Gazette 070314

Thursday July 3rd 2014

'Next 24 hours will show if Hamas gets the message,' senior security source says 

The coming 24 hours will show whether Hamas in Gaza has understood Israel's message that rocket fire on the South must end, a senior security source said Thursday, as projectiles continued to rain down on southern towns, and trigger air raid sirens.

"We'll see what the bottom line is... whether Hamas understands our message... within 24 hours, and then we'll weigh our steps," the source said.

Hamas is not behind all of the recent rocket attacks on Israel, but compared to the past, the IDF is seeing a growing Hamas role in projectile fire, the source added.

He spoke after 18 Palestinian rockets fired from Gaza slammed into southern Israel on Thursday, damaging homes in Sderot. The most recent rocket attack, in the afternoon, targeted the town of Ofakim, and one rocket fell in an open area near the town.

At the moment, "Our main mission is to transmit the message that quiet will be met with quiet," the source added. Meanwhile, the IDF has deployed limited forces to the Gaza border region as part of a series of defensive measures, and to increase military preparedness in case Hamas does not respond to Israel's call for quiet.

"We are taking steps [so that we are ready] in case Hamas chooses one solution, or another," the source stated. To that end, the IDF is building up what the source described as "defensive efforts" against rocket attacks and cross-border terrorist infiltrations.

Israel moving troops near Gaza Strip border, officials say

Israel has begun sending troop reinforcements to its border with the Gaza Strip amid intensifying rocket barrages, defense officials said Thursday.
The movement of tanks and artillery forces came after another night of heavy rocket fire, including barrages that struck two homes in the southern border town of Sderot. Israel's last major operation in Gaza, a territory controlled by the Hamas militant group, took place in late 2012.

The rocket strikes sparked Israeli reprisals and added to mounting tensions surrounding the suspected revenge killing of an Arab teen in Jerusalem.
More than a dozen rockets struck Israel on Thursday, including the attacks on Sderot. The strikes knocked out electricity in part of the town but caused no injuries. Israel said it responded with overnight airstrikes on 15 Hamas targets.
On Thursday, buses carrying Israeli troops could be seen heading to the Gaza border area, where soldiers milled about organizing their equipment.
A senior Israeli military official described the troop movements as "defensive."
"If Hamas keeps things quiet, we will keep things quiet," he said. He and other officials spoke on condition of anonymity under military guidelines.
The defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.
Meanwhile, police are investigating the disappearance of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, whose family says he was abducted Wednesday shortly before a charred body was found in a Jerusalem forest. The family accused extremist Jews of killing him in revenge for the deaths of three Israeli teens, who disappeared before their bodies were found in a field in the West Bank.

Iraq denies withdrawal of forces from Saudi border

Iraqi military officials have denied that troops have abandoned positions along the border with Saudi Arabia.

Interior ministry spokesman Brig Gen Saad Maan told the BBC that the border force was functioning normally.
Earlier, al-Arabiya TV reported that Saudi Arabia had deployed 30,000 soldiers along the 900km (560-mile) frontier after Iraqi forces withdrew.
The Saudi personnel were fanning out along the border to prevent attacks by jihadist-led Sunni rebels, it said.
On Wednesday, King Abdullah discussed Iraq and the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) with US President Barack Obama in a telephone conversation.
Mr Obama also thanked him for the $500m (£291m) donation to the UN to help it address the humanitarian crisis caused by the insurgency in Iraq.
More than one million Iraqis have fled their homes over the month as Sunni rebels led by Isis overran Mosul, Tikrit and other cities and towns in the north and west. At least 2,461 people were killed in violent attacks in June, according to the UN and Iraqi authorities.
On Thursday afternoon, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced that a group of 32 Turkish lorry drivers who were seized last month in northern Iraq by Isis had been handed over to Turkish diplomats and would be flown to Ankara.
Mr Davutoglu said Turkey would continue its efforts to secure the release of 49 other Turkish citizens, including children, diplomats and special forces personnel, who were still being held.
India's foreign ministry said 46 Indian nurses being held by militants in Tikrit were safe, but were being moved to a new location.

Saudi Arabia deploys 30,000 soldiers to border with Iraq: al-Arabiya TV

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia has deployed 30,000 soldiers to its border with Iraq after Iraqi soldiers withdrew from the area, Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television said on Thursday.

The world's top oil exporter shares an 800km (500 mile) border with Iraq, where Islamic State insurgents and other Sunni Muslim militant groups seized towns and cities in a lightning advance last month.

