NEWS,27.07.2013

Obama marks Korean war truce

US President Barack Obama is marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

Obama is delivering remarks on Saturday at a commemorative ceremony at the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall.

The 1950 - 1953 Korean war pitted North Korean and Chinese troops against US-led UN and South Korean forces. It ended on 27 July 1953 - 60 years ago on Saturday - with the signing of an armistice.

But a formal peace treaty was never signed, leaving the Korean Peninsula in a technical state of war and divided at the 38th parallel between its communist north and democratic south.

At least 2.5 million people were killed in the fighting.

In a proclamation declaring on Saturday as National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, Obama said the anniversary marks the end of the war and the beginning of a long and prosperous peace.

In the six decades since the end of hostilities, Obama said, South Korea has become a close US ally and one of the world's largest economies.

He said the partnership remains "a bedrock of stability" throughout the Pacific region, and gave credit to the US service members who fought all those years ago and to the men and women currently stationed there.

Japan military plan worries China

China's Defence Ministry on Saturday urged international vigilance of Japan's military plans after it unveiled an interim report calling for strengthened armed forces, including the possible acquisition of the ability to hit enemy bases.

Japan's proposal  its latest step away from the constraints of its pacifist constitution  is part of a review of defence policy by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, which released an interim report on the issue on Friday. Final review conclusions are due by the end of the year.

Japan's Defence Ministry also said it would consider buying unmanned surveillance drones, create a force of Marines to protect remote islands, such as those disputed with China, and consider beefing up the ability to transport troops to far-flung isles.

"The sections about China in this report by Japan are playing on the same old themes, exaggerating the military threat from China, and have ulterior motives," China's Defence Ministry said in a statement on its website.

"This year, Japan has come up with all kinds of excuses to continue to expand its armaments... creating tensions in the region. These moves deserve the highest vigilance from neighbouring countries in Asia and from the international community," it said.

Security environment

The hawkish Abe took office in December for a rare second term, pledging to bolster the military to cope with what Japan sees as an increasingly threatening security environment including an assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea.

Abe called on Friday for a leaders' summit or a foreign ministers' meeting between his country and China as soon as possible.

But Abe's appeal drew a cool reaction from China which accused Japan of lacking sincerity.

Over the past year, China's stand-off with Japan over a string of uninhabited rocky islands in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China has become more acrimonious.

China also believes that Japan has never properly atoned for its brutal invasion and occupation of parts of the country before and during World War Two.

Europe's Incomplete One-Year Anniversary

Exactly a year ago when Mario Draghi, the well-respected president of the European Central Bank (ECB), made his now-famous "whatever it takes" remarks.
Twelve months later, this stands out as the boldest and most successful initiative in the history of modern central banking. Yet the durability of the benefits is undermined by Europe's frustratingly slow progress in getting to grips with its growth and employment deficits.
Europe's economic context was a daunting one that sunny day in London.
The Eurozone's financial system was fragmenting and deposits were fleeing struggling banks. Credit intermediation was coming to a complete stop, starving companies of working capital and putting investment plans on hold. Financial markets were in turmoil, with surging borrowing costs threatening sovereign creditworthiness and eroding liquidity.
In essence, Europe stood on the verge of a great depression, facing an immediate future of serial bankruptcies and massive unemployment.
In a conference organized by the British government, Mr. Draghi took the stage for a panel of central bankers' panel. In addition to those in the room attending the "Global Investment Conference," the event was well covered by the media and simultaneously streamed to nervous world markets.
Mr. Draghi totally upstaged his colleagues on the panel. He directly and frankly addressed the what, how and why of Europe's enormous financial strains. Comparing the Eurozone to a bumble bee that is able to fly despite seemingly-irregular aerodynamic properties, he confidently and calmly re-assured all that were listening that "the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough."
It was an extremely bold step.
Mr. Draghi courageously placed the ECB front and center in what were (and still are) complicated and stressful political interactions among the 17 member governments of the Eurozone. He seemingly did so without fully consulting with his colleagues on the central bank's governing council. And he put forward ambitious claims without concrete measures to back them as yet. (These came later, culminating in a dramatic ECB announcement in September.)
It also turned out to be an extremely successful step.
Without spending a single Euro, Mr. Draghi calmed markets, reversed the bank deposit flight and allowed the financial system to partially heal. In the process, he managed to unify a governing council that could have easily disintegrated into one big national political mess - thus bringing an important element of coherence to often-erratic cross-border and regional interactions.
Yet I suspect that the one-year celebration will not be an entirely satisfactory one for Mr. Draghi and his ECB colleagues.
While they brilliantly delivered and did so by literally making it up as they went along national and regional politicians have lagged. As such, the financial improvement has not been accompanied by a meaningful change in what matters most: namely, the ability to generate economic growth, create jobs and arrest excessive income and wealth inequalities.
Europe's incomplete anniversary speaks to a broader phenomenon that serially frustrates the global economy from recovering fully from the shock of the 2008 global financial crisis: Politicians have failed to exploit the window offered by experimental central bank policies, and continue to do so.
In Europe, national governments still differ on the causes of the region's malaise; and if you cannot agree on history or at least put it aside it is hard to press forward with a unified and credible vision that gets sufficient buy-in from naturally-skeptical citizens.
In the United States, a polarized Congress has undermined virtually every policy step proposed by the Obama Administration to bring the economy closer to escape velocity for economic growth and job creation; and Capitol Hill has done so regardless of merit and need. As such, the Federal Reserve has felt compelled to venture deeper and deeper into experimental policies, raising concerns about collateral costs and unintended consequences.
In celebrating the one-year anniversary, the West would be well advised to look beyond the great success of a courageous (and extremely cost effective) policy measure.
We should also think in terms of foregone opportunities. And we should constantly remember the millions of unemployed, the alarmingly high joblessness among the young, the struggles that too many face in securing their families wellbeing, and the growing number of retirees that are legitimately worried about their pensions.
They all serve as a vivid reminder of an incomplete success. Hopefully, they will also add to the calls for more comprehensive and durable actions.

