Gazette 062714

Friday June 27th 2014

-----------------------

Iraq crisis: Top Shia cleric urges quick PM appointment

Iraq's most influential Shia cleric has called for a prime minister to be appointed before Tuesday in a bid to defuse the country's political crisis.

Grand Ayatollah Sistani told said that key positions should be agreed before the new parliament meets on Tuesday.
Pressure has been building both inside and outside Iraq for a national unity government but political blocs have been unable to reach a deal.
Large parts of Iraq were seized by Sunni militants earlier this month.
Mr Sistani, who was born in Iran, relayed the message to his followers through a Friday sermon delivered by a spokesman.
He called for political parties, including the State of Law Coalition of current prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki, to also appoint a new speaker and president for the country.

Prisoner Deaths Indicate Mass Executions By Iraqi Police

BAGHDAD, June 27 (Reuters) - It was supposed to be a routine job, police say. Move 69 prisoners from an outlying town to a jail in southern Baghdad. But before they arrived at their destination, every single prisoner had been killed.

The official account given hours after the killing on Monday by the governor of Hilla, 92km (57 miles) south of Baghdad, was that militants had attacked the convoy killing 10 prisoners and one policeman in the crossfire.

"The convoy protection force fiercely responded to the terrorist attack," Governor Sadiq Madloul told reporters.

But a police captain, a second police officer and a senior local official from where the prisoners died in Hilla, all speaking on condition of anonymity while giving an account that differed from the official line, told Reuters no attack took place, and the police had executed the 69 men.

A third police source who would not contradict the account that the convoy had come under attack nevertheless confirmed that all 69 had been killed and said some had not died in the crossfire but were gunned down to prevent them from escaping.

The deaths in Hilla came less than a week after the killing of 52 prisoners in Baquba, a regional capital north of Baghdad.

The police account there also was that the prisoners had died in the crossfire during a battle with insurgents. But local Sunni officials including the mayor and the provincial governor, medical staff at the morgue and relatives of the dead all said the victims were gunned down in their jail cells.

Iraq's government has long denied it summarily executes prisoners. Following a Reuters report on police executions in March, army spokesman Sa'ad Ma'an said: "If it happened, whoever committed it will be investigated, held accountable and sent to a military court."

Isis execution site revealed by satellite images, claims human rights group

Iraqi insurgents executed at least 160 captives earlier this month in the northern city of Tikrit, Human Rights Watch has said, citing an analysis of satellite imagery and grisly photographs released by the militants.
The US-based group said militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) killed between 160 and 190 men in two locations in Tikrit between 11 and 14 June.
"The number of victims may well be much higher, but the difficulty of locating bodies and accessing the area has prevented a full investigation," it said.
After overrunning large swaths of northern Iraq and capturing the cities of Mosul and Tikrit earlier this month, the Islamic extremist group posted graphic photos on a militant website that appeared to show fighters loading dozens of captured soldiers on to flatbed trucks before forcing them to lie in a shallow ditch with their hands tied behind their backs. A final set of photos shows what appear to be dead bodies.
"The photos and satellite images from Tikrit provide strong evidence of a horrible war crime that needs further investigation," Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. The militants "apparently executed at the very least 160 people in Tikrit".

Iran resistance leader predicts regime change

It is a blunt call for regime change in Tehran.
The largest gathering of the Iranian resistance starts Friday with the annual convention of the Council of Resistance of Iran. The sponsors expect 100,000 people to assemble in a massive hall outside Paris for hours of speeches, demonstrations and protests aimed at toppling the Iranian government.

