Gazette 082614

Tuesday August 26th 2014

Israel targets Gaza high-rises as Egypt pushes for new talks

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip –  Israel bombed two Gaza City high-rises with dozens of homes and shops Tuesday, collapsing one building and severely damaging the other in a further escalation in seven weeks of cross-border fighting with Hamas.
In the past, the military has hit targets in high-rises in pinpoint strikes, but left the buildings standing. Since Saturday, it has toppled or destroyed five towers and shopping complexes in an apparent new tactic aimed at increasing pressure on Hamas.

Tuesday's strikes leveled the 15-story Basha Tower with apartments and offices and severely damaged the Italian Complex, built in the 1990s by an Italian businessman, with dozens of shops and offices. Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra claimed 25 people were wounded in the attack on the Italian Complex.
Both buildings were evacuated after receiving warnings of impending strikes. The Israeli military said it targeted sites linked to militants Tuesday, but made no specific reference to the two buildings. Israel alleges Hamas often operates from civilian locations. The military has not said why it has begun collapsing large buildings, rather than carrying out pinpointed strikes against suspected militant targets located there.

Iran 'will arm Palestinians' after Israeli drone downed

Tehran pledges to "accelerate" arming Palestinians in West Bank after airing footage of 'Israeli drone' it claims to have shot down over Iran

Tehran will "accelerate" arming Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in retaliation for Israel deploying a spy drone over Iran, which was shot down, a military commander said on Monday.

"We will accelerate the arming of the West Bank and we reserve the right to give any response," said General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, commander of aerial forces of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, in a statement on their official website sepahnews.com.

The warning comes a day after the Guards said they had brought down an Israeli stealth drone above the Natanz uranium enrichment site in the centre of the country.

Iran's state TV broadcast footage on Monday purported to show an Israeli drone the country's Revolutionary Guard claimed it shot down near an Iranian nuclear site.

Arabic-language Al-Alam aired the brief video filmed in a desert area showing what the channel says are parts of the drone. A TV scroll says the drone was downed on Saturday.

Iraq: 'Eight die' as bomb rocks Baghdad Shia district

A car bomb in a mainly Shia district of Baghdad has killed at least eight people and wounded around 20 others.

The blast in the Iraqi capital comes a day after a suicide bombing on a Shia mosque in the same area.
There has been a spate of attacks on Shia after at least 68 people were shot dead at a Sunni mosque on Friday.
Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi, a moderate Shia, is trying to form a more inclusive government after the resignation of Nouri Maliki.
Tuesday's attack occurred when a car rigged with explosives detonated during the morning rush hour close to outdoor markets, according to police speaking to the Associated Press.

Adviser to top Afghan presidential contender says he's threatening boycott of ballot audit

KABUL, Afghanistan –  An adviser to a leading Afghan presidential contender, Abdullah Abdullah, says the candidate is threatening to boycott the country's ballot audit, which has been mired in obstacles.
The complicated, U.N.-supervised audit of the 8 million votes from the June presidential runoff has been underway in Kabul for weeks.

The process followed allegations of vote fraud on both sides and is meant to decide whether Abdullah, a former foreign minister, or former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai will replace President Hamid Karzai.
Fazel Ahmad Manawi told reporters on Tuesday that if Abdullah's concerns are not addressed by Wednesday morning, he would pull out of the audit.
Manawi said the election commission ignored their complaints about fraudulent ballots.
If the recount is halted, it would create another major political stalemate for Afghanistan.

Syria conflict: Obama approves US surveillance flights

US President Barack Obama has authorised surveillance flights over Syria in order to gain intelligence on the activities of Islamic State (IS).

Correspondents say the move could mark the first step towards US air strikes inside Syria, where the jihadist group controls vast swathes of territory.
The US is already carrying out strikes against IS in neighbouring Iraq.
On Monday, the Syrian government said it would work with the international community in the fight against IS.
Western governments have so far rejected suggestions that they collaborate with President Bashar al-Assad in an attempt to counter the growing regional threat posed by IS.
They have repeatedly called on Mr Assad to step down since the beginning of the three-and-a-half year uprising against his rule, in which more than 191,000 people are believed to have been killed.
'Preparing options' On Monday evening, US officials said Mr Obama had approved over the weekend reconnaissance flights by unmanned and manned aircraft, including drones and possibly U2 spy planes.

Syria Presents Itself As Partner In West's Fight Against Islamic State

BEIRUT, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Syria said on Monday it would cooperate in any international effort to fight Islamic State militants, after Washington signaled it was considering extending the battle against the group into Syrian territory.

Russia, the most prominent foreign backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, also urged Western and Arab nations to overcome their distaste of the government in Damascus and engage with it to fight the hardline insurgents.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem held open the possibility of working with a range of countries, including the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia, all of which supported the uprising against Assad.

Moualem presented his country as a vital partner in a war against Islamic State, which has seized areas of Syria and Iraq and declared a "caliphate" in the territories it controls.

