Weekend Gazette 06-14-14

Saturday June 14th 2014

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Ukraine crisis: Military plane shot down in Luhansk

Pro-Russian rebels have shot down a military transport plane in eastern Ukraine, killing all 49 Ukrainian service personnel on board.

Ukraine's defence ministry said the Il-76 transport plane crashed after coming under anti-aircraft fire over Luhansk.
In a statement it said "terrorists" had "cynically and treacherously" fired on the aircraft.
The plane was carrying troops and military equipment and was about to land at the city's airport.
It is thought to be the biggest loss of life suffered by government forces in a single incident since Kiev began an operation to try to defeat the insurgency in east Ukraine.
Military spokesman Vladislav Seleznov said "preliminary information" suggested all 49 military personnel on board the aircraft - nine flight crew and 40 troops - were killed.
He added that the investigation was just beginning into how the separatists brought down the plane, but initial reports indicated that three "Stinger-like" missiles were used.

US seeing signs Iran engaged in Iraq strife, official says

A senior U.S. defense official said Friday U.S. officials were seeing signs that Iranian fighters were engaged in Iraq, a development the source described as "concerning."
But it was not immediately clear how many troops were involved.
The defense official told Fox News the United States had been watching the swift gains made by the Sunni group known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)  for months, adding "this didn't just happen."
"This is bad," the official said, adding that "there is not much we can do (militarily). We are way behind the curve."
The official said people in the U.S. Embassy feel threatened, but it's too "politically sensitive" to evacuate them right now.
On Friday, ISIS fighters made fresh gains, driving government forces at least temporarily from two towns in an ethnically mixed province northeast of Baghdad. The assault threatens to embroil Iraq more deeply in a wider regional conflict feeding off the chaos caused by the civil war in neighboring Syria.
The fast-moving rebellion, which also draws support from former Saddam Hussein-era figures and other disaffected Sunnis, has emerged as the biggest threat to Iraq's stability since the U.S. withdrawal in 2011. It has pushed the nation closer to a precipice that could partition it into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish zones.
Related Story : Iraq conflict: Iran's Rouhani 'ready to help'

U.S.: Russia Sent Tanks, Rocket Launchers To Rebels In Ukraine

WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - Russia has sent tanks, heavy weapons and rocket launchers to Ukraine in recent days in support of separatists in the east of the country, the U.S. State Department said on Friday.

The confirmation by the United States of reports that Russian tanks had crossed the border into Ukraine is likely to deepen strains with Moscow.

"We assess that separatists in eastern Ukraine have acquired heavy weapons and military equipment from Russia, including Russian tanks and multiple rocket launchers," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.

Harf told a briefing earlier that a convoy of three T-64 tanks, several MB-21 "or Grad" multiple rocket launchers and other military vehicles had crossed from Russia into Ukraine in the last three days.

"This is unacceptable," Harf told the briefing. "A failure by Russia to deescalate the situation will lead to additional costs."

The United States and European allies have threatened broader sanctions against Russia unless Moscow stops assisting rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Police say guard shoots, kills Christian lawmaker in southwest Pakistan, flees after attack

QUETTA, Pakistan –  Police in Pakistan say a guard for a provincial Christian lawmaker has shot and killed the legislator during a meeting in the country's southwest.
Police officer Abdul Razzaq Cheema says lawmaker Handery Masieh was meeting with supporters from the ruling National Party outside his home in the southwestern city of Quetta when the guard opened fire Saturday.
He says one of the Masieh's nephews was wounded in the attack.
Cheema says it was not clear why the guard opened fire. He says the guard fled after the attack.
Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan, where nationalists groups have waged a low-scale insurgency to get a greater share money earned from resources there, like natural gas.
Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants also hide in Baluchistan.

Iran, Nigeria Ban Public Viewing Of World Cup

When Iran faces off against Nigeria for a June 16 match in the FIFA World Cup, fans in both teams’ home countries may be hard-pressed to find a public spot to watch the game.
In an attempt at crowd control, Iranian police banned cafes and restaurants from airing World Cup games, even Iran's own matches, the BBC reported Tuesday, citing local media. The decision came just weeks after the country banned women from watching the games with men in public cinemas.
Though Iranian TV will still air the games, police told the Cafe Owners Union in Tehran to not tune in to broadcast matches.
Authorities in the northeast Nigerian city of Adamawa have ordered a ban on all public viewings of the games, citing the possibility of bombings during the events, per a separate report by the BBC. "Our action is not to stop Nigerians ... watching the World Cup. It is to protect their lives," Brigadier General Nicholas Rogers told reporters Wednesday.
The crackdown comes just a week after suspected members of Islamist militant group Boko Haram set off a car bomb, killing 18 people who were watching a televised match in a viewing center in Adamawa.

