Gazette 090914

Tuesday September 9thy 2014

Israel fires new missile over Mediterranean Sea to test a new long-range rocket defense system

JERUSALEM –  Israel says it has fired a missile over the Mediterranean Sea to test a new missile defense system designed to intercept long-range rockets.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement that Tuesday's test of the Arrow 2 missile "performed its flight sequence as planned" after being launched. It is part of a multilayered system Israel is developing to protect itself from a range of missile threats, from short-range rockets fired in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon to longer-range threats, like a missile launch from Iran.

Iran arrests 'Afghans and Pakistanis joining Islamic State'

Iran says it has arrested Afghan and Pakistani citizens who were trying to join Islamic State (IS) jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq.

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani said the foreigners planned to cross Iran - but did not specify how many had been arrested, or where.
Shia Iran is opposed to the Sunni extremists of IS, who have undermined its allies in Iraq and Syria.
Iran is said to be prepared to work alongside the US against IS in Iraq.
Sources in Tehran told BBC Persian last week that Iran's Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had authorised his top commander to co-ordinate the fight against IS with US, Kurdish and Iraqi forces.
However, Iran's foreign ministry denied that it would co-operate with the US against IS.
Iran has traditionally opposed US involvement in Iraq, an Iranian ally.
Recently however, both the US and Iran have offered military assistance to combat IS in Iraq, while refusing to place their troops on the ground.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is due in Jordan and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to try to build regional support to counter the threat posed by Islamic State, a US state department spokeswoman said.

US: New government is 'milestone' for Iraq

The US has hailed the creation of a new government in Iraq as a major milestone and a crucial step towards defeating the militant group, Islamic State (IS).

Secretary of State John Kerry said Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's cabinet had the "potential to unite all of Iraq's diverse communities".
Posts have been shared between the Shia Arab majority, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.
Mr Kerry is travelling to Saudi Arabia and Jordan this week as part of efforts to build a coalition to confront IS.
The jihadist group has taken control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria and in June declared the creation of a "caliphate", or Islamic state.
'Legitimate grievances' Among the first to telephone Mr Abadi to congratulate him was US President Barack Obama, who hopes the new government can start pulling Iraq back together.

UK sends machine guns to help Iraqi forces fight Islamic State

Arms worth £1.6m sent at request of Iraq government – and are also for use by Kurdish regional administration

The UK is sending a consignment of heavy machine guns and ammunition to Iraq's government to assist with its battle against militants from Islamic State, the defence secretary, Michael Fallon, has said.
The equipment, described as an "initial gifting package" worth £1.6m and a further £475,000 in transport costs, is scheduled to arrive in Iraq on Wednesday, Fallon said in a written parliamentary statement.
The armaments were being sent at the request of Iraq's government, and were also for use by the Kurdish regional administration, he said.
Fallon's statement said: "The UK is committed to assisting the government of Iraq by: alleviating the humanitarian suffering of those Iraqis targeted by Isil [Islamic State] terrorists; promoting an inclusive, sovereign and democratic Iraq that can push back on Isil advances and restore stability and security across the country; and working with the international community to tackle the broader threat that Isil poses to the region and other countries around the world, including the UK.
"The Kurdish forces remain significantly less well equipped than Isil and we are responding to help them defend themselves, protect citizens and push back Isil advances."
An MoD spokeswoman said there would be a statement from the department later.
Islamic State, also known as Isis, is making rapid progress across Iraq and Syria, in part due to the high level of equipment enjoyed by its forces. A report by the London-based Conflict Armament Research consultancy published on Monday found the group is using large captured US-made weapons and has access to anti-tank rockets supplied by Saudi Arabia to a moderate rebel group.
The report drew no conclusions about how the weapons were sourced. However, the capitulation of the Iraqi army in northern Iraq on 10 June gave the jihadis access to military arsenals in the north of the country, which were full of US-supplied assault rifles and ammunition, as well as heavy weapons.

