Gazette 062414

Tuesday June 24th 2014

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Iraq crisis: Kerry urges unity to expel Isis rebels

US Secretary of State John Kerry has told the BBC there must be regional unity to expel Sunni rebels from the Isis group who have taken large swathes of northern and western Iraq.

He said there was no military solution, stressing the need for a new Iraqi government that empowered people in communities where Isis had taken hold.
Mr Kerry has been talking to Kurdish leaders in the northern city of Irbil.
The rebels continue to advance, and are fighting to take a key oil refinery.
The insurgents, spearheaded by Islamists fighting under the banner of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), have overrun much of north and west Iraq, including the second-biggest city, Mosul.
Meanwhile, a United Nations human rights team in Iraq reported that at least 1,075 people were killed in Iraq so far in June, most of them civilians.
The UN said the figures, which include a number of verified summary executions, should be viewed as an absolute minimum.
'No military solution' In an interview with the BBC's Kim Ghattas, Mr Kerry said: "Every country in the region will combine in order to take on and expel Isis because it is simply unacceptable to have a terrorist organisation grabbing territory and challenging the legitimacy of governments."

Shiite villagers describe ISIS 'massacre' in northern Iraq

Shiite Turkmen villagers in northern Iraq have claimed that an Al Qaeda-inspired Sunni militant group carried out a "savage massacre" in four villages near the city of Kirkuk.
The Washington Post reported that more than a dozen residents of the villages of Brawchi, Karanaz, Chardaghli and Beshir described atrocities that took place last week. Kirkuk's deputy police chief, General Turhan Abdel-Rahman, said that he knew of at least 40 dead from the four villages, but noted that there were other bodies inside the village of Beshir. 

"Tell the world. It was a savage massacre," one man present at the burial of 15 bodies in the village of Tafaz told the Post. 
Many survivors of the attacks have fled to Kirkuk, where Iraqi Kurdish security forces are in control. 
The United Nations said Tuesday that more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed so far in June violence in Iraq, according to Reuters. 
"This figure — which should be viewed very much as a minimum — includes a number of verified summary executions and extra-judicial killings of civilians, police, and soldiers who were hors (de) combat," said U.N. human rights office spokesman Rupert Colville, using the French term for soldiers who have signaled they are no longer combatants.
Witnesses said the attacks on the villages by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) began with shelling before militants fired on fleeing villagers. The Associated Press reported that some residents who attempted to flee were shot at by rooftop snipers. One father of five told the Post that he and his family had survived the June 17 attack on Brawchi by pretending to be dead when the militants reached them. The man and two of his children were wounded.

UN: At Least 1,075 Killed In Iraq In June

GENEVA (AP) — At least 1,075 people, the vast majority of them civilians, have been killed in Iraq during June as a Sunni insurgency overtakes key areas of the country, the United Nations said Tuesday.
According to the U.N. human rights team in Iraq, there were at least 757 civilians killed and 599 injured in Nineveh, Diyala and Salah al-Din provinces from June 5-22, as troops led by Shiite-led government in Baghdad failed to stop the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
"This figure — which should be viewed very much as a minimum — includes a number of verified summary executions and extra-judicial killings of civilians, police, and soldiers who were hors (de) combat," said U.N. human rights office spokesman Rupert Colville, using the French term for soldiers who have signaled they are no longer combatants.
The Iraq team said another 318 people were killed and 590 injured during the same time in Baghdad and areas in the south, many of them from least six separate vehicle-borne bombs. It also is trying to verify what Colville called "a number of alleged human rights violations that have been taking place in Iraq" since ISIL's advances in early June.
Colville told reporters in Geneva that kidnappings of foreigners and others continue in the northern provinces and in Baghdad, including 48 Turkish citizens taken from Turkey's consulate when ISIL captured Mosul and 40 Indian nationals who had been working for an Iraqi construction company.
But he said 16 Georgians reported kidnapped 10 days ago have been released, and 44 other foreign workers abducted by ISIL when they captured Al-Door also have been freed and returned safely after local tribal leaders negotiated between the Iraqi army and ISIL.

Syria rebel groups recruit child soldiers, says rights watchdog

(CNN) -- At the start of Syria's civil unrest, Omar would rally against the government alongside his schoolmates, later taking to the streets in his hometown of Salqin.

Two years later, at the age of 14, he became a child soldier, training to join the ranks of rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra. He learned how to use weapons, make bombs and use mines. But when it came to fighting on the front line, he was scared.

