Gazette 06-10-14

Tuesday June 10 2014

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Nato forces kill five US troops in Afghanistan

Five American soldiers have been killed accidentally by their own side in southern Afghanistan, US military sources have confirmed.

An Afghan soldier and an interpreter also died in the Nato air strike after Monday's operation in Zabul province
Afghan officials say coalition forces called in air support when they were attacked by the Taliban at the end of the operation. Nato is investigating.
Militants have stepped up attacks as foreign combat troops leave this year.
The incident, which happened on Monday, is among the most serious cases of so-called "friendly fire" in Afghanistan, where Nato-led troops have been battling Taliban and other insurgents since 2001.
A statement from international forces in Kabul said: "Tragically there is the possibility that fratricide may have been involved."
Nato did not immediately confirm the nationality of these latest casualties.
But the BBC's David Loyn in Kabul says the term "fratricide" is used by US forces when they mistakenly kill soldiers on their own side.
The Isaf force currently has soldiers from 50 contributing nations in Afghanistan. Most troops stationed in the south are American.
The governor of Zabul province told the BBC there was a joint operation involving Afghan and international troops.

Pakistani militants launch new attack near Karachi airport

KARACHI, Pakistan –  Gunmen in Pakistan attacked a training facility near the Karachi airport on Tuesday, forcing a temporary suspension of flights and triggering a brief shootout with security forces, just days after the brazen Taliban assault on the city's busy airport shocked the country.
Security forces managed to quickly repulse the attack on the complex, which serves as a training academy for airport security forces, officials said.

Pakistani television stations showed images of security guards rushing to the scene and frantically taking up positions behind buildings or earthen berms in the neighborhood roughly a half mile from Karachi's Jinnah International Airport. The Pakistani military said army troops were sent to help the security forces after the shooting.
A spokesman for the Airport Security Force, Ghulam Abbas Memon, said about two to three gunmen tried to enter a training academy complex for the security forces from two different entrances.
"Our men retaliated and repulsed," the gunmen, Memon said, adding that security forces chased the men to a drainage ditch near the academy where another firefight ensued but the gunmen managed to escape.
"Now a search operation is under way," he said.

Iraqi Militants Seize Government Headquarters In Mosul

BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic militants overran parts of Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul on Tuesday, driving security forces from their posts and seizing the provincial government headquarters, security bases and other key buildings. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pressed parliament to declare a state of emergency.

The fight for Mosul was a heavy defeat in Baghdad's battle against a widening insurgency by a breakaway al-Qaida group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has been trying — with some success — to seize territory both in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Earlier this year, the group captured another Iraqi city, Fallujah, in the west of the country, and government forces have been unable to take it back after months of fighting. The far larger Mosul is an even more strategic prize. The city and surrounding Ninevah province are a major export route for Iraqi oil and a gateway to Syria.

Regaining Mosul poses a daunting challenge for al-Maliki. The city has a Sunni Muslim majority and many in the community are already deeply embittered against his Shiite-led government. During the nearly nine-year American presence in the country, Mosul was a major stronghold for al-Qaida and U.S. and Iraqi forces carried out repeated offensives there, regaining a semblance of control but never routing the insurgents entirely.

Pakistan air strikes 'kill 15 militants'

The Pakistani military has carried out air strikes in tribal areas in the north-west of the country, killing at least 15 militants, officials say.

The raids destroyed nine militant positions in the Tirah Valley in Khyber district, the military said.
The strikes came after the Taliban stormed Karachi airport, in an attack that killed at least 30 people.
The Pakistani Taliban said Sunday's assault was in revenge for the killing of their leader last year.
"Nine terrorist hideouts were destroyed by early morning military air strikes near the Pakistan-Afghan border," the military said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Khyber tribal region, near the Pakistan-Afghan border, is believed to be a base for several militant groups and foreign fighters.
It is not clear when the air strikes took place or which militant group was targeted, the BBC's Shahzeb Jillani in Islamabad reports.

