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Wednesday, June 15, 2016

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Common Dreams

"We Are Not Anyone's Colony": Bolivia's Morales Tells US to Stay Out of Latin American Affairs

'John Kerry continues to believe that Latin America is its backyard—and its people their peons'

by

Nika Knight, staff writer

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Venezuela's foreign minister also accused John Kerry of "international bullying" on Tuesday. (Photo: Reuters)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday expressed support for a right-wing referendum to pull Venezuela's leftist president Nicolas Maduro from power, provoking a powerful response from Maduro's fellow socialist Evo Morales, president of Bolivia.

"We are sovereign states of the Great Motherland that fights for life and liberation."
—Evo Morales"John Kerry continues to believe that Latin America is its backyard—and its people their peons—by asking for the recall of Nicolas Maduro," wrote Morales on hisTwitter account, in TeleSUR's translation.

"Kerry should know we are not anyone's colony. We are sovereign states of the Great Motherland that fights for life and liberation," Morales wrote.

Venezuela's right-wing opposition has been pushing for a recall election to oust Maduro as the country struggles with food shortages and rolling blackouts in the wake of the plunge in oil prices.

And mere hours after expressing support for a referendum to oust Maduro from power, Kerry also announced "high-level talks to ease tensions" with Maduro's government, Reutersreported.

Kerry's comments were met with fury from Venezuelan foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez, "who accused Washington and OAS chief Luis Almagro of 'international bullying,'" wrote Reuters.

The Organization of American States (OAS), led by secretary general and Uruguay president Luis Almagro, has also been pushing to suspend Venezuela under Maduro's leadership from its membership, condemning Maduro's actions during the nation's crisis. Critics have accused the OAS and Almagro of hypocrisy, as the organization has ignored the recent ouster of Brazil's leftist president Dilma Rousseff.

"Every day we have evidence of the secretary general's bias in favor of sectors of the opposition who are seeking a coup in Venezuela," Rodriguez told the news service. "I see now this is ordered by Washington. I know they are on Washington's payroll to meddle in the domestic affairs of Venezuela."

Kerry said the U.S. did not support OAS suspending Venezuela's membership, after a meeting with Rodriguez on Tuesday, but he still "called on Venezuela to hold the recall vote in a 'timely' manner, suggesting the U.S. government would want to see it held in 2016," TeleSUR wrote.

A recall vote in 2016 would force snap elections and oust Maduro from power, while a recall in 2017 would allow Maduro's executive vice president to serve out the remainder of his term.

Morales said that he would withdraw Bolivia from the OAS if the body "continued to be used as an instrument by the empire," according to TeleSUR.

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Orlando shooter was employee of global security firm G4S

By REUTERS

June 15, 2016

Latest : World

Before Sunday morning, few Americans had heard of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen’s British headquartered employer, G4S, the world’s largest global security firm, which employs more than 610,000 people in 110 countries.
In the United States alone, G4S security guards stand watch over airports, water and power plants, nuclear facilities, immigration detention centres and even, as in the case of Mateen, gated communities.
Since 2008, G4S Secure Solutions — the company’s American subsidiary — has received nearly $830 million worth of federal, state and local government contracts, including for the Department of Homeland Security, according to the SmartProcure database. Its private clients include Google and J.P. Morgan Chase.
News that the gunman who killed 49 people in a packed gay nightclub in Orlando was a G4S employee wiped almost £200 million ($282.80 million) off the company on Monday, but some financial analysts said they expect little long-term damage to the company. Indeed, the attack could increase growth in the private security industry, they said.
“Individual major security incidents have rarely had any long-term effect on the specific companies that may be connected,” said Jeff Kessler an analyst for Imperial Capital. “They do serve as a strong backdrop for the industry revenue growth - as the world is perceived as ‘less safe.’”
G4S made headlines in 2012 when it announced it could not provide the promised 10,400 security guards only two weeks before the London Olympics. The announcement wiped $1 billion off its market value and the British government had to draft in thousands of troops as reinforcements.

Chinese spy ship shadows U.S., Japanese, Indian naval drill in the Western Pacific

By REUTERS

June 15, 2016

Latest : World

A Chinese observation ship shadowed the powerful U.S. aircraft carrier, John C. Stennis, in the Western Pacific on Wednesday, a Japanese official said, joining warships from Japan and India in drills close to waters Beijing considers its backyard.
The show of American naval power comes as Japan and the United States worry Beijing will look to extend its influence into the Western Pacific with submarines and surface vessels as it pushes its territorial claims in the neighbouring South China Sea.
Beijing views access to the Pacific as vital both as a supply line to the rest of the world's oceans and for the projection of its naval power.
The 100,000 ton Stennis, which carries F-18 fighter jets, joined nine other naval ships including a Japanese helicopter carrier and Indian frigates in seas off the Japanese Okinawan island chain. Sub-hunting patrol planes launched from bases in Japan are also participating in the joint annual exercise dubbed Malabar.
The Stennis, which has been followed by the Chinese ship since patrolling in the South China Sea, will sail apart from the other ships, acting as a "decoy" to draw it away from the eight-day naval exercise, a Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force officer said, declining to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Blocking China's unfettered access to the Western Pacific are the 200 islands stretching from Japan's main islands through the East China Sea to within 100 kilometres of Taiwan. Japan is fortifying those islands with radar stations and anti-ship missile batteries.
By joining the drill Japan is deepening alliances it hopes will help counter growing Chinese power. Tensions between Beijing and Tokyo recently jumped after a Chinese warship for the first time sailed within 24 miles (38 km) of contested islands in the East China Sea.
The outcrops known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China lie 220 km (137 miles) northeast of Taiwan.
Wary of China's more assertive maritime role in the region, the U.S. Navy's Third Fleet plans to send more ships to East Asia to work alongside the Japan-based Seventh Fleet, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.
For India, the gathering is a chance to put on a show of force close to China's eastern seaboard and signal its displeasure at increased Chinese naval activity in the Indian Ocean. India sent its naval contingent of four ships on a tour through the South China Sea with stops in the Philippines and Vietnam on their way to the exercise.

