Boots on the Ground 04-01-14

Chile earthquake: Tsunami warning issued for South America's Pacific coast

A powerful magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck off Chile's northern coast Tuesday night, and officials ordered an evacuation of coastal areas before an expected tsunami. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the tremor, which also shook buildings in parts of nearby Peru and Bolivia.

The USGS initially reported the quake at 8.0, but later upgraded the magnitude. It said the quake struck 99 kilometres northwest of the Chilean mining port city of Iquique at 8:46 p.m., hitting a region that has been rocked by numerous quakes over the past two weeks.
Waves measuring almost 2 meters already were striking cities on the coast, and authorities said a tsunami was expected to come ashore later. Local TV images showed residents evacuating calmly.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an alert for all of Latin America's Pacific coast. Chile's Emergency Office said a large tsunami wave was expected to hit the island of Juan Fernandez out in the Pacific just before midnight local time.
Chile's emergency service reported some road blocked by landslides caused by the quake, but said no injuries had been reported so far.
An official at Peru's civil defence office said evacuations were underway on that country's coast. The official, who did not give her name, said there were no immediate reports of damage.
Police officer Alejandro Rosado in a Tacna, a Peruvian town near the coast, said no damage or injuries had been reported there.
Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. A magnitude-8.8 quake and ensuing tsunami in central Chile in 2010 killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes, and washed away docks, river fronts and seaside resorts.
The strongest earthquake ever recorded on Earth also happened in Chile — a magnitude-9.5 tremor in 1960 that killed more than 5,000 people.

Russia Hikes Gas Price For Ukraine

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on Tuesday sharply hiked the price for natural gas to Ukraine and threatened to reclaim billions previous discounts, raising the heat on its cash-strapped government, while Ukrainian police moved to disarm members of a radical nationalist group after a shooting spree in the capital.
Alexei Miller, the head of Russia's state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant, said Tuesday that the company has withdrawn December's discount that put the price of gas at $268.50 per 1,000 cubic meters and set the price at $385.50 per 1,000 cubic meters for the second quarter.
The discount was part of a financial lifeline which Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to Ukraine's President, Viktor Yanukovych, after his decision to ditch a pact with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Moscow. The move fueled three months of protests which led Yanukovych to flee to Russia in February.
Radical nationalist groups played a key role in Yanukovych's ouster, but they quickly fell out with the new government. Many activists are still encamped on Kiev's Independence Square, known as the Maidan, and have signaled their intent to remain there until the election of what they deem to be a legitimate government.
Last week, one of the leaders of the most prominent radical group, the Right Sector, was shot dead while resisting police.
Right Sector members then besieged parliament for several hours, breaking windows and demanding the resignation of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. They lifted the blockade after lawmakers set up a panel to investigate the killing.
Late Monday, a Right Sector member shot and wounded three people outside a restaurant adjacent to Kiev's main Independence Square, including a deputy city mayor, triggering a standoff that lasted overnight.

Nato suspends Russia co-operation

Nato foreign ministers have agreed to suspend all practical civilian and military co-operation with Russia.

Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region was the gravest threat to European security for a generation.
There could be no business as usual, he added.
He had earlier categorically denied reports that Russia was pulling its forces back from its border with Ukraine.
Moscow is believed to have massed tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine's eastern border in recent days, causing alarm in Kiev and the West.
Foreign ministers from the 28-member Nato bloc, gathering in Brussels for their first meeting since Russia's annexation of Crimea, issued a strongly worded statement in which they condemned Russia's "illegal" annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

They agreed to suspend Nato co-operation with Russia in a number of bodies but added that dialogue in the Nato-Russia Council could continue, as necessary, at ambassadorial level and above "to allow us to exchange views, first and foremost on this crisis. We will review Nato's relations with Russia at our next meeting in June".

They are also looking at options including situating permanent military bases in the Baltic states to reassure members in Eastern Europe. Russia's actions in Ukraine have caused concern in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were part of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Nato jets will take part in air patrols in the region later in a routine exercise that analysts say has taken on added significance due to the crisis. Several Nato countries, including the UK, US and France, have offered additional military aircraft.

 US 'may free Israel spy Jonathan Pollard'

The US may consider releasing Jonathan Pollard, an American jailed for spying for Israel, in an bid to save the Middle East peace process, reports say.

A US official told the New York Times that no decisions had been made, but confirmed there had been discussions.
Israel would have to make significant concessions to the Palestinians in return, reports said.
Pollard, a former US Navy intelligence analyst, was jailed for life in 1987 for passing documents to Israel.
US Secretary of State John Kerry flew to the region on Monday for urgent talks.
He held two meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and had discussions with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, before flying out after only several hours. None of the sides have commented on the talks.
It is the second time that Mr Kerry has interrupted his schedule to press Israel and the Palestinians to extend the direct peace talks beyond 29 April - the deadline set last summer when they resumed after a three-year hiatus.