"I am confident that the mullahs' religious dictatorship ruling Iran will not last in the 21st century and will be overthrown," predicts the group's leader, Maryam Rajavi. "It really begs logic to expect this religious dictatorship, the founder of terrorism and fundamentalism in the whole of the region and is seeking nuclear weapons, to take international policy hostage, to continue and endure."
In an exclusive Fox News interview, her first for American television, Rajavi methodically laid out what she sees as Tehran's intentions: to spread radical fundamentalism, obtain a nuclear weapon and do whatever it can to eliminate opponents, including continued executions of her supporters to silence the opposition.
"The mullahs do not represent the Iranian people," she said. "What the Iranian people are yearning for and what represents them, is an Iran which the Iranian resistance envisions: an Iran which is free, democratic and where the ballot box speaks, a non-nuclear Iran, with gender equality, where women and men and youth enjoy equal rights and do not threaten and endanger the world with war and challenges."
The group, also known as the MEK, or Peoples' Mujahdin Organization of Iran, first waged a battle against the Shah of Iran and then turned its calling to opposing the current regime.
But the group is not without controversy. It was listed as a terrorist organization for years, and was only de-listed by European and U.S. governments in the last six years. Its officials say the listing was a concession by Western governments to appease Tehran, and Iranian officials have long reportedly targeted it in negotiations with the West.

Protesters Blame President Hamid Karzai For Creating Afghanistan Election Crisis

KABUL, June 27 (Reuters) - As thousands of Afghans poured into the streets of Kabul on Friday to protest over the impasse in their country's presidential election, there was little doubt who they held responsible for the mess - outgoing President Hamid Karzai.

"Death to Karzai!" some shouted through loudspeakers as protesters marched on the presidential palace, accusing him of creating the crisis over his successor.

No one has provided any hard evidence that the protesters are right, but even within Karzai's family and inner circle, many believe the president quietly engineered the electoral debacle to keep his hands on the levers of power.

Among them is his brother, Mahmoud Karzai, who says the man who has ruled the war-weary country for more than 12 years deliberately pushed powerful players apart to ensure no one candidate would emerge with a clear majority.

That may mean he stays on by default until a solution is found. Meanwhile, his vice-presidents are now trying to resolve the row between the two candidates in the fraud-marred second round of voting, potentially giving the president an indirect hand in the outcome.

Abdullah Abdullah, one of the two, dropped out of the electoral process in a pique of fury last week, accusing Hamid Karzai of rigging the election to retain control over the next government.

"He tried, from the very beginning, not to allow a clear winner in order to explore the possibilities of staying in power," Mahmoud Karzai told Reuters.

EU signs pacts with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova

Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova have signed partnership agreements with the European Union, in a move strongly opposed by Russia.

The pact - which would bind the three countries more closely to the West both economically and politically - is at the heart of the crisis in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said making Ukraine choose between Russia and the EU would split it in two.
A ceasefire with pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine is due to end on Friday.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, in Brussels to sign the pact, said he would take a decision on an extension to the truce when he arrived back in Kiev later on Friday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he would welcome an extension, but not if it were simply an ultimatum for separatists to lay down their arms.
Meanwhile the United Nations refugee agency said there had been a sharp rise in the numbers of displaced people in eastern Ukraine in the past week, with 16,400 people fleeing the area.
The total number internally displaced has reached 54,400, while a further 110,000 people left Ukraine for Russia this year.

Ukrainian president accuses Russia of doing nothing to end 'disastrous' war

Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, has accused Russia of "doing nothing" to end the "disastrous" war in the east of his country, and said that he would decide later on Friday whether to extend a week-long ceasefire with rebels.
In an interview with the Guardian and four other European newspapers, Poroshenko said separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk regions had carried out more than 150 attacks against government troops since the ceasefire began a week ago. Five Ukrainian soldiers had died "in the last hour and a half," he said bitterly.
Speaking in Brussels, Poroshenko stated bluntly that the rebels were under the control of Vladimir Putin's Kremlin. "I think now Russia has done nothing," he said. "We are talking of Russian citizens, Russian officers, Russians by origin, Russian soldiers of fortune." He characterised the Kremlin's strategy in Ukraine as "not very pragmatic" and "very emotional".
He added: "Beforehand they [Russia] wanted to destabilise the situation in Ukraine." Poroshenko said he had done his best to persuade Putin to sign up to a peace deal that would bring an end to the conflict. He had discussed his proposals with the Russian president in Normandy shortly before he was inaugurated as president two weeks ago, he said. His goal was to make Russia "a predictable partner", he added.
Earlier, Poroshenko signed an association agreement with the European Union that brings Ukraine significantly closer to Europe and European markets. Russia warned on Friday that the deal would have unspecified "consequences". Last November, the then president Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign the EU agreement, instead accepting a bailout from Moscow. This triggered mass street protests, which led to Yanukovych fleeing the country and to Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea.