World Must Act To Stop Another Massive Housing Crash, Warns IMF 

The International Monetary Fund has sounded the alarm over the state of the housing market around the world, as it published new data showing that property prices were "well above" their historical average in many countries.
This comes as business secretary Vince Cable has asked banks to restrict the size of mortgages they offer to just three-and-a-half times an applicant's income due to concerns over Britain's overheating housing market.
Min Zhu, the IMF's deputy managing director, said that tools to deal with risks of a booming housing market were "still being developed" but warned that "this should not be an excuse for inaction".
House prices in Britain are 27% above their long-run average relative to incomes and 38% relative to rents, according to the IMF. Zhu said that house prices "remain well above the historical averages for a majority of coiuntries" in relation to incomes and rents, adding: "This is true for instance for Australia, Belgium, Canada, Norway and Sweden."
Speaking at the Bundesbank last week, Zhu pointed to options to limit housing market risks like limiting mortgage lending relative to house values and incomes, higher capital requirements for banks making risky loans and increasing stamp duty to dampen foreign demand for investment properties.
Meanwhile, the coalition has asked the Bank of England to enforce a new cap to limit the size of mortgages, as concerns mount about the state of Britain's housing market.
Speaking this morning, Vince Cable said he had been "appalled" by how big some of the loans handed out by the banks were.

France rail strike halts many trains

A nationwide strike by train staff in France has halted many rail services and is set to run into the weekend.

The strike began on Tuesday and is one of the longest to hit the railways. It has halted about half of inter-city trains and even more local trains.
Trade unions object to a government plan to unite the SNCF train operator with the RFF railway network. Workers fear the reform will mean job losses.
The strike could affect students who will shortly sit school-leaving exams.
The Eurostar service via the Channel Tunnel is unaffected so far.
The French President, Francois Hollande, has urged the unions to go back to work. But the unions say the proposed merger of SNCF and RFF operations does not go far enough, and they want the government to take on the two firms' combined debt of 40bn euros (£32bn; $54bn).

1,000 African migrants rush at Spain's border in African enclave of Melilla, all repulsed

MADRID –  Officials say around 1,000 migrants of sub-Saharan origin have failed in an attempt to get over Spain's three-tier barbed-wire border fence separating its North African enclave of Melilla from Morocco in a bid to enter Europe.
A regional government statement said fewer than 10 persons managed to overcome the first barrier in Saturday's charge. They were taken away by Moroccan police.
The statement says Spain's border guards detected the charge in an area known as "Villa Pilar" and deployed a helicopter to oversee operations.
Spain and Morocco stepped up border vigilance in February after 15 migrants drowned trying to reach Ceuta. The border was recently strengthened with a new type of mesh barrier.

Japan and China trade insults over latest East China Sea encounter

China claims Japanese F-15 warplanes came 'dangerously close' to Chinese Tu-154 in latest flareup over disputed waters

Japan has denied Beijing's claims that its planes came "dangerously close" to Chinese aircraft in an incident over the East China Sea this week, demanding China takes down the footage allegedly showing the incident.
China said on Thursday that two Japanese F-15 planes followed a Chinese Tu-154 aircraft the day before and came as close as 30 metres, "seriously affecting China's flight safety". It then posted a video allegedly showing that incident on the defence ministry website.
"We believe there is no truth in China's assertions that Japanese fighter planes came within 30m of a Chinese plane and severely affected the flight's safety," the Japanese chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, told reporters.
"The aeroplanes [in the video] are different," he told reporters, adding that Japan lodged a protest late on Thursday and demanded that Beijing withdraw the footage.

Security forces 'making some progress' in search for kidnapped teens, senior source says 

Security forces have made "some progress" overnight in a massive effort to track down the location of three Israeli youths kidnapped by a Palestinian terrorist cell in the West Bank, a senior security source said Saturday.
The source spoke minutes after an evaluation ended in Hebron, which was attended by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Nitzan Alon, representatives of the intelligence community, territorial brigade commanders, and the police.
The IDF and Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] made a number of arrests of Palestinians overnight in Judea, the source stated, as part of an effort "to get closer to the inner circle [of the terrorist cell] that handled the teenagers who disappeared." 
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Iraq conflict: Obama to 'review options'

US President Barack Obama has said he will take several days to decide what action to take over Iraq, but that no US troops will be deployed there.