Obama to meet Dalai Lama at White House, defying Beijing

By AFP

June 15, 2016

Latest : World

BEIJING: US President Barack Obama will meet the Dalai Lama at the White House Wednesday, a move condemned by China which portrays the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader as a dangerous separatist.
Obama has met the Dalai Lama several times before and calls the monk "a good friend," but the pair will -- as usual -- talk behind closed doors in an effort to avoid Beijing´s ire.
China, which accuses the Nobel peace laureate of using "spiritual terrorism" to seek independence for Tibet, expressed displeasure over the visit to the United States.
"Under the cloak of religion, the 14th Dalai Lama peddles his political ambitions of dividing China all around the world," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters Tuesday.
"We demand all countries and governments not to grant him the space or soil for his activities," he added.
The spiritual leader -- who has lived in exile in India since a failed 1959 uprising -- has for decades called for more Tibetan autonomy rather than independence.
Beijing maintains he is a "wolf in monk´s clothing" and vigorously lobbies -- often successfully -- against foreign leaders meeting him.
Obama made a high-profile public appearance with the Dalai Lama, who is widely revered by Tibetans, last year at a prayer breakfast in Washington, calling him "a powerful example of what it means to practice compassion."
But three prior meetings were held privately, and Obama was criticised in 2010 for obliging the 80-year-old, clad in his characteristic red robes and flip flops, to leave the White House through a back door and walk past piles of snow and bags of rubbish.
Obama´s schedule indicated the Wednesday meeting would be held away from the cameras in the White House Map Room, not the Oval Office.
-- Tibetans applaus --
Tibetans "feel happy about His Holiness meeting the president," said Sonam Dagpo of the Tibetan government-in-exile, adding they hoped the US would support "the struggle of Tibetans."
China has ruled Tibet since the 1950s, but many Tibetans say Beijing represses their Buddhist religion and culture -- charges China denies.
More than 130 ethnic Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 in protest at Beijing´s rule, campaign groups and overseas media have said. Most of them have died.
The Dalai Lama has described the protests as acts of desperation that he is powerless to stop.
Many observers believe China is confident that the Tibetan movement will lose much of its potency and global appeal when the charismatic Dalai Lama dies.
The Dalai Lama has also increasingly spoken of succession and has not ruled out picking his reincarnation before his death, fearing that China would instead pick its own boy whom it would use to advance its agenda.
His stance has led Chinese communist rulers, who are officially atheist, to insist that the Dalai Lama can only reincarnate after his death.

Falluja abuses hard to prevent, not systematic - Iraqi minister

By REUTERS

June 15, 2016

Latest : World

Iraq's interior minister said it was difficult to prevent attacks against people fleeing the Islamic State-held city of Falluja, but denied that such actions were systematic and pledged to punish anyone proven guilty of abuses.
A regional governor said this week that 49 Sunni men had been executed after surrendering to a Shi'ite militia supporting the army offensive to retake Falluja, and more than 600 had gone missing between June 3-5 after escaping the city.
Interior Minister Mohammed al-Ghabban, a senior member of the powerful Shi'ite Muslim political party the Badr Organisation, said paramilitary fighters from the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) had been referred to court over the alleged violations but that no police personnel appeared to be involved.
Badr, which is backed by neighbouring Iran, is part of the government's ruling coalition and has long been criticised for controlling the Interior Ministry.
Its military wing, a leading force in the mostly Shi'ite Muslim PMF, is participating in the campaign to retake Falluja, an hour's drive west of Baghdad.
Sohaib al-Rawi, governor of the overwhelmingly Sunni province of Anbar where Falluja is located, accused PMF fighters on Sunday of detaining, torturing and killing civilians fleeing Falluja amid the battle to drive out Islamic State.
Ghabban told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday that such behaviour was not systematic but that he could not guarantee it would not occur, noting that violations by U.S.-led coalition forces during their nine-year occupation of Iraq did not amount to a policy of rights abuse.
Some Islamic State fighters disguise themselves as civilians, he said, "making it very difficult to distinguish between actual civilians and those who are pretending".
"The diversity of formations, the large battlefield and its intersection with civilian areas is a challenge in itself which could lead to infringements, individual behaviour, violations of human rights or abuses."
Ghabban said he supported investigating the claims and punishing anyone proven guilty, but warned against jumping to conclusions before the cases went to court.
"We do not want to get ahead of events and regard these as facts before they are confirmed, nor do we want to be negligent and gloss over any crime," he said.
Islamic State, which has been pushed back from several key cities it seized in 2014 during a lightning sweep across Iraq's north and west, has used residents as human shields to slow the troops' advance and thwart a U.S.-led air campaign backing them.
Falluja is a historic bastion of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. forces that toppled Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003, and the Shi'ite-led governments that followed.

BAGHDAD SECURITY
The push on Falluja comes at the same time as other enemies of Islamic State launched major offensives on other fronts, including a push by U.S.-backed forces against the city of Manbij in northern Syria.
They amount to the most sustained pressure on the militants since they proclaimed their caliphate in 2014.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's initial decision to assault Falluja appears to have gone against the plans of his U.S. allies, who would prefer the government concentrate on the northern city of Mosul.
But a string of bombings last month in Baghdad which killed more than 150 people in one week, the highest death toll this year, cranked up pressure on Abadi to do something about Falluja, just 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad and seen by many Iraqis as an irredeemable bulwark of Sunni militancy.
Ghabban said military gains in Falluja would help reduce attacks claimed by Islamic State in Baghdad, suggesting the militants were using the city, along with other areas in Anbar and Nineveh provinces, to assemble car bombs sent to the capital.
Intelligence has helped security forces disrupt dozens of "terrorist networks", said Ghabban, leading to a 60 percent drop in attacks in Baghdad in 2015 compared to the previous year when Islamic State threatened to overrun the capital.
But the minister acknowledged that Islamic State maintains safe havens in areas just outside Baghdad, like Arab Jabour in the southern outskirts as well as Tarmiya and Mishahda in the north, whose terrain makes it difficult for security forces to pursue suspected militants.
Ninety percent of explosions in Baghdad come from such areas outside the city proper, he said.
Ghabban also insisted that attacks in the capital would not end unless "disorder" plaguing the country's security apparatus was eliminated.
He said security forces outside his control, including the National Security Advisory, two Defence Ministry directorates, the elite counter-terrorism service and regional security commands, overlap with the Interior Ministry's own counter-intelligence efforts.
"This plurality leads to confusion in managing the security file," he said. "I believe if we do not (fix) it, we will continue to suffer from breaches and problems."

