Gazette 101014

Friday October 10th 2014

Up to 700 trapped in Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane, UN says

The UN special envoy to Syria has warned that up to 700 people, mainly elderly, are still trapped in the Syrian border town of Kobane.

Staffan de Mistura also urged Turkey to allow in volunteers to Syria to defend the town from Islamic State militants.
There are reports that IS has taken control of the Kurdish headquarters in the town, but this has been denied by a Syrian Kurdish official there.
Kobane has been a major battleground for IS and the Kurds for three weeks.
The fighting has forced hundreds of thousands of Syrians, mainly Kurds, to flee into neighbouring Turkey, which has so far ruled out any ground operation on its own against IS.
Kurdish forces, who are being helped by US-led coalition strikes against IS, say they urgently need more weapons and ammunition to push back the militants' advance in the town.
The US Central Command (Centcom) said that US fighter jets alongside UAE and Saudi Arabian military aircraft carried out airstrikes on Thursday and Friday around the southeast of Kobane and in Deir al-Zour, in eastern Syria, destroying several IS vehicles and training facilities.

Islamic State Advances Deeper Into Kobani

BEIRUT, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters advanced deeper into the Syrian town of Kobani on the Turkish border on Friday, taking almost complete control of an area where the local Kurdish administration is based, a group monitoring the violence reported.

"They have taken at least 40 percent (of the town)," Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said by telephone.

Islamic State fighters were now in almost complete control of the "security quarter," which is home to the administrative buildings used by the local government, he said.

A Kurdish military official speaking from Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, said there was fighting between Islamic State and Kurdish fighters next to a building used by Kurdish internal security forces, but denied any major advance by the group.

Ocalan Iso, deputy head of the Kurdish forces, said Islamic State was still bombarding the town center with mortars, showing that its fighters had not extended their control over more than 20 percent of the town. "There are fierce clashes and they are bombing the center of Kobani from afar," he said by telephone.

The fight for Kurdistan - the Guardian briefing

The Kurds are the world’s largest stateless ethnic group and find themselves on the frontline in the battle with Islamic State

The Kurds are the world’s largest stateless ethnic group. They find themselves at the centre of a major international and regional crisis. Fighters from Islamic State (Isis) have laid siege to the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani. Some 180,000 Kurds have fled across the Turkish border in recent weeks.
A US-led military coalition has been pounding Isis positions. But air strikes have not stopped the jihadis, who are on the brink of seizing the town and establishing an armed fiefdom next door to Turkey, a Nato member. So far Turkey has refused to intervene. The crisis poses a political dilemma for Ankara, with its own restive Kurdish population. There have been violent clashes inside Turkey involving Kurdish protesters who want the Ankara government to do more.

The 2011 uprising against Syria’s autocratic president, Bashar al-Assad, had many consequences. One was that Syrian Kurds, who live predominantly in the north of the country, seized control of their towns and villages. Fighters from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Kurdish opposition party, took over. In summer 2012 they set up checkpoints and raised the PYD’s banned flag.

Some believe Assad deliberately allowed the Syrian Kurds to establish a degree of self-government. His goal was to punish Turkey’s then prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who supported the rebels. The moderate Free Syrian Army (FSA) dominated the early stages of the anti-Assad revolt. There were local skirmishes between Arab FSA and Kurdish PYD fighters. Subsequently extremist militias supplanted the FSA and grew powerful. In June, Isis staged a series of stunning military advances in Iraq, effectively erasing the border with Syria. Isis now threatens to engulf Syrian Kurdish areas held by the PYD, right on Turkey’s doorstep.

Spain to send 300 soldiers to train Iraqi troops for combat Islamic State group

MADRID –  Spain says it plans to send 300 soldiers to help train the Iraqi army for combat against the Islamic State group.
Defense Minister Pedro Morenes said Friday that the troops, part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, were not being sent to fight but added that anything could happen.

He said the seven-to-eight week operation was aimed at containing the advance of the Islamic State by training Iraqi troops in explosives handling, land mine clearance and special operations.
Parliament must approve the decision, but opposition is unlikely
It would be the first time that Spanish troops are in Iraq since Spain in 2004 withdrew the peacekeepers it sent there as part of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Iraqi officials: Suicide car-bomb attack kills 9 people northeast of Baghdad

BAGHDAD –  Authorities in Iraq say a suicide car-bomb attack on a security checkpoint has killed nine people in a city northeast of Baghdad.
Police officials say the attack Thursday afternoon took place when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a police checkpoint in the city of Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of the capital. Some policemen were among those killed, and 11 other people were wounded.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
Iraq is in its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops, as Sunni militant groups led by the al-Qaida breakaway Islamic State group have seized a third of the country since early this year.

