JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
Trump refuses to debate; calls Fox's Kelly 'a lightweight'-Associated Press By STEVE PEOPLES-JAN 26,16-YAHOONEWS
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — Republican Donald Trump on Tuesday bowed out of the final Republican presidential debate before the leadoff Iowa caucuses, saying Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly is "a lightweight."With 48 hours to go before the faceoff, campaign manager Corey Lewandowski confirmed Trump's decision Tuesday evening after a press conference in which Trump lashed out at Kelly and said she'd been "toying" with him."He will not be participating in the Fox News debate Thursday," Lewandowski said immediately after the press conference.Trump, who called his decision "pretty close to irrevocable" in the press conference, said he'd hold an Iowa event at the same time as the debate to raise money for wounded veterans. Iowa hosts the nation's opening presidential primary contest on Monday."With me, they're dealing with somebody that's a little bit different. They can't toy with me like they toy with everybody else," he said. "Let them have their debate and let's see how they do with the ratings."He added, "Why do I have to make Fox rich?"The Republican National Committee said the decision was up to Trump."Obviously we would love all of the candidates to participate but each campaign ultimately makes their own decision what's it their best interest," said RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer.Trump had suggested he might skip the Fox debate earlier in the day, drawing a sarcastic statement from the television network that "the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president.""A nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings," the Fox statement said.A Fox spokesman did not immediately respond to Trump's decision.The New York real estate mogul's presence has helped produce massive ratings in the previous six Republican presidential debates. His decision leaves seven candidates to share the primetime stage on Thursday: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul."Let them have their debate. I'm going to raise money during that period of time for the wounded warriors and for the vets. Let Fox play its games," Trump said.He added, "I don't' think Iowa's gonna care."At the very least, the high-profile debate feud serves as a major distraction in the Republican contest just six days before Iowa voters cast the first votes in the 2016 primary contest.Trump, now locked in a tight race with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, has proven to be a master of commanding media attention at key moments. Among other things, he has previously called for a temporary ban on all Muslim immigrants and later questioned Cruz's presidential eligibility given that he was born in Canada.The provocative declarations have often left little oxygen in the race for his opponents to surge.
How an investigation into Planned Parenthood boomeranged against its accusers-Michael Isikoff-Chief Investigative Correspondent-January 26, 2016-YAHOONEWS
David Daleiden, left, and his fake driver’s license under the name “Robert Daoud Sarkis.”For Houston prosecutors, the crucial evidence that turned a criminal investigation into Planned Parenthood into a probe of the group’s critics was two forged California driver’s licenses with phony names.The fake licenses were used by two antiabortion activists, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, to gain access to a Planned Parenthood conference in Houston last April in order to make an undercover video intended to show that the organization was engaged in the illegal sale of fetal tissue for abortions.But apparently unknown to the activists, Planned Parenthood security guards had scanned the licenses — and photographed the two activists using them as they entered the conference.When Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson launched an investigation into Planned Parenthood last summer — amid a political outcry spurred by the videos — one of the group’s lawyers, Josh Schaffer, met with the prosecutors and turned over copies of the fake IDs.The phony licenses with fake names (“Robert Daoud Sarkis” for Daleiden and “Susan Sarah Tennenbaum” for Merritt) are dated in 2009 and 2010, respectively, according to copies obtained by Yahoo News on Tuesday. The documents then became the basis for criminal indictments against the two antiabortion activists that a grand jury returned late Monday. The charge against them: tampering with a governmental record, a felony that is punishable by between two and 20 years in prison, under Texas law.“This is not your teenage kid presenting a fake ID to get a six-pack of beer,” Schaffer told Yahoo News in an interview. “What elevates this is the intention to defraud and harm another.”Daleiden was also charged with a misdemeanor relating to the purchase and sale of human organs, according to a statement by the district attorney. No charges are to be filed against Planned Parenthood, the original target of the probe.Schaffer described how from the outset of the probe, he and Planned Parenthood fully cooperated with investigators. “I met with the prosecutors,” he said. “We gave them a tour of the facility, and we turned over a slew of documents.”Sandra Merritt’s fake driver’s license under the name “Susan Sarah Tennenbaum.”But even after receiving the phony driver’s licenses, the prosecutors and agents on the case were stumped by one issue: They had the phony name that Merritt had used on the driver’s license — “Susan Tennenbaum” — but they didn’t know her true identity, Schaffer said. And when they questioned Daleiden, Schaffer said he learned from the prosecutors, the antiabortion activist refused to tell them.Then, just this month, there was a breakthrough: Daleiden was being deposed in California for an unrelated civil suit brought by a fetal tissue provider. In the suit, he was asked about his colleague, and he was forced, under oath, to identify her as Merritt. Schaffer got a hold of a transcript of the deposition, and it allowed Planned Parenthood to file its own civil suit earlier this month against the two activists, the group they were working for — the Center for Medical Progress, an antiabortion organization in Irvine, Calif. — and four associates.Among the allegations in the suit: that Daleiden, the Center for Medical Progress’s chief executive officer, and Merritt created a fake fetal tissue company with phony business cards to carry off their ruse. And that, as part of the plan, Merritt even created a fake Facebook page with “likes” that included Hillary Clinton and “The Rachel Maddow Show.”Daleiden and Merritt couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday. But in a statement on the Center for Medical Progress’s website, the group said, “The Center for Medical Progress uses the same undercover techniques that investigative journalists have used for decades in exercising our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and of the press, and follows all applicable laws. We respect the processes of the Harris County District Attorney, and note that buying fetal tissue requires a seller as well. Planned Parenthood still cannot deny the admissions from their leadership about fetal organ sales captured on video for all the world to see.”