"Then our sheikh came to encourage us to go fight and gave us speeches about jihad," Omar told Human Rights Watch. "So after two days, I went to front line."

Omar is just one of many boys being used on the battlefield in Syria's civil war, according to an HRW report released Monday. Many are forced to fight in battle. Others must act as snipers, man checkpoints, spy on opposing forces or carry out other, equally dangerous tasks.

Amr, 17, told Human Rights Watch that he first joined the Daoud Brigade, an Islamist rebel group, when he was 15. He later agreed to sign up for a suicide attack mission, feeling socially pressured to sign the volunteer list. Other children had also signed on, he said.

With Syria entering its fourth year of civil war, grim accounts of child soldiers being used on the battlefield are now emerging. Though the specific number of child fighters in Syria is unknown, the Violations Documenting Center, a Syrian monitoring group, has documented 194 deaths of "non-civilian" male children since 2011.

Beirut suicide car bomb: Lebanon's capital shaken

A security officer was killed when a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb near a Lebanese army checkpoint in the capital, Beirut.

The blast, which caused a huge fire, occurred in a southern suburb mainly inhabited by Shia Muslims.
At least 12 people who were watching World Cup football in a nearby cafe were wounded.
Lebanon has suffered a rise in sectarian tension linked to the conflict in neighbouring Syria.
Last week a policeman was killed and 30 people injured when a suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives in eastern Lebanon.
The latest explosion occurred just after midnight local time (21:00 GMT).
Reports suggest the General Security Agency officer who died had become suspicious of the bomber and was killed after stopping his vehicle.

60 females, 31 boys abducted in northeast Nigeria, witnesses claim

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria –  Islamic extremists have abducted 60 more girls and women and 31 boys from villages in northeast Nigeria, witnesses said Tuesday.
Security forces denied the kidnappings. Nigeria's government and military have been widely criticized for their slow response to the abductions of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped April 15.

There was no way to safely and independently confirm the report from Kummabza, 95 miles from Maiduguri, capital of Borno state and headquarters of a military state of emergency that has failed to curtail near-daily attacks by Boko Haram fighters.
Kummabza resident Aji Khalil said Tuesday the abductions took place Saturday in an attack in which four villagers were killed. Khalil is a member of one of the vigilante groups that have had some success in repelling Boko Haram attacks with primitive weapons.
A senior local councilor from the village's Damboa local government told The Associated Press that abductions had occurred but insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to give information to reporters. He said elderly survivors of the attack had walked some 15 miles to the relative safety of other villages.
The Damboa council secretary, Modu Mustapha, said he could not confirm or deny the abductions and directed a reporter to the council chairman, Alamin Mohammed, who did not answer phone calls or respond to text messages.
The new kidnappings add to Nigeria's crisis over the April kidnappings and the ongoing violence from the Islamic militant group Boko Haram.

Ukraine crisis: Putin removes threat of military intervention after ceasefire

Boost to truce hopes after president asks parliament to revoke ruling permitting Russian troops on Ukrainian territory

Vladimir Putin has formally taken Russian military intervention in eastern Ukraine off the table as separatist leaders agreed to a ceasefire proposed by Kiev in the region.
Both the government and the rebels have accused each other of continuing to open fire after the ceasefire was agreed on Monday evening, but there did not appear to be any sustained fighting on Tuesday.
The relative quiet boosted hopes the truce might hold as the region enters a difficult and uneasy period of negotiations aimed at stopping the violence that has left hundreds dead over the past two months.
Putin asked the upper house of the Russian parliament on Tuesday to revoke its ruling in March that Russia could use troops on Ukrainian territory. Cancelling the ruling, passed prior to the annexation of Crimea, is another sign that the Kremlin is attempting to de-escalate the situation, after weeks when Kiev had feared Russian troops massed close to the border could invade at any minute.
Putin's spokesman told Interfax that the decision to cancel the order was given "in order to normalise and regulate the situation in the eastern regions of Ukraine, and due to the start of the three-way talks on the issue".
Ukraine's new president, Petro Poroshenko, announced a unilateral ceasefire on Friday he said would last a week and give separatists a chance to flee or lay down their arms and receive amnesty, as long as they had not committed serious crimes.
Despite promising negotiations, few thought that Poroshenko would speak to the leaders of the self-proclaimed "people's republics" in the east, whom Kiev has branded "terrorists", but on Monday surprise talks took place in Donetsk, one of the centres of the rebel movement, between Poroshenko's representative, former president Leonid Kuchma, and separatist leaders. Also in attendance were an OSCE representative, the Russian ambassador to Ukraine and a pro-Russia Ukrainian politician, Viktor Medvedchuk, who is on the US sanctions list for his role in the annexation of Crimea, but who Putin has said should play a key role in any negotiations.

