Weekend 05-04-14

Sunday May 4th 2014

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Pro-Russians attack Odessa police HQ

Pro-Russian activists have attacked the police headquarters in Odessa, two days after violence in the southern Ukrainian city left dozens dead.

The clashes came after hundreds of people gathered outside the building, demanding that those arrested after Friday's unrest be released.
The victims were mostly pro-Russian separatists killed when the building they were barricaded in caught fire.
Ukraine's PM has accused police of failing to prevent the violence.

Nigerian military mobilized for raid on terrorists holding 276 abducted schoolgirls

A major military operation is expected to begin near the Sambisa Forest in Nigeria, where the Nigerian government believes terrorists are holding some 276 young girls, two Nigerian newspapers reported Friday.
There are conflicting reports on how many girls were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, in northeast Nigeria, but Borno State Police released new figures Friday, saying that at least 276 girls have been held for 17 days, the Vanguard newspaper reported. 

Their captors are believed to be from the Boko Haram terror group, which is known to hideout in the Sambisa Forest.
Borno police say they believe 276 young women were snatched, while 53 others escaped, but it’s difficult to confirm numbers on the missing girls because they depend on parents claiming their daughters missing, and some may not have come forward yet.
Both the Vanguard and the Nigerian Tribune reported that four battalions from various national military divisions are expected to storm the Sambisa Forest, taking positions around all its access routes.

Blasts In Kenya's Mombasa, Several Killed

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — At least three people were killed in a grenade blast in one of two explosions Saturday along the coast of Kenya, an east African country working to crack down on a recent wave of terrorist attacks.
Authorities said the grenade blast at a bus stop in Mwembe Tayari, in the coastal city of Mombasa, also injured seven other people. Separately, a bag with an improvised explosive device was spotted near the coastal Reef Hotel in Nyali, and passersby noticed in time to take cover before it detonated, the Interior Ministry said. No fatalities were immediately reported there.
Authorities said they didn't immediately have an explanation for the explosions. A blasted-out bus sat at the scene of the Mombasa blast, and a man was spotted carrying away an injured child.
Ranjit Sondhi, a director at the hotel, told The Associated Press that the hotel was not damaged and the blast occurred on a nearby public beach — much of the impact absorbed by a wall. The Interior Ministry had initially said that the explosion had taken place at a gate at the hotel, but ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka later clarified that it had actually happened on the beach.
Kenya has been hit by a wave of gun and explosive attacks since it sent troops to neighboring Somalia to fight al-Shabab militants in 2011. The Al-Qaida-linked militants have vowed to carry out terrorist attacks on Kenyan soil to avenge the presence of Kenyan troops in Somalia. Since last month, Kenya has been conducting a security operation in response to the recent wave of terror attacks.

India politician dies after attack by 'human torch'

An Indian regional politician has died of burn injuries five days after he was targeted during a TV election debate by a man who had set himself on fire.

Kamruzzama Fauji, the local leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh state, was taking part in the recorded debate on Monday.
A member of the audience doused himself in petrol, set himself alight and then lunged at Mr Fauji.
Mr Fauji suffered 75% burns to his body, and died late on Friday.
The attacker died shortly after the incident.
It is not clear what the motive was behind the attack, which comes as India is holding its five-week-long general election.
Mr Fauji's brother Khalikurzama said it was "politically motivated" and called for a "proper probe".

Rebel infighting reportedly kills at least 62 in eastern Syria

BEIRUT –  Activists say heavy fighting between rival Islamic rebel groups has killed 62 fighters in eastern Syria.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday the rebel infighting is taking place around a cluster of three villages in the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province near the Iraqi border. Fighting has recently flared up there, and in the past four days 62 rebels have been killed, The Observatory said. The rebel-on-rebel violence has also forced hundreds of civilians to flee their homes, the group added.

Rebels from the al-Qaida breakaway group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and fighters of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front have fought each other for months over territory they previously captured together from President Bashar Assad's forces.

Al-Qaida in Arabian Peninsula: Yemen commander dead in US drone strike 

• Twitter account details military attack on
• Government officials confirm death of Ali bin Likra al-Kazimy Mahfad camp

Yemen's al-Qaida branch said on Saturday one of its local commanders had died from wounds he suffered during an attack by the Yemeni army and US drones.
A Twitter account associated with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula issued a message saying Ali bin Likra al-Kazimy died on Saturday after a military attack on one of its camps in the town of Mahfad last week.
Government officials confirmed al-Kazimy's death.
Mahfad, where al-Kazimy was the leader, is located in a mountainous region in the country's south.
The Yemeni army, backed by US drone strikes and supported by local tribes, recently launched a campaign to drive al-Qaida out of the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa.
The US considers Yemen's al-Qaida branch as the world's most dangerous.

South Sudan government forces advance on Bentiu oil hub

Government forces in South Sudan are advancing on the oil town of Bentiu, which was taken by rebels last month.

