Weekend 04-27-14

Sunday April 27th 2014

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Ukraine rebels show seized observers

Pro-Russian gunmen in eastern Ukraine have shown seized European military observers to the media, amid attempts to secure their immediate release.

One of the observers presented in the city of Sloviansk said that none of the group had been harmed.
A team from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is hoping to begin negotiations.
The gunmen continue to occupy official buildings in a dozen eastern cities, defying the government in Kiev.
In the latest to be reported, separatists in Donetsk seized control of the regional television and radio headquarters, demanding that broadcasts by Russian state channels be switched back on, in place of Ukrainian-language services.
In a separate development on Sunday, pro-Russian gunmen said they had captured three Ukrainian security services members overnight in eastern Ukraine. Kiev later confirmed a number of its officers had been seized.
This comes as the US and EU are preparing new sanctions against Russia, accusing it of destabilising Ukraine.
US President Barack Obama said the Kremlin had "not lifted a finger" to implement last week's deal in Geneva aimed at easing the crisis.

Serbia's new government to overhaul economy, prime minister-designate says

BELGRADE, Serbia –  Serbia's prime minister-designate has promised a total overhaul of the economy in the Balkan country that went through a decade of wars and international isolation in the 1990s, but is now seeking EU membership.
Aleksandar Vucic told the lawmakers Sunday that "you will sleep and eat here" in order to bring a set of reform laws that are necessary to introduce market reform. He says that "this is something that has been put off for too long."

Vucic's center-right government is expected to be voted into office later Sunday. His Serbian Progressive Party has won an absolute majority of 158 seats in the 250-member assembly in March 16 elections. Vucic says changes will include cuts in the public sector, budget revision and privatization of some state-run companies.

Geo TV's face-off with ISI spy agency – a subplot of a larger tussle in Pakistan

For decades Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence was the spy agency that could not be named, let alone publicly criticised. The media would refer only to the "agencies", the "establishment" or, even more coyly, "the angels".
But in the past week that taboo has been broken by the Independent Media Corporation, Pakistan's largest media group, which has used the two biggest newspapers in the country and by far its most popular television network to daily hammer the ISI.
The high-stakes gamble threatens to destroy the group and further sour already tense relations between the government and army.
The media onslaught followed the shooting last Saturday in Karachi of Hamid Mir – the star anchor on Geo News, the channel that pioneered tabloid television news in Pakistan.
Geo editors cleared the bulletins for non-stop coverage of the attempt to kill Mir and the claims by his brother that the attack on his car had been directly ordered by the ISI's normally low profile chief, Zaheer-ul-Islam, whose picture the TV channel displayed for hours.


Ashton backs Hamas-Fatah deal, but says new Palestinian government must recognize Israel

It took five days, but on Sunday EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton formally commented on the recent Fatah-Hamas pact, saying any new Palestinian government must uphold the principle of non-violence, remain committed to a two-state solution, and accept Israel's "legitimate right to exist."

The EU has "consistently supported intra-Palestinian reconciliation" along the lines of those terms, Ashton said in a statement. She said that reconciliation "on these terms is an important element for the unity of a future Palestinian state and for reaching a two-state solution and a lasting peace."

"The EU welcomes the prospect of genuine democratic elections for all Palestinians. The fact that President [Mahmoud] Abbas will remain fully in charge of the negotiation process and have a mandate to negotiate in the name of all Palestinians provides further assurance that the peace negotiations can and must proceed," she said.

The EU, along with the US, Canada, Japan, Australia and Egypt, has classified Hamas a terrorist organization and said it will not engage with the group until it accepts the international community's three conditions. Despite reports from time to time that some representatives of European countries have met in various capacities with Hamas officials, these conditions have for the most part kept the EU from dealing with Hamas since it won PA elections in 2006.

Ashton said she was "extremely concerned at recent developments related to the peace process, which are putting into question the continued negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians beyond the original deadline" of April 29.

