Weekend Gazette 031614

Crimea referendum: Voters 'back Russia union'

Some 95.5% of voters in Crimea have supported joining Russia, officials say. after half the votes have been counted in a disputed referendum.

Crimea's leader says he will apply to join Russia on Monday. Russia's Vladimir Putin has said he will respect the Crimean people's wishes.
Many Crimeans loyal to Kiev boycotted the referendum, and the EU and US condemned it as illegal.
Pro-Russian forces took control of Crimea in February.
They moved in after Ukraine's pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted after street protests.
Mr Putin and US President Barack Obama spoke over the phone earlier, with the Kremlin and the White House later releasing contrasting accounts of the conversation.

The Kremlin said both men agreed to seek a way to stabilise Ukraine, and that Mr Putin had stressed that the Kiev government had failed to curb "rampant violence by ultra-nationalists".

The White House said Mr Obama had insisted that the referendum was illegal and would never be accepted, and called for Moscow to support an international monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine.
The EU said in a statement that the vote was "illegal and illegitimate and its outcome will not be recognised".
EU foreign ministers are due to meet on Monday and are expected to consider imposing sanctions on Russian officials.
Related: Crimea referendum: Wide condemnation after region votes to split from Ukraine

Russia Has a Pair of 'Guided Missile Hovercraft' Floating Around Ukraine

Crimea, the southern peninsula of Ukraine currently occupied by Putin's military, is home to Russia's formidable Black Sea Fleet. Using satellite imagery as evidence, the New York Times reports that particular wing of the navy has formed a blockade to prevent Ukrainian ships from going in or out. And next to that blockade are a pair of extraordinary warships: the Bora-class guided missile hovercraft. 
The hovercraft warships are the kind of vessel that inspire military aficionados to dedicate entire fansites to them. They are described by admirers as some of "the most unique and extreme warships ever come to light." They're known as Surface Effect Ships, or Sidewall Hovercraft, because they use both a massive air cushion and a catamaran-style design to increase their speed and mobility at sea. The Bora-class ships are unique because they're two of the only such vessels designed explicitly for combat, not to ferry and unload troops.
Naturally, they pack some serious firepower. The newer ship, the Samum (pictured above, in the center), boasts "two quad launchers for anti-ship missile complex 'Mosquito' (8 missiles 3M80), anti-aircraft missile system 'Osa-M' (20 missiles), one 76-mm gun mounts AK-176, two 30-mm gun mount AK-630," according to an official report prepared with the assistance of the Black Sea Naval Fleet and published online by the Encyclopedia of Safety.
The report also explains how its Mosquito cruise missiles are intended to work. They are "designed to destroy surface ships and transports from the ship battle groups, amphibious compounds convoys and single ships. 4-ton missile has a length of almost 10 meters and range up to 90 km. After launch the missile makes a 'hill' and then march down to the altitude of about 20 meters, at the approach to the goal of a reduction up to 7 meters (above the crest of the waves). The missile can perform intensive evasive maneuver with overloads in excess of 10. Due to the enormous kinetic energy and its polubroneboynoy warhead "Mosquito" pierces the hull of any ship and explode[s] inside."

Vote to join Russia could leave Crimea without water, electricity

As Russia’s stranglehold on Crimea tightens, the Ukrainian province to the north is warning it could make life on the peninsula miserable if the coveted region chooses sides with Moscow in Sunday's referendum.
Pro-Moscow officials in Crimea, who favor secession from Ukraine, have said they will seize all utilities and assets owned by the Kiev-based Ukrainian government if the referendum goes as expected. But Crimea's electricity, freshwater and natural gas all flows in from the province of Kherson, where leaders warn they will shut everything off if the referendum they say is illegitimate, goes forward.
Last week, Kherson’s regional legislature overwhelmingly passed a motion supporting the preservation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“We are doing everything in our power to keep the situation calm,” Kherson region governor Yuriy Odarchenko told FoxNews.com.
Last week, FoxNews.com reported on a tense standoff just north of the Kherson-Crimea border, where suspected Russian troops have set up a checkpoint along a key highway, just 25 miles south of a Ukrainian checkpoint. Locals in Chonhar, a small border village, say the Russians have planted land mines along the border.
But while most of the emphasis has been on preventing the Russians from moving into Kherson, Odarchenko indicated the province could go on the offensive if Crimea, which is 60 percent ethnic Russian, votes to secede.

