Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts

Tuesday 30 December 2014

Lawyer says U.S. offered prisoner swap for ex-Marine held in Iran

17:40 No comments :
A lawyer for an Iranian-American former U.S. Marine jailed in Tehran was reported on Tuesday as saying the United States had sought his release through a prisoner swap, but officials in Washington denied any proposed exchange.
Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, attorney for former Marine Amir Hekmati, told Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency that the United States had made the request and it had been put to Iran's judiciary, which has not yet responded.
"The US has submitted the request via its interest section in Iran," Tabatabai was quoted by Tasnim as saying.
Tabatabai did not say which individual or individuals Washington had proposed to release in return for Hekmati's freedom, adding that the names would be made public at the Iranian judiciary's discretion.
Reuters telephone calls to Tabatabai's office in Tehran went unanswered. State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said Washington had not suggested a prisoner swap.
"The U.S government has not proposed a prisoner exchange for Mr. Hekmati. It is not true," Harf said, calling on the Iranian government to release Hekmati immediately, as well as two other detained U.S. citizens.
Hekmati was arrested in August 2011, his family says, and convicted of spying for the CIA, a charge his relatives and the U.S. government deny. His family says he was detained while visiting his grandmother in Tehran.
He was sentenced to death, but a higher court nullified the penalty in March 2012 and sent the case to another court. Hekmati went on a hunger strike earlier this month to protest his detention.
Hekmati's case is another irritant between Washington and Tehran, who severed relations following Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The United States and other world powers are engaged in sensitive negotiations with Iran over curbing Iran's nuclear program in exchange for easing economic sanctions.

Hekmati served as an infantryman, language and cultural adviser and Arabic and Persian linguist in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2001 to 2005, performing some of his service in Iraq.
Reuters

After guilty plea, NY congressman says he'll resign Jan. 5

17:29 , No comments :
A New York congressman who pleaded guilty to tax evasion just days ago has announced he'll resign from office next week because he would not be able to give the job his full attention anymore.
Republican Rep. Michael Grimm issued a statement late Monday saying he will resign effective Jan. 5.
"The events which led to this day did not break my spirit, nor the will of the voters," he said. "However, I do not believe that I can continue to be 100% effective in the next Congress, and therefore, out of respect for the office and the people I so proudly represent, it is time for me to start the next chapter of my life."
Grimm's guilty plea last week to aiding in the filing of a false tax return came after he was re-elected to his Staten Island seat in November, even though he was under indictment.
Following the plea, Grimm said he would stay in Congress as long as he could.
Grimm reportedly talked with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, before deciding to step down. Boehner has forced other lawmakers to resign for lesser offenses.
Boehner has not discussed Grimm's future publicly. Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said in an email, "We do not discuss private conversations the speaker has with members."
The new Congress is scheduled to open Jan. 6, and Grimm's presence would have been a distraction for Republicans who will control both the House and the Senate.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the Democratic National Committee had called on Grimm to resign.
A former Marine and FBI agent with support from former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Grimm was elected to Congress in 2010, scoring an upset win over first-term Democratic Rep. Michael McMahon.
According to an indictment, the tax fraud began in 2007 after Grimm retired from the FBI and began investing in a small Manhattan restaurant called Healthalicious.
The indictment accused him of underreporting more than $1 million in wages and receipts to evade payroll, income and sales taxes, partly by paying immigrant workers, some of them in the country illegally, in cash.
Sentencing was scheduled for June 8. Prosecutors said a range of 24 to 30 months in prison would be appropriate, while the defense estimated the appropriate sentence as between 12 and 18 months.
After his court appearance, Grimm said he planned to stay in Congress. "As long as I'm able to serve, I'm going to serve," he said.
He also apologized for his actions. "I should not have done it and I am truly sorry for it," he said.
But in his statement Monday, Grimm said he made his "very difficult decision ... with a heavy heart" after much thought and prayer.
The New York Daily News first reported Grimm's plans to give up his seat.
AP

