Gazette 05-02-14

Friday May 2nd 2014

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Syrian rebels 'to pull out of Homs'

Opposition fighters are to be allowed to withdraw from besieged parts of the Syrian city of Homs under a deal with the government, reports say.

Rebels will be allowed to pull back to opposition-held areas north of Homs, activists say. The Syrian government has not commented on the reports.
Fighters have held areas around the Old City despite a two-year siege. Earlier this year civilians were let out.
Also on Friday, two bombs in Hama province reportedly killed at least 18.
Eleven children were among the dead after suicide bombers struck in the villages of Jibrin and al-Humeiri, both under government control, state media said.
The attack comes three days after scores of people were killed and injured in car bombings in government-controlled parts of Homs city.
There has so far been no claim of responsibility for the Hama bombings, correspondents say, but al-Qaeda affiliated rebels of the Nusra Front have carried out several car bombings in recent weeks.
'Unusually quiet' The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist group, said about 1,000 fighters were expected to pull out from rebel-held areas of Homs under the terms of a ceasefire.
Related Story: Syrian government, rebels agree to ceasefire in battleground city of Homs

Taliban in deadly Afghanistan Panjshir suicide bombing 

At least 12 people have been killed in a suicide bombing at a busy checkpoint in the central Afghan province of Panjshir, a spokesman for the provincial governor has told the BBC.

In a statement to the BBC's Mahfouz Zubaide, he said that the bomber blew himself up near the provincial border, injuring more than 35 people.
The Taliban in a text message said that they carried out the attack.
Officials say that the number of casualties is likely to go up.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told the Reuters news agency that six policemen and six road construction workers were killed when the bomber struck at a highly-guarded checkpoint where vehicles enter the Panjshir valley.
Police say that a number of security force members and civilians are among the wounded.
Correspondents say that Panjshir is a mountainous province which served as an important rallying area for fiercely anti-Taliban forces as US-led forces toppled the Islamist group's government in late 2001. It has been relatively stable since the militants were ousted.
The steep valley in the Hindu Kush mountain range is also famous for the dogged resistance of its inhabitants against the Soviet occupation of the 1980s.
The Taliban pledged to disrupt a presidential election on 5 April and mounted a series of attacks in the run-up to the poll but voting on the day went ahead largely peacefully. 

Libyan gunmen storm Benghazi security HQ 

Gunmen in the Libyan city of Benghazi have raided a security headquarters, sparking clashes in which five people died, military sources have said.

The raid took place in the early hours of the morning and at least 10 others were wounded in the fighting that went on for more than an hour afterwards.
Army officials told the Reuters news agency that the attackers were believed to be members of an Islamist militia.
Benghazi has been plagued by violence since the 2011 uprising.
It ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule, but the government has since been struggling to control and disarm the numerous armed groups and militias who took part in the civil war.
According to the AFP news agency, it was five soldiers who died in the early morning battle.
Special forces intervened to evict the gunmen and the fighting spread to several districts, the agency reports.
Armed men also attacked the apartment of Benghazi's security chief, Col Ramadan al-Wahishi, but he was not hurt, a security official told Reuters.
The latest violence comes three days after a car bomb exploded at the gates of a military barracks near the airport, killing two soldiers.
Benghazi was the cradle of the uprising against Col Gaddafi, but has since 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.

11 Ethiopian students killed in violent confrontations with police in country's largest state

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia –  The Ethiopian government says at least 11 students have been killed in clashes with the police in a region that has long been the scene of a secessionist movement.
The government said in a statement late Thursday that violence had erupted in a number of university campuses across Oromia state as ethnic Oromo students protest a plan by the central government to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, into parts of Oromia.

The violence is spreading from the campuses into nearby towns, causing serious damage to property. Protesters set fire to a bank, a gas station and some government buildings, according to police.

