Gazette 05-13-14

Tuesday May 13th 2014

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Deadly car bombings hit Baghdad Shia districts

A series of car bomb attacks has killed at least 25 people and wounded 80 in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, officials say.

Eight cars packed with explosives were blown up during the morning rush hour in predominantly Shia Muslim areas in the north, east and centre of the city.
The blasts came as Shia marked he birthday of Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law.
They were also the first major attacks in Baghdad since the parliamentary elections on 30 April.
Officials are still tallying votes from the polls, which took place amid a surge in sectarian violence that has so far left 3,000 people dead this year.
There was no voting in a third of the western province of Anbar, where Sunni tribesmen and militants linked to the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) control the city of Falluja and parts of Ramadi.
In Tuesday morning's attacks, two car bombs were detonated in the north-eastern suburb of Sadr City, killing six people and wounding 13.

Nigeria weighs prisoner swap as US sends surveillance planes to find girls

Nigeria's government said Monday it was weighing all options to secure the freedom of nearly 300 kidnapped schoolgirls, as their captors demanded the release of jailed militants and the U.S. deployed surveillance planes in hopes of finding the girls.
A Nigerian government statement said it would "continue to explore all options for the release and safe return of our girls back to their homes" after the release of a video by the Boko Haram terrorist network showing what it claimed were some of the schoolgirls kidnapped a month ago.

The video showed about 100 girls, indicating they may have been broken up into smaller groups as some reports have indicated. Fifty-three girls managed to escape and 276 remain missing, according to Nigerian authorities. 
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official told Fox News the Pentagon has deployed military aircraft over Nigeria for manned intelligence and surveillance missions. 
The U.S. has sent some 30 people drawn from the State and Defense departments. Among them are five State Department officials, two strategic communications experts, a civil security expert and a regional medical support officer. Four FBI officials with expertise in safe recovery, negotiations and preventing future kidnappings are also part of the group.

Syrian Army Used Chemical Weapons On Rebel Neighborhoods In April, Human Rights Watch Claims

BEIRUT (AP) — An international human rights group said Tuesday it has strong evidence that the Syrian army used chlorine gas on three rebel-held towns last month.
The statement by the New-York based Human Rights Watch adds to concerns that chemical weapons are still being used in Syria, months after a chemical attack killed hundreds of civilians last August.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which monitors implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, said in April that it would investigate the chlorine claims but hasn't commented further.
Human Rights Watch said in a report released Tuesday that forces loyal to President Bashar Assad likely used chlorine gas packed into crude bombs in attacks in mid-April on three towns near a military base in northern Syria.
Those attacks killed at least 11 people, and wounded as many as 500. The HRW said its report was based on interviews with 10 witnesses, video footage and photographs.
Chlorine gas in bombs is not very lethal, but HRW said it appeared to have been used to terrorize residents into believing they had been gassed, to cause widespread panic.
"Evidence strongly suggests that Syrian government helicopters dropped barrel bombs embedded with cylinders of chlorine gas on three towns," said the group.

Israel's ex-PM jailed for six years

A court in Israel has sentenced former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to six years in prison for bribery and fined him 1m shekels ($289,000; £171,000).

The judge ordered Olmert to report to prison on 1 September, effectively giving his lawyers time to lodge their planned appeal with the Supreme Court.
He would be the first former head of government in Israel to be jailed.
The 68-year-old was convicted in March over a real estate deal that took place while he served as mayor of Jerusalem.
The Tel Aviv District Court found he had accepted a 500,000-shekel ($145,000; £86,000) bribe from the developers of a controversial apartment complex, known as Holyland, for which planning and zoning laws were changed, and another 60,000 shekels for a separate project.
Ten other government officials and businesspeople were convicted alongside Olmert. The sentences handed down on Tuesday against six of them ranged from three to seven years.
'Feeling of disgust' Judge David Rozen said bribery offences "contaminate the public sector" and "cause the structure of government to collapse".
He added: "People who receive bribes give rise to a feeling of disgust and cause the public to despise the state's institutions. The taker of bribes is like a traitor who betrays the public trust that was given to him - trust without which a proper public service cannot be maintained."
The judge said Olmert had made a "large contribution to the country".

Yemeni jet hits 3 trucks carrying weapons

SANAA, Yemen –  Yemeni military and local officials say a Yemeni military jet hit three trucks packed with weapons in a restive southern region, killing eight people including suspected Al Qaeda militants.
The trucks were moving arms and ammunition, including artillery equipment, from Shabwa to Marib governorate, where Al Qaeda militants have been retreating after the military drove it from its nearby strongholds, the official said. The military believes three of those killed are the drivers of the trucks, while the rest are thought to be Al Qaeda fighters, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.

