Gazette 070114 - CANADA DAY!

Tuesday July 1st 2014 - CANADA DAY

Israel: Hamas 'will pay price' after teenagers found dead

Israel has vowed retribution against Hamas, the militant Palestinian group it says kidnapped and murdered three teenagers in the occupied West Bank.

The bodies of Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach were found on Monday evening, after they had been missing for more than a fortnight.
Israel PM Benyamin Netanyahu said: "Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay." Hamas denies any involvement.
Israel launched more than 30 air strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight.
The strikes came in response to 18 rocket attacks on southern Israel from Gaza since Sunday night, the Israeli military said.
Israeli troops also flooded into the Palestinian town of Halhul. The bodies were found under a pile of rocks near the town. An Israeli official said it appeared the teenagers were shot soon after their abduction.
Israel named two suspects as Ayoub al-Kawasma and Abu Aisheh. The Israeli military said it set off explosives while raiding the homes of both.
Related : Israel launches airstrikes after bodies of 3 missing teens discovered in West Bank 

 Iraqi MPs fail to elect speaker amid disarray

Iraq's new parliament has ended its first session in disarray, with MPs failing to make any progress in choosing the country's new leadership.

The Council of Representatives was due to elect a speaker, but Kurdish and Sunni Arab MPs did not return after a break, depriving it of a quorum.

Acting Speaker Mahdi al-Hafez said parliament would reconvene in a week.

Iraq's politicians have been urged to unite in the face of the jihadist-led Sunni rebellion in the north and west.

The central government in Baghdad has lost control of vast swathes of territory over the past month, and on Sunday the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) declared the establishment of a "caliphate" covering the land it holds in Iraq and Syria.

The United Nations has said at least 2,417 Iraqis, including 1,531 civilians, were killed in "acts of violence and terrorism" in June.

The figure does not include fatalities in the western province of Anbar, where the Iraqi authorities say 244 civilians died.

Related : Iraqi parliament session collapses amid political standoff

Kurds in northern Iraq dig new frontier taking in disputed areas

MARIAM BEK, Iraq –  As Islamic extremists seek to sweep away borders in their advance across the Middle East, Kurds in northern Iraq appear to be in the process of digging a new one, asserting their claim to hotly disputed territory and expanding their semi-autonomous region in a bid for greater autonomy or outright independence.
The emerging frontier of sand berms, trenches and roadblocks is being built to take in areas Kurdish fighters seized as Sunni militants led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant swept across northern Iraq last month, routing the armed forces of the Shiite-led government in Baghdad and raising fears the country could be torn in three.

Kurdish forces say they assumed control of the disputed territory in and around Kirkuk -- a major oil hub -- to prevent it from being taken over by the Sunni insurgents as Iraqi troops melted away. They say the defense of the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) frontier is necessary to prevent the militants, who have declared a transnational Islamic state straddling the Syrian-Iraqi border, from advancing further.
"This is a security measure. We are dealing with a serious threat," said Falah Bakir, the Kurdish region's top foreign policy official. "We are neighbors to a terrorist state — the Islamic State — and we have to take measures to ensure our safety."
But the barriers, hastily built over the past few days, are also defining the borders of a possible future Kurdish state, and laying the groundwork for a conflict with Baghdad over Kirkuk, which has a mixed population of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen.
Related : Iraq Kurdistan independence referendum planned

Recep Tayyip Erdogan to run for Turkey presidency

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will run for Turkish president in the first direct election in August, his governing AK Party has confirmed.

Mr Erdogan has been PM since 2003 but is barred from seeking a new term.
In the midst of corruption allegations, critics say he has become more authoritarian, but Mr Erdogan says political foes are trying to oust him.
Mr Erdogan wants to give new powers to the president, which has been a largely ceremonial role.
In the past, the incumbent has been chosen by parliament.
But, for the first time, Turks will vote directly for their president in a two-round election in August.
In April, incumbent President Abdullah Gul ruled out swapping roles with his ally, Mr Erdogan, when his presidential term ends.
The AKP has won six consecutive elections, at national and local level, maintaining a solid base of support among the working class.

Ukraine launches offensive against pro-Russia separatists

Ukrainian forces launched a full-scale military operation against pro-Russia separatists in the east on Tuesday, hours after the country's president ended a cease-fire agreement.
The Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces "carried out strikes from the air and on land" Tuesday morning against separatist positions in eastern Ukraine.

