Gazette 100714

Tuesday October 7th 2014

Turkey calls for ground invasion of Kobane to stop Isil

As Islamic State jihadists continue to make gains in key Syrian border town, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls for a ground operation to slow their advance 

The president of Turkey has urged for ground troops to be deployed in Kobane as the key Syrian border town teeters on the verge of falling under the control of the Islamic State and of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

The town has been under assault by Isil jihadists for more than three weeks and has become a focal point for the West's air strikes against the terrorist organisation.

The fall of Kobane to Isil would mark a major victory for the jihadists, who are fighting for a long stretch of the border with Turkey for their self-proclaimed "Islamic caliphate".

At least 412 people, more than half of them jihadists, have been killed in and around Kobane since mid-September, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that a ground operation is needed to defeat the militants, fuelling concerns that US-led air strikes are doing little to halt Isil's advances. 
Related:Kobane: Islamic State fighters 'widen Kurdish town attack'

UK jihadist prisoner swap reports 'credible'

Reports that UK jihadists were involved in a prisoner swap between Islamic State (IS) and Turkey are "credible", Whitehall officials have told the BBC.

The Times alleges that Shabazz Suleman, 18, and Hisham Folkard, 26, were among as many as 180 IS fighters traded for 46 Turkish hostages.
The Turks were taken prisoner from their country's consulate in Mosul, Iraq, in June and released last month.
Officials confirmed Mr Suleman, of High Wycombe, had disappeared in Turkey.
The Foreign Office is providing consular assistance to his family but there has been no confirmation that he was one of the Turkish government-held prisoners.
"We are aware that a British national was reported missing in Turkey in 2014," a spokesman said.
The Times said it was passed a leaked list of those handed over to IS and the two Britons were among the names.
The newspaper alleges the list also includes three French citizens, two Swedes, two Macedonians, one Swiss and one Belgian.
It also suggests the prisoner agreement included IS fighters held in Turkish hospitals and prisons, as well as those in the hands of moderate Syrian rebels. 

Officials: Suspected US drone strike on Taliban compound in Pakistan kills 6 militants

ISLAMABAD –  A suspected U.S. drone strike on a Taliban compound in a Pakistani tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Tuesday killed at least six militants, officials said.
Missiles fired from the unmanned drone hit the compound of a suspected Taliban commander in the village of Kund Ghar in the North Waziristan tribal region, two Pakistani intelligence officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media. They said five other militants were wounded in the strike.

It was the second strike in less than 24 hours. In the earlier strike, two missiles struck a compound in Mangrothi village, killing four militants, officials said. Both villages are in Shawal, a mountainous area with thick forests.
The military launched a major offensive in June in North Waziristan, a rugged tribal area that has long been home to local and foreign militants, including al-Qaida. Officials said the targeted militants had fled to Shawal from other parts of the region.
The U.S. has long pressed Pakistan to do more to combat militants in the tribal regions, who carry out attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kabul and Islamabad have long accused each other of turning a blind eye to militant groups operating along the rugged, porous border.

India, Pakistan Exchange Fire Over Kashmir Border For Second Day

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian and Pakistani troops fired bullets and mortar shells across the border between Kashmir and Pakistan for a second day Tuesday, with both accusing the other of provoking the violence.

Police in both countries said troops exchanged fire for hours overnight, killing a Pakistani man and injuring at least 22 others. Earlier violence on Monday killed nine civilians.

Tens of thousands of villagers have fled their homes near the border for safety, officials said. Indian and Pakistani TV showed images of homes destroyed by mortars and pocked by bullets.

The violence is one of the worst violations of a 2003 ceasefire between India and Pakistan. While minor skirmishes have been somewhat common over the years, many were shocked that this week's fighting fell over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha and left civilian casualties.

"They have turned our festivity into wailing," said Fazal Hussain, a resident of the Pakistani village of Harpal. "We are burying our relatives, rushing the injured to the hospital instead of celebrating Eid."

Pakistani police officer Mohammad Anwar said Indian mortar shells slammed into houses and fields, killing the owner of a house in Bhagiari village and injuring six others there.

Protest at Tehran prison by mother of British woman

Mother of British woman detained in Iran for attending a volleyball game has staged a sit-in at the prison gates

Susan Moshtaghian, the mother of Ghonche Ghavami, marked the 100th day of her daughter's detention with a daring public challenge to the authorities.

"Today is the hundredth day of my daughter's detention. She is very unwell and during all these last one hundreds days no official has listened to us at all," Mrs Moshtaghian announced on Facebook.

"I have come here today outside the gates of Evin prison and shall not move until my daughter is released.

"I visited her on Saturday and she has lost a lot of weight. She told me 'my only hope is to see you once a week and if I am not able to see you I will die'."

She added: "My daughter is very sick of being kept in solitary cell and her case remains unsolved and we do not know how we can help her from outside or what we should do. As no one has heard our cry for justice I have no demand from them any more and just sit outside this gate until my daughter is freed." 

