Gazette 05-05-14

Monday May 5th 2014

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At least 4 dead as Ukraine mounts offensive in Slovyansk, Odessa

Ukrainian forces were entrenched in deadly gun battles Monday against pro-Russian fighters in the eastern town of Slovyansk, and the government sent an elite national guard unit to the southern port city of Odessa, in the latest attempt to restore Kiev's control over the increasingly unstable region. 
In Slovyansk, witnesses heard gunfire and several explosions as government troops faced off against some 800 pro-Russian insurgents, the Associated Press reported. The rebels are armed with large-caliber weapons and mortars.

Violence in several areas around the city has caused injuries on both sides. A pro-Russia militia spokesman in Slovyansk said an unspecified number of people had been killed and wounded in the clashes, including a 20-year-old woman killed by a stray bullet. Ukraine's interim interior minister, Arsen Avakhov reported four officers were killed and 30 were wounded in the fighting.
Earlier Monday, the BBC, citing the Russian Interfax news agency, reported that government forces had taken control of a TV tower and forced the insurgents to retreat deeper inside Slovyansk. Reuters reported that heavy gunfire could be heard closer to the center of town than in recent days, while at least two armored vehicles controlled by separatists were seen retreating. 
The fresh fighting comes one day after army troops cut off the main road into Slovyansk as part of what the government has described as "anti-terror" operations meant to retake government buildings captured by insurgents in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea in March.
Related Story : Ukraine crisis: Rebels 'retreating' in Sloviansk

Boko Haram Claims Abduction Of Over 200 Schoolgirls

ABUJA, May 5 (Reuters) - The Islamist militant group Boko Haram claimed responsibility on Monday for the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in northeast Nigeria last month and threatened to "sell them on the market", the French news agency AFP reported, citing a video.

Boko Haram on April 14 stormed an all-girl secondary school in the village of Chibok, in Borno state, then packed the teenagers, who had been taking exams, onto trucks and disappeared into a remote area along the border with Cameroon.

The brazenness and sheer brutality of the school attack shocked Nigerians, who have been growing accustomed to hearing about atrocities in an increasingly bloody five-year-old Islamist insurgency in the north.

"I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah," Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in the video, according to AFP, which is normally the first media outlet to get hold of Shekau's videos. Related Story :Nigeria's First Lady accused of ordering protest leaders arrested, calling them terrorists 

Libya Congress rejects new PM Ahmed Maitig

Libya's Congress leader has rejected the appointment of a new interim prime minister hours after he was sworn in.

Ahmed Maitig thought he had secured the support of 121 deputies after several rounds of voting in Congress.
But the process was held in a chaotic session, and acting Congress chairman Ezzedine Al-Amawi later declared the vote illegal.
He asked Abdullah al-Thinni, who quit following a gun attack on his family, to continue as caretaker.
The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says a prime ministerial spokesman told local TV that Mr Thinni would comply with the request.
Mr Maitig, from Misrata, was sworn in after the controversial vote was shown live on television.
Chronic instability He was initially reported to have secured 113 votes, falling short of the 120 required.
Deputy speaker Saleh al-Makhzoum later said Mr Maitig, 42, had clinched 121 votes in the 185-seat chamber after voting resumed.
But some deputies later claimed it was illegal because Mr Amawi had already declared the session for voting over.

U.S. Threatens Sanctions Against South Sudan Rebel Leader Riek Machar

LUANDA, May 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry threatened sanctions and other "consequences" for South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar on Monday if he refuses to commit to peace talks aimed at ending more than four months of fighting that has killed thousands.

Kerry flew to South Sudan on Friday, securing a commitment from President Salva Kiir to fly to Ethiopia for face-to-face talks with rival Machar. But Kerry failed to win a similar commitment from Machar when he later spoke with him by phone.

"He has a fundamental decision to make. If he decides not to (go) and procrastinates, then we have a number of different options that are available to us," said Kerry, speaking to reporters in Angola's capital Luanda, his last stop on a nearly week-long trip to Africa.

"Let me make it clear, if there is a total refusal by one party or the other to engage ... not only might sanctions be engaged, but there are other serious implications and possible consequences," he added.

Kerry, who said that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would go to South Sudan's capital Juba on Tuesday, noted that these consequences also included "accountability" for atrocities committed in the conflict.
"There are any number of possibilities," Kerry said.

Bus bombing in Nairobi leaves at least three dead

Homemade bombs explode on two commuter buses on Thika highway in Kenyan capital, a day after two blasts on the coast

At least three people were killed and 62 wounded when two homemade bombs exploded on buses along one of the busiest highways in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Of the 62 wounded, 20 were in critical condition, according to the national disaster operations centre.

Sunday's blasts were on two buses packed with commuters along Thika highway, said Moses Ombati, the deputy police chief in Nairobi. Eliud Lagat, the deputy head of the bomb disposal unit, said the blasts were caused by improvised explosive devices.
The explosions come a day after two blasts at the Kenyan coast killed four people. Police said a grenade thrown at a bus stop in Mombasa killed the four. The second explosion at a public beach did not cause any fatalities, police said.
Kenya has been hit by a wave of gun and explosive attacks since it sent troops to neighboring Somalia to fight the Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabaab, in 2011. The al-Qaida-linked militants have vowed to carry out terrorist attacks in Kenya to avenge the presence of Kenyan troops in Somalia.
Terror warnings have been persistent in Kenya in recent months, particularly after the assault on Westgate mall killed at least 67 people in September. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for that attack.