Military: Troops blow up 3 explosive-laden vehicles outside northeast Nigerian oil depot

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria –  Multiple explosions blasted near an oil depot outside the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri and the military says soldiers blew up three vehicles laden with explosives.
A fourth vehicle exploded, apparently by a suicide bomber.
The military says four suicide bombers died and five soldiers were wounded in Tuesday's blasts. It's the latest in a string of deadly attacks in an Islamic uprising that has killed nearly 1,500 people in northeast Nigeria this year.
A security official said three blasts damaged the perimeter fence of a radio station opposite a government oil depot and fuel station outside Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state that is the birthplace of the Boko Haram terrorist network.
Two weeks ago extremists attacked the main military barracks in Maiduguri and freed hundreds of detainees.

Obama Disarming: Cancels Tomahawk, Hellfire Missile Programs

Two of America’s most effective and efficient weapons system will get the cut by the Obama Administration, leaving us vulnerable and more exposed to her enemies.
The Navy’s premier attack missile, the Tomahawk, was used by Barack Obama in March 2011 to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya and support rebels. On March 19, he fired 112 at Libyan targets.
Despite that success, the Tomahawk, along with the Hellfire air-to-ground attack missile, are scheduled to be phased out as a “Cold War” weapon we no longer need.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Seth Cropsey, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for American Seapower, told the Free Beacon. The move, he said, is “like running a white flag up on a very tall flagpole and saying, ‘We are ready to be walked on.’”
If someone were trying to “reduce the U.S. ability to shape events” in the world, Cropsey added, “they couldn’t find a better way than depriving the U.S. fleet of Tomahawks. It’s breathtaking.”

The Obama Administration has plans to cut the military to pre-World War II levels,” putting the United States in great danger.

Under Obama’s budget proposals, the Navy, which as recently as last year had plans to buy 980 more Tomahawks, the primary cruise missile used throughout the fleet, will see purchases drop from 196 last year to just 100 in 2015. The number will then drop to zero in 2016.

South Korea recovers suspected North Korean drone

South Korea says it has recovered an unidentified drone that crashed on one of its border islands the same day that North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire across their disputed maritime boundary.
The wreckage was discovered on Baengnyeong island, which lies just south of the maritime border.
"Military authorities retrieved the wreckage for analysis," a defence ministry spokesman said.
He declined to speculate on the drone's provenance, but the Yonhap news agency said military and intelligence officials suspected the drone came from North Korea.
Yonhap quoted a military source as saying the drone crashed around 4pm local time (8am BST), less than an hour after North Korea wrapped up a major live fire drill along the border.
During the exercise, the North fired about 500 rounds of artillery shells, 100 of which fell into South Korean waters. The South responded by firing 300 shells into the sea on the North Korean side of the border and scrambling fighter jets.
North Korea had displayed a set of what appeared to be very rudimentary drones during a huge military parade held in Pyongyang last July to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean war.
And in March last year, state media reported leader Kim Jong-un overseeing a military drill using "super-precision drone planes".
Photographs of the exercise broadcast on state television showed what resembled air force target drones being flown into a mountainside target and exploding.
Yonhap said the shape and size of the drone found on Baengnyeong island was similar to that recovered last month near the northern city of Paju, close to the land border with the North.

Kenya: String of attacks points to possibility of impending big attack, official fears

NAIROBI, Kenya –  Officials fear a wave of explosions in Kenya could indicate another large-scale attack is coming.
Since the September attack on an upscale mall that killed 67 people, Somali militant sympathizers have been blamed for an explosion at Nairobi's main airport, a grenade attack on tourists on Kenya's coast, a blast on a public bus in Nairobi, and three blasts Monday night in the capital that killed six people.
A top police official who insisted on anonymity said security agencies believe a large attack is imminent. Police foiled a car bomb attack in Mombasa last month.
Australia issued a weekend alert of "a serious and ongoing risk of large scale acts of terrorism" in Kenya. The U.S. Embassy last month reminded its citizens of the threat of terrorism.

