Saturday May 10th 2014
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Syrian forces have moved
into previously rebel-held areas of Homs after the evacuation of
opposition fighters following a two-year siege.
Troops have begun sweeping the Old City for explosives, state media quoted Homs Governor Talal al-Barazi as saying.
UN sources have told the BBC the evacuation is complete after the departure of a final convoy of rebels.
Some 2,000 fighters and their relatives are believed to have left since Wednesday.
The UN-supervised evacuation marks the end of three years of resistance in Homs, once dubbed the "capital of the revolution".
'Nothing left'
Much of Homs fell to the opposition in 2011, but over the past
two years government forces have gradually regained control by
subjecting areas once home to tens of thousands of people to continuous
siege and bombardment.
Civilians began returning the devastated zone of the Old City on Friday to find what remained of their homes, reports say.
Related Story : Thousands of Syrians stream to war-battered Homs after rebels leave
As two regions in eastern Ukraine prepare to vote on declaring
sovereignty, the country's acting president is warning supporters of
independence against self-destruction.
The Sunday ballots seek approval for declaring so-called sovereign
people's republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where pro-Russian
insurgents have seized government buildings and clashed with police and
Ukrainian troops.
At least seven people died Friday in clashes in the city of Mariupol.
The city remained on edge Saturday, with barricades of tires blocking
some streets in the city center.
President Oleksandr Turchynov, in comments posted on the presidential
website Saturday, said supporters of independence for the east "don't
understand that this would be a complete destruction of the economy,
social programs and general life for the majority of the population."
Roman Lyagin, head of the Donetsk People's Republic's so-called
electoral commission, said at a press conference on Saturday that the
vote "is the only way to avoid war and armed conflict," predicting it
will "legitimize" separatists in the eyes of the world.
Lyagin said the May 25 presidential election will not be held in the Donetsk region.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday that Russian
President Vladimir Putin must send more "signals of de-escalation" to
help calm the situation in Ukraine and make presidential elections there
possible.
France and Germany warn Vladimir Putin Sunday's separatist referendum in east is illegal and call for 'national dialogue'
Germany and France have threatened Russia with further sanctions if the 25 May election in Ukraine does not go ahead as planned.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, urged the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to do more to calm the situation, warning that a separatist referendum being held on Sunday would be "illegal".
In a joint statement with the French president François Hollande, Merkel said Putin must "send more signals of de-escalation so that [presidential] elections can take place.
"We
are ready to take further sanctions against Russia," the two leaders
warned. "There have been initial signs, but this must be strengthened so
that the message gets through to eastern and southern parts of Ukraine
that everyone wants fair and general presidential elections."
Merkel added: "If that doesn't happen, it would contribute to a further destabilisation of Ukraine."
Hollande,
who met Merkel in her Stralsund constituency in north-eastern Germany,
called for a "national dialogue" between Kiev and representatives of
Ukrainian regions. He said: "We have relations with Vladimir Putin; we
are using them so that he can take into consideration what is at stake
over these coming weeks in Ukraine."
WASHINGTON
— A United States Special Operations commando and a Central
Intelligence Agency officer in Yemen shot and killed two armed Yemeni
civilians who tried to kidnap them while the Americans were in a
barbershop in the country’s capital two weeks ago, American officials
said on Friday.
The
two Americans, attached to the United States Embassy, were whisked out
of the volatile Middle East nation within a few days of the shooting,
with the blessing of the Yemeni government, American officials said.
News of the shootings comes at a perilous moment for the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, whose collaboration with American drone strikes
against suspected members of Al Qaeda is already a subject of seething
resentment in Yemen. Yemenis believe, with some evidence, that the drone
strikes often kill nearby civilians as well as their targets, so any
indication that Mr. Hadi’s government helped conceal the killing of
Yemenis by American commandos could be problematic.
Nigeria’s Army has posted two divisions to hunt for 200 schoolgirls
abducted last month by Islamist rebels in an attack condemned globally
including by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama on Saturday.
The
soldiers are stationed in the border region close to Chad, Cameroon and
Niger to work with other security agencies, said General Chris
Olukolade, spokesman for the Defence Headquarters.
The government of President Goodluck Jonathan has faced criticism for
its slow response since Boko Haram militants stormed a secondary school
in the village of Chibok, near the Cameroon border, on April 14, and
kidnapped the girls, who were taking exams. Fifty have escaped but more
than 200 remain with the insurgents.
“The facilities of the
Nigerian Army signals as well as all the communication facilities of the
Nigerian Police and all the services have been devoted into
coordinating this search,” Olukolade said in a statement.