Chinese Naval Squadron Departs To Attend U.S. Naval Drills In RIMPAC For First Time Ever

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese ships steamed Tuesday toward waters near Hawaii to participate for the first time in the world's largest naval exercises hosted by Washington — a rare opportunity to build trust with the U.S. and regional rivals including the Philippines and Japan.
China's participation in the Rim of the Pacific exercises beginning June 26 will enable Chinese naval officers to rub shoulders with U.S. counterparts as well as those from countries with which it has maritime disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea.
Washington and Beijing have been seeking closer military ties following an incident last December when a U.S. Navy cruiser, the USS Cowpens, nearly collided with a ship accompanying China's sole aircraft carrier in the South China Sea — the most serious sea confrontation between the two nations in years.
China's agreeing to participate shows a new maturity in its foreign relations whereby it won't allow individual disagreements to upset overall ties, said Ni Lexiong, a military expert at Shanghai's University of Political Science and Law.
"The rule of the game now is that we can argue, we can quarrel, but at the same time, we can work together. And everybody has shown respect for that rule," Ni said.
Twenty-three countries will participate in this year's drills, including Australia, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Britain.
China's Defense Ministry said four ships — the destroyer Haikou, missile frigate Yueyang, the oiler Yueyang, and hospital ship Peace Ark — departed Monday. It said the squadron is carrying 1,100 officers and sailors, including a commando unit and diving team, along with two helicopters.

Sexual violence in war: Summit held in London

A four-day summit on sexual violence in war has begun in London, hosted by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and Hollywood star and UN special envoy Angelina Jolie.

The event - the largest ever of its kind - is the result of an intense two-year campaign to raise awareness.
Mr Hague said rape was one of the "great mass crimes" of modern times.
He called on the 140 nations at the summit to write action against sexual violence into their army training. 
The summit aims to:

• launch a new international protocol for documenting and investigating sexual violence in conflict, and encourage countries to strengthen domestic laws to enable prosecutions
• urge countries to train all soldiers and peacekeepers to prevent sexual violence
• increase funding to support survivors of sexual violence
• change attitudes towards rape in conflict

The organisers want the event to be the moment the world wakes up and declares that sexual violence is not an inevitable part of war, says BBC World Affairs Correspondent Paul Adams.
'Weapon of war" Opening the summit, Mr Hague said: "From the abolition of slavery to the adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty, we have shown that the international community can tackle vast global problems in a way that was once considered to be impossible.
"There is power in numbers, and if we unite behind this cause, we can create an unstoppable momentum and consign this vile abuse to history."
Ms Jolie said: "We need to shatter that culture of impunity and make justice the norm, not the exception, for these crimes."
She said she wanted to dedicate the conference to a rape victim she recently interviewed in Bosnia, who felt so humiliated by what had happened to her that she could not even tell her own son. 

Brazil World Cup Excitement Darkened By Public Anger

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It's a tale of the two World Cups — one on a field and one playing out on this country's streets.

As Brazilians raise the curtain this week on what's arguably the world's most popular sporting event, the country's fervent love of soccer is butting up against public anger over charges of wasteful spending, corruption, traffic jams, strikes and a litany of other complaints.

After enduring a year of anti-government protests that tied up roads and strikes that paralyzed public transport, schools, and other services, many exhausted Brazilians finally are preparing to cheer on their beloved team, though in what may be the flattest pre-Cup climate they've yet seen.

On a dark, rain-soaked street in Rio's Copacabana neighborhood, Francisco Nascimento climbed a rickety wooden ladder to hang plastic streamers in the colors of Brazil's national flag. With only a few days to go before the Cup's opening match, Nascimento was running out of time to repeat the ritual he's completed for every World Cup since 1982.

Likud's Rivlin defeats Sheetrit, will be tenth president of Israel

Rivlin beats Hatnua MK in second round runoff, winning 63 of 119 votes from MKs; Likud MK will replace Peres when he steps down after seven-year term in July.

