Weekend Gazette 101914

Sunday October 19th 2014

Iraq crisis: MPs complete anti-IS government

Iraqi MPs have approved new defence and interior ministers, completing a unity government that is battling the spread of Islamic State militants.

Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban, a Shia, was appointed interior minister, while Khaled al-Obeidi, a Sunni, was confirmed as defence minister.
IS controls large parts of the country, and has been making gains despite US-led coalition air strikes.
On Friday, a curfew was imposed in the city of Ramadi amid fierce fighting.
The vote by Iraqi MPs will be a big relief both inside and outside Iraq after weeks of wrangling, says BBC Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher.
A more inclusive cabinet is seen as an essential first step in countering IS fighters, particularly among Iraq's Sunni minority, our correspondent adds. 

Kobani Sees Fiercest Fighting In Days Between Kurds And ISIS

URFA, Turkey, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The fiercest fighting in days shook the Syrian border town of Kobani overnight as Islamic State fighters attacked Kurdish defenders with mortars and car bombs, sources in the town and a monitoring group said on Sunday.

Islamic State, which controls much of Syria and Iraq, fired 44 mortars at Kurdish parts of the town on Saturday and some of the shells fell inside nearby Turkey, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said four more mortars were fired on Sunday.

The month-long battle for Kobani has ebbed and flowed. A week ago, Kurds said the town would soon fall. The United States and its coalition partners then stepped up air strikes on Islamic State, which wants to take Kobani in order to strengthen its position in northern Syria.

The coalition has been bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq since August and extended the campaign to Syria in September after Islamic State, a group that espouses a rigid interpretation of Islam and initially fought Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, made huge territorial gains.

Raids on Islamic State around Kobani have been stepped up, with the fate of the town seen as an important test for U.S. President Barack Obama's campaign against the Islamists.

NATO member Turkey, whose forces are ranged along the border overlooking Kobani, is reluctant to intervene. It insists the allies should also confront Assad to end Syria's civil war, which has killed close to 200,000 people since March 2011.

Turkey will not cooperate in US support for Kurds in Syria, says Erdogan

• President calls Syrian Kurdish group ‘a terrorist organisation’
• US launches further air strikes against Isis at Kobani

• US-led air strikes ‘kill 10 civilians’, say monitors

Turkey would not agree to any US arms transfers to Kurdish fighters who are battling Islamic State (Isis) militants in Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Sunday, as the extremist group fired more mortar rounds near the Syrian-Turkish border.
Turkey views the main Syrian Kurdish group, the PYD, and its military wing which is fighting Isis militants as an extension of the PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terror group by the US and Nato.
Washington has said recently that it has engaged in intelligence sharing with Kurdish fighters and officials have not ruled out future arms transfers to the Kurdish fighters.
“The PYD is for us, equal to the PKK. It is a terror organisation,” Erdogan told a group of reporters on his return from a visit to Afghanistan. “It would be wrong for the United States with whom we are friends and allies in Nato to talk openly and to expect us to say ‘yes’ to such a support to a terrorist organisation.”
Erdogan’s comments were reported by the state-run Anadolu agency on Sunday.
Turkey’s opposition to arms transfers to the Kurdish forces is hampering the US-led coalition’s efforts to fight the extremists and further complicating relations between Turkey and Washington. The countries are involved in negotiations about Ankara’s role with the US and Nato allies fighting the Islamic State group, which is attempting to capture the strategic town Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Libya violence: Western powers urge cessation

The US and four European allies - Britain, France, Germany and Italy - have called for an immediate end to the fighting in Libya.

In a statement, they said there was "no military solution" to the crisis.
Dozens of people have recently been killed in the eastern city of Benghazi in fighting between Islamist rebels and government forces.
Libya has been in a state of flux since Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011.
The statement said that Libya's hard-fought freedom was at risk if country continued to be a safe haven for Libyan and international terrorist groups.
It continued, saying that the country's security challenges could only be addressed by regular armed forces accountable to a democratic government.
It also expressed concern over an operation started on Wednesday by retired general Khalifa Haftar against Islamist rebels.
Islamist militant groups including Ansar al-Sharia, listed as a terrorist organisation by countries including the US, have been battling government forces, and have driven newly elected parliament members into hiding.

Ukraine's president says Russia has agreed to supply natural gas for the winter

KIEV, Ukraine –  The Ukrainian president says his country has reached an agreement with Russia on supplies of natural gas for the winter.
When Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in June over unpaid bills, it risked leaving not only Ukraine without heat in the winter, but that Russia could also cut off flows to Europe if Ukraine began siphoning off gas from the pipelines crossing its territory.

President Petro Poroshenko said in a television interview late Saturday that an agreement has been reached for Russia to supply Ukraine with gas through March at a price of $385 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Poroshenko said he expected the deal to be signed during the next round of European Union-mediated gas talks, to be held Tuesday in Brussels.