Sudanese Christian woman inside US embassy seeking 'safety'

KHARTOUM, Sudan –  The Sudanese Christian woman whose death sentence for apostasy was overturned but who was detained again this week is now at the U.S. embassy for her own "safety."
Her lawyer, ElShareef Ali Mohammed, said Friday that after 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim left a Khartoum police station the night before, where she had been detained along with her two children and husband on charges of forging travel documents, she headed to the embassy for fear of "assault" either by relatives or angry residents.

A U.S. official confirms Ibrahim is at the embassy and says diplomats are trying to arrange her departure from Sudan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to the media.

IAF kills two Hamas terrorists involved in rocket fire from Gaza

The Israel Air Force tracked down and killed two Palestinians believed to be terrorist operatives as they were driving in their car near the Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, The Jerusalem Post's sister publication Ma'ariv Hashavua is reporting on Friday.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced that the two men, Osama Hasumi and Mohammed Patzih, were involved in rocket fire at Israel in recent weeks. The IDF said that the two men were plotting a terrorist attack against Israeli civilians.

"We have no intention of permitting any fire on Israel or any attempt to harm our citizens and IDF soldiers," Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said. "We will pursue and harshly strike a blow at anyone who carries out or plans these activities, just as we did today."

"We view Hamas as responsible for what is taking place in the Gaza Strip," the defense minister said. "It should not test our patience and determination. We will continue to act responsibly and carefully in order to enable the citizens of the Gaza-area communities and the south, and all of Israel's citizens everywhere, to continue their normal routine."

Earlier in the day, explosive device detonated near the southern border of the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported. No injuries were reported in that incident.

Soldiers from an IDF unit carrying out routine operational activity along the border between Israel and southern Gaza reported hearing a loud explosion.

Soldiers returned fire with tank rounds, targeting an area in Gaza near the border used by terrorists as a lookout to track IDF movements, and which was used in this incident, an army spokesman said.

Pak Taliban group blamed for plane attack in Peshawar

ISLAMABAD: A little known Taliban-linked outfit, using improvised AK-47s, was behind the attack on an aircraft in Pakistan's Peshawar city that killed a woman passenger and injured crew members, an intelligence official said.

The Tuesday night attack created panic among the international airlines, as UAE-based Emirates and Etihad suspended operations to the militancy-plagued northwestern city.

Shots were fired at the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane as it was landing at the Peshawar airport. The plane was carrying nearly 180 passengers from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to Peshawar.

"Tariq Geedar group based in Darra Adamkhel near Peshawar and linked to Taliban was responsible for the attack," the official said.

The militants used rooftop of a school in suburban Sulimankhel area.

"As the school was closed for summer, the attackers easily sneaked on the top of it with weapons and attacked the plane," he said.

According to initial reports of weapon experts, the AK-47 was used but the militants attached an extra barrel.

The improvisation of the weapon was done in Darra Adam Khel where several weapon factories operated.

Meanwhile, another unknown militant group also claimed responsibility for the attack.
-

Obama Seeking $500 Million To Train, Arm Syrian Rebels

WASHINGTON (AP) — With the conflicts in Syria and Iraq becoming increasingly intertwined against the same Sunni extremist group, President Barack Obama moved on Thursday to ratchet up U.S. efforts to strengthen more moderate Syrian rebels.

Obama's request to Congress for $500 million in training and arms to the opposition in effect opens a second front in the fight against militants spilling over Syria's border and threatening to overwhelm neighboring Iraq. The train-and-equip mission would be overseen by the Pentagon and would mark a significant expansion of previous covert effort to arm the more moderate rebels who are fighting both the extremists and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Obama has long been reluctant to arm the opposition, in part because of concerns that weapons may fall into extremist hands. But administration officials say the U.S. has grown increasingly confident in recent months about its ability to distinguish the moderate rebels from the more extremist elements that include the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, which has stormed into Iraq and captured much of the northern part of the country.

The risk of U.S. weapons and ammunition falling into the wrong hands appears to have only heightened now that ISIL has strengthened. But Obama's request to Congress on Thursday appeared to indicate that tackling the crumbling security situation in Syria and Iraq trumped those concerns.