Homes of Polish families attacked in east Belfast

The homes of three Polish families have been attacked in east Belfast.

The rented homes on Roslyn Street were daubed with graffiti saying 'locals only'.
It follows a spate of hate crimes in the area, which the police blame on the UVF. Police have appealed for information about this latest incident.
The NI Honorary Polish Consul, Jerome Mullen, said the number of hate crimes being

carried out in Belfast was "very disturbing".
'Hate crime capital' Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme, he said: "The families are frightened and they don't understand why this has happened to them.
"I'm concerned about where we are going and we have to get it stopped.
"It is very sad when you have these continued attacks taking place, they've been going on for far too long now."
Mr Mullen said he would meet Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr on Tuesday to discuss how further attacks can be prevented.

Syria court accepts Assad’s presidential nomination bid

A Syrian court said on Sunday it had accepted requests from President Bashar al-Assad and two other candidates to be nominated to run in a presidential election next month.
Assad’s challengers are unlikely to pose a serious threat to the president in the June 3 vote, which his international opponents and the rebels fighting to overthrow him have dismissed as a farce.
Syria’s opposition leaders in exile are barred from standing by a constitutional clause requiring candidates to have lived in the country continuously for 10 years.
The constitution also says candidates must have the backing of 35 members of the pro-Assad parliament, effectively ruling out dissenting voices from the campaign.
The Supreme Constitutional Court had accepted nomination requests from Assad as well as Hassan Abdallah al-Nouri and lawmaker Maher Abdel-Hafiz Hajjar, court spokesman Majid Khadra said in statements broadcast on state television.

Families of terror victims interrupt Netanyahu's Remembrance Day speech in protest

Protesters shout, "Mr. prime minister, you are freeing the murderers of our children"; Netanyahu says he knew protesters angry at prisoner release would interrupt him, but decided to come to ceremony in order to honor dead.

Protesters angry at Israel's decision to release Palestinian prisoners as part of US-mediated peace talks interrupted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as he was set to deliver his address at the Remembrance Day ceremony for terror victims at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl on Monday. 
The protesters were members of bereaved families who have lost relatives to terrorism. "Mr. prime minister, you are freeing the murderers of our children," a bereaved family member shouted as Netanyahu came to the podium to deliver his address.
Relatives of those killed in terror acts have repeatedly voiced their displeasure at Israel's decision to free Palestinian prisoners with "blood on their hands," as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority ahead of peace talks which have since failed.
Israel refused to release a scheduled fourth batch of 26 prisoners in late March, and talks eventually failed when PA President Mahmoud Abbas decided to seek a unity government with the anti-Israel Hamas movement, however the bereaved families still voiced their protest.

Nine killed in Iraq violence

Baghdad: Attacks and shelling in Baghdad and northern and western Iraq have killed nine people.
The bloodshed is the latest in a protracted surge in unrest that the government has blamed on external factors such as the civil war in neighbouring Syria.
However, analysts and diplomats say it is at least partly due to anger in the minority Sunni community over alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities.

In Fallujah, west of Baghdad, shelling in various parts of the city killed four people on Monday and wounded another, said Ahmed Shami, the chief doctor at the main hospital.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the shelling, which began after midnight, but residents say the military indiscriminately targets the city with regular shelling. Defence officials say they are targeting militants.
In a sign of both the reach of anti-government militants and the weakness of security forces, all of Fallujah and shifting parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, farther west, have been out of government control since early January.
Elsewhere on Monday, two men were shot dead in Baghdad, and a car bomb near a restaurant north of the capital in the ethnically mixed town of Tuz Khurmatu killed at least three soldiers.
The bloodshed comes just days after a parliamentary election, with incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki seeking a third term despite a dramatic deterioration in security and widespread political opposition.
More than 3000 people have been killed this year, according to an AFP tally based on security and medical reports.

WHO slaps travel restrictions on Pakistan over polio fears

The WHO today slapped international travel restrictions on Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria over the countries' failure to control the spread of the deadly polio virus, just a month after India did the same.

According to the World Health Organizations' (WHO) restrictions, it will be mandatory for all residents and long-term visitors (over 4 weeks) from Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria to receive a dose of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) or Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine (IPV) between 4 weeks and 12 months prior to international travel.

Recommendations for the travel restrictions were put forward by a 21-member International Health Regulations Emergency Committee which was formed on the directives of WHO board members on Geneva.

The WHO director-general accepted the committee's assessment and declared the international spread of wild polio virus in 2014 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), a statement by the global health watchdog said.

"This has primarily been done to stop the spread of the deadly virus. And of the situation does improve when a review comes up, the restrictions will be withdrawn too," WHO national campaign coordinator in Pakistan Zubair Mufti told PTI.
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Obama riffs on healthcare policy at annual reporters' dinner

Barack Obama has used the annual White House correspondents' dinner to crack jokes about his healthcare policy, his political opponents and Vladimir Putin.

