Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Cat-and-mouse game in South China Sea

A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed close to China's man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday, drawing an angry rebuke from Beijing, which said it warned and followed the American vessel.
The patrol by the USS Lassen was the most significant U.S. challenge yet to the 12-nautical-mile territorial limits China asserts around the islands in the Spratly archipelago and could ratchet up tension in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
One U.S. defense official said the USS Lassen sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef. A second defense official said the mission, which lasted a few hours, included Mischief Reef and would be the first in a series of freedom-of-navigation exercises aimed at testing China's territorial claims.
China's Foreign Ministry said the "relevant authorities" monitored, followed and warned the USS Lassen as it "illegally" entered waters near islands and reefs in the Spratlys without the Chinese government's permission.
"China will resolutely respond to any country's deliberate provocations," the ministry said in a statement that gave no details on precisely where the U.S. ship sailed.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang later told a daily briefing that if the United States continued to "create tensions in the region," China might conclude it had to "increase and strengthen the building up of our relevant abilities".
Lu did not elaborate, except to say he hoped it did not come to that, but his comments suggested China could further boost its military presence in the South China Sea.
"China hopes to use peaceful means to resolve all the disputes, but if China has to make a response then the timing, method and tempo of the response will be made in accordance with China's wishes and needs."

The second U.S. defense official said additional patrols would follow in coming weeks and could be conducted around features that Vietnam and the Philippines have built up in the Spratlys.
"This is something that will be a regular occurrence, not a one-off event," said the official. "It's not something that's unique to China."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest referred questions on any specific operations to the Pentagon but said the United States had made clear to China the importance of free flow of commerce in the South China Sea.
The U.S. Navy last went within 12 miles of Chinese-claimed territory in the Spratlys in 2012.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
The Philippines, a vocal critic of China's activities in the South China Sea, welcomed the U.S. action.
"The American passage through these contentious waters is meant precisely to say that there are norms as to what freedom-of-navigation entails and they intend to exercise so there is no de facto changing of the reality on the ground," President Benigno Aquino told reporters.
RISK OF ESCALATION
The decision to go ahead with the patrol follows months of deliberation and it risk upsetting already strained ties with China.
"By using a guided-missile destroyer, rather than smaller vessels ... they are sending a strong message," said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore's Institute of South East Asian Studies.
"They have also said, significantly, that there will be more patrols – so it really now is up to China how it will respond."
Some experts have said China would likely resist attempts to make such U.S. actions routine. China's navy could for example try to block or attempt to surround U.S. vessels, they said, risking an escalation.
Zhu Feng, executive director of the China Centre for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea at Nanjing University, said he expected Beijing to limit its response as it ultimately did not want confrontation.
"Both sides will be quite verbal but real actions, I hope, will show signs of exercising restraint," Zhu said.

COMPETING CLAIMS
Both Subi and Mischief Reefs were submerged at high tide before China began a dredging project to turn them into islands in 2014.
Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, 12-nautical mile limits cannot be set around man-made islands built on previously submerged reefs.
Washington worries that China has built up its outposts with the aim of extending its military reach in the South China Sea. China says they will have mainly civilian uses as well as undefined defense purposes.
The patrol comes just weeks ahead of a series of Asia-Pacific summits President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to attend in the second half of November.
Xi surprised U.S. officials after a meeting with Obama in Washington last month by saying that China had "no intention to militarize" the islands.
Even before that, however, satellite photographs had shown the construction of three military-length airstrips by China in the Spratlys, including one each on Subi and Mischief reefs.
Some U.S. officials have said that the plan for patrols was aimed in part at testing Xi's statement on militarization.
Pentagon officials say the United States regularly conducts freedom-of-navigation operations around the world to challenge excessive maritime claims.
In early September, China sent naval vessels within 12 miles of the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. China said they were there as part of a routine drill following exercises with Russia.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Assad makes surprise visit to Moscow

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew to Moscow on Tuesday evening to personally thank Russia's Vladimir Putin for his military support, in a surprise visit that underlined how Russia has become a major player in the Middle East.
It was Assad's first foreign trip since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011, and came three weeks after Russia launched a campaign of air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria that has also bolstered Assad's forces.
The Kremlin kept the visit quiet until Wednesday morning, broadcasting a meeting between the two men in the Kremlin and releasing a transcript of an exchange they had. It did not say whether the Syrian leader was still in Moscow or had returned home.
Putin said he hoped progress on the military front would be followed by moves toward a political solution in Syria, bolstering Western hopes Moscow will use its increased influence on Damascus to cajole Assad into talking to his opponents.
Iran has also long been a strong Syrian government ally, and the fact that Assad chose to visit Moscow before Tehran is likely to be interpreted in some circles as a sign that Russia has now emerged as Assad's most important foreign friend.
Russian state TV made the meeting its top news item, showing Assad, dressed in a dark suit, talking to Putin, together with the Russian foreign and defense ministers.
The Kremlin has cast its intervention in Syria, its biggest in the Middle East since the 1991 Soviet collapse, as a common sense move designed to roll back 'international terrorism' in the face of what it says is ineffective action from Washington.
It is likely to use Assad's visit to buttress its domestic narrative that its air campaign is just and effective and to underline its assertion that the foray shows it has shaken off the Ukraine crisis to become a serious global player.

GRATITUDE
"First of all I wanted to express my huge gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation for the help they are giving Syria," Assad told Putin.
"If it was not for your actions and your decisions the terrorism which is spreading in the region would have swallowed up a much greater area and spread over an even greater territory."
Assad, who looked relaxed, emphasized how Russia was acting according to international law, praising Moscow's political approach to the Syrian crisis which he said had ensured it had not played out according to "a more tragic scenario."
Ultimately, he said, the resolution to the crisis was a political one.
"Terrorism is a real obstacle to a political solution," said Assad. "And of course the whole (Syrian) people want to take part in deciding the fate of their state, and not just the leadership."
Putin said Russia was ready to help find a political solution and hailed the Syrian people for standing up to the militants "almost on their own," saying the Syrian army had notched up serious battlefield success in recent times.