Ukrainian helicopters downed as 'highly skilled' Russian separatists resist Kiev offensive

SLOVYANSK, Ukraine –  Two Ukrainian helicopters were shot down and two crew members killed amid clashes with "highly skilled foreign military men" in the key eastern city of Slavyansk, where a fierce effort by Kiev to regain control from pro-Russian separatists brought the nations closer to the brink.
The UN scheduled a meeting of the Security Council at Russia's request as the fresh violence erupted in Slovyansk, which has become the focus of an armed pro-Russian insurgency. But the Ukrainian offensive "effectively destroyed the last hope for the implementation of the Geneva agreements," which international observers had hoped might defuse the crisis, warned Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman.

A Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman told Fox News that two Ukrainian helicopters were shot down and two of their crewmembers were killed and several Ukrainian soldiers were injured in the fighting around the southeastern city of Slovyansk. Pro-Russian fighters were also reportedly killed in the clashes, which could prompt fiery exchanges between Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin and U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power at the Friday morning UN emergency session.

Residents of the city of 130,000 in the divided province of Donetsk were warned to stay indoors as a Ukrainian "anti-terrorist operation" was mounted. Two Mi24 helicopters were taken down with mobile surface-to-air missiles, killing two military officers and injuring others, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry website. Another army helicopter, an Mi8, was damaged but no one was hurt, it said.

The Ukrainian Security Service said its forces were fighting "highly skilled foreign military men" in Slovyansk. The clash seemed to counter Russia's claims that the city is under control of civilians who took up arms.
Stella Khorosheva, a spokeswoman for the pro-Russian militants, said one of their men was killed and another injured. She offered no further details.

North Korea Makes Ominous Move

SEOUL, May 2 (Reuters) - North Korea has recently conducted engine tests for an intercontinental ballistic missile that could potentially deliver a nuclear warhead to the United States, a U.S. think tank said on Friday.

North Korea conducted at least one engine test for the KN-08 missile in late March or early April, the think tank 38 North said, marking the latest in a series of tests for a missile believed to have a range of more than 10,000 km (6,000 miles).

Following the engine tests, the next stage for North Korea would be a test launch of the missile, according to 38 North, which is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University's U.S.-Korea Institute.

"As this effort progresses, the next technically logical step in the missile's development would be a flight test of the entire system," 38 North said in its report.

Commercial satellite imagery indicates movement and removal of missile stages and fuel tanks as well as changes in the flame trench that point to North Korea having conducted one or more tests in the two-week period from March 22, the report said.

South Korea's defense ministry declined to confirm the specifics of the report citing intelligence policy but said a long-range missile launch by the North could not be ruled out.

"It's not easy to conduct a long-range rocket launch right after a engine test but they may have had other things prepared," ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said.

North Korea is believed to be developing on a nuclear weapon and the technology to miniaturize a warhead to mount it on a long-range missile.

In December 2012 it launched a long-range rocket that successfully put an object into space orbit and in February last year conducted a third nuclear test.

The report on the engine testing comes a week after the think tank reported heightened activities at the North's nuclear test site at Punggye-ri, indicating it was ready to conduct a fourth nuclear test.

China's Train Station Bombing Carried Out By Religious Extremists, Authorities Say

URUMQI, China (AP) — Chinese authorities say that two religious extremists carried out a terror attack at a train station in far-western Xinjiang region by detonating explosives, in an apparent suicide bombing that also killed one other person and wounded 79.
The strike late Wednesday in Urumqi was the third high-profile attack in seven months blamed on Xinjiang extremists that targeted civilians. These attacks, two of them outside the region, have marked a departure from a previous pattern of primarily targeting local authorities in a long-simmering insurgency.
A 57-year-old woman being treated at the Xinjiang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital said she had just arrived from Sichuan province and was walking outside the station to meet her son when the explosives went off and knocked her to the ground.
"I saw I had shreds of flesh and blood in my hair and on my clothes. It was terrifying," said the woman, who would give only her surname, Peng.
The attack prompted increased security in Urumqi, and in China's capital Beijing, police held a terror response drill at the city's main railway station in the early hours of Friday.
Police based at the station arrived on the scene of a hypothetical attack within 50 seconds, with anti-terror, SWAT, criminal investigation and traffic control units all turning up within 15 minutes. Photos on the police force's microblog showed officers wearing helmets and body armor and toting submachine guns and other weapons.
The official website for Xinjiang's regional government said police identified two suspects with a history of religious extremism, including a 39-year-old man from southern Xinjiang.