"I can inform you that in the morning the active phase of the anti-terrorist operation was renewed," Ukraine's parliament speaker Oleksander Turchynov told MPs on Tuesday, according to the BBC. "Our armed forces are carrying out strikes on terrorist bases and checkpoints."
Fighting was reported in several areas across the region, including at posts along the Russian border that Ukrainian forces had lost to separatists in recent weeks, as well as near the international airport in Donetsk, the Wall Street Journal reported. Four civilians were killed and five were wounded in the city of Kramatorsk when a bus was hit by a shell early Tuesday, the paper reported, citing the Interfax news agency.
It wasn't clear which side fired the shots.
Related : Ukraine Forces Attack Rebel Positions After Ceasefire Ends

Nigeria bomb rips through marketplace

Dozens feared dead after car bomb attack in north-eastern city of Maiduguri, the birthplace of Islamist militants Boko Haram

Dozens of people are feared dead after a car bomb exploded in a market in Nigeria's north-eastern city of Maiduguri, witnesses said.
Boko Haram, the Islamic extremist group whose birthplace is Maiduguri and which is accused of a series of recent bomb attacks in the west African nation, was immediately blamed for the attack on Tuesday morning.
Explosions last week targeted the biggest shopping centre in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, killing 24 people; a medical college in northern Kano city, killing at least eight; and a hotel brothel in north-east Bauchi city that left 10 dead.
On Monday night, Nigeria's military said it had arrested a businessman who it alleged had "participated actively" in the mass abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in April.
The explosives in Tuesday's attack were hidden under a load of charcoal in a van, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Trader Daba Musa Yobe, who works near the popular market, said the bomb went off just after the market opened at 8am, before most traders or customers had arrived. Other witnesses said they saw about 50 bodies, and that five cars and some tricycle taxis were set ablaze by the explosion.
They said the death toll could have been worse but fewer traders and customers were around than normal because most people stayed up late to eat during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting from sunrise to sunset.

European Court upholds French full veil ban

The European Court of Human Rights has upheld a ban by France on wearing the Muslim full-face veil - the niqab.

A case was brought by a 24-year-old French woman, who argued that the ban on wearing the veil in public violated her freedom of religion and expression.
French law says nobody can wear in a public space clothing intended to conceal the face. The penalty for doing so can be a 150-euro fine (£120; $205).
The 2010 law came in under former conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.
A breach of the ban can also mean a wearer having to undergo citizenship instruction.
France has about five million Muslims - the largest Muslim minority in Western Europe - but it is thought only about 2,000 women wear full veils.
PDF download ECHR ruling_[116KB]
The court ruled that the ban "was not expressly based on the religious connotation of the clothing in question but solely on the fact that it concealed the face". The Strasbourg judges' decision is final - there is no appeal against it.
Related : France's burqa ban upheld by human rights court

Tens of thousands turn out for Hong Kong democracy march

Hong Kong: Clutching banners and chanting slogans, tens of thousands of protesters have staged a pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong that organisers say could be the largest since the city was handed back to China.

The rally on Tuesday reflects surging discontent over Beijing’s insistence that it vet candidates before a vote in 2017 for the semi-autonomous region’s next leader.
The march comes after nearly 800,000 people voted in an informal referendum to demand a electoral mechanism to nominate candidates.
The poll has irked Beijing, which branded it ‘‘illegal and invalid’’ despite the unexpectedly high turnout.

The annual July 1 rally, marking the day the territory returned to China, was tipped to draw the largest crowd since 2003, when half a million people turned out. 

The Hong Kong government urged residents on Tuesday not to undermine the city's stability and prosperity as security was stepped up in the Asian financial centre. Banks and companies in the heart of the business district have made contingency plans in case protesters linger and block roads on Wednesday.

A recent survey by the University of Hong Kong's Public Opinion Program found  that 33 per cent of respondents had a negative opinion of the Beijing policies towards the city, The New York Times reported, while 31 per cent percent viewed Beijing’s policies favourably. 
The 10-day referendum in the former British territory - conducted online, via mobile phones and in person - asked residents to cast ballots for one of three mechanisms for directly electing the city's chief executive. About 787,000 people - more than 10 per cent of the city's population - participated, organisers said. Mainland authorities have denounced the balloting as illegal.
Under the framework governing the city's return to Chinese rule in 1997, direct voting for the chief executive is to begin in 2017. Rules for the election have not yet been  drawn up, but organisers of the referendum fear the guidelines will be written so as to allow leaders in Beijing to screen out any potentially objectionable candidates.

Japan poised to ease constitution's limits on military in landmark shift

TOKYO: Japan's cabinet is expected on Tuesday to end a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War II, a major shift away from post-war pacifism and a political victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who has pursued the change despite some public opposition.

The move, seen by some as the biggest shift in defense policy since Japan set up its post-war armed forces in 1954, would end a ban on exercising "collective self-defense", or aiding a friendly country under attack.

It would also relax limits on activities in UN-led peace-keeping operations and "grey zone" incidents that fall short of full-scale war, according to a draft cabinet resolution.