Israel's Cabinet To Vote On Freeing Palestinian Prisoners Ahead Of Peace Talks

In April 1993, Omar Masoud and three accomplices broke into a European aid office in Gaza City, grabbed a young Israeli lawyer working there and stabbed him to death.
Israel arrested Masoud a month later and sentenced him to life, meaning he was doomed to die in prison one day for killing the lawyer in the name of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small PLO faction.
Now Masoud, along with dozens of other long-term Palestinian prisoners, is up for release as part of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's attempt to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks after five years of diplomatic paralysis.
Israel's Cabinet is being asked to approve a prisoner release in principle on Sunday, as part of a Kerry-brokered deal to get the two sides back to the table.
The Cabinet vote would pave the way for a preliminary meeting of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Washington on Tuesday, followed by up to nine months of talks in the region on setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Such a deal has eluded Israelis and Palestinians for two decades and they have low expectations.
The fate of those held in Israeli jails is an emotionally wrought issue for Palestinians, who view the prisoners as heroes who made personal sacrifices in the struggle for statehood.
A prisoner release particularly of lifers with "blood their hands" would go a long way toward giving Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a popular mandate to give talks another shot, even if many Palestinians believe Israel's hardline prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not serious about a deal.
Israelis tend to view the prisoners as cold-blooded terrorists, and early releases of security prisoners in previous swaps elicited vociferous objections from the public, including Supreme Court appeals.
For Israel's government, approving the release of prisoners it refused to free in the past even if in stages and linked to progress in talks poses the most difficult test so far of its professed willingness to reach a peace deal.
In a statement late Saturday, Netanyahu said that a decision to release prisoners is "painful to the bereaved families, painful to the people of Israel and very painful for me."
Yet, he said, prime ministers "are required from time to time to take decisions that are against public opinion if it is important to the state," signaling he is pushing for Cabinet approval of the release.
Abbas, meanwhile, briefed reporters on the terms of the upcoming negotiations, based on what he said were Kerry's assurances to him. He said the American invitation would state that the talks will be about establishing a Palestinian state next to Israel, based on the 1967 borders and with mutually agreed upon land swaps.
The Palestinians want to set up a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem lands Israel captured in 1967. In previous negotiations, Abbas offered to trade 1.9 percent of West Bank land for the same amount of Israeli territory, a swap that would enable Israel to keep some of the dozens of Jewish settlements it has built since 1967.
Israeli officials have declined comment on the negotiations. Netanyahu refused in the past to accept the 1967 lines as a starting point, and it's not clear whether his position has changed.
Abbas said the situation would become clearer after Sunday's Cabinet meeting.
A senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians would go to talks without Israel having agreed to a freeze of settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Nearly 600,000 Jews already live there, and thousands of homes are under construction.
In guidelines for the talks requested by the Palestinians, Kerry stipulated earlier this month that both sides have to refrain from unilateral steps, according to the Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a gag order the U.S. secretary of state slapped on the negotiators.
The Palestinians understand this to mean that Israel will slow down settlement construction and refrain from provocative steps, such as announcing new projects, the official said. The Palestinians, in turn, will suspend plans to seek further recognition at the U.N. General Assembly, which last year recognized a state of Palestine in the 1967 borders. Israel fears further international isolation as a result of Palestinian activity at the U.N.
Abbas has argued he would need either a settlement freeze or Israeli recognition of the 1967 lines as a baseline to be able to resume negotiations.
In Sunday's Cabinet meeting, ministers will be asked to vote on a number of fateful issues, an official in Netanyahu's office said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with briefing regulations.
The ministers will be asked to authorize the resumption of talks with the Palestinians and appoint a team reportedly the premier and three ministers to oversee the negotiations.
They will be asked to approve an amended bill that would require a national referendum on any partition deal with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu's decision to fast-track the referendum bill has prompted contradictory speculation. Some say this shows the lifelong hawk is serious about a deal this time and wants to silence opposition by ultra-nationalists in his Likud party and his coalition from the outset. Others suspect he is trying to create new obstacles to any agreement.
The Cabinet ministers would also have to approve, in principle, a release of Palestinian prisoners who were arrested before the start of the so-called Oslo talks on interim peace deals in the early 1990s.
Abbas gave Kerry a list of 104 names, including that of Omar Masoud who is No. 77, ranked by seniority. The two longest-held at the top of the list are cousins Karim and Maher Younis, imprisoned since 1983 for kidnapping and killing an Israeli soldier, Palestinian officials said.
When Israeli media reported last week that Israel would only release 82 and that Palestinians from Israel and east Jerusalem would not be freed, Abbas asked Kerry for clarifications.
The U.S. diplomat gave Abbas to understand that all 104 would be freed, said a Palestinian official, also speaking anonymously to avoid violating Kerry's call for discretion. The prisoners are to be released in four stages over six months, beginning a month after the resumption of talks, the official said.
As of late June, nearly 5,000 Palestinians were being held by Israel.
Masoud's mother, 70-year-old Tamam, said she is optimistic.
"I hope everything will work out between Jews and Arabs," she said, speaking in her shack in the Shati refugee camp. Abbas "took a good step by talking about releasing prisoners," she said.
Omar Masoud's family was evasive when asked about the killing, portraying it as the rash act of an immature youth. A recent prison photo of him showed a balding middle-aged man who his mother says often cooks for other prisoners because of his work experience as a teenager in an Israeli restaurant.
Despite considerable opposition in Israel to prisoner releases, polls indicate a majority support a resumption of peace talks. Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel's domestic security agency Shin Bet, expressed that ambivalence.
He noted that he opposed a 2011 swap in which Israel agreed to free some 1,000 Palestinians for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants, but that the upcoming round of talks may be the last chance for a deal.
"We need to understand that the negotiations cart is stuck in very, very deep mud," he told Israel TV's Channel 10 on Friday. "And there are some very painful things that will need to happen in order to get that cart out of the mud."