Thursday 25 December 2014

Iraq seeks Turkish support in fight against IS

17:22 No comments :
The Iraqi prime minister says Iraq and Turkey have discussed cooperation in fighting the Islamic State group, including possible Turkish military and intelligence assistance.
Haider al-Adabi told reporters during a visit to the Turkish capital on Thursday that he had provided a list of things Iraq was requesting from Turkey to help fight the militant group, including training Iraqi forces and providing intelligence and arms.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey was ready to support Iraq but did not elaborate. He said the countries' defense ministries were holding discussions.
Turkey has declared it is willing to train and equip forces fighting IS, but has been reluctant to provide greater support to the U.S.-led coalition. Turkey insists that the coalition must also aim to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.
AP

Can GOP shatter 'Obama coalition' in 2016?

17:08 No comments :
Republicans crowed in 2004 that freshly re-elected President George W. Bush had established a "permanent governing majority" for the GOP. Eight years later, Democrats were touting the enduring power of the "Obama coalition" to keep their party in the White House.
But Democrats couldn't sustain that coalition for this year's midterm elections, leading to Republican gains in Congress, governorships and state legislatures nationwide.
"The notion of demographics as destiny is overblown," said Republican pollster and media strategist Wes Anderson. "Just like (Bush aide Karl) Rove was wrong with that 'permanent majority' talk, Democrats have to remember that the pendulum is always swinging."
So how will it swing in 2016? Is the path to 270 electoral votes so fixed that one side just can't win? Do Obama's unpopularity carry over into the next race for the White House? Or will an increasingly diverse electorate pick a Democrat for a third consecutive presidential election for the first time since Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman won five straight elections from 1932 to 1948?
Despite Democrats' midterm shellacking and talk of a "depressed" liberal base, many in the party still like their starting position for 2016. Ruy Teixiera, a Democratic demographer, points to a group of states worth 242 electoral votes that Democratic presidential nominee has won in every election since 1992. Hold them all, and the party is just 28 votes shy of the majority needed to win the White House next time.
Obama twice compiled at least 332 electoral votes by adding wins in most every competitive state. He posted double-digit wins among women, huge margins among voters younger than 30 and historically high marks among blacks and Latinos.
As non-white voters continue to grow as a share of the electorate, a Democratic nominee that roughly holds Obama's 2012 level of support across all demographic groups would win the national popular vote by about 6 percentage points and coast in the Electoral College, Teixeira estimates.
"Could a Republican win? Sure," Teixeira said. "But they have to have a lot of different things happen."
What if the GOP is able to continue its gains among non-white voters? Obama, after all, lost ground in 2012 among most demographic measures, compared to his 2008 performance. Those slides helped make him the first president since World War II to win re-election with a lower popular vote total than he got in his initial victory.
A GOP nominee such as the Spanish-speaking Jeb Bush, a proponent of comprehensive immigration reform, has the potential to capture significantly more than the 27 percent of the Latino vote that Mitt Romney claimed in 2012. Meanwhile, Republicans hope African-Americans make up a smaller share of the electorate with Obama no longer atop the ballot.
"We're not talking about winning those groups, but these elections are fought on the margins, so improvements here and there can make a difference," Anderson said.
Republicans acknowledge that demographic shifts make it more difficult than in years past for the GOP nominee to depend on white voters, who cast 87 percent of presidential ballots in 1992 and just 72 percent in 2012.
At the same time, Democrats have watched white voters, particularly those without a college degree, move away from the party during Obama's presidency — and not just in the conservative South. Obama lost this group by about 26 points in 2012, according to exit polls and other analyses. By this November, his Gallup approval rating among the group stood at 27 percent.
Extending that trend into 2016 could push Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and New Hampshire into the GOP column. Whites also could tip Florida, Virginia and Colorado, although non-white voters in those states hold more influence than in the Midwest and northeast. Those seven states, plus all won by Romney in 2012, would give the GOP a winning total of 295 electoral votes.
It should be noted that path to 270 requires any potential GOP president to win Florida, with its 29 electoral votes. And while it's mathematically possible for a Republican to win without Ohio's 18 electoral votes, no GOP nominee has ever done so, and Republican strategists widely acknowledge the state as essential.
Of course, further analysis of the raw numbers alone ignores the potential of the candidates themselves to shape the election — not to mention dramatic changes in the economy, national security events or other developments that fall outside the control of any candidate.
"Presidential elections don't take place in a vacuum," Anderson said. "It's an adversarial system in which their side has a face and our side has a face, and everything flows from that."
AP