He said Russia had felt compelled to act in Syria because of the threat Islamist militants fighting Assad's forces there posed to its own security.
"Unfortunately on Syrian territory there are about 4,000 people from the former Soviet Union - at a minimum - fighting government forces with weapons in their hands," said Putin.
"We, it goes without saying, can not allow them to turn up on Russian territory after they have received battlefield experience and undergone ideological instruction."
Putin said that positive developments on the military front in Syria would provide a basis for a long-term political solution, involving all political forces, ethnic and religious groups.
"We are ready to make our contribution not only in the course of military actions in the fight against terrorism, but during the political process," Putin said, according to the transcript released by the Kremlin.
"This will, of course, be in close contact with other world powers and with countries of the region which are interested in a peaceful resolution of the conflict," Putin said

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Croatia diverts migrants to Slovenia

Croatia diverts migrants to Slovenia after Hungary border closure

A first bus full of migrants arrived at a Slovenian border crossing with Croatia on Saturday, the Slovenian police said, after Hungary shut its border with Croatia late on Friday, diverting them toward Slovenia.Hungary's action to close its southern border is indicative of Europe’s disjointed response to the flow of people fleeing war and poverty.
Slovenian police said the bus had arrived at a border crossing from Croatia and that the passengers would be registered.

ADVERTISING

But Slovenia has canceled all rail traffic with fellow European Union member and former Yugoslav republic Croatia, potentially slowing the movement of people just as autumn winds and rain are sweeping through the Balkans.
Forty-three buses packed with migrants, many of them refugees from the war in Syria, were stacked up at Serbia’s western border with Croatia in the village of Berkasovo, a Reuters reporter said. Croatia had only allowed five buses to enter in the morning and some had been queuing through the night.
Hungary has erected a steel fence almost the length of its southern frontier with Serbia and Croatia, saying it is duty-bound to secure the borders of the European Union from mainly Muslim migrants threatening, it says, the prosperity, security and “Christian values” of Europe.

Budapest is among several ex-Communist members of the EU that oppose an EU plan to share out 120,000 refugees among its members. That is only a small proportion of the 700,000 migrants expected to reach Europe’s shores by boat and dinghy from North Africa and Turkey this year, many of them fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
SECURITY COUNCIL
At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, the EU offered Turkey a possible three billion euros ($3.4 billion) in aid and the prospect of easier travel visas and "re-energised" talks on joining the bloc if it would help stem the flow of migrants across its territory.
But Hungary said this fell short of Budapest’s demands, which include formation of a common force to protect the borders of Greece, where most migrants arrive across the Aegean from Turkey before heading north through Macedonia and Serbia.
Slovenia, a small country of two million people, says it can accommodate up to 8,000 migrants per day before they continue their journey west to Austria and Germany, the chosen destination for the vast majority.

“The bus is on the border crossing (Gruskovje) and the migrants will now go through a registration process,” police spokesman Bojan Kitel said of the first bus to arrive on Saturday after Hungary’s border closure.
Slovenia and Croatia said on Friday they would not restrict the flow so long as Austria and Germany keep their doors open.
Slovenia said it was in talks with Croatia possibly to direct the flow of migrants through only two border crossings. Slovenia’s national security council was due to meet later on Saturday.
The police told Reuters migrants are expected to enter Slovenia on Saturday through border crossings Gruskovje and Petisovci, which are both located in eastern Slovenia, not far from the border with Hungary.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Islamic State battles insurgents as Syria army prepares assault

Islamic State militants battled rival insurgent groups on Wednesday north of the city of Aleppo, where officials say the Syrian army is preparing an offensive of its own backed by Iranian soldiers and Russian jets.
A rebel fighter and a group monitoring the war said Islamic State fighters took control of parts of the towns of Ahras and Tel Jabin, about 12 km (8 miles) north of Aleppo, before being pushed back.
Gains by Islamic State north of Aleppo would threaten the supply lines of rival rebels inside the city, which is divided between insurgents and government forces. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the road used by Aleppo residents heading north to the Turkish border remained closed on Wednesday.
"Today there are fierce battles between us and Daesh in Ahras, Tel Jabin, and rural northern Aleppo," said Hassan Haj Ali, head of the Liwa Suqour al-Jabal rebel group, using another name for Islamic State.
His unit is one of several foreign-backed insurgent forces which find themselves fighting Islamic State on the ground, at the same time as they are bombed by Russian jets and are bracing for further ground attacks by the army and its foreign allies.
"There are mobilizations by the regime in most parts of Aleppo, particularly in Bashkoy," he said, referring to another town north of Aleppo, which before Syria's civil war began in 2011 was the country's biggest city and a major commercial and industrial center.
"There were advances (by Islamic State) at dawn but we were able to recover Ahras entirely. There are battles in Tel Jabin," said Ali, speaking to Reuters via an internet messaging system.
The Observatory reported fighting between Islamic State fighters and government forces trying to advance towards an air base besieged by the jihadist group in Aleppo province.
Any further escalation in the Aleppo area near the Turkish border will likely further anger NATO member Ankara which opposes President Bashar al-Assad, backs the insurgents, and has expressed deep concern at Russian air strikes.