North And South Korea Exchange Gunfire Along Border

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Troops from the rival Koreas exchanged gunfire Sunday along their heavily fortified border in the second such shooting in less than 10 days, South Korean officials said. There were no reports of injuries or property damage, but the 10 minutes of shooting highlighted rising tensions between the divided countries.
The Koreas' first exchange of gunfire came after North Korea opened fire at balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets that were floating across the border from the South. Sunday's shootout began after North Korea sent soldiers close to the border line. The move was an attempt by the North to increase worries in the South about what might happen if leafleting continues, analysts say.
South Korean activist groups, mostly made up of North Korean defectors, have been staunch in their vows to continue sending the leaflets, which Pyongyang considers propaganda warfare; one group says it will float about 50,000 on Saturday. North Korea has warned it will take unspecified stronger measures if leafleting continues.

Modi party tightens grip on power with Indian state election wins

Bharatiya Janata party of Indian prime minister expected to form state governments in Maharashtra and Haryana

 

The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s rightwing party claimed victory in elections in two key states on Sunday, tightening its grip on power after winning national elections in May.
The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) was leading in Maharashtra, of which the financial hub Mumbai is the capital, beating its centre-left rival Congress party which has ruled the western state for 15 years.
“BJP will definitely form the government in Maharashtra,” the BJP’s state president, Devendra Fadnavis, told reporters in Mumbai as the vote count continued.
The BJP also won in northern Haryana, which borders New Delhi, after 10 years of Congress rule of the state. The state’s outgoing chief minister, BS Hooda, said: “Like the Congress earlier got the mandate, now the BJP got the mandate and will form the government.”
Modi campaigned doggedly for the elections held last week, and the victories are likely to encourage him to push ahead with promised reforms. He won the general election on pledges to revive the ailing economy and clean up endemic corruption, but many of the reforms have yet to be introduced.
On the eve of the state results, Modi’s government lifted controls on diesel prices, aiming to give market forces greater influence on the economy, attract investment and cut subsidies.
The victories will strengthen the party’s power in the national parliament’s upper house, crucial for the passing of contentious laws. The BJP currently lacks a majority in that chamber, whose composition is based on seats won in regional assemblies.

Militants Attack Nigerian Villages Despite Reported Boko Haram Cease-Fire

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Suspected Boko Haram militants have killed dozens of people in five attacks on Nigerian villages that occurred after the government announced a ceasefire to enable 200 abducted girls to be freed, security sources and witnesses said on Saturday.

However, the government cast doubt on whether the attacks really were Boko Haram or one of several criminal groups that are exploiting the chaos of the insurgency. A spokesman said talks to free the girls would continue in Chad on Monday.

The fresh attacks dashed hopes for an easing of the northeast's violence, although officials remained confident they can negotiate the release of girls whose abduction by the rebels in the remote northeastern town of Chibok in April caused international shock and outrage.

A presidency and another government source said they were aiming to do this by Tuesday.

Boko Haram, whose name translates roughly as "Western education is sinful," has massacred thousands in a struggle to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria, whose southern half is mainly Christian in faith.

Nigeria's armed forces chief Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh announced the ceasefire on Friday. On Saturday, two senior government sources said it aims to secure the girls' release as early as Monday or Tuesday, although they declined to give further details.

In the first attack, suspected insurgents attacked the village of Abadam on Friday night, killing at least one person and ransacking homes, while another assault on the village of Dzur on Saturday morning left at least eight people dead.

Russia denies submarine incident off Sweden

The Russian defence ministry has denied reports that one of its submarines got into trouble in the waters off Sweden.

The Swedish military has been searching the sea since Friday, following what the military said was foreign underwater activity.
It has denied looking for a submarine, and said that it was conducting an intelligence operation.
However, a local newspaper said Sweden had intercepted a distress signal in Russian.
Soviet submarine sightings during the Cold War caused security alerts in Sweden in the 1980s.
Russia's military intervention in Ukraine this year has fuelled suspicion about its intentions towards other neighbouring states, notably in the Baltic.
It has several submarines based in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave bordered by Poland and Lithuania and facing out to Sweden, as well as a much bigger force near Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula.
Last month, another Swedish newspaper, Expressen, reported an incursion by two Russian SU-24 fighter bombers into national airspace. Sweden scrambled jets to see them off, it said.
A defence ministry spokesman in Moscow told reporters that the Russian navy's submarines and surface ships were "performing tasks... according to plan".
"There has been no irregular situation, let alone emergency situation, involving Russian navy vessels," he said. 

22 believed killed in attack in China's Xinjiang region 

BEIJING: At least 22 people have been killed in a violent attack in Bachu of the disturbed Kashgar area of Xinjiang, the US based Radio Free Asia said quoting three local police officers and eyewitnesses. But the incident has not yet been confirmed by official sources.

"According to brief notice I received, a total of 22 people were killed, including the four attackers, but I have no idea how many police officers were among the 18 (victims)," RFA's Uyghur news service quoted Qahar Ayup, the chief of the Chongqurchaq police station, as saying.

If true, the incident is expected to make it difficult for Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is due to visit Beijing next month, to continue to assure China of his determination to keep Taliban influence out of its borders.

