Gazette 04-09-14

Wednesday April 9the 2014

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Khamenei: Iran will never give up its nuclear programme

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has backed talks with world powers but warned Tehran will never give up its nuclear programme.

He said Iran had agreed to the talks to "break the hostile atmosphere" with the international community.
But he urged his negotiators in Vienna not to yield to "coercive words".
Iran and the six world powers involved in the talks are working to secure a comprehensive deal to replace an interim agreement that expires in July.
The US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany want to see Iran scale back its enrichment of uranium, which they fear could be used to make a nuclear bomb.
Tehran says its nuclear work is purely peaceful and hopes to agree a deal in return for a permanent lifting of sanctions.
EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a joint statement on Wednesday that their third round of talks since November had included "substantive and detailed discussions covering all the issues which will need to be part of a Comprehensive Agreement".
They will meet again in May for a fourth round of talks to "bridge the gaps in all the key areas and work on the concrete elements of a possible" agreement, the statement said. 

Israel 'deeply disappointed' with Kerry's 'poof speech' 

Israel was "deeply disappointed" in US Secretary of State John Kerry's placing the bulk of the blame for the breakdown on talks at Israel's doorstep, an official in the Prime Minister's Office said Wednesday.
The anonymous official, speaking to the New York Times, said that it was the Palestinians who "violated their fundamental commitments" to the diplomatic process by applying last week to join 15 international conventions and treaties.
The official was responding to Kerry's "poof speech" a day earlier in the Senate Foreign relations Committee in which he said that the diplomatic process blew up following Israel's failure to meet the March 29 deadline for releasing the final batch of 26 Palestinian prisoners, and then the announcement of new tenders for 700 units in Gilo.
"Secretary Kerry knows that it was the Palestinians who said ‘no’ to continued direct talks with Israel in November; who said ‘no’ to his proposed framework for final status talks; who said ‘no’ to even discussing recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people; who said ‘no’ to a meeting with Kerry himself; and who said ‘no’ to an extension of the talks,” the official said.
"At the same time," he said, "in the understandings reached prior to the talks, Israel did not commit to any limitation on construction. Therefore, the Palestinian claim that building in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, was a violation of the understandings is contrary to the facts. Both the American negotiating team and the Palestinians know full well that Israel made no such commitment.”
Kerry's comments, the official said, "will both hurt the negotiations and harden Palestinian positions." Beyond the remarks made to the New York Times, officials in the Prime Minister's Office were not commenting on Kerry's comments, in an apparent effort to get their displeasure out there, without belaboring the point.
Kerry's comments did seem, however, to take Jerusalem by surprise, as government officials claimed repeatedly over the last few weeks that the US knew very well the steps Israel has taken to move the talks forward, and that it also knew that the Palestinians were not showing any flexibility.

Russia threatens it could ask Ukraine for advance payment for gas

MOSCOW –  President Vladimir Putin has threatened that Russia's state-owned gas company could ask Ukraine to pay for gas in advance, according to Russian state news agencies.
In a meeting Wednesday with government ministers, Putin said that asking for advance payments "corresponded with the contract" between Ukraine and Russia, but asked that state energy giant Gazprom refrain from such drastic measures until "additional consultations" between both sides.
Russia has tightened the economic screws on Ukraine since its Russia-leaning president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from power in February after months of street protests. Last week, Gazprom said it would be scrapping all discounts on gas to Ukraine, meaning a 70 percent price hike that will add to Ukraine's $2.2 billion in gas arrears.

Four-way Ukraine talks announced as 'hostages' freed

KIEV: Ukraine said on Wednesday that pro-Russian militants had freed 56 "hostages" after US and EU diplomats set up their first direct talks with Moscow and Kiev aimed at resolving the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.

Ukraine's SBU security service said the group walked free from its headquarters in Lugansk after separatists seized the building and other key government offices at the weekend in the mainly Russian-speaking eastern industrial heartland.

The separatist raids have drawn Western charges that Russia — its troops already massed along Ukraine's border in response to its ouster of a Moscow-backed regime — is backing the separatists and plotting to grab more territory after annexing Crimea last month.