China's Li Keqiang warns investors to prepare for wave of bankruptcies

China is braced for a wave of industrial bankruptcies as its slowing economy forces companies with sky-high debts to the wall, the country's premier has said.
Premier Li Keqiang told lenders to China's private sector factories they should expect debt defaults as the world's second largest economy encounters "serious challenges" in the year ahead.
Speaking after the annual session of the national people's congress, Li Keqiang said: "We are going to confront serious challenges this year and some challenges may be even more complex." He told lenders to China's private sector factories they should expect debt defaults.
Li said China must "ensure steady growth, ensure employment, avert inflation and defuse risks" while also fighting pollution, among other tasks.
"So we need to strike a proper balance amidst all these goals and objectives," he added. "This is not going to be easy," he said.
Li's warning followed the failure of Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy to make a payment on a 1bn yuan (£118m) bond last week. The default was the first of its kind for China and widely seen as pointing to the end of 11th-hour government bailouts for troubled enterprises.
Some analysts said the decision to let some indebted firms collapse was a sign the authorities had learned from the Japanese boom and bust experience of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Tokyo was plunged into two "lost" decades of stagnation after it prevented zombie companies from declaring bankruptcy – even blocking petitions from bondholders in the courts - when a property collapse exposed debts many times the value of their businesses.

North Korea denies role in mystery tanker loaded at Libyan port

Seoul: North Korea  has denied any responsibility for an oil tanker that loaded crude from a Libyan rebel-held port and fled the  country's attempt to seize it, saying the vessel that carried its flag was linked to an Egyptian company.
The incident marked the first sale of Libyan crude bypassing the government and was a huge humiliation for Tripoli as it struggled to rein in armed militias who helped oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but want to grab power and oil revenues.
Libya's parliament ousted prime minister Ali Zeidan on Tuesday after rebels loaded crude at Es Sider terminal onto the North Korean-flagged tanker. The ship later fled naval forces amid reports of a gunfight as it sailed off along Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast.

Taliban vow to disrupt Afghanistan elections 

Kabul - The Taliban has warned Afghans not to participate in next month’s presidential polls and to stay away from voting booths, saying it will use "all force" to disrupt the vote.

Monday’s statement, the group's harshest on the elections so far, came 26 days ahead of the nation’s third presidential and provincial council polls. 

The group had released previous statements warning the Afghan people not to participate in the April 5 ballot, but Monday’s appeared to be the most strongly-worded yet.
The Taliban vowed to "use all force at its disposal to disrupt these upcoming sham elections; target all its workers, activists, callers, security apparatus and offices and the nation.
"It is the religious obligation of every Afghan to fulfil their duty by foiling the latest plot of the invaders that is guised in the garb of elections," the nation’s largest armed opposition movement said in the statement, which was posted online.
The statement went on to urge religious scholars, educators, and "famous personalities" to "inform the entire nation … make it known to each and every person of this society that their casting ballots and participation is considered assistance of the Kuffar [infidels] and their stooges against Islam".
It urged "the nation" to hinder any process that would allow schools, mosques, clinics and other public places to be used as registration and polling centres.

Wave of rocket attacks on Israel signal power struggle in Gaza

A frightening wave of rocket attacks raining down on Israel from terrorists in Gaza has not only broken a yearlong period of relative quiet on the border, it has put Hamas at odds with both Israel and an even more militant terror group within the territory.

The 70 indiscriminate Qassam and Grad missile attacks are already 11 more than were mounted in all of 2013, and have prompted dozens of counter-attacks by Israel Defense Forces. But officials believe Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and not Hamas, the terrorist group that governs the territory, is behind the attacks. Hamas' popularity in the strip is in freefall, as the economy struggles and other groups such as Islamic Jihad vie for public support.
“I think [this week’s barrage] is a retaliatory attack by the PIJ who wish to break the status quo,” Yoram Shweizer, senior research fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) told FoxNews.com. “They wanted to retaliate and avenge the death of their own people. In the initial stages I don’t think that Hamas wanted to block them in such a situation, but now I think that Hamas will try at least to calm the situation."

Iran: 'Palestinian Resistance’s' missile power now 1,000 times stronger 

Iran's defense minister on Saturday commended Palestinian organizations in the Gaza Strip for firing dozens of rockets into southern Israel last week, stating that "the operational power of the Resistance against the Zionist regime is a thousand times more than what it was before."

Iran's Fars News Agency quoted Iranian Defense Minister Brig.-Gen. Hossein Dehqan on Saturday as saying “the resistance forces have fired over 150 missiles against the occupied territories in the last 4 days, after the assassination of a number of resistance commanders by the Zionist regime in Gaza and the West Bank.” He claimed that the Gaza terror organizations had not yet displayed their actual missile capability.