Yeganeh Salehi: Iranian journalist freed

Iran has freed journalist Yeganeh Salehi, who was detained in July with her husband, Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post's Tehran correspondent.

Mr Rezaian, who holds dual US-Iranian nationality, remains in jail but his wife has been allowed to visit him, according to the Washington Post.
Mrs Salehi, an Iranian, works for the Abu Dhabi-based National newspaper.
It is still not clear why they were arrested and the US has called for Mr Rezaian's release.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told US media last month that he was being questioned for "what he has done as an Iranian citizen".
An Iranian official said two months ago that the issue was linked to security. The couple were detained at home on 22 July.
"She has been freed," ministry of culture official Mohammad Koushesh told AFP news agency.
He also expressed the hope that Mr Rezaian would be freed soon but said any such decision would not be in the gift of his ministry, though it had done "everything possible". 

Kurds protest across Europe, seeking more help to stop advance of Islamic State extremists

PARIS –  Kurdish protesters have clashed with police in Turkey and forced their way into the European Parliament, part of Europe-wide demonstrations against the Islamic State group's advance on a town on the Syrian-Turkish border.
The activists are demanding more help for the besieged Kurdish forces struggling to hold onto the Syrian town of Kobani. Some European countries are arming the Kurds or firing airstrikes against the Islamic extremists, but protesters say it isn't enough.

Turkish police used water cannons and tear gas Tuesday against demonstrators protesting along the Turkey-Syria border.
In Brussels, about 50 Kurdish protesters smashed a door and pushed past police to get into the European Parliament on Tuesday, while 600 other Kurds demonstrated in Berlin.
Kurdish protesters overnight occupied the Dutch Parliament and protested at the French Parliament.
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Hezbollah loses 10 fighters in Sunday clashes with Nusra Front 

The death toll was one of the highest the group has suffered in a single action since it said it would fight alongside the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad

Ten fighters from Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah group were killed in clashes with fighters from al-Qaida's Syrian wing in eastern Lebanon on Sunday, a source close to the group said on Monday.

The death toll was one of the highest the group has suffered in a single action since it said it would fight alongside the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The move by Iran-backed Hezbollah, announced last year, has helped turn the tide of civil war in Syria against insurgents seeking to oust Assad.

Hezbollah pushed back a major offensive on Sunday by hundreds of fighters from the Nusra Front who attacked several bases of the group along a mountainous range close to the border, the latest spillover of violence from Syria's civil war.
Sources said dozens of Nusra fighters were also killed.

North and South Korean navies exchange fire near disputed border

Seoul: Naval boats of North Korea and South Korea exchanged fire near their disputed sea border in the Yellow Sea, days after high-ranking officials from both countries agreed to seek better relations.

South Korea's navy fired warning shots at a North Korean patrol boat that crossed the Northern Limit Line that serves as the de facto maritime border between the two countries, South Korea's defence ministry said. The North Korean boat returned fire, prompting more firing from the South, before it retreated to its own territorial waters. No casualties or damage were reported by the South's navy, the ministry said.

The incident comes amid signs that North-South ties are once again improving, after the top security advisers of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Park Geun-hye met on October 4 and agreed to hold another round of high-level talks between the two sides later this month or next. North Korean boats frequently cross the maritime border, most recently on September 19, Yonhap News reported at the time.

North Korea's Mr Kim has been out of the public gaze for more than a month as South Korean media, including Yonhap, reported he was suffering from gout. The North's state television said last month he was experiencing "discomfort" in his body.

Ebola outbreak: Spain investigates new case

Investigations are under way at a hospital in Madrid after a Spanish nurse became the first person known to have contracted the deadly Ebola virus outside West Africa.

The nurse had treated two Spanish missionaries who died of the disease after being flown home from the region.
Three other people, including the nurse's husband, have been quarantined.
The European Commission has asked Spain to explain how the nurse could have become infected.
Some 3,400 people have died in the outbreak - mostly in West Africa.
The Spanish auxiliary nurse, a 40-year-old woman who has not been named, was one of about 30 staff at the Carlos III hospital in Madrid who had been treating priests Manuel Garcia Viejo and Miguel Pajares, officials say.
Mr Garcia Viejo, 69, died at the hospital on 25 September after catching Ebola in Sierra Leone. Mr Pajares, 75, died in August after contracting the virus in Liberia.
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Obama: US planning air passenger Ebola screening

The US is planning measures to screen incoming air passengers for Ebola, President Barack Obama has said.

The likelihood of an Ebola outbreak in the US is "extremely low", Mr Obama said, but "we don't have a lot of margin of error".
More than 3,400 people have died in West Africa in the world's deadliest outbreak of the viral disease.
Mr Obama's comments came six days after a Liberian man became the first case of Ebola diagnosed on American soil.
Thomas Eric Duncan, who contracted the disease in Liberia, is in a critical condition in a hospital isolation unit in Dallas.
Meanwhile, on Monday a plane carrying American journalist Ashoka Mukpo, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia, landed in Nebraska, where he will undergo treatment for the deadly disease.
His parents said at a news conference he was looking strong and was "enormously relieved" to be in the US.

