Weekend Gazette 062114

Saturday June 21st 2014

 Iraq crisis: Shia militia show of force raises tensions

Thousands of Shia militia loyal to the powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have paraded through the streets of Baghdad, raising sectarian tensions amid continued fighting in areas of Iraq.

The cleric, whose Mehdi Army fought the US in Iraq for years, had called for a military parade across the country.
Correspondents say the show of force will be seen as a very disturbing development by the Baghdad government.
Sunni extremists have seized control of large swathes of territory across Iraq.
On Saturday, officials admitted that the militants - led by jihadist group Isis - had seized a strategically important border crossing to Syria, near the town of Qaim, killing 30 troops after a day-long battle.
Thousands of largely Shia Iraqis have volunteered to fight Isis, urged on by a call from the country's highest Shia religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
But the BBC's Jim Muir, in northern Iraq, says the impressive-looking parade of men in battle fatigues accompanied by serious military hardware will only raise sectarian tensions at at time when the government is under pressure to rally the country together against the extremists.
The Sunni militants also claim to have taken several towns in al-Anbar province, saying that they have been seized without bloodshed after negotiating with local Sunni tribes.
The militants also say they are making progress in fighting in a belt of territory north of Baghdad, our correspondent reports.
Related: Government Forces Prepare To Strike Back At Sunni Islamists After Obama Offers Military Advisers

Syria crisis: Car bomb 'kills dozens' in Hama province

A car bomb has killed at least 34 people in a Syrian government-controlled village in central Hama province, state media say.

More than 50 people were reportedly hurt in the attack in Horra village.
The state news agency, Sana, blamed the bombing on rebels who have been fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
More than 160,000 people are estimated to have been killed in Syria's three-year-long uprising.
Another 9.5 million people, or almost half the population, have been driven from their homes.
The Syrian uprising began in 2011 with peaceful protests inspired by the Arab Spring.
It has become a civil war, pitting government forces against rebel factions, many of whom are inspired by Islamist and sectarian rhetoric.
The UK-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says the death toll in the Horra bombing is likely to rise as many of the injured are in a critical condition.
Separately on Friday, a suicide blast struck a police checkpoint leading into Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, on the main road between Beirut and Damascus. A member of the security forces died in the attack in Dahar al-Baidar.

Ukraine crisis: Fighting rages on despite declared truce

Pro-Russian separatists have carried out several attacks on Ukrainian troops despite a unilateral ceasefire declared by Kiev, Ukrainian officials say.

They say at least six border guards were injured in shelling by the insurgents in the east overnight.
The rebels earlier dismissed the truce called by President Petro Poroshenko, the first step of his peace plan.
Meanwhile, the US imposed sanctions - including asset freezes - against seven pro-Russian leaders in Ukraine.
Western leaders have threatened additional sanctions against Russia, which they accuse of stoking tension in Ukraine. Moscow denies the claim.
In a separate development, President Vladimir Putin ordered forces in Russia's central military district to be put on full combat alert for a week.
The drill does not affect troops near the border with Ukraine. Mr Putin has ordered several such alerts to test combat readiness in recent months.
Buffer zone Overnight, the separatists attacked three Ukrainian border posts in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Kiev said.

Russia puts forces in central part of the country on combat alert

MOSCOW –  Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday ordered military forces in central Russia on combat alert as well as a drill of airborne troops, a day after Ukraine ordered a cease-fire with pro-Russian rebels.
NATO said earlier this week that Russia has resumed a military build-up on the border with Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting government forces for weeks in a conflict that has left about 300 people dead and displaced over 34,000.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered his forces to cease fire Friday and halt military operations for a week, the first step in a peace plan he hopes will end the fighting that has killed hundreds. The Kremlin dismissed the plan, saying it sounded like an ultimatum and lacked any firm offer to open talks with insurgents.

The combat alert in the central military district, which encompasses the Volga region and the Ural mountains but not western Russia, will last until next Saturday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said, quoted by Russian state news agencies.

Some 65,000 troops will take part in military drills accompanying the combat alert, according to head of Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, including several thousand troops of an airborne division which will be moved from a city 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of Moscow where they are stationed to the Ural mountains.

Russia's combat alert was ordered on the first day of the cease-fire in Ukraine, which was nonetheless marked by more fighting along the border.

Pakistan says 307,501 people have fled North Waziristan as army presses offensive in region

PESHAWAR, Pakistan –  A Pakistani government official says the number of people who have fled a tribal area bordering Afghanistan where the army is fighting militants has risen to 307,501.
Senior official Arbab Muhammad Arif said Saturday that since Wednesday, 25,242 families had left the area and registered at checkpoints along the way.

Arif says the figure includes 62,000 people who left the area of operations before June 18. He says displaced families were provided with food, drinks and 5,000 rupees ($50) per family.
The Pakistani army launched a long-awaited operation against foreign and local militants in North Waziristan on June 15. It claims to have killed 262 militants and destroyed scores of their hideouts so far.

Police In China's Xinjiang Region Reportedly Shoot 13 Dead After Attack

BEIJING (AP) — Police in China's restive western region shot dead 13 assailants who rammed a truck into a police office building and set off explosives in an attack Saturday that also wounded three officers, state media said.