NEWS,28.6.2013

Cleric arrested in Vatican fraud probe

A senior Catholic cleric accused of plotting to smuggle millions of euros into Italy on a private jet has been arrested as part of a sweeping probe of the scandal-plagued Vatican bank, prosecutors say.
Nunzio Scarano, known as "monsignor" in recognition of his seniority at the Holy See, is accused of fraud and corruption for plotting to illegally carry about $26m in cash into Italy from Switzerland.
The 61-year-old priest was arrested on Friday along with a former member of the secret service and a financial broker after an investigation into the Institute for Works of Religion - as the Vatican bank is known raised suspicions he was involved in money laundering.
Rome prosecutor Nello Rossi said the money belonged to Salerno brothers, Paolo, Cesare, and Maurizio D'Amico, who own a Rome-based fleet of oil tankers and was the "fruit of tax evasion".
Broker Giovanni Carenzio, who is also under investigation in the Canary Islands for fraud according to Italian media reports, was safeguarding the money for the brothers and was looking for a way to smuggle it into Italy.
Former agent Giovanni Maria Zito was tasked with bringing the money in on a private jet, but the deal fell through when the three men argued, Rossi said.
While the jet made it to Locarno in northern Italy and waited at the airport for four days with €20m on board, the plan to collect the money and drive it to Scarano's house in Rome under armed guard was aborted.

The biggest scandal involving the Vatican was in 1982 over the bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosia, in which the Vatican was the main shareholder and which had been accused of laundering money for the Sicilian mafia.

The bank was back in the headlines in 2012, when its head Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was sacked by the board after a major falling out with the Holy See's Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.
In a bid to tighten control of its activities, Pope Francis announced a sweeping study of the bank on Wednesday before a possible clear-out of top management at the Holy See.
In his first real step towards reform, the pontiff is to take a hands-on approach, ensuring that everything a special five-member commission uncovers will be reported directly to him.

India to double gas prices

India's government has approved a doubling of natural gas prices, the first hike in three years, in a politically sensitive decision set to take effect around election time next year.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs announced late on Thursday that the price of domestically produced natural gas should rise to $8 per unit from the current $4.2 in April next year.
"It will be applicable from April 1 2014 and will be valid for five years," Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily told the Press Trust of India news agency.
The new policy, which will raise the cost of electricity, transport fuel, fertiliser and cooking gas, will benefit domestic gas producers whose shares rose sharply on Friday morning.
India's largest state-run energy explorer ONGC jumped as much as 10.12% to 353.0 rupees, while private energy giant Reliance Industries rose 5.12% to 873.0 rupees.
The benchmark 30-share Sensex index was also up 1.50% at 19 158.9 points.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) said the "disastrous" decision had been rammed through despite objections by cabinet members and would lead to a damaging rise in inflation and higher costs for farmers.
CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said the government had caved in to "pressure" from the corporate sector.
India is scheduled to go to the polls in the first half of 2014 with inflation which has often climbed to double figures during recent years one of the main issues affecting voters.
The government earlier partially deregulated petrol and hiked diesel prices in an effort to contain ballooning debt caused in part by fuel subsidies.