King Abdullah has ordered all necessary measures to protect the kingdom against potential "terrorist threats", state news agency SPA reported on Thursday.

The Dubai-based al-Arabiya said on its website that Saudi troops fanned into the border region after Iraqi government forces abandoned positions, leaving the Saudi and Syrian frontiers unprotected.

The satellite channel said it had obtained a video showing some 2,500 Iraqi soldiers in the desert area east of the Iraqi city of Karbala after pulling back from the border.

An officer in the video aired by al-Arabiya said that the soldiers had been ordered to quit their posts without justification. The authenticity of the recording could not immediately be verified. 

Water supply key to outcome of conflicts in Iraq and Syria, experts warn

Security analysts in London and Baghdad say control of rivers and dams has become a major tactical weapon for Isis

The outcome of the Iraq and Syrian conflicts may rest on who controls the region’s dwindling water supplies, say security analysts in London and Baghdad.
Rivers, canals, dams, sewage and desalination plants are now all military targets in the semi-arid region that regularly experiences extreme water shortages, says Michael Stephen, deputy director of the Royal United Services Institute thinktank in Qatar, speaking from Baghdad.
“Control of water supplies gives strategic control over both cities and countryside. We are seeing a battle for control of water. Water is now the major strategic objective of all groups in Iraq. It’s life or death. If you control water in Iraq you have a grip on Baghdad, and you can cause major problems. Water is essential in this conflict,” he said.
Isis Islamic rebels now control most of the key upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates, the two great rivers that flow from Turkey in the north to the Gulf in the south and on which all Iraq and much of Syria depends for food, water and industry.

ISIS Captures Syrian Towns, Key Oil Field

BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant marched across eastern Syria near the border with Iraq on Thursday, seizing towns, villages and the country's largest oil field as rival rebel factions gave up the fight, activists said.
The extremist group -- which controls large parts of northern Syria and captured vast swaths of northern and western Iraq last month -- is now in almost full control of a corridor stretching from the Syrian border town of Boukamal to the government-controlled provincial capital of Deir el-Zour to the northwest.
Led by an ambitious Iraqi militant known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant this week unilaterally declared the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the lands it has seized in Syria and Iraq. It proclaimed al-Baghdadi the head of its new self-styled state and demanded that all Muslims pledge allegiance to him.
The new developments effectively expand and consolidate areas held by the group -- which has shorted its name to the Islamic State -- in territory straddling the border between the two conflict-ridden countries.

Final round of Iran nuclear talks starts in Vienna

The sixth and final round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group has begun in Vienna.

The deadline for a deal expires on 20 July, although this could be extended if an agreement is not made in time.
Iran insists it is enriching uranium to fuel power plants, and wants international sanctions to end.
But the West has accused Iran of having military intentions, and wants it to scale back enrichment to ensure the uranium cannot be used in weapons.
The EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is leading the negotiations on the part of the P5+1 group, which comprises the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif heads the Iranian delegation. He said in an address on Wednesday that Iran was ready to take steps to ensure the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme but that it would not "kneel in submission" to foreign powers.
Both sides are hoping to build on an interim deal agreed in Geneva in November that saw Iran curb enrichment in return for sanctions relief.
But progress since the Geneva deal has been slow, with the last round of talks in May proving unfruitful.

Stone-throwing Buddhist mobs in Myanmar stage 2nd night of violence; 2 killed, 14 hurt

YANGON, Myanmar –  Buddhist mobs on motorbikes drove through Myanmar's historic city of Mandalay in a second night of attacks on minority Muslims that left two people dead, 14 injured and raised fears of wider violence, officials said Thursday.
The dead included a Muslim man, who residents said was on his way to a mosque before dawn Thursday when he was attacked by the mob and left dead in the street. The second victim was a Buddhist man, whose cause of death was under investigation, said a police officer on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation, has been grappling with violence since 2012 that has left up to 280 people dead and another 140,000 homeless, most of them Muslims attacked by Buddhist extremists. Most of the violence has taken place in western Rakhine state.
The latest outbreak that started Tuesday night was a first in Mandalay, in central Myanmar, the second-largest city and an important economic hub and center of Buddhist culture and learning where Muslims and Buddhists have traditionally lived peacefully together.
Mandalay region chief minister Ye Myint told media that four people were arrested. He did not reveal the identities or religion of the victims or those detained for fear it might inflame the situation.