"Syria, geographically and operationally, is the center of the international coalition to fight Islamic State," Moualem said in a televised news conference. "States must come to it if they are serious in combating terrorism," he added.

Asked about the prospect of U.S. air raids against Islamic State inside Syria, Moualem said any strikes would have to be coordinated with Damascus. "Anything outside this is considered aggression," he told reporters.

Asked if Syria was ready to work with the United States and Britain in fighting the group, he said: "They are welcome."

U.S. Officials: Egypt And UAE Are Responsible For Libyan Airstrikes

WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Egypt and the United Arab Emirates were responsible for carrying out two series of air strikes in the past week on armed Islamist factions in Tripoli, Libya, U.S. officials said on Monday.
The officials said the two Arab countries used aircraft based in Egypt.
Earlier the New York Times reported that the two U.S. allies acted without consulting Washington, and that Egyptian officials told U.S. diplomats that Cairo was not involved. Egypt has denied conducting air strikes or other military operations in Libya.

Over the weekend, Tripoli residents said unidentified war planes attacked targets in the capital, as Libya is riven by the worst fighting since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. There were also strikes on Islamist-held positions last Monday.
Libya's ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Dabbashi, was skeptical about Egypt andUAE involvement.
"I don't believe it," he told Reuters in New York

Ukraine president calls snap elections

Petro Poroshenko calls early elections as United States warns of a "significant escalation" in conflict between Russia and Ukraine ahead of key meeting Tuesday

The United States has accused Russia of provoking a “significant escalation” in the Ukraine crisis on the eve of peace talks over the civil war in the east of the country.

Susan Rice, the US national security adviser, said "repeated military incursions" into Ukraine were “unacceptable, dangerous and inflammatory”.

“Russia’s military incursions into Ukraine- artillery, air def systems, dozens of tanks & military personnel–represent significant escalation,” she wrote on Twitter.

The criticism raises tensions ahead of an expected meeting between Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, in Minsk, Belarus, on Tuesday.

Moscow has repeatedly denied sending troops or military hardware across its border to support pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine who launched an armed bid for autonomy in April. 
But evidence of a Russian presence in the region appeared to be accumulating on Monday evening after Kiev announced that it had captured 10 Russian paratroopers on Ukrainian soil.
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said the soldiers from the 98th Guards Airborne Division based in central Russia were captured near the Ukrainian village of Dzerkalne, about 25 miles southeast of the rebels’ besieged stronghold, the city of Donetsk. Photographs said to be of eight of the men were widely disseminated online. The SBU said they were armed and carrying documents which confirmed their identity. 

Icelandic volcano hit by 5.7 earthquake

Meteorologists say there is still no sign of an eruption at the Bardarbunga volcano despite the large overnight tremor

An earthquake of magnitude 5.7 hit Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano overnight, the biggest since tremors began 10 days ago, but there is still no sign of an eruption, the country's Meteorological Office said on Tuesday.
Intense seismic activity at Iceland's largest volcano system has raised worries that an eruption could cause another ash cloud like that from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010, that shut down much of Europe's airspace for six days.
"There was one event during the night … it was a magnitude 5.7 [quake], the largest in this series," Palni Erlendsson, a geologist at the country's Met Office, said.
"Activity is still deep and we see no signs of anything close to the surface."
On Sunday, Iceland lowered its warning code for possible volcanic disruption to the aviation industry to orange from red, the highest level on the country's five-point alert system, after concluding that seismic activity had not led to a volcanic eruption under the glacier.
A red alert indicates an eruption is imminent or under way with a significant emission of ash likely.
Met Office scientists believe the earthquakes are a result of magma flowing out from under the crater of the volcano, causing a change in pressure.
The migration of magma – estimated at around 300m cubic metres (10.6bn cubic feet) along a 35km (21 mile) dyke by Icelandic scientists on Monday – could stop. That should lead to a gradual reduction in seismic activity.
But the magma could also reach the surface away from the glacier. This would probably lead to an eruption, but with limited explosive, ash-producing activity, scientists said.

China deploys armed drone to multinational war games; holds successful mission

BEIJING –  China's air force says it deployed an armed drone to multinational anti-terrorism drills, underscoring its rapid progress in developing unmanned aerial vehicles.
Air force spokesman Shen Jinke was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying the drone carried out a successful mission Tuesday morning in which it destroyed a mock enemy command vehicle with a missile.

Shen said the drone's ability to monitor, identify and destroy objects below in real time makes it an important tool in fighting terrorists. China says radicals fighting Chinese rule in the vast northwestern region of Xinjiang have used illicit border crossings and desert encampments that could be monitored from above.
This week's "Peace Mission-2014" drills involve more than 7,000 personnel from China, Russia Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
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Lockdown on US base after soldier turns gun on herself

A soldier barricaded herself inside an office on a Virginia Army base before shooting herself in the head, Army officials have said.