Chinese officials have been consistently asking Islamabad to ensure that the links between Xinjiang's Islamic terrorists and Pakistan based Taliban is cut off. Sources said Beijing is more interested in ensuring safety within its border than worrying about Pakistan's border clashes with Indian forces.
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Fauci tries to calm US after missteps on Ebola, amid concerns Americans have lost faith

America’s top infectious disease expert on Sunday again acknowledged that the safety protocols used for the nation’s first Ebola patient were inadequate, and that the Obama administration overstated the country’s readiness for the deadly virus, amid concern that Americans have already lost faith in the government.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told “Fox News Sunday” that the adopted World Health Organization protocol for handling an Ebola patient was better suited for field work than confined hospital care.

As a result, two nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas were infected with Ebola while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who arrived from West Africa with the virus and later died.
“It was very clear … that is not the optimal way,” Fauci said.  
Fauci said he wasn’t sure how nurse Nina Pham became infected, but it was “likely” because “she was not completely covered.”
As many as 4,500 people in West Africa so far this year have died from Ebola.
Fauci also tried to quell some of the fear and criticism over President Obama and other administration officials overstating U.S. readiness, including White House adviser Lisa Monaco suggesting every U.S. hospital is fully prepared to treat an Ebola patient.

As vote nears, Ebola shifts political landscape

Republicans are bullish that they will win control of the Senate, make small gains in the House and retain many governor’s offices this year. But just over two weeks from Election Day, fears about Ebola and Islamic State militants, along with sudden, surprising scrambles in key states, have added new volatility to the 2014 campaign.
The political climate clearly favors Republicans, buoyed by President Obama’s record-low popularity and a voter-enthusiasm advantage. However, the kind of wave that lifted Republicans in 1994 and 2010 has eluded them, in part because the GOP brand also is damaged.
Voters are restive and dissatisfied with their political leadership, turning what had been a workmanlike slog of a midterm campaign into an unpredictable sprint. More sitting governors and lawmakers are in danger of losing today than just a month ago, while both parties see new opportunities and hazards, especially in the battle for the Senate.
“A lot of pressure is building up,” said Alex Castellanos, a veteran Republican strategist. “The top comes off the pressure cooker on November 4th and — boom! Democrats could surprise in some places and Republicans in others.”

Goldman Sachs profits leap 50% as bond market takes off

US investment bank Goldman Sachs has reported a 50% jump in third-quarter profit after a sudden jolt in bond market activity helped boost revenues.

The bank reported net income rose to $2.14bn (£1.33bn) in the three months to the end of September.
That compared with $1.43bn for the same period a year earlier.
Revenue from bond-trading leapt 74% to $2.17bn, as Goldman benefited from the surprise exit of bond market supremo, Bill Gross, from US giant Pimco.
The departure of Mr Gross from Pimco, the world's largest bond fund, prompted investors to withdraw $23.5bn from the company.
Strong US economic data in September and stimulus measures introduced by the European Central Bank (ECB), also helped jolt what had been a lacklustre bond market into life last month.
Total net revenue at the bank rose 25% to $8.39bn.
"The combination of improving economic conditions in the US and a strong global franchise continued to drive client activity across our diverse set of businesses," Goldman's chairman and chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said in a statement.
But perhaps in recognition of the recent stock market sell off, Mr Blankfein also acknowledged that "conditions and sentiment can shift quickly."
Goldman Sachs has also been a big beneficiary of rising stock markets this year, helped by its advisory work on large deals including the $25bn initial public offering of Chinese tech firm Alibaba on the US stock market.
Revenue from investment management, a business Goldman has been trying to build up, rose 20% to $1.46bn.

State Department interfered with probe of serial sexual harasser

State Department officials exerted "undue influence and favoritism" in short-circuiting an internal investigation of multiple sexual harassment charges against a regional security officer with a long history of such allegations.
Investigators from the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security found "overwhelming evidence of the [regional security officer's] culpability," according to a State Department IG report.

Those allegations were lodged against an unidentified regional security officer in 2011, but "the RSO already had a long history of similar misconduct allegations dating back 10 years at seven other posts where he worked," the IG said.
The RSO had been suspended for five days following a 2006 internal investigation.

Democrats lose their edge in Kentucky

Democratic strength in Kentucky is ebbing fast, according to a new Gallup poll, and that could mean more trouble for Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes.
“A series of disheartening figures could make Democratic Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes' attempt to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all the more difficult,” Gallup analyst Justin McCarthy wrote Friday. “Kentuckians are now more likely to identify as or lean toward Republicans (45 percent) than Democrats (39 percent).”
Democrats held the advantage in the prior six years.
Thus, said McCarthy, “As a candidate taking on a powerful, long-serving incumbent senator, Grimes undoubtedly has a lot going against her.
“Though she has taken many opportunities to remind voters that Obama isn't on the ballot with her, Grimes' recent refusal to say whether she voted for the president has put a spotlight on an area she probably would like to avoid, given the president's very low approval rating in her state -- one of the lowest in the nation,” he found.
Twenty-nine percent of Kentucky adults approved of the job Obama’s doing. The figure, from the first six months of this year, compares to a 43 percent national average.
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