The strike comes amid an ongoing offensive by the army in southern cities and towns, which has led to the killing and capture of dozens of Al Qaeda suspects.

UN observer at Gaddafi trial held on suspicion of 'black magic'

Egyptian Ahmed Ghanem is detained in Tripoli where he is monitoring trial of two of Muammar Gaddafi's sons

A United Nations observer at the trial of two of Muammar Gaddafi's sons in Libya has been detained on suspicion of "black magic".
Ahmed Ghanem, one of a three-strong UN team monitoring the case, was detained by security units on suspicion of occult practices.
Photographs of his identity card and possessions were posted on the internet after the detention on Sunday at Tripoli's maximum security al-Hadba prison, where the trial is being held.
A source at the prison said Ghanem, an Egyptian, was detained upon arrival to monitor the case on Sunday after written material was found indicating possible "sorcery" or improper communications, and was later released by judicial police. It is unclear if such an offence is recognised under Libyan law.
A UN spokesman confirmed the detention and said it was seeking an explanation from the Libyan authorities.
The incident is the latest controversy to rock a trial condemned as "riddled with procedural flaws" by Human Rights Watch.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, his younger brother Saadi and the former spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi are all charged with war crimes, but have complained of having neither lawyers nor access to evidence in a case that began last month.
The decision by the international criminal court (ICC) to allow Libya to try Senussi, who is also wanted by The Hague, may be examined by the United Nations after complaints by his lawyers.
Senussi's lawyers have written to the ICC saying Libya has denied them access to their client and have asked that the UN investigate the trial process.

Netanyahu: If Fatah-Hamas unity deal signed, we'll hold Abbas responsible for every rocket 

Israel will hold Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas responsible for every rocket fired on Israel from Gaza if he goes through with his national unity pact with Hamas, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.
Netanyahu made his comments in Tokyo before the start of a meeting with Japanese

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, and two days before Abbas is scheduled to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry in London.
Jerusalem has been lobbying the international community to place pressure on Abbas not to consummate his unity agreement with Hamas. Under the agreement, announced last month just prior to the expiration of the nine-month deadline in the US-brokered diplomatic talks, an interim unity Palestinian government is to be set up by the end of May, and elections held six months after that.
Netanyahu made clear in his statement that if the deal is not implemented, Israel would be willing to return to the negotiations. “We hope that this pact is dissolved and we can find a way to return to genuine negotiations with a genuine peace,” he said.

China and Vietnam at impasse over drilling rig in South China Sea

Hong Kong: China and Vietnam appear to have reached at least a temporary impasse over a giant drilling rig sent by a state-controlled Chinese oil company to a site in the South China Sea between the Vietnamese coastline and a cluster of disputed islands, as the confrontation has continued to raise thorny issues of international law.
Colonel Pham Quang Oanh, deputy chairman of the political department of Vietnam's Coast Guard, said that as many as 15 Chinese ships had sprayed a Vietnamese vessel at the site with water cannons on Monday. He denied a report in Vietnamese media that the vessel had used water cannons to fire back.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam asked fellow leaders of the Association of South-East Asian Nations for support in confronting China. But the government of Myanmar, the host of the meeting, issued only an oblique statement on Monday expressing "serious concern" over the developments in the South China Sea, without mentioning China by name.
Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a briefing Monday that China and Vietnam had "14 communications" last week concerning the oil rig, and that they were continuing to communicate about it. She was not specific about what was said, or what the basis of the communications had been.
Diplomats in Beijing said they knew of no substantive talks between China and Vietnam. A senior diplomat, who declined to be named for fear of alienating the Chinese, said he understood that the head of the Communist Party in Vietnam had offered to visit Beijing to speak with President Xi Jinping, but the overture had been rejected.

Beijing plans new $14 billion airport to ease congestion

BEIJING: Beijing plans to build a new 86 billion yuan ($14 billion) airport in the south of the Chinese capital as congestion continues to clog runways and gates at Beijing Capital International Airport.

The new facility, which will border on Hebei province, is planned to handle 72 million passengers and 2 million tons of cargo annually, according to a document posted on the website of Ministry of Environmental Protection late last week.

Beijing's Capital International Airport, which was built in 1958, is already operating beyond its designed capacity of 80 million passengers per year. In 2013, the airport handled 83 million visitors.

