Gazette 090214

Tuesday September 2nd 2014

Iraq crisis: Islamic State accused of ethnic cleansing

Amnesty International says it has new evidence Islamic State militants are carrying out "a wave of ethnic cleansing" against minorities in northern Iraq.

The human rights group said IS had turned the region into "blood-soaked killing fields".
The UN earlier announced it was sending a team to Iraq to investigate "acts of inhumanity on an unimaginable scale".
IS and allied Sunni rebels have seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Thousands of people have been killed, the majority of them civilians, and more than a million have been forced to flee their homes in recent months.

Merkel: ISIS Poses Major Risk To Europe

BERLIN, Sept 1 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her government's taboo-breaking decision to send arms to Kurds fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq, telling parliament on Monday that the group posed a major security threat to Germany and Europe.
A day after Berlin announced it would send anti-tank rockets, assault rifles and hand grenades to the Kurds, Merkel said Germany had a responsibility to intervene in the conflict to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq, citing evidence of ethnic cleansing by Islamic State fighters.

"The far-reaching destabilization of an entire region affects Germany and Europe," Merkel said in a speech to the Bundestag lower house, noting that the Islamist group controlled an area in Iraq and Syria that was half the size of Germany.
"Ladies and gentlemen, when terrorists take control of a vast territory to give themselves and other fanatics a base for their acts of terror, then the danger rises for us, then our security interests are affected," she added.

UN agency says it provided food for record 4.1 million people inside Syria in August

BEIRUT –  The World Food Program says it provided food to a record 4.1 million people inside Syria last month.
The U.N. agency says it was able to reach more people because of a Security Council resolution adopted in July that authorized the movement of humanitarian aid to Syrians in rebel-held areas without government approval. The aid is moved through crossings with Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.

Previously, the Syrian government had to approve all aid shipments.
The U.N. agency said in a statement on Tuesday that over the last six weeks, it has reached more than 580,000 people with deliveries that crossed across battle lines.
That number includes five cross-border convoys that delivered rice, lentils, oil, pasta and other staples for 69,500 in hard-to-reach zones in Aleppo, Idlib, Quneitra and Daraa provinces.

Syrian rebels issue demands for hostages' release

Al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front demands to be taken off United Nations terrorist list in return for freeing 45 Fijian peacekeepers

Syrian rebels have issued three demands for the release of 45 Fijian peacekeepers they've held captive for five days, Fiji's military commander has said.
Brig Gen. Mosese Tikoitoga said the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front wants to be taken off the United Nations terrorist list, humanitarian aid delivered to the capital Damascus, and compensation for three of its fighters it says were killed in a shootout with UN officers.
Tikoitoga did not say if the demands would be seriously considered. He said the UN had sent hostage negotiators to Syria to take over discussions from military leaders.
"Negotiations have moved up to another level with the professional negotiators now in place," he said.
The Nusra Front abducted the Fijian soldiers on Thursday and is holding them at an unknown location. The same day the rebels also surrounded two Filipino units serving in the UN mission that monitors the buffer zone between Israel and Syria, but the Filipino troops escaped over the weekend.
On Tuesday, Tikoitoga also released the names of the 45 detained soldiers, who he said are led by Capt Savenaca Siwatibau Rabuka.
The commander asked Fiji's community and church leaders to help look after the families of the captive troops and asked the public to offer support.
"I appeal to all Fijians that while we pray for our soldiers in Syria that we be sensitive to the families," he said, adding that "the UN has assured us they will use all of their available resources for the safe return of our soldiers".

Afghan official: Suicide car bombing kills 3 policemen in eastern province

KABUL, Afghanistan –  An Afghan official says a suicide car bombing has killed three policemen in the eastern Nangarhar province.
Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the spokesman for the provincial governor, said the bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle among a group of Afghan security forces in Ghani Khil district on Tuesday.

He says three policemen were killed and two people were wounded, a civilian and a local policeman.
In the western Herat province, a military spokesman says the Taliban killed for Afghan soldiers on Monday night in the Chishti Sharif district.
The spokesman, Najibullha Najibi, says the Taliban attacked an army post overnight. Najibi says 10 Taliban fighters were also killed in the clashes.
The attacks were the latest in the countdown to the withdrawal of NATO-led combat troops by the end of the year.
Related:Afghan Power-Sharing Talks Collapse, Raising Fears Of Ethnic Unrest

Egyptian police killed in Sinai bomb attack

At least 11 policemen have been killed in a bomb attack on a convoy in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, officials say.

The bomb was reportedly detonated remotely as they travelled through the village of Wefaq, near the Gaza border.
Security forces have been carrying out an offensive in northern Sinai, killing and capturing dozens of suspected members of jihadist militant groups.
Militants have stepped up attacks on soldiers and police since the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi last year.
The main Sinai-based jihadist group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has acknowledged in statements that several of its leaders have been killed in the recent security operation.
Last week, it also announced that it had beheaded four Egyptian civilians whose bodies were found in August.
It accused them of providing Israel with intelligence for an air strike that killed three of its fighters in late July.
A video published online showed armed, masked men standing over four captives as a statement was read out. They were then decapitated.
The footage was reminiscent of videos of killings posted by Islamic State (IS), a jihadist group that has taken control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria. However, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis is not believed to be linked to IS.

