during the 2012 presidential race for saying that Russia was the greatest geopolitical foe facing the United States.
"[W]hen you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia, not al Qaeda," Obama said during a debate. "In the 1980s, they're now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War's been over for 20 years."
Romney insisted Sunday that the crisis in Ukraine could have been predicted, and he faulted the president for not moving earlier to avert it. Pressed by Schieffer on what Obama could have done, Romney said the U.S. could have taken steps earlier to plan sanctions against Russia in concert with other countries.

Jeb Bush leads GOP hopefuls to Vegas to woo Sheldon Adelson

As the 2016 Republican hopefuls quietly court donors this year, few have as much attraction as billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who, along with wife Miriam, gave more than $92 million to campaign groups in 2012.
That's why some of the top potential contenders for the presidential nomination plan to head to Las Vegas late this week to court Adelson at a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition, for which he provides much of the money and serves as chair of the board.
Jeb Bush, who plans to make a decision about a presidential run by early next year, will get top billing as the featured speaker Thursday night at a private VIP dinner in the hangar that houses Adelson’s fleet.
On Saturday, three other prominent hopefuls -- Govs. Chris Christieof New Jersey, John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin -- will address the broader gathering at Adelson’s hotel, the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. The Republican National Committee’s data guru, Andy Barkett,...

Michelle Obama visits China’s Terra Cotta Army, jumps rope with young women

XI’AN, China — Michelle Obama stopped down for five-hours for a purely touristic visit, giving Obama and her family a view of China’s ancient history. The city is the terminus of the legendary Silk Road, a series of trade routes that linked the East and West throughout history, and is also home of the Terra Cotta Army.

The massive clay sculptures were discovered in the spring of 1974 in the eastern suburbs of the city by farmers digging a well near the grave of China’s first emperor, Qinshihuang.
Obama was led through the archeological site by Cao Wei, director of the site’s museum.
She went down into several pits, the largest of which contains 6,000 life sized warriors arranged along brick-paved corridors in battle formation.
Cao led Obama, her daughters and mother onto a restoration platform in pit number one, where archeologists put together fragments of the sculptures like jigsaw puzzles. The first lady and her family lingered in the pit, asking questions and listening as Cao explained through an interpreter that the soldiers have different poses. Their facial expressions are also varied.
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Obama’s Midterm Misconception  

As the prognosticators have adjusted their horoscopes and hesitantly determined that the Republicans may well have a fruitful November, President Obama has sought refuge in a fantasy. “In midterms,” Obama complained to donors last night, “we get clobbered, either because we don’t think it’s important or because we get so discouraged about what’s happening in Washington that we think it’s not worth our while.” Noting obsequiously how grateful he was for their money and support, the president went on to hit a bittersweet note. “We’re going to have to get over that,” he insisted. “This is a top priority.”
Comforting as it must be for the president and his friends, there are a few rather vital words missing from this impressively aloof explanation: namely, “when I’m president.” As in, “in midterms, we get clobbered when I’m president.” Indeed, as the Hill noted without favor, the Democratic party’s problem is not that its electorate is disqualified from voting in the off-years, but that its political fortunes are in poor shape. Democrats have “refused to campaign with Obama,” the paper confirmed. Why have they done this? Because they don’t wish to be associated with the White House. And why don’t they wish to be associated with the White House? Because people don’t like the president and they don’t like his signature law.

G7 nuclear summit side talks to focus on defiant Russia 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will sit down with his G7 colleagues tonight and one person will be conspicuously absent – Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The meeting will discuss Russia’s actions in Crimea, and whether that country should be permanently expelled from the G8.
Leading into tonight gathering, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called for strong action against Russia, adding “we need to be prepared to take that action for the long term.”
This meeting is happening on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was asked if he thought the Ukrainian crisis would overshadow the summit but he said he encourages side meetings like this one.
“They are not interfering with the schedule of the Nuclear Security Summit, because in the setup of the summit, we already envisioned that leaders would make use of the fact that they were brought together in The Hague to discuss issues,” he told reporters.
Rutte added he knew Putin was not attending the summit a year ago when the two met in Russia for an economic meeting.
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Dave Hancock sworn in as Alberta premier
Hancock was sworn in during a ceremony at Government House on Sunday, four days after outgoing premier Alison Redford announced her resignation.
Flanked by smiling caucus members and ex-premier Ed Stelmach, Hancock said Alberta won't miss a step during his transition to premier and the four-to-six-month process to find his successor.
He said his government will get straight to work building the schools, roads and family-care clinics the Tory government has promised.
"The biggest challenge is to fit all the things we need to do into the very short time we have to do it," Hancock said, adding that keeping on top of infrastructure is crucial due to Alberta's rapidly growing population.
Hancock said the PC party will work to break the cycle of poverty, and create the right environment for growth and development that benefits everyone.
"Every Albertan must have access to the opportunities of Alberta," he said. "Quality of life must include all Albertans."
Hancock thanked Redford, who was not in attendance, for working "tirelessly" during her tenure as premier.
Redford stepped down amid controversy over flight expenses and her leadership style, but will continue to serve as MLA for Calgary-Elbow.
Hancock, like Redford, was a lawyer before entering politics.
He has worked under five premiers - he volunteered for Peter Lougheed and Don Getty before serving as an elected official under Ralph Klein, Stelmach and Redford. Hancock was first elected as Edmonton- Whitemud MLA in 1997.
In his fifth term, he is the longest serving member in cabinet and has served in seven government departments, with experience as health minister and education minister.