Democrat Coakley struggles to hold lead in Mass. gov race, as she seeks political redemption

BOSTON –  Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley is a veteran of state politics but perhaps is best known nationally as the Democrat who lost the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat to Republican Scott Brown in the 2010 special election. 
This year, the race for governor is Coakley's chance for political redemption. But even in the predominantly Democratic Bay State, she's struggling once again. 

The latest poll numbers show the Commonwealth's first female attorney general in a dead heat with Republican Charlie Baker, who also was the GOP nominee for governor in 2010. Plus, Coakley is trailing considerably in fundraising. 
The tight race has Democrats, not wanting a repeat of the 2010 upset, scrambling to rally the base -- and it drew first lady Michelle Obama to the state last Friday, where she urged a grassroots effort to make calls and knock on doors. 
"We have an opportunity to build an economy that works for everybody," Coakley said at the rally, sounding a populist tone. "Not just people at the top, not just Wall Street." 
Baker, who lost in 2010 to Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, is a businessman who served in the cabinets of two prior governors and spent 10 years as the head of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

US throws Apache helicopter gunships into fight against Isil

America has escalated its air campaign against Isil fighters menacing Baghdad, by using helicopter gunships for the first time

American forces have begun air strikes using helicopter gunships assigned to protect the US embassy in Baghdad, as they try to beat back Isil militants within striking distance of the Iraqi capital.

The strikes, believed to involve Apache helicopters, were launched over the weekend amid heavy fighting in the western approaches to Baghdad, around both Fallujah and Hit.

Despite weeks of an escalating US-led air campaign against Isil, the jihadists have continued to press Iraqi forces west of the capital and have overrun small army outposts. Last week Isil militants were reported to be only six miles from the suburbs.

Britain also announced that the latest air strikes by RAF Tornados were west of the capital in Ramadi.

The Apaches were sent to Iraq three months ago to defend the US embassy in the capital and their use now in air strikes has been seen as an escalation in the campaign against the militants.
Though they are known for their formidable battlefield firepower, they are also more vulnerable to ground fire than the attack jets and bombers that have so far led the air campaign.
The first missions by the US Army attack helicopters were part of a coordinated air operation, involving US fighter aircraft, and B-1B Lancers bombers on Saturday night.
US Central Command reported that coalition forces used helicopters and attack, bomber, and fighter aircraft to conduct six air strikes against Isil, also known as Isil and Islamic State.
The statement said: “In Iraq, four strikes northeast of Fallujah struck two mortar teams, a large Isil unit and two small Isil units.
“One strike southeast of Hit destroyed two Isil Humvees. One strike northeast of Sinjar destroyed an Isil Humvee. To conduct these strikes, the US employed helicopters and attack, bomber, fighter aircraft deployed to the US Central Command area of operations. All aircraft departed the strike areas safely.”

White House Defends Joe Biden Following Another Couple Of Gaffes

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - The White House defended Vice President Joe Biden on Monday after he was forced to call leaders in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to apologize for remarks he made suggesting they had supported Islamist militants in Syria.

"The vice president is somebody who has enough character to admit when he's made a mistake," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

"(Biden) is somebody who continues to be a core member of the president's national security team. He is somebody who has decades of experience in dealing with leaders around the globe. And the President is pleased to be able to rely on his advice as we confront the variety of challenges that are so critical to American national security."

Biden, who has a reputation for verbal missteps, also recently had to apologize for referring to people who squeeze U.S. military personnel on loans and other financial matters as "Shylocks," a reference to a stereotypical Jewish character in Shakespeare. He also raised eyebrows for using the term "Orient" when referring to Asia.
He is considered a potential presidential candidate in 2016.

European Union drops plan to label oilsands crude 'dirty'

Move expected to get criticism from environmental campaigners and Green politicians

A European Union plan to label crude from oilsands as highly polluting in its fight against climate change has been abandoned after years of opposition led by major producer Canada.
A proposal published by the European Commission on Tuesday removes an obstacle to Canada exporting oilsands crude to Europe and comes at a time when tensions between the EU and top oil supplier Russia are running high.

• MAP: Canada's pipeline network
• Analysis: Harper, EU leaders celebrate deal they haven't sealed

EU sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the desire for a trade deal with Canada had been a factor given the situation with Moscow.
Confirming a draft seen by Reuters in June, the proposal requires refiners to report an average emissions value of the feedstock used in the products they produce, dropping a requirement to single out oilsands content.
Extracting oil from the clay-like tar sands requires digging in open-pit mines or blasting with steam and pumping it to the surface, meaning it uses more water and energy and emits more carbon dioxide than conventional crude production.
"It is no secret that our initial proposal could not go through due to resistance faced in some member states," EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said in a statement.
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