Iran has sent thousands of additional troops into Syria in recent days to bolster one offensive that is underway in Hama province and in preparation for another in the Aleppo area, two senior regional officials told Reuters.
The army also launched a fresh assault against rebel-held areas east of Damascus on Wednesday, including Jobar and Harasta, controlled by non-Islamic State rebel groups including Jaish al-Islam.
REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS
Underlining Iran's central role in support of Assad, whose territorial control of Syria is currently estimated at a quarter or less, a team of Iranian lawmakers arrived in Damascus on Wednesday on an official visit.
Two senior Revolutionary Guards officers were killed fighting Islamic State in Syria on Monday, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported. Another senior Guards commander was killed last week, as was a top Hezbollah commander.
Supported by two weeks of air strikes, the Syrian army and its allies have been fighting insurgents in northern Hama province, and neighboring Idlib and Latakia provinces, trying to reverse rebel gains over the summer which had threatened the coastal heartlands of Assad's Alawite minority.
The offensive has resulted in the captured a number of towns in Hama and Latakia, but progress has not been fast. The rebels say they are using plentiful supplies of U.S.-made anti-tank missiles to repel the attacking forces.
That is a sign of increased foreign support for the rebels in response to the Russian-Iranian intervention.

Two rebel commanders said on Tuesday they have stationed a dozen TOW anti-tank missile platforms supplied from abroad along a 30 km (20 miles) defensive line in Hama province in an effort to contain the army advance.
The missiles have been widely seen as important to rebel advances earlier this year that had put Assad under pressure.
Russia has stepped up its air strikes in recent days, announcing on Tuesday it had carried out 88 missions in the previous 24 hours, one of the heaviest days of bombardment of its campaign so far.
Moscow's intervention means Russian and U.S. jets are flying combat missions over the same country for the first time since World War Two, raising fears of accidental confrontation.
Russia says it has asked Washington to discuss coordination of military efforts, but Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the United States had declined to send a military delegation to Moscow for discussions.
In the fighting near Damascus, government forces fired hundreds of rockets at towns in the Eastern Ghouta, according to the Civil Defense for Rural Damascus, a rescue service operating in rebel-held areas.
Warplanes launched at least 10 air strikes on Jobar, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory, said insurgents had also fired rockets at government-held Damascus.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Deaths as Israeli-Palestinian violence spirals

At least three Palestinians killed and two Israelis critically wounded as violence rages in occupied territories.

The incident took place near the Lions Gate of Jerusalem's walled Old City in the occupied eastern side of the city [File/Reuters]

A series of stabbing attacks have resulted in the deaths of three alleged Palestinian attackers and resulted in several more Israelis and Palestinians being injured as violence intensifies in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Writing on Twitter, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that four apparent stabbing incidents took place in Jerusalem on Monday.
The spokesman said a Palestinian assailant was shot dead on Monday night after stabbing an Israeli soldier on a bus entering Jerusalem. The soldier was lightly injured.
The Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health confirmed the event on Facebook, saying that the killed man's "identity is still unknown".
On Monday afternoon, a stabbing attack in Pisgat Zeev, a Jewish-only settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, resulted in two victims being seriously injured. "An Israeli teenager was seriously injured and hospitalised, as was a 24-year-old [Israeli] man," Rosenfeld told Al Jazeera.
Police shot and killed one of the alleged Palestinian attackers and injured the other.
Earlier in the day, a Palestinian woman was detained and taken to the hospital after reportedly stabbing an officer near a police station. Just hours before that, Mustafa Adel al-Khatib, an 18-year-old Palestinian, was fatally shot while trying to stab an Israeli border police officer.
Protests over Israeli settlement expansion, harsh restrictions and Israeli incursions into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem has boiled over into violence earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the Israeli parliament is holding an emergency session to pass a bill to call 1,400 reservists in the Border Guard police amid rising violence.
Wave of violence
As unrest continues to spread, at least 27 Palestinians, among them suspected attackers, have been killed by Israeli forces since October 3. Another 1,990 have been injured, according to the Palestinian Authority's ministry of health.
Since the beginning of the month, four Israelis have been killed and at least 67 injured in attacks by Palestinians.
On Sunday, a Palestinian teenager was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah city.

Ahmad Sharaka, 13, was shot in the neck with live ammunition when Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators outside Beit El, a Jewish-only settlement near Ramallah.
His funeral was expected to take place at Al Jalazon refugee camp later on Monday.
Heavy clashes took place on Sunday in cities and villages across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, after weeks of protests prompted by tensions over al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Frustration has boiled over into violence as Israel continues to build Jewish-only settlements throughout the West Bank in defiance of international law.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has blamed the violence on incitement by groups including the Islamic Movement, which runs religious and educational services for Muslims in Israel.
Netanyahu is seeking sanctions on the group, which has led a campaign accusing Israel of plotting to take over the sacred Old City compound revered by both Jews and Muslims, a claim Israel denies.
Israeli police said they had arrested a local leader of the Islamic Movement in the Bedouin Arab town of Rahat in southern Israel who was suspected of organising a group of protesters who vandalised security cameras and other property in the town on Friday.

Palestinian teenager killed as West Bank clashes rage

Thirteen-year-old Ahmad Sharaka, who was shot dead by Israeli forces, is the 24th Palestinian to be killed this month.

A Palestinian teenager has been shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah city, as more than a week of violence continues to grip Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Heavy clashes took place on Sunday in cities and villages across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, following weeks of protests sparked by tensions over the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Frustration has boiled over into violence as Israel continues to build Jewish-only settlements throughout the West Bank in defiance of international law.