Iraq hits 'jihadist convoy' in Syria

Iraqi military helicopters have destroyed a convoy of fuel tankers inside Syrian territory, Baghdad says.

The convoy was heading towards the border and was due to supply jihadi militants in Iraq's Anbar province, according to the Interior Ministry.
It is believed to be the first time Iraq has said it has carried out an attack inside Syria.
Al-Qaeda linked group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) fights the governments in Syria and Iraq.
Isis has recently created a safe passage from Anbar to the north Syrian city of Aleppo, says BBC Arabic's Murad Batal Shishani.
Isis under pressure He says the strip of territory grants the militants a smooth flow of weapons, logistics and manpower between both countries.

However, most of Syria's other rebels oppose Isis, and it has reportedly been forced to retreat after clashes with other armed groups.

Our correspondent says it seems Iraq now wants to increase the pressure on the group by hitting its supply routes.
The Interior Ministry's Brigadier General Saad Maan said eight lorries were hit in the raid near al-Bukamal, and eight people had been killed.
Isis grew out of the former Islamic State of Iraq, a jihadist militant umbrella group that included al-Qaeda in Iraq.


South Korea’s prime minister resigns over ferry disaster

SEOUL, South Korea –  South Korea's prime minister resigned Sunday over the government's handling of a ferry sinking that has left more than 300 people dead or missing and led to widespread shame, fury and finger-pointing, blaming "deep-rooted evils" in society for the tragedy.
South Korean executive power is largely concentrated in the president, so Chung Hong-won's resignation appears to be symbolic. Presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook said President Park Geun-hye would accept the resignation, but did not say when Chung would leave office.

Chung's resignation comes amid rising indignation over claims by the victims' relatives that the government did not do enough to rescue or protect their loved ones. Most of the dead and missing were high school students on a school trip.
Officials have taken into custody all 15 people involved in navigating the ferry Sewol, which sank April 16. A prosecutor revealed that investigators were also looking into communications made as the ship sank between a crew member and the company that owns the ferry.
Chung was heckled by victims' relatives and his car was blocked when he visited a shelter on an island near the site of the sinking a week ago. On Sunday, he gave his reasoning for the resignation to reporters in Seoul.

G7 agrees to Russian sanctions over Ukraine

The Group of Seven rich countries have agreed to start slapping fresh sanctions on Moscow as early as Monday over the worsening Ukraine crisis amid Western fears of an imminent Russian invasion.
International negotiators rushed to eastern Ukraine on Saturday to seek the release of European military monitors who were captured on Friday and promptly branded "spies" by the pro-Russia militia that seized them.

The detention of the monitors instantly raised the stakes in an already fraught drama pitting the Ukrainian government against motley bands of separatists who have overtaken city halls across the country's eastern half.

Although the standoff in Ukraine has for months been a proxy fight between Russia and the West, the imprisonment in a makeshift separatist jail of military officers from NATO countries threatens to draw the West more directly into the conflict.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is monitoring events in Ukraine and trying to broker local peace deals, said it would keep its monitors out of Slovyansk until further notice, and that it was carefully watching conditions in other cities.

"It's a very fluid security situation in a lot of these areas," said Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for the OSCE monitoring mission. "We're definitely taking more precautions."
International tensions were also stoked in the ex-Soviet republic, where sporadic fighting between pro-Kremlin rebels and Ukrainian security forces flared this week.
Russian warplanes violated Ukraine's airspace several times on Thursday and Friday, the Pentagon said.
Russia has also begun new drills on the border, where it has tens of thousands of troops massed.

Iran to target decoy US aircraft carrier in drills

TEHRAN: An Iranian newspaper is reporting that the country's military plans to target a mock-up American aircraft carrier during upcoming war games.

Today's report by independent Haft-e Sobh daily quotes Adm Ali Fadavi, navy chief of the powerful Revolutionary Guards as saying Iranian forces should "target the carrier in the trainings, after it is completed." Adm Fadavi said: "We should learn about weaknesses and strengths of our enemy."