Likud MK Reuven Rivlin will be the tenth president of Israel after he scored a victory over Hatnua MK Meir Sheetrit in the second round of voting at the Knesset on Tuesday.
Rivlin received 63 votes in the second round, while Sheetrit received 53 votes.

US warns of 'tough choices' in Iran nuclear talks

GENEVA: Iran and the United States go into a second day of talks on Tuesday on Tehran's contested nuclear programme, with Washington warning of "tough choices" ahead of a July deadline for a deal.

The closed-door two-day meeting in Geneva, which began Monday, marks a new effort to find common ground between Tehran and Washington, amid concerns that tensions between the two could damage efforts to strike a deal between the Islamic republic and world powers.

As the first day of talks drew to a close, Washington acknowledged that time was running out.

"We think we've made progress during some rounds, but as we said coming out of the last one, we hadn't seen enough made. We hadn't seen enough realism, quite frankly, on the table," said deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.

"We know we don't have a lot of time left. That's why we've said diplomacy will intensify," Harf said.

"People need to make tough choices, but we are very focused on that July 20th time." 

Kenya cleric Sheikh Mohammed Idris shot dead in Mombasa

A moderate Muslim cleric has been shot dead in Mombasa, the latest killing of a preacher in the Kenyan city.

Sheikh Mohammed Idris, chairman of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, was killed close to a mosque near his home by a group of gunmen.
Reports say he had previously been threatened by radical Muslim youths and had said he feared for his life.
He is the fourth prominent Muslim cleric to be shot dead in the city since 2012.
The others were accused of links to the al-Qaeda linked Somali Islamist group al-Shabab and their supporters accused the government of being behind their killings - charges the authorities denied.
'Power struggle' Mr Idris had apparently urged the police to deal with militant elements at his mosque, leading some to brand him a traitor.
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Yes, Nixon Scuttled the Vietnam Peace Talks

Did Richard Nixon’s campaign conspire to scuttle the Vietnam War peace talks on the eve of the 1968 election to capture him the presidency?

Absolutely, says Tom Charles Huston, the author of a comprehensive, still-secret report he prepared as a White House aide to Nixon. In one of 10 oral histories conducted by the National Archives and opened last week, Huston says “there is no question” that Nixon campaign aides sent a message to the South Vietnamese government, promising better terms if it obstructed the talks, and helped Nixon get elected.
Nixon’s campaign manager, John Mitchell, “was directly involved,” Huston tells interviewer Timothy Naftali. And while “there is no evidence that I found” that Nixon participated, it is “inconceivable to me,” says Huston, that Mitchell “acted on his own initiative.”

Huston’s comments—transcribed and publishedon the web site of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California on Wednesday—are the latest twist in a longstanding tale of political skullduggery involving Nixon and his predecessor, Lyndon Johnson. It is a tale that features a secret “X-file,” a mysterious “Dragon Lady” and reports of wiretaps and bugging that has captured the imagination of scholars and conspiracy theorists for half a century.
Like many of Nixon’s actions, this particular transgression was born of paranoia. As the 1968 election approached, Nixon and his aides feared that Johnson would try to help the Democratic nominee—Vice President Hubert Humphrey—by staging an October surprise. When LBJ announced to the nation, just days before the balloting, that he was calling a halt in the bombing of North Vietnam to help fuel progress in ongoing peace talks, the Republicans thought their fears were realized.
Anna Chennault, a Republican activist with ties to the South Vietnamese government, sent word to Saigon that it would get better terms if Humphrey lost and Nixon took office, the FBI would discover. The South Vietnamese dragged their feet, infuriating LBJ who, in a taped conversation released by the Johnson presidential library several years ago, can be heard denouncing Nixon for “treason.”