Israeli families scarred by Gaza war

While the August ceasefire which ended the 50-day conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza has held, families on both sides of the border continue to suffer the devastating effects. Following our report on Palestinians whose neighbourhood was destroyed by Israeli bombing, here the BBC's Erica Chernofsky looks at the impact of the war on three Israeli families.

This past summer, millions of Israelis - from the small southern city of Sderot to the bustling coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv - lived under regular rocket attacks from the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
Attacks surged after Israel launched an offensive to restore quiet to its communities. During the operation, more than 4,500 rockets and mortars were fired indiscriminately at Israel, killing six civilians, wounding scores and sending residents fleeing to shelters. Sixty-seven Israeli soldiers were killed and hundreds wounded in battles with Palestinian fighters.
More than 2,100 Palestinians - mostly civilians, according to the UN - were also killed during the conflict. Israel says it killed at least 1,000 militants.
Israel says its missile defence system intercepted 735 rockets, but many of those that got through hit homes, schools and other buildings. Every rocket launched activated a blaring siren, unleashing panic and chaos as many Israelis had just 15 seconds to run for cover.
However this operation uncovered a far sinister threat against Israeli citizens, that which Israel calls the "terror tunnels". 

Central African Republic Sees Violent Clashes Break Out In Capital

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Clashes in Central African Republic's capital have resulted in "many casualties," the International Committee for the Red Cross said Thursday, marking the most significant violence in the city since a United Nations force took over peacekeeping last month.
The violence complicated relief efforts. Doctors Without Borders said its staff was staying home Thursday because of the dangers, and the ICRC said its workers "were subjected to direct threats" as they tried to recover bodies.
"It's truly regrettable that such actions can jeopardize any attempt to help the wounded," said Antoine Mbao Bogo, the national president of the Central African Red Cross. His organization provided an initial tally of 12 deaths, but staffers did not have access to all neighborhoods.

The violence began Tuesday when a former fighter with a mostly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition was killed by anti-Balaka Christian militias who mutilated his body before burning it, witnesses said.
The man had been accused of launching two grenades, one in an anti-Balaka stronghold in the north of the city, prompting the anti-Balaka fighters to chase after him.
"He was chased by anti-Balaka fighters who caught him, killed him and burned his body," Bangui resident Wilfried Maitre said.

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un Misses Important Anniversary Event

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — For the first time in three years, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wasn't on a list of dignitaries at a celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party. The apparent no-show will add to mounting speculation that something is amiss with the authoritarian leader, who hasn't been seen publicly in more than a month.
An official state media dispatch listed senior government, military and party officials who paid their respects at an event marking the party's 69th anniversary, but not Kim. It said a flower basket with Kim's name on it was placed before statues of his father and grandfather, both of whom also ruled North Korea. State media earlier said that the might of the party "is growing stronger under the seasoned guidance of Marshal Kim Jong Un."
Kim, who is thought to be 31, hasn't been seen performing his customary public duties in state media since he attended a concert Sept. 3. He had been walking with a limp and was more overweight than usual in images that aired before that. An official documentary from late last month described him as dealing with "discomfort," which led to international speculation that he may be ill.

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi win Nobel Peace prize

• Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenage education campaigner shot on school bus in 2012 by a Taliban gunman, has won the 2014 Nobel peace prize. She was named as joint winner togethe with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian children’s rights activist.
• At 17 Malala is the youngest ever winner of a Nobel prize. The Nobel committee said: “Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzai has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations.” Malala is due give a statement after her school day in Birmingham.
• Satyarthi said prize was a “great moment for all those children” who have been deprived of their childhood by being forced into work. He added: “Everyone must acknowledge that child labour still exists in the world in its ugliest form ... it must go.”
• The joint award has been greeted with widespread approval from world leaders. Those expressing congratulations included the leaders of India, Pakistan, Germany and France, as well as the Queen.
• The family of Mahatma Gandhi, the most notable absentee on the list of previous winners, also expressed its approval. The Nobel committee singled out Satyarthi for “maintaining Gandhi’s tradition.” 

Hong Kong protest: Thousands gather for fresh rally

Thousands of people have begun gathering in Hong Kong's financial district after protest leaders called for a show of strength.

