Weekend Gazette 070614

Suspects held over Palestinian Mohammad Abu Khdair murder

A number of Jewish suspects have been arrested over the murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammad Abu Khdair, whose death sparked days of violent protests.

Israeli police told the BBC Khdair was murdered "because of his nationality".
Khdair was abducted in East Jerusalem. His body was found on Wednesday with first post-mortem examination findings suggesting he was burnt alive.
His death followed the abduction and murder of three Israeli students, who had been hitchhiking near Hebron.
Thousands attended Mohammad Abu Khdair's funeral on Friday near the family's home in the Shufat district of East Jerusalem.
Hundreds of Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem before and after the funeral.
A Palestinian-American teenager, a cousin of Mohammad Abu Khdair, was one of those held after the clashes.
Mobile phone footage appears to show two Israeli policemen repeatedly punching Tariq Khdair, 15, from Florida, in the head.

Egypt president raises cigarette prices by 50 percent, beer 200 percent

CAIRO –  Egypt's president has issued a decree raising the sales tax on cigarettes by up to 50 percent and on beer by 200 percent.
The decision released Sunday is the latest in a series of recent decrees that aim to ease Egypt's staggering budget deficit, which has hovered at around 12 percent over the past three years of turmoil.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, former military chief elected last month, vowed to take tough decisions to address the country's battered economy. This weekend, el-Sissi also partially lifted subsidies on fuel, a politically sensitive issue that Egypt's previous leaders had avoided.
In Egypt, where nearly 50 percent of the population live in poverty, state subsidies on energy and basic food stuffs eat up a quarter of the budget.

Egypt's Sisi defends fuel price rise of 78% as taxi drivers stage protests

Country's new president under fire as police used tear gas to disperse microbus drivers angered by sudden price increase

Cairo's taxi and microbus drivers have staged flash protests in anger at a surprise rise in fuel prices, providing an early test of the popularity of Egypt's new president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
In several Cairo neighbourhoods, roads were temporarily blocked as fleets of the city's distinctive white taxis came to a standstill. In the canal cities of Suez and Ismailia, police used tear gas to disperse a small gathering of microbus drivers.
On Saturday morning, Egyptians woke up to the news that petrol prices had risen by up to 78%, part of a broader swathe of price increases that the government says is necessary to boost Egypt's ailing economy.
Sisi told a meeting of newspaper editors on Sunday that the decision was needed sooner rather than later, and said he wanted his popularity to be based on concrete achievements.
Food and energy subsidies traditionally eat up a quarter of state spending and the government is taking steps to reform its subsidy programme and revive an economy badly scarred by three-and-a-half years of political upheaval.
Successive governments have avoided such a decision, fearful of a potential backlash from a population already faced with rising food prices and an unemployment rate of 13.4 percent. More than a quarter of Egypt's 82-million strong population lives in poverty.

Isis chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears in first video

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamist militant group Isis, has called on Muslims to obey him, in his first video sermon.

Baghdadi has been appointed caliph by the jihadist group, which has seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
The video appears to have been filmed on Friday during a sermon at the al-Nouri Mosque in Mosul, northern Iraq.
It surfaced on Saturday amid reports that he had been killed or wounded in an Iraqi air raid.
It was not clear when the attack was supposed to have taken place.
In the sermon, at Mosul's most famous landmark, Baghdadi praised the establishment of the "Islamic state", which was declared by Isis last Sunday.
Experts say the reclusive militant leader has never appeared on video before, although there are photographs of him.
"Appointing a leader is an obligation on Muslims, and one that has been neglected for decades," he said.
He also said that he did not seek out the position of being the caliph, or leader, calling it a "burden".
"I am your leader, though I am not the best of you, so if you see that I am right, support me, and if you see that I am wrong, advise me," he told worshippers.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ridiculed for flashy wristwatch

The Islamic State leader prompts confusion among his followers after appearing in his first public address wearing a wristwatch that resembles an expensive Omega or Rolex

The emergence of the highly-secretive Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from the shadow of Iraq’s sectarian crisis put a face to the threat of a global Islamic caliphate.

The Islamic State leader spoke publicly for the first time at Mosul’s Great Mosque of Friday, an intervention in which he called on the world’s Muslims to “obey” him as “the leader who presides over you”.

But the self-anointed ‘Caliph Ibrahim’ also brought a touch of branding into the bloody conflict, with many who have seen the 20-minute sermon commenting on his bulky and expensive wristwatch.