Pregnant Palestinian and child die in Israeli air raid

Ahmad Sharaka, 13, was shot and killed on Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators outside Beit El, a Jewish-only settlement near Ramallah.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, an Israeli army spokeswoman was unable to confirm the death.
"There was a violent riot in Ramallah, including hundreds of Palestinians who blocked roads with stones and proceeded to breach a security into Beit El in order to hurl rocks at the passing vehicles there."
"Forces on the scene tried to stop the violence by using riot dispersal means, including rubber-coated bullets," she said, declining to comment on whether live ammunition had been used against the protesters.
"The boy [Sharaka] had a wound from a live bullet in the neck when he arrived at the emergency room," an official at Ramallah Hospital, where Sharaka was taken, told Al Jazeera.
"Unfortunately his wounds were so severe that he could not make it and he died despite all of the medical procedures.
"We received four more patients suffering from live ammunition injuries in lower extremities," the official added.
Stabbing attacks
The teenager's killing comes amid a harsh crackdown on Palestinians by Israeli security forces and tit-for-tat stabbing attacks between Israelis and Palestinians.
A Palestinian citizen of Israel allegedly stabbed and injured four Israelis in Hadera, a coastal city in the country's north, on Sunday.
Writing on Twitter, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that three of the victims were in moderate condition and another was seriously wounded. He added that an assailant was arrested.
Four Israelis, including two settlers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks since October 1. Another 67 Israelis have been injured as a result of more than a dozen stabbing incidents.
As unrest engulfs much of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli forces have killed 24 Palestinians since October 3, according to the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, at least 332 Palestinians were injured during clashes with Israeli forces on Sunday.
An estimated 1,990 Palestinians have been injured since the beginning of this month, as soldiers use stun grenades, gas bombs, rubber-coated steel bullets and, to a lesser extent, live ammunition on demonstrators.
'Green light to shoot children'
"If you follow the rhetoric of Israeli leaders, if you listen to their statements, it is clear that soldiers and settlers have been given the green light to shoot Palestinian children," Ayed Abu Qtaish, accountability director of Defence for Children International - Palestine, told Al Jazeera.
Earlier on Sunday, Israel bombed a home in the Gaza Strip, killing Noor Hassan, a 27-year-old pregnant woman, and her three-year-old daughter, Rahaf.
Marwan Barbakh, 13, and Omar Othman, 15, were both shot and killed by Israeli soldiers during protests on the Gaza border on Saturday.
A day earlier, six Palestinians - including 15-year-old Muhammad al-Raqb - were shot dead during similar protests in areas across Gaza.
"As always, we do not expect the soldiers who shot and killed children to be held accountable," said Qtaish, adding that nine Palestinians under the age of 18 have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since the beginning of the year.
Harsh measures
As the ongoing escalation between Israelis and Palestinians continues, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has moved to implement harsh security measures.
Netanyahu's cabinet met on Sunday and unanimously approved a bill setting still unspecified mandatory minimum sentences for Palestinians caught throwing rocks, molotov cocktails, or fireworks, according to local media reports.
The prime minister has also moved to outlaw the Northern Islamic Movement, whose constituency is made of Palestinians who carry Israeli citizenship and live in communities across the country.
Earlier this month, Netanyahu vowed to take measures allowing Israel to expedite punitive home demolitions against alleged Palestinian attackers.
Last week, in occupied East Jerusalem, Israel demolished three homes belonging to Palestinians who were killed while attacking Israelis.
According to a statement published by al-Haq, a Ramallah-based rights group, punitive home demolitions are "a form of collective punishment, which is prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention".

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Central banks can no longer save the world

In 2008 central banks, led by the Federal Reserve, rode to the rescue of the global financial system. Seven years on and trillions of dollars later they no longer have the answers and may even represent a major risk for the global economy.
A report by the Group of Thirty, an international body led by former European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet, warned on Saturday that zero rates and money printing were not sufficient to revive economic growth and risked becoming semi-permanent measures.
"Central banks have described their actions as 'buying time' for governments to finally resolve the crisis... But time is wearing on, and (bond) purchases have had their price," the report said.
In the United States, the Federal Reserve ended its bond purchase program in 2014, and had been expected to raise interest rates from zero as early as June 2015.
But it may struggle to implement its first hike in almost 10 years by the end of the year. Market pricing in interest rate futures puts a hike in March 2016.
The Bank of England has also delayed, while the European Central Bank looks set to implement another round of quantitative easing, as does the Bank of Japan which has been stuck in some form of quantitative easing since 2001.
Reuters calculates that central banks in those four countries alone have spent around $7 trillion in bond purchases.

The flow of easy money has inflated asset prices like stocks and housing in many countries even as they failed to stimulate economic growth. With growth estimates trending lower and easy money increasing company leverage, the specter of a debt trap is now haunting advanced economies, the Group of Thirty said.
The Fed has pledged that when it does hike rates, it will be at a slow pace so as not to strangle the U.S. economic recovery, one of the longest, but weakest on record in the post-war period. Yet, forecasts by one regional Fed president shows he expects negative rates in 2016.
AN END TO "EXTEND AND PRETEND"
Most policymakers at the semi-annual IMF meetings this week have presented relatively upbeat forecasts for the world economy and say risks have been largely contained. The G30, however, warned that the 40 percent decline in commodity prices could presage weaker growth and "debt deflation".
Rates would then have to remain low as central banks would be forced to maintain or extend their bond programs to try and bolster growth and the price of financial assets would fall.
That is not just a developed-world problem. In China, credits to state-owned enterprises and increasingly by the shadow banking sector have been a driving force in an investment splurge in the world's second largest economy.
According to an IMF report issued this week, there is "excessive" lending of $3 trillion in emerging market economies, an average of 15 percent of gross domestic product, which runs the risk of unwinding should economic conditions worsen.
"Capital losses would affect many investors, including banks, and the process of extend and pretend for poor loans would have to come to a stop," the G30 report said.
Even in a more benign economic outlook, central banks will have a tough time exiting easy money policies and may face demands to hold rates low. The IMF has repeatedly urged the Fed not to hike rates yet.
None of the world's major central banks are remotely close to hitting their inflation targets and many of them are haunted by memories of high inflation. The European Central Bank was born with, and still has, a sole inflation mandate.
With the consequences of an exit from easy money so unpredictable, the G30 said the risk was of exiting too late for fear of sparking another crisis.