Federal grand jury could charge wife of Orlando shooter - source

Two birds with one stone

Federal grand jury could charge wife of Orlando shooter - source

By REUTERS

June 15, 2016

Latest : World

A federal grand jury has been convened to look into possible wrongdoing by the wife of the gunman who killed 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub, and criminal charges could be brought against her early as Wednesday, a law enforcement source said.
Omar Mateen's wife, Noor Salman, knew of his plans for what became the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, said the law enforcement source who has been briefed on the matter.
"It appears she had some knowledge of what was going on," said U.S. Senator Angus King, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which received a briefing on the attack.
"She definitely is, I guess you would say, a person of interest right now and appears to be cooperating and can provide us with some important information," King told CNN.
Salman was with Mateen when he cased out possible targets for an attack in the past two months, including the Disney World resort in April, then a shopping complex called Disney Springs and the Pulse nightclub in early June, CNN and NBC reported.
Mateen, who was shot dead by police after a three-hour standoff at the Pulse club early on Sunday, called 911 during his shooting spree to profess allegiance to various militant Islamist groups.
Federal investigators have said he was likely self-radicalized and there was no evidence that he received any instructions or aid from outside groups such as Islamic State. Mateen, 29, was a U.S. citizen, born in New York of Afghan immigrant parents and worked as a security guard.
"He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized," President Barack Obama told reporters.
Mateen was systematic during his rampage, working his way through the packed club shooting people who were already down. He apparently wanted to ensure they were dead, said Angel Colon, a wounded survivor.
"I look over and he shoots the girl next to me and I was just there laying down and thinking: 'I'm next, I'm dead,'" he said.
Mateen shot him twice more, one bullet apparently aimed for Colon's head striking his hand, and another hitting his hip, Colon said at Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he is one of 27 survivors being treated.
Vigils for the dead continued on Tuesday in Orlando. Hundreds of students gathered to pray and sing in the evening at the University of Central Florida. They shone cellphone flashlights during a reading of the names of the dead including two alumni.
Salman's mother, Ekbal Zahi Salman, lives in a middle-class neighborhood of the suburban town of Rodeo, California. A neighbor said Noor Salman only visited her mother once after she married Mateen.
Noor Salman's mother "didn't like him very much. He didn't allow her (Noor) to come here," said neighbor Rajinder Chahal. He said he had spoken to Noor Salman's mother after the Orlando attack. "She was crying, weeping."
OBAMA SLAMS TRUMP
Obama and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump traded barbs in the aftermath of the shooting, which raised questions about how the U.S. should respond to violent extremists at home and abroad. The Federal Bureau of Investigation questioned Mateen in 2013 and 2014 for suspected ties to Islamist militants but was unable to verify that he posed a threat.
Obama slammed Trump for his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States, joining fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton in portraying the Republican as unfit for the White House.
Trump criticized Obama for not using the term "radical Islamic terrorism" to describe Islamist militants. Obama replied that using that label would not accomplish anything.
Mateen made 911 calls from the club in which he pledged loyalty to the leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, whose organization controls parts of Iraq and Syria.
"We could hear him talking to 911 saying that the reason why he's doing this is because he wants America to stop bombing his country. From that conversation from 911 he pledges allegiance to ISIS," said Patience Carter, 20, who was trapped in a bathroom stall at the nightclub as Mateen prowled outside.
U.S. officials were investigating media reports that Mateen may have been gay but not openly so, and questioning whether that could have driven his attack, according to two people who have been briefed on the investigation and requested anonymity to discuss it.
The owner of the Pulse nightclub, speaking through a representative, denied reports that Mateen had been a regular patron.
"Untrue and totally ridiculous," Sara Brady, a spokeswoman for club owner Barbara Poma, said in an email when asked about the claim.
A former wife of Mateen, Sitora Yusufiy, said her ex-husband had facets of his life that he did not share with his family, such as drinking and going to night clubs.
"He did have a different side to him that he could not open up to his father about," Yusufiy told CNN. "It doesn't surprise me that he might be gay."
She has previously said he was mentally unstable and beat her and that she fled their home after four months of marriage.