Appearing in black robes and a turban in an attempt to evoke memories of the last Caliphs to rule from Baghdad, the jihadist broke with the tradition to sport an ill-fitting chrome watch with a dark face. 
His choice of accessory, which is believed to be either a Rolex, Sekonda or £3,500 Omega seamaster, has been highlighted as jarring with the content of his controversial speech.
He said that under the Islamic State's direction the Muslim world would be returned to “dignity, might, rights and leadership”.
“I am the wali (leader) who presides over you, though I am not the best of you, so if you see that I am right, assist me," he added.
“If you see that I am wrong, advise me and put me on the right track, and obey me as long as I obey God in you.”
Video footage of Baghdadi's appearance, the veracity of which is disputed by the Iraqi government, was posted on Youtube and prompted an outpouring of confused comments on social media. 

Syrian opposition to elect new president

BEIRUT –  The Western-backed Syrian opposition group will begin a three-day meeting in Istanbul later Sunday to elect a new president and discuss the offensive by Islamic militants straddling Iraq and Syria, an official with the group said.
The meeting comes amid reports that 150,000 people have been displaced from their homes in eastern Syria by jihadi fighters who captured wide areas of the eastern province of Deir el-Zour in the past weeks.

Mustafa Osso said the Syrian National Coalition will pick a replacement for its current president, Ahmad al-Jarba, in a vote expected on Tuesday. He said the top two candidates for the job are senior coalition members Hadi Bahra and Muwaffaq Nairabiyeh, who belong to Jarba's Democratic bloc.
Jarba, who was elected in July of last year has already served two six-month terms -- the maximum period allowed by the coalition.
A statement by the group said that in addition to a vote for a new president, the coalition will also elect three vice presidents, a secretary general and a political committee. The statement said the coalition will be "discussing the military changes in Syria and the region in general, and its impact on the course of revolution."

Dozens Killed as Ugandan Forces Battle Militia

KAMPALA, Uganda — A Ugandan military official said Sunday more than 40 gunmen were killed in clashes between Uganda's security forces and a tribal militia near the country's border with Congo, in what appeared to be coordinated attacks targeting police posts and military barracks in three districts.

Ugandan troops killed at least 41 gunmen and repulsed others before containing the situation, Ugandan military spokesman Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda said.

The death toll from the clashes, which took place Saturday, could rise further as Uganda's security forces attempt to arrest the fleeing gunmen, who are suspected to be radical members of a tribal group that has long felt neglected by the central government.

The attacks took place in Kasese, Ntoroko and Bundibugyo, three Ugandan districts with a history of anti-government insurgency and tensions among rival tribes competing for limited natural resources in a mountainous region of western Uganda.

Bundibugyo, where the most deadly attacks took place, is a frontier district located more than 300 kilometers (about 186 miles) from Kampala, the Ugandan capital.

Fred Enanga, the Ugandan police spokesman, said in a statement early Sunday that at least 12 people — mostly police and civilians — were killed by "thugs" armed with guns, spears and machetes. That figure did not include the 41 gunmen shot and killed by Ugandan forces.

Barrage of rocket fire hits South amid calls for Gaza operation

A barrage of rocket fire hit southern Israel on Sunday afternoon amid calls from within Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's coalition for a wide-scale mission in the Gaza Strip.
The Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council area was battered with ten rockets from Gaza. Residents of the communities in the Sha'ar Hanegev area were instructed to remain in fortified shelters.
Three rockets hit the Eshkol Regional Council area , one of which started a brush fire, and an additional two rockets landed in open territory in the Ashkelon Coast Council region.
At least 150 rockets have landed in Israeli territory since June 14 when the West Bank operation to find three Israeli teens kidnapped and murdered by Hamas commenced , the IDF said Sunday.
While Economy Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman have called for a wide-scale operation in Gaza, Israel has thus far limited its response to air strikes on select terror targets.
Netanyahu said at Sunday's cabinet meeting that Israel must act “with composure and responsibly," and not with “militancy or rashness.”
Israeli warplanes struck rocket-launching targets in the Gaza Strip before dawn on Sunday, the army announced.
According to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, IAF aircraft hit 10 targets in central and southern Gaza.
Palestinians in Gaza fired Grad rockets at Beersheba and Ashkelon on Saturday evening, escalating their ongoing attacks on the South.
Iron Dome anti-rocket batteries intercepted one rocket over Beersheba for the first time since Israel clashed with Hamas in November 2012, and soon afterward, three more rockets were intercepted over Ashkelon. Several additional rockets hit open areas in the Sha’ar Hanegev and Ashkelon regions.Israeli aircraft attack 10 targets in Gaza

