Gazette 05-01-14

Thursday May 1st 2014

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Pro-Russian group seizes Donetsk office

Hundreds of pro-Russian militants have seized the regional prosecutor's office in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.

The attackers threw rocks at police before storming the building and raising the flag of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.
Militants disarmed the police and ejected them from the building. There are reports of injuries on both sides.
Ukraine blames Russia for organising the seizures of a number of offices in the east. Moscow denies the claim.
Also in the Donetsk region, separatists seized the town council of Amvrosiyivka, local media reported.
In a separate development, German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked Russia in a phone call to President Vladimir Putin to help free foreign monitors held in eastern Ukraine.
The military observers were seized by pro-Russia separatists at a checkpoint in the flashpoint town of Sloviansk last Friday.
On Wednesday, a Russian military attache was detained in Ukraine on suspicion of spying and ordered to leave the country.
Kiev 'helpless' In Donetsk, the pro-Russian militants attacked the prosecutor's office, accusing those iside of siding with the government in Kiev.

100,000 march in Moscow on May Day to cheer Putin, Crimea

MOSCOW –  Russia celebrated May Day with its first joyful parade across Red Square since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, as President Vladimir Putin basked in a surge of patriotism over the annexation of Crimea.
Elsewhere in the world, demonstrators turned out Thursday to press their demands for better treatment on the holiday also known as International Workers' Day. In Cambodia and Turkey, the rallies turned violent.

The Moscow parade of about 100,000 people was organized by trade unions and ostensibly dedicated to honoring the working class. The overarching theme, however, was Russian pride over last month's annexation of Crimea. Putin, who did not attend, was saluted as a national hero.
A long stream of marchers held up signs saying "I'm proud of my country," ''Let's go to Crimea for vacation" and "Putin is right." Russian flags fluttered through the crowd.
In Soviet times, members of the ruling Politburo used to review the parade from atop the mausoleum where the body of the first Soviet leader, Vladimir Lenin, still lies.
Putin further tapped into nostalgia for the Soviet Union by handing out "Hero of Labor" awards during a Kremlin ceremony after the march. The awards, which were created under dictator Josef Stalin and disappeared along with the Soviet Union, were reinstated last year.

Turkish Riot Police Clash With May Day Rallies In Istanbul

Protesters throw fireworks and fire bombs
* Police use tear gas and rubber pellets
* Scores wounded and detained
* U.S. think tank downgrades Turkish press freedom (Adds quotes from demonstrators, details)

ISTANBUL, May 1 (Reuters) - Turkish police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber pellets on Thursday to stop May Day protesters, some armed with fire bombs, from defying Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and reaching Istanbul's central Taksim square.

Citing security fears, authorities shut parts of the city's public transport system, erected steel barricades and deployed thousands of riot police to block access to Taksim, a traditional union rallying point and the focus of weeks of anti-government protests last summer.

Erdogan, who warned last week he would not let labour unions march on Taksim, has cast both last year's street protests and a corruption scandal dogging his government since December as part of a plot to undermine him.

The Istanbul governor's office said it had received advanced information that "illegal terror organisations and their extensions" would resort to violence to stoke unrest.

But the security measures failed to deter thousands of people from trying to march, with pockets of protesters playing cat and mouse with police in tear gas-shrouded side streets.

Demonstrators in surrounding neighbourhoods repeatedly tried to breach police lines blocking the way to Taksim, a normally teeming shopping and tourism district which lay virtually deserted and ringed by security checkpoints.

Chinese leader pledges action on terrorism after deadly railway attack

President Xi Jinping says battle to combat violence will be stepped up following blasts that killed three in Ürümqi, Xinjiang

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has demanded "decisive actions" against terrorism after an attack at a railway station in the far-west minority region of Xinjiang left three people dead and 79 injured.

The bloodshed came as Xi wrapped up a four-day visit to the area, which has witnessed rising violence against civilians and authorities blamed on radical Islamists and separatists.

The official Xinhua news agency quoted witnesses as saying at least two blasts went off at the south station in the regional capital, Urumqi, on Wednesday night, while a large group of knife-wielding attackers pursued passengers.

"The battle to combat violence and terrorism will not allow even a moment of slackness, and decisive actions must be taken to resolutely suppress the terrorists' rampant momentum," Xi said in comments published on the front page of official newspapers on Thursday and broadcast on state television.

There was no immediate word on arrests and it was unclear whether Xi was still in the region at the time of the attack. Information about events in the area 1,550 miles west of Beijing is tightly controlled and it was difficult to immediately verify any details.