China Bans Ramadan Fast In Schools, Government Offices Of Muslim Northwest

BEIJING (AP) — Students and civil servants in China's Muslim northwest, where Beijing is enforcing a security crackdown following deadly unrest, have been ordered to avoid taking part in traditional fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Statements posted in the past several days on websites of schools, government agencies and local party organizations in the Xinjiang region said the ban was aimed at protecting students' wellbeing and preventing use of schools and government offices to promote religion. Statements on the websites of local party organizations said members of the officially atheist ruling party also should avoid fasting.
"No teacher can participate in religious activities, instill religious thoughts in students or coerce students into religious activities," said a statement on the website of the No. 3 Grade School in Ruoqiang County in Xinjiang.
Similar bans have been imposed in the past on fasting for Ramadan, which began at sundown Saturday. But this year is unusually sensitive because Xinjiang is under tight security following attacks that the government blames on Muslim extremists with foreign terrorist ties.
Violence has escalated in recent years in Xinjiang. The ruling party blames violent extremists that it says want independence, while members of the region's Uighur ethnic group complain that discrimination and restrictions on religion, such as a ban on taking children to mosques, are fueling anger at the ethnic Han Chinese majority.

Gruesome Hospital Killings In South Sudan: MSF

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Patients were shot in their hospital beds, medical and humanitarian staff killed, and medical facilities were destroyed in fighting in South Sudan since December in actions that breach international law, an aid group said in a report released Tuesday.
Doctors Without Borders said the attacks on health facilities are denying medical assistance to hundreds of thousands. The group said of 58 killed in four hospitals, 25 were patients, 27 had sought shelter, four remain unidentified and two are government officials. Hospitals have also been looted.
"Humanitarian law and principles provide legal protection to civilian populations and medical personnel and the medical mission in particular. Deliberate attacks on medical facilities and personnel constitute a clear violation of such provisions," the group said in a report that stated all parties in the conflict are bound by provisions of International Humanitarian Law.
South Sudan was plunged into violence in December when President Salva Kiir accused former Vice President Riek Machar of attempting a coup.
Thousands have died and more than 1.3 million people have fled their homes since the conflict erupted, often pitting Kiir's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer community. The fighting has reduced significantly since the latest cease-fire agreement signed on June 10, but the negotiations being held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between the two factions have stalled.
The United Nations has also said in reports that there have been gross violations of human rights "on a massive scale."


 Colorado woman arrested for 'trying to support Isis'

A 19-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly trying to provide support to Islamic State of Syria and the Levant (Isis), it has emerged.

Shannon Maureen Conley, from Denver, was arrested in April as she attempted to board a flight, according to recently unsealed court documents.
She told officials she was flying to Turkey and then to Syria to meet a suitor she met online.
The man, a Tunisian, claimed to be an active member of Isis.
According to a criminal complaint filed with the US District Court in Colorado, Ms Conley attended a military tactics and firearms training course with the US Army Explorers earlier in the year.
She allegedly planned to use the training to help Isis fighters through the man she met online, who shared her "view of Islam as requiring participation in violent jihad against any non-believers", the complaint said.
Officials began to investigate Ms Conley after the pastor at Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada, Colorado, alerted local police and the Colorado FBI to a woman suspiciously taking notes of the layout of the church's campus.
The church had been the scene of an earlier deadly shooting in 2007.
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Conservatives want federal bank shut down over 'crony capitalism' claims

Critics blast it as a taxpayer-funded institution of "crony capitalism" fraught with corruption. Supporters say it's a job creator and levels the global playing field. Both sides know that the future of the Export-Import Bank now hangs in the balance, with its fate firmly resting in the hands of the House Republican Conference. 
The Ex-Im Bank, as it's known, has been around for some 80 years, as a federal agency providing financing to foreign buyers of American exports -- basically boosting American companies shipping their goods overseas. Dozens of other countries have a similar set-up. 