Obama personal chef to hang up apron after 6 years

17:03 , No comments :
Political advisers, chiefs of staff, press secretaries and national security advisers have come and gone in the nearly six years Barack Obama has been president. Now, the White House chef is also waving goodbye.
Sam Kass has been a fixture at the executive mansion, serving up nutrition policy as well as meals for Obama, his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha. He was not only their personal chef but also senior adviser for nutrition policy, giving him a seat at the table where administration officials hashed out everything from updated food labels to new requirements for healthier school lunches.
Kass, a newlywed, is leaving the White House at the end of the month, but don't ask him what the Obamas like or don't like to eat. "Top secret," he said.
"I love this family and believe in everything the president and first lady are doing and this has been the greatest job of my life and I assume will be the greatest job of my life," the 34-year-old said in an interview. "But I'm going to be with my wife. Once you're married you kind of need to be together."
Kass' wife, MSNBC host Alex Wagner, is based in New York City.
Kass' relationship with the Obamas started when they hired him to cook healthier meals for the family in Chicago before the 2008 elections. Michelle Obama was a vice president at the University of Chicago Medical Center and caring for young daughters, while Obama was a U.S. senator spending most of his time in Washington.
But the relationship sprouted well beyond the professional. Besides Kass' tireless work for Mrs. Obama, for whom he wore a third hat as executive director of her anti-childhood obesity campaign, Kass sometimes traveled with Obama and joined his weekend or vacation golf outings. Obama, in turn, blocked out several hours on his busy schedule to attend Kass' late-August wedding.
Obama said Kass "has grown from a close friend to a critical member of my team" and has left "an indelible mark on the White House." Mrs. Obama praised Kass' "extraordinary legacy of progress," which she said includes healthier food options in groceries, more nutritious school lunches and initiatives to improve how food is marketed to kids.
Unlike any White House chef before him, Kass helped make decisions with far greater potential consequences than whether the president's veggies, which Kass often plucked from the first lady's garden on the South Lawn, should be steamed or sautéed.
The school lunch changes have led Mrs. Obama into a public spat with the School Nutrition Association, an industry-backed group that represents school cafeteria workers and food companies that sell to schools. The group has lobbied Congress to weaken the standards, arguing they are a burden on financially pinched districts and a big reason why kids are throwing their lunches into the garbage.
A House Republican-led effort to allow some districts to ignore the new lunch standards altogether failed to advance in Congress, but requirements for more whole grains in school foods will be eased instead. The fight over the broader standards is expected to heat up again next year when Republicans, who are sympathetic to the association's arguments, will control both houses of Congress.
Nutrition advocates say anyone who hopes these issues will disappear with Kass will be disappointed.
"This administration is very committed to nutrition and obesity prevention. That commitment runs very deep," said Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, who has pushed for healthier school meals.
Despite her group's issues with the lunch standards, Patricia Montague, the School Nutrition Association's chief executive, said Kass and "Let's Move" played "an important role in promoting healthier lifestyles for children both at school and at home."
Kass will stay involved with "Let's Move," Mrs. Obama's anti-childhood obesity initiative, along with broader efforts to improve childhood nutrition, the White House said.
Testifying to Kass' commitment, former colleague Kristina Schake said Kass spent weekends living the work he did at the White House, including visiting farms, farmers markets and food purveyors. "He can talk about different types of lettuce the way other men talk about sports teams," she said.
Kass said his big plan after leaving the White House is to get some sleep, and "I guess I'll also be the chef for my wife."
While some former White House chefs welcomed Kass' extra-culinary activities, one said Kass was an unnecessary staff addition.
"There is no need for two chefs in the White House. One is enough," said Roland Mesnier, who spent 25 years there as executive pastry chef. He was referring to executive chef Cristeta Comerford, who likely would have prepared Obama's meals had Kass not come along. She handles menus for official White House entertaining, such as state dinners.
AP