South Sudan president agrees to resume peace talks

US secretary of state John Kerry says talks between Salva Kiir and rival Riek Machar could take place as early as next week

South Sudan's president has agreed to meet his rival as soon as next week to jumpstart peace talks that have been stalled for months and potentially to lay groundwork for a new government.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, emerged from a 90-minute meeting with President Salva Kiir in the capital, Juba, to announce a tentative agreement for the peace talks to take place as early as next week in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, has agreed to mediate the talks.
Kerry said Kiir's rival, the former vice-president Riek Machar, had previously indicated he would engage in ceasefire discussions. The American diplomat said he hoped to speak to Machar later on Friday.
"The unspeakable human costs that we are seeing over the course of the last months, and which could even grow if they fail to sit down, are unacceptable to the global community," Kerry said after his meeting with Kiir. "Before the promise of South Sudan's future is soaked in more blood, President Kiir and the opposition must work immediately for cessation of hostilities and to move toward an understanding about future governance for the country."
Kerry said a ceasefire would probably lead to a transitional government in South Sudan. He declined to comment on whether Kiir or Macher could have a role in the country's future leadership.
The peace talks could mark a turning point in nearly six months of horrific fighting largely along ethnic lines between Dinka and Nuer tribes. It began after Kiir, a Dinka, accused Machar, a Nuer, of plotting a coup to seize power last December. A ceasefire agreement reached in January was abandoned within days.
Thousands of people have been killed, nearly one million have fled their homes, and many farmers have had to abandon their crops, raising fears of a famine later in the year.

Suspected far-right vandals defile tombstone of revered Palestinian revolutionary

This latest incidence of vandalism is believed to be part of the so-called “price tag” campaign waged by settlers and far-right supporters intended to intimidate the Arab population of Israel, Judea, and Samaria.

Suspected far-right vandals spray-painted graffiti on the tombstone of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, the Muslim preacher who provided inspiration for Hamas’ military wing, Israel’s Channel 10 is reporting on Friday.

This latest incidence of vandalism is believed to be part of the so-called “price tag” campaign waged by settlers and far-right supporters intended to intimidate the Arab population of Israel, Judea, and Samaria, as well as dissuade the government from making peace overtures to the Palestinians.

The Muslim "Al Qassam" cemetery in Haifa joins the list of targets nationwide, as Israeli authorities struggle to prevent suspected far-right assailants from defiling more non-Jewish property.

One of the graves was spray-painted with the words "Tag mehir (‘price tag’) Tzipi Livni," while another read "Thanks for Memorial Day" along with the name of US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Al-Qassam, whose exploits during the Palestinian struggle for independence against the British and the Zionists inspired generations of Palestinians, is the namesake of the Hamas military wing. The name conjures up traumatic experiences for Israelis who for over the past decade have been living under the threat of incessant Qassam rocket fire from Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Nasa captures huge fires burning in North Korea in new satellite images

LONDON: A Nasa satellite has shown dozens of fires burning across North Korea, which the agency says could be caused by the country's aging infrastructure.

Some of the fires are in heavily forested areas, which suggests that they could be wildfires, said Nasa. Drooping power lines on old power lines often cause wildfires in the country, reports have claimed.

Lots of the fires are in farming areas, which are likely caused by farmers to clear debris and help fertilise soil for the next season.

The fires have sent plumes of smoke over the Sea of Japan.

Nasa's finds bring further scrutiny to North Korea, which recently found itself in hot water after appearing to steal from the American space agency. The country revealed a new logo for its space agency, Nada, which looked remarkably like its US peer.