“The
major challenge remains the fact that some of the information given here
turned out in many occasions to be misleading .... Nevertheless, this
will not discourage the collaborative efforts that are on-going,” he
said.
The air force has flown more than 250 sorties, a signals
unit and the police are involved and a multinational task force has also
been activated and surveillance equipment is deployed in support of ten
search teams, he said.
The United States, Britain, France, China and international police agency Interpol have all offered assistance.
Jonathan
on Friday said he believed the schoolgirls remained in Nigeria and had
not been transported into Cameroon. It was the first indication he has
given of their whereabouts.
The attackers were based in the
Sambisa area of Borno state, a Boko Haram stronghold near the school
from where the girls were abducted, he said.
Related Story: UN Security Council Threatens Action Over Kidnapping Of Nigerian Girls
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Supporters of Thailand's embattled government on
Saturday warned the country's judiciary and Senate against any attempt
to install an unelected prime minister, saying it would be a disaster
for the nation that could spark civil war.
Jatuporn Prompan, who heads the pro-government Red Shirt movement, made
the comment to reporters during a rally on the western edge of Bangkok
that was held three days after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was
ousted in a controversial ruling by the constitutional Court.
The ruling emboldened anti-government protesters, who on Friday ramped
up their efforts to bring down what remains of Yingluck's administration
by laying siege to television stations, surrounding state offices and
demanding lawmakers help them install a non-elected prime minister to
rule the country.
Yingluck's Cabinet has named deputy premier Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan
as acting prime minister, but the leader of the anti-government protest
movement, Suthep Thaugsuban, said Saturday that Niwattumrong "doesn't
hold the authority and status to be the head of the government."
Suthep said the Senate should "quickly consult the presidents of the
Supreme Court, the constitutional Court, the Supreme Administrative
Court and the Election Commission to work to appoint the new prime
minister immediately."
The anti-government protesters called Friday for a "final push" to oust
the entire Cabinet and set up an unelected "people's council" that they
say would implement still-undefined reforms to combat corruption and
fight money politics. They oppose elections scheduled for July, which
the current ruling party would likely win.
The mother and uncle of a Canadian woman killed
14 years ago have been ordered extradited to India in stand trial in her
alleged "honour killing".
Malkit Kaur Sidhu and Surjit Singh Badesha are accused of
ordering the murder after Jaswinder Sidhu, 25, married a rickshaw
driver.
She was killed in Punjab in June 2000 after she travelled there to reunite with her husband.
The family has denied involvement in Sidhu's death and may appeal.
Several people have already been convicted of the killing in India.
'Campaign of terror'
Her mother and uncle were arrested in 2012 on charges of conspiracy to commit murder.
On Friday, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Gregory
Fitch ordered the two to be extradited to India to faces charges there.
Jaswinder Sidhu secretly married Mithu Sidhu instead of the wealthy, older man her family reportedly preferred.
'China-Russia-Canada-America line' would run for 13,000km across Siberia and pass under Bering Strait through 200km tunnel
China is considering plans to build a high-speed railway line to the US, the country's official media reported on Thursday.
The
proposed line would begin in north-east China and run up through
Siberia, pass through a tunnel underneath the Pacific Ocean then cut
through Alaska and Canada to reach the continental US, according to a
report in the state-run Beijing Times newspaper.
Crossing
the Bering Strait in between Russia and Alaska would require about
200km (125 miles) of undersea tunnel, the paper said, citing Wang
Mengshu, a railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
"Right now we're already in discussions. Russia has already been thinking about this for many years," Wang said.
The
project – nicknamed the "China-Russia-Canada-America" line – would run
for 13,000km, about 3,000km further than the Trans-Siberian Railway. The
entire trip would take two days, with the train travelling at an
average of 350km/h (220mph).
The reported plans leave ample room
for skepticism. No other Chinese railway experts have come out in
support of the proposed project. Whether the government has consulted
Russia, the US or Canada is also unclear. The Bering Strait tunnel alone
would require an unprecedented feat of engineering – it would be the world's longest undersea tunnel – four times the length of the Channel Tunnel.
According to the state-run China Daily,
the tunnel technology is "already in place" and will be used to build a
high-speed railway between the south-east province of Fujian and
Taiwan. "The project will be funded and constructed by China," it said.
"The details of this project are yet to be finalized."
In
response to Newsweek report, Strategic Affairs Minister Steinitz
accused “someone of trying to maliciously harm relations between Israel
and the United States.”