US Senate proposes new reimbursement mechanism for Pakistan

By APP

June 15, 2016

Latest : World

WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Tuesday passed a $602 billion defense authorization bill, which has also proposed a new reimbursement mechanism for Pakistan to expedite security enhancement activities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the FATA region.
The provision pertaining to Pakistan is called “Pakistan Security Enhancement Authorization” and authorizes $800 million for the country. It also fences $300 million behind a similar Haqqani network provision.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has used the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) model to restructure security support for Pakistan on the basis that it believes CSF mechanism may soon be ending as it was linked with a specific US mission in Afghanistan which has formally ended.
The new authorization is founded on the need to support Pakistan for its own security needs instead of a broader basis for supporting a coalition. This is not a new provision as similar provisions existed in the Annual Defence Authorization Act since fiscal year 2015.
The bill authorizes military spending for the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. The proposal for Pakistan was passed as originally initiated. None of the over 400 amendments considered by the Senate targeted this outlay for Pakistan.
The House of Representatives last month passed its version of bill. The Senate’s version of the Authorization Act, which was passed on Tuesday, now must be reconciled with the one passed by the House last month. A conference Committee of both houses of the Congress will now be constituted to reconcile the two drafts and develop a consensus draft.
The consensus draft will be passed from both houses of the Congress again before it is sent to the President for signature. The Consensus draft is expected to be completed in July. Past’s year’s bill had been passed as late as November.
A report by the US Senate Armed Services Committee that was filed along with the draft Defense Bill, described Pakistan as a long-standing Strategic partner of the United States. It stated that Pakistan-US relationship will continue to be strong and enduring.
The committee also noted that since 9/11 Pakistan has been a vital partner of the US in efforts to combat terrorism in South Asia.
The committee believed that “stability in the region cannot be achieved without stability in Pakistan itself and that fostering a strong, stable, and secure Pakistan is consistent with the national security goals of the United States”.
The committee wrote in its report that security and stability within the borders of Pakistan is vital to the stability of the region and to transregional efforts to combat terrorism more broadly.
Noting with concern that terrorist attacks continue to plague Pakistan, the committee strongly supported efforts by the Pakistan government to take steps to degrade and defeat terrorist networks and activities within its own borders.
“For these reasons, the committee believes that security assistance for Pakistan should continue,” the committee report said.

Children face beatings, rape, death trying to reach Europe

June 15, 2016

Print : World

Unicef report reveals
‘Every step of the journey is fraught with danger, all the more so for the nearly one in
four children travelling without a parent or guardian’
GENEVA: Migrant children making the perilous journey to Europe to escape war and poverty face possible beatings, rape and forced labour in addition to risk of drowning in the Mediterranean, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) said on Tuesday.
Minors account for a growing percentage of migrants and refugees, particularly those trying to reach Italy by sea from Libya, it said in a report, "Danger Every Step of the Way".
Of the roughly 206,200 people who arrived in Europe by sea this year to June 4, one in three was a child, it said, citing figures from the UN refugee agency.
"Every step of the journey is fraught with danger, all the more so for the nearly one in four children travelling without a parent or guardian," Unicef said.
That ratio was far higher on boats from Libya, where more than nine out of ten children were unaccompanied.
Unicef said there were almost 235,000 migrants and refugees in Libya and 956,000 in the Sahel, many or most hoping to go to Europe.
Unicef said that there was "strong evidence that criminal human trafficking networks were targeting the most vulnerable, in particular women and children.
"Italian social workers claim that both boys and girls are sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution while in Libya, and that some of the girls were pregnant when they arrived in Italy, having been raped," it said.
The UN refugee agency has said the flow of people from Turkey to Greece has slowed hugely but dealing with migrants now stranded along the route remains a huge challenge.
Unicef said many children had fallen between the cracks of overstretched asylum systems and their cases should be a priority.
"All too often children are held behind bars - in detention facilities or in police custody - because of a lack of space in child protection centres and limited capacity for identifying alternative solutions," it said.
UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has decried a "worrying rise" in detentions of migrants in Greece and Italy and urged authorities to find alternatives to confining children while asylum requests are processed.
Authorities in some countries take up to two years to evaluate a child’s request for asylum, and processes to reunify families can be equally slow, Unicef said.
Once in Europe, migrants and refugees are often housed in sports halls, former military barracks or other temporary shelters, sometimes without access to schooling and psychological support, it said.
Some have faced xenophobic attacks, hate speech and stigmatisation, it said, citing 45 arson attacks on refugee shelters in Germany during the first half of this year.

Despair grows in Iraq over hundreds of missing men

June 15, 2016

Print : World

AMRIYAT AL FALLUJAH, Iraq: When Iraqi officials and top brass visited this displacement camp south of Jihadist-held Fallujah, distressed residents swarmed around them asking the same question: "Where are our sons?"
Mothers pleaded with their palms upturned while elders scribbled on paper the names of some of the hundreds of male relatives whose fates are unknown.
"My husband, three sons and three nephews are missing," said Taliaa Diab, who fled the town of Saqlawiya near Fallujah with her family earlier this month. She has heard nothing from them in a week.
"We are hearing that they are killing many of them. We want to know what happened," she said.
Her family is one of hundreds who have been filling tents at the camp in Amriyat al-Fallujah over the past three weeks.
Iraqi forces launched a vast offensive more than three weeks ago to retake Fallujah, which lies only 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad and is one of the main bastions of the Islamic State (IS) group.
The initial phase of the operation saw forces, including militias from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary umbrella group, retake areas around Fallujah and tighten the seal around the city.
As the number of displaced civilians who fled IS rule continues to rise, so does the volume of allegations against members of the security forces, mostly militias.
"The sectarian mobilisation took my husband," said Marwa Mohammed, using a derogatory nickname for the paramilitary Hashed forces that made the women around giggle.
"The militia that took all the men was Ketaeb Hizbullah. That was the one we saw, from their flags and their badges, but there were others too," she said.