It comes after the territory's deputy leader called off talks with student leaders scheduled for Friday.
Carrie Lam said the students' refusal to end their protest had made "constructive dialogue" impossible.
The protesters, demanding full democratic elections in 2017, paralysed parts of Hong Kong in recent weeks.
Throughout the week only a few hundred protesters, mostly students, remained on the streets around the financial and government district of Admiralty and in Mong Kok north of the harbour.
But after the talks were cancelled, leaders of the student movement called on supporters to return to the streets.
"Come to occupy the road outside the public headquarters, come bring your tents to show our persistence on long term occupy action," said Joshua Wong, the 17-year-old founder of the Scholarism movement.

1 of 2 UK terrorism suspects pleads guilty ahead of trial that will be held partly in secret

LONDON –  One of two terrorist suspects facing a semi-secret trial in Britain has pleaded guilty to possessing a document entitled "bomb making."
Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar entered the plea days before he was due to stand trial alongside co-accused Erol Incedal.

Incedal will now be tried alone on charges of preparing a terrorist act and possessing bomb-making instructions. Rarmoul-Bouhadjar will be sentenced once the trial is over.
The men, both 26, were arrested last year, and prosecutors sought to have their trial held in secret on national security grounds.
After a challenge from media organizations, a judge ruled that some sections should be held in public, including part of the prosecution's opening statement and the verdicts.
Some journalists will be allowed to attend proceedings, but not to report on them as they unfold.

St Louis protests resume over police shooting

Police in riot gear used pepper spray on angry protesters on the streets of St Louis in a second night of unrest after the shooting of a black teenager.

Police say the white officer who killed Vonderrit D Myers, 18, was returning fire, but the victim's parents say he was unarmed and racially profiled.
Some protesters burned American flags, while chanting demands for justice.
Two months ago a fatal shooting in the nearby suburb of Ferguson sparked weeks of unrest and international headlines.
Michael Brown, 18, was unarmed when he was killed by a white officer, who could face criminal charges.
A weekend of events and rallies are planned in the city of St Louis to protest about the Ferguson shooting and the wider issue of racial profiling.
State and city leaders have urged the Justice Department to investigate the circumstances of the latest death, which happened in the Shaw neighbourhood on Wednesday night.
"This here was racial profiling turned deadly," Democratic state Senator Jamilah Nasheed told a news conference.

US Navy takes control of base in Romania amid tensions with Russia

BUCHAREST, Romania –  The U.S. Navy has taken control of a new missile defense base in southern Romania, one of two European land-based interceptor sites for a NATO missile shield which Russia strongly opposes.
The base at Deveselu is scheduled to be operational in 2015 as part of NATO's ballistic missile defense system.

"Ballistic missile threats to the U.S. and our allies are real and growing," said Rear Adm. John Scorby, commander of Navy Region Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia on Friday.
"Fortunately, NATO's capabilities ... against these threats are also real and growing."
The system is the key component in President Barack Obama's plan for a phased deployment of a missile defense umbrella in Europe. Another missile base is scheduled to become operational in Poland by 2018.

Key Figures In CIA-Crack Cocaine Scandal Begin To Come Forward

LOS ANGELES -- With the public in the U.S. and Latin America becoming increasingly skeptical of the war on drugs, key figures in a scandal that once rocked the Central Intelligence Agency are coming forward to tell their stories in a new documentary and in a series of interviews with The Huffington Post.
More than 18 years have passed since Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb stunned the world with his “Dark Alliance” newspaper series investigating the connections between the CIA, a crack cocaine explosion in the predominantly African-American neighborhoods of South Los Angeles, and the Nicaraguan Contra fighters -- scandalous implications that outraged LA’s black community, severely damaged the intelligence agency's reputation and launched a number of federal investigations.
It did not end well for Webb, however. Major media, led by The New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, worked to discredit his story. Under intense pressure, Webb's top editor abandoned him. Webb was drummed out of journalism. One LA Times reporter recently apologized for his leading role in the assault on Webb, but it came too late. Webb died in 2004 from an apparent suicide. Obituaries referred to his investigation as "discredited."

The biggest sales job in the US: Obama and Ben Bernanke try to convince America the economy is good

‘There is a lot of revisionism out there,’ former Fed chair said Wednesday. But as he and others protect their legacy, are they trying to make the economy look better than it is?

• Geithner’s Stress Test: the bankers’ saviour meets America
• Ben Bernanke gets little credit from an ungrateful Congress
• Bernanke ran the Fed and can’t get a mortgage. Can you?