Putin claims Russian forces 'could conquer Ukraine capital in a fortnight'

Vladimir Putin has said Russian forces could conquer the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, in a fortnight if he so ordered, the Kremlin has confirmed.
Moscow declined to deny that the president had spoken of taking Kiev in a phone conversation on Friday with José Manuel Barroso, the outgoing president of the European commission.
Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy adviser, said on Tuesday that the Barroso leak had taken Putin's remarks out of context.
"This is incorrect, and is outside all the normal framework of diplomatic practice, if he did say it. This is simply not appropriate for a serious political figure," he said of the Barroso leak, according to the Russian Interfax news agency.
EU leaders held a summit on Saturday to decide who should run the union for the next five years, but the session was quickly preoccupied by Putin's invasion of Ukraine and how to respond.
Barroso told the closed meeting that Putin had told him Kiev would be an easy conquest for Russia, according to the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica. According to the account, Barroso asked Putin about the presence of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. Nato says there are at least 1,000 Russian forces on the wrong side of the border. The Ukrainians put the figure at 1,600.
"The problem is not this, but that if I want I'll take Kiev in two weeks," Putin said, according to La Repubblica.
The Kremlin did not deny Putin had spoken of taking Kiev, but instead complained about the leak of the Barroso remarks.
Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, attended the EU summit and painted an apocalyptic picture of the conflict, with EU leaders dropping their usual public poise in a heated debate.

North Korea parades three US prisoners for CNN interview

Kenneth Bae, Jeffrey Fowle and Matthew Miller have been interviewed by CNN after North Korea whisked the camera crew to a secret location - supposedly to meet government officials

Three US citizens held in North Korea have pleaded for help to secure their release, urging Washington to send an envoy to the hardline communist country.

As government minders looked on, the three, who appeared tense, also said they had been well treated in the autocratic state.

"Continue to pray for me," said Kenneth Bae, the longest-held detainee, in a message to family and friends in a highly unusual interview with CNN.

Mr Bae, 46, said he was working eight hours a day, six days a week at a labour camp, but added he had been treated "as humanely as possible."

Mr Bae, Jeffrey Fowle and Matthew Miller were speaking at a hotel in the capital Pyongyang.

Kazakhstan is latest Russian neighbour to feel Putin's chilly nationalist rhetoric

As Obama reassures Baltic states of Nato's protection, Kazakhs wonder if they will follow Ukraine, Chechnya and Georgia

Barack Obama leaves Washington on Tuesday for the small Baltic state of Estonia on Russia's north-western border to reassure the vulnerable country that it is safe within Nato from Vladimir Putin's clutches.
En route to Wales for a Nato summit that Putin, in Ukraine, has transformed into the most important such gathering since the end of the cold war, Obama will reiterate the alliance's '"all-for-one and one-for-all" defence pledges of Nato's article five commitments, seeking to assuage Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Romanian fears of revisionist Kremlin regional ambitions.
Putin's campaign in Ukraine, his seizure of Crimea and his invasion of eastern the country have the Baltic states and Poland in told-you-so mood. They have been clamouring for years for greater commitments from the west and voicing their suspicions of Russia. Ukraine has vindicated their angst, but generated an ambivalent response in the rest of Europe, including in the east where the Czechs, Slovaks, and Hungarians are much more inclined to give Putin the benefit of the doubt.
About one in four Estonians are ethnic Russians or native Russian-speakers, a bigger proportion than in Ukraine, where Putin justified his actions by referring to the defence of Russophones and ethnic Russians. Latvia, where about 30% are ethnic Russians, feels similarly exposed to Putin's summoning of Russian nationalism.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary general of Nato, told the Guardian last week: "Obviously some of our member states are very concerned that the Russians say they reserve their right to intervene in other countries if they consider it necessary to protect the interests of Russian-speaking populations in other countries. Obviously, that creates a lot of concern among the allies."

Somali officials say U.S. struck where al Shabaab were meeting

An air strike by U.S. military forces struck an area where leaders of Somalia's al Qaeda-linked militants were meeting, intelligence sources said on Tuesday, but it was unclear whether any insurgent commanders were killed.

The strike prompted rumors among Somali government officials that it had targeted al Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane and other leaders who were suspected to have been at the location, but there was no confirmation they were hit.
If he were killed, it would be a major victory against the group.
Since taking charge in 2008, Godane has restyled the group as a global player in the al Qaeda franchise - a transformation that was highlighted when it killed at least 67 people in an attack on a Kenyan shopping mall in September.
The militants have also staged guerrilla attacks in parts of the capital, as well as in neighboring Kenya and Uganda.
Godane's close associate, Ahmed Mohamed Amey, was killed by a U.S. air strike in January.
After the Westgate assault, Navy SEALS stormed ashore into the al Shabaab stronghold of Barawe, where a regional official said the air strike was launched against, but failed to capture or kill their target.
The U.S. Department of Defense said late on Monday that its forces had carried out the operation against al Shabaab and would provide more information "when appropriate". The Somali government and al Shabaab officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
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Release of three Americans in N Korea a 'top priority'

The White House has said securing the release of three American citizens detained in North Korea is a "top priority" and it is doing all it can.