EU envoy to Turkey resigns after row

The News International

June 15, 2016

Print : World

The EU’s top diplomat in Turkey has stepped down after a row with Ankara over his criticism of the government’s conduct in a landmark migrant deal, his office said on Tuesday.
The departure of Hansjoerg Haber is indicative of the increasingly fractious relationship between Ankara and Brussels, even as both sides try and implement an agreement aimed at reducing the flow of migrants to the European Union.
"We confirm that the ambassador has resigned," a spokesperson told AFP in a move confirmed by the office of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
Haber, a German diplomat who headed the EU delegation to Ankara, had come under fire after comments to the media on May 13 in which he bitterly criticised the Turkish government’s conduct in implementing the deal. He had only been in his post since October.
The Turkish foreign ministry said at the time his comments caused "indignation".
Haber said: "We have a saying ‘Start like a Turk and end like a German. But here it is the other way round’," Turkish media reported.
His comments appeared to indicate frustration Turkey had begun by negotiating the refugee deal in a professional manner but was resorting to bargaining tactics.
The remarks were however viewed as deeply insulting in Turkey, where ambassadors are generally expected to show extreme respect for Turkish culture.
Visiting Slovakia, Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik said the EU ambassador had violated the fundamental rules of diplomacy.
"The essence of diplomacy is respect for the office of the presidency and values of the country (in which diplomats are serving)," he said in televised comments.
Volkan Bozkir, the predecessor of Celik who was Turkey’s EU affairs minister at the time, said Haber had broken "the first law of diplomacy".
"No ambassador has the right to humiliate the people of the country in which he is working or to say something about its president," he was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet daily.
It said the dispute had upset Mogherini who in the end had wanted Haber to resign. Intervention by Germany was not enough to ease the tensions, it added.
European Commission spokeswoman for foreign policy Maja Kocijancic confirmed the resignation, saying Haber would leave on August 1 and a successor would be swiftly appointed.
She declined to give further details, saying only that "we will continue to work with Turkey" as a key partner and a candidate country.
Turkey has demanded visa-free travel for its citizens to most of the bloc in return for curbing the refugee flow but the deal is now in limbo as Ankara refuses to meet all the criteria laid down by Brussels.
The main sticking point is the EU’s demand that Turkey narrow its definition of terror in its anti-terror laws that have been used to justify the arrests of academics and journalists.
But Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday that Ankara had no intention of shifting on this issue, at a time when the military is waging an offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
"In these conditions there cannot be any discussion of changing the laws on the fight against terror... even if this means the visa deal is at stake," Yildirim told his parliamentary party.
Tension over the visa deal is just one of many issues causing ructions between Ankara and Brussels, including the fight against the PKK, media freedoms and a law stripping Turkish MPs of immunity.

US Senate passes National Defence Authorisation Act

By Wajid Ali Syed

June 15, 2016

Print : National

WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Tuesday passed the National Defence Authorization Act for the next fiscal year that includes short leashed military assistance to Pakistan.
The bill was voted in favor by at least 85 members, and contains various controversial amendments that the Obama administration objected. It had earlier proposed almost 800 million dollar for assistance to Pakistan. Out of the amount the Senate had proposed to restrict 300 million dollars arguing that Pakistan has to take demonstrated action against the Haqqani Network. The Senate panel, last month, had approved the legislation also requiring the defence secretary to certify to the Congress that Islamabad was taking steps to curtail Haqqani network. It had, however, favored the continuation of security assistance to Pakistan. 
The Senate Armed Services Committee had noted that terrorist attacks continue to plague Pakistan and strongly supports efforts by the Pakistani government to take steps to degrade and defeat terrorist network and activities within its borders. "The committee believes that security assistance for Pakistan should continue," it said.
The amended restrictions were contested by the Obama administration saying that it will "unnecessary complicate" progress in bilateral ties and would be against America's national interest. Just last week, the White House said, "We share the Committee's concerns regarding the threat posed to our forces and interests in Afghanistan by the Haqqani network and we continue to engage with Pakistan at the highest levels regarding the need for concerted action specially against the group." 
The restriction imposed but the Senate would "unnecessarily complicate progress in US Pakistan bilateral relationship on this issue and would limit the Secretary of Defence's ability to act in the US national security interest," it said. 
On other issues in the Act, Republican Senator John McCain has showed his disappointment saying that the bill does not include a program that would help Afghans who worked for the American troops to move to the US.

Martyred army man’s daughter, son killed - (Wicked Act)

Martyred army man’s daughter, son killed

June 15, 2016

Print : National

NAWABSHAH: A son and a daughter of a martyred Army man were gunned down while their mother and her two nieces were critically injured.
This happened in village Mirza Farukh Baig in the limits of Jamsahib Police Station where the family of the martyred army man, Ali Ghulam Bugti, was residing. The eight motorcyclists arrived at the house of Ali Ghulam late at night and sprayed the residents with bullets, killing eight-year-old Shehneela and her two-year-old brother, Zakir, on the spot.
The widow of Ali Ghulam, Heerzadi, and her two nieces, Fehmeeda and Noor Bano, were critically injured. They were rushed to the People’s Medical Hospital. Police said that the incident looked like to be a case of old enmity.

Hostile designs on Gwadar Port

By Waqar Ahmed

June 15, 2016

Print : National

The friendship between Pakistan and China dates more than five decades, is time tested and has survived all regional and international intricacies and complexities. The strong bonds between the two countries will continue to exist no matter how the new regional Great Game shape. With this solid background in relations, President Xi Jinping has set up the first flagship project of China in Pakistan i.e. One Belt and One Road initiative, which is the US$46 billion dollars China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
However, the project is seeing intense opposition, especially by India with the Indian media and establishment greatly vocal in this regard. For example, MK Narayanan, a former Indian National Security Adviser, has claimed that CPEC poses a "major threat" to India. Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh recently stated that CPEC will extend "through a territory which belongs to India". It is being claimed that once the Chinese cargo ships come in Gwadar, the Chinese Navy will enter the Indian Ocean on the pretext of giving protection to their ships, which will hurt India’s security interests. It is also said that the project should be abandoned because the “Gwadar Port and Silk Route expose the irrelevancy of India as a nation in the world geopolitics, geo-economics and maritime at least in this century and most likely the next.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited Iran and signed an agreement to develop the Chabahar Port, which is being termed by the Indians as a rival to the Gwadar Port. It is said that if materialized, Chabahar would become a gateway for Indian goods into the Central Asia, especially Afghanistan notwithstanding the security situation in the country.
Nevertheless, it is projected that the Indian gamble at Chabahar will not be successful because the Gwadar Port provides a much easier access for both Afghanistan and the Central Asian countries. Also, the US has not lifted sanctions on Iran completely and there is still significant tension between the two countries, could compound India’s problems in future.
Interestingly, US author and South Asia expert Adam V Larkey commented on the development: "The massive Gwadar project reveals China's regional power play. There is no comparison in scale and intent between China’s role in Gwadar and India’s in Chabahar, but the Americans are pleased that India is pushing back against the Chinese expansionist mindset.”
He added: "The transport corridor will open up a much-needed independent route to Afghanistan via Iran's Chabahar Port circumventing Pakistan. This is significant for India and Afghanistan, whose economic stability in turn, is important to the United States. There are fissures in Pakistan’s relations with the US and Afghanistan, while its ties with old friend China remain rock solid." It has also been claimed that Gwadar will give China “a firm and reliable long-term beachhead in the Indian Ocean and close to the Persian Gulf, effectively making it a two-ocean power.”
As it is, the Gwadar Port will reduce the sea distance to China’s regional partners to around 2,500 kms instead of 10,000 km through the South China Sea, Pacific Rim, the Strait of Malacca and Sri Lanka, thereby helping it save billions of dollars and emerging as a greater economic power in the long run. The project also entails immense trade and commercial gains for Pakistan.
One hopes that while dealing with the Chabahar issue, Iran will look through the Indian designs for the region and remember New Delhi’s belligerence towards it in the past.
The News International