Tuesday 23 December 2014

NY police union leader well known for his bite

18:36 , No comments :
Patrick Lynch was hollering.
Standing outside a Brooklyn hospital after the bodies of two slain police officers were taken away, the head of the nation's largest police union railed against Mayor Bill de Blasio for failing to support the rank-and-file, enabling protesters and creating a climate of mistrust that allowed the tragedy to happen.
"That blood on the hands starts at the steps of City Hall, in the office of the mayor," Lynch said. "After the funerals, those responsible will be called on the carpet and held accountable."
Such theatrics aren't new for the excitable, amped-up Lynch. But his ongoing war of words with the mayor in recent weeks is a notch up even for him.
Just days before Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were shot to death in their car, Lynch had suggested officers sign a petition barring the mayor from attending their funerals should they die on the job.
And after a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man whose confrontation with police was videotaped, Lynch was incensed when the mayor mentioned how he often fears for the safety of his biracial son in his interactions with police.
"Police officers," Lynch said, "feel like they are being thrown under the bus."
Lynch is the face — and the mouth — of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, representing 24,000 officers. He's stood at podiums across the city since 1999 to defend officers accused of brutality, abuse of authority and deaths in custody. He uses words like "mopes," ''mutts" and "skells" to describe those who attack police. He shakes the hand of every officer he sees. And right now, he says, the police are feeling terrible.
"It is an odd time, and it's a very difficult time, because it seems like here in New York that the problems people believe society has are being laid at the feet of New York City police officers," he said in an interview shortly before the shootings.
De Blasio, a Democrat serving his first term as mayor, said flatly Monday he thought Lynch's recent comments were wrong and divisive and he did not believe all officers agreed with them. The mayor said he has a long record of support for the police and was trying to transcend the sniping and strike a unifying tone.
Lynch's recent remarks have set off a hail of criticism online and in the streets, where people say he's adding to the problem. But the way Lynch sees it, the all-time lows in crime in the city now give residents the luxury to criticize the police.
"People are forgetting how dangerous it was, the risks we took to make the city safe," he said.
It wasn't like that when he came on the job in 1984 as a patrolman in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, then a wasteland of warehouses and drug dens but now among the trendiest parts of the city, with giant condominiums, glitzy clubs and expensive restaurants.
Lynch, 51, was born and raised in a traditional Irish-Catholic family in the Bayside neighborhood in Queens, the youngest of seven children. He went to Monsignor Scanlan High School, where he met his wife, with whom he has two grown sons, both police officers.
Lynch's father was a motorman with the city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and he initially worked there before joining the NYPD. He became a union delegate and eventually ran for president. He is up for re-election for a fifth time next year. His mother died around the time of the grand jury's decision — he left a news conference to go to her wake.
His public battle with de Blasio, with volleys coming from both sides, is unprecedented, he says, because the mayor isn't giving police support publicly or in continued contract negotiations. Other mayors may have criticized police or been stingy with salaries, he says, but not both at the same time. The city and police are currently in binding arbitration.
Some of Lynch's supporters have said the rhetoric must be toned down.
Before the shooting, NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said he knows and respects Lynch but accused him and other leaders of taking "cheap shots" at the mayor to advance their own agendas. But after the shooting, police at the hospital turned their backs on the mayor — a stunning display of defiance — and Bratton conceded de Blasio was losing support among some officers.
In an op-ed piece in the Daily News, Cardinal Timothy Dolan called it "unfair and counterproductive to dismiss our mayor and other leaders as enemies of the police." And activists denounced any effort to derail the protests or blame demonstrations for the shooting deaths.
"This weekend, Patrick Lynch used his role as the president of the largest police union in New York to essentially declare war on black communities," said a statement by a dozen groups. "This is unacceptable and should be condemned."
But Lynch said he's speaking out for the rank-and-file, whose morale was low and has only plummeted.
"These ideas and issues aren't created at PBA headquarters," Lynch said. "They come from the ground up. The anger is palatable."
AP

