Gazette 05-06-14

Tuesday May 6th 2014

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Egypt's Sisi vows Muslim Brotherhood 'will not exist' 

Egyptian presidential favourite and former army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has vowed that the banned Muslim Brotherhood group "will not exist," should he win.

In his first interview with Egyptian TV, he added that two assassination plots against him had been uncovered.
Mr Sisi removed Egypt's first democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi from power last July.
He is widely expected to win the presidential election on 26-27 May.
Mr Sisi had denied he had any political ambitions when he ousted President Morsi and launched a crackdown on the Brotherhood last year.
In a joint interview with Egypt's privately owned CBC and ONTV television channels on Monday, he said: "I want to tell you that it is not me that finished [the Brotherhood]. You, the Egyptians, are the ones who finished it."

Iran: Naval drills 'build and blow up' replica US ships

Iran has been building replicas of US warships for years - to practice blowing them up - a top Iranian admiral has reportedly said.

"We have been making and sinking replicas of US destroyers, frigates and warships for many years," says Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in an interview with Fars news agency. "We practice the same drills on replica aircraft carriers because sinking and destroying US warships has, is and will be on our agenda."
The admiral - whose forces patrol the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route - says the US relies on aircraft carriers for overseas aerial attacks, making them a natural target for Iranian forces. His troops now have a good understanding of the "design, construction and structure of the US warships", he says, adding that in the drills the replica vessels can sink in just 50 seconds.
Last month, CNN published satellite pictures that seemed to show a mock nuclear-powered Nimitz-class (CVN 68) aircraft carrier - the largest battleship in the world - being built in Iran, along with fake US-style aircraft. The purpose of the replica was not clear at the time, and Iranian media reported the ship would be used on a film set. US officials said they did not believe Iran had the capability to build a real one.

Ukraine says 30 pro-Russian insurgents killed during security operations

DONETSK, Ukraine –  Ukraine's Interior Minister said Tuesday that 30 pro-Russian insurgents were killed during government operations to expunge anti-government forces in and near a town in the east.
Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page Tuesday that four government troops also died and another 20 were injured during fighting in Slovyansk.

Gunbattles took place at various positions around the city in what has proven the most ambitious government effort to date to quell unrest in the mainly Russian-speaking east.
In Donetsk, a major city some 120 kilometers south of Slovyansk, flights from the local airport were suspended Tuesday.
A display board at the Donetsk airport showed international flights had been cancelled and only outbound flights to the capital, Kiev, were still in operation. The airport said on its website that the cancellations followed a government order. It was not immediately clear Tuesday morning how long the suspension was due to remain in effect.
Avakov said Monday that pro-Russia forces in Slovyansk, a city of 125,000, were deploying large-caliber weapons and mortars in the region and there were injured on both sides. Government troops were facing about 800 insurgents, he said.

Ukraine is close to war, warns German minister

Ukraine is close to war, the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has warned in interviews published in four European newspapers on Tuesday.
Dozens are feared to have died in clashes outside Slavyansk on Monday as Ukrainian troops clashed with pro-Russia separatists.
"The bloody pictures from Odessa have shown us that we are just a few steps away from a military confrontation," Steinmeier told El País, Le Monde, La Repubblica and Gazeta Wyborcza. He added that the conflict had taken on an intensity "that a short time ago we would not have considered possible".
The acting Ukrainian interior minister, Arsen Avakov, claimed that more than 30 pro-Russia separatists had been killed in fighting outside the key rebel town on Monday.

Ukraine crisis: Russia rules out new Geneva talks

Russia's foreign minister has ruled out holding a new round of talks in Geneva in a bid to defuse the Ukraine crisis.

Sergei Lavrov said there was no point as last month's accord between the US, EU and Russia had not been implemented.
He spoke after a Council of Europe meeting, where ministers were expected to support the Ukrainian authorities' plans for a 25 May presidential poll.
Mr Lavrov said it would be "unusual" for it to take place when the army was being used against the population.
Ukrainian acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia said Ukraine was ready to back a new round of talks in Geneva as long as Moscow supported presidential elections.
"If Russia is ready to commit itself to support these elections and to eliminate this threat and eliminate its support for the extremist elements in Ukraine, we are ready to have such a round of meetings," he said at a news conference.
In recent days, security forces have launched a crackdown on pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country, triggering clashes outside the town of Sloviansk.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Tuesday that four soldiers and an estimated 30 separatists had been killed in the "anti-terrorism operation".