Afghanistan responsible for failed peace talks, says Pak diplomat

The News International

By Wajid Ali Syed

June 15, 2016

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WASHINGTON: Afghanistan's internal political rift and lack of consensus on various issues have been the main causes of delay in the Kabul-Taliban peace process, according to Pakistani diplomatic officials here.  
"Despite efforts by Pakistan, the peace process in Afghanistan has not move forward due to the internal political dynamics, absence of a national consensus in support of the reconciliation process in Afghanistan and other internal problems," a spokesperson for the Pakistani embassy, Nadeem Hotiana, told the Washington Post.
He maintained that Pakistan government has attempted to bring Taliban and Afghan leaders together for a series of meetings and over time hosted and facilitated both sides to strike a deal, but the process has not taken off. In a statement sent to the paper, he said "the situation was further complicated due to the mixed signals emanating form Afghanistan on the dialogue process, worsening security situation, corruption and other administrative problems."
The Pakistani official was reached out by the paper to comment on an interview of the former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai published yesterday in which Karzai blamed Pakistan for the failures and asked the US to "coordinate a sustained policy of pressure on the Pakistani government, together with China, Russia, India and Iran, to force Taliban leaders to join hoped-for peace talks."
Hotiana said the Pakistani government still believes that a negotiated peace deal was the only way to bring peace in Afghanistan. He added that close coordination between Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States was needed for the stalled talks to move forward. "Pakistan would remain committed to any peace process that is inclusive and has the support of all Afghan factions," he said.
Diplomatic sources backed Hotiana's statement saying that this has been the stated position of the government for a long time, and was reiterated recently when an American delegation visited Pakistan recently. The US delegation comprised of Ambassador Ricahrd Olson, Special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; and Peter Levoy, a senior official at the National Security Council. Pakistan has pointed these issues out on all different levels with the State and other departments in our numerous meetings, the sources said.
The sources added that Afghanistan has also failed to take action against the TTP and has complicated security situation for the region. Pakistan, on the other hand, has launched major military operations against terrorist groups in its border regions.

Afghanistan playing into someone else’s hands: Nisar

(And you people cannot stop playing in the hands of West)

Afghanistan playing into someone else’s hands: Nisar

June 15, 2016

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ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan said on Tuesday that Pakistan border management was making sincere efforts to prevent infiltration from both sides of the border with Afghanistan but the very efforts had been sabotaged lately.
He said it was evident that Afghanistan was playing into the hands of some other country.In a statement, the interior minister said that Major Jawad and other personnel had been martyred due to unprovoked firing from the Afghan side, which was intolerable and unjustified.
The minister also said that now Afghanistan had to decide whether it would recognise Pakistan’s efforts for regional stability or play into someone’s hands. He said that Kabul was mocking the sincere efforts of Pakistan for border management.

In Pakistan, KSA, Somalia lie roots of danger: Trump

The News International

June 15, 2016

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Says will suspend immigration when elected president
MANCHESTER/WASHINGTON: Republican Donald Trump on Monday placed responsibility for a mass shooting in Florida squarely at the feet of radical Muslims, who he said were entering the country amidst a flood of refugees and “trying to take over our children.”
He said roots of danger are taking ground in Pakistan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Somalia. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee drew on the country’s deadliest mass shooting to sharpen his vow to ban Muslim immigrants, proposing that the United States suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is “a proven history of terrorism.”
In his national security speech, Trump said it was time to “tell the truth about radical Islam,” the day after 49 people were killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando by a gunman, likely self-radicalised, who had sworn allegiance to the rebel group Islamic State.
His comments contrasted sharply to those of Hillary Clinton, the wealthy businessman’s likely Democratic rival in the Nov. 8 election, who urged increased intelligence gathering and more airstrikes on Islamic State territory, and cautioned against “demonizing” the American Muslims.
“If we want to protect the quality of life for all Americans — women and children, gay and straight, Jews and Christians and all people — then we need to tell the truth about radical Islam and we need to do it now,” Trump told the crowd in New Hampshire.
He went on to lambaste Clinton’s policies, saying they would allow “hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East” to enter the United States without adequate security measures.
There would be “no system to vet them, or to prevent the radicalization of... their children,” he said. “Not only their children, by the way. They’re trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is and how wonderful Islam is, and we don’t know what’s happening.”
Trump said that, if elected, he would use the executive authority of the presidency to impose stronger controls on immigration to protect Americans from attacks, fine-tuning his earlier campaign promise to temporarily ban the entry of foreign Muslims to shore up national security.
“When I’m elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats,” he said.
He noted that the parents of the Florida gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, were born in Afghanistan. Pointing to specific incidents such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Trump said threats were posed by people with roots in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.
The immigration ban, he said would last until “we are in a position to properly screen these people coming into our country. They’re pouring in, and we don’t know what we’re doing.”
Trump’s hard-line proposals on immigration have helped fuel his surge in popularity among some conservative voters. But they have also triggered heavy condemnation from minority and human rights activists, and his political opponents — many of whom have called his rhetoric racist. Trump has rejected the criticism, and has said he is often misunderstood by the media and his opponents.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama assailed Donald Trump and the Republican party for “loose talk” and anti-Muslim rhetoric on Tuesday, warning their populist campaign platform was dangerous and un-American.
Tearing in to “politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows,” a visibly angry Obama said that right-wing bombast had whipped up anger but done nothing to prevent terrorism.
Obama took specific aim at Trump´s controversial proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States on counterterrorism grounds. “Where does this stop?” Obama demanded, shedding his usual ‘no drama Obama’ public persona to denounce “language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence.”
“Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating them because of their faith?”
“We’re starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we’re fighting, where this can lead us.”
“What exactly would using this label accomplish?” Obama asked. “What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans?” he said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State group. “Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this?”
“The answer is none of the above,” said Obama. “There’s no magic to the phrase radical Islam. It’s a political talking point. It´s not a strategy.” “Not once has an advisor of mine said, ‘man, if we really use that phrase, we’re going to turn this whole thing around.’”
Obama said the idea that the administration is confused about the enemy “would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who we’ve taken off the battlefield.” While parrying his political foes, Obama also sought to show Americans that the war against the Islamic State in Syria, Iraq and Libya, while slow, was being won.
He said the number of foreign fighters joining the extremists was plummeting. “ISIL lost nearly half of the populated territory it had in Iraq and it will lose more. ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well,” Obama said after a meeting of his National Security Council. “In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is on defense.”

