Gazette 04-29-14

Tuesday April 29th 2014

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Ukraine crisis: Pro-Russia activists seize Luhansk HQ

A large crowd of pro-Russian separatists has stormed the regional administration's headquarters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk.

A few dozen men, some reportedly armed with metal bars, smashed windows and doors to break into the building.
Activists shouting "Referendum Russia" later flew a Russian flag over it.
Earlier, Russia criticised sanctions imposed by the US and EU on individuals and companies over their alleged actions aimed at destabilising Ukraine.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the US had "essentially lowered an 'Iron Curtain'" by targeting Russia's high-tech sector.
The EU, he added, had proved that it was "under Washington's thumb".
'No control' Mr Ryabkov also stressed that Russia had no intention of invading eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia activists have seized government buildings in more than a dozen towns and cities.
Until now, only the local office of the State Security Service (SBU) in Luhansk, a city of 465,000 people less than 30km (20 miles) from the Russian border, had been targeted.
Related Story : Pro-Ukraine Rally In Donetsk Turns Violent

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50 killed after attacks hit two major cities in Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria –  Two car bombs exploded in a pro-government neighborhood in the central Syrian city of Homs Tuesday, killing at least 36 people just hours after one of the deadliest mortar strikes in the heart of the capital, Damascus, killed 14, officials and state media said.
The attacks came a day after President Bashar Assad declared his candidacy for the June 3 presidential elections, a race he is likely to win amid a raging civil war that initially started as an uprising against his rule. Such attacks are common in Homs and Damascus, and there was no immediate indication that Tuesday's violence was directly related Assad's announcement.

A Syrian government official said two car bombs in Homs exploded in the city's predominantly Alawite district of Zahra. Along with the 36 killed, 85 people were wounded in the attack, the official told The Associated Press by telephone from Homs. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 37 people, including five children, were killed and that more than 80 were wounded in the double car bombing Homs. Syria state TV only said the car bomb in Homs caused "a large number" of casualties.
In Damascus, several mortar shells slammed into the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Shaghour in the morning hours, killing 14 people and wounding 86, Syria's official SANA news agency and state TV reported.
It was one of the deadliest mortar attacks in central Damascus since the conflict began in March 2011.

Libyan barracks in Benghazi hit by car bomb

A car bomb has exploded at the gates of a military barracks near the airport in the Libyan city of Benghazi, killing two soldiers, security officials say.

Two other soldiers were wounded in the explosion.
It appeared to have been carried out by a suicide bomber, an unnamed army officer told the AFP news agency.
There has been a severe deterioration in security in Libya since the 2011 uprising which ousted long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The government has been struggling to control and disarm the numerous armed groups and militias who took part in the civil war which ended his 42-year rule.
Benghazi, the cradle of the revolution, has been a focal point for attacks on public institutions and officials.
It is the largest city in eastern Libya, where some groups and Islamist militias want more autonomy and a greater share of the region's oil wealth.
No group has claimed responsibility for the early morning attack at the Special Forces barracks.


As war rages in S. Sudan, some families are comfy in Kenya; legislators want to change that

NAIROBI, Kenya –  Even as millions of South Sudan citizens face the violence of war, disease and hunger, families of the country's top political leaders live in the safety and comfort of neighboring Kenya's posh Nairobi suburbs.
Now some Kenyan legislators want those families sent back to South Sudan.

Six Kenyan legislators are asking the president to urge the African Union to slap sanctions on the leaders of South Sudan's warring sides, including the freezing of assets and sending extended family members back to South Sudan.
The legislators say if the families of warring leaders are returned to South Sudan it would press those leaders to reach a peace deal at the negotiating table.
Kenyan Senator Bonny Khalwale said if political leaders apply sanctions South Sudanese leaders "will wake up."

Kenyan president signs polygamy law

NAIROBI: A law allowing men in Kenya to marry as many women as they want was signed into law on Tuesday by President Uhuru Kenyatta, despite criticism from women's groups.

A statement from the presidency confirmed that the bill, which it said "consolidates various laws relating to marriage", had been signed into law.

The bill, which amended existing legislation, was passed by parliament last month to formalise traditional practice regarding marrying more than one person.

"Marriage is the voluntary union of a man and a woman, whether in a monogamous or polygamous union," the presidential statement added.

The initial bill had given a wife the right to veto the husband's choice, but male members of parliament overcame party divisions to push through a text that dropped this clause.

When the bill was passed last month, female members of parliament stormed out of the session in fury after a heated debate.   

India elections: Kashmir police crack down on separatists before poll

Police in Indian Kashmir have detained more than 500 people including separatist leaders before the latest round of voting in the restive region, officers and separatists said on Tuesday.