China Knife Attack: 6 Wounded In Stabbing Spree At Guangzhou Railway Station

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese police shot and wounded a suspect who attacked passengers at a busy railway station in southern China on Tuesday, leaving six people injured in the third high-profile assault on civilians at a train station in a little more than two months.
There was no immediate word on a motive for the violence in the Guangdong provincial capital of Guangzhou.
The attack came despite heightened security countrywide in the wake of two deadly attacks at train stations blamed on extremists from far-western China. The country also has seen mass stabbings carried out by people with grudges against society or who were deemed mentally ill.
The latest incident happened late in the morning at the Guangzhou Railway Station, city police said on their microblog. Officers arrived as passengers were being hacked, and shot and subdued a male suspect with a knife after he failed to respond to a police warning, the statement said.
Following initial confusion about the number of attackers, police said there was only one perpetrator. It said the person was receiving treatment in a hospital, but gave no further details.
Police said six people were injured and taken to a hospital, not including the suspect.
Last week, a suicide bombing at a train station in the far-western region of Xinjiang — where extremists among the Turkic Uighur Muslim population have been waging a simmering insurgency against Beijing for years — left three people dead and 79 injured, prompting Chinese President Xi Jinping to demand "decisive actions" against terrorism.

Pakistan's failure to stop spread of polio sparks global emergency response

Pakistan's failure to stem the spread of polio has triggered global emergency health measures , with the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommending all residents must show proof of vaccination before they can leave the country.
The emergency measures also apply to Syria and Cameroon, which along with Pakistan are seen as posing the greatest risk of exporting the crippling virus and undermining a UN plan to eradicate it by 2018.
Pakistan is in the spotlight as the only country with endemic polio that saw cases rise last year. Its caseload rose to 93 from 58 in 2012, accounting for more than a fifth of the 417 cases globally in 2013.
The virus has recently spread to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Syria, and has been found in sewage in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and greater Cairo, said WHO assistant director general Bruce Aylward. It also appeared in China two years ago.
"In the majority of these re-infected areas, the viruses circulating actually trace back to Pakistan within the last 12-18 months," Aylward told reporters on a conference call.
Pakistan has called an emergency meeting of senior provincial and federal health officials for Wednesday to finalise how to implement the new requirements.
"The best option would be vaccinating the passengers at the airport departure where polio vaccination cards would be issued to the passengers. Human resource and vaccines would have to be worked out for the purpose," state minister for health services Saira Afzal Tarar said in a televised broadcast.

Israelis jam-pack parks, army bases in celebration of Independence Day

Independence Day festivities were kicked off at the President’s Residence, where President Shimon Peres paid homage to soldiers who were cited for exceptional service and commendations.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are expected to flock to the nation’s parks, hiking trails, recreational areas, museums, and army bases in celebration of the country’s 66th Independence Day on Tuesday.
According to news reports, heavy traffic jams are being reported on the main coastal highway linking Tel Aviv and Haifa, with most of the traffic heading northward.

Police are also reporting heavy traffic jams near the entrance to the Tel Nof military base near Rehovot.

Authorities are urging commuters to avoid the area entirely, as delays could reach an hour for those seeking to get in.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic is also being reported on Route 73 in the north, where cars are lining up to enter the Ramat David air force base.

Earlier on Tuesday, Independence Day festivities were kicked off at the President’s Residence, where President Shimon Peres paid homage to soldiers who were cited for exceptional service and commendations.

Thailand PM Yingluck Shinawatra in court over abuse of power

Thailand's prime minister has appeared before the Constitutional Court in Bangkok to defend herself against allegations of abuse of power.

The complaint was filed by senators who said Yingluck Shinawatra's party benefited from improperly transferring her national security chief in 2011.
Ms Yingluck could be removed from office and banned from politics for five years if found guilty.
The decision is expected on Wednesday, the court said after the hearing.
The prime minister's supporters believe the top courts are biased against her and the case is an attempt by the elite to force her from office.
The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says if the Constitutional Court also bans enough of her cabinet to disable her caretaker administration, her ministers have warned there will be chaos, with large-scale protests by pro-government red-shirts a certainty.

Thailand has seen deadlock since anti-government protests began in 2013. The protesters, who are mainly urban and middle class, want Ms Yingluck's government replaced by an unelected "people's council".

In response, Ms Yingluck called a snap election in February which she was expected to win, but this was disrupted by the protesters and subsequently annulled.

Bomb kills 3 policemen in western Afghanistan

 

KABUL: An Afghan official says a roadside bombing has killed three policemen and wounded two in the country's western Herat province.

District police chief Shir Agha Alokozay says the attack took place in the province's Obe district today morning, when the police vehicle the officers were riding in hit the roadside bomb.