Cuban dissidents shaken by U.S. rapprochement, seek new tactics

18:32 , No comments :

 President Barack Obama's decision to end five decades of enmity with Cuba has shaken the island's political dissidents, dividing their ranks and forcing them to rethink tactics.
Throughout the Cold War and beyond, the United States relied on the small dissident movement to lead domestic opposition to Cuba's communist government and keep track of human rights abuses.
    So after Obama last week tore up the tough, decades-old policy aimed at crippling Cuba, some dissidents feel betrayed and unsure of their movement, which infuriates the government and has limited public support.
    The United States will still encourage Cubans to push for more political rights but it now has its own direct channel to President Raul Castro's government, raising uncertainty about the dissidents' future value to the Americans.
While some dissident leaders welcomed the policy shift for stripping Cuba's government of excuses for economic shortages and strict political control, others complained the deal was negotiated without their knowledge and against their will.
    "President Obama has made a mistake," said Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, a largely Roman Catholic group that has protest marches each Sunday. "This is going to benefit the Cuban government, strengthening and equipping its repressive machine."
While her group was marching on the streets, enduring harassment and detention, the U.S. government was engaged in secret talks with Havana over the past 18 months.
Guillermo Fariñas, who was detained like clockwork at 38 consecutive weekly protests outside his home this year in the city of Santa Clara, was even more blunt.
"I feel betrayed," said Fariñas, who was bothered by the secrecy of the talks and said the views of dissidents were discounted. "I know some people are offended by that word, but I use it on purpose."
Fariñas was in the minority during a landmark meeting of 29 dissidents from across Cuba who gathered for 10 hours on Monday at the office of 14ymedio, the news and opinion website of prominent blogger Yoani Sanchez.
Soler did not attend. Other senior dissident leaders either welcomed Obama's policy shift or accepted it as a reality beyond their control.
In a joint statement, they applauded the prisoner swap that allowed the release of U.S. foreign aid worker Alan Gross and more than 50 unidentified Cuban prisoners.
A U.S. official described the freed Cubans as political prisoners, but the dissidents have yet to confirm any of their people were released, leaving them wondering who exactly the United States fought to get free.
SEEKING UNITY
Participants in the meeting said they aired their differences inside but then agreed to present a united front. Reporters and diplomats were banned and all 29 dissidents placed their cell phones in a basket for the entire 10 hours.
Veteran leader Elizardo Sanchez declined to define the sharpest points of disagreement, but said they all recognized that Obama's move required a new approach to pressuring the government and seeking popular support.
"With this change, the discourse of the government has to change, and so does ours ... Now is the time for us to readjust our tactics due to the changing political scene," Sanchez said.
They have only just started thinking about what those tactics might be.
Cuba's government routinely accuses dissidents of being "mercenaries" of the U.S. government and many Cubans are skeptical about their motives, believing they are driven by the modest economic aide afforded by foreign groups.
Still, Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, said he was optimistic. "There's a new dynamic and we think it will be very positive for the future of Cuba."
The 29 reaffirmed their demands for multiparty elections, the release of all political prisoners and respect for the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
But the discord from the Ladies in White was notable.
Images of Cuban police roughing up the Ladies in White at demonstrations have raised their profile, placing them among the most celebrated dissidents in the United States, along with Yoani Sanchez.
She has yet to offer strong opinions about the U.S. policy change, but other young dissidents have decided to embrace it.
"The worst thing we can do is cry about what happened," said Eliecer Avila, 29, the leader of Somos Mas (We Are More). "We should take Raul and Obama at their word. There was never a better opportunity than now for us bring our peoples together, and this is an opportunity we should not pass up."
Reuters