But now Congress has until Sept. 30 to renew the bank's charter and operating budget. That's roughly $115 million, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. 
Re-upping hasn't been a problem, in the past. 
In fact, the House last voted to renew the charter with overwhelming bipartisan support -- 143 Republicans voted for it, including incoming House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. 
Times have changed. McCarthy now says the bank should be put out of business. 
"One of the problems with government is it's going to take hard-earned money so others do things that the private sector can do. That's what Ex-Im Bank does," McCarthy said during a recent interview on "Fox News Sunday."  "The last authorization of the Ex-Im Bank directed the president and the Treasury secretary to wind down the Ex-Im Bank, negotiate with other countries, to wind them down so we have a level playing field," he added, explaining his most recent vote. 
There are other arguments which have conservatives clamoring to pull the plug, including those claims of crony capitalism. 
In 2012, more than 80 percent of the Export-Import Bank's subsidies went to support Boeing, and earned Ex-Im the moniker, "Boeing's Bank." 
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, opened his hearing last week on the bank saying, "if you're a politically connected bank or company that benefits from Ex-Im, no doubt you would like it to continue. After all, it's a sweetheart deal for you. Taxpayers shoulder the risk and you get the reward." 
CEO of Delta Air Lines Richard Anderson echoed similar sentiments while testifying during that hearing, saying taxpayer cash benefiting Boeing could end up costing Delta jobs. 
"This is about putting safeguards in place so [Congress] is not choosing which companies win and which companies lose," Anderson said.

Thad Cochran Press Call Turns Into Disaster After Caller Asks About 'Harvested' Black Votes

A press conference call for Sen. Thad Cochran's (R-Miss.) re-election campaign turned into a fiasco on Wednesday when an unidentified caller began asking whether Cochran improperly "harvested" votes from African-Americans like "black people harvesting cotton."
According to several reporters, Austin Barbour, a GOP operative and adviser to Cochran's campaign who was speaking before the interruption, shut down the call after repeated interruptions by the unidentified caller. A shouting match ensued with the remaining callers on the line, and some suggested that either the Cochran campaign had "planted" the question, or perhaps "even Obama" was to blame.

Tighter security for flights to US

Security is being tightened at airports with direct flights into the US - including some in the UK - in response to US warnings of a "credible threat".

UK Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the measures were being taken to keep the public safe.
While he would not specify what steps would be involved, he ruled out "significant disruption" to passengers.
It comes amid US media reports that al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria and Yemen are developing bombs to smuggle on planes.
A US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said the changes were a response to a "real time" and "credible" threat, but he could not comment on specific intelligence matters.
'Remain vigilant' DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement: "We are sharing recent and relevant information with our foreign allies and are consulting the aviation industry."
The changes are expected in the coming days.
Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said she took the threat seriously, saying: "We have to remain vigilant." 

Obama’s weak policy leaves homeland at risk

OBAMA’S WEAK POLICY LEAVES HOMELAND AT RISK
 
On the eve of its 238th birthday, the nation is faced with troubling news that threatens the security of the homeland and illustrates the crumbling of Obama administration foreign policy. President Obama’s failure to act decisively in Syria’s chaotic civil war, which has spilled over to Iraq, has yielded an increased threat from Al Qaeda associated terrorists. A pipeline from Syria to Europe is open for jihadists, many holding western passports, and lawmakers and intelligence officials worry about the possibility of an attack. As predicted, the failure to effectively fight the militants overseas has pushed the front to Europe, just a plane ride away.

Hillary Inevitable? Fading Book Sales Say No

WASHINGTON -- If books can make presidencies -- and Barack Obama proved they can-- then hold the talk about the inevitability of Hillary Clinton.
The Huffington Post has learned that new survey figures show sales of her foreign policy memoir, Hard Choices, are falling fast.
According to authoritative numbers from Bookscan, which monitors sales at 80 percent of bookstores nationwide, retail sales of Hard Choices plummeted another 50 percent in the third week -- down to 26,190 from 48,200 the week before and 85,900 the first week of publication.
Books whose sales drop off by half in successive weeks generally don't become blockbusters, which could be a problem -- a big one -- for Clinton's publisher, Simon & Schuster.


S&S reportedly shipped 1 million copies of the book to stores and is said to have paid Clinton an advance approaching $14 million. At the current rate, it would take many months to sell the million copies -- an unlikely prospect according to industry sources.
"It looks like they are going to be pulping a lot of paper," said a top industry source, who declined to be quoted by name because of the sensitivity of the matter in the industry. A Simon & Schuster spokesman declined immediate comment.
By comparison, Clinton's 2003 book, Living History, sold six times as many volumes in its first week and eventually 1.4 million worldwide in hardback. Obama's Dreams From My Father had sold 4.65 million in hardback, paperback and ebook as of 2010.

 === AMBER ALERT ===AMBER ALERT===AMBER ALERT===

'Stay strong,' urge family of missing Nathan O'Brien, 5, and his grandparents

A Calgary family called their missing son their superhero and asked him to stay strong as he and his grandparents remain the subject of an intensive police search. 
An Amber Alert is still in effect for Nathan O'Brien, 5, after he and his grandparents — Kathryn Liknes, 53, and Alvin Liknes, 66 — were discovered missing Monday morning.