Any US involvement "has to be joined by a serious and sincere effort by Iraq's leaders to set aside sectarian differences", he said.
In recent days Sunni insurgents have seized the cities of Mosul and Tikrit, and are moving closer to Baghdad.
Iraq's most senior Shia cleric has issued a call to arms to fellow Shias.
The message from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, which was read out at Friday prayers in Karbala, said: "Citizens who are able to bear arms and fight terrorists, defending their country and their people and their holy places, should volunteer and join the security forces to achieve this holy purpose."

Billions spent, thousands of lives lost: US investment in Iraq thrown into doubt

Billions of U.S. dollars invested in training and equipping Iraq's security forces are in danger of going to waste as Iraqi soldiers abandon their posts in the face of Al Qaeda-aligned militants on a deadly march through the country's north -- not to mention the thousands of American lives lost in the nine-year war. 
Iraqi security forces reportedly fled in two more towns late Thursday, after army divisions abandoned the cities of Mosul and Tikrit earlier in the week. Lawmakers and Obama administration officials were alarmed at how quickly the Iraqi Army, which U.S. forces spent years building up, effectively disintegrated in northern strongholds. 
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., called it a "surprise to everybody." 
If Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki cannot stop the desertions, however, it would represent a remarkable collapse of what was arguably the costliest project of the entire Iraq reconstruction. 
According to an inspector general report issued last year, the U.S. government spent nearly $25 billion on "training, equipping and sustaining" the Iraqi security forces as of late 2012.

Chelsea Clinton Has Been Making Tons Of Money From NBC News

Chelsea Clinton's role as a special correspondent for NBC News may not have been one of journalism's biggest triumphs, but Clinton's paycheck was certainly something to envy, if a new report in Politico is to be believed.
The website said that Clinton was paid $600,000 a year for her contributions to the network, which included a smattering of feel-good pieces for "Rock Center" and reports for "NBC Nightly News" in the past year. She has since switched to a monthly contract, Politico said. (NBC also employs Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of George W. Bush, though she is a much more frequent contributor.)
Unsurprisingly, the fact that a highly-connected political figure with very easy access to money was being given a whole lot more of it did not go down so well with journalists:

White House Plans To Move 1,000 Immigrant Minors To Richmond, Baltimore

A document obtained by BuzzFeed shows plans for the relocation of 1,000 of the undocumented immigrant minors who have been detained in recent months to East Coast facilities.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to move as many as 1,000 unaccompanied minor migrants from Border Patrol facilities in Texas to facilities in Baltimore, Md., and Richmond, Va., in an effort to ease overcrowding and address the growing humanitarian crisis along the border.

Tens of thousands of Central American children, many under the age of 10, have begun flooding across the border and into cramped, overcrowded holding facilities. The White House has directed FEMA to begin working with the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to relocate the children.
DHS has already begun moving children to facilities in Texas and California, and starting Saturday will move them to Ft. Sill in Oklahoma.
According to a “transportation flow chart” obtained by BuzzFeed, the administration will now begin resettling the children to an Office of Refugee Resettlement facility in Baltimore and to St. Paul’s College in Richmond. Both facilities can accommodate up to 500 beds, according to the document. According to the chart, DHS buses and planes, as well as commercial planes, will be used to transport the children to all facilities.
The decision to move the children to other facilities has angered conservatives, including Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, who has threatened to sue the government to temporarily block sending them to a Nogales, Ariz., facility.
HHS spokesman Ken Wolfe declined to comment on the plan to move the children to Baltimore and Richmond, saying in an email, “Fort Sill’s temporary shelter will begin to receive children in the Unaccompanied Alien Children program tomorrow. There are no announcements yet on future facilities.”

As Obama makes rare presidential visit to Indian reservation, past U.S. betrayals loom

CANNON BALL, N.D. — This isolated town nestled in the undulating prairie of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Nation is so small, its only formal sign is a boulder spray-painted with “C. Ball.” But Friday afternoon, it briefly became the center of the American political world when President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama visited.
It was Obama’s first stop as president on an Indian reservation, where he touted the strides his administration has made with Native Americans, unveiled new tribal education and economic measures, and touched on the difficult work that remains to pull many Indians out of crippling poverty and endemic unemployment.
“My administration is determined to partner with tribes,” Obama said. “It takes place every day on just about every issue that touches your lives.”
The president met with Native American children ahead of the tribe’s annual Flag Day powwow. Groups of tribal dancers clad in vibrantly colored costumes performed a traditional dance for him.
The administration announced plans to reform the Bureau of Indian Education to better educate native children and increase tribal control of schools. The White House also plans to remove regulatory barriers to infrastructure and energy development, encourage the use of tax-exempt bonds for economic development and increase the number of veterans that the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Services hire.
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