The bear and the dragon: Russia pivots to China in the face of western sanctions

On March 20, the U.S. authorized sanctions against billionaire Gennady Timchenko amid the escalating crisis between Russia and Ukraine. Three weeks later, the Russian tycoon, who amassed a fortune trading oil and selling natural gas, appeared on Russian television. He was not in Russia at the time. He was in China. The West, he said, was “pushing us away.” China was not. In fact, Chinese companies were talking with Mr. Timchenko about buying more of Russia’s abundant energy.

“There is a market with a lot of potential developing in the Asia-Pacific region,” said the billionaire, who boasts close ties to Vladimir Putin and has been called one of Russia’s most powerful men.
This week, the country’s Prime Minister was even more explicit: “We are interested in diversifying today more so than ever before. Therefore we are implementing solutions for the export of gas and oil to Asian and Pacific countries, first and foremost China,” Dmitry Medvedev said on Russian television.
As the global fissures radiating from Russia’s moves against Ukraine call into question the future of its ties with Western powers, Russia is increasingly casting its gaze east, to a distant border long neglected. In May, Mr. Putin is expected to come to Beijing to sign a major contract that will see Russia pipe vast quantities of natural gas to China. It will mark the sixth meeting between Mr. Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping since the beginning of 2013, as Russia pushes for a “pivot east” that has taken on sudden new urgency in the wake of the country’s moves in Ukraine, which have earned it global criticism, and an increasing likelihood of punitive sanctions.

Saudi Arabia reports five more Mers deaths

Five new deaths from the Mers coronavirus have been announced in Saudi Arabia, taking the country's death toll from the disease to 92.

It comes as Egypt recorded its first case, in a 27-year-old man who had recently returned from Saudi Arabia.
Saudi officials said 14 new cases had been detected in the kingdom, bringing the total to 313 since the virus first emerged there 18 months ago.
Mers causes symptoms including fever, pneumonia and kidney failure.
A Saudi government statement said the latest five victims were two Saudi nationals, two elderly Palestinians and a Bangladeshi woman in her 40s.
Egypt's health ministry said the man diagnosed there with Mers - Middle East Respiratory Syndrome - was from the Nile Delta and had been living in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
He is being treated for pneumonia at a Cairo hospital and is in a stable condition, the ministry added.
Last Monday, Saudi health minister Abdullah al-Rabiah was sacked without explanation, as the Mers death toll climbed.
On Friday, a spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva said it was "concerned" about the rising numbers of Mers cases in Saudi Arabia.
It called for a speedy scientific breakthrough as research continues into the virus and its route of infection.
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US, Philippines reportedly reach 10-year deal on larger military presence

MANILA, Philippines –  The United States and the Philippines have reached a 10-year agreement that would allow a larger U.S. military presence in this Southeast Asian nation as it grapples with increasingly tense territorial disputes with China, White House officials said Sunday.
Two Philippine officials confirmed the agreement to The Associated Press before the White House announcement.

The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement would give American forces temporary access to selected military camps and allow them to preposition fighter jets and ships. It will be signed Monday at the main military camp in the Philippine capital, Manila, before President Barack Obama arrives on the last leg of a four-country Asian tour, following earlier stops in Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.
A Philippine government primer on the defense accord that was seen by the AP did not indicate how many additional U.S. troops would be deployed "on temporary and rotational basis," but it said that the number would depend on the scale of joint military activities to be held in Philippine camps.
The size and duration of that presence still has to be worked out with the Philippine government, said Evan Medeiros, senior director for Asian affairs at the White House's National Security Council.