A BBC correspondent at a UN base outside the town has heard heavy firing and seen government troops and armoured vehicles driving towards the centre.
Rebel forces deny UN charges that they killed hundreds of people along ethnic lines after seizing the town in April.
Bentiu, in the north, has changed hands several times since fighting broke out in South Sudan last December.
Tensions came to a head after President Salva Kiir accused his sacked deputy, Riek Machar, of plotting a coup.
Mr Machar denied the charges, but then mobilised a rebel force to fight the government.
Gunfire The government offensive in Bentiu, capital of Unity State, comes two days after President Kiir told the US Secretary of State John Kerry that he was prepared to hold direct peace talks with Mr Machar.
Gunfire could be heard in the distance throughout the morning, says the BBC's Alastair Leithead, who is at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) compound on the outskirts of the city.
A long line of government troops in armoured personnel carriers, heavily armed, are moving slowly towards the city, he adds.
On Friday, Mr Kerry secured an agreement from President Kiir to meet with Mr Machar for talks in Addis Ababa that would be mediated by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

Report: India foils Pakistani terror plot targeting Israeli, US consulates 

"Times of India" reports security agencies learned of plot after interrogating Sri Lankan national allegedly hired by a Pakistani official to conduct reconnaissance of the two diplomatic missions.

Indian authorities obtained information indicating that Pakistani intelligence services were in the planning stages of organizing a terrorist attack against the Israeli mission in Bengaluru as well as the American consulate in Chennai, according to a report in Sunday editions of the Times of India.

According to the report, Indian security agencies learned of the plot after interrogating a Sri Lankan national who was allegedly hired by a Pakistani official to conduct reconnaissance of the two diplomatic missions.

The suspect, Sakir Hussain, was arrested last week after Indian authorities acted on intelligence provided by other countries.

According to the Times of India, Hussain is said to have told his Indian interrogators that the Pakistani intelligence outfit, ISI, was planning to send two men from Maldives to Chennai, and that his task was to arrange for their travel documents and hideouts.

Indian authorities were reportedly tipped off to Hussain by intelligence agencies in an unnamed southeast Asian country which had gotten wind of plots to target Israeli and American diplomatic missions, the Times of India said.

Indian investigators reportedly found incriminating evidence against Hussain, including pictures of the US and Israeli consulates and their immediate surroundings and access points. According to the Times of India, these photographs were electronically mailed to Hussain’s handlers in Pakistan.

A Pakistani official based in Sri Lanka denied the Times of India report, attributing the allegations of an alleged terrorist plot as part of a “malicious media campaign.”

Israel's foreign missions have in years past proven to be vulnerable targets of terrorism, particularly in Asia. 

Ukraine brings back conscription

Kiev: Ukraine is bringing back military conscription with immediate effect to deal with a spreading pro-Moscow insurgency in its east, according to a decree by interim president Oleksandr Turchynov.
The measure was being taken "given the deteriorating situation in the east and the south ... the rising force of armed pro-Russian units and the taking of public administration buildings ... which threaten territorial integrity," Mr Turchynov's office said in a statement on Thursday.
Ukraine's parliament voted on April 17 to "recommend to the acting president to restart conscription into the Ukraine armed forces without delay" in order to "bolster Ukraine's defence capabilities in connection with aggression from the Russian Federation".
Ukraine scrapped compulsory military service for young men only this year, under a law introduced in 2013 by Viktor Yanukovych, the Kremlin-friendly president who ended up fleeing mass pro-Western demonstrations two months ago.
Ukraine currently has 130,000 personnel in its armed forces. With reserves, this could be boosted to around 1 million.
The move came after Mr Turchynov said the Western-backed authorities in Kiev were "powerless" to stop pro-Russian separatists in the east from taking over public buildings.
The West and Kiev believe that the unrest is being fomented by Russia in a bid to destabilise the former Soviet Republic ahead of planned presidential elections on May 25.

Libyan parliament fails to choose new PM

TRIPOLI: Libya's parliament failed on Sunday to elect a new prime minister after several inconclusive votes, lawmakers in the North African country said.

Businessman Ahmed Maiteeq had emerged as front runner in the final vote but he failed to obtain a quorum in a separate confidence vote needed to confirm his appointment, lawmakers said.

It was not immediately clear what would happen next. Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni resigned three weeks ago, citing an attack by gunmen on his family.

Dem Rep. Schiff calls on party to boycott new Benghazi investigation

A Democratic member of the House intelligence committee called Sunday for his party to boycott the newly announced committee tasked with probing the Benghazi attacks, dismissing new evidence that Republicans have called a "smoking gun" showing the White House politicized the tragedy. 
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told "Fox News Sunday" that Democrats should not give the select committee more "credibility" by joining. 