"At the moment, it is acknowledged to be a terrorist attack. What is yet to be discovered is who did this and for what purpose under whose instigation," Xinhua said in a report.

Train service was suspended for about two hours, it said. It added that security was tightened at all transport hubs in the city, which has a mainly Han Chinese population who are distinct from Xinjiang's native Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group.

Few and far between: security forces outnumber voters in Kashmir elections

Local issues may explain turnout in India's only Muslim-majority state, but it's the outcome nationally conflict-weary residents fear

As noon struck on Wednesday, Altaf Hussein Bhatt, the presiding officer for poll booth 18 in the old city of Srinagar smiled, shrugged and stated the obvious. "It is not very busy," he said.

Outside, in the dusty streets of Kashmir's summer capital, there were many heavily armed police officers and members of the paramilitaries – but few voters. Only 25 of the 747 local residents registered at booth 18, set up in a classroom of a local college, had cast their ballot. A long tedious afternoon loomed for Bhatt and his team.

Farooq Abdullah, the incumbent member of parliament for Srinagar, had voted earlier with his son, daughter and son-in-law at a booth on the other side of the city. Collectively, the family's visit had increased the turn out at polling station by a third.

"The vote is going very well. I feel good," Abdullah told the Guardian.

But the contrast with scenes elsewhere across India – where about 100 million people voted amid customary colour, crowds and chaos in the latest phase of the six-week long election – was striking. Turnout in the rest of the country has generally been high, sometimes 70 percent or more. But when the polls closed in Srinagar, only a quarter of its 1.2 million eligible voters had cast their ballots. By nightfall, a 17-year-old, wounded during running clashes between protestors and police during the afternoon, had died.

The violence underlined the special status of Kashmir, where decades of conflict have left layers of scars some fear may be reopened in coming months if – as widely predicted – the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) form a government when national results are announced in 15 days time.

Deadly air strike on Aleppo market

At least 33 people have been killed in an air strike on a market in a rebel-held district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, activists say.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the attack happened in the northern Halak district.
The Aleppo Media Center, which put the death toll at more than 40, said two residential buildings were destroyed.
On Wednesday, government aircraft bombed a school in southern Aleppo, killing 18 people, 10 of them children.
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) expressed outrage at what it said was the "latest wave of indiscriminate attacks perpetrated against schools and other civilian targets" across the country.
"These attacks appear to be escalating, in complete disregard of all the calls that have been made to stop this insane cycle of violence, and to avoid similar breaches of international law," it said.
Both government forces and rebel fighters have launched new offensives in recent days to try to break the long-standing stalemate in Aleppo.

Israel agrees to turn American’s bank accounts over to IRS

The 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act requires int'l financial institutions to turn over all information on their US account holders.

The Finance Ministry reached an agreement to turn information on US citizens’ bank accounts over to the United States’ Internal Revenue Service, in compliance with a tough US law designed to counter tax evasion.

The 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), requires international financial institutions to turn over all the information on their US account holders, or else face tough sanctions from the US.

Though expatriate Americans don’t know it, they are required to file their income with the IRS each year with a 1040 tax form. Tax agreements signed between the US and Israel mean that Americans in Israel earning less than $97,600 a year generally don’t need to pay any additional taxes, but they are still required to file the form.

If someone didn’t file the 1040, incorrectly answered the section on whether they hold foreign bank accounts with over $10,000, or failed to file the accompanying Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR) form, the penalties can be monumental. The IRS can fine violators for up to 50 percent of the account’s maximum balance for each year of each violation.

Thursday’s agreement means the US will have precise details on which foreign bank account holders have failed to report their bank accounts, whether it was a purposeful attempt to evade taxes or an accidental oversight.

Though FATCA is an American initiative, Wednesday’s agreement also opened up the possibility that the US would divulge account information on Israeli citizens living in the United States. That means Israeli entrepreneurs making big bucks in Silicon Valley may yet find the Tax Authority knocking on their doors, asking for a slice.

China, Russia to conduct joint naval drills

Beijing: China said on Wednesday it would conduct joint naval drills with Russia in the East China Sea off Shanghai in late May, in what it called a bid to deepen military co-operation.

China's defence ministry did not give an exact location in the East China Sea, where Beijing is locked in an increasingly bitter dispute with Japan over the ownership of a group of uninhabited islets.

"These drills are regular exercises held by China and Russia's navies, and the purpose is to deepen practical co-operation between the two militaries, to raise the ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats," the ministry said on its website.

It provided no other details.

China alarmed Japan, South Korea and the United States last year when it announced an air defence identification zone for the East China Sea, covering the islands.

