Gazette 06-03-14

Tuesday June 3rd 2014

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Pakistan MQM leader Altaf Hussain arrested in London

Police in London have arrested the leader of Pakistan's powerful MQM party, Altaf Hussain, on suspicion of money-laundering.

Officers are searching a residential address in north-west London where they say a 60-year-old man was detained.
Mr Hussain has lived in the UK since 1991, saying his life would be at risk if he returned to Pakistan.
His party, which controls Karachi, has urged supporters to stay calm amid outbreaks of violence there.
The British and Pakistani authorities have in the past expressed concerns that any arrest of Altaf Hussain could lead to violent protests in Karachi.

Ukraine launches offensive against rebels in eastern city of Slovyansk

At least two Ukrainian troops have been killed Tuesday amid an ongoing assault against pro-Russian rebels in the eastern city of Slovyansk, according to a spokesman for the country’s anti-terror operation.
Vladyslav Seleznev told Fox News that 40 Ukrainian troops and dozens of rebels have also been injured in the clashes.

Ukraine’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said Tuesday that government troops broke through rebel positions around the village of Semenovka on the eastern fringe of Slovyansk. "An active offensive stage of the counterterrorist operation is underway in Slovyansk," he wrote on his Facebook page.
Avakov warned residents in Slovyansk and nearby cities of Kramatorsk and Krasny Liman to stay at home.
An AP journalist just south of Slovyansk heard sustained gun and artillery fire and saw plumes of black smoke rising over the city.
A Ukrainian military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media, said one serviceman was killed and 13 others were wounded when their vehicle came under rebel fire near Slovyansk.
The Interfax news agency quoted rebels in Slovyansk as saying that the government used combat jets and helicopter gunships as well as artillery to bombard their positions.
Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly announced an escalation in armed operations, only to eventually back down. Government forces have in recent days been noticeably reinforced to the north of Slovyansk, however, and deployment of air power over the past week has signalled increased determination.

Syria's 2014 Presidential Election Underway

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Waving photos of President Bashar Assad and dancing with flags, tens of thousands of Syrians pledged renewed allegiance to President Bashar Assad as they voted Tuesday in a presidential election that excluded a vast swath of the pre-war population and was decried by the opposition as a charade.
Some stamped their ballots with blood after pricking their fingers with pins supplied by the government in a symbolic act of allegiance and patriotism. Others chose to vote in full sight of other voters and television cameras — rather than go behind a partition curtain for privacy.
Men and women wore lapel pins with Assad's picture and said re-electing him would give the Syrian leader more legitimacy to find a solution to the devastating three-year conflict that activists say has killed more than 160,000 people, about a third of whom were civilians.
Security was tight, with multiple rings of checkpoints set up around the Syrian capital and its entrances. Troops searched cars and asked people for their IDs.
Even as crowds of Assad's supporters flocked to the polls in Damascus, the sounds of war were inescapable.
At least three fighter jets roared low over Damascus during the voting, which residents said was unusual.
The dull sounds of explosions also reverberated in the distance as pro-government forces and rebels battled in nearby rural towns and ashy plumes of gray smoke marked the skyline. Several mortar hits were reported in the capital, including one that crashed near the Opera House on a major plaza, though the voting was largely peaceful.

Tiananmen anniversary: China tightens crackdown

China has tightened security and widened a clampdown on dissent, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre on Wednesday.

Lawyers, journalists and activists have been detained.
Internet search terms related to the 1989 massacre and the protests have been blocked, and access on Google has reportedly been restricted.
The protests were the biggest rally against Communist rule since the People's Republic was founded in 1949.
Hundreds of thousands called for democratic reforms in a peaceful demonstration largely focused on a gathering in Tiananmen Square.
After weeks of protests, the authorities responded on 4 June 1989 with a massacre of hundreds in the streets of Beijing.
Analysts say repression for the 25th anniversary of the protests is much more intense than in previous years.
Related : Artist Guo Jian Detained In China Ahead Of Tiananmen Anniversary

Nigerian generals found guilty of arming Boko Haram

KADUNA, Nigeria –  Ten generals and five other senior military officers were found guilty in courts-martial of providing arms and information to Boko Haram extremists, a leading Nigerian newspaper reported Tuesday.
The news follows months of allegations from politicians and soldiers who have told The Associated Press that some senior officers were helping the Islamic extremists and that some rank-and-file soldiers even fight alongside the insurgents and then return to army camps. They have said that information provided by army officers has helped insurgents in ambushing military convoys and in attacks on army barracks and outposts in their northeastern stronghold.

Leadership newspaper quoted one officer saying that four other officers, in addition to the 15, were found guilty of "being disloyal and for working for the members of the sect."
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. Last week, he denied that senior military officers were being investigated for helping Boko Haram and sabotaging a year-old offensive to curb the 5-year-old uprising that has killed thousands.
Boko Haram has attracted international condemnation and U.N. sanctions since its April 15 abduction of more than 300 schoolgirls, of whom 272 remain captive.