Russia steps up air strikes against Assad opponents in Syria

Russia said on Saturday it had stepped up its bombing campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria, while local observers said several of the air strikes had hit areas in western Syria where the hardline group has little presence.
Russia, a top ally of President Bashar al-Assad, started bombing in Syria on Sept. 30 saying it was targeting Islamic State and other opposition groups, a campaign that has drawn Moscow deeper into Syria's more than four-year-old conflict.
Rebels on the ground and Western states have said Moscow's air campaign, which has been combined with ground attacks by pro-government forces, have mainly targeted rebel groups not associated with Islamic State, including U.S.-trained fighters.
Defense officials from the United States and Russia held a 90-minute video conference call on Saturday to discuss safe flight operations over Syria, according to the Pentagon, which is concerned that dueling bombing campaigns could lead to accidental clashes without the proper precautions.
Already, at least one U.S. warplane has had to change its route to avoid a close encounter with Russian planes, the Pentagon has said.
"The discussions were professional and focused narrowly on the implementation of specific safety procedures," the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement released on Saturday. "Progress was made during the talks, and the U.S. agreed to another discussion with Russia in the near future."
A Russian defense ministry representative said on Saturday Russia had intensified its campaign in the last 24 hours, with 64 sorties hitting 55 targets, Russian news agencies reported.
The representative, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, described the targets hit as controlled by Islamic State, also referring to them as belonging to "militants" and "terrorists".
He said they included command and control centers, weapons depots and training bases, located in the Syrian provinces of Raqqa, Hama, Damascus and Aleppo.

The first of those provinces is in eastern Syria and the main Islamic State stronghold, while the other three are in Western Syria where the group is typically weak.
However, Islamic State militants have been advancing on Aleppo in recent days, seizing villages in the province from rival insurgents.
Konashenkov said one of the targets hit near Aleppo was a concealed base for military vehicles, which he said had received a direct hit from an Su-24M bomber.
More than ten vehicles had been destroyed, including two tanks and five infantry vehicles, he said in comments cited by Interfax.
CHECHENS
Russian strikes hit northern areas of Latakia province, the coastal heartland of Assad's Alawite minority sect, as well as northern areas of Hama province further east, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
There was no immediate information on casualties.
The Observatory says Islamic State has no real presence in these areas. However, there were other militants in northern Syria, such as Chechens, that Russia might want to attack.
Syrian state television said in a newsflash that attacks carried out by government forces in the area had killed and wounded a number of "terrorists", a term it uses to describe all insurgents in Syria.
The Observatory said a large explosion hit a building on the outskirts of the town of al-Bab in northern Syria, which is held by Islamic State.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blast in the building, which Islamic State had used to store explosives, according to the British-based Observatory, which tracks the conflict using sources on the ground.
The Observatory also said Syrian government forces backed by militia had captured the village of Atshan from insurgent fighters in Hama province after Russian airstrikes in surrounding areas.
Atshan sits to the east of the north-south highway running through major western cities in Syria. Towns and villages around the road have been a focus of Russian air strikes.
Syrian state TV also said in a newsflash that the army had captured the village
Human Rights Watch said late on Friday that the first Russian air strikes on northern Homs last month killed at least 17 civilians and should be investigated for possible violations of the laws of war.
Russian President Vladmir Putin said earlier this month that reports of civilian deaths in Russian air strikes on Syria were an "information attack".

Hollywood star Randy Quaid arrested trying to enter US

New York (AFP) - American actor Randy Quaid and his wife have been arrested trying to cross into the United States from Canada, police said Saturday, the latest twist in a bizarre long-running saga.

The actor -- who starred in "Brokeback Mountain" and "Independence Day" -- and his wife Evi claimed asylum in Canada in 2010 saying they were in fear of their lives to escape a group they dubbed the "Hollywood Star Whackers."

They claimed it was a shadowy outfit of villains bent on killing American celebrities.

Border officials say the couple are fugitives from justice in the United States over alleged illegal squatting in a US home that they used to own.

The duo, said to have been living in Montreal since 2013, were stopped on Friday evening attempting to cross into Vermont, Vermont State Police said.

They were detained and bail was set by a court judge at $500,000 each, before they were transferred to correctional centers.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

40 reasons ( QUOTES) why Donald Trump will never be president

1.

Why aren’t we smart? We used to be brilliant.

2.

Part of the beauty of me is that I am very rich.

3.

When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo?

4.

I’m not a schmuck.

5.

I do not wear a rug. My hair is one hundred percent mine.

6.

Let me tell you, I’m a really smart guy.

7.

Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don’t make.

8.

A certificate of live birth is not the same thing by any stretch of the imagination as a birth certificate.

9.

My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well been documented, are various other parts of my body.

10.

Some people call me lucky, but I know better.

11.

I love beautiful women, and beautiful women love me. It has to be both ways.

12.

They’re sending people who have lots of problems. They bring in drugs, they bring in crime, they’re rapists. I assume some are good people. It’s got to stop, and it’s got to stop fast.

13.

I have a great relationship with the blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.

14.

Laziness is a trait in blacks.

15.

A well-educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well-educated white in terms of the job market. I think sometimes a black may think they don’t have an advantage or this and that…I’ve said on one occasion, even about myself, if I were starting off today, I would love to be a well-educated black, because I believe they do have an actual advantage.

16.

I am the least racist person there is. And I think most people that know me would tell you that. I am the least racist.

17.

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

18.

