Gazette 05-12-14

Monday May 12th 2014

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Ukraine government denounces referendum as 'farce' as Moscow calls for dialogue

The Russian government has called for the Ukrainian government to begin a dialogue with separatists in the eastern part of Ukraine after rebels claimed overwhelming victories in so-called "self-rule" referendums condemned as illegitimate by the Kiev government and its Western allies.

The Kremlin voiced its hope in a statement that "the practical implementation of the referendums results will take place in a civilized way," without violence.

It added that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe could help organize a dialogue between Ukraine's government and representatives of the east, where about 90 percent of votes backed sovereignty for their regions in Sunday's vote.

The statement signaled that Russia has no intention to annex the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, like it annexed Crimea following a similar referendum in March. It also noted the "high turnout" in the vote and condemned the use of force against civilians in the east.

According to early returns, 89 percent of those who cast ballots Sunday in the Donetsk region and about 96 percent of those who turned out in the neighboring Luhansk region voted for expanded sovereignty.

Taliban Launch Summer Offensive, Attacking Kabul Airport And U.S. Military Base

KABUL, May 12 (Reuters) - Taliban militants launched a wave of attacks across Afghanistan on Monday, the first day of their declared summer offensive, targeting the international airport and the United States' biggest military base near Kabul.

The Islamist Taliban have vowed to target Afghan and foreign forces, as well as the political process as the country prepares for a second round run-off in the presidential election.

Two rockets landed just outside the heavily guarded airport, but no one was hurt, the interior ministry said.

The U.S.-led coalition reported four rockets hit the U.S.-run Bagram Airbase near capital. No one was killed.

Insurgents also stormed a government building in the eastern province of Nangahar, killing two policemen and two government workers, said Fazel Ahmad Sherzad, the provincial police chief. The three attackers were killed, he added.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001, are seeking to overthrow the U.S.-backed government and end foreign occupation.

The insurgents had vowed to derail the first round of the election last month, but a security crackdown by Afghan forces ensured the vote proceeded without any major incidents.

Yemen drone strike 'kills al-Qaeda militants' in east

At least six suspected al-Qaeda militants have been killed in a drone strike in eastern Yemen, reports say.

The drone reportedly destroyed the car in which they were travelling in the Wadi Abida district of Maarib province.
State media and local tribal sources said they were members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The strike comes as the Yemeni army continues a major offensive against strongholds of AQAP and its allies in two provinces in the south.
It says it has inflicted heavy losses on the militants, killing dozens of leaders - most of them foreigners - and capturing weapons.
The army regained control of several major towns in Shabwa and Abyan provinces during a similar campaign in 2012, but AQAP members were able to retreat to remote rural areas and regroup.
Since the new campaign began on 29 April, following a series of deadly drone strikes on AQAP strongholds, militants have stepped up attacks on government and security personnel.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car outside a police station in the southern city of Mukalla, killing 11 police officers and wounding 15 others, the interior ministry said.

Egypt says it arrested militants, Syria returnees, with alleged ties to Morsi's group

CAIRO – Egypt's top security official has sought to build claims that the Muslim Brotherhood is backing terrorism, showing alleged confessions of militants saying the received funds from members of the group to attack police and the military.

The Brotherhood has denied any link to the wave of militant attacks on security forces, which escalated since last summer in retaliation for the military's outer of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the subsequent crackdown on his Islamist supporters.
Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim aired the confessions at a press conference Monday, saying authorities are in "decisive stage in curbing terrorism" after they successfully uncovered 40 "terrorist cells" since April. In the confessions, several of the militants said they had fought in Syria's civil war before returning to Egypt to join the militant campaign.

Boko Haram Security Summit Agreed Upon By Nigerian Government

PARIS (AP) — A French official says Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has agreed to attend a security summit on Saturday in Paris to focus on the Boko Haram terrorist network, which abducted more than 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria last month.