The Tianshan website said in a one-line report that no civilians were hurt in the attack in Kashgar prefecture in Xinjiang's southwest. Officials in the region contacted by phone either said they were unclear about the situation or refused to comment.

Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the German-based group World Uyghur Congress, said he called several residents in the Yecheng area who described hearing rapid gunfire, likely from police, before an explosion rang out. He said that authorities quickly placed the county under martial law and started rounding up people in a nearby market.

"It's undeniable that the armed police are using excessive force to deal with the unrest in the region. Why did they need to shoot them dead on the spot?" Dilxat Raxit said. "If they just injured them they would still have a chance to be put through the legal process."

Five S Korea soldiers 'shot dead'

Five South Korean soldiers have been killed and five others wounded near the border with North Korea by a member of their own unit, the army says.

The army private opened fire on comrades on Saturday evening at an outpost in the eastern Gangwon province, then fled.
Initially Yonhap news agency described the incident as a "military accident".
Tensions between the North and South have been high, but there is no sign this was a cross-border incident.

Egypt sentences Muslim Brotherhood leader and 182 followers to death

Grand mufti verdict against Mohamed Badi and supporters over violence in aftermath of coup against Mohamed Morsi

An Egyptian court has confirmed death sentences against the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and at least 182 of his supporters.
The court's decision came two months after it referred the case against the Brotherhood's "general guide", Mohamed Badie, and hundreds of others to the state's highest religious authority, the grand mufti, the first step towards imposing a death sentence.
They were charged over violence that erupted in the southern Egyptian town of Minya in July, in the aftermath of the army coup that ousted then president, Mohamed Morsi, a senior Brotherhood member. One senior police officer was killed in the violence.
Lawyers say the ruling can be overturned on appeal. It was not immediately clear how many sentences had been confirmed, with the lawyers giving estimates ranging from 182 to 197. In either case, it would be largest mass death sentence to be confirmed in Egypt in recent memory.
Lawyers boycotted the opening of the trial on 25 March to protest an earlier mass death sentence by Judge Said Youssef. A month after that session, the judge sentenced 683 people to death, including Badie. Of the 683, all but 110 were tried in absentia, according to defence lawyer Khaled el-Komi.
Death sentences issued for those in absentia are automatically cancelled in Egypt if they turn themselves in or are apprehended, and a retrial is ordered.
The case springs from an attack on a police station in the town of Adwa near the southern city of Minya on 14 August in which one policeman and one civilian were killed. The attack was carried out in retaliation after police killed hundreds while dispersing a sprawling Cairo sit-in by Morsi supporters.

Israel steps up West Bank search for missing teens

RAMALLAH (West Bank): Israel sent more troops to the occupied West Bank on Saturday to search for three missing teenagers it says were kidnapped by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

The military said it arrested 10 Palestinians on Saturday and that some 1,350 sites in the West Bank had been searched so far and more than 330 Palestinians detained.

The raids have triggered street clashes in the West Bank in which two Palestinians have been killed.

Hamas, which refuses to recognise Israel's existence, has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the disappearance of the youths, who went missing near an Israeli settlement on June 13.

Hundreds of troops were deployed around the city of Hebron on Saturday, a day after the army declared the area a closed military zone, and appeared to be carrying out searches, a Reuters witness said.

Overnight in Ramallah, troops raided the offices of a media broadcast and production company, witnesses said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the soldiers found "electronic devices and magnetic media used for terrorism" that she said belonged to Hamas, without going into further detail.

Israel has also hit welfare organisations it accuses of aiding Hamas. Soldiers raided 30 such institutions on Thursday and 15 more on Saturday, a military spokesman said.

Campaign group The Palestinian Prisoners Club said the army had arrested 37 people on Saturday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the kidnapping of Gil-Ad Shaer and US-Israeli national Naftali Fraenkel, both aged 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19.

But the Western-backed leader has also criticised the extent of Israel's recent raids, saying they amount to collective punishment.

China to send second oil rig toward Vietnam's waters

Hanoi: The day after tough talks between Vietnam and China that made no progress over a Chinese oil rig in the South China Sea, Beijing said on Thursday it was sending a second rig to waters close to Vietnam.
The move, announced on China's Maritime Safety Administration website, appeared to be an unabashed signal that China will press ahead to secure what it sees as its rights in the commercially and strategically vital waterway despite rising anxiety in the region.

It is not clear if China's second rig will end up in waters disputed by Vietnam and China. 

Last month, in a contentious move, China sent its biggest oil rig, a prized $US1 billion platform the size of a football oval, to explore in an area 27 kilometres off the Paracel Islands claimed by both Vietnam and China. In what may be a more lasting act, China began shovelling sand and rock onto shoals and reefs in the Spratly archipelago, which is also contested, several months ago to create islands big enough to house buildings and surveillance equipment.

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CDC: Possible US anthrax cases rise to 84

The number of health workers potentially exposed to anthrax has risen to 84, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said.