Afghanistan election candidates raise fears over widespread fraud

There are still days to go and no one has cast a ballot yet. But leading candidates in Afghanistan's presidential election are warning that fraud will play a big role in the vote, raising fears of bitter antagonism following Saturday's crucial poll.
Abdullah Abdullah, one of the frontrunners in the race to replace Hamid Karzai as Afghan president, has reiterated his concerns about "industrial-scale fraud" in the vote. His rival, the former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, recently told the Guardian his team was trying to pre-empt the kind of fraud that riddled the 2009 voting, adding: "People will not be deprived of their right to good governance."
Large-scale cheating has marred every Afghan election since the Taliban's fall. Prospects of a repeat performance have loomed over the 5 April poll long before the candidates launched their campaigns.
Only a quarter of Afghans expect the vote to be clean, a recent survey by the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (Fefa) found. Election organisers, monitors and diplomats all agree that ballot-stuffing, vote buying, intimidation and impersonation are likely to be a problem again.
However, many fear that candidates are focusing on fraud in an unscrupulous attempt to set the ground for complaints if they lose, and risk discouraging voters and discrediting the entire election process along the way.
"Some of the candidates are issuing statements in their public rallies that my only rival is corruption. That means he thinks he has won already, and the election is days away," said Yusuf Nuristani, chairman of the Independent Election Commission.
"We hear on the news that if there is corruption people will rise up – it's scaring people with the threat of potential agitation.
"This mistrust is not going to help, instead they should tell their followers: 'Stay away from fraud and don't let others commit fraud, be vigilant, open your eyes, come out in large numbers for voting.'"
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Abbas: Israel has procrastinated enough; signs document to join UN agencies unilaterally 

The Palestinian Authority decided Tuesday to launch plans to join 15 international organizations and treaties in protest against Israel's failure to release the fourth and final batch of Palestinian prisoners.
A senior PA official said that despite the decision the Palestinians would not walk out of the peace talks with Israel. "We are committed to pursuing the negotiations until the end of April," the official told The Jerusalem Post. "We have no intention of obstructing American efforts to reach an agreement." The official said he did not know whether Abbas would meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Ramallah on Wednesday. The decision was announced following a meeting of PLO and Fatah officials in Ramallah to discuss the current crisis in the peace talks with Israel.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who signed the applications for joining the 15 international organizations and treaties, said he did not seek a "clash" with the US Administration. The signing ceremony was broadcast live on Palestine TV. "We want a good relation with the US Administration because it is helping us and making big efforts," he said.
Abbas pointed out that the fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners was supposed to be freed on March 29. "Since then, we have been promised that the prisoners, who are dear to our hearts and because of whom we refrained over the past nine months from going to the United Nations organizations, would be released," he said. "Unfortunately, each time we are told that the Israeli government would meet to approve their release, but nothing has happened." Abbas said that the PA leadership had made it clear that unless the prisoners are released, "we will start going to and joining 63 international organizations and treaties." Abbas added that the 15 applications which he signed Tuesday night would be sent immediately to the international organizations and conventions. The PLO and Fatah leaders voted unanimously in favor of the move.

Britain orders probe into Muslim Brotherhood

LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered an investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood over concerns that the group is planning radical activities in Britain, his Downing Street office revealed on Tuesday.

Number Ten confirmed a report in the Times newspaper that said he had asked intelligence agencies to gather information on the "philosophy and activities" of the Brotherhood and its potential threat to the UK.

The government acted following reports that Brotherhood leaders had met in London last year to decide their response to the Egypt crisis, triggered when one of its leading members, Mohamed Morsi, was unseated as president, according to the Times.

The group has since been blamed by Cairo for orchestrating a campaign of violence.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "The Prime Minister has commissioned an internal government review into the philosophy and activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and the government's policy towards the organisation."

The review is being led by Britain's ambassador to Saudi Arabia John Jenkins.-

Poll Reveals Early GOP Favorites For 2016
With more than two and a half years until the next presidential election, pollsters are already busy gauging the sentiments of likely Republican voters. According to a recent survey, two men lead the pack.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul both received a nod from 13 percent of respondents in the nationwide poll conducted by WPA Opinion Research.

Though these two potential candidates emerged as early favorites, a field of several other Republican leaders appears to be closing in on their lead. Another former governor, Florida’s Jeb Bush, received the support of 11 percent, while New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz battled it out with 9 percent each.

WPA CEO Chris Wilson said the 2016 GOP primary is shaping up for a close race due to the number of likely contenders who are able to speak to frustrated Americans in unique but effective ways.
“With a field of quality candidates,” he said, “it is no surprise that no one has broken away from the pack. The important thing at this point of the race is staying in the conversation, and the fact that Rand Paul, Huckabee, Bush, Christie and Cruz are all managing to do that bodes well for them in the long term.”
Though these five Republicans were ranked the most desirable, results varied when respondents were asked to pick a candidate capable of defeating likely Democrat rival Hillary Clinton. The poll found that Paul, Christie, and Bush were best suited for that task.

Wilson concluded that though Christie is “clearly not the first choice among GOP voters overall,” this result indicates “that the theory a moderate Republican can beat a liberal Democrat still holds some sway.”
In order for Christie to gain traction, Wilson concluded that “his best move may be to move the conversation away from ideology to the idea that he is best positioned to beat Hillary.”
He spoke for many conservatives when he lamented the fact that “some Republicans haven’t learned the lessons of nominating moderate candidates like Bob Dole, John McCain or Mitt Romney.”
While principled Republicans remain popular among many within the party, it is now their job to convince voters they can take on Hillary and win.