Kerry presses Mideast peace bid

US Secretary of State John Kerry launched a second day of talks on Friday aimed at reviving moribund Middle East peace negotiations, sounding out Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas after talks in Jerusalem that went on into the night.

Kerry, who is trying to break a protracted deadlock in the negotiations, huddled in a Jerusalem hotel until nearly 01:30 (2230 GMT) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hear his views on the way forward.

After the four-hour meeting, Kerry's motorcade made a nearly two-hour drive through the occupied West Bank to return to Jordanian capital, where he was to have lunch with Abbas.

Aides said that further shuttle diplomacy between the two sides was possible over the next two days.

Officials were tight-lipped about Kerry's meeting with Netanyahu, held over a dinner of red tuna and salmon ceviche at a hotel suite named after Israel's slain peacemaking prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Kerry "reiterated his strong and sustained commitment to working with all parties to achieve two states, living side-by-side with peace and security", a US official said on condition of anonymity, calling the talks "productive".

Hopes for breakthrough played down

Kerry has made Middle East peace a signature priority. Since the veteran senator and former presidential candidate became the top US diplomat in February, he has visited the region five times.

US officials have played down hopes of a breakthrough but Kerry has said he wants progress before the UN General Assembly in September, when Abbas could rally international opinion against Israel if he sees no movement.

The immediate task is not a settlement to one of the world's most intractable disputes but a much more modest goal - resuming direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians after a gap of nearly three years.

After the quick failure of the last round, the Palestinian Authority wants guarantees that Israel will freeze construction of settlements on occupied land and commit to the principle of a peace deal based on the borders that existed before the 1967 Middle East war.

Israel has retorted that it is ready to negotiate but will not accept "pre-conditions". Just a day before Kerry's visit, an Israeli committee gave final approval of 69 new settler homes in annexed Arab east Jerusalem.

While the United States was low key in its reaction, Palestinian senior negotiator Hanan Ashrawi called the construction approval an Israeli repudiation of Kerry's peace initiative.

Release of prisoners

"And then they blame the Palestinians for not coming to the negotiating table," she told AFP.

US officials say they want to build a solid foundation for the peace talks so that any renewed negotiations are not just symbolic but have a real chance of moving towards a lasting deal.

Some ideas floated include a release from Israel of Palestinian prisoners jailed since before the 1993 Oslo peace accords, a gesture that could give Abbas more political room to negotiate.

Another possibility would be an informal agreement for Israel not to announce new settlements without explicitly declaring a freeze a step that would go down badly in Netanyahu's right-leaning government.

Netanyahu already had tense relations with President Barack Obama in the US leader's first term over pressure to make peace. The Israeli premier emerged from January elections with coalition partners even more scornful of a peace deal.

Trade and Industry Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the far-right Jewish Home party, recently described the Palestinian issue as "shrapnel in the buttocks" - a problem that Israel simply had to keep suffering through.

An opinion poll published by the Israel Hayom newspaper on Friday found that, while most Israeli Jews supported a resumption of negotiations, there was scepticism about whether they would achieve anything.

The poll found that nearly 70% of respondents were against confidence-building "gestures" towards the Palestinians, such as releasing prisoners and easing movement for Palestinian residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Give peace a chance: Sceptical Israelis

A majority of Israelis support resuming peace talks with the Palestinians, a poll published on Friday said, as US Secretary of State John Kerry presses leaders from both sides to return to negotiations.

The poll in daily Israel Hayom said 56.95% believed negotiations should resume, against 28.6% who thought they should not.
But there was scepticism over whether talks would achieve anything, with 55.4% saying it was not "possible to reach a permanent status arrangement".
And nearly 70% were against "gestures" of peace to the Palestinians, such as releasing prisoners and easing movement for Palestinian residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Kerry, on his fifth visit to the region, met late into Thursday night with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his latest bid to revive talks, which broke down nearly three years ago.
He was to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday afternoon in Jordan before heading back to Jerusalem.
The day before Kerry's arrival, an Israeli planning committee granted final approval for the construction of 69 new settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem.
Israeli settlement construction was the issue that scuppered direct peace talks in September 2010 just weeks after they began when Israel failed to renew a freeze on all new West Bank construction.
A cartoon in Arabic-language daily Al-Quds had Kerry arrival in Israel looking dejected as Netanyahu and Israeli pro-settlement Economics Minister Naftali Bennett stood in front of the new settlement, saying "69 new settlement homes welcome you".
The poll of 500 Israeli Jews had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

Leaked US cables 'had classified info'

US Army Private first class Bradley Manning disclosed potentially damaging classified information in at least 117 of the more than 250 000 US State Department cables he has acknowledged sending to WikiLeaks, according to evidence prosecutors presented at his court-martial on Thursday.

The cables published on the website of the anti-secrecy organisation in late 2010 contained protected information about foreign governments; foreign relations; US military activities; scientific, technological or economic matters; and vulnerabilities in America's infrastructure, a State Department classification expert said.