Taliban claim responsibility for weekend attack on Pakistan naval dockyard that killed sailor

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan –  A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for an attack Saturday on a naval dockyard in Karachi that saw two militants and a sailor killed.
Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said some naval officials helped them to carry out the attack. He said they launched the assault as revenge for an ongoing army operation in the North Waziristan tribal region.

Navy officials only acknowledged the attack Monday night, but said nothing about whether naval officials assisted the militants. The navy said seven of the sailors were also wounded in the attack.
In 2011, Taliban had attacked another naval base in Karachi, an assault that lasted for 18 hours and killed 10 people. That assault deeply embarrassed Pakistan's influential armed forces.

Egypt sentences 2 leading Islamist figures to 20 years in prison over police torture case

CAIRO –  Egypt's state news agency is reporting that a Cairo court has sentenced a top Muslim Brotherhood member and a prominent Islamist preacher to 20 years in prison after finding them guilty on charges of abducting and torturing two police officers last summer and leading a terrorist organization.
The case stems from the Brotherhood's sit-in in a Cairo suburb against the military's ouster of then-President Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood member.

The Cairo Criminal Court Tuesday convicted Brotherhood leader Mohammed el-Beltagy, ultraconservative cleric Safwat Hegazy and two Brotherhood physicians of abducting, unlawfully detaining and torturing the two officers in a makeshift tent in the sit-in. The agency said the physicians were sentenced to five years in prison.
The trial is part of an ongoing crackdown against top Brotherhood figures and their supporters.

Steven Sotloff Was Sold To ISIS By 'Moderate' Rebels, Family Spokesman Tells CNN

Steven Sotloff, the American journalist murdered by Islamic State militants last week, was sold to the terrorist organization by supposedly moderate rebels in Syria, a family spokesman told CNN on Monday night.
"For the first time, we can say Steven was sold at the border. Steven's name was on a list that he had been responsible for the bombing of a hospital," Barak Barfi said on "Anderson Cooper 360." "This was false, activists spread his name around."
"We believe that these so-called moderate rebels that people want our administration to support, one of them sold him probably for something between $25,000 and $50,000 to ISIS, and that was the reason he was captured," Barfi told Cooper.
Barfi credited "sources on the ground" for providing the information, including details of the capture.
"Somebody at the border crossing made a phone call to ISIS and they set up a fake checkpoint with many people and Steven and his people that he went in with could not escape," he said.
Barfi also described relations between the Sotloff family and the Obama administration as "strained," and railed against what he called "inaccurate statements" put out by the U.S. government.
"We know that the intelligence community and the White House are enmeshed in a larger game of bureaucratic infighting and Jim and Steve are pawns in this game and that's not fair and if there continues to be leaks the Sotloff family will have to speak out to set the record straight," he said.

UN Security Council to set out plan to stop foreign fighters joining extremist groups in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere

Countries would be obliged to 'prevent and suppress' recruitment and travel of converts to groups like Islamic State

The UN Security Council plans to demand countries "prevent and suppress" the recruitment and travel of foreign fighters to join extremist militant groups like Islamic State by ensuring it is considered a serious criminal offence under domestic laws.

The United States circulated a draft resolution late on Monday, obtained by Reuters, to the 15-member Security Council and hopes it can be unanimously adopted at a high-level meeting chaired by U.S. President Barack Obama on Sept. 24.

UN diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the council was likely to reach agreement on a resolution. A U.S. official said there appeared to be consensus among council members on how to tackle foreign extremist fighters.

The draft resolution is under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which makes it legally binding for the 193 UN member states and gives the Security Council authority to enforce decisions with economic sanctions or force. However, the draft text does not mandate military force to tackle the foreign fighter issue.

The draft "decides all States shall ensure their domestic laws and regulations establish serious criminal offences sufficient to provide the ability to prosecute and to penalise in a manner duly reflecting the seriousness of the offence". 