The image was taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, on Nasa's Aqua satellite. The satellite has captured similar but less dense fires in the past.
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House committee subpoenas Kerry to testify over Benghazi documents

A key House committee has subpoenaed Secretary of State John Kerry to testify about newly released Benghazi documents, after the Republican chairman accused the administration of hiding the records following an earlier congressional subpoena. 
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced Friday that it has issued the subpoena for Kerry to testify at a May 21 hearing. 

"The State Department's response to the congressional investigation of the Benghazi attack has shown a disturbing disregard for the Department's legal obligations to Congress," Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wrote in a letter to Kerry.   
He added: "Compliance with a subpoena for documents is not a game. Because your Department is failing to meet its legal obligations, I am issuing a new subpoena to compel you to appear before the Committee to answer questions about your agency's response to the congressional investigation of the Benghazi attack." 
Issa, at a hearing on Thursday, lashed out at the administration over the latest documents. The emails in question were obtained and published by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Issa said the State Department also told his committee about those emails in an April 17 letter. 
One email showed White House adviser Ben Rhodes discussing a "prep call" with then-U.N. ambassador Susan Rice, before she went on several Sunday shows and made controversial and flawed statements linking the attack to an anti-Islam Internet video. The email from Rhodes emphasized the role of the Internet video, though the White House claims that was in reference to protests elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa. 
Regardless of the context, Issa claims those documents were withheld from Congress for well over a year. "It is disturbing and perhaps criminal ... that documents like these were hidden by the Obama administration from Congress and the public alike," Issa said at Thursday's hearing. He claimed the withholding of these documents is the worst transparency violation since at least the Nixon administration.

Protesters Pepper-Sprayed, Arrested During Seattle May Day March

SEATTLE (AP) — Police fired pepper spray and arrested a half dozen people Thursday night as anti-capitalist marchers meandered through Seattle, hours after hundreds of peaceful demonstrators took part in a May Day march in support of immigrant rights and a boost in the minimum wage.
Police said they used pepper spray after some marchers threw bottles at officers in downtown Seattle. Protesters later started trash can fires in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Another arrest came after a brick was hurled at officers. A gun was recovered from one of those arrested, police said.
By late Thursday night, the anti-capitalist protesters had marched in a rambling circuit from Capitol Hill to downtown Seattle and back again before police hemmed them in. Some tossed firecrackers at police, officers said.
All through the day and night, Seattle police were out in force on bicycles, foot and horseback. They supplemented their numbers with officers from several other jurisdictions.
Violence has plagued May Day in Seattle during the past two years, with protesters challenging police in the streets and sometimes stealing the thunder of much larger daytime events.
Last year, police arrested 18 people from a crowd that pelted them with rocks and bottles.
Seattle police noted a marked uptick in anti-authority rhetoric leading up to this year's May Day events, said Capt. Chris Fowler, in charge of the department's response to the demonstrations.

U.S. and Germany Fail to Reach a Deal on Spying

WASHINGTON — The effort to remake the intelligence relationship between the United States and Germany after it was disclosed last year that the National Security Agency was tapping Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone has collapsed, according to German officials, who say there will be no broad intelligence sharing or “no-spy” agreement between the two countries when Ms. Merkel arrives at the White House on Friday.

The failure to reach a broader accord has led to some bitter recriminations on both sides, with sharply diverging accounts from officials in Berlin and Washington about who was responsible for what was supposed to be a political solution to an embarrassing disclosure. But it also raises broader questions at a moment that President Obama and Ms. Merkel will attempt to show that they are in general accord on a strategy for both punishing Russia for its actions in Ukraine and containing President Vladimir V. Putin in the years ahead.

The effort to remain in step, at a time of significant disagreements within the European alliance about how to respond to Russia, is “going to put our intelligence relationships to the kind of test we haven’t seen since the end of the Cold War,” a senior administration official said this week.