The unnamed soldier was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital on Monday.
The US Army's Fort Lee base was put on lockdown for part of the morning after a report of an "active shooter".
Maj Gen Stephen Lyons said the soldier was talking to negotiators before firing a small gun that was not her service weapon.
"This situation could've been worse," he told reporters during a press conference earlier on Monday, adding no-one else was hurt.
He described the soldier as "enraged" but did not say what about.
"We are sad for our solider in arms that she faced those types of challenges that she thought she had to resort to those kind of actions," said Maj Gen Lyons.
The soldier held the rank of sergeant first class, and was previously deployed to Iraq in 2007. Army officials said they were withholding her identity until family members were notified.
Gen Lyons told reporters the soldier was alone in a third-floor office while negotiators spoke to her from outside a closed door.
He added those talking to her believed they were making progress when they heard a gunshot.

Republicans gaining momentum in race for control of Senate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has worked to reassure fellow Democrats during the August recess that his party would not lose control of the Senate if the election were held now. 
"They'd have to pick up six seats, it'd be very, very hard for them to do that," Reid told Reno's KTVN earlier this month. 

However, the election is still 10 weeks from Tuesday, and Democrats who once felt the party would retain their majority are now worried the GOP's momentum could cost them even more than the six seats necessary for Republicans to retake control. 
"We all thought four were in the bag [for Republicans]," Democratic campaign strategist Joe Trippi said. "But right now, it's looking like the bottom end of that scale isn't four anymore, it's five or six. And that means the entire Senate majority is on the bubble." 
In several races, Republicans are pulling away from their Democratic rivals. 
South Dakota's popular Republican Gov. Mike Rounds has opened a double-digit lead over Democrat Rick Weiland in recent polls in that state's Senate race. Even Reid admits Republicans are likely to win the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson.

David Rivkin Hired As House GOP Lawyer For Obama Lawsuit

House Administration Committee Chairwoman Candice Miller (R-Mich.) announced on Monday her committee's hiring of David Rivkin from the law firm BakerHostetler to represent the U.S. House of Representatives in its lawsuit against President Barack Obama.
The House passed a resolution on July 30 authorizing House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to sue Obama over what House Republicans contend is the president's inadequate enforcement of the Affordable Care Act.
"No president is above nor should operate beyond the limits of the Constitution," Miller said in the statement Monday.
"The president must be held accountable, and the House will continue to act in an open and transparent manner to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution," she added.
According the contract, the House will pay $500 per hour in legal fees, up to a maximum of $350,000.
Rivkin has previously represented GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), and worked in both the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. He has also spoken out before on the prospects for such a lawsuit's success.
A CBS News poll released on Aug. 6 indicated that a majority of Americans do not agree with the House GOP lawsuit against Obama.

US military destroys hypersonic weapon after aircraft problem detected

No one was injured when the craft was destroyed to ensure public safety at the Kodiak complex in Alaska
A hypersonic weapon being developed by the US military was destroyed four seconds after its launch from a test range in Alaska early on Monday after controllers detected a problem with the aircraft, the Pentagon said.
The craft was destroyed to ensure public safety, and no one was injured in the incident, which occurred shortly after 4am ET (8am GMT) at the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska, said Maureen Schumann, a spokeswoman for the US Defense Department.
“We had to terminate. That’s correct,” Schumann said.
“The weapon exploded during takeoff and fell back down in the range complex,” she said, adding that the test craft was destroyed in the first four seconds of its launch.
“I don’t know the exact altitude, but it was not very far,” she said.
The weapon was developed by Sandia National Laboratory and the US Army as part of the military’s “Conventional Prompt Global Strike” technology development program, which is seeking to build a weapon that can destroy targets anywhere on Earth within an hour of getting data and permission to launch.
Schumann said the craft, known as the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, was one of several platforms being tested as part of the Prompt Global Strike program. The craft had successfully flown from Hawaii to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands during a previous test in November 2011, she said.
The weapon, described by the Army as a first-of-its-kind glide vehicle, was supposed to fly from Alaska to the Kwajalein Atoll during Monday’s test.
Schumann said that, in addition to the previous successful flight test, the hypersonic weapon had “gone through a series of ground testing and modeling and simulation.” She said she wouldn’t characterize Monday’s terminated flight as a significant setback for the prompt global strike program.

Krauthammer: 'The president simply can't decide' what to do about ISIS threat

Charles Krauthammer said Monday on "Special Report with Bret Baier" that the Obama administration's conflicting statements about the threat from the Islamic State militant group shows that "the president simply can't decide" what to do.
Last week, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said ISIS was an imminent threat, but Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said Monday that the group was not a direct threat to the U.S.

Krauthammer, a syndicated columnist and a Fox News contributor, questioned that discrepancy. 
"You wonder...whether this administration, that can't even get its story straight in one day, can conduct an operation of that delicacy and complexity, military, diplomatic and political, " he said. "The president simply can't decide. . I think this really ought to make us think twice about whether we can entrust a man of this lack of decisiveness."
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