The statement was made in response to a televised appeal by the Americans asking for help from the US government.
Kenneth Bae, 46, has been held in North Korea since 2012 and is currently in a labour camp outside Pyongyang.
Jeffrey Fowle, 56, and Matthew Miller, 24, are charged with violating North Korean law and are awaiting trial.
North Korea has a history of using detainees as bargaining chips.
In the past, Americans held by Pyongyang have been freed after senior US figures, including former President Bill Clinton, travelled to the country to negotiate.
The US has offered several times to send Robert King, its special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, to Pyongyang to discuss the detainees, but these visits have been cancelled by Pyongyang.

Obama on Labor Day touts economic gains under his leadership, is mum on pressing world concerns

President Obama used Labor Day to tout the country’s economic gains under his leadership and make an election-year case that higher wages and other progress for workers can only be achieved through a Democrat-controlled Congress.
“American workers and the American economy are better off since I took office,” Obama told a crowd filled with union supporters at the annual Laborfest event in Milwaukee.

“I’m not asking for the moon. I’m asking for policies that help folks get ahead. … Republicans running Congress are opposed to them.”
At one point in the speech, Obama enthusiastically told the crowd: “If I were looking for a good job that lets me build some security for my family, I’d join a union.”
While never specifically mentioning the mid-term elections in which Democrats are trying to keep control of the Senate, Obama repeatedly blamed Republicans for trying to block such efforts as immigration reform, increasing the federal minimum wage and lowering the cost of health care through the ObamaCare.
“Don’t boo, vote,” Obama told the crowd, recycling one of his popular lines from his 2012 reelection campaign.

Joe Biden: American Workers Don't Want A Handout, 'Just Give Them A Chance'

Vice President Joe Biden rallied hundreds of union workers on Monday, saying he believes all American workers deserve a "fair share" as corporations grow.
Speaking at the annual Labor Day parade in Detroit, Biden lamented average Americans' limited access to fair wages.
"A job's about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity, it's about your place in the community, it's about who you are. It's about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, 'Honey, it's going to be OK.' That's what a job is about," Biden said. "You can't do that unless you get a fair wage."

The speech was Biden's second appearance at Labor Day festivities in Detroit in the last three years. During his impassioned address, Biden credited labor unions for building the middle class, and thus "building the United States as we know it."
"If the middle class is doing fine, everybody does fine," he said. "The wealthy get very wealthy, and the poor have a way up." 

Fast food workers plan biggest US strike to date over minimum wage

Workers from McDonald’s, Burger King and other chains to hold walkout protest on Thursday as battle to unionise escalates
America’s fast food workers are planning their biggest strike to date this Thursday, with a nationwide walkout in protest at low wages and poor healthcare.
The strike is the latest in a series of increasingly heated confrontations between fast food firms and their workers. Pressure is also mounting on McDonald’s, the largest fast food company, over its relations with its workers and franchisees.
Workers from McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut and other large chains will strike on Thursday and are planning protests outside stores nationwide, in states including California, Missouri, Wisconsin and New York.
The day of disruption is being coordinated by local coalitions and Fast Food Forward and Fight for 15, union-backed pressure groups which have called for the raising of the minimum wage to $15 an hour for the nation’s four million fast-food workers.
Dana Wittman, 38, works for Pizza Hut in Kansas City, Missouri, and will join the strike on Thursday. She makes $9 an hour working night shifts and said she takes home about $600 a week. Her rent is $650 and she is reliant on government subsidies to make up the shortfall. Last month her electricity was cut off for a week when she could not pay the bill.
Wittman was recently promoted from chef to shift leader and given a raise from $7.50. Her new responsibilities include organising deliveries, customer service, paperwork and making sure the restaurant is cleaned up and closed down at the end of her shift, which can be as late as 2am.
“The company should pay me more. I am worth more,” she said. “They make billions a year and I don’t even get health insurance. The CEO gets health insurance.

San Francisco to enact law giving property owners tax break for creating urban farms

SAN FRANCISCO –  San Francisco will soon become the first city to enact a California law giving owners who turn empty lots into gardens the chance to get a tax break, a newspaper reported.
The measure lets cities and towns lower the assessed value -- and therefore the property taxes -- on parcels of land if owners dedicate them to growing food for at least five years. Among its aims is reducing urban blight.

San Francisco will be the first to put the state law into effect beginning Sept. 8 because the San Francisco Board of Supervisors already approved a local ordinance, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday. Other cities, including Fresno and Sacramento, are watching how the law plays out, according to the newspaper.
"I have heard from literally hundreds of residents who would like to have the opportunity to farm, but the waiting lists for a lot of our community gardens are over two years long," said Supervisor David Chiu, who wrote the local legislation. "There is simply not enough space."
A lot must be at least one-tenth of an acre, no larger than three acres and have no permanent structures to qualify for the tax break. The property would be reassessed at the average price for irrigated farmland in California.
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