‘India’s NSG membership to affect both Pakistan, China’

The News International

June 15, 2016

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BEIJING: Vehemently opposing India’s NSG bid, the Chinese official media on Tuesday said New Delhi’s membership would not only touch a raw nerve in Pakistan and increase a nuclear arms race but also jeopardise Beijing’s national interests.
An op-ed commentary in the state-run Global Times, titled India mustn’t let nuclear ambitions blind itself, said New Delhi’s NSG membership would set off a nuclear confrontation in the region. India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, keep alert to each other’s nuclear capabilities. India’s application for the NSG membership and its potential consequences will inevitably touch a raw nerve in Pakistan. As Pakistan is not willing to see an enlarging gap in nuclear power with India, a nuclear race is a likely outcome.
This would not only paralyse regional security but also jeopardise China’s national interests, said the commentary, the first write-up on the issue since Beijing’s opposition to the Indian bid.
Reports from Vienna where the NSG is based said while the majority of the 48-member group backed India’s membership, China along with New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa and Austria were opposed to India’s admission.

Orlando killer’s ex-wife claims he was gay himself

(Thats what came into my mind as a doubt the very first day when I looked at this pic)

Orlando killer’s ex-wife claims he was gay himself

By Sabir Shah

June 15, 2016

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LAHORE: Sitora Yusufiy, former spouse of the Orlando night club shooter, Omar Mateen, believes the mass killer had homosexual tendencies as his father had once called him a gay in front of her.
The “New York Post” writes: “Sitora Yusufiy, who was married to Mateen in 2009 for three months, made the shocking claim on a Brazilian television station “SBT Brazil.”Her fiancé, Marco Dias, speaking in Portuguese on her behalf, said Yusufiy believed that Mateen had “gay tendencies” and that his father had called him gay in front of her.”
The American newspaper said Dias also claimed that the FBI asked her not to tell this to the American media. Quoting another local media house “Palm Beach Post,” the “New York Post” has maintained: “The bombshell came as a male former classmate of Omar Mateen said he had been asked out romantically by the mass killer, who reportedly was a virtual regular at the Pulse nightclub, having visited it more than a dozen times over the years. The former classmate said he would hang out with Mateen, hitting gay bars after attending class at Indian River Community College police academy in 2006 — and one time Mateen asked him out “romantically.”
“The Palm Beach Post” had quoted one of Omar Mateen’s classmates as saying: “We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer.”
It added: “The classmate told the paper he thought the killer, who pledged allegiance to ISIS before killing 49 at the gay nightclub Pulse, was gay and in the closet. The classmate’s claims came after reports emerged that Mateen frequented the club for years before Sunday’s massacre.
The Canadian Press has gone on to write: “It’s the same guy,” Chris Callen, a drag queen who performs under the name Kristina McLaughlin, told the Canadian Press. “He’s been going to this bar for at least three years.”
The report revealed: “Callen’s husband, Ty Smith, recalled seeing a drunk Mateen being escorted from the club.” Meanwhile, the “NBC Television” had more to disclose: “At least four Pulse clubbers remembered seeing Mateen at least a dozen times in the past. But authorities said they had no further information when asked about the sightings on Monday. The FBI was looking into his alleged club visits.”
Yet another popular US media house “MSNBC” said: “One Orlando man, who refused to be named, told MSNBC that he had seen photos of Mateen on several gay dating apps. He claimed that at least two of the man’s friends had been contacted by Mateen on the apps in the past.”
Well, the revelations of Omar Mateen’s wife can be startling, but they are certainly not shocking for those who have been following notorious homosexual serial killers. However, Mateen will go down in the history of crime as a human who had killed 50 gays and lesbians in just one night, despite the fact that he himself had a similar sexual orientation.
Here follows a brief list where evil gays had wreaked havoc by embarking on a killing spree: A Pakistani serial killer, Javed Iqbal Mughal, was found guilty of the sexual abuse and murder of over 100 children.
On December 30, 1999, he was subsequently arrested after having surrendered himself to the police in the Lahore offices of country’s largest newspaper “Daily Jang,” fearing the police would kill him.
Javed Iqbal was subsequently sentenced to death by hanging.  The judge had passed the sentence saying: "You will be strangled to death in front of the parents whose children you killed. Your body will then be cut into 100 pieces and put in acid, the same way you killed the children.
On the morning of October 8, 2001, Iqbal and his accomplice Sajid Ahmad had reportedly committed suicide in a Lahore jail. They had refused to make final statements, and did not leave behind a will.
An evil Colombian gay, Luis Alfredo Garavito, was responsible for the rape, torture, and mutilation of approximately 140 boys during the years between 1992 and 1999. He is currently serving a prison sentence of 1,853 years. Garavito confessed to these crimes, and possibly more, providing a map that depicts the locations of more than 300 skeletons.
 A Chinese youth, Huang Yong, was convicted of killing at least 17 young males during the years of 2001 and 2003. He is suspected of killing as many as 25 young men.  An American pervert, Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, was a homosexual who was convicted of 15 murders. He was sent to prison, where he was murdered by another inmate.
A German homosexual, Hans Grans, was sentenced to 12 years for leading Haarmann, his lover, into the less savory aspects of the homosexual community of the city of Hanover. Together the two of them sold the flesh of Haarmann’s victims to unsuspecting customers as “black-market” beef.
An American, Randy Steven Kraft, was convicted of 16 gay murders that took place between 1972 and 1983. Yet another American gay, Arthur Gary Bishop, was found guilty of abducting, torturing and murdering dozens of young boys.
The News International