Long constrained by the pacifist post-war constitution, Japan's military would be more closely aligned with other advanced nations' armed forces in terms of its options to act, though the government would likely remain wary of putting boots on the ground in multilateral operations such as the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

North Korea proposes end to hostilities with South - with conditions

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea on Monday proposed that "all hostile military activities" with South Korea "come to a complete halt" this week, but it attached a number of conditions that Seoul is likely to reject.

The North's highest military body, the National Defense Commission, issued a statement calling for South Korea to halt intrusions at sea and firing drills near islands close to the two countries' disputed maritime border.

The commission also said it wanted South Korea to stop "attracting" U.S. military hardware, including strategic bombers and a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, into the region.

And it asked that South Korea cancel its planned joint military drills with the United States in August.

Seoul and Washington have dismissed previous demands from North Korea for joint U.S.-South Korean drills to be called off.

North Korea said that ending the hostilities, starting Friday, would help improve the atmosphere between the two sides ahead of "exchanges and contacts that are scheduled to actively happen between North and South."

The South Korean Defense Ministry declined to comment on the North Korean statement Monday.

Tensions have flared periodically between the two Koreas in recent months, notably along their maritime boundary, known as the Northern Limit Line.

In late March, the two sides both fired hundreds of shells across their western sea border.

Last month, the South Korean Navy fired warning shots after three North Korean patrol boats crossed the line. And a few days later, North Korea fired at least two shells near a South Korean patrol boat in the Yellow Sea.

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Obama shifts resources to US border

President Barack Obama has directed immigration resources towards the US border with Mexico.

The US president announced he will use his own powers to "fix as much of our broken immigration system as we can".
The move comes as Republicans told Mr Obama a sweeping immigration bill passed by the Senate last year will not see a vote in the House this year.
The US has seen a sharp increase in number of children trying to cross illegally into the US.
From October 2013 to 15 June, 52,000 unaccompanied children arrived on the US border with Mexico, according to the US Homeland Security department.
Speaking at the White House on Monday, Mr Obama said this "humanitarian crisis" showed why he could not "stand by and do nothing".


ObamaCare coverage for millions in jeopardy as IG finds major data flaws
The Obama administration is struggling to resolve data discrepancies that could jeopardize coverage for millions who sought health insurance on the federal exchange HealthCare.gov, according to a watchdog report on the still-rocky implementation of ObamaCare. 
Though the system's troubles have faded from the headlines since the problem-plagued launch last October, a report from the health department inspector general provided the first independent look at widespread issues the government is having effectively fact-checking the information applicants are putting in the system. 

According to the report, the administration was unable to resolve 2.6 million so-called "inconsistencies" out of a total of 2.9 million such problems from October through December 2013. 
The government needs to determine applicants' eligibility in order to verify they can enroll and, in some cases, get government subsidies. Without that step, coverage could be jeopardized. Critics fear these issues also could cause chaos during the 2015 tax-filing season, as many would have to pay back subsidy money they were not entitled to. 
According to the report, those running the federal marketplace are having trouble resolving problems "even if applicants submitted appropriate documentation."

GOP warns Obama: Don't Overstep Executive Powers On Immigration

Conservatives railed at President Barack Obama's announcement Monday that he would  take executive action to reform the U.S. immigration system after hopes of passing legislation in Congress officially died.

Republican John Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives, said the announcement was "sad" and "disappointing"  and warned that unilateral action was not a solution.
"In our conversation last week, I told the president what I have been telling him for months: the American people and their elected officials don't trust him to enforce the law as written," Boehner said in a statement. "Until that changes, it is going to be difficult to make progress on this issue... It is sad and disappointing that – faced with this challenge – President Obama won't work with us, but is instead intent on going it alone with executive orders that can't and won't fix these problems.
Boehner told Obama last week that his chamber would not vote on immigration reform this year, killing chances that a wide-ranging bill passed by the Senate would become law.
Republicans have seized on the Central American surge to criticize the president’s immigration policies.  Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith is warning Obama could face legal action is he goes too far on his own.
“If the president insists on enacting amnesty by executive order,” said Smith, “he will undoubtedly face a lawsuit and will find himself, once again, on the wrong side of the Constitution and the law.”
The collapse of the legislative process delivers another in a series of blows to Obama's domestic policy agenda and comes as he struggles to deal with a flood of unaccompanied minors largely from Central America who have entered the United States.