Exiled Thai minister forms anti-coup group

An exiled Thai minister has formed a group to lead a campaign against the military government, which seized power in last month's coup.

Charupong Reuangsuwan is the only minister to have escaped into exile.
He called the coup, which followed months of anti-government protests, "an outrageous act" and "grand larceny".
The Organisation of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy (Seri Thai) aims to "restore and strengthen" Thai democracy.
In a statement addressed to Thai citizens and e-mailed to journalists, he said: "It is now tragically evident that Thailand has returned, once again, to a vicious cycle of absolute dictatorial governance."
He accused the junta of stealing the people's sovereignty by seizing power from the elected civilian government, which was run by Mr Charupong's Puea Thai party.
The military leadership has pledged to return to democracy, but only after it has carried out sweeping reforms of the political system.
Mr Charupong, however, accused the military of intending to create "a new puppet structure" for "anti-democratic elements".
His group has set up a YouTube channel and posted videos of the statement read out in Thai by Mr Charupong, and read out in English by activist Jakrapob Penkair.

Hadash MK Agbaria: Hamas is not a terrorist organization

Hamas is a "liberation organization," not a terrorist one, MK Afo Agbaria (Hadash) said Monday in an interview with the Knesset Channel.
According to Agbaria, Israel always has a list of "people they say are criminals" from Gaza, arrests them, and then, when the response is missile fire, Israelis complain unjustifiably.

"It's one big Isra-bluff," Agbaria said. "No one is even hurt by it or killed, but from one Israeli bomb 100, 1,000 people are killed."
Knesset Channel interviewer Orit Lavie-Nessiel said exasperatedly: "That's an Isra-bluff? A million Israelis are living [under rocket fire from Gaza]. What you're saying is not true!"
Earlier in the program, MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud Beytenu) walked out of the studio, because Agbaria compared the widow of Baruch Mizrachi, who was killed earlier this year by one of the 1,027 Palestinian terrorists released in exchange for then-captive soldier Gilad Schalit, to the wives of Palestinian prisoners.
"Why are we talking about Hadas Mizrachi? Is she different from the wives of Palestinians? Why don't you think of the other side?" Agbaria asked.
The Hadash MK said of Mizrachi's killer that "people are not born murderers. The situation in the territories is terrible. The occupation is the reason for it.
"No one is justifying murder, not of any person. I condemn it on both sides," he said.
When asked to respond, Feiglin said "this is the time to leave," and walked out demonstratively.

West African Ebola epidemic 'out of control': aid group

Accra: An Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone is out of control and requires massive resources from governments and aid agencies to prevent it spreading further, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said.
In its latest report on the crisis, the UN World Health Organisation said the regional death toll had reached 350 since February. The crisis is already the deadliest outbreak since Ebola first emerged in central Africa in 1976.
The disease has not previously occurred in the West Africa region and local people remain frightened of it and view health facilities with suspicion. This makes it harder to bring it under control, MSF said in a statement on Monday.
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 Mormons oust Ordain Women's Kate Kelly over women priests

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has excommunicated a prominent backer of ordination of women priests, her advocacy group has said.

Kate Kelly, founder of Ordain Women, was notified of the ruling on Monday, a day after a trial by judges in the Mormon Church, Ordain Women said.
The group said the Mormon Church hierarchy deemed her an apostate for her contravention of Church doctrine.
The Utah-based Mormon religion boasts more than 15 million members worldwide.
According to a letter informing her of her excommunication obtained by the Deseret News, a leading Utah newspaper, Ms Kelly will be barred from some acts of church worship for at least a year.
"You are entitled to your views, but you are not entitled to promote them and proselyte others to them while remaining in full fellowship in the Church," wrote Bishop Mark Harrison of Virginia.
She can be readmitted to the fold if she shows "true repentance", including ceasing "teachings and actions that undermine the Church, its leaders, and the doctrine of the priesthood", he wrote.
'Tragic day' Ms Kelly said the church's decision, taken by an all-male panel of judges, was "exceptionally painful".
"Today is a tragic day for my family and me as we process the many ways this will impact us, both in this life and in the eternities," she said.
The Mormon religion was founded in the US in the early 19th Century and claims more about 188,000 adherents in the UK.
The religion is centred on Jesus Christ but departs significantly from the Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Christianity.