France is still awaiting confirmation from leaders of the four countries bordering Nigeria: Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Representatives of Britain, the EU and the United States will also be invited.

The official spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because details on the summit have not been finalized. French President Francois Hollande proposed the meeting.

The failure to rescue more than 200 girls who remain captive has attracted international outrage. Experts from the United States, France, Britain, China, Israel and Spain are expected in Nigeria to help the authorities.

Militants 'kill 20 Iraqi soldiers' in attack near Mosul

Militants have killed 20 Iraqi soldiers in an attack on a base near the northern city of Mosul, officials say.

Many of the soldiers had been shot at close range. Some of the dead had their hands tied behind their backs, a medical worker told the AP news agency.
Insurgents in Sunni-dominated parts of northern and western Iraq have been fighting security forces under the command of the Shia-led government.
Violence has peaked again since the sectarian conflict of the last decade.
The UN says more than 8,000 people were killed in Iraq last year, the highest figure since 2007.
The government has blamed the rising bloodshed on Sunni militants, linking it to the conflict in neighbouring Syria.
But many analysts and diplomats say the government, led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, has contributed to the unrest by alienating the Sunni minority.
Iraq held a parliamentary election earlier this month. The result has not yet been announced.

Spokesman of al-Qaida-breakaway group harshly criticizes al-Zawahri, says he kindled sedition

CAIRO – The official spokesman of an al-Qaida-breakaway group has strongly criticized its parent organization's head, Ayman al-Zawahri, for siding with a rival jihadi group in Syria.

In an audio message posted on militant websites late Sunday, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, spokesman of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, accused al-Zawahri of being responsible "for shedding Muslim blood" and urged him to step down for the election of another leader. The tone and level of criticism against al-Zawahri by a fellow jihadi were rare.
The crisis escalated after al-Zawahri recognized the Nusra Front as al-Qaida's official branch in Syria and urged the Islamic State's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to withdraw his men from there. He also ordered the establishment of an independent Islamic court to settle the issue, a move rejected by al-Baghdadi.

Al-Adnani considered the decision by al-Zawahri a "fatal mistake" that led to infighting between the two groups. Over 3,000 have been killed in the fighting over the past months. "We call on you to undo your fatal mistake ... because you are the one who kindled sedition, you are the one who will extinguish it," al-Adnani told al-Zawahri.
Al-Adnani urged the selection of a new al-Qaida leader.

Incinerator Protest In China Leaves Dozens Injured

BEIJING (AP) — A protest in eastern China over a plan to build a waste incinerator turned violent, with state media reporting that at least 10 demonstrators and 29 police officers were injured in clashes.
Demonstrators on Saturday overturned 30 vehicles, set two police cars on fire and blocked a highway linking Hangzhou with another city, the official Xinhua News Agency said. A protester and a policeman were seriously injured.
Environmental protests have been on the rise in China, with the public becoming increasingly critical of pollution and health hazards from industry. Such concerns resonate well among Chinese, but also pose a serious political challenge to the ruling Communist Party. Anger over the party's response — or lack of it — to environmental woes can easily fuel wider dissatisfaction.
A woman who said she lives 1 kilometer (half a mile) from the proposed incinerator site told The Associated Press on Sunday that thousands of people turned out for the protest, which followed government assurances that the project would not pose a health threat. The woman refused to reveal her name.
She said protesters did not return Sunday as police were heavily guarding the area.
"The people here worry that this plant will impact our health and environment," she said. "We just hope it doesn't get too close to our houses or our village."
Protesters did win a tentative victory Sunday. An online statement posted by the district government said construction on the incinerator would not begin until the project had won public support. Hangzhou law enforcement authorities also said on their Weibo social media account that protesters who committed vandalism or other crimes and surrendered could receive more lenient punishment.

Greek far right Golden Dawn approved for EU election

The Greek Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for the ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn party to run in elections to the European Parliament this month.