It’s like taking the New England Patriots and Tom Brady and have them play your high school football team. That’s the difference between our leaders and China’s leaders.

19.

My twitter has become so powerful that I can actually make my enemies tell the truth.

20.

It’s freezing and snowing in New York—we need global warming!

21.

People are tired of these nice people.

22.

This very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bullshit has got to stop. Our planet is freezing, record low temps,and our GW scientists are stuck in ice.

23.

.@ariannahuff is unattractive both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man—he made a good decision.

24.

By the way, I have great respect for China. I have many Chinese friends. They live in my buildings all over the place.

25.

I will build a great wall — and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me —and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.

26.

Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people.

27.

Why is Obama playing basketball today? That is why our country is in trouble!

28.

How come every time I show anger, disgust or impatience, enemies say I had a tantrum or meltdown—stupid or dishonest people?

29.

Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are little short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.

30.

In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran.

31.

Sadly, because president Obama has done such a poor job as president, you won’t see another black president for generations!

32.

I’ve always been a fan of Steve Jobs, especially after watching Apple stock collapse w/out him—but the yacht he built is truly ugly.

33.

An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that @BarackObama’s birth certificate is a fraud.

34.

I’ll tell you, it’s Big Business. If there is one word to describe Atlantic City, it’s Big Business. Or two words—Big Business.

35.

We have nobody in Washington that sits back and said, you’re not going to raise that fucking price.

36.

Rosie O’Donnell’s disgusting both inside and out. You take a look at her, she’s a slob. She talks like a truck driver, she doesn’t have her facts, she’ll say anything that comes to her mind….I mean she’s basically a disaster.

37.

Our great African American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!

38.

More votes equals a loss…revolution!

39.

You know, it really doesn`t matter what [the media] write as long as you`ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.

40.

Well, somebody’s doing the raping, Don! I mean somebody’s doing it! Who’s doing the raping? Who’s doing the raping?

Republicans in chaos as favorite quits speaker race

Republicans in Washington faced a sudden leadership vacuum on Thursday when the front-runner to take control of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, dropped out of the race in a surprise that raised concerns about the party's ability to govern effectively.
Representative McCarthy, the No. 2 House Republican, had been expected to win Thursday's contest for the nomination to succeed retiring Speaker John Boehner despite opposition from more conservative lawmakers who have called for a confrontational approach toward Democratic President Barack Obama's agenda.
Instead, lacking the mandate he thought he needed to be an effective speaker, McCarthy stunned his colleagues by bowing out. "For us to unite, we probably need a fresh face," McCarthy, who is from California, told reporters. He said he would remain majority leader, a post he has held since August 2014.
Boehner, who planned to retire from Congress on Oct. 30, said he would stay on the job as speaker until a replacement is elected. Both the secret-ballot vote to nominate a Republican candidate for speaker and the full House vote, which was set for Oct. 29, have been postponed until further notice.
It was unclear who the "fresh face" that McCarthy spoke of will be as lawmakers face difficult decisions about the spending and national debt that could threaten the country's ability to pay its bills and keep its government running.
Under the leadership of Boehner, an Ohio Republican who relied on McCarthy as an ally, Republicans stumbled into a 16-day government shutdown in 2013 and brought the country to the brink of default in 2011, leading to the United States' first-ever debt rating downgrade.
The next speaker will have to answer to a newly-assertive conservative wing at a time when the party is trying to show voters they can govern effectively ahead of the November 2016 presidential elections.
In several closed-door meetings this week, McCarthy told Republican lawmakers he would run the House in a more inclusive manner than Boehner.

But he failed to convince the 40 or so members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group aligned with the Tea Party movement that calls for lower taxes, less federal spending and reduction of the national debt and federal budget deficit.
The Caucus decided to back a rival of McCarthy, Representative Daniel Webster of Florida. McCarthy also faced criticism for suggesting last week that a congressional probe of the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya were designed to hurt Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Clinton was secretary of state at the time of the attack, which killed four Americans.
House Republicans' inability to merely pick a leader comes after Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, also a Republican, had gone to great lengths to demonstrate that their party can effectively run Congress.
The two lawmakers who had challenged McCarthy for the post, Webster and Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah, said they were still in the race.

"It was just absolutely stunning what happened," Chaffetz said. "I don't know if I am the right person. I put my name in the hat because I do want to unite this party internally."
Other candidates could enter the contest as well.
The Republicans were tossed into upheaval just a few weeks before the United States is due to reach the limits of its borrowing authority. The Treasury department has estimated that the United States will hit its $18 trillion debt cap around Nov. 5, and the White House urged Congress to raise the limit before then to avoid a possible default.
Guggenheim Securities analyst Chris Krueger said he now saw a 40 percent chance that Congress could fail to raise the debt ceiling in time because of gridlock, brinkmanship or procrastination.

"At the end of the day, we still believe this gets done. But we are purely basing that on blind faith because no one on Capitol Hill has a plan to get out of this mess," Krueger wrote in a research note.
Lawmakers are also struggling with Obama on spending levels before government funding runs out on Dec. 11.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest urged Republicans to raise the debt ceiling promptly. He said "there's been a rupture in the Republican Party" between moderates and a vocal conservative minority.
"It does threaten their ability to make a strong case to the American public that they have what it takes to govern the country," Earnest said at a news briefing.
One possible successor to Boehner, Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan, said he was not interested in becoming speaker.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Volkswagen CEO says recall to start in January, be completed end-2016

Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said in an interview with a German newspaper that the company would launch a recall for cars affected by its diesel emissions crisis in January and complete the fix by the end of next year."If all goes according to plan, we can start the recall in January. All the cars should be fixed by the end of 2016," Mueller told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). The newspaper provided a copy of the interview prior to publication on Wednesday.
Mueller told the FAZ that he believed only a few employees were involved in the diesel emissions rigging that has hammered the company's stock and done severe damage to its reputation, refuting the notion that his detail-oriented predecessor Martin Winterkorn must have known about it.
He said the VW would have to become smaller and less centralized, adding that every model and brand would be scrutinized for its contribution to the company and singling out Bugatti.
But he said an "evolution" rather than a "revolution" was needed to get VW back on track, predicting that the company could "shine again" in two to three years.
"This crisis gives us an opportunity to overhaul Volkswagen's structures," Mueller said. "We want to make the company slimmer, more decentralized and give the brands more responsibility.
Mueller rejected the suggestion that VW had informed financial markets too late about the diesel problems despite having told officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) weeks before it went public.