House panel drags White House attorney to testify on missing IRS emails

Rep. Darrell Issa forced a White House attorney to testify Tuesday as he and other GOP lawmakers seek answers on why years' worth of emails from ex-IRS official Lois Lerner have disappeared. 
Tensions flared almost from the beginning. The chairman of the House oversight committee, shortly after White House attorney Jennifer O'Connor began to testify, accused her of being a "hostile witness" when she did not immediately answer one of his questions. 

"I'm not a hostile witness," she retorted. 
"Yes, you are," Issa, R-Calif., said. He later clarified to say she is "non-cooperative." 
O'Connor was brought before the committee because of her work with the IRS in the latter half of 2013, when she was brought on to help the agency respond to congressional requests for documents pertaining to the IRS targeting scandal. 
Her appearance itself was controversial. The White House initially blocked her from appearing. Issa then issued a subpoena late Monday, and the White House reversed course, making her available to testify.  
Republicans say the White House has not been helpful in efforts to investigate the IRS scandal. "They haven't done a damn thing to get to the truth of what happened," House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday.

FBI recovers 168 children in child sex trafficking sting

Authorities rescued 168 children and arrested 281 alleged pimps in cities across the US in a week-long child sex-trafficking sting, the FBI has said.

"Our children are not for sale," FBI director James Comey said, announcing the results of what the bureau dubbed Operation Cross Country.
About 400 law enforcement agencies across more than 100 cities assisted in the haul, he said.
Some of the children had been "sold" online, FBI officials said.
"These are not faraway kids in faraway lands," Mr Comey said. "These are America's children.
"This is not our first operation, and it will not be our last."
This was the eighth such operation managed by the FBI, which has recovered nearly 3,600 children and gained convictions in 1,450 cases over 11 years, the bureau said.
"Child sex traffickers create a living nightmare for their adolescent victims," said Leslie Caldwell, assistant attorney general, department of justice criminal division.
"They use fear and force and treat children as commodities of sex to be sold again and again. This operation puts traffickers behind bars and rescues kids from their nightmare so they can start reclaiming their childhood."

IRS Head Says No Laws Broken In Loss Of Emails

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Congress aren't buying the contention by the head of the Internal Revenue Service that he has seen no evidence anyone committed a crime when the agency lost emails that might shed light on the targeting of tea party and other political groups before the 2010 and 2012 elections.
On Tuesday, a House panel will hear from a White House official who once worked at the IRS.
Jennifer O'Connor worked at the IRS from May to November 2013, helping the agency gather documents related to the congressional investigations, said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight Committee. O'Connor has since moved to the White House counsel's office.
Issa subpoenaed O'Connor on Monday night after the White House declined his invitation to have her testify. After getting the subpoena, the White House relented.
Issa said he wants to question O'Connor about former IRS official Lois Lerner's lost emails. The IRS said Lerner's computer crashed in 2011, and emails she had archived on the hard drive were lost.
Lerner headed the division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. The Oversight Committee is investigating the handling of applications from tea party and other political groups. Congressional investigators want Lerner's emails to see if there is evidence that anyone outside the IRS was involved.

Bill Clinton budgeted to receive nearly $1 million in taxpayer money in 2014

An April Congressional Research Service (CRS) report shows that the Government Services Administration (GSA), which is in charge of supporting federal disbursements, budgeted $950,000 for former president Bill Clinton in the 2014 budget.
Clinton will collect a $201,000 pension in 2014, a figure four times larger than the median family income in the United States. The Clintons have received a total of $15,938,000 in federal money since 2001.

Hillary Clinton recently described the poverty her family experienced upon exiting the White House while promoting her book. They were “dead broke,” Hillary said, adding that she and her husband “struggled to, you know, piece together the resources for mortgages for houses, for Chelsea’s education, you know, it was not easy.”
Clinton’s pension is just a small portion of the costs the former president will incur over the next year. GSA budgeted $450,000 to pay for Clinton’s office space, the highest total of the four living presidents.
CRS noted that America has not always taken financial care of their former heads of state. Harry S. Truman, for example, died in poverty in his Missouri home after leaving the White House.
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