Police said the crackdown took place in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar and throughout the constituency that votes on Wednesday as part of the India's six-week general election.
"To ensure peaceful and violence-free polling in central Kashmir, police have been taking preventive measures and arrested around 400 stone-pelters and trouble-mongers," a police statement said.
"Nobody will be allowed to disrupt the electoral process. The arrests have been made and will continue to be effected to instil confidence among the voters."
Police targeted 130 people who they suspected would lead protests on Wednesday against the polls, arresting them in raids on their homes, a senior officer said.
The Muslim-majority Kashmir valley, where a separatist movement against Indian rule is centred, posed a heightened challenge for security forces during previous rounds of polling this month.
Top separatist leaders, who reject the elections as well as Indian rule over Kashmir, have been detained in police stations or confined to their houses, separate statements from two main separatist groupings said.

Flotilla ship set to export goods from Gaza attacked, organizers say 

A ship that was part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was attacked on Tuesday morning in Gaza, a statement from the movement said.
The group said that a guard watching over the boat, called Gaza's Ark, received a call warning him that an attack on the ship was imminent, and immediately afterward the ship exploded, causing it to sink. 
The boat, which intended to set sail from Gaza in protest of Israel's blockade of the coastal strip, was severely damaged.
“The extent and nature of the damage are currently being investigated,” said Mahfouz Kabariti, the Gaza’s Ark Project Manager.
The attack on the boat is not a first, said Ehab Latoyef, a member of the Gaza's Ark Steering Committee.
"Freedom Flotilla boats have been sabotaged before. This attack comes as we were almost ready to sail. You can sink a boat but you can't sink a movement," he wrote in the statement.
The ship intended to sail from Gaza carrying produce to Europe, Palestinian News Agency Ma'an reported. If the activists succeeded in their mission, it would be the first time since the Oslo accords in 1994 that goods from Gaza had been exported by sea. 

Hospital attack kills at least 22 in Central African Republic

Bangui: At least 22 people including three staff members of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres have been killed during an attack by gunmen on a Central African hospital, in the latest atrocity to hit the violence-plagued country.

The brutal attack in the northwest was blamed on the mostly Muslim rebels known as the Seleka, whose coup in March last year unleashed a vicious cycle of sectarian violence.
"Armed men from the ex-Seleka and of Fula ethnicity on Saturday afternoon attacked a hospital supported by MSF in the region of Nanga Boguila, killing at least 22 people, including three Central African employees of MSF and leaving a dozen wounded," an officer from the African-led MISCA peacekeeping force told AFP on Monday.
MSF confirmed the death of its three employees, without giving further details.
The gunmen had stormed into the building as local representatives and MSF employees held a meeting, the MISCA officer said.
"The assailants first opened fire at a group of people, gunning down four of them. Then they went to the hospital where they killed 15 other people and three members of MSF.
"They took computers and several other assets, breaking down doors probably in search for cash," added the officer.
The Seleka rebels were ordered to disarm by their leader Michel Djotodia several months after they installed him in power in a coup. But some ignored orders and went on a killing, raping and pillaging rampage.
Mostly Christian communities then formed "anti-balaka" vigilante forces to wreak revenge against Muslims, usually targeting innocent people.

North Korean Live-Fire Artillery Drills Held, South Says

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea conducted live-fire artillery drills near its disputed western sea boundary Tuesday, South Korean officials said, in a possible indication of rising frustration in Pyongyang as it pushes unsuccessfully for outside aid.
Both Koreas conduct such drills routinely, but they can be sensitive because North Korea doesn't acknowledge the U.N.-drawn sea boundary near South Korean islands and the North Korean mainland in the Yellow Sea.

Last month, South Korea fired artillery shells into the North's waters after North Korean shells from a live-fire drill landed south of the boundary. After South Korean drills in 2010, North Korea shelled a South Korean island, killing four people.
On Tuesday afternoon, the North tested 50 rounds of artillery shells over 10 minutes, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson Kim Min-seok told reporters.
On the frontline Yeonpyeong Island, motel owner Kim Oh-mok said she went to a shelter with other residents after hearing a broadcast telling her to do so. But she didn't hear the sound of artillery fire. Ongjin county official Hwang Young-mi said island residents were later told they could return home.
Analysts have said Pyongyang's announcements about such drills are driven by frustration that the country has achieved little in a recent push to win outside aid.
The sea boundary was drawn without Pyongyang's consent at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula still technically in a state of war. North Korea argues the line should run farther south.

Pakistan cuts prime minister's electricity for not paying bills
  
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government on Tuesday cut off the electricity supply to several major official buildings for non-payment of bills, including parliament, the prime minister's offices and the president's official residence.

Pakistan is blighted by rolling power cuts, caused in part by people not paying their bills, with government offices among the worst offenders.

Ordinary people struggle without electricity for 12 to 18 hours a day in the blistering heat of summer, but up to now little action has been taken against recalcitrant bureaucrats working in air-conditioned offices.

Minister for water and power Abid Sher Ali announced an "indiscriminate drive" to recover unpaid bills and warned that all offices and customers who had defaulted would be cut off.

"I have issued orders that the electricity supply to Parliament Lodges, Parliament House and President's Secretariat should be disconnected immediately for non-payment of millions of rupees of bills," he said.

The Capital Development Authority, Islamabad's civic agency which is responsible for paying government offices' bills, owes the Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (IESCO) 2.36 billion rupees ($24 million).