Hundreds of NLRB decisions thrown into doubt by Supreme Court ruling

The Supreme Court ruling on Thursday that invalidated three appointments made by President Obama to the National Labor Relations Board has thrown hundreds of the board's decisions into question. 
The board that rules on labor disputes is now scrambling to determine the impact of the high court decision. At issue is whether board decisions made when the now-invalid appointees were participating will have to be re-decided under the current NLRB. 

By one count, more than 430 cases could be in doubt, including a decision to protect workers from being fired for complaining about their companies on social media sites. 
Board Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce put out a brief statement on Thursday acknowledging the possibility these cases will have to be revisited. 
"We are analyzing the impact that the Court's decision has on Board cases in which the January 2012 recess appointees participated," he said. "The Agency is committed to resolving any cases affected by today's decision as expeditiously as possible." 
He noted that the board, as it's now constituted, has five Senate-confirmed members. But that was not the case between January 2012 and mid-2013, when the board contained members whom the Supreme Court has determined were improperly appointed. 
In a blow to Obama, the court unanimously ruled Thursday that the president exceeded his authority when he made the temporary appointments to the board during a brief Senate break. 
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation claims the ruling means "all decisions, published and unpublished, absent settlement during the interim, must be reconsidered."

Obama Dismisses Boehner Lawsuit As Nothing More Than A 'Stunt'

President Barack Obama on Friday said he wasn't going to apologize for his use of executive power, dismissing a planned lawsuit by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) as nothing more than a campaign ploy.
"The suit is a stunt,” Obama said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."
In a memo addressed to his colleagues on Wednesday, Boehner officially announced he would introduce legislation in the coming weeks that would authorize the House General Counsel to sue the Obama administration and "compel" the president to enforce existing law. Without citing the specific executive orders he found troubling, Boehner named health care, energy, foreign policy and education as areas where the president has "repeatedly run an end-around on the American people."
“You notice that he didn't specifically say what exactly he was objecting to,” Obama said in the interview. “I'm not going to apologize for trying to do something while they're doing nothing."
Often stymied by a recalcitrant Congress, Obama declared 2014 a "year of action" and issued executive orders on immigration, the federal minimum wage and federal pay discrimination. His Environmental Protection Agency further plans to unveil unprecedented regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. But the moves have infuriated Republicans, who say the president is unlawfully bypassing Congress.

How the Clintons went from ‘broke’ to rich

Over seven frenetic days, Bill Clinton addressed corporate executives in Switzerland and Denmark, an investors’ group in Sweden and a cluster of business and political leaders in Austria. The former president wrapped up his European trip in the triumphant Spanish Hall at Prague Castle, where he shared his thoughts on energy to a Czech business summit.
His pay: $1.4 million.
That lucrative week in May 2012 offers a glimpse into the way Clinton has leveraged his global popularity into a personal fortune. Starting just two weeks after exiting the Oval Office, Clinton has delivered hundreds of paid speeches, lifting a family that was “dead broke,” as wife Hillary Rodham Clinton phrased it earlier this month, to a point of such extraordinary wealth that it is now seen as a potential political liability if she runs for president in 2016.

Rep. Charlie Rangel reportedly failed to report all-expense-paid trip to China

Longtime Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel failed to report an all-expense-paid trip he took to China just four years after he was censured by the House for accepting improper travel, the National Journal reported Thursday.
The 84-year-old New York congressman, who won a tight primary contest this week, was one of 10 lawmakers from Congressional Black Caucus who went on the 10-day trip last August. According to the National Journal, Rangel is the only one of the group who has not either listed the trip on annual financial disclosure forms or asked for an extension on their reports.

A Rangel spokesman told the National Journal after its story was published that the “congressman has taken immediate action to file necessary amendments."
Rangel was forced to resign as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee in 2010 after the House Ethics Committee found he had broken House rules by accepting two free trips to the Caribbean.
Later that same year, he was censured by the House for 11 other ethics rules violations.
The report comes on the heels of a big win for Rangel, who avoided a prolonged fight for his 23rd term Thursday after his main opponent, State Sen. Adriano Espaillat, conceded.
Espaillat said he would not challenge the results of a tightly contested primary that divided their New York City district along demographic lines.
-