Manning said in a courtroom statement in February that since the cables were labelled for wide distribution within the government, he believed that "the vast majority" of them were not classified, even though they were on a computer network reserved for classified material. He contends the cables revealed secret pacts and duplicity that, while possibly embarrassing, should be publicly exposed.

In written testimony read aloud by a prosecutor, classification expert Nicholas Murphy listed 96 cables that he said had been properly classified as "confidential" and 21 properly classified as "secret". His testimony revealed for the first time the specific cables that are the basis for a federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act charge that is among 21 counts the former intelligence analyst faces.

The globe-spanning reports include at least six sent from the US embassy in Baghdad from 2006 to 2009. One from 5 January 2007, reported that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "is increasingly willing to allow targeted military action against elements of Moqtada al-Sadr's Jaish al-Mahdi militia and other Sadr organisations".

A confidential 14 December 2007, cable from the US embassy in Moscow reported on a consensus among Russian political observers on "a need for the Kremlin to reform itself and reverse a pendulum that has swung too far in favour of state authority".

Contradictory evidence

Prosecutors began presenting testimony about the cables on Wednesday when a former State Department official testified on cross-examination that the agency's computer network would have anyone with Manning's top-secret security clearance unrestricted access to the cables. The government alleges he stole them.

Earlier on Thursday, the military judge ruled that Manning's lawyers can offer evidence contradicting the government's assertion that he revealed classified information in a leaked battlefield video from Iraq.

The judge, Army Colonel Denise Lind, took judicial notice of the document, a preliminary step toward admitting evidence.

The document is an assessment by a former US Central Command official of video showing a 2007 US helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed at least eight people, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver. His assessment was that the video should be unclassified.

That contradicted evidence offered by prosecutors. They have presented an assessment from a Pentagon official that the video revealed military tactics, techniques and procedures and should be classified.

Manning has acknowledged giving the video to WikiLeaks but denies that it revealed national defence information.

The most serious charge Manning faces is aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence.

NEWS,04.05.2013

Israel Confirms Airstrike Against Syria

 