Anyone Can Fire on Us, As We Became The Sitting Ducks Since 2001

Afghan forces continue firing on Pakistani side

By Ashrafuddin Pirzada & Bureau report

June 15, 2016

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Pak Army major succumbs to injuries; Islamabad, Kabul lodge strong protests against each other; COAS visits forward positions of security forces in Waziristan; says focus on efficient border management to prevent cross-border movement of militants
LANDIKOTAL: Tension mounted at the Torkham border on Tuesday as Afghan forces again opened fire on Pakistani security personnel and a major of the Pakistan Army, seriously injured in the earlier unprovoked firing from across the border, succumbed to his injuries at the Combined Military Hospital in Peshawar.
Sources said the Afghan National Army and border police targeted the Pakistani border checkpoints and administration offices with heavy guns and fired mortars at 9:00 pm, which caused damage to the buildings.
Several mortar shells fired from the Afghan side of the Torkham border hit Pakistani security pickets. As a result, two security personnel of the Frontier Corps sustained injuries.Both Pakistan and Afghanistan lodged strong protests against each other on the tense situation on the Torkham border.
A Pakistani official told this scribe by phone that one of the mortar shells fired by the Afghan security forces hit the official compound near the Torkham border.He said three official and were also damaged in the attack. He said several mortars fired from the Afghan side of the Torkham border also landed in the border village of Bacha Maina. However, no casualty was reported as the villagers had already been evacuated from Bacha Maina.
The Afghan forces also targeted the Pakistan's Customs House offices with mortar shells but no human casualty was reported as the offices had been closed down after Afghan forces fired at the installations three days ago.
Several other private vehicles parked in the compound were also damaged in the unprovoked firing by the Afghan border security forces in the last two days. The Pakistan Army also moved tanks from Peshawar and deployed them at various points near the Torkham border, official sources said. They added that Pakistan Army soldiers had taken control of the Torkham border.
The overall situation at Torkham border and in Landikotal remained tense. The Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps personnel could be seen patrolling in Torkham town. Tension flared up between Kabul and Islamabad when Afghan forces targeted Pakistani installations to prevent its border officials from installing a gate at the Torkham border crossing.
The gate had been removed for the construction of Torkham-Jalalabad road. Meanwhile, curfew remained enforced on the second day at the Torkham border bazaar and its surrounding areas, including Landikotal. The authorities relaxed curfew in Landikotal bazaar to allow the local people to buy food.
Meanwhile, in their separate condolence messages President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have expressed sympathies with the bereaved family of Major Ali Jawad Shaheed.
A statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that three Pakistani security forces officials identified as Colonel Aamir, Major Ali Jawad Changezi and Sepoy Iftikhar had been injured in the firing and mortar attack by the Afghan security forces Monday night. It said they were taken to the Combined Military Hospital Peshawar where Major Ali Jawad Changezi breathed his last. The funeral for the officer was offered in Peshawar, which was attended by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, Corps Commander Peshawar Lt-General Hidayatur Rehman and others.
Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif on Tuesday said that the remaining pockets and sleeper cells of terrorists were being targeted in the final stage of the military operation Zarb-e-Azb.
He said this during a visit to the North and South Waziristan agencies. The COAS visited the forward positions of the security forces in the two tribal regions and spent the day with the tribesmen and troops.
A press release of the Inter-Public Services relations (ISPR) said the COAS was briefed about the ongoing operations and rehabilitation work and its effects on the social landscape of area. Acknowledging the achievements, courage, determination and sacrifices of the troops in achieving the operational targets/gains, the COAS said that the military operation Zarb-e-Azb was yielding the desired results and the network of the terrorist had been dismantled in the operation.
General Raheel Sharif said that operation Zarb-e-Azb was in its final stage, adding the last pockets and sleeper cells of terrorists were being targeted in the final phase of the offensive. "Pakistan Army with the support of the nation has achieved unparalleled successes in the fight against terrorism," said the COAS.
The COAS also inaugurated various projects as part of the post operation comprehensive rehabilitation plan for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).  He inaugurated the newly constructed 72-kilometer long portion of the Miranshah-Razmak-Makeen dual carriage Road. The construction of the road is the part of the 705-kilometer Central Trade Corridor project.
The newly constructed road is developed by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) will considerably reduce distance and travelling time between North and South Waziristan.  Later, The COAS commissioned a state-of-the-art 100-bed Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Hospital at Sholam, in South Waziristan. "These projects would improve the quality of life in the tribal areas, usher in a new era of economic prosperity and address the problem of militancy on a permanent basis," COAS emphasised.
The Pakistan Army has undertaken 567 projects in the social sector including communication, infrastructure and power sector in Waziristan. General Raheel Sharif appreciated the support of the tribes’ people in combating terrorism and acknowledged their sacrifices.
He assured them that terrorists would not be allowed to return and re-organise and the army would not go back till the job was done.  He said the return of the TDPs and their resettlement works is continued and would be completed by the end of 2016. "We will now focus on efficient border management to prevent cross border moment and check the moment of militants," he added.
The News Internationals