Monday 22 December 2014

Obama to name Sally Yates as pick for deputy attorney general

15:33 , No comments :
U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to announce on Monday that U.S. Attorney Sally Yates will be his nominee for deputy attorney general, the No. 2 position at the Justice Department, a U.S. official said.
Yates, 54, currently serves as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia where she is known as a close ally of outgoing U.S. Attorney
 Eric Holder's Justice Department.
She is a vocal proponent of Holder's policies on lowering incarceration rates by cutting jail time for low-level drug offenders.
During her time as a federal prosecutor in Georgia, Yates led several high-profile cases, including the successful prosecution of Eric Rudolph, who bombed a building in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics.
Some Republicans, including Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and David Vitter, have threatened to hold up confirmation of the new attorney general, who would oversee Yates, over disagreements with Obama's new immigration policy.
If confirmed, Yates will replace outgoing Deputy Attorney General James Cole, who is leaving in January and has not announced future plans.
The choice of Yates signals that little may change at the Justice Department after Holder leaves the post.
Yates currently serves on Holder's advisory committee of U.S. attorneys under the leadership of Loretta Lynch, Obama's pick to be the next attorney general.

"Their very effective partnership leading the U.S. attorney community will be taken to a whole new level," said U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman, who previously led the committee.
Reuters

Friday 19 December 2014

Putin: Russia military modernization to go ahead

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Boasting about the Russian military's capability, President Vladimir Putin vowed Friday to continue an ambitious weapons modernization program with a particular emphasis on nuclear strategic forces.
The move came amid Russia's escalating standoff with the West.
Speaking at a meeting with Russia's top military brass, Putin said the nation's nuclear forces are a "major factor in maintaining global balance," adding that "they effectively preclude the possibility of a large-scale aggression against Russia."
Putin said the military is set to receive 50 new intercontinental ballistic missiles — a significantly higher number than in previous years.
The huge military buildup is continuing despite the country's economic woes, triggered by a combination of Western sanctions against Russia and the slumping prices of oil. The ruble collapse this week stoked fears of high inflation and a banking crisis.
Russia-West relations have plummeted to post-Cold War lows over Moscow's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and support for the pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine.
"Once again, I would like to thank the military leadership and the military personnel for their accurate, careful and balanced action, their courage and professionalism during the event in Crimea," Putin said.
Days after Ukraine's former pro-Russia president was driven from power in February, Russia sent additional forces to Crimea, where it had a naval base. The troops seized key facilities in Crimea and blocked Ukrainian military garrisons there as residents voted to join Russia in hastily called referendum.
Putin initially claimed the well-armed masked men were local self-defense forces and only admitted they were Russian troops after annexing Crimea in March.
The Kremlin still rejects Ukrainian and Western claims that Russia sent troops and heavy weapons to fuel the pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where more than 4,700 people have been killed in fighting since April.
AP

8 children killed, mother stabbed, in Australia

19:03 No comments :
The bodies of eight children — aged 18 months to 15 years — and a wounded woman were discovered in a home in northern Australia on Friday, police said.
Police in Australia do not typically name suspects. Police did say they do not believe a murderer is at large and that they were talking to the woman, who was found stabbed in the chest. She is believed to be 
the mother of seven of the dead children, police said.
The eighth dead child is also believed to be related to the 34-year-old wounded woman, Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar said. The woman was receiving treatment for her injuries and was in stable condition at a hospital.
Queensland state police said they were called to the home in the Cairns suburb of Manoora on Friday morning after receiving a report of a woman with serious injuries. When police got to the house, they found the bodies of the children.
Asnicar declined to say how the children died.
He said he didn't believe there was a multiple murderer still at large and that police were talking to the woman. Asked if she was a suspect, he said officials have not yet identified any suspects and were questioning everyone who had contact with the family in the past 2-3 days.
"As it stands at the moment, there's no need for the public to be concerned about this other than the fact that it's a tragic, tragic event," Asnicar said. "The situation is well controlled at the moment. There shouldn't be any concern for anyone else out of this environment."
Lisa Thaiday, who said she was the injured woman's cousin, said one of the woman's other sons, a 20-year-old, came home and found his brothers and sisters dead inside the house.
"I'm going to see him now, he needs comforting," Thaiday said. "We're a big family ... I just can't believe it. We just found out (about) those poor babies."
The street has been cordoned off and a crime scene will remain in place for at least the next day, Asnicar said.
Dozens of police descended on the home, and crowds of local residents stood outside the police barricades, some of them wiping away tears.
"These events are extremely distressing for everyone of course and police officers aren't immune from that — we're human beings as well," Ascinar said.
The tragedy comes as Australia is still reeling from the shock of a deadly siege in a Sydney cafe earlier this week. On Monday, a gunman burst into the cafe in the heart of the city and took 18 people inside hostage. Two hostages were dead along with the gunman after police stormed in 16 hours later in a bid to end the siege.
Police had earlier said there were 17 hostages in the cafe, but revised the number after a new count.
"The news out of Cairns is heartbreaking," Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a statement. "All parents would feel a gut-wrenching sadness at what has happened. This is an unspeakable crime. These are trying days for our country."
AP