With a second airstrike against Syria in four months, Israel enforced its own red line of not allowing game-changing weapons to reach Lebanon's Hezbollah, a heavily armed foe of the Jewish state and an ally of President Bashar Assad's regime, Israeli officials said Saturday.
But the strike, which one official said targeted a shipment of advanced surface-to-surface missiles, also raised new concerns that the region's most powerful military could be dragged into Syria's civil war and spark a wider conflagration.
Fighting has repeatedly spilled across Syria's borders into Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights during more than two years of conflict, while more than 1 million Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
The airstrike, which was carried out early Friday and was confirmed by U.S. officials, comes as Washington considers how to respond to indications that the Syrian regime may have used chemical weapons in its civil war. President Barack Obama has described the use of such weapons as a "red line," and the administration is weighing its options – including possible military action.
Israel has said it wants to stay out of the brutal Syria war, but could inadvertently be drawn in as it tries to bolster its deterrence and prevent sophisticated weapons from flowing from Syria to Hezbollah or other extremist groups.
Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in mid-2006 that ended in a stalemate.
Israel believes Hezbollah has restocked its arsenal with tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated the Jewish state would be prepared to take military action to prevent the Islamic militant group from obtaining new weapons that could upset the balance of power.
It is especially concerned that Hezbollah will take advantage of the chaos in neighboring Syria and try to smuggle advanced weapons into Lebanon. These include anti-aircraft missiles, which could hamper Israel's ability to operate in Lebanese skies, and advanced Yakhont missiles that are used to attack naval ships from the coast.
While Israeli officials on Saturday portrayed the latest airstrike as the continuation of Israel's deterrence policy, more Israeli attacks could quickly lead to an escalation, leaving open the possibility of retaliation by Hezbollah or even the Assad regime and Syria ally Iran.
In January, Israeli aircraft struck a shipment of what was believed to be Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles bound for Hezbollah, according to U.S. officials. Israeli officials have strongly hinted they carried out the airstrike, though there hasn't been formal confirmation.
Neither Hezbollah nor Syria responded to that strike.
In a warning to Israel earlier this week, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said his militia "is ready and has its hand on the trigger" in the event of an Israeli attack on any targets in Lebanon.
Details about Friday's strike remained sketchy.
The U.S. officials said the airstrike apparently hit a warehouse, but gave no other details.
Israeli officials did not say where in Syria the Israeli aircraft struck or whether they fired from Lebanese, Syrian or Israeli airspace.
Israel possesses bombs that can travel a long distance before striking their target. The use of such weapons could allow Israel to carry out the attack without entering Syrian skies, which would risk coming under fire from the regime's advanced, Russian-made anti-aircraft defenses.
The Israeli and U.S. officials spoke anonymously because they had not been given permission to speak publicly about the matter.
Obama said Saturday it was up to Israel to confirm or deny any strikes, but that the U.S. coordinates very closely with Israel.
"The Israelis, justifiably, have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah," Obama told the Spanish-language TV station Telemundo.
The Syrian government said it had no information on an Israeli attack, while Hezbollah and the Israeli military spokesman's office declined comment.
Amos Gilad, an Israeli defense official, would not confirm or deny the airstrike, but played down cross-border tensions.
Hezbollah has not obtained any of Syria's large chemical weapons arsenal and is not interested in such weapons, Gilad said. Instead, the militia is "enthusiastic about other weapons systems and rockets that reach here (Israel)," he said Saturday in a speech in southern Israel.
Assad "is not provoking Israel and the incidents along the border (between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan) are coincidental," Gilad said.
After Hezbollah's military infrastructure was badly hit during the 2006 war, the group was rearmed by Iran and Syria – with Tehran sending the weapons and Damascus providing the overland supply route to Lebanon.
"This is a very sophisticated network of Iranian arms, Syrian collection, storage, distribution and transportation to Hezbollah," said Salman Shaikh, director of The Brookings Doha Center and in 2007 involved in U.N. weapons monitoring in Lebanon.
Shaikh said Israel had detailed knowledge of weapons shipments to Hezbollah at the time and most likely has good intelligence now. "The Israelis are watching like hawks to see what happens to these weapons," he said.
With Israel apparently enforcing its red lines, much now depends on the response from Hezbollah and Syria, analysts said.
Israeli officials have long feared that Assad may try to draw Israel into the civil war in hopes of diverting attention and perhaps rallying Arab support behind him.
But retaliation for Israeli airstrikes would come at a high price, said Moshe Maoz, an Israeli expert on Syria.
"Bashar has his own problems and he knows that conflict with Israel would cause the collapse of his regime," Maoz said. "He could have done that long ago, but he knows he will fall if Israel gets involved."
Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside Assad's troops, appears to have linked its fate to the survival of the Syrian regime. Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief, said this week that Syria's allies "will not allow Syria to fall into the hands of America or Israel."
On the other hand, Hezbollah could endanger its position as Lebanon's main political and military force if it confronts Israel, and it's not clear if the militia is willing to take that risk.
Hezbollah isn't Israel's only concern. Israeli officials believe it is only a matter of time before Assad's government collapse, and they fear that some of the Islamic extremist groups battling him will turn their attention toward Israel once Assad is gone.
Reflecting Israel's anxiety, the Israeli military called up several thousand reservists earlier this week for what it called a "surprise" military exercise on its border with Lebanon.
Obama has said the use of chemical weapons would have "enormous consequences," but has also said he needs more definitive proof before making a decision about how to respond.
Obama said Friday that he didn't foresee a scenario in which the U.S. would send troops to Syria. Instead, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has said Washington is reviewing its opposition to arming the opposition.
The U.S. so far has balked at sending weapons to the rebels, fearing the arms could end up in the hands of al-Qaida-linked groups or other extremists in the opposition ranks.
Secretary of State John Kerry, meanwhile, is heading to Moscow next week to try to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to support, or at least not veto, a fresh effort to impose U.N. penalties on Syria if Assad doesn't begin political transition talks with the opposition.
Russia, alongside China, has blocked U.S.-led efforts three times at the United Nations to pressure Assad into stepping down.
In Syria, about 4,000 Sunni Muslims fled the coastal town of Banias on Saturday, a day after reports circulated that dozens of people, including children, had been killed by pro-government gunmen in the area, activists said.
Also Saturday, Assad made his second public appearance in a week in the capital Damascus. Syrian state TV said Assad, who rarely appears in public, visited a Damascus campus, and footage showed him being thronged by a large crowd. The report said Assad inaugurated a statue dedicated to "martyrs" from Syrian universities who died in the country's uprising and civil war.

 

NRA official: Our freedom is under attack

President Barack Obama and national media are demonising law-abiding gun owners in the wake of recent violent acts, National Rifle Association leaders and political allies said on Friday at its first convention since the Connecticut school massacre.
"Our freedom is under attack like never before," Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, said during a leadership forum.
"When a deranged criminal murders innocent children, they blame us."
The NRA is the nation's leading advocate for gun ownership. It works assiduously to defend the Second Amendment to the US Constitution setting out the right to bear arms.
Organisers expect about 70 000 attendees at the 142nd NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Houston, which began on Friday and continues through Sunday.
Since last year's meeting, a national debate about gun laws sprang up after the December shooting at Newtown, Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children and six adults were killed.
Major victory
The NRA scored a major victory in Congress last month when it beat back a proposal supported by Obama to expand background checks for gun buyers.
At the leadership forum, US Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, thanked those who fought against the background checks proposal and other efforts to tighten gun control.
"That's your victory," Cruz said. "It's the victory of the American people."
But Cruz cautioned that the fight is not over. Supporters of the proposal, which is a key part of Obama's gun-control effort sparked by the Newtown shooting, have vowed to revive it.
Texas Governor Rick Perry, who burst onto stage after a video showing him shooting a gun, described what he sees as a pattern: When a hate-filled person commits a horrific act, people who hate guns and hate gun owners call for more gun laws, he said. Creating more laws that criminals will ignore is not the solution, said Perry, a Republican.
"They do nothing but make it harder for law-abiding Americans to own guns," Perry said.
No one likes gun violence - especially NRA members, said the governor, who has been working to convince gun manufacturers in states considering tighter gun control to move to Texas.
NRA members are working to make people safer by proposing solutions such as enforcing existing laws, fixing the mental health system and protecting schools, said NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre.
They are teachers, firefighters, volunteers, moms and taxpayers, he said.
"The media and political elites can lie about us and demonise us all they want, but that won't stop us," LaPierre said.
"We are Americans, we are proud of it and we are going to defend our freedom."
In the exhibit hall, more than 550 vendors showed off everything from rifles and targets to offers of hunting safaris.
Seminars offered on Friday included a personal safety workshop called "Refuse to be a Victim" and a chef-taught class on cooking wild game.