But US and EU diplomats also crucially agreed with Moscow that it was time to deescalate the worst European security crisis in decades by setting up a four-way round of negotiations involving Kiev next week.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's office confirmed she would meet US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov along with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchytsya in one of the European capitals.-

Netanyahu Orders Israeli Ministers To Stop Meeting Palestinian Counterparts

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his ministers Wednesday to cut off contact with their Palestinian counterparts, an official said, the latest in a series of troubles plaguing floundering U.S.-brokered peace talks.
The move is retaliation for a Palestinian bid to join United Nations agencies, which the official said was a violation of the Palestinians' commitment in the peace talks. The Palestinians dismissed the Israeli move, saying both sides rarely meet now as it is.
Under the peace talks' terms, Israel promised to release 104 long-held Palestinian prisoners in four groups. At the same time, the Palestinians said they would suspend a campaign to sign up Palestine, recognized by the U.N. General Assembly as a non-member observer state, for as many as 63 U.N. agencies, treaties and conventions.
Abbas signed letters of accession for 15 international conventions after Israel last week failed to release the fourth group of prisoners and renewed a push to build homes in an Israeli settlement in east Jerusalem — the area of the holy city sought by the Palestinians for their future capital. Israel then called off the final prisoner release.
Under Netanyahu's order, Israeli Cabinet ministers and their ministry directors can no longer meet Palestinian counterparts, though lower-level contacts will continue, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The official said Israel's chief peace negotiator, Tzipi Livni, would be exempt from Netanyahu's order, suggesting the actual impact of the order on the talks would be minimal.
High-level contacts between top Israeli and Palestinian officials are already rare, Palestinian government spokesman Ihab Bsaiso said.

UN warns of Syria food shortage due to looming drought

The UN has warned that a drought in Syria could lead to a record low wheat harvest and put millions of people at risk.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said rainfall since September has been less than half the long-term average.
At the same time, WFP food aid has been cut by a fifth due to a lack of funds from international donors.
Over 100,000 people have been killed since fighting broke out in Syria more than three years ago.
"WFP is concerned about the impact of a looming drought hitting the northwest of the country, mainly Aleppo, Idlib, and Hama," WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters in Geneva.
"A drought could put the lives of millions more people at risk," she said.
Up to 6.5 million Syrians could need emergency food aid as a result, up from the current figure of 4.2 million, Byrs said.
As a result of the drought, Syria could be forced to import more than than the 5.1 million tonnes of wheat it needed last year, the WFP said in a report.
Food parcels cut

Afghan official says elections were a success but still plagued by fraud

KABUL, Afghanistan –  An Afghan election official says national elections held last weekend were a success in terms of turnout and enthusiasm but he cautions that the amount of fraud was not insignificant.
Wednesday's announcement came as ballots are still being counted. Millions of Afghans voted for a new president and provincial councils in what promises to be the country's first democratic transfer of power.
Abdul Satar Sadaat, of the electoral complaints commission, said Wednesday that "election fraud did take place and it might not have been a small amount."
He says the commission received more than 3,000 complaints of possible fraud and promises to invalidate all votes cast irregularly.
Widespread fraud marred the 2009 presidential elections and authorities took precautions to prevent that from reoccuring.

Pakistan Bombing: Explosion Kills 20 At Vegetable Market On Outskirts Of Islamabad

ISLAMABAD, April 9 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded at a vegetable market on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital on Wednesday, killing 20 people and injuring about 70, police and hospital officials said.

The deadliest attack in Islamabad in several years followed weeks of preliminary talks with the main Islamist militant grouping battling the state, the Pakistani Taliban, who last week extended a ceasefire until April 10.

The Pakistani Taliban denied responsibility for the early morning bomb that went off as traders assembled for fruit auctions.

Severed body parts and bloodstained clothes were scattered throughout stalls at the market between Islamabad and its twin city of Rawalpindi. Police said the bomb had been hidden in a box of guava fruit.

"Body parts went everywhere and even hit other people on the head," said Shaheen, a market worker who only gave one name.

Bloody sandals lay amid boxes of straw and damaged fruit in the mud. Police waved metal detectors over boxes while dazed vendors sat in the wreckage.