The Beijing government, which is swiftly ramping up military spending, has regularly dispatched patrols to the East China Sea since it established the defence zone.

China was angered last week after US President Barack Obama assured ally Japan that Washington was committed to its defence, including the disputed isles.

Earlier this month, Tokyo announced it would break ground on a new radar base in the area, on a tropical Japanese island close to Taiwan.

The radar station on Yonaguni Island, just 150 km from the disputed islands in the East China Sea, marks Japan's first military expansion at the western end of its island chain in more than 40 years.

Clashes near Damascus kill 14 rebels: Activists
 
BEIRUT: Clashes between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters killed 14 rebels in a flare-up overnight along a strategic corridor between Damascus and the Lebanese border, activists said on Thursday.

The fighting in Zabadani, a town near Damascus and the last rebel stronghold in the area - is part of the larger battle for control of the mountainous Qalamoun region, stretching from the Syrian capital to the border with Lebanon.

President Bashar Assad's forces, backed by Lebanese militant Hezbollah fighters, launched an offensive in Qalamoun in mid-November, ousting rebels from the area and cutting their supply routes from Lebanon.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers reports from opposition activists on the ground, the latest bout of clashes killed 14 rebels and an unknown number of soldiers. Syrian government does not publicize its casualty figures in the 3-year-old conflict.

Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams Held Over 1972 IRA Killing Of Belfast Widow

DUBLIN (AP) — Sinn Fein chief Gerry Adams, the warlord-turned-peacemaker of the Northern Ireland conflict, was being interrogated Thursday over the grisly slaying of a Belfast widow that has haunted his political career for decades.
Adams was arrested on suspicion of ordering the killing of Jean McConville, a mother of 10 in his Catholic west Belfast power base in 1972. That was the deadliest year in four decades of bloodshed, when the outlawed Irish Republican Army was committing killings daily — and Adams was already a commanding figure.
The IRA branded the 38-year-old woman a British spy but killed her secretly and told her children, who ranged in age from infants to teens, that she had abandoned them.
If Adams, 65, is charged with the murder of McConville — who disappeared without trace until her bullet-shattered skull was found near a Republic of Ireland beach in 2003 — it would be a profound surprise and deal a damaging shock to Northern Ireland's precariously balanced peace.
Adams' track record suggests he won't be.
He was arrested and interrogated repeatedly in the wake of IRA bombings and shootings in the 1970s and 1980s, and even met British government leaders face to face as an IRA representative for failed cease-fire talks in 1972, followed by the IRA's biggest car-bomb offensive on Belfast. Yet he insists he's never held any position in the underground army and has been convicted of only one IRA offense, a failed escape when imprisoned without Trial.

Military intel official: 'Should have tried' to help Americans in Benghazi attack

A top military intelligence official at the time of the Benghazi attacks testified Thursday that U.S. personnel "should have tried" to help Americans under fire on Sept. 11, 2012, in an...

A top military intelligence official at the time of the Benghazi attacks testified Thursday that U.S. personnel "should have tried" to help Americans under fire on Sept. 11, 2012, in an unprecedented public statement from a leading military officer. 
Retired Brig. Gen. Robert Lovell, who at the time of the attacks was the deputy intelligence director at U.S. Africa Command, questioned the merits of the ongoing debate over whether U.S. military forces could have responded in time. Leading Pentagon and other military officials previously have argued that additional U.S. assets were not deployed to assist Americans under attack that night because they weren't close enough. 

"The point is we should have tried," Lovell told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in his opening statement. "As another saying goes -- always move to the sound of the guns." 
He later said the military "could have made a response of some sort." Lovell, who was stationed in Germany during the attack, made clear repeatedly that the military was waiting for clearance from the State Department to intervene in Benghazi. 
Lovell also sharply countered claims that the intelligence community and military initially thought this was a protest over an anti-Islam video gone awry. He said U.S. officials knew this was a "hostile action" from the outset, even though they didn't know how long the attack would last.

Nevada Congressman Seeks Probe Of Armed Militia Operations At Cliven Bundy Ranch

April 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. congressman is calling for a probe into the activities of armed militiamen who are supporting a Nevada cattleman in a high profile showdown with federal authorities over grazing rights, citing allegations they set up armed checkpoints on local roads.

Rancher Cliven Bundy of Bunkerville became a symbol for conservative Republicans in April, particularly among the Tea Party movement, for his longstanding defiance of court orders to remove his cattle from federal land.

The dispute led to a showdown this month in which the federal Bureau of Land Management sent in helicopters and wranglers on horseback to seize his cattle, before backing down for safety reasons as militias flocked to support the rancher.