Fars also quoted Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shalah as saying, "Our weapons of resistance…are not for rent. Our weapons are for the sake of Palestine and we shall not lay them down until we achieve the goal of liberating Palestine.”

Israeli communities near southern and northern Gaza came under heavy rocket attack in the last week, beginning on Wednesday. The IDF said at least 60 rockets had been fired in the largest attack since 2012's Operation Pillar of Defense.

In response The air force struck 29 targets across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night, largely Islamic Jihad assets. Tanks also hit two terrorist targets inside Gaza.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said about the flair up of aggressions, “We will not allow Islamic Jihad or any other element in the Strip to disrupt life in the South,” he said. “It won’t be quiet in Gaza either, in a way that will cause Islamic Jihad terrorists to regret the attacks they carried out.

The rocket fire was condemned by both the United States and the UN, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling for restraint on both sides.

The rocket barrage came after Israel unveiled the massive cache of Iranian missiles and munitions which commandos confiscated from a ship, the Klos-C, and which intelligence has found was intended for Gaza. 

North Korea Test Fires 18 Short-Range Rockets: Seoul
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired 18 short-range rockets into the sea off its east coast Sunday, South Korean officials said, in an apparent continuation of protests against ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills.
Such short-range rocket tests are usually considered routine, as opposed to North Korean long-range rocket or nuclear tests, which are internationally condemned as provocations. North Korea has conducted a string of similar short-range launches in recent weeks that have coincided with the annual military drills by allies Washington and Seoul.
North Korea says the drills are preparation for an invasion. The allies say the exercises, which last year prompted North Korean threats of nuclear war against the South and the United States, are routine and defensive in nature.
Outside analysts say the North is taking a softer stance toward the U.S.-South Korean military drills this year because it wants better ties with the outside world to revive its struggling economy. North Korea's weeks-long tirade of war rhetoric against Washington and Seoul last spring followed international condemnation of its third nuclear test, in February 2013.
South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said the type of rockets North Korea launched Sunday wasn't yet clear.
Earlier this month, Seoul said a North Korean artillery launch happened minutes before a Chinese commercial plane reportedly carrying 202 people flew in the same area.
Pyongyang has said that its recent rocket drills are part of regular training and are mindful of international navigation.
The Korean Peninsula remains officially at war because the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Satellite 'handshake' may point to plane

Finding a missing Malaysia Airlines plane may hinge on whether searchers can narrow down where they need to look using satellite data that is inexact and has never been used for that purpose before, search and rescue experts say.
Authorities now believe someone on board the Boeing 777 shut down part of the aircraft's messaging system about the same time the plane with 239 people on board disappeared from civilian radar. But an Inmarsat satellite was able to automatically connect with a portion of the messaging system that remained in operation, similar to a phone call that just rings because no one is on the other end to pick it up and provide information.
No location information was exchanged, but the satellite continued to identify the plane once an hour for four to five hours after it disappeared from radar screens.
Based on the hourly connections with the plane, described by a U.S. official as a "handshake," the satellite knows at what angle to tilt its antenna to be ready to receive a message from the plane should one be sent.

A man walks past co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid's house outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday. Malaysian police have said they are looking at the psychological state, the family life and connections of pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27. (Lai Seng Sin/Associated Press)

Using that antenna angle, along with radar data, investigators have been able to draw two vast arcs, or "corridors" — a northern one from northern Thailand through to the border of the Central Asian countries Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and a southern one from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. The plane is believed to be somewhere along those arcs. Air crash investigators have never used this kind of satellite data before to try to find a missing plane, but after pursing other leads it's the best clue left.

Gunmen kill 100 in central Nigeria:  


KADUNA, Nigeria: Gunmen killed more than 100 people in an attack on three villages in central Nigeria, an area where longstanding disputes over land, religion and ethnicity often erupt into violence, two local government officials said on Sunday.

The police confirmed the attacks by Fulani herdsman late on Friday but declined to give a death toll.

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White House rejects results of Crimea referendum as Obama, Putin talk again

President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke after residents of Ukraine’s Crimea region on Sunday voted in favor of seceding to Russia, with the White House saying it would reject the results of the referendum held “under threats of violence and intimidation.”
More than 95 percent of Crimea voters, who are largely ethnic Russians, approved splitting off and joining Russia, with more than 50 percent of the ballots being counted, the referendum committee said late Sunday.
The expected results came as Obama told Putin that a diplomatic solution can still be achieved but only if Russian military forces end their incursions into Ukrainian territory.
Obama also said the referendum would “never” be recognized by the international community and that the United States and its European partners are prepared to “impose additional costs” on Russia for its actions, according to the White House.
Hours earlier, the White House rejected the referendum results before the final tally, which was no surprise. But the message that Russia had intimidated voters was remarkable in its force and clarity, especially after weeks of criticism that Obama was being outmatched by Putin on the world stage.
“Russia’s actions are dangerous and destabilizing,” said the White House, in a statement from the Office of the Press Secretary.
The remarks were echoed across Washington, which is shifting its focus to deterring possible Russian military advances elsewhere in Ukraine.