Lawmakers hearing from top CIA official on Benghazi, amid questions about ex-director’s role

The CIA's top officer on the ground in Libya at the time of the Benghazi terror attack will appear before a House panel for the first time Tuesday afternoon -- to deliver what could be critical closed-door testimony, ahead of ex-CIA Director Michael Morell's scheduled appearance on Wednesday. 
Two congressional sources confirmed to Fox News that the CIA chief of station will appear before a House intelligence subcommittee. His perspective was long-sought by lawmakers, and the timing is critical -- coming before Morell's first-ever public testimony Wednesday about his role, and that of the administration, in the flawed "talking points" which blamed a protest. 
Lawmakers want to hear from the chief of station because, according to a Senate Intelligence Committee report, he wrote to Morell and other CIA leadership on Sept. 15, 2012, emphasizing in an email that the attacks were "not/not an escalation of protests." A day later, then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice went on national television and said the opposite. 
As first reported by Fox News, Morell is facing accusations he downplayed, or even dismissed, the reporting of U.S. personnel on the ground in Libya, including the chief of station. 
According to a source with first-hand knowledge of events, during a secure video conference call two days after the Sept. 11, 2012 attack, Morell told the team in Libya that there was intelligence a demonstration preceded the assault. Fox News is told that based on communications with CIA headquarters, the chief of station understood as early as Sept. 13, 2012, that the burden was on him to prove that there was no protest. 
Both the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee and the CIA public affairs office declined to comment.

Man Who Shot at White House Gets 25 Years

A federal judge sentenced an Idaho man on Monday to 25 years in prison for firing a semiautomatic rifle at the White House in November 2011. A federal grand jury indicted the man, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, on a charge of attempting to assassinate the president and on 16 firearms and assault charges. He pleaded guilty to reduced firearms and property damage charges related to terrorism. In a video recorded before the shooting, he called himself “the modern-day Jesus Christ” and expressed frustration with the government.

White House dismisses senator’s allegation that administration ‘cooked the books’ on Obamacare

WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday dismissed a Republian senator’s accusation that the Obama administration was “cooking the books” by inflating the number of Americans who’ve enrolled for health care under the Affordable Care Act.
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said on Fox News Sunday that he didn’t believe the enrollment numbers released by the administration.
"I think they're cooking the books on this," said Barrasso, an orthopedic surgeon.
At a briefing with reporters on Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed Barasso’s allegation, along with the comments of other critics of the law. He said they are searching for reasons to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
“I was just struck by the Republican Senator today, who confronted with numbers that I am sure said he would never come to pass, just decided they weren't real,” Carney said. “If we were cooking the books, do you think we would have cooked them in October and November? We could have saved ourselves a lot of pain.”
Carney compared Barrasso’s claim of bogus enrollment numbers with the Romney campaign’s insistence that late 2012 polling numbers “couldn't possibly be real.”
“But I'll tell you, they're real and people are signing up,” he said.
“We are achieving something today that I know has our critics gnashing their teeth,” Carney said. “... Far better, I think, would be for them to acknowledge that the law is here to stay.”
Carney couldn’t say whether enrollment figures were likely to close in on 7 million by the close of business on March 31, the deadline for individuals to sign up for health care.

Senator Colin Kenny cleared in Senate harassment investigation

A Senate investigation has found in favour of Senator Colin Kenny in three complaints of sexual harassment, workplace harassment and abuse of authority, according to a confidential report obtained by CBC News.
The complaints were made by Kenny's former assistant, Pascale Brisson, who alleged Kenny made her conduct personal tasks on his behalf, spoke abusively to her at work and sexually harassed her with remarks about her appearance and an invitation to his condo.
The administrative investigation, conducted for the Senate by an independent harassment investigator, is one in which the burden of proof is on the person who makes the complaint. In all three cases, the investigation found, on the balance of probabilities, that the presumption of innocence favours Kenny.
Brisson worked for Kenny during the summer of 2013 while she was also a part-time student at the University of Ottawa.
Brisson told CBC News she quit because Kenny was sexually harassing her, treating her rudely and abusing his authority as a senator by having her conduct duties outside her parliamentary job.
The result, she complained, was that her health and financial well-being were affected, because she had to leave her job and lose her source of income. As well, she said, she failed to complete some university courses she was taking as a part-time student because of stress.
Brisson filed a complaint about Kenny in October, 2013, shortly after she left his employment. She told the Senate she spent 50 per cent of her time conducting personal tasks for Kenny, including paying his cable bill, ordering clothes for him online, organizing repairs at his Ottawa condo and managing his appointments with his physician and personal trainer.
Brisson told Radio-Canada's Brigitte Bureau, "I would pay personal bills almost every other day, so hydro, Rogers, ATD, the water bills and the condo fees for the senator. So I would access his online banking and pay his personal bills."
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