A top government minister on Saturday angrily rejected claims of Israeli spying on the United States for the second time in a week after the American newsmagazine Newsweek
once again quoted unnamed US intelligence officials as decrying what
they believe to be overly aggressive espionage on the part of the Jewish
state.
Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, who also holds
the intelligence portfolio in the Netanyahu government, accused “someone
of trying to maliciously and intentionally harm relations between
Israel and the United States.”
Rise of the machines? UN to debate ‘killer robots’
Killer robots and their use will be debated during a meeting of experts at the United Nations in Geneva; amid fears that once created they could pose a "threat to humanity".
Prof Ronald Arkin and Prof Noel Sharkey will debate the need for so-called killer robots during the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), marking the first time the issue of killer robots has been discussed within the CCW.
Killer robots are autonomous machines able to identify and kill targets without human input.
Fully autonomous weapons have not yet been developed but technological advances are bringing them closer to existing.
Prof Sharkey, a member and co-founder of the Campaign Against Killer Robots and chairman of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control spoke ahead of the conference and warned autonomous weapons systems cannot be guaranteed to "predictably comply with international law."
He told the BBC: "Nations aren't talking to each other about this, which poses a big risk to humanity."
Prof Arkin also claimed that killer robots could help reduce non-combatant casualties and may be more effective at determining when not to engage with a target than humans are.
However, he expressed concerns that the robots could be rushed into battle prematurely. "I support a moratorium until that end is achieved, but I do not support a ban at this time," Prof Arkin explained.
A full report on the discussions will be presented to the CCW in November.
In March, the UN human rights council heard concerns surrounding the ethical dangers such machines could pose.
Christof Heyns — the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions for the office of the high commissioner for human rights — called for a moratorium on such technology to prevent their deployment on the battlefield.
Attacks in three different locations near the capital leave at least 22 people dead, as country awaits election results.
At least 22 people have died at different locations near the Iraqi
capital in a fresh wave of attacks, as the country waits for the results
of recent elections to be announced.
Police officials said the deadliest attack of the day happened on
Saturday afternoon when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car
into a security checkpoint in the town of Dujail, 80km north of Baghdad,
killing six security force members and a civilian. At least 15 others
were wounded in the explosion.
Earlier on Saturday, a bomb blast at an outdoor market killed four
people and wounded 17 in the town of Tarmiyah, also north of the
capital.
Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures for all of
the attacks to the AFP news agency. They spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorised to talk to journalists.
Meanwhile, shelling killed 11 people in Fallujah on Saturday as
security forces launched an operation to retake areas near the city
which has been held by anti-government fighters for more than four
months.
A further 20 people were wounded by the Fallujah bombardment, Doctor
Ahmed Shami of the city's main hospital told the AP news agency.
The attacks were the latest in a protracted surge of violence that has killed more than 3,100 people this year.
Violence in Anbar, which shares a long border with war-torn Syria,
erupted in late December when security forces dismantled a longstanding
protest camp maintained by the province's mainly Sunni Arab population
to vent their grievances against the Shia-led government.
Rebels subsequently seized parts of the provincial capital Ramadi and
all of Fallujah, the first time anti-government forces have exercised
such open control in major cities since the peak of the deadly violence
that followed the US-led invasion of 2003.
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US House of
Representatives Democrats are considering whether to participate in a
Republican-led investigation into the deadly attack on the US consulate
in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012.
Democrats may boycott the panel, send just one member or the allotted five.
Republicans have argued the Democratic Obama administration misled the public on the nature of the attack.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the panel a "political stunt".
Four Americans including US Ambassador Chris Stevens were killed.
'Kangaroo court'
"We've been there, done that. Why are we doing
this again?", Ms Pelosi told reporters on Friday, referencing seven
previous inquiries on the matter.
The House minority leader said her party is currently
weighing whether it will abstain from the panel, send a single
representative or fill the five seats allotted to Democrats.
Staff were also negotiating more equal terms of Democrats,
including a potential ban on the committing hearing testimony unless at
least one Democrat was in attendance, she added.
Democrats were said to have been rebuffed on a request for an
equal split in panel membership, and are looking to ensure they will
have equal access to documents and the ability to question witnesses.
"We think that this whole Benghazi hearing is a waste of
taxpayer dollars," Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen told the
Associated Press news agency, indicating a boycott was a possibility.
"But if at the very least they're going to establish a fair
process then we could participate, but if it's going to be a kangaroo
court, we can't," he added.
Colleague Congressman Henry Waxman advocated in favour of Democratic participation, however.
"I think the Democrats ought to be there every day, recording why it's a sham," he said.
Democrats have said the inquiry is a political ploy to raise campaign cash and motivate voters.