"I think it's a colossal waste of time," he said. "I don't think it makes sense, really, for Democrats to participate." 
Schiff, calling the committee a "tremendous red herring," acknowledged he doesn't know what Democratic leadership will decide. 
Fox News was told on Friday, when House Speaker John Boehner announced that the House would vote on creating a special committee, that the panel would be bipartisan. 
Schiff's comments, though, raise the prospect that his party could try to define the committee as a political vessel by sitting it out. The remarks reflect how the committee, which has not yet been formally approved, already is a political football. It would begin its investigative work in the heat of the midterm election season, poised to level damaging charges against the Obama administration at a sensitive time. 
Leading Republicans were adamant that the committee is vital to get to the bottom of what happened in the days and weeks following the Sept. 11, 2012 attack which killed four Americans including a U.S. ambassador. 
The tipping point for those, like Boehner, who were hesitant about forming a select committee was the release of an email that showed a White House adviser reviewing talking points for then-U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice. The email  stressed the role of protests over an anti-Islam video -- which is the faulty explanation Rice went on to use to describe the Benghazi attack's origin on Sunday shows after the tragedy. 
The White House maintains that email referenced protests elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa, but Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said that claim "doesn't pass the laugh test." 
She told "Fox News Sunday" the email shows the need for a select committee. Ayotte said there still hasn't been a clear explanation of why Rice connected the attack to a video.

Senators to Obama: Where were you night of Benghazi attack?

Three Republican senators on Friday wrote to President Obama demanding he reveal where he was — if not in the Situation Room — during the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

 

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said it is time for the White House to clear up the mystery surrounding Obama’s activities that night. 

The letter comes a day after former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Fox News that Obama was not in the White House’s basement Situation Room monitoring events as they unfolded in September of 2012.

 

“Over a year and a half has passed since the terrorist attacks, and the American people still do not have an accounting of your activities during the attack. Mr. President, can you now confirm that Mr. Vietor’s account of your absence in the White House Situation Room is accurate?” the letter asks.

 

Vietor said Thursday that Obama was in the White House and is able to monitor intelligence events outside of the specially equipped Situation Room. He noted that the president's daily briefing happens in the Oval Office.

 

Vietor told Fox News’s Bret Baier that it is time to move on from inquiries about Benghazi and whether the administration tried to cover up it was a terrorist attack.

EPA paid nearly $500,000 in unauthorized bonuses, watchdog finds

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) paid out nearly $500,000 in unauthorized bonuses, according to a report released by the EPA Inspector General. 
An Inspector General (IG) investigation found that 11 EPA employees received $481,819 in unauthorized retention bonuses between 2006 and 2013. The bonuses are meant to incentivize employees who receive other job offers. 

The bonuses are supposed to be reauthorized annually, but for 10 of those EPA officials, the IG could find no evidence that their bonuses were reviewed, as required by federal regulations and EPA policies. 
One EPA employee received $77,204 in unauthorized pay over five years, even though he had only been approved for a one-year retention bonus. 
Another employee received incentive pay for four years totaling nearly $105,000, even though the bonus should have been terminated in 2009 because he was promoted. 
The IG cited confusion, lack of internal controls, and failure by managers and employees to follow up on notices. The investigation was spurred by the case of John Beale, a senior EPA official who bilked the agency out of nearly $900,000 in fraudulent travel expenses and unauthorized retention bonuses.

Florida lawmakers approve medical marijuana bill

(Reuters) - Florida legislators voted on Friday to allow doctors to prescribe a special strain of "non-euphoric" marijuana for treatment of chronic epileptic seizures and some other severe illnesses.
Governor Rick Scott said he will sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.
"They definitely made a difference in many people's lives today. It was historic," said Ron Watson, a lobbyist whose 8-year-old son, Dylan, died of leukemia.
Watson and several other parents, many wheeling their stricken children into the Capitol, testified at committee hearings and contacted House and Senate members throughout this year's 60-day session of the Florida Legislature.
The parents advocated strictly controlled legalization of a special form of marijuana known as "Charlotte's Web," named for a Colorado girl whose epileptic seizures have shown some response to the drug.
The substance is not for smoking. It is specially cultivated to be very low in tetrhydrocannabinol (THC), the element that gets users high, and also very low in cannabidiol (CBD), which eases seizures in the brain.
"I'm a parent and a grandparent," Scott told reporters on Thursday. "I want to make sure my children, my grandchildren, have the access to the health care they want."
The Senate voted 30-9 to send the bill to Scott on Friday.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia to back Clinton for president

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia plans to urge Hillary Rodham Clinton to run for president in 2016 when he addresses a Democratic gathering in the crucial early-voting state of South Carolina on Saturday morning.
“She is a classic American optimist with the background and experiences necessary to lead this country in a very complicated world,” Kaine plans to say, according to prepared remarks planned for delivery at the South Carolina Women’s Democratic Council breakfast in Columbia.
“Her work as first lady, senator and secretary of State has given her unmatched knowledge of the world, of our allies and opponents, and of global leaders — public and private — who can be partners for progress in the years ahead,” according to the remarks, provided to the Los Angeles Times.
Kaine, who some speculated would mount his own White House bid in 2016, will also announce that he is joining Ready for Hillary, one of several independent groups that are laying the groundwork for a potential Clinton run.
Clinton, who has said she will make a decision by the end of the year on whether to make another presidential run, is facing renewed scrutiny in recent days because of new information about the deadly attacks on Americans in Benghazi, Libya, toward the end of her tenure as secretary of State.
Kaine’s nod is notable because he was an early supporter of then-Sen. Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, at a time when Clinton was thought to be the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. And he hails from a state that was a longtime GOP bastion until recently becoming a swing state. Virginians voted Democratic in the last two presidential contests.
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