Javed Akram Qazi, vice chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, said 18 bodies had been brought in to his hospital. Earlier, he had said 23 people were killed but later said authorities had been confused in their reporting.

Kenya sends back 'illegal' Somalis after Nairobi raids

Kenya has sent back 82 Somalis to Somalia after launching a massive security force operation to flush out illegal immigrants and militant Islamists.

The group had been in Kenya illegally, a Somali diplomat said.
Nearly 4,000 people have been arrested in raids over the past week in the capital Nairobi, but police say only 447 people are still being held.
Somali militants have carried out a wave of attacks in Kenya since 2011.
The security operation has focused on Eastleigh, a mainly Somali neighbourhood in Nairobi.
At least six people were killed in grenade explosions in Eastleigh on 31 March.
'Mop up' No group said it carried out the attack.
However, Kenya's government believes that Somalia's militant Islamist group, al-Shabab, operates in Eastleigh, and has support among some Somalis living there.
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Taiwan protesters to end occupation of legislature
Demonstrators protesting against a free trade pact in Taiwan have announced plans to end a weeks-long occupation of the island's legislature on Thursday, after a high-ranking official promised to meet some of their demands.
Thousands of students stormed Taiwan's parliament on 18 March after the ruling Nationalist party unilaterally passed the cross-strait service trade agreement, a pact with China that critics say could harm the territory's small businesses and erode its political autonomy.
The protesters first demanded that the party review the pact line by line, then later that it rescind the pact and establish a public oversight mechanism for future cross-strait trade agreements.
The occupation fanned out into a larger movement on 30 March when more than 100,000 demonstrators filled the streets around the legislature. The protesters, who call themselves the Sunflower Movement, have remained largely peaceful and well-organised, despite brief clashes with riot police late last month.
The parliament speaker Wang Jin-pyng promised on Sunday that the party would not review the trade pact until it had developed a mechanism for public oversight. On Monday, protest leaders announced plans to leave.
"Oversight legislation for the agreement still hasn't been finalised, so it's hard to say whether we'll be satisfied or not," said Li Yue, a 20-year-old protester from Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University. "But looking at things right now, it doesn't seem like staying in the legislature will do much."
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Hillary Clinton blasts Putin over Crimea, talks 2016 run

San Francisco: The world must contain Russia's expansionism by withdrawing investments, finding other sources of oil and condemning its illegal annexation of Crimea, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday.
Clinton's keynote speech to a few thousand attendees at the marketing industry summit in San Francisco was about building public-private partnerships to drive the nation's economy forward. But Ms Clinton had harsh words for Russian President Vladimir Putin - and some vague words about her own presidential ambitions.
"I'm not going to make a decision [about running for president] for a while because I'm actually enjoying my life, having fun doing ordinary things" like seeing friends and taking long walks with her dog, she said before flashing a sly smile. "I danced around that pretty well, don't you think?"
There were no smiles as she discussed Mr Putin, whom she called "a tough guy with a thin skin who believes the best way to move forward is by moving backwards" to the era of the Russian empire. "He will go as far as he can unless he is somehow contained."
Ms Clinton said the "flood of money out of Russia" in recent months "is the best way to undermine the oligarchs who support him". Also important is weaning Europe from the oil Russia provides, she said, as is repeating loudly and often that "what he did in Crimea is illegal; it is against international law."
"He is obviously determined, he is very difficult to read personally and he is always looking for advantage, so he will try to put you ill at ease" through insults or bored, dismissive behaviour, she said. "I've had a lot of experience with that ... I'm not impressed by it."
Separately, in testimony in Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry repeated Obama administration threats to sharply sanction Russia if its troops cross the border into eastern Ukraine. Pro-Russian separatists currently agitating in eastern Ukraine were paid and sent there by Moscow "determined to create chaos", he said.

Senate falls six votes short of passing Paycheck Fairness Act

Despite a heavy messaging push from top Democrats, the Senate failed to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act on Wednesday, aimed at cutting into the national gender wage gap -- falling six votes short.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), had 52 co-sponsors, but Democrats were unable to convince any Republicans to vote in favor of the legislation.

Sixty votes were needed to open debate on the bill, which Democrats had vowed they would reintroduce were it to fail in Wednesday's vote. The bill amassed 54 votes, before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid changed in his vote to "no" in order to allow him to reintroduce the bill.