Libyan parliament takes refuge in Greek car ferry

Elyros liner is deployed as floating hotel for legislature that has fled war-torn capital for eastern town of Tobruk

A Greek car ferry has been hired as last-minute accommodation for Libya's embattled parliament, which has fled the country's civil war to the small eastern town of Tobruk.
The 17,000-ton Elyros liner has been deployed, complete with its Greek crew, as a floating hotel for a legislature clinging to power in the Libyan city that is last stop before the Egyptian border.
Tobruk is no stranger to last stands. In the second world war, British and Commonwealth forces endured months of attacks from Erwin Rommel's Africa Corps. Now the siege mentality is back.
Islamists and their allies have captured the capital, Tripoli, and most of Benghazi, the country's second city. Derna, the next town up the coast, has been declared an Islamic caliphate and the front line begins at Tobruk airport, where pickup trucks mounting anti-aircraft guns face out into the shimmering empty desert.
The small port is home to what remains of Libya's sovereign power. On one side of the bay, sitting on sandy bluffs, a hotel conference hall acts as chamber to the house of representatives, ringed by troops in sandy-coloured US-made Humvee troop carriers.
On the other, moored to a quay, is the white gleaming bulk of the Elyros, which usually plies it trade carrying cars and passengers between Greece and Italy, looming over a collection of grey naval patrol boasts.
"We had only three days to prepare everything in Tobruk, to find spaces for meetings, places to stay, internet, everything," said Dr Muftah Othman, head of the town's election commission. "If there is no ship, where will you stay?"

Russia threatens to shut its skies to the West

Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said his country would have to respond "asymmetrically" to news that European leaders are planning a wave of fresh sanctions 

Hundreds of flights to Asia every week from Britain and other European countries face disruption following a threat by Russia to close its airspace to Western carriers in response to new European Union sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

The move, which would increase costs for passengers by forcing airlines to revert to more circuitous routes used during the Cold War, was signalled by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's prime minister, as the EU prepared to publish a detailed list of companies and individuals to face restrictions on their dealings with Europe.

Mr Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper: "I hoped that our partners would be smarter. If there are sanctions related to energy, or further limits for our financial sector, we will have to respond asymmetrically.

"We proceed from the fact that we have friendly relations with our partners and that is why the sky over Russia is open for flights. But if they put limits on us we will have to respond."

Today a shaky ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine extended into a third day, despite isolated outbreaks of fighting and exchanges of artillery fire.
-

Hundreds of US children treated for respiratory virus

Hundreds of children across the US have been treated for a rare respiratory virus and more cases are expected in the next few weeks, doctors have said.

The enterovirus, EV-D68, is believed to be the cause of the outbreak and can cause severe respiratory illness.
Twelve states in the US Midwest have reported cases over the past month, with dozens of children admitted into intensive care.
Frequent hand washing and good hygiene help protect against the virus.
Enteroviruses are common and usually do not require hospital care. The symptoms typically manifest as an intense summer cold, with the number of infections declining in September.
But EV-D68, which was first recorded in California in 1962, is less common in the US and can cause mild or severe respiratory illness.
Over the past month, doctors in a number of states have reported an unusually high number of cases where symptoms have developed into acute respiratory distress and where the patient has needed hospitalisation, and in some cases, intensive care.

State Department enters propaganda war with ISIS

The State Department is launching a tough and graphic propaganda counteroffensive against the Islamic State, using some of the group's own images of barbaric acts against fellow Muslims to undercut its message. 
While the department since 2011 has operated a small unit devoted solely to the task of analyzing and countering terrorists’ messaging around the world, that unit – the 50-member Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications -- has shifted gears in recent months to concentrate more on the Islamic State threat.