Just before she left Berlin for Washington on Thursday, Ms. Merkel talked by phone with Mr. Putin, urging the release of a German-led team of military observers — four Germans, a Pole, a Czech and a Dane — who have been held almost a week in the Ukrainian town of Slovyansk, one of a dozen or so east Ukrainian cities where pro-Russian militants have assumed control.

The fact that the observers are still being held — to growing consternation in Berlin — has suggested to some in the West and in Ukraine that Mr. Putin, who in general values relations with Germany, is either unable or unwilling to intervene.

Florida Rep. Alan Grayson calls wife bigamist, asks court to annul 24-year marriage

Life and love for Rep. Alan Grayson probably isn’t turning out the way he’d hoped.
The Florida Democrat, who was accused by his estranged wife of assault, filed court documents last week asking that their 24-year marriage be annulled.

Grayson claimed in a countersuit that Lolita Grayson hoodwinked him into getting married even though she was secretly married to another man at the time.
The documents, filed in 9th Circuit Court in Orange County, Fla., refer to the couple’s union as “a bigamous marriage.”
“Unbeknownst to Mr. Grayson, Ms. Grayson was married and remained married to another man …up to and after the parties conducted an apparent marriage ceremony on April 28, 1990,” according to the filing.
Grayson claimed his wife “secretly participated” in a divorce from her first husband, Robert Carson, four years after she married the Florida congressman.
The new court filing also accused Lolita Grayson of defamation, libel, slander and abuse of process stemming from a March 1 confrontation at the house the Graysons shared.
During that incident, Lolita Grayson claimed her husband pushed her “very hard” against the front door, according to a police report. It also stated that in order to protect herself, she pushed him back and kneed him in the stomach before calling authorities.
Soon after, Alan Grayson released a cellphone video of the altercation that he claimed shows it was his wife who escalated the fight.
In the new filing, Alan Grayson argued that he should be awarded custody of their five children and that his wife be ordered to pay him back for “all of the money and property she has received” during their “purported” marriage.

Donors Weigh Jilting Christie for Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush’s increasingly serious and public examination of a run for president has shaken the ranks of establishment Republican donors and fund-raisers who had planned to back Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey in 2016, forcing many of them to rethink their allegiance to the embattled governor.

In private conversations that are now seeping into public view, some of them are signaling to Mr. Christie’s camp that, should Mr. Bush enter the race, their first loyalty would be to him, not to Mr. Christie, according to interviews with more than two dozen of them.

Many of those who, because of geography and personal ties, were expected to line up behind Mr. Christie say they now feel torn. And it is clear that Mr. Christie’s recent troubles, especially the George Washington Bridge scandal, are adding to the allure of Mr. Bush, a former Florida governor.

Lawrence E. Bathgate II, a former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee and a major donor in New Jersey, said he dreaded the prospect of having to choose between the two men, calling it “a fraught decision.”

David V. Hedley, a former Wall Street executive and Republican fund-raiser in New Jersey, said he also felt tugged in two directions, conceding that “it’s tough right now for me.”

And Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, put it this way: “It would be awkward. It would be very awkward.”

Nowhere is the consternation greater than among the hundreds of top donors and so-called bundlers who cut their teeth on Bush family political campaigns. If Mr. Bush runs, they must choose between bucking their ties to the first family of Republican politics or turning their back on Mr. Christie, who does not take well to disloyalty.

“Those of us that have been dedicated to the Bush family for years would obviously have to take a Jeb candidacy into extremely serious consideration,” said Fred S. Zeidman, a Texas businessman and top fund-raiser for George W. Bush’s two presidential campaigns who has helped introduce Mr. Christie to potential supporters in his state.

Mr. Christie and Mr. Bush have not officially declared their intentions for 2016. Mr. Christie’s advisers say his political focus this year remains on leading the Republican Governors Association, which has broken fund-raising records during Mr. Christie’s tenure as chairman, which began in November.

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