The count of those at risk of illness has risen from the 75 initially reported on Thursday.
The US health agency said researchers in a high-level biosecurity laboratory failed to follow proper procedures and did not inactivate the bacteria.
The exposure occurred in Atlanta at the weekend, the CDC has said.
The FBI has told the BBC it is helping the CDC to investigate.
The agency said it was too early to determine whether the transfer was accidental or intentional.
Symptoms of anthrax exposure include skin ulcers, nausea and vomiting and fever, and can lead to death.

'I don't believe you!': Paul Ryan levels blistering attack against IRS boss over 'lost' emails explanation

WASHINGTON –  A congressional hearing Friday into how the Internal Revenue Service lost thousands of emails from an ex-official accused of targeting conservative groups turned into an angry shouting match, with Republicans accusing the IRS commissioner of lying to Americans.
“This is unbelievable," Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., angrily told IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. That’s your problem. Nobody believes you.”

Koskinen responded, “I have a long career. That’s the first time anyone’s said I don’t believe you.”
"I don't believe you," Ryan shot back again.
Koskinen set a defiant tone during his testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, telling lawmakers he felt no need for the agency to apologize amid accusations of a cover-up in the targeting scandal of conservative groups.
Republican lawmakers had demanded the emails between ex-IRS official Lois Lerner and other government officials - including some at the White House - be turned over to determine whether there was a coordinated effort to stymie conservative groups prior to the 2012 elections.

Issa calls for White House attorney to testify about Lerner emails

The head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has called on former Internal Revenue Service counsel Jennifer O’Connor to testify Tuesday about the disappearance of IRS mails that could shed light on the agency’s tea party controversy.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) issued the request in a letter to O’Connor, now a White House attorney, on Thursday. In the letter, Issa said that O’Connor “likely knew or should have known” that the IRS was missing years’ worth of e-mails to and from former agency official Lois Lerner, a central figure in the agency’s targeting of nonprofit advocacy groups based on their names and policy positions.
O’Connor, who began working for the White House this year, played a key role in supervising the review and production of records that congressional investigators requested as part of their review of the targeting matter, according to statements that IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkens gave to committee staff.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment about Issa’s letter or whether the administration plans to make O’Connor available for testimony.
The IRS notified Congress on Friday that it was missing e-mails for Lerner, who has refused to answer questions about the targeting controversy at two hearings. The IRS said her e-mails were lost after her computer crashed in June 2011 and that the agency subsequently destroyed her hard drive as a matter of protocol.

Kevin McCarthy: 'I don't want to become Washington'

 

Not much has changed for Kevin McCarthy since his election Thursday as the new House majority leader.Instead of a major celebration, he spent the night with his family, which had just arrived in Washington for a previously scheduled weekend event. Friday morning he had a meeting with House Speaker John A. Boehner and other leaders before casting a series of votes on a spending bill.
In remarks later to a gathering of religious-conservative activists across town, he said he hoped his new role wouldn't change him.
"I don't want to become Washington," the Bakersfield Republican said. "I want Kern County views to [come to] Washington."
The Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" conference offered a glimpse at the House GOP's new, folksier No. 2. He played up his humble roots as the son of a firefighter and grandson of a cattle rancher who now holds the seat of a congressman who at one time had rejected him for an internship.

"Only in America do we have this," he said.

McCarthy won't formally take his new role until July 31, just as the House breaks for a monthlong recess that for many will be heavy on campaign events. The transition period is expected to be seamless -- McCarthy won't even be changing offices. Aides say he prefers the current ground-floor suite he uses as the GOP whip to the second-floor offices with sweeping views of the National Mall used by the current Majority Leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia.

Brig. Gen. Sinclair demoted 2 grades after sex scandal

WASHINGTON — The Army is reducing the rank of a brigadier general at the center of a sexual misconduct case by two grades for his pending retirement, in a rare move that will slash his benefits and force him to retire as a lieutenant colonel.
Army Secretary John McHugh announced the decision Friday, saying that Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair "displayed a pattern of inappropriate and at times illegal behavior both while serving as a brigadier general and a colonel."
Sinclair is due to retire in late summer. The Army said his retirement pay will be reduced by more than 30 percent, dropping by $2,831 a month to $6,198.
McHugh's move comes three months after Sinclair pleaded guilty at a court martial to adultery and conducting inappropriate relationships with two other women. Over the past year, his case has been a central topic in Congress in the debate over whether the military has adequately handled sexual assault cases.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., a member of the Armed Services Committee and one of the key voices in the House pushing for stronger action on sexual assault in the military, said Friday that McHugh's action was inadequate.
"This punishment is in no way proportional to the laundry list of serious offenses Sinclair pled guilty to," Speier said. "The final outcome of this case can only be seen as further evidence that the military justice system is broken and that the chain of command cannot adequately address the gravity of these offenses."
Sinclair had a three-year affair with a female captain who accused him of twice forcing her to perform oral sex on him. The former deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne Division was originally brought up on sexual assault charges punishable by life in prison. Sinclair was spared prison but fined $20,000 and issued a reprimand.
He was believed to be the highest-ranking U.S. military officer ever court-martialed on such charges. And, the Army said this is the first time in a decade that the service has reduced a retiring general officer by two ranks.

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