Yemen Violence: Clashes In The North Claim At Least 120 Lives

(Reuters) - At least 120 people were killed in northern Yemen on Monday in fighting between Shi'ite Muslim Houthi rebels and government forces, a Yemeni official said on Tuesday.
Yemeni planes shelled positions held by Houthi fighters in Omran province and army forces clashed with the rebels, killing around 100 of them, Ahmed al-Bekry, deputy governor told Reuters. Twenty government soldiers were also killed in the fighting, he said.

China pledges to limit carbon emissions for first time

Absolute cap to come into effect from 2016, climate adviser says on the day after US announces ambitious carbon plan

China, the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter, will limit its total emissions for the first time by the end of this decade, according to a top government advisor.
He Jiankun, chairman of China's Advisory Committee on Climate Change, told a conference in Beijing on Tuesday that an absolute cap on carbon emissions will be introduced.
"The government will use two ways to control CO2 emissions in the next five-year plan, by intensity and an absolute cap," Reuters reported He as saying. Though not a government official, He is a high level advisor.
While environmentalists broadly welcomed the remarks, they cautioned that it was far from clear at what level the cap would be set and said it needed to be enforceable.
China's emissions have risen dramatically in the last two decades, overtaking those from the US – the previous biggest producer – in 2006. Although the average Chinese person's carbon footprint is still much lower than the average American's, it is catching up, and is now on a par with the average European's.
He's remarks come just a day after the Obama administration implemented tough new rules to cut carbon emissions from power plants 30% by 2030.
“The timing is very auspicious,” said Frank Jotzo, an expert on the economics and policy of climate change at Australian National University and a lead author on the fifth assessment report from the IPCC, the UN’s climate science panel.

Khamenei blasts 'evil Zionist regime' for sowing discord among Muslims

Iran's supreme leader took to Twitter to denounce the "policy of the enemies of Islam to stir up fratricide and civil war."

Iran's supreme leader accused Israel on Tuesday of sowing dissension and pitting Muslims against one another in Syria.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took to Twitter on Tuesday to denounce the "policy of the enemies of Islam to stir up fratricide and civil war in the Islamic countries."

In an apparent reference to Western-backed rebels in Syria, Khamenei wrote: "Some in the name of Muslims are hand in hand w/devils & consented to be an ally of evil Zionist regime to beat their brothers to ground."

British woman reports seeing MH370 ‘on fire’

A British woman sailing across the Indian Ocean in March claims that she may have seen the lost Malaysian Boeing 777 aircraft on fire.
Katherine Tee was sailing from Cochin, India, to Phuket, in Thailand, with her husband, Marc Horn, when she saw what appeared to be a large aircraft crossing the night sky, trailing a plume of black smoke.

Four killed in Pakistan air force plane crash

KARACHI: A Pakistan air force fighter plane crashed at a bus terminal on the outskirts of Karachi on Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring nine, officials said.

The accident happened in the Baldia Town district just west of Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city and commercial hub.

"Both pilots embraced martyrdom in the fighter jet crash today," an air force spokesman said.

Police said two people on the ground were also killed and nine injured. Sajid Sadozai, a senior police official said two buses parked at the terminal were destroyed while another was damaged.

TV footage showed plumes of black smoke rising from the scene as rescue teams rushed in.

Another security official said the crashed plane was a Mirage fighter jet. Pakistan has a large fleet of refurbished Mirages.

The air force blamed the crash on technical reasons but gave no details.

Explosives man' held after three-day manhunt

A social media consultant hunted by police for three days due to suspicions he possessed explosives is in custody.

Ryan Kelly Chamberlain II, 42, was arrested on Monday, police said, after they found his car near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
FBI agents told CBS News the arrest was made without incident, following reports he was seen drinking in a bar.
The manhunt began on Saturday after police spent 14 hours searching Mr Chamberlain's San Francisco apartment.
Police asked the public for help in finding Mr Chamberlain, who tweeted on Monday that police claims he was dangerous were false.
'Nice guy' "Anyone who has the means, methods and access to make a bomb should be considered armed and dangerous,'' FBI spokesman Peter Lee had said before the arrest.
"That is the reason why we want to bring him in safely soon."
He gave no further details about the nature of the investigation.
Friends and colleagues of Mr Chamberlain were said to be dumbfounded by the news he was wanted by the FBI.
"He's a nice guy," said Brooke Wentz, his boss at a music rights consultancy group, where Mr Chamberlain handled the company's social media accounts.
But he seemed to be under financial pressure, Ms Wentz added, because he told her that two friends who were renting his apartment had left without telling him.
Mr Chamberlain had worked for years as a political consultant on Democratic campaigns, his friend Randy Bramblett said.
Others said he was well known in the city's political circles and he had also worked on the San Francisco Chronicle.