The President's Secretariat, which is the head of state's office and residence, owes 28 million rupees, while lawmakers' residential block, Parliament Lodges, had to pay 20 million rupees to IESCO, he added.

Power company officials said that electricity supply to more than 100 government offices had been disconnected over non-payment of bills.- 
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Supreme Court considering if cell phones may be searched without warrant

WASHINGTON –  The Supreme Court is considering whether police may search cellphones found on people they arrest without first getting a warrant.
The court's latest foray into the issue of privacy in the digital age involves two cases being argued Tuesday that arose from searches of phones carried by a gang member and a drug dealer. Police looked through their cellphones after taking the suspects into custody and found evidence that led to their convictions and lengthy prison terms.

The Supreme Court has previously ruled that police can empty a suspect's pockets and examine whatever they find to ensure officers' safety and prevent the destruction of evidence. The Obama administration and the state of California, defending the searches, say cellphones should have no greater protection from a search than anything else police find.
But the defendants in these cases, backed by an array of civil libertarians, librarians and news media groups, contend that cellphones, especially smartphones, are increasingly powerful computers that can store enormous quantities of sensitive personal information. They say that officer safety is not an issue and that police can take steps to protect a phone's contents from being wiped clean without also conducting a warrantless search.

Obama’s approval rating sinks to a new low

Democrats face serious obstacles as they look to the November elections, with President Obama’s approval rating at a new low and a majority of voters saying they prefer a Congress in Republican hands to check the president’s agenda, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Obama’s approval rating fell to 41 percent, down from 46 percent through the first three months of the year and the lowest of his presidency in Post-ABC News polls. Just 42 percent approve of his handling of the economy, 37 percent approve of how he is handling the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and 34 percent approve of his handling of the situation involving Ukraine and Russia.
Obama’s low rating could be a significant drag on Democratic candidates this fall — past elections suggest that when approval ratings are as low as Obama’s, the president’s party is almost certain to suffer at the ballot box in November.
Republicans are favored to maintain control of the House, with the focus now on whether they can take control of the Senate. One key question about November is who will vote. Turnout in midterm elections is always lower than in presidential elections, and at this point, key elements of the Republican coalition — namely white voters and older voters — say they are more certain to cast ballots this fall than are younger voters and minorities, two groups that Democrats and Obama relied on in 2008 and 2012.

Ending Asia Trip, Obama Defends His Foreign Policy

MANILA — President Obama, stung by criticism of his response to turmoil from Eastern Europe to the Middle East, defended his approach to foreign policy as a slow but steady pursuit of American interests while avoiding military conflict, and he lashed out at those he said reflexively call for the use of force.

Standing next to the Philippine president, Benigno S. Aquino III, a visibly frustrated Mr. Obama said on Monday that his critics had failed to learn the lessons of the Iraq war.

On a day in which he announced new sanctions against Russia for its continued threats to Ukraine, Mr. Obama said his foreign policy was based on a workmanlike tending to American priorities that might lack the high drama of a wartime presidency but also avoided ruinous mistakes.

Kennesaw FedEx shooting: Six injured and gunman dead

A gunman shot and injured six people inside a parcel sorting plant in suburban Atlanta before killing himself, police have said.

The shooting at a FedEx centre in Kennesaw, Georgia, was reported at about 06:00 local time (11:00 GMT).
Officers found the suspect dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot.
One person was rushed to surgery in critical condition, while five others had less serious injuries, according to a hospital spokesman.
The identity of the suspected gunman was not immediately released.
A witness told the Associated Press news agency the gunman had an assault-style rifle, knife and bullets strapped across his chest "like Rambo".
David Titus, a FedEx lorry driver, said he was just arriving at work when he saw someone shoot a security guard in the abdomen outside the building, then he heard more shots inside.
"It was chaos," Mr Titus said. "Everyone was running ducking and hiding, trying to get out of there."
FedEx said the company was co-operating with police but had no details to release about the shootings.
"Our primary concern is the safety and wellbeing of our team members, first responders and others affected," said spokesman Scott Fiedler.
Last week, Georgia's governor signed into law a sweeping new gun bill that allows people to carry guns into bars, airports, some government buildings and places of worship.

Wall Street Republicans' dark secret: Hillary Clinton 2016

NEW YORK — The biggest parlor game on Wall Street and in corporate boardrooms these days is guessing whether former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will run for president and save the GOP’s old establishment base from its rising populist wing.
The second most popular game is guessing what happens if Jeb says no.

Two dozen interviews about the 2016 race with unaligned GOP donors, financial executives and their Washington lobbyists turned up a consistent — and unusual — consolation candidate if Bush demurs, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie doesn’t recover politically and no other establishment favorite gets nominated: Hillary Clinton.

Most donors and Wall Street titans have not lined up with any candidate yet, waiting for the field to take shape after the midterms. But if Bush doesn’t run, the list of Republican saviors could be short. Some donors fear Christie will never overcome the Bridgegate scandal. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin so far seems more inclined to stay in the House than to run for president. And to varying degrees, other candidates — such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Govs. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and John Kasich of Ohio — are either unknown or untrusted.
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