Ben Bernanke is retired and happy, as the former Federal Reserve Chairman is quick to tell anyone listening. And while he no longer has to worry about the current state of the US economy – that’s Janet Yellen’s job now – he is still giving the 2008 crisis a lot of thought. So much, in fact, that he is writing a book about it: a memoir of sorts to serve as a written record to make sure everyone has the story straight.
So it’s a good time to ask: what story is that, exactly?
It’s time to start negotiating.
Concerned with their legacies, the main actors in the unfolding drama of the 2008 financial crisis have been intent on the public knowing exactly how they believe it happened. Former Treasury secretary Tim Geithner wasted no time before going on a tour to defend his role in the bailouts. These tours and book by the main players are specifically to help historians “see” what they were seeing and to defend their role in history.
Bernanke is no exception. He took the stage at Radio City Music Hall as the closing speaker for the 2014 World of Business Forum. He used most of the hour-long session to defend his role in the response to the financial crisis and to express optimism about the current state of economy.
Asked who was to blame for the 2008 financial crisis, he pleaded for some understanding from historians, saying:

Nobody is going to come out looking all that good, I tell you, when historians write it, but again I ask only for those future stories to think in real time and don’t impose the retrospective knowledge on what we were seeing as we went through the crisis.”

“I would just talk a little bit about the experience of Lehman weekend, because there is a lot of revisionism out there,” Bernanke told an audience in New York on Wednesday, “This kind of a view that says: ‘Well, everybody knew that Lehman should be protected and not allowed to fail, but the Fed and Treasury they went ahead and let it fail anyways.’ That’s really got the history exactly backwards.”
Even as Bernanke works hard to ensure his legacy is portrayed in a more positive light, there is a feeling that most Americans could not care less.
“You know, according to a recent poll, 17% of the population still thinks that Alan Greenspan is the chairman of the Federal Reserve. So I must have made a big impression,” Bernanke joked Wednesday, referring to a Pew Research Center poll that came out earlier this month.

Blast felt for kilometres, guts buildings in Ottawa's rural south

OTTAWA - An explosion that was heard and felt by residents and firefighters several kilometres away destroyed three buildings near the south-end village of Greely Thursday night.
Fire department spokesman Marc Messier said the blast occurred at 8:26 p.m. Crews arrived to find three buildings on fire - a barn, a house and a large utility building. The home and the utility building were destroyed and the barn was badly damaged.
Firefighters did a search of the area and didn't find anyone trapped or injured, but they weren't able to get inside the structures.
The property is reportedly abandoned. Police sources tell QMI Agency it might have been used as a marijuana grow-op.
Firefighters got the blaze under control by 10 p.m., which is when the hazmat team went in to take samples.
"My house - it felt like something hit it," said the woman who lives in a heritage farmhouse directly across the road.
"I felt like a transport or something hit my house. I ran to the back of the house, thinking - an airplane?"

Zahra Kazemi's son blocked by Supreme Court from suing Iran

Zahra Kazemi's son can't overcome state immunity to sue the government, or Iran or key Iranian officials, for allegedly torturing and killing his mother, Canada's top court says.
Stephan Hachemi has devoted the past decade raising awareness about his mother's story since her death in 2003.
But in the decision released Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada says the law excludes redress for torture committed outside Canada.
"State immunity is not solely a rule of international law, it also reflects domestic choices made for policy reasons, particularly in matters of international relations," Justice Louis LeBel wrote in the 6-1 decision.
"Canada's commitment to the universal prohibition of torture is strong. However, Parliament has made a choice to give priority to a foreign state's immunity over civil redress for citizens who have been tortured abroad. That policy choice is not a comment about the evils of torture, but rather an indication of what principles Parliament has chosen to promote."
Justice Rosalie Abella was the dissenting voice on the decision.

Allegedly tortured in Evin Prison

Kazemi, an Iranian-born Canadian photographer, was arrested and detained in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran in 2003. She was allegedly tortured and sexually assaulted by Iranian officials, and later died. Her body was never returned to Canada.
Hachemi and Kazemi's estate filed a civil lawsuit seeking damages for her death in 2006, but the Iranian government, citing the principle of state immunity, argued it is exempt from pursuit in Canadian courts.
The State Immunity Act prohibits lawsuits against foreign states in Canadian courts.
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$500M worth of US-bought planes destroyed by Afghans, sold as scrap for 6 cents a pound

Sixteen military transport planes bought by the United States government for the Afghan Air Force (AAF) at a cost of nearly $500 million were recently destroyed by the Afghan military and sold for scrap parts at around six cents per pound, prompting a government inquiry to determine why millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted on the ill-fated program.
The Department of Defense purchased for the AAF a total of 20 Italian-made G222 military transport planes at a cost of $486 million. However, the fleet was grounded in March 2013 “after sustained, serious performance, maintenance, and spare parts problems” were discovered, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

After sitting unused for some time on the tarmac at Kabul International Airport, the Afghan military decided to destroy 16 of the planes and sell the scrap metal for roughly 6 cents per pound, according to SIGAR, which has launched an investigation to determine how such a large amount of taxpayer dollars were wasted on the fleet.
SIGAR had intended to inspect the aircraft as part of its investigation and appears to have been caught off guard by the fleet’s destruction.
“It has come to my attention that the sixteen G222s at Kabul were recently towed to the far side of the airport and scrapped by the Defense Logistics Agency,” SIGAR head John Sopko wrote in a letter to the U.S. Air Force that was released on Thursday.