Hack attack spurs call for more NKorea sanctions

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Suspicions that North Korea was behind a destructive hacking attack against Sony Pictures and a threat against movie theaters are intensifying calls for tougher U.S. steps to cut that country's access to hard currency and declare it once more as a state sponsor of terrorism.
At first glance, U.S. options for responding to the hacking attack are limited. Bringing the shadowy hackers to justice appears a distant prospect. A U.S. cyber-retaliation against North Korea would risk a dangerous escalation. And North Korea is already targeted by a raft of sanctions over its nuclear weapons program.
"We don't sell them anything, we don't buy anything from them and we don't have diplomatic relations," said William Reinsch, a former senior Commerce Department official who was responsible for enforcing international sanctions against North Korea and other countries.
But the U.S. isn't powerless if it concludes Pyongyang was behind the hack that has prompted Sony to cancel its Christmas Day release of the movie "The Interview."
While U.S. officials are saying privately that they believe North Korea was connected to the attack, the White House has not said so publicly. On Thursday, presidential spokesman Josh Earnest declined to blame North Korea, which has denied responsibility. He said he did not want to get ahead of investigations by the Justice Department and the FBI. Evidence shows the hacking was carried out by a "sophisticated actor" with "malicious intent," he said.
Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he did not doubt North Korea was involved. He called for tougher U.S. sanctions to cut Pyongyang's access to hard currency, by excluding from the U.S. financial system banks in other countries that hold North Korean funds.
"This is not a just a corporate security issue," Royce told The Associated Press. "It is an act of aggression against the United States by a foreign government. "
Legislation for such banking sanctions, sponsored by Royce and the committee's top-ranking Democrat, passed the House in the summer but was not taken up by the Senate. Current sanctions principally aim at preventing North Korea from trading weapons and acquiring nuclear and missile technology.
The Obama administration has been reluctant to embrace Royce's approach. The biggest impact would be felt by banks in China, complicating U.S. efforts to curry better ties with Beijing.
Evans Revere, a former State Department official and specialist on Korea, said if U.S. officials connect North Korea not only to the hacking attack but the threats to carry out 9/11-style attacks against movie theaters, a case could be made to put North Korea again on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. That designation now is held by Iran, Sudan, Syria and Cuba. North Korea was on the list for 20 years until it was taken off in 2008 by the Bush administration during nuclear negotiations. Royce said putting Pyongyang back on would be warranted.
While North Korea has denied it was involved, its government issued a statement earlier this month describing the hack as a "righteous deed." The movie, a comedy, is about a plot to assassinate North Korea's totalitarian leader, Kim Jong Un.
U.S. detective work pointing to North Korea appears so far to be largely circumstantial, based on subtle clues in the hacking tools left behind and the involvement of at least one computer in Bolivia previously traced to other attacks tied to the North Koreans. Still, the evidence has been considered conclusive enough that a U.S. official told the AP that investigators have now connected the attack to North Korea.
Earnest said the investigation was progressing. He said President Barack Obama's national security advisers were considering a range of options for a "proportional response."
Victor Cha, who served as Asia policy director in the George W. Bush White House, said despite the long history of censuring North Korea over its weapons development, there's no diplomatic playbook to follow in a case like this. "On the nuclear and missile side we have established a pattern of interactions between states on how to respond, but in the cyber world there's no rules right now," he said.
Washington struggles to keep its interaction with North Korea on an even keel at the best of times, through periodic nuclear and rocket tests and dire threats of military reprisals. The U.S. retains nearly 30,000 troops in neighboring South Korea.
Multination talks aimed at getting North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for aid have stalled for several years, and Pyongyang has been frustrated by what it considers a U.S. reluctance to engage in dialogue. The animosity has built as the U.S. has supported a U.N. inquiry into North Korea's dire human rights record.
AP