Alokozay says the bomb was set off by a remote control device and that the police have caught a suspect with the remote control.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but Afghan security forces are frequently targeted by insurgents and violence has intensified in the country as most international troops prepare to withdraw at the end of the year. 

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Administration issues dire climate change report, amid regulatory push

The Obama administration fueled its push for energy regulations with a massive new report Tuesday linking climate change to extreme weather across the country and warning of more "climate disruption" if the nation doesn't change its ways. 
The National Climate Assessment, four years in the making, gave a region-by-region breakdown of how climate change is impacting the United States -- in the form of droughts, heat waves and increasingly intense hurricanes, according to the report. 

"Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present," the 840-page report states. "Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington state and maple syrup producers in Vermont are all observing climate-related changes that are outside of recent experience." 
The report predicts that the weather-related repercussions of climate change "are expected to become increasingly disruptive across the nation throughout this century and beyond." 
In a counterpoint of sorts to the report, congressional Republicans representing western states released their own findings later Tuesday morning highlighting state efforts to protect the environment. The report highlights local air and water policies, and criticizes "one-size-fits-all" regulations it accuses the administration of imposing.

Republicans Focus On Benghazi Ahead Of Midterm Elections

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are opening the door to participating in a select committee investigation of Benghazi. They are insisting, however, that they are represented equally with Republicans.
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says in a statement that the review can only be fair if it is bipartisan.
She says the panel should be divided between the Republican majority and Democratic minority. The California Democrat also says information must be shared between the parties.
House Speaker John Boehner has named a Republican chair but has yet to outline his full plan for the select committee. A vote to authorize the panel is expected this week.
It is unlikely Republicans would accept the Democrats' request for equal representation.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Republicans are sharpening their focus on the deadly 2012 Benghazi, Libya, attack as midterm elections loom closer, with a likely vote this week on establishing a select House committee to investigate the Obama administration's response.

U.S., Djibouti reach agreement to keep counterterrorism base in Horn of Africa nation

The United States has reached agreement with the government of Djibouti to preserve a key military base in the Horn of Africa that has been central to U.S. counterterrorism efforts in East Africa — and previously served as a key launching point for drone strikes throughout the region.

President Obama announced the agreement Monday at the White House during a meeting with Djibouti’s president, Ismail Omar Guelleh. An administration official said the U.S. government would pay $630 million over the next decade to Djibouti to lease the base, called Camp Lemonnier. At $63 million per year, the fee is almost double the $38 million that the United States has been paying.

U.S., Singapore reach agreement on tax evasion: U.S. Treasury

(Reuters) - Singapore has reached a tax information-sharing agreement with the United States under a new law meant to combat offshore tax dodging by Americans, a U.S. Treasury Department spokeswoman said on Monday.
The deal, which was expected for more than a year, will make it much easier for institutions in one of Asia's biggest wealth management centers to comply with U.S. rules, and puts it ahead of rival Hong Kong which is yet to finalize a deal.
Set to take effect on July 1, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010 (FATCA) will require foreign banks, investment funds and insurers to hand over information to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service about accounts with more than $50,000 held by Americans.

Foreign firms that do not comply face a 30 percent withholding tax on their U.S. investment income and could effectively be frozen out of U.S. capital markets.
The Singapore deal, known as an intergovernmental agreement (IGA), will come as relief to the city-state's wealth management industry which had S$1.63 trillion ($1.30 trillion)in assets under management at the end of 2012.
Like most of the other FATCA deals, the Singapore agreement will allow firms to report U.S. account-holder information to their local tax authority, which will send it along to the IRS, saving them from dealing directly with the U.S. tax authorities.
The Singapore deal was agreed "in substance" and must be finalized by the end of the year.
"The advantage this gives to Singapore institutions is the certainty on how they should go about their compliance efforts and make the relevant registrations," said Michael Brevetta, who is PricewaterhouseCoopers' FACTA lead for Southeast Asia.

Republicans poised for midterm gains, polling indicates

 

Six months out from the November midterm election, Republicans have a strong advantage which, if it holds up, would likely translate into significant gains in Congress, a new nationwide survey indicates.The latest Pew Research Center poll shows that 47% of registered voters say they plan to vote for a Republican candidate or lean that direction compared with 43% who say they support or lean toward the Democrats.
Republicans have a particularly strong lead with groups of voters who tend to turn out in midterm elections, according to the poll, which was done for USA Today. Men 50 and older, for example, lean toward the GOP, 55% to 37%.
Republicans also have a 50%-39% lead among voters in the South, where several of the most hotly contested U.S. Senate races are taking place this year. They have a narrower lead in the Midwest, while Democrats have a small lead in the Northeast and West.
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