Golden Dawn is currently under criminal investigation. Six of its MPs, including its leader, are in prison awaiting trial on charges involving murder, arson and extortion.
The party entered parliament for the first time in 2012, amid public alarm over immigration and the jobs crisis.
Many describe the party as "neo-Nazi".
Golden Dawn has an emblem resembling the Nazi swastika and members have been seen giving Nazi-style salutes.
The party insists that it does not embrace Nazi ideology.
The Greek government has resisted calls to ban Golden Dawn, arguing the case for democracy in a country previously plagued by authoritarian rulers, including a seven-year military dictatorship.
Opinion polls currently put Golden Dawn below the ruling conservative New Democracy and the left-wing Syriza alliance, which appear to be neck-and-neck ahead of the 25 May election.
Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos is one of six party MPs in jail pending trial. Their arrests followed the killing of an anti-fascist musician.
And two men suspected of links with Golden Dawn have been jailed for life in Greece over the fatal stabbing of a Pakistani immigrant last year.
None of the party's 18 MPs is on the election list. Its candidates include two retired senior army officers, AFP news agency reports.

Indian exit polls say Narendra Modi's BJP will crush the Congress party

As voting in world's biggest election closed after five weeks of polling, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty was denying defeat

The final ballots have been cast in India's record election: 551 million people voted over a five-week period. Exit polls predict a new right-wing government under the hardliner Narendra Modi.
The final phase of voting in the last 41 constituencies ended at 6pm (12.30am GMT). The first exit polls were released soon afterwards, pointing to a huge swing towards Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The survey results backed forecasts before voting started on 7 April that the BJP – and its allies – should be able to reach a majority in parliament after trouncing the ruling Congress party.
But as the stock market hit a new record high in the hope that Modi can jumpstart the flagging economy, analysts urged caution because of notorious forecasting failures in 2004 and 2009.
The first full survey from CVoter predicted the BJP and its allies reaching a majority, while others released by the CNN-IBN and Headlines Today channels showed a rout for Congress in many states.
Shortly after polls closed for the last time, the Election Commission gave final figures for the world's biggest election, saying 551 million had voted – 130 million more than in 2009 – with turnout also at a record high of 66.38%. "These numbers may still go up marginally because of postal ballots and other factors," said Akshay Rout, director general of the Election Commission. Official results are due on Friday.
Attention earlier in the day had focused on the sacred city of Varanasi where 63-year-old Modi was standing as a candidate and hoping for a crowning victory on the final day of voting. In a video message, he paid tribute to the hundreds of thousands who "stood out in the scorching sun for hours to give strength to our democracy" over the last five weeks. He also praised Varanasi for "its peace, its goodwill and its unity".

Former Treasury Secretary Claims Obama White House Instructed Him to Mislead Americans on This Topic

Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says he was instructed by the Obama White House to say things he didn’t believe on the Sunday morning news shows.

“I remember during one Roosevelt Room prep session before I appeared on the Sunday shows, I objected when Dan Pfeiffer wanted me to say Social Security didn’t contribute to the deficit. It wasn’t a main driver of our future deficits, but it did contribute. Pfeiffer said the line was a ‘dog whistle’ to the left, a phrase I had never heard before,” Geithner reveals in his forthcoming memoir, “Stress Test.”
“He had to explain that the phrase was code to the Democratic base, signaling that we intended to protect Social Security,” he added.
The former Treasury Secretary’s claim comes shortly after declassified White House emails revealed last month that the Obama administration coordinated with National Security Adviser Susan Rice after the 2012 assault on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, to portray the attacks as being “rooted in [an] Internet video” and not “a broader failure of policy.”

Hillary Clinton Campaign Speculation Forces Out Old Issues

WASHINGTON (AP) — For Hillary Rodham Clinton, the last few months might be comparable to a spring cleaning: An airing of her political past before she sets the course for her much speculated-about future.