Thursday 18 December 2014

Cubans hope for better future with US-Havana deal

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Cubans cheered the surprise announcement that their country will restore relations with the United States, hopeful they'll soon see expanded trade and new economic vibrancy even though the 53-year-old economic embargo remains in place for the time being.
"This opens a better future for us," said Milagros Diaz, 34. "We have really needed something like this because the situation has been bad and the people very discouraged."
Bells tolled in celebration and teachers halted lessons midday as President Raul Castro told his country Wednesday that Cuba would renew relations with Washington after more than a half-century of hostility.
Wearing his military uniform with its five-star insignia, the 83-year-old leader said the two countries would work to resolve their differences "without renouncing a single one of our principles."
Havana residents gathered around television sets in homes, schools and businesses to hear the historic national broadcast, which coincided with a statement by U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington. Uniformed schoolchildren burst into applause at the news.
At the University of San Geronimo in the capital's historic center, the announcement drew ringing from the bell tower. Throughout the capital, there was a sense of euphoria as word spread.
"For the Cuban people, I think this is like a shot of oxygen, a wish-come-true, because with this, we have overcome our differences," said Carlos Gonzalez, a 32-year-old IT specialist. "It is an advance that will open the road to a better future for the two countries."
Fidel and Raul Castro led the 1959 rebellion that toppled the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. The U.S. initially recognized the new government but broke relations in 1961 after Cuba veered sharply to the left and nationalized U.S.-owned businesses.
As Cuba turned toward the Soviet Union, the U.S. imposed a trade embargo in 1962. Particularly since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Cubans have confronted severe shortages of oil, food and consumer goods, forcing them to ration everything from beans to powdered milk.
The Cuban government blames most of its economic travails on the embargo, while Washington has traditionally blamed Cuba's Communist economic policies.
In his address, Castro called on Washington to end its trade embargo which, he said, "has caused enormous human and economic damage."
Ramon Roman, 62, said he hoped to see Cuba welcome more tourists. "It would be a tremendous economic injection, both in terms of money and in new energy and would be a boost for average people who need it," he said.
Victoria Serrano, a lab worker, said she hoped to see an influx of new goods because life in Cuba has been "really very difficult."
"In particular," she said, "I hope we'll see an improvement in food — that there is trade in this with the United States, which is so close. Right now, even an onion has become a luxury."
Around the cathedral in Old Havana, people gathered in doorways and on sidewalks, gesturing excitedly as they discussed the news.
Guillermo Delgado, a 72-year-old retiree, welcomed the announcement as "a victory for Cuba because it was achieved without conceding basic principles."
Yoani Sanchez, a renowned Cuban blogger critical of the government, noted the development came with a price. Castro, she said, could now claim a triumph and that he had made a "bargaining chip" of Alan Gross, the U.S. aid worker who was released from prison Wednesday while the U.S. freed three Cubans held as spies.
"In this way, the Castro regime has managed to get its way," she wrote in a blog post. "It has managed to exchange a peaceful man, embarked on the humanitarian adventure of providing Internet connectivity to a group of Cubans, for intelligence agents that caused significant damage and sorrow with their actions."
Some dissidents expressed their displeasure at not being consulted by the U.S. government about the historic move.
Dissident Guillermo Farinas considered the move a "betrayal" by Obama who, he said, had promised that they would be consulted. Another activist, Antonio Rodiles, said the measure "sends a bad message."
Others, meanwhile, were cautious, saying they'll wait and see what it all means.
"It's not enough since it doesn't lift the blockade," said Pedro Duran, 28. "We'll see if it's true, if it's not like everything here: one step forward and three steps back. For now, I don't think there will be any immediate improvement after we've been living like this for 50 years."
AP
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