Hillary Clinton hits back at Republican criticism over Benghazi attack

Clinton says inquiries into Libyan gun battle that killed US ambassador are spurring her to run for White House

Hillary Clinton has hit back at Republican criticism of her handling of the deadly terrorist attacks in Benghazi by suggesting it has emboldened her to run for president.
The former US secretary of state said she will not make a final decision about whether to stand for the 2016 nomination for at least another seven months, but in an interview to mark the start of a book tour which is being seen as a soft launch of her 2016 campaign, Clinton said the various congressional inquiries instigated by Republicans into the attack in the Libyan city were spurring her to run for the White House.
Speaking to ABC News, Clinton abandoned her previously defensive stance on the Benghazi attack in which US ambassador Chris Stevens was killed. She used a baseball metaphor to belittle the inquiries as "minor league ball".
She added: "It's more of a reason to run, because I do not believe our great country should be playing minor league ball. We ought to be in the majors. I view this as really apart from even a diversion from the hard work that the Congress should be doing about the problems facing our country and the world."
Clinton devotes a chapter of her new book, Hard Choices, to the Benghazi attack in which she is unrepentant in the face of Republican hostility and about the way the Obama administration changed its account of what happened.
"I will not be a part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans," Clinton writes. Republicans have questioned Clinton's response to the attacks and whether she could have done more to secure the diplomatic compounds.

Many US veterans waiting three months for medical care

More than 57,000 US military veterans have been waiting up to three months for medical appointments, according to a damning internal audit.

A complicated appointment process had sown confusion among scheduling clerks, the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) said in its review.
The audit of 731 VA hospitals and large outpatient clinics comes amid uproar about the failing care system.
The Veterans Affairs chief resigned after a damning investigation.
Eric Shinseki stepped down at the end of May amid a national uproar after a report found veterans at an Arizona hospital waited on average 115 days for an initial appointment.
The former general pointed to a "lack of integrity" in the system, with some hospitals covering up the long delays.
Monday's report was the first nationwide since the furore began, and it revealed an additional 64,000 veterans have never had appointments after enrolling in the VA health care system over the past 10 years .
It also said 13% of VA schedulers said they were instructed to falsify appointment dates in order to meet targets. 

‘Just Admit It’: Administration privately concedes risk of Taliban swap, despite Kerry comments

Secretary of State John Kerry's dismissive "baloney" response to whether five Taliban members released from Guantanamo pose a risk to American troops is receiving pushback from, of all places, Obama administration officials. 
Despite Kerry brushing off such concerns in an interview on Sunday, Fox News is told that administration officials who briefed members of the House on Monday evening were not ready to rule out the possibility that the freed inmates could endanger Americans. 

Several lawmakers said administration officials admitted Monday there could be some additional risk to Afghan civilians and Americans because the five hardened Taliban members have been freed, in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. 
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger told Fox News that Kerry's claims were "absolutely bewildering," particularly in light of the Monday briefing. 
He said administration officials told lawmakers that the release "could potentially endanger American soldiers." 
The administration, he said, has "got to get their message straight." 
To Kinzinger, there's no question the release poses a risk.

US to allow first commercial drone flights over land

The US Federal Aviation Authority has granted its first commercial drone licence over US land to British oil giant BP and unmanned aerial vehicle firm AeroVironment.

The drones will patrol pipelines, roads, and equipment in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska - the largest oil field in North America.
The first drone flight took place on Sunday, the firms said.
It featured a small, hand-launched vehicle called the Puma AE.
It is a small unmanned aircraft about 4.5ft (1.4m) long with a wingspan of 9ft (2.7m).
The Puma was initially designed for military use, but has been adapted to fit BP's needs, according to AeroVironment.
"This is an important achievement for our joint team and for the industry in demonstrating the safe and effective use of our proven [unmanned aerial system] technology for commercial applications," said AeroVironment chief executive Tim Conver in a statement.
The firm has already been using its Puma drone in the area since September 2013 to offer 3D road mapping services, as well as environmental monitoring, as part of a pilot programme with the University of Alaska.
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