Bundy's supporters hailed the outcome as a victory over government tyranny. Detractors called Bundy an outlaw, and conservatives later cooled toward the rancher after he made a series of racist remarks and suggested that African Americans may have fared better under slavery.

Camouflage-clad volunteer militia members have remained a visible presence in Bunkerville, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, in the two weeks since the showdown despite the departure of Bureau of Land Management officers.

U.S. Representative Steven Horsford of Las Vegas, in a letter sent on Sunday, asked the Clark County sheriff to look into complaints that militiamen had been present in Bunkerville-area schools and churches and had set up armed checkpoints on state, federal and county roads, seeking proof of residency from motorists.

"We must respect individual constitutional liberties, but residents of and visitors to Clark County should not be expected to live under the persistent watch of an armed militia," wrote Horsford, a Democrat. "Residents have expressed their desire to see these groups leave their community."

For Obama, trip shows his comfort and personal connections to Asia region

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — During a working lunch here with top Malaysian officials last weekend, President Obama delved into the details of trade issues, nonproliferation efforts and the nuances of nasi goreng recipes in different Southeast Asian countries.

The fact that Obama felt free to riff about fried rice preparations in the middle of a high-level diplomatic session speaks to an often overlooked part of his identity: His time spent in the region as a child, and his mother’s long residence there, makes Asia a central part of his life and personal history.
While Obama often utters a few halting words in the language of the countries he visits, he tossed off Malaysian phrases with ease during a state dinner in Kuala Lumpur. He also broke into a spontaneous exchange in Indonesian during a town hall meeting the next day. His personal connection to the region showed up in more subtle ways as well, as when he slowed his pace to keep in step with Malaysia’s king — a move many Malaysians saw as a cultural gesture of respect for an elder.
Obama’s sense of comfort in the region stems from his childhood time in Indonesia, where he lived between the ages of 6 and 10. That part of his past has garnered relatively little attention back home — an oddity that surfaces only when he does something that seems out of place, such as ordering green-tea ice cream during a campaign stop in Oregon.

U.S. Announces Actions to Enforce Iran Sanctions

The United States government escalated enforcement of its Iran sanctions on Tuesday, adding eight Chinese companies, a Dubai company and two Dubai-based executives to blacklists for evading American restrictions on Iranian weapons, oil and banking transactions.

In coordinated announcements of the actions by the Treasury, State and Justice Departments, the government also offered a $5 million bounty for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Li Fangwei, a Chinese businessman also known as Karl Lee, a previous sanctions target, who is accused of abetting Iranian weapons procurement.

The announcements said that he owned the eight Chinese companies and that he had been charged in a previously sealed indictment with several federal offenses, including conspiracy to commit money laundering, bank fraud and wire fraud.

The announcements signaled the first significant enforcement of American sanctions directed at Iran in about three months, and seemed aimed at dispelling what Obama administration officials have called a misimpression that economic relations with Iran are moving toward normalization.

Despite a modest thaw between Iran and the United States, including a temporary accord on Iran’s disputed nuclear program that eased some sanctions while negotiators attempt to reach a permanent agreement, administration officials have emphasized that most restraints on dealings with Iran remain in place.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford 'to get help'

Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford will take a leave of absence from city hall and his campaign to seek treatment for substance abuse.

His brother Doug Ford, a city councillor, said he felt a "sense of relief" the mayor was getting help.
"He knows he has let people down," Doug Ford said.
Rob Ford, who is seeking re-election on 27 October, has been stripped of many of his powers after admitting using and purchasing illegal drugs while mayor.
'Had his chance' Following months of denials, Rob Ford admitted last year to smoking crack cocaine in a "drunken stupor" after police said they had obtained a video that appeared to show him taking the illegal drug.

"Rob has faced his problems and decided to seek professional help," Doug Ford said on Thursday, tearing up with emotion.

"He knows he has let people down, he let his friends down, his colleagues... and the people of Toronto. I love my brother... I'll continue to stand by my brother."
Mr Ford's challengers in the upcoming election reacted swiftly to the announcement.
"On a personal level, I am relieved Mayor Ford is getting help," businessman John Tory said in a statement. "For the good of the city, I call on Mayor Ford to resign."
Former New Democratic Party MP Olivia Chow said his decision to seek treatment came too late.
"I am sure everyone in our city joins me in extending hopes for him as a person to recover from this sickness," she said.
"As a mayor, however, he had his chance. He chose to ignore calls to get help last year. The appropriate time to take a leave was then. The appropriate course now is for voters to choose a new mayor."
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