Monday, October 5, 2015

U.S. rips Russia over violating Turkish air space

The United States and NATO denounced Russia on Monday for violating Turkish airspace and Ankara threatened to respond, reporting two incursions in two days and raising the prospect of direct confrontation between the former Cold War adversaries.NATO held an emergency meeting in Brussels of ambassadors from its 28 member states to respond to what Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called "unacceptable violations of Turkish airspace" after a Russian jet crossed its frontier with Syria on Saturday.
A Russian warplane again violated Turkish airspace on Sunday, a Turkish foreign ministry official said late on Monday, prompting Ankara to summon Moscow's ambassador.
It had done the same following Saturday's violation, and said Russia would be held "responsible for any undesired incident that may occur" if it were repeated.
NATO members "strongly protest" and "condemn" incursions into Turkish and NATO territory, the alliance said after the first incursion was reported.
"Allies also note the extreme danger of such irresponsible behavior. They call on the Russian Federation to cease and desist, and immediately explain these violations," NATO said in a statement after the meeting.
The White House called the Russian move a "provocation," and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said it illustrated concerns about an escalated Syrian conflict.
"Had Turkey responded ... it could have resulted in a shootdown, and it is precisely the kind of thing we warned against," Kerry said during a visit to Chile.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday that an SU-30 fighter aircraft had entered Turkish airspace along the border with Syria "for a few seconds" on Saturday.
Moscow's unexpected move last week to launch air strikes in Syria has brought the greatest threat of an accidental clash between Russian and Western forces since the Cold War.
Russian war planes as well as those of the United States and its allies are now flying combat missions over the same country for the first time since World War Two, with Moscow repeatedly targeting insurgents trained and armed by allies of Washington.

TURKISH JETS SCRAMBLED
Turkey, a NATO member with the alliance's second biggest army, scrambled two F-16 jets on Saturday after a Russian aircraft crossed into its airspace near its southern province of Hatay, the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he had been told by Russia that the violation was a "mistake" that would not happen again.
"Turkey's rules of engagement apply to all planes, be they Syrian, Russian or from elsewhere ... Necessary steps would be taken against whoever violates Turkey’s borders, even if it’s a bird," he said on HaberTurk TV.
"For Russia, which long opposed foreign intervention in Syria and blocked UN Security Council resolutions, to be actively involved in Syria is both a contradiction and a move that has escalated the crisis."
The United States and its allies are waging their own air campaign against Islamic State fighters in Syria, while demanding that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down and supporting other insurgents fighting against him.
Russia says it is targeting Islamic State, but the anti-Assad coalition including Washington, European powers, Turkey and most Arab states, say Moscow has mainly targeted other insurgents and hit few Islamic State targets.

POTENTIAL CONFRONTATION
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said there was no sign Russia had changed its strategy to concentrate on fighting Islamic State.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said there was no sign Russia had changed its strategy to concentrate on fighting Islamic State.
The Russian Defence Ministry said its planes flew 15 sorties over Syria on Monday, attacking 10 Islamic State targets and destroying around 20 of the group's tanks in Homs province.

Russian officers will visit Israel on Tuesday to discuss how those countries can avoid accidentally clashing while operating in Syria, an Israeli military officer said. Israel has attacked Syrian armed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters during the four-year civil war in Syria.
The potential confrontation comes at a time when relations between Russia and the West are at their worst since the Cold War, with the United States and European Union having imposed financial sanctions on Moscow over its intervention in Ukraine.
Over the past year, NATO has repeatedly accused Moscow of sending planes to violate the airspace of the alliance's member countries in Europe.
Speaking during a trip to Spain, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter compared Moscow's effort to bolster Assad to tethering itself to a sinking ship.
"By taking military action in Syria against moderate groups targets, Russia has escalated the civil war," Carter said.
More than 40 Syrian insurgent groups, including some of the most powerful groups fighting against Assad and armed by Arab states, called on regional states to forge an alliance against Russia and Assad's other big foreign backer, Iran.
Regional cooperation was needed to counter "the Russian-Iranian alliance occupying Syria", they said. "Civilians have been directly targeted in a manner that reminds us of the scorched earth policy pursued by Russia in its past wars."
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is one of Assad's fiercest foes in the region, said Russia's defense of the Syrian leader was a "grave mistake".
"Assad has committed state terrorism, and unfortunately you find Russia and Iran defending (him)," Erdogan was quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper as saying.