Obama says 'absolutely' a risk in freeing Taliban inmates, but defends swap

President Obama, in his first public comments on the controversial trade of five Taliban prisoners for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl since the deal was announced, acknowledged Tuesday there's "absolutely" a risk that the former Guantanamo inmates will try to return to the battlefield -- but nevertheless defended the deal as in America's interest. 
"I wouldn't be doing it if I thought that it was contrary to American national security," Obama said. 

The president is facing heavy criticism from Congress for negotiating the release of the "Taliban Dream Team" and for proceeding with the prisoner swap without telling lawmakers in advance. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in an interview with Fox News on Monday, said the prisoners -- high-ranking Taliban leaders -- are "hell-bent on killing Americans." 
Speaking in Poland at the first stop of a European tour, Obama did not deny that the prisoners could try again to target Americans. 
"Is there the possibility of some of them trying to return to activities that are detrimental to us? Absolutely," Obama said. "That's been true of all the prisoners that were released from Guantanamo. There's a certain recidivism rate that takes place."

US to consider drone licences for film and TV

US authorities have said they are considering allowing the film and television industries to use drones.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said there could be "tangible economic benefits", but cautioned safety hazards must be "mitigated".
Seven aerial video and photography firms have petitioned the FAA for exemptions to the agency's current ban on commercial drone use.
The FAA did not set a timeline for determining the exemptions.
Businesses have been pushing hard for permission to use drones, which are much less expensive to run than manned aircraft.
But the FAA has been cautious, arguing that the US has some of the busiest airspace in the world.
It wants to be sure that drones can be integrated with existing commercial and military traffic.
Congress has given the FAA until 2015 to create rules regarding the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones.
They are already commonly used elsewhere in the world, including on high-profile movies, including The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which was filmed in New Zealand.

Jeffrey Toobin: Obama 'Clearly Broke The Law' In Bergdahl Deal

CNN legal eagle Jeffrey Toobin said Monday that President Obama "clearly broke the law" in his efforts to free American POW Bowe Bergdahl.
Controversy has flared in the days since Bergdahl's release, with Congress saying it was not given the requisite 30 days notice it should have been given before Obama freed five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in order to swap them for Bergdahl.
"I think he clearly broke the law," Toobin said on "The Situation Room." "The law says 30-days' notice. Give 30 days' notice. Now, it is true that he issued a signing statement, but signing statements are not law. Signing statements are the president's opinion about what the law should mean. Now, it may be that the law is unconstitutional, a violation of his power as commander in chief, but no court has held that. The law is on the books, and he didn't follow it."
On Tuesday, Obama said the White House had warned Congress for "some time" that it might have to exchange prisoners for Bergdahl. The National Security Council released a statement saying that the administration "determined" that the 30-day provision did not apply to Bergdahl's case.

Unions slam Obama EPA rule

Labor unions criticized the Environmental Protection Agency’s new regulations on carbon emissions from power plants on Monday, highlighting growing tensions between the environmentalist and working class arms of the Democratic Party.

Those tensions have come to the forefront as leading Democrats embrace environmentalist policies backed by billionaire political donors that are generally opposed by members of the party’s rank and file base.

Some labor unions, groups generally considered loyally Democratic, rebelled on Monday after the EPA released its new regulations, which studies have suggested will carry hefty economic costs.

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) president Cecil Roberts blasted the proposal, saying it would leave tens of thousands of the union’s members unemployed.

“The proposed rule … will lead to long-term and irreversible job losses for thousands of coal miners, electrical workers, utility workers, boilermakers, railroad workers and others without achieving any significant reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions,” Roberts said in a statement.

According to a UMWA analysis, Roberts said, the rule will cause 75,000 job losses in the coal sector by 2020, rising to 152,000 by 2035.

U.S. announces $1 billion program to boost military presence in Eastern Europe

WARSAW — President Obama pledged his ironclad commitment Tuesday to the defense of Europe and proposed as much as $1 billion in additional spending to bolster the U.S. military presence in Poland and its neighbors, part of a strategy to reassure nervous allies and check Russia’s encroachment into the region.

Standing beside Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski at the start of a four-day tour of Europe, Obama warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will face additional sanctions if he escalates the crisis in Ukraine, and urged him to take steps to resolve it diplomatically.

“We have prepared economic costs on Russia that can escalate if we continue to see Russia actively destabilizing one of its neighbors,” said Obama, who will see the Russian leader Friday at a summit marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day. “Mr. Putin has a choice to make.”
Earlier, addressing a joint display of U.S. and Polish troops, Obama made the first of several reassurances about U.S. commitment to the defense of the new democracies in Eastern Europe.
“Our commitment to Poland’s security, as well as the security of our allies in Central and Eastern Europe, is a cornerstone of our own security, and it is sacrosanct,” he said, flanked by F-16s that are part of a joint training program between the two countries.
European leaders, especially in the east, have expressed anxiety that the United States will not want to focus attention or resources on the Russian threat — a concern that intensified after Obama seemed to narrow the case for using military action in a high-profile speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point last week.
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