• Nathan O'Brien, grandparents missing, Amber Alert active
• Amber Alert declared for boy, 5, and grandparents in Calgary

The boy's parents, Rod and Jennifer O'Brien, spoke to media Wednesday afternoon.
"Nathan, you are our superhero right now and we’re going to bring you home very soon," said Rod O'Brien.
"To whoever has Nathan, please find it in your heart to drop off our little angel Nathan, to [where] he can be rescued and reunited with his brothers and his family. To the public, our son and family could be anywhere right now. If you have any information, anything at all, please contact the police."
Jennifer O'Brien thanked the public for the support the family has been getting, and for the opportunity to have Nathan hear her voice.
"We can't be with you right now, but the best people that can be with you other than us is your grandparents, and I know that grandma is holding you so tightly right now," she said. 
"Stay strong, Nathan, stay strong."
As the couple spoke they were flanked by a group of people, including Jeff Liknes, the son of the missing couple, who also spoke to media.
"Mom, Dad, we want you to know that we love you so much, and we are doing everything we can to get you home safely," he said.
"Please continue to pray with us for the safe return of our parents, Alvin and Kathy Liknes, and our nephew, Nathan."

Rob Ford fact check: Verifying Toronto mayor’s remarks

Mayor blames drinking, drug abuse for racist, homophobic slurs

In his first post-rehab interview, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford admits to "lying, conniving and hiding to cover up" his substance-abuse problems. The mayor’s deceptions have led his political opponents and members of the public to question his most recent public statements, not least a remark to CBC News reporter Dwight Drummond that his "public record is better than any mayor’s in the city of Toronto."
Here’s a closer look at other comments the mayor made in his conversation with Drummond, and inconsistencies in his remarks.
On whether he used drugs while at city hall:
"This was all on personal time. I was definitely on the influence of alcohol a number of times here. But there was no drug use here [in the office]," he said.
According to police documents in an affidavit, former junior staffer Kia Mejatian gave a statement saying he saw empty alcohol bottles in Ford’s office, but that he also came upon a marijuana cigarette in the mayor’s desk. The joint disappeared days later, Mejatian told police.
On whether he meant any of the disparaging remarks he made about gays and people of colour:
"I think that goes along with having this disease. It's a chronic, medical condition I never understood. And you do things, you say things that just aren't you," Ford said.

Paul Bernardo plans to marry Ontario woman

TORONTO -- From a prison cell, serial sex killer Paul Bernardo has charmed and manipulated an attractive, university-educated woman into planning to marry him, QMI Agency has learned.

The 30-year-old London, Ontario, woman admitted she has been writing letters to the Scarborough Rapist, telling friends the schoolgirl killer is "innocent" and was a bystander to the rapes and torture slayings of Kristen French, 15, and Leslie Mahaffy, 14.
She's been corresponding with Bernardo since last fall. But with the relationship now coming to light, the woman said she "did something that got people upset and she is rethinking ... and struggling with it."
The bride-to-be told friends she has wedding bands.
"He is a kind man, a Christian, a very nice man," she told QMI Agency.
An independent source confirmed the woman, whom QMI Agency has decided not to identify at this time, took steps to advance a plan to wed Bernardo. However, her parents insisted their daughter is reconsidering the decision as "reality has set in."
Her father said the woman's intelligence, emotional fragility and belief in her own street smarts made her the perfect victim for Bernardo.
"She has had a number of bad relationships that undermined her self-esteem despite her brilliance. She is looking for someone who will love her unconditionally."
He and his wife learned earlier this year she had been writing letters to Bernardo to "research" a book.
When they confronted her, "we believed that was the end of it," her dad said.
A few months ago a friend of the woman noticed something new on her left ankle -- "Paul's girl" tattooed in scroll.
In an interview, the woman insisted the tattoo referred to a high school friend -- not Bernardo. But a friend who knew her since their university days, disagreed.
"She did mention she was seeing somebody named Paul, that he had done some time. She made it sound like he was a working accountant in Toronto and they had wedding bands," the friend revealed.
Bernardo, 50, is serving a life sentence for the first-degree murders of the two schoolgirls. He was declared a dangerous offender in 1995 after pleading guilty to 32 sex-related crimes, including 12 rapes in the east end of Toronto dating to 1987.
Bernardo turned down a request to be interviewed.

Calgary Stampede President Bob Thompson has an interesting call with this year's Parade Marshals.