Devyani Khobragade: Indian diplomat re-indicted in US

A US grand jury has re-indicted an Indian diplomat whose arrest strained US-India relations.

Devyani Khobragade is accused of visa fraud and underpaying her housekeeper, lawyers in New York said.
It comes two days after a US judge threw out virtually identical charges on the grounds that Ms Khobragade had diplomatic immunity.
She has always denied any wrongdoing. India was "disappointed" by the decision, a government spokesman said.
"Any measures consequent to this decision in the US will unfortunately impact upon efforts on both sides to build the India-US strategic partnership, to which both sides are committed," said Syed Akbaruddin, according to the AFP news agency.
Ms Khobragade was detained in New York in December on suspicion of visa fraud and making false statements, after being accused of paying her Indian maid below the US minimum wage.
The Indian government said at the time it was "shocked and appalled" at the manner of her arrest, and ordered a series of diplomatic reprisals against the US, including the withdrawal of a US diplomat from India.
Ms Khobragade returned to India in January after she was indicted on criminal charges and India refused to waive her immunity.
After the charges were dropped, she said through her lawyer that she felt the rule of law had prevailed.
Her father, Uttam Khobragade, said at the time: "This is the happiest moment of our lives."

If Hillary Clinton doesn’t run, the Democratic primary race in 2016 could be one for the ages

Conventional wisdom — and even some unconventional wisdom — dictates that Hillary Rodham Clinton is running for president in 2016.

A universe of super PACs and other organizations has been built, and staffed by former Clinton operatives, to prepare the way for Hillary. And yet, running through all of these preparations is a current of uncertainty about whether the former first lady, senator and top diplomat will, you know, actually run.
The thinking is that Clinton would never let such extensive efforts go forward if she, in her heart of hearts, wasn’t planning to enter the race. But that, like most of what we think we know about Clinton and her plans, is based not on facts but on interpretation.
One thing that everyone — those who want Clinton to run and those who don’t — agrees on is that she has simply not made up her mind yet and probably won’t for some time. So, what happens if she decides not to campaign for the White House? In a word: chaos. Here’s why:
1. There’s a panoply of ambitious Democrats who watched Barack Obama leapfrog them in 2008 and won’t want to miss their opportunity this time.

2. If Clinton announced on March 1, 2015, there would be only 10 months before the calendar turned to 2016. Given how much her candidacy — or at least her decision-making about her candidacy — has and will continue to freeze the field, there would be a mad scramble for donors, activists and key consultants in early states, the likes of which we haven’t seen in modern presidential history.

3. There is no obvious front-runner in a Clinton-less field. Vice President Biden would be the nominal favorite for the nomination, but you could also make a credible case for New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) or even Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) to occupy that space.

To be clear, we still expect Clinton to run. But if she doesn’t, the race for the Democratic nomination in 2016 could be one for the ages. Here, we rank the 10 candidates considered to have some possibility of running for or winning the Democratic nomination in two years. We’ve split them into four tiers; they are listed alphabetically within each tier.
Continued....

Biden to travel to Europe amid Ukraine tensions

WASHINGTON –  The White House says Vice President Joe Biden will travel next week to Poland and Lithuania amid tensions in nearby Ukraine.
The trip is part of a U.S. effort to pressure Russia over a military intervention in Crimea that has the entire region on edge.
Biden will depart on Monday. That's the day after a planned vote in Crimea about whether to split off from Ukraine and possibly join Russia. The U.S. says the vote shouldn't take place.
Biden will meet with Poland's president and prime minister, plus the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The White House says the leaders plan to discuss ways to support Ukraine's sovereignty. They'll also discuss the defense commitments that NATO allies have to one another.

Boehner hosts Obama, Ireland's prime minister for lunch

WASHINGTON -- In a nod to bipartisan tradition and St. Patrick, President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) donned emerald ties to hear (and sing) a bit of Irish folk music during a Capitol Hill luncheon with Ireland's prime minister.