Brian Mulroney, Pierre Trudeau Meech Lake drama unveiled in cabinet minutes

Huddled with his cabinet colleagues as the Meech Lake constitutional accord collapsed, Brian Mulroney lashed out at Pierre Trudeau and other Liberals for engaging in "a colossal deceit and betrayal of the country," newly released records say.
During an evening cabinet meeting in Parliament Hill's Centre Block, a dejected Mulroney squarely blamed former prime minister Trudeau and soon-to-be Liberal leader Jean Chretien for helping orchestrate the accord's demise.
"He said that the Meech Lake accord had been obstructed and undermined by people who thought they had the right to govern forever," minutes of the June 22, 1990, meeting say.
Trudeau had helped sow the seeds of the accord's eventual destruction, branding it a sellout to the provinces and Mulroney a "weakling."
The Canadian Press fought for four years to obtain the minutes of cabinet meetings from the first half of 1990, when the tense Meech Lake drama played out.
The Meech accord was intended to meet Quebec's conditions for embracing the Constitution, patriated in 1982 over the objections of the province's then-separatist government. Among other things, it would have constitutionally recognized Quebec as a "distinct society."
First ministers agreed to the pact in 1987 but public opposition and subsequent provincial elections — which ensconced anti-Meech premiers in Newfoundland and New Brunswick and a minority government in Manitoba — put the accord's fate in jeopardy as the three-year deadline for unanimous provincial approval approached.
Mulroney's emotional summation came just after Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells refused to put the accord to a vote in his legislature.

Religious freedom, language rights cases hit Supreme Court this week

OTTAWA - Quebec's "totalitarian" ethics and religion curriculum and official bilingualism will both be up for debate at Supreme Court of Canada hearings in two separate cases this week.
On Monday, the court will hear a complaint against the Quebec government from Montreal's Loyola High School over the provincially mandated Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) curriculum.
Quebec imposed the curriculum that "does not espouse any particular set of beliefs or moral references" on all public and private schools in 2008 - something to which the private Jesuit boy's school objects.
Loyola says its teachers will have to suppress their Roman Catholic faith when teaching ERC courses.
In its factum to the Court, Loyola argues that Quebec can not "force a Catholic school to cease being Catholic by being obliged to teach ethics and its own religious tradition from a standpoint which is disengaged from that tradition."
Quebec's attorney general says the ERC curriculum has to be the same for all in order to foster social peace.
It also says in documents submitted to the Court that the curriculum "does not hinder the possibility for the appellant to supplement the religious education of its students" with a separate course on Catholicism.
Loyola won its case before Quebec's Superior Court in 2010, which ruled the ERC curriculum "is totalitarian in nature," but the Quebec Court of Appeals overturned that ruling in 2012, forcing Loyola to appeal to the highest court in Canada.
The case has attracted several interveners, including the Home School Legal Defence Association of Canada.
It worries Quebec will compel even religious parents who educate their kids at home to adopt a "secular" outlook.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear the case of an Ottawa man who complained he wasn't able to order a 7-Up in French on an Air Canada flight.
Michel Thibodeau won his original case against the airline, arguing his right to be served in French was violated on flights he and his wife made between January and May 2009.

Parti Quebecois Worries Students From Outside Quebec Trying To Steal Election 

MONTREAL - The elections office in Quebec is throwing cold water on a theory put forward by the Parti Quebecois on Sunday that students from elsewhere in Canada could be trying to steal the provincial election.
The PQ expressed concern about media reports that an influx of English-speakers and other non-francophones from outside the province were trying to vote in the April 7 election.
By late afternoon, however, the province's chief electoral officer brought forward numbers showing there were no signs of an irregular increase in voter registration.
"The abnormally high number of requests doesn't exist," said spokesman Denis Dion.
Still, the PQ's strong language meant the controversy dominated Day 19 of the campaign.
One PQ candidate at the news conference, justice minister Bertrand St-Arnaud, called on the province's chief electoral officer to closely examine new attempts to register to vote.
"We don't want this election stolen by people from Ontario and the rest of Canada," St-Arnaud said in Montreal.
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