'Turning point': Ukrainian government forces retake key city

Kiev: With an onslaught of gunfire and mortar shelling, Ukrainian government forces expelled pro-Russian insurgents from Slaviansk, a long-blockaded rebel stronghold, and raised the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the City Council building.
In retaking Slaviansk, the site of some of the fiercest battles throughout the insurrection, Ukrainian forces did not necessarily deal a decisive blow to the rebels but were finally gaining traction and reasserting state authority in eastern Ukraine, three months after separatists seized cities and towns throughout the region.
"The state flag of Ukraine is proudly waving over the city, which militants thought was their impregnable fortress," President Petro Poroshenko said.  "It's not a complete victory and it's not a time for fireworks but clearing Slaviansk of extremely well-armed bandits has a very symbolic meaning. This is a turning point in fighting militants for the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

By Saturday evening, Ukrainian troops had also raised the national flag over City Hall in nearby Kramatorsk,where the insurgents were believed to be regrouping and seeking medical help.
The Ukrainian advances came four days after Mr Poroshenko ended a ceasefire and ordered the military to resume efforts to crush the rebellion by force.
With the separatists losing ground, there were signs of growing frustration in the east with Russian President Vladimir Putin for not making good on his promises to defend Russian people in Ukraine.

5 indicted for stoning pregnant woman to death in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani police say a court has indicted five relatives accused of stoning to death a pregnant woman for marrying against the family's wishes.

Investigator Mian Zulfiqar said Sunday the woman's father, two brothers, a cousin and ex-husband have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and torture.

Farzana Parveen, 25, was killed May 27 before a crowd of onlookers near a downtown courthouse in the eastern city of Lahore.

The case has brought international attention to violence against women in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where hundreds of women are killed by relatives each year in so-called "honor killings" after allegedly bringing shame to their families through sexual transgressions.

The investigator says the trial will begin on Monday when the court has called on prosecution witnesses to appear.
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A Mitt Romney presidential sequel in 2016?

A recent poll that contained some disturbing news for President Barack Obama concerning low approval ratings had a nugget that might provide a smile for his 2012 opponent.

According to a Quinnipiac University survey, 44% of Americans think the country "would be better off than it is today" if Mitt Romney were president today, versus 38% who say the nation would be in worse shape.
These numbers have stoked speculation on whether Mr Romney could be considering another try for the presidency in 2016.
It would be an unusual move, as most defeated candidates in the general election tend to disappear from the national political scene - or at least give up on their presidential aspirations.

"Romney recognises well the historical odds against becoming a repeat nominee," writes former Romney campaign lawyer Emil Henry in Politico magazine. "In the film Mitt, which documents his two presidential campaigns, he is captured at a fundraiser making an 'L' on his forehead to depict how a failed nominee becomes 'a loser for life.'"

Henry - a former George W Bush administration treasury department official - argues, however, that Mr Romney's situation is more like that of Richard Nixon, who was defeated by John Kennedy in 1960 only to turn around and win the top job in 1968.
He says both politicians were "mighty warriors" who lacked an easy appeal on television. Nixon shook off his critics, however, and persevered. Could Mr Romney be cut from similar cloth?
There are three factors that could contribute to a Romney resurgence similar to Nixon's, Henry writes. Mr Romney has emerged as the de facto leader of an otherwise rudderless Republican party. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie - two possible competitors - both have political baggage that makes them less appealing, Henry asserts.
This dearth of leadership is matched by a lack of appealing presidential candidates, Henry says. The nomination was wide open for Nixon in 1968, and the same could be said for Mr Romney.
"Romney, like Nixon, will have a massive legacy infrastructure at his disposal to seize the opportunity," he writes. "Impressively, Romney is the only Republican who can roll into any major money centre like New York, Los Angeles or Houston and mobilise his fundraisers on demand, and he is doing so with regularity."

Barrasso warns of ISIS threat to US

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) expressed concern Sunday that an Islamist extremist group causing chaos in Iraq will attack the United States.

“My greatest concern is for what he intends to do and I think he has the capability to and the intent to attack the United States,” he said on "Fox News Sunday."