Oregon college shaken by massacre reopens with counselors, comfort dogs

Students were welcomed back on Monday by grief counselors and comfort dogs to the small Oregon community college shattered by a shooting rampage that left 10 people dead, though classes were to remain canceled through the week.The campus of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, about 180 miles (300 km) south of Portland, was reopened to registered students and staff four days after the massacre, allowing them to retrieve vehicles and other belongings left behind in Thursday's pandemonium.
The reopening also was aimed at helping restore a sense of normalcy on campus before classes and other activities at the college of some 3,000 full-time students were due to resume next Monday, school officials said.
While the bucolic college, situated on a bend in the North Umpqua River, appeared peaceful as staff and students milled about, an atmosphere of trepidation prevailed among some of those returning on Monday.
"The anxiety of walking back on campus is very real," student Jared Norman said in a text message to Reuters, adding that his campus visit "begins the road to recovery."
He and other students met with the college student-life director on Sunday night in preparation for their return.
Students were greeted by teams of volunteers with six golden retrievers from the national K-9 Comfort Dogs network run by Lutheran Church Charities.
The group has worked at the scenes of various recent tragedies, including the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and six adults were shot to death by a gunman in December 2012, said Richard Martin, a volunteer from Northbrook, Illinois.
The college bookstore also was reopened, and an outdoor amphitheater on campus was set up with tables adorned with bouquets of flowers flanked by wreaths on stands, one with the message: "We Will Always Remember."
Law enforcement was not readily visible in the center of campus, but a mobile command post of the Douglas County Sheriff's Department remained set up in the parking lot.
A permanent billboard along the main road leading onto campus greeted returning faculty with the message: "Welcome back staff" in black capital letters.
The sunny, quiet tranquility stood in stark contrast to the fear that gripped the campus last Thursday in the midst of the deadliest U.S. mass shooting in two years and the bloodiest in Oregon's modern history.
A gunman, later identified as Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, stormed into his writing class in Snyder Hall, shot the professor at point-blank range and began picking off cowering classmates one at a time as he questioned them their religion, according to survivors' accounts.
The assailant ultimately died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after exchanging shots with police officers who arrived on the scene to confront him. Besides the English professor and eight students slain in the rampage, nine other people were wounded, three of them critically.
Parents of two survivors revealed over the weekend that the gunman had handed an envelope to one of the male students in the class, whose life the suspect deliberately spared. CNN reported on Sunday that the envelope contained a computer flash drive that the surviving student turned over to authorities immediately afterward.
Authorities said Harper-Mercer, who moved from the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, California, to Oregon with his mother in 2013, carried six guns, five magazines of bullets and body armor with him to campus the day of the killings.
Another eight firearms and a stockpile of ammo were recovered from the apartment he and his mother shared a short distance from the college, officials said.
Authorities have revealed little of what they may know about Harper-Mercer's motives. The FBI and local sheriff have declined to comment on media reports that he left behind racist writings.
People who knew him casually have described Harper-Mercer as a withdrawn, socially awkward loner. After a brief, failed stint in the U.S. Army that ended with an administrative discharge, he graduated from a nonprofit school in Torrance that catered to students with learning and emotional disabilities.
He was by all accounts preoccupied with guns, a passion he was reported to have shared with his mother, who spent time with her son at target ranges.
The head of a private firearms academy in Torrance has said Harper-Mercer sought to register for classes there in 2012 or 2013 but was turned away because he was found to be "weird" and overly eager for high-level weapons training at his age.

ISIS blows up Arch of Triumph in Syria's Palmyra

Syria's head of antiquities calls on international community to "find a way to save Palmyra" after latest destruction.

In addition to pre-Islamic sites, ISIL has also targeted churches, mosques and museums [Reuters]

The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) have destroyed the nearly 2,000-year-old Arch of Triumph in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria's head of antiquities and activists have said.
The arch was one of the most recognisable sites in Palmyra, the central city affectionately known by Syrians as the "Bride of the Desert," which ISIL seized in May.
The monumental arch sat atop the famed colonnaded streets of the ancient city, which linked the Roman Empire to Persia and the East.
"We have received news from the site that the Arch of Triumph was destroyed yesterday [Sunday]. IS[IL] bobby-trapped it several weeks ago," antiquities director Maamun Abdulkarim told the AFP news agency.
"This is a systematic destruction of the city. They want to raze it completely.
"They want to destroy the amphitheatre, the colonnade. We now fear for the entire city," he added, calling on the international community to "find a way to save Palmyra".
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIL blew up the arch but left the colonnades in place.
An opposition activist who uses the name Khaled al-Homsi also posted on Twitter late on Sunday that ISIL had destroyed the arch.
Homsi was a nephew of Khaled al-Asaad, the 81-year-old antiquities scholar and long-time director of the Palmyra site who relatives and witnesses say was beheaded by ISIL in August.
'Intolerable crime'
Palmyra's sprawling Roman-era complex, which also includes remains of temples to local gods and goddesses, has been under attack from the ISIL since they seized the site earlier this year.
ISIL's self-declared "caliphate," argues such ancient relics promote idolatry and says they are destroying them as part of their purge of paganism.
However, they are also believed to sell off looted antiquities, bringing in significant sums of cash.
In recent weeks, ISIL blew up two famed temples in Palmyra.
Satellite images showed the temples, each nearly 2,000 years old, reduced to rubble. Three ancient tower tombs were also eradicated.
The temple of Baalshamin, a structure of giant stone blocks several stories high fronted by six towering columns, was dedicated to a god of storm and rain — the name means literally "Lord of the Heavens."
The even larger and slightly older Temple of Bel, dating back to 32 AD, was a unique merging of ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman architecture.
It was dedicated to the Semitic god Bel and is considered one of the most important religious buildings of the first century.
ISIL's targeting of priceless cultural artifacts has sparked global outrage and accusations of war crimes.
UNESCO, the UN heritage agency, has called the destruction an "intolerable crime against civilization".
Heritage sites have been damaged constantly since Syria's war began. Syrian government officials say they have transferred about 300,000 artifacts to safe places in recent years, including from ISIL-controlled areas.
In addition to pre-Islamic sites, the group has also targeted churches, mosques and museums.
Before the outbreak of Syria's war in March 2011, Palmyra's UNESCO heritage site was one of the top tourist attractions in the Middle East.