The healthcare policy has serious IT issues, prompting the joke: "In 2008 my slogan was: 'Yes we can.' In 2013 my slogan was: 'Control-alt-delete.'"
And he ridiculed media commentators for their apparent obsession with Mr Putin's bare chest.
Dozens of celebrities, journalists and politicians were at the dinner.
The roll-out of healthcare.gov, Mr Obama's main policy initiative of his second term, provided much of the humour.
The president made several references to computer malfunctions.
"Does anybody know how to fix this," he asked, pretending that the overhead projector had failed to work.
Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who quit as a result of the IT issues, stepped up and said: "I got this. I see it all the time."
The president used Mr Putin as a way of lampooning some conservative commentators and political opponents.
"Last year [conservative commentator] Pat Buchanan said Putin is headed straight for the Nobel Peace Prize... to be fair they give those to just about anybody these days. So it could happen," he said. Mr Obama was given the award in 2009 having been nominated for it after less than two weeks in office.

Supreme Court: Opening prayers at council meetings constitutional

The Supreme Court has upheld the right of local officials to open town council meetings with prayer, ruling that this does not violate the Constitution even if the prayers routinely stress Christianity. 
The court said in a 5-4 decision Monday that the content of the prayers is not critical as long as officials make a good-faith effort at inclusion. 

The ruling was a victory for the town of Greece, N.Y., outside of Rochester. 
"The prayer opportunity in this case must be evaluated against the backdrop of historical practice," the majority wrote in its opinion. "As a practice that has long endured, legislative prayer has become part of our heritage and tradition, part of our expressive idiom, similar to the Pledge of Allegiance, inaugural prayer, or the recitation of 'God save the United States and this  honorable Court' at the opening of this Court's sessions." 
The majority justices further argued that the intended audience is not "the public but lawmakers themselves." 
In 1983, the court upheld an opening prayer in the Nebraska legislature and said that prayer is part of the nation's fabric, not a violation of the First Amendment. Monday's ruling was consistent with the earlier one. 
Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, said the prayers are ceremonial and in keeping with the nation's traditions.

For Obama, a renewed focus on climate change

The satellite images viewed by President Obama before a meeting with eight Western governors were stark, showing how snowpack in California’s mountains had shrunk by 86 percent in a single year.

“It was a ‘Houston, we have a problem’ moment,” recalled White House counselor John D. Podesta, one of two aides who briefed the president that February day. Obama mentioned the images several times as he warned the governors that political leaders had no choice but to cope with global warming’s impact.
After years of putting other policy priorities first — and dismaying many liberal allies in the process — Obama is now getting into the weeds on climate change and considers it one of the key components of his legacy, according to aides and advisers.
He is regularly briefed on scientific reports on the issue, including a national climate assessment that he will help showcase Tuesday. He is using his executive authority to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other sources, and is moving ahead with stricter fuel-efficiency standards for the heaviest trucks.
And while he routinely brings up climate change in closed-door meetings with world leaders, according to his aides, he also discusses it in his private life, talking about global warming’s implications with his teenage daughters.

Philippines, U.S. begin war games focusing on maritime threat

Thousands of Philippine and U.S. soldiers began annual war games on Monday, the first under a new security pact with the United States, focusing on maritime security in the face of China's growing naval presence in the disputed South China Sea.
The joint exercises "Balikatan" (shoulder-to-shoulder) would test the combat readiness of the two oldest allies in this part of the world to respond to any maritime threats, including piracy and humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
The new security pact was signed last week just hours before U.S. President Barack Obama visited. Obama said the agreement was a testament to Washington's "pivot" to Asia and was an "ironclad" commitment to defend the Philippines.
The Philippines has territorial disputes with China over the South China Sea, which is said to be rich in energy deposits and carries about $5 billion in ship-borne trade every year. The Spratlys in the South China Sea are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
"Tensions in the Asia-Pacific region have increased due to excessive and expansive maritime and territorial claims, undermining the rule of law," Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said at the opening ceremony at the main army base in Manila.
"The aggressive patterns of behavior aimed at changing the status quo threaten peace and stability in the region. Balikatan 2014, with its focus on maritime security, strongly supports our capabilities to address these challenges."

Obama-backed 'green' company, Smith Electric Vehicles, leaves trail of unpaid bills and broken promises

Four years have passed since President Obama visited Kansas City's main airport, rolled up his shirt sleeves and admonished the skeptics who said Smith Electric Vehicles was unlikely to make good on its promises to build 510 experimental electric-powered trucks and buses suitable for commercial use.
“Come see what’s going on at Smith Electric," the president said, inspecting a table full of bright green truck batteries in what was once a maintenance hangar for TWA. "I think they’re going to be hard-pressed to tell you that you’re not better off than you would be if we hadn’t made the investments in this plant.”

The skeptics turned out to be right.
Despite $32 million in federal stimulus funds and status as one of Obama's favorite "green" companies, the firm has halted production, having built just 439 of the promised 510 vehicles.
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