On Sunday, Iraqi officials were working to confirm the authenticity of a 21-minute video said to show Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.
He was seen delivering a sermon reportedly filmed on Friday at the Great Mosque in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.
The extremist group has seized a wide expanse of north and west Iraq and put the nation into a state of upheaval.
Barrasso said that al-Baghdadi must feel safe in the large area that his group has overrun, “which shows you that when the United States leaves a vacuum others will go in, others will fill it. The bad actors will show up and we’re seeing it right now.”
“Obviously he feels emboldened by what his Islamic State has been able to accomplish,” he added.
Barrasso argued that the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq had created the situation and said President Obama is responsible for unrest there and in other areas of the world because he is “projecting worldwide U.S. weakness.”
“I think that it’s hurting us all across the Middle East but in other places worldwide as well including Russia and the Ukraine.”

India's rape epidemic: Will the US apply pressure for change to its Asian ally?

WASHINGTON –  When the news of a young Indian woman brutally beaten and gang-raped on a moving bus in New Delhi went viral, vows to change the system and strip the stigma attached to victims came quickly. 
Politicians across the country, responding to public pressure and global outrage in the wake of the 2012 attack on the 23-year-old female student and her male friend, promised they would modernize outdated policies on women and violence.

Collectively, it looked like the country was moving toward change and working hard to repair its global image. And for a while, it seemed to work.
But in late May, the bodies of two teenage girls were found hanging limply from a mango tree in their village in Uttar Pradesh. The girls, 14 and 15 years old, had been gang-raped. A week later, another case surfaced. Like the others, the girl had been raped and asphyxiated. She was found dead, hanging from a tree.
As the grisly cases start to emerge again, many are hoping the United States and others will apply pressure to their Asian ally to renew the fight against what is by any standard an epidemic of rape. 
But it won’t be easy.
In recent years, U.S. officials have faced significant obstacles with India, ranging from disagreements over economic conditions which include grudges over limits on temporary work visas to polarizing political figures like the country’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Hillary Clinton Praises Angela Merkel As Europe's 'Greatest Leader'

BERLIN, July 6 (Reuters) - Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton called Chancellor Angela Merkel "the greatest leader in Europe" during a visit to Berlin on Sunday and said it was high time America had a woman leader too, though without confirming she would seek the job.

Clinton also referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "tough customer with a pretty thin skin" in an appearance at a Berlin theater to promote her new book, "Hard Choices".

The former senator and wife of ex-President Bill Clinton is widely expected to run for the White House in 2016 and has cited Merkel as a good argument for the United States having a woman president soon.

"I think we are ready for a woman to break through the glass ceiling," Clinton said in an interview with Bild am Sonntag newspaper, adding that she would decide whether to run for president "at the end of this year or early next year".

Clinton joked at the Schiller Theater about her and Merkel's shared taste for pants suits and voiced admiration for the chancellor's leadership of Europe in the euro zone debt crisis.

"I say in the book I think she is the greatest leader in Europe, I think she is a great leader globally, I think she carried Europe on her shoulders and it wasn't easy," she said.

Reid leaves Nevada town that defined him  
SEARCHLIGHT, Nev. — Harry Reid grew up in a shack in this dusty old gold-mining outpost in the middle of the desert.

As he rose to political power, he amassed personal wealth and began living part time in a condo in Washington. But he never stopped holding tightly to a gritty public persona grounded in his Searchlight roots — building a house here and keeping the town his official residence.

Along the way, a tiny town that thrived only briefly during a gold rush more than a century ago gained bragging rights as home to the most powerful man in the U.S. Senate.

But this month has brought a remarkable turn of events for Searchlight and its population of a few hundred: A new gold rush has reignited investor interest here. And Reid, whose land quite literally sat on a gold mine, has seized the opportunity to cash out of the town at the center of his political identity.

He announced last month that he had sold his house along with 110 acres of Joshua-tree-dotted, rocky land to Nevada Milling and Mining, a small South Dakota company that bought an abandoned mine next door in 2010 and has high hopes for a new era of gold production.

The $1.75 million deal was a handsome payout for Reid (D), who is paid a Senate salary of $193,400 per year. Nearly all of the land had been in Reid’s family for decades, much of it originally deeded to his father and some bought by Reid from family members. His brother will continue to live in Searchlight, where Reid will also retain some holdings.

Reid, 74, said he and his wife, Landra, wanted to be closer to their children and grandchildren, as well as his political base in Las Vegas, an hour’s drive across the desolate Mojave Desert.

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