It's customary for Ireland's leader to visit the United States ahead of St. Patrick's Day and present the president with a bowl of shamrocks, a tradition dating back to President Truman. Obama met with Prime Minister Enda Kenny in the Oval Office on Friday morning, where he applauded Ireland for its support during the current crisis in Ukraine.
"Obviously on our minds right now is the situation in Ukraine," Obama said. "Ireland has been a strong voice in the European Council for the need to send a clear message of support for Ukrainian democracy and self-determination, and a strong message to Russia that it should not violate the integrity and the sovereignty of its neighbor."
Toward the end of the meeting, Obama referenced his own ancestral ties to the Emerald Isle. The president's great-great-great-grandfather hails from the small village of Moneygall, which the president visited in 2011.
"Tell everybody in Moneygall I said hi," Obama said.
Kenny began his day at a breakfast with Vice President Joe Biden, where he urged Congress to pass immigration reform, noting that 50,000 undocumented Irish live in the United States.
"And what we want is a process of legalization, where they pay their taxes, pay their way, raise their families, travel home and travel back," he said.

March against police brutality declared illegal, broken up

Montreal’s 18th annual march against police brutality was declared illegal a matter of minutes after its scheduled start time of 3 p.m. at the intersection of Jean-Talon and Châteaubriand streets.

Montreal police officers dressed in riot gear, including horse-mounted officers, mobilized soon after the announcement to move protesters away from the intersection. An estimated 150 protesters were soon caught in a kettling manoeuvre south of the protest zone on Châteaubriand Street.
A Sûreté du Québec riot squad dressed in green fatigues moved in a short time later to replace Montreal police officers and take over the kettle. 
The Jean-Talon Metro station, which is located in the protest zone, was closed around 3 p.m but reopened around 4 p.m.

Harper blasts Crimea referendum, protesters express solidarity with Ukraine

Canada has denounced the controversial referendum in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula on Sunday that showed overwhelming support to split off and join Russia, saying it would lead to further isolation of Russia's Vladimir Putin.
"The so-called referendum held today was conducted with Crimea under illegal military occupation. Its results are a reflection of nothing more than Russian military control," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.
"This 'referendum' is illegitimate, it has no legal effect, and we do not recognize its outcome," the prime minister said, adding Canada is working with other countries on the possibility of further sanctions.
"Any solution to this crisis must respect the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine as well as the constitution of Ukraine. Mr. Putin's reckless and unilateral actions will lead only to Russia's further economic and political isolation from the international community."

First Nations weigh in on Quebec sovereignty

MONTREAL -- The Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador claims natives are not Quebeccers and have the right to determine their own future.
The organization represents the chiefs of the 43 First Nations of Quebec and Labrador.
"Let us be even more clear: Québec can decide what it wants in terms of its culture, its identity and its development, but it can not claim sovereignty over a territory which is still, fundamentally, First Nation," Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, said in a statement.
"The argument," said Picard, "that Québec has all the attributes to become a country is not unique to Quebec. First Nations have their cultures, their languages, their history and territory. A territory which is still, shall we remember, burdened with a title that is not yet the subject of a sustainable peace treaty. By default, this debate, which may follow the campaign through to its conclusion, raises instead the too often neglected place of our issues."

Time to move along from Premier Alison Redford controversies, Tory and Wildrose MLAs agree 

In a rare case of agreement between rivals, two Alberta MLAs from opposing parties both say it’s time to move on from distractions revolving around Premier Alison Redford.
Solicitor General Jonathan Denis and Wildrose MLA Rob Anderson both said there are more important issues that politicians and the government need to focus on, after ongoing controversy surrounding Redford occupied much of their time over the past weeks.
Anderson said the distractions are putting the interest of Albertans in jeopardy.
“There are more important issues out there — there’s health care, education, environment, the roads, infrastructure — there are so many more important things to be focusing on,” said the Airdrie MLA.
Denis said that’s also what he’s heard from his constituents.
“What they’re telling me is it’s to move on and get back to governing,” he said.
The premier faced tough questions at a party board meeting Saturday in Calgary, in the aftermath of a string of controversies involving her travels and governing style.
Part of what was discussed at the closed-door meeting was the $45,000 controversy, the premier’s costly trip to South Africa to attend Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in December.
The trip was initially paid for by taxpayers, but after facing pressure from various camps including Progressive Conservative members, Redford decided to cut a cheque from her own pocket.
The issue was the last straw for MLA Len Webber, who left the Tory caucus to sit as an independent last week.
The party’s top brass are coming up with a “work plan” for the premier, focusing on areas where she can improve.
Denis, who wasn’t at the Saturday meeting, said he didn’t know anything about the plan, but he’s hoping to learn more about it at a Monday caucus meeting.
While moving forward is top on Anderson’s mind, he also criticized Tories for taking the province to this point.
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