Obama Raises Need For Improved Human Rights In Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — President Barack Obama on Sunday pressed the Malaysian government to improve its human rights record and appealed to Southeast Asia's teeming youth population to stand up for the rights of minorities and the rule of law.
Yet Obama skipped a golden chance to promote that human rights agenda, declining to meet with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Instead, he directed national security adviser Susan Rice to see Anwar on Monday.
Obama said his decision was "not indicative of our lack of concern" about the former deputy prime minister who recently was convicted for the second time on sodomy charges, which the U.S. and international human rights groups contend are politically motivated.
Obama said he had raised his concerns about Malaysia's restrictions on political freedoms during meetings with Prime Minister Najib Razak.
"Those values are at the core of who the U.S. is, but also I think are a pretty good gauge of whether a society is going to be successful in the 21st century or not," Obama said during a news conference with Najib.
Obama called the prime minister a "reformer" committed to addressing human rights issues.
To his critics, Najib said: "Don't underestimate or diminish whatever we have done."

S&P cuts Russia, says sanctions could spell further downgrade 

Credit agency Standard & Poor’s cut Russia’s foreign currency ratings on Friday, saying further downgrades were possible if the West imposed tighter sanctions against Moscow in response to the crisis in Ukraine.

Moscow said politics had played a role in the downgrade, the first by a major agency since

Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in March and leaving the S&P rating just one notch above junk status.
Foreign investors have been pulling money out of Russia since the country’s economy hit the rails last year, a process that has intensified along with western concerns about Ukraine.
S&P said outflows might now speed up further.
“The tense geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine could see additional significant outflows of both foreign and domestic capital from the Russian economy and hence further undermine already weakening growth prospects,” the agency said in a statement.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea resulted in a first wave of sanctions from the West, and both the United States and Europe have threatened harsher and more costly measures if Moscow remains involved in its neighbours’ affairs.
Foreign investors have exited Russia en masse, taking $63.7-billion with them in the first three months of this year, economic growth has ebbed to a crawl and Russia’s central bank has spent billions of dollars on keeping the rouble from falling too fast.

Pentagon: Hagel's Russian counterpart won't return his calls

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel cannot get his Russian counterpart to take his calls, the Pentagon said Friday -- amid a new report that the Kremlin has suspended high-level talks with U.S. officials.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters that Hagel is trying to speak with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, but the Russian Defense Ministry won't return his calls.

"We have made it clear to the Russians that Secretary Hagel is available for a phone call anytime," Warren said. "We have reached out to them and made it very clear to them that he is willing to speak with his counterpart" -- but, Warren said, "we have not heard back."
"He wants to tell the Russians to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine," Warren said. "Their continued destabilizing activities along the Ukrainian border are unhelpful and they need to withdrawal their troops from the Ukrainian border and place them back into their garrisons and go about working to a peaceful resolution to the crisis."
The Daily Beast also reported that, according to sources close to Russian leadership, the Kremlin has shut down high-level contact between top U.S. and Russian officials, for now.

Hillary Clinton: Speaking to Methodist women feels like a ‘homecoming’

LOUISVILLE, K.Y. -- Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke about her Methodist faith in personal terms Saturday, telling a gathering of Methodist women that their conference felt like a "homecoming" and how the church's obligation to serve others has guided her personal and professional life.  
"I have always cherished the Methodist Church because it gave us the great gift of personal salvation but also the great obligation of social gospel," Clinton said at the annual United Methodist Women Assembly here. "And I took that very seriously and have tried, tried to be guided in my own life ever since as an advocate for children and families, for women and men around the world who are oppressed and persecuted, denied their human rights and human dignity. "
Clinton told the 7,000 women who gave her a rousing welcome at the Kentucky International Convention Center that Methodist women know how to "get things done," including taking on the responsibility of serving their communities and the less fortunate.
"So it’s really like a homecoming to be here with all of you from across our country and around the world to celebrate the great web of passion and connection that ties all Methodists together," she said. "To honor the good you are doing in your communities and that is being done through you throughout the world. To recommit ourselves to living the gospel and putting our faith into action.”
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