Democrats are thinking about using Internet balloting in 2016 to
expand their voter base and select a president -- prompting Republicans
to consider such a strategy to keep from losing ground.
Iowa Democrats proposed the idea and several others during a recent
Democratic National Committee meeting, saying Internet balloting could
expand access to their unique caucus process to overseas military
personnel, absentee voters and others.
They have already conducted some interviews and are now embarked on a
“listening tour” to get input from party activists, caucus experts and
others, says Iowa Democratic Party spokeswoman Christina Freundlich.
“We’re looking at different options,” she told FoxNews.com earlier
this week. “Democrats are always looking at ways to get more people in
2016 to participate in the Democratic process.”
The idea of online voting is nothing new, but Iowa Democrats
considering the idea, with the DNC’s support, has reignited debate on
the issue.
“I think it’s a very bad idea,” says the Heritage Foundation’s Hans
von Spakovsky, who thinks computer-based voting will never happen, or at
least not in the “foreseeable future.”
PHOENIX (AP) — Sen. John McCain listened to complaints from several
veterans over the Veterans Affairs system, telling them that reported
lapses in care in Phoenix are part of a nationwide problem that needs to
be fixed.
"This is not a unique situation as far as Arizona is
concerned," McCain said Friday. "I emphasize everyone is innocent until
proven guilty, but this appears to be a problem of nationwide
implications."
In recent weeks, critics of the VA system have
alleged that administrators in Phoenix kept an off-the-books list to
conceal long wait times as 40 veterans died waiting to get an
appointment. Similar problems have since been reported in other states.
McCain hinted at possible prosecution in the Phoenix cases.
"If
these allegations are true, there a violation of law. It's not a matter
of resignations, it's a matter whether somebody goes to jail or not,"
said McCain, evoking thunderous applause from the crowd of more than 100
people.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said this week
he has ordered an audit of access to care at all VA medical centers.
Three executives of the veterans hospital in Phoenix have been placed on
administrative leave amid an investigation into allegations of
corruption and unnecessary deaths at the facility.
The McCain
event came as the Veterans of Foreign Wars announced that it has
established a hotline to field calls about care at VA facilities around
the country. The organization has taken a less forceful tone than the
American Legion, which this week demanded a major shake-up of VA ranks,
including calling for Shinseki's ouster.
The Postal Service on Friday reported a second-quarter loss
of $1.9 billion, despite increasing its revenue by $379 million and
growing its shipping-and-package business by 8 percent compared to the
same period last year.
The latest display of red ink prompted more calls for Congress to
pass postal reforms to help fix the agency’s persistent financial
problems. Friday’s numbers marked the 20th time in the last 22 quarters
in which the USPS has sustained a loss.
The Postal Service lost $5 billion last year while reporting its first revenue gain since 2008. The agency has not made a profit since 2006.
USPS Chief Financial Officer Joseph
Corbett said during a news conference that the agency desperately needs
legislation that would allow “a smarter delivery schedule, greater
control over our personnel and benefit costs and more flexibility in
pricing and products.”
But postal unions worry about potential cuts in service that lawmakers have proposed in the past, including eliminating Saturday letter delivery.
The National Association of Letter
Carriers said Friday that the USPS numbers are moving in the right
direction, noting that its bedrock first-class mail revenue rose by $2
million compared to the same quarter last year, and that
shipping-and-package revenue increased by $252 million, helping the
agency report an operating profit of more than $260 million.
MEMPHIS
— The Republican National Committee moved Friday to seize control of
the presidential primary debates in 2016, another step in a coordinated
effort by the party establishment to reshape the nominating process.
Committee
members overwhelmingly passed a measure that would penalize any
presidential candidate who participated in a debate not sanctioned by
the national party, by limiting their participation in subsequent
committee-sanctioned forums.
The move represents the party’s effort to reduce the number of debates and assert control over how they are staged.
In
making the case for adopting the new rule, party officials repeatedly
criticized the moderators and format of the 2012 primary debates,
appealing to the suspicions that many Republican activists have about
the mainstream news media. “The liberal media doesn’t deserve to be in
the driver’s seat,” said the committee’s chairman, Reince Priebus,
addressing committee members here at their spring meeting.
Such
rhetoric makes taking over the debates easier to sell to the
committee’s more conservative members. But what party leaders are
principally concerned about is reducing the number of debates to avoid a
repeat of the 2012 campaign when a series of insurgent candidates used
the forums — 20 in all — to draw attention to their candidacies. Some
party leaders say they believe that the number of debates pushed Mitt
Romney to the right in a way that contributed to his loss to President
Obama.
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