The social media presence – on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and beyond – has started using some potentially risky tactics to go after the militant network, also known as ISIS.
The item grabbing the most attention lately is a shock factor-heavy YouTube video set up as a fake recruiting ad for the Islamic State.
“Run – do not walk to ISIS Land,” the video implores viewers. The video tells recruits they can learn “useful new skills” -- like “blowing up mosques” and “crucifying and executing Muslims.” (WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO)
Illustrating the sarcastic appeal is an array of bloody images and videos, including of people being crucified, decapitated heads arranged next to each other, and mosques being blown up.

Rahm Emanuel's Money May Not Be Enough To Save Him

While Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's (D) approval rating among voters has continued to dwindle in recent polling, critics hoping to capitalize on the mayor's unpopularity have struggled to overcome their biggest obstacle to defeating Emanuel: fielding a major challenger to take him on.
That could soon change.
It was reported Monday that Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis, who has outpolled Emanuel in both of the most recent surveys conducted on the race, loaned $40,000 of her own money toward a mayoral run. And though she has yet to formally announce whether she will or will not run, it's another sign she is very seriously considering doing so.

The Chicago Sun-Times also notes petition circulators have begun to work on Lewis' behalf while the union leader continues to put off an official announcement.
Meanwhile, another possible mayoral challenger appears to be gearing up to step into the ring. Ald. Bob Fioretti, one of the Chicago City Council's most outspoken Emanuel critics, tweeted Friday that he'll announce "some big news" on Sept. 13. He has already recruited campaign staff for a possible run and launched a "Should I run?" petition website seeking the public's input on the matter.
"I'm seriously considering it," Fioretti told the Sun-Times' Fran Spielman when asked directly on Monday.

Kerry leads diplomatic drive to boost Arab support in fight against Isis

Efforts made ahead of Barack Obama's announcement of new strategy to fight extremist group

US efforts to galvanise Arab support to fight the threat from the Islamic State (Isis) are intensifying with a diplomatic drive led by John Kerry, the US secretary of state, in advance of President Barack Obama's announcement of a new strategy to fight the extremist group.
Kerry was on his way to Jordan on Tuesday amid signs the pro-western kingdom would likely play a leading if discreet role in the anti-jihadi coalition. Isis fighters in Rutba, in southern Syria, are uncomfortably close to the border of a nervous Hashemite kingdom, which is already playing host to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees from the war next door.
On Wednesday Kerry is to attend talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah along with foreign minsters from Egypt, Jordan and the six Gulf Arab states as well as Iraq.
Arab and western officials say they hope that the formation of a new more inclusive government in Baghdad under prime minister Haider al-Abadi will help rally Sunni opposition to Isis and bolster wider Arab efforts to help Iraq. Kerry called it "a major milestone".
On Sunday the Arab League endorsed action by Nato's "core coalition" and pledged to take individual and collective measures to fight Isis, but it did not explicitly support western military moves.
The US, in Kerry's words, has pledged to build "the broadest possible coalition of partners around the globe to confront, degrade and ultimately defeat Isis. Almost every single country has a role to play in eliminating the threat and the evil that it represents."
Diplomats say Arab partners will be asked to contribute what they can. US officials have played down suggestions of military involvement – though even symbolic participation by the Saudis and Emiratis, who both have state-of-the art air forces, would make a useful point about the responsibility of Sunni Arab states to fight Sunni Arab extremism.

Ex-US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad 'in money-laundering probe'

A top ex-US envoy is being investigated for alleged money-laundering through his wife's bank account in Vienna, reports from Austria say.

Zalmay Khalilzad is accused of transferring $1.4 million (£0.9 million) to his wife's account, Profil magazine reports.
The money is said to be linked to activities involving companies in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.
Mr Khalilzad was US ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2007.
According to court documents from May 2013 obtained by Profil, Austrian authorities froze several Vienna-based accounts of his American-Austrian wife, the social scientist and author Cheryl Benard.
Ms Benard's lawyer, Holger Bielesz, says the US authorities have yet to produce any "concrete evidence" against his client.
A decision on Ms Bernard's appeal for her account to be unfrozen is expected soon.
-