Dems Fear Worst: Losing Control of Senate

As one new poll shows Republican Dan Sullivan leading Democratic incumbent Mark Begich in a crucial Senate race in Alaska, Democrats are starting to think they will lose control of the Senate in next month's midterm elections.
A CNN/ORC poll finds that Sullivan holds a 50 percent to 44 percent lead among Alaska voters. The race is one of several that could swing the balance of power from the Democrats to Republicans in the Senate body.

Democrats, reports CNN's Jake Tapper, are now pressing the panic button.
"If you put a gun to my head, I guess I'd say that we're going to lose the Senate," a Democratic consultant told Tapper. The consultant pointed to both President Barack Obama's plummeting public support and the struggling economy as reasons why voters could select GOP candidates on Nov. 4.

Vote Now: Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance? Republicans need six more seats to earn control of the Senate. GOP candidates in three races — Montana, West Virginia, and South Dakota — have double-digit leads and are favored to win. That means the Senate will come down to who wins crucial elections in Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, and North Carolina. If Republicans win three of those, the GOP will rule the Senate.

With Republican candidates leading four of those races in some polls, experts are now saying it seems clear that Republicans will take the Senate.

Editor’s Note: 200 Free Benefits Most Seniors Fail to Use

"It's going to be bad," the Democrat consultant told Tapper. "Not 2010 bad, but bad. You can see why Eric Cantor went down — people are just so anti-Washington, and that's particularly a problem with Democrats because of ties [to Obama]. People feel hopeless and think that Washington isn't doing anything."

US designed bailout to 'punish' AIG over financial crisis, court hears

Former Treasury secretaries Tim Geithner and Hank Paulson testify during former AIG chief’s lawsuit against government
• Geithner’s Stress Test: banker saviour meets America

Timothy Geithner, a key player in the US government’s 2008 bailout of American International Group Inc, is due back in court on Wednesday in a trial of a lawsuit filed by the insurance giant’s former CEO over the handling of the rescue.
On Tuesday, Geithner affirmed his belief that the bailout was needed to avert disaster for the financial system. Geithner was president of the New York Federal Reserve at the time of the rescue and later Treasury secretary.
A lawyer grilled Geithner at the trial of the lawsuit brought by former AIG chairman and CEO Maurice Greenberg. He is suing the federal government for about $40bn in damages, asserting that it violated the fifth amendment by taking control of the insurance giant without “just compensation” for the shares it received.
The $85bn loan package for AIG, which was teetering toward bankruptcy in September 2008, gave the government control of 80% of the New York-based company’s stock. While upholding the necessity of the AIG bailout, Geithner in his testimony Tuesday also acknowledged that he had said the bailout “wiped out” AIG shareholders.
That statement was in line with testimony Monday by former Treasury secretary Henry Paulson, who said the AIG bailout was specifically designed by the government to punish the company. Paulson, who headed the Treasury Department at the time of the rescue, said AIG shareholders should have faced punishment for the company’s troubled balance sheet.
Geithner is expected to return Wednesday for a second day of testimony in the trial at the US court of federal claims in Washington. Former Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is also scheduled to testify later in the week.
Geithner was questioned for a full day by Greenberg’s attorney, David Boies. Geithner reconstructed in detail the New York Fed’s deliberations over and decision to extend the aid to AIG, and its discussions with AIG executives on terms for the loan. He frequently said he couldn’t recall specific facts or details.
He said he was “deeply involved” in discussions to determine an interest rate for the loan to AIG, which was set at about 12% annually.
Boies read from a 17 September 2008 document written by a New York Fed official saying “AIG was told this was ‘take it or leave it.’ Nothing could be negotiated.”
With Geithner giving AIG’s then-CEO Robert Willumstad an hour or two to get the company’s board to approve the terms, Boies asked Geithner, “You gave them a deadline, correct?”
Answered Geithner: “I don’t know … how I framed the deadline, but I made clear that we had very little time.”
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