China to build new East Africa railway line

Formal agreements for plans to build a new railway line in East Africa with Chinese help

have been signed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
It is to run from Mombasa to Nairobi and will extend eventually to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
In Kenya, the line is to replace a narrow-gauge track built more than 100 years ago during British colonial rule.
China is to finance 90% of the first stage, put at $3.8bn (£2.3bn), with work carried out by a Chinese firm.
High speeds

Construction work on the standard gauge line is expected to start in October this year, and the 610km (380-mile) stretch from the coast to Nairobi is due to be finished in early 2018.

"The costs of moving our people and our goods... across our borders will fall sharply," Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told a news conference after the signing also attended by the leaders of China, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan and representatives from Tanzania, Burundi and the African Development Bank.
In November last year, Mr Kenyatta laid the foundation stone in Mombasa for the first phase of the project.
He had said the new link should cut the cost of sending a tonne of freight one kilometre from 20 US cents to eight, Reuters news agency reported.
Passenger trains will travel at a top speed of 120km/h (75 mph), while freight trains will have a maximum speed of 80km/h.
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 Obama hails marathon India election

US President Barack Obama has congratulated India on its marathon general election and pledged to work closely with the next government.

He said India had "set an example for the world in holding the largest democratic election in history".
The 36-day, nine-phase polls ended on Monday. The Election Commission said voter turnout was a record 66.38%.
The main contest is between the Congress and the main opposition BJP. Votes will be counted on 16 May.
"India has set an example for the world in holding the largest democratic election in history, a vibrant demonstration of our shared values of diversity and freedom," Mr Obama said in a statement.
"We look forward to the formation of a new government once election results are announced and to working closely with India's next administration to make the coming years equally transformative."
The election began on 7 April and has been held in nine phases for security and logistical reasons. With 814 million eligible voters, it is the world's biggest exercise in democracy.
A number of exit polls are suggesting that BJP leader Narendra Modi, the leader of India's main opposition BJP, is on course to win the general election.
The BJP dominated the campaign but analysts warn that exit polls have often been wrong in the past.

Obama nominees face liberal ire

President Obama's nominees to the federal courts and other positions increasingly are coming under fire from the left, in a change of pace from the days when the administration said Republicans were the ones creating confirmation headaches. 
The latest to face the wrath of the president's supposed allies are a pair of judicial nominees. 

One, Harvard Law School professor David Barron, was nominated to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston but faced complaints about his role in providing the administration's legal justification for killing U.S. citizens allegedly helping Al Qaeda. 
The other, Michael Boggs, was nominated for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia but came under criticism from liberal groups for socially conservative positions he took during his time in the state legislature. 
Boggs faces a hearing Tuesday morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where his detractors and defenders, and Boggs himself, will have a chance to face off.

Karl Rove Suggests Hillary Clinton May Have Brain Damage 

This piece has been updated with reactions from Karl Rove and former White House Communications Director Nicolle Wallace.
It's only 2014, but the 2016 presidential race has already taken an ugly turn.
According to the New York Post's Page Six, Republican strategist Karl Rove suggested last week that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have sustained brain damage after suffering a blood clot in her skull.
Clinton was admitted to the hospital in late December 2012, where doctors discovered a blood clot related to a concussion she had suffered earlier in the month. She was released from the hospital several days later.
Rove, however, apparently thinks her stint in the hospital left some questions unanswered.
"Thirty days in the hospital?" Rove said, according to Page Six. "And when she reappears, she's wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what's up with that.”
Clinton's doctors, however, debunked Rove's theory long ago. Prior to her release from the hospital in January 2013, Clinton's physicians at a New York hospital said the clot did not cause Clinton to suffer a stroke, and did not result in any neurological damage.

Mers virus: US confirms second 'imported' case

US health officials have confirmed a second case in the country of Mers, a virus that has killed at least 145 people, mostly in Saudi Arabia.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified the patient as a healthcare worker who travelled from Saudi Arabia to Orlando, Florida.
Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) causes fever and kidney failure but is not considered highly contagious.
The patient has been isolated in hospital, health officials said.
Mers belongs to the coronavirus family, which includes the common cold and Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which caused some 800 deaths globally in 2003.
Health officials say Mers only appears to spread through close contact, but there is no known cure.

Senate deadlocked on energy bill, ending chances of a vote on Keystone

The Senate deadlocked Monday on a bipartisan energy bill, with Republicans mounting a filibuster that also is likely to end any near-term consideration of the Keystone XL pipeline proposal that has become a key issue in several critical elections.

The vote Monday — 55 to 36, mostly along party lines — on a modest energy efficiency bill sponsored by Sens. Jean Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) ended a long but sporadic attempt to approve legislation that has been ensnared by several controversial side issues amid Republican attempts to attach amendments to the measure.
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