Italian minister moved after slur

A junior member of Italy's new grand coalition government was given a new portfolio on Saturday, just two days after her appointment, after gay rights associations criticised statements she had made as homophobic.

In a statement, Prime Minister Enrico Letta said Michela Biancofiore would no longer serve as undersecretary for Equal Opportunities, Sport and Youth Policies, but would be given the Public Administration and Simplification portfolios.

Biancofiore, a member of Silvio Berlusconi's conservative People of Freedom party, had told a web interviewer in January: "There are not just heterosexuals, but also different sexualities, which today, unfortunately, are very common."

Franco Grillini, head of gay rights group Gaynet, complained that Biancofiore was "known for her statements against the rights of homosexual couples," and questioned the "logic" of asking her to "work for civil rights, including those of homosexuals".

Paola Concia, an openly gay former parliamentarian from the centre-left Democratic Party, quipped that putting Biancofiore in charge of Equal Opportunities was akin to "placing Cruella de Vil as the guardian of a Dalmatian puppy mill".

Biancofiore responded to her critics in several newspaper interviews published on Saturday. "I am not a homophobe. As a true liberal, I hate all kinds of discrimination," she told La Repubblica.

Speaking to Corriere della Sera, she insisted that using the word "unfortunately" to describe homosexuality was just "a turn of phrase".

She accused gay rights groups of being prejudiced against her, and urged them to look at wider societal problems. "They just defend their own partisan interests," Biancofiore said.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Successor As President Of Iran Could Be Less Hostile Toward U.S.

 