Hillary Clinton Condemns 'Deeply Disturbing' Hobby Lobby Ruling

Former Secretary of State and likely 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticized the Supreme Court's decision to allow companies to opt out of the Affordable Care Act's birth control mandate on religious grounds, calling the ruling "deeply disturbing."
Speaking Monday during a Facebook Live event at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, Clinton was asked for her take on the 5-4 ruling in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which said closely held corporations are not required to provide contraception coverage for their employees.
“I find it deeply disturbing that we are going in that direction,” Clinton said. “It is very troubling that a sales clerk at Hobby Lobby who needs contraception, which is pretty expensive, is not going to get that service through her employer’s health-care plan because her employer doesn’t think she should be using contraception."
Clinton warned that the ruling creates a "slippery slope" of companies claiming religious exemptions to other laws.
"Many more companies will claim religious beliefs. Some will be some sincere, others maybe not. We’re going to see this one insurable service cut out for many women,” Clinton said. "This is a really bad, slippery slope."
Many other Democrats vocally condemned the ruling, and congressional leaders immediately got to work crafting a legislative response. Perhaps the most scathing response of all came from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who penned a blistering 35-page dissent.
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 Canada Day 2014: July 1 celebrations across the country 

Serena Ryder and the Sam Roberts Band are among the homegrown performers marking Canada Day, as flag-waving celebrants don red and white to mark the country's 147th birthday today.
Evan Solomon is hosting a CBC News Canada Day special on CBC News Network and on CBCNews.ca. from Parliament Hill in Ottawa, where festivities kicked off Tuesday. The events include a presentation by the Canadian Armed Forces of a selection of photos from the last 100 days of the mission in Afghanistan.

Rob Ford returns: But can he still win the mayoral race?

When the mayor of Toronto emerges today from his self-imposed time-out of more than two months, the world will see a slimmer, healthier and rehabilitated Rob Ford.
At least, that is, according to his campaign manager Doug Ford, who suggests that his brother has become “a new man" since his leave of absence.
“He’s had a real eye-opener on life and self and things that may have triggered his addiction before,” Doug Ford told CBC News in a phone interview. “It’s going to be a new Rob Ford.”
The old Rob Ford left in April under a cloud of controversy, dogged by more headlines of bad behaviour. The Toronto Sun had obtained an audio tape of the mayor reportedly swearing and making lewd, racist and sexist comments. Meanwhile, the Globe and Mail said it had viewed a second video of Ford smoking what appeared to be crack cocaine.

Flooding hits Saskatchewan, Manitoba, closes highways

WINNIPEG -- Heavy rain has closed highways and forced dozens of communities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan to declare a state of emergency.

Brandon and 30 other municipalities in Manitoba had done so by Monday evening as the province enacted flood protection measures.
"Our focus is on working with the local communities to deal with this situation," Emergency Measures Minister Steve Ashton said. "As we look ahead, we're using the tools that are available to us."
Emergency measures executive director Lee Spencer said there were more than 200 evacuations in Manitoba, largely in the southwestern corner of the province and on First Nations like Waywayseecappo, Sioux Valley and Peguis.
"The southwest was already dealing with the impacts from flooding going back several weeks ago, and this is very much a combination of saturated ground conditions, very significant rainfall and record flows on streams and tributaries," Ashton said. "The southwest has been particularly hard hit."
Flooding also closed parts of the Trans-Canada Highway in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Heavy rainfall warnings were issued for parts of southwestern Manitoba on Sunday.
According to Environment Canada, Brandon has had the second wettest month since 1902. As of Monday morning, the city received 240 mm of rainfall, second only to June 1902, which received 258 mm.

Alberta is back 'in the black,' finance minister says

EDMONTON -- Alberta is back in the black, the province said Monday, drawing criticism from the opposition over its math.

Despite forecasting a $1.975-billion deficit in the "tough" Budget 2013, Finance Minister Doug Horner said the provincial government finished the fiscal year with a $2.5-billion operational surplus and a "full fiscal plan surplus" of $755 million, its first surplus since the 2007-08 fiscal year.
Announcing the results of the 2013-14 annual report on Monday, Horner acknowledged that they "underestimated the key energy and fiscal markets" in 2013 and instead saw strong revenues and a booming economy make up the projected revenue shortfall.
"We are back in the black -- without question," Horner said, adding the books were positive despite oil price volatility, continued global economic uncertainty and the flooding in southern Alberta last June.
"These events all had impacts on the lives of Albertans and on the province's bottom line. That said, our strong balance sheet and surplus position show we have turned a corner financially."
Total revenue was up $6.6 billion to a total of $45.3 billion, largely from higher energy prices combined with increased tax revenue, investment income and federal transfers, including flood spending dollars.
Overall, non-renewable resource revenue was $9.6 billion, 32% higher than forecasted due to the higher prices and a lower Canadian dollar. Raw bitumen production increased 14% and oil transportation by rail increased 70%. Bitumen royalties were $5.2 billion -- $1.6 billion higher than estimated.
The government spent $5 billion on capital projects, borrowing $3.8 billion to do so. The capital debt level now sits at $8.7 billion and is expected to reach $23 billion by 2016-17. The government spent $230 million in capital debt-servicing costs in 2013-14.
Disputing the surplus claim, the Wildrose Party said the government ran a provincial deficit of just over $2 billion in 2013-14. The difference is largely due to "capital investments" in government-owned infrastructure -- which the government counts as assets, while the Wildrose does not.
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