As the former secretary of state and first lady mulls a presidential campaign in 2016, reminders of the tumultuous periods of her career have re-emerged in recent weeks: her husband's affair in the White House with Monica Lewinsky, her ill-fated attempt to overhaul the health care system and the deadly 2012 attack at a diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.

Bill Clinton said presidential campaigns always need to be about the future, but that gets complicated if Hillary Clinton runs again after losing out to Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008.

Republicans might press the argument that at a time when many Americans are unhappy with the nation's direction, she represents a bygone era marked by political soap operas.
Yet many Democrats say reminders of the 1990s — remember the booming economy? — could help Clinton, and that rehashing her past more than two years before the next presidential election could dispense with a variety of distractions.

If a Republican challenger or a Democratic primary opponent invoked Lewinsky, Whitewater, cattle futures or other retro story lines in 2016, Clinton's team could try to dismiss it all as old news.

Federal government failed to inspect higher-risk oil wells, report says

The government has failed to inspect thousands of oil and gas wells it considers potentially high risks for water contamination and other environmental damage, congressional investigators say. 
The report, obtained by The Associated Press before its public release, highlights substantial gaps in oversight by the agency that manages oil and gas development on federal and Indian lands. 

Investigators said weak control by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management resulted from policies based on outdated science and from incomplete monitoring data. 
The findings from the Government Accountability Office come amid an energy boom in the country and the increasing use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. That process involves pumping huge volumes of water, sand and chemicals underground to split open rocks to allow oil and gas to flow. It has produced major economic benefits, but also raised fears that the chemicals could spread to water supplies. 
The audit also said the BLM did not coordinate effectively with state regulators in New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Utah.

As Jeb Bush eyes 2016, key question is how a presidential campaign would affect his family

Jeb Bush can trace some of his most appealing qualities as a potential presidential candidate for a diversifying electorate to his 40-year partnership with his Mexican-born wife, Columba.

The couple speak Spanish to one another, and their lives have been immersed in Hispanic culture and the immigrant experience.
But Columba’s intense distaste for the public arena is one of the issues weighing most heavily on the former Florida governor as he grapples with whether to run for the White House in 2016, according to interviews with friends, former staffers and GOP donors close to the family. These people said Columba may be willing to take on the burdens of a campaign, yet even then the couple would need to find a way to craft a comfortable role for her.
“Columba is not in any way power-ambitious,” said Rafael A. Peñalver Jr., a Miami lawyer who has been friends with the Bush family since the early 1980s. “She is a very private person.” He added: “She’s supportive and will stand by him, even taking roles that are not in her nature.”
Still, another Bush confidante said, “the family issues are Columba, 1, 2 and 3. It’s whether she’s up for it.”
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Marco Rubio says human activity isn't causing climate change 

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a GOP star and possible 2016 presidential contender, does not believe human activity is causing climate change, he said Sunday.
“I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it,” Rubio said on ABC's "This Week." 
"I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy,” he added.
A National Climate Assessment released by the White House last week found that Rubio’s home state of Florida is one of the most vulnerable to rising sea levels and changes in temperatures and storm patterns. President Obama has proposed several new regulatory programs to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, which most scientists say are the chief cause of a warming global climate.
Rubio said he doesn’t agree that actions humans take today could affect how the climate is changing.
“Our climate is always changing,” Rubio said. “And what they have chosen to do is take a handful of decades of research and say that this is now evidence of a longer-term trend that's directly and almost solely attributable to manmade activities.” 
Rubio, who was swept into the Senate in 2010 on a wave of support from tea-party Republicans in Florida, just completed a swing through New Hampshire, the first state that will hold a presidential primary in the 2016 race for the White House. Although he has been a rising star in the GOP, his popularity among conservatives slipped last year after conservative commentators battered him for his role in the Senate's passage of immigration reform legislation last year. (The Republican-controlled House has refused to take up the bill.)
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