For eight years, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has played the role of global provocateur-in-chief: questioning the Holocaust, saying Israel should be erased from the map and painting U.N resolutions as worthless. His provocative style grated inside Iran as well angering the country's supreme leader to the point of warning the presidency could be abolished.
Now, a race is beginning to choose his successor and it looks like an anti-Ahmadinejad referendum is shaping up. Candidate registration starts Tuesday for the June 14 vote.
Leading candidates assert that they will be responsible stewards, unlike the firebrand Ahmadinejad, who cannot run again because he is limited to two terms. One criticized Ahmadinejad for "controversial but useless" statements. Others even say the country should have a less hostile relationship with the United States.
Comments from the presumed front-runners lean toward less bombast and more diplomacy. They are apparently backed by a leadership that wants to rehabilitate Iran's renegade image and possibly stabilize relations with the West.
The result however may be more a new tone rather than sweeping policy change. Under Iran's theocratic system, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wields supreme power, making final decisions on nuclear and military questions. However, the president acts as the public face of the country, traveling the world. A new president might embark on an international image makeover and open the door to less antagonistic relations with Iran's Arab neighbors and the West.
The vote comes at a critical time in Iran, a regional powerhouse with about 75 million people and some of the largest oil reserves in the world. Nuclear talks between Iran and world powers are at an impasse while the Islamic Republic barrels ahead with a uranium enrichment program that many are convinced is intended for atomic weapons. Iran also serves as the key ally of Syria's President Bashar Assad, a mainstay so far helping keep him in power as rebels fight to oust him.
It is also in the middle of an apparent shadow war with Israel. Tehran has blamed Israel for deadly attacks on its nuclear scientists. Israel in turn has alleged Iranian attack plots on its diplomats or citizens around the world, including one where two Iranians were convicted of planning to attack Israeli, American and other targets in Kenya on Thursday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned repeatedly that Iran must be stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons, through use of force if need be.
While polls in Iran are unreliable, the tenor of the candidates' speeches reflects a sense among the public that Ahmadinejad's belligerent stance toward the rest of the world has not helped.
"Ahmadinejad has followed a policy of confrontation. He made a lot of enemies for Iran. What were the results?" asked Tehran taxi driver Namdar Rezaei, 40. "The next government should pursue a policy of easing tensions with the outside world."
All the main candidates – including a top adviser and a former nuclear negotiator – are closely linked to the ruling clerics, since opposition groups have mostly been crushed. They reflect the mood of Khamenei, himself a former president, who wants nothing more than to end the internal political rifts opened by Ahmadinejad.
On Wednesday, Khamenei told prominent clerics to avoid "divisive" comments during the election. It is the clerics who will select a small group of hopefuls, probably no more than six, for the ballot.
The ultimate goal is to find ways to ease painful Western sanctions that have evicted Iran from international banking networks, brought public complaints over rising prices and cut vital oil exports by more than half. But what still stands in the way is a complicated dance: Maintaining uranium enrichment while addressing Western fears that Iran could move toward atomic weapons – a charge it denies.
For more than two years, Ahmadinejad has openly defied Khamenei in an attempt to expand the authorities of the presidency. The disputes reached a meltdown point in late 2011, when Khamenei's loyalists mounted an impeachment campaign. Khamenei stepped in to call it off, but warned that Iran could one day eliminate the presidency for a system where the parliament picks a prime minister instead.
"This is a chance for Iran to bring a new tone after eight years of Ahmadinejad," said Ehsan Ahrari, a Virginia-based strategic affairs analyst. "There seems to be a real interest in the ruling system to quiet things down."
Of course, Ahmadinejad is not likely sit on the sidelines after he leaves office. He still carries significant populist support across Iran, particularly in rural areas that benefited from aid from his government. Whichever candidate he backs could get an Election Day bump.
He is now trying to push his top adviser and in-law, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, onto the ballot, but will likely be rejected by the Guardian Council, the group that vets all candidates. Ahmadinejad has been traveling around Iran for weeks, sometimes along with Mashaei.
After the internal political upheavals he triggered, the clerics are expected to stick with safe and loyal candidates, and the candidates know it and are playing to that dynamic.
Tehran's mayor, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, chided Ahmadinejad for "controversial but useless" statements that undermined Iran's international standing.
"Where did the case of the Holocaust take us? We were never against Judaism. It's a religion. ... No one could accuse us of being anti-Semitic," he told Iran's Tasnim news agency last month. "But suddenly, without consideration for the results and implications, the issue of the Holocaust was raised. How did this benefit Iran or the Palestinians?"
Another prominent candidate, Ali Akbar Velayati, took a clear shot at Ahmadinejad by saying Iran needs a "principlist" as the next president – meaning a conservative who will not question the authority of Khamenei or the ruling clerics.
Velayati, a senior adviser to Khamenei, has joined in an unusual three-way alliance with Qalibaf and parliament member Gholam Ali Haddad Adel. Each has promised to give key posts to the two others should he win the presidency.
"If we do not succeed, we have to try for another eight years in order to take back the country's management," Velayati said in a February speech in the seminary city of Qom.
Velayati has deferred to Khamenei on any possible overtures to the U.S. But Qalibaf and others suggest they would urge the leadership to remain open for direct talks.
"Confrontation with the U.S. is not a value by itself," Qalibaf said. "At the same time, an alliance with or bowing to the U.S. won't meet our interests, too. These are two extremist views. We should follow a realistic approach. Dialogue (with the U.S.) is not a taboo."
Mohsen Rezaei, a former chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard chief who is seeking another chance at the presidency after losing four years ago, says only that he favors a "win-win dialogue."
"That means we won't lose and they (West) won't think Iran is a threat to the world," he said.
And candidate Hasan Rowhani, Iran's former nuclear negotiator and Khamenei's top national security representative, also disparaged Ahmadinejad's grandstanding style, saying Iran needs a "government of prudence."
Another candidate, former Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi, said even restoring diplomatic ties with Washington is not out of the question as long as Iranian "interests are ensured."
"I believe there is no need for Iran to be at war with the U.S. forever," he said. "Iran has the capacity to protect and ensure its national interests while having ties with the U.S."
Ahmadinejad foe Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president, appears unlikely to make one last presidential run, despite speculation to the contrary. The official IRNA news agency quoted Rowhani on Wednesday saying the 78-year-old Rafsanjani "will definitely not" be a candidate.
However, Rafsanjani still wields considerable clout, and his endorsement will carry weight. Earlier this week, Rafsanjani urged his nation to lower tensions with Iran's archenemy Israel, which is considering military action over Tehran's nuclear program.
"We are not at war with Israel," Rafsanjani was quoted as saying by several Iranian newspapers, including the pro-reform Shargh daily. He said Iran would not initiate war against Israel, but "if Arab nations wage a war, then we would help."
Ahmadindejad's role in this election stands in sharp contrast to the last, where he was front and center and backed by the clerics. Accusations that his re-election was clumsily rigged by a clerical establishment panicked by the possibility of reformers coming to power led to massive demonstrations and reprisals spanning weeks, the most serious unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution itself.
The election was so contentious that the two main opposition leaders of 2009, Mir Hossein Mousavi and cleric Mahdi Karroubi, remain under house arrest. The remnants of the opposition appear increasingly unlikely to persuade their one major hope, former President Mohammad Khatami, not to seek a comeback run. That leaves them with the choice of boycotting the vote or picking from an establishment-friendly lineup.
While this election is unlikely to spark the same fireworks, a desire for change remains.
"Why shouldn't we be in good terms with the outside world? Why tensions at home and abroad?" asked 35-year-old real estate agent Shahram Rashidi in Tehran. "That's why we really need a totally different president this time."