Had it passed, the bill would have made it illegal for employers to retaliate against a worker who inquires about or discloses her or his wages or the wages of another employee in a complaint or investigation. It also makes employers liable to civil actions. And as part of this bill, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would be required to collect pay information from employers. It's aim, Democrats have insisted for weeks, is a wage gap that finds women making 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. The push has also been a major plank of their "give America a raise” and "fair shot for everyone" messaging that Democrats hope will mobilize their voter base in this year's midterm elections and help them retain control of the Senate.

Holder squares off with GOP lawmaker over contempt controversy

WASHINGTON -- For over two hours, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. and the House Judiciary Committee were getting along unusually well.

Even Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), Holder’s arch-nemesis in Congress, pursued a relatively tame line of questioning. And Holder, as counseled by his advisors, seemed to be trying to avoid confrontation.
But when Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), while pressing Holder for some documents, made an apparently offhand comment concerning the vote in 2012 to hold the attorney general in contempt of Congress, Holder bristled.

“You don’t want to go there,” Holder said, pointing his finger accusingly at Gohmert. “Don’t ever think that was not a big deal to me.”
He said the contempt citation, issued after he withheld documents that Republican lawmakers demanded as part of a probe into a flawed gunrunning operation, was “all about the gun lobby,” which pressed members to vote against Holder.
Gohmert also got upset, saying, “I don’t need lectures from you about contempt,” to which Holder responded, “I don’t need lectures from you either.”

Pentagon to remove 50 nuclear missiles from silos

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon plans to remove 50 nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles from their silos over the next four years but not eliminate them from the U.S. arsenal, a move aimed at complying with a 2010 treaty with Russia and avoiding a fight with members of Congress from states where the missiles are based.
Lawmakers had feared reductions in nuclear forces required under the New START treaty would eliminate an entire ICBM squadron at one of three Air Force bases in North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming where the U.S. keeps its 450 Minuteman III missiles - a potentially major economic blow.
But a senior defense official, who briefed reporters Tuesday on the plan, said a total of 50 missiles would be removed from silos at the three missile bases. That will keep all nine ICBM squadrons operational.
The decommissioned missiles will no longer be counted as operational under the treaty, but would continue to be maintained and guarded. The silos also will be kept operational, the official said, describing them as "warm but empty."
Lawmakers from the three states applauded the plan, which avoids the need to lay off hundreds of Air Force personnel and cut millions of dollars that the bases pump into the local economies.
"Today's announcement is a big win for our nation's security and for Malmstrom Air Force Base and north-central Montana," Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said in a statement. "Keeping silos on warm status ensures that they remain under the watch of Malmstrom's security and maintenance personnel."

Why the Obamas’ REALLY lost their law licenses. Answer may surprise you.

Because I live in Chicago, one of the questions I get asked a lot via email or comments on this site is if I know why the Obamas both lost their licenses to practice law in Illinois (not that a lack of license can really stop a Democrat from practicing law…just ask Elizabeth Warren about that). I think I know why they lost their licenses, but the answer may surprise (or disappoint) you.
According to people I know who worked with Michelle Obama when she was employed by the City of Chicago, Michelle hated being a lawyer.  The work was too hard and she was not very good at it.  The reason Michelle went to work for the City is because she was hired via a recommendation from Jesse Jackson which then qualified her as a “Jesse Hire”; this is slang here in Chicago for an “untouchable hire”, meaning this is someone on the City payroll who can never be fired or even disciplined in any way because their employment was a political favor to someone.  In Michelle’s case, that someone was Jesse Jackson and Michelle was thus one of the many black people working for the City at Jackson’s insistence who were not expected to actually do their jobs and instead could read newspapers, shop in catalogs, play Minesweeper on their computers, or just spin aimlessly around in their swivel chairs all day.  Michelle reportedly took two or even three lunch breaks a day, would disappear for hours, went on constant “personal appointments” and treated her work space at the City like it was an airport lounge:  a place to go for a while to kill time where she could snack, peruse magazines, gossip, and talk loudly on the phone with girlfriends and laugh and laugh and laugh.

Read more here  

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