Europol launches EU anti-terror centre-By EUOBSERVER-JAN 26,16
Today, 09:09-Europol has launched the EU's new European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC). The centre, launched at the informal meeting of the justice and home affairs ministers in Amsterdam on Monday, will be based in The Hague and will tackle issues like foreign fighters, terrorist financing, online propaganda and arms trafficking.
Most asylum seekers ineligible, EU commissioner says By Nikolaj Nielsen-JAN 26,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 19:44-More than half of asylum seekers and refugees arriving in the EU last December were not entitled to international protection, the EU has said, marking a possible trend reversal.In an interview with Dutch media outlet Nos on Monday (25 January), European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans said more than 60 percent did not qualify."More than half of the people now arriving to Europe come from countries where you can assume they have no reason to apply for refugee status. More than half, 60 percent", he said.The figures are sourced from an unpublished report by the EU border agency Frontex and may represent a major trend shift.The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) had previously said that up until the start of December over 75 percent of those arriving in Europe had fled conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq.-Lower in January-EU Commission spokesperson Natasha Bertaud, for her part, said the figure for January appears to be lower than Frontex's estimate of 60 percent for December.The statistics so far for January were not provided but the Swiss-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) maintains that some 90 percent of all new arrivals in Greece since the start of the year come from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.IOM missions in Greece and the Western Balkans estimate some 38,876 Syrians, Iraqis and Afghanis crossed into Macedonia in the two weeks prior to 21 January, nearly 47 percent fewer than in the preceding two weeks.It also estimates that 45,361 arrived by sea on the Greek islands since the start of the year."This is roughly 31 times as many as the 1,472 recorded by the Greek Coast Guard for the whole of January 2015," the IOM noted in a statement.-Returns-The EU and member states like Greece are still struggling to return home people who don't qualify.The EU has a readmission agreement with Pakistan but it is not working in practice. Greece last December tried to send dozens back but they were blocked by authorities in Islamabad.Matthias Ruete, who heads the commission's migration and home affairs directorate, said similar problems were being encountered with Turkey.He noted Greece had filed some 12,000 readmissions to Turkey. Turkey accepted 6,000 of those but only 50 actually returned."Some of it because the people had just absconded, some of it because the Turkish authorities were so long in terms of replying to these requests", he said on Tuesday.-Mounting pressure-Pressure is now mounting to extend border controls within the EU's passport-free Schengen zone to up to two years.EU interior ministers in Amsterdam on Monday asked the EU Commission to draw up plans to prolong the checks.Bertaud told reporters on Tuesday that those checks were likely to be extended given that many more people are expected to arrive in the upcoming months."If the situation does not change and there could be indeed justifications under public order and security reasons to maintain internal controls at internal Schengen borders as long as the external borders are not effectively controlled", she saidAll eyes are on Greece, which is the target of the bulk of migrant inflows.Greek authorities are struggling to patrol Turkey's 1,800-kilometre coastline.Last year, almost 20,000 small rubber boats landed on the Greek islands and some 2,800 in December alone.
German MPs sceptical of Merkel's 'European solution' By Marta Orosz-EUOBSERVER
BERLIN, 26. Jan, 17:55-Forty-four of the 310 members of Angela Merkel's Bundestag parliamentary group signed a protest letter on 19 January asking the chancellor to change course on her refugee policy."There have been passionate, controversial, yet factual debates within the Union on the issue of refugees," Wolfgang Bosbach, one of the signatories of the letter, told press in Berlin on Monday (25 January)."We are torn between our sympathy and respect for Angela Merkel and our doubts whether Europe will find the right way to solve our problems," said Bosbach, an MP in Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which is part of the parliamentary group that also includes its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).Austria and Sweden have reintroduced border controls to stop the influx of migrants and refugees.Germany accepted over 40 percent of the migrants and refugees arriving in the EU in the first quarter of 2015, according to Eurostat. Many in Merkel's conservative party and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the other coalition partner, consider that she has been too liberal on this issue.Concerns from CDU/CSU MPs have grown as they have seen that neither the so-called hotspots nor the plan to distribute 160,000 refugees across the EU have been implemented."If refugees were somewhat equitably distributed in the European Union, then there is no doubt that reception and integration of 2 - 3 million people would be possible," said Wolfgang Bosbach, an eager critic of the chancellor.But he and other Merkel critics expressed their fear in the letter that this would not change in the foreseeable future.-Historic assignment-It is not the first letter addressed to Merkel by different groups protesting her open doors policy.The German chancellor has been under intense pressure from both local officials and federal politicians. Most of her critics expect her to give in to a migrant cap.Bosbach, who is managing to achieve currently more popularity amongst Germans than the chancellor herself, expects a so-called 'Kurskorrektur', or change of course, in her policy.Merkel is very much aware of the current sentiments, but "she acts on conviction", Bosbach said. "The chancellor thinks that history assigned us this task and we should not surrender."In addition, she was hoping to gather allies for her policy in Europe, which is backed by European Commission president Juncker and Parliament president Martin Schulz.Some small changes have already been made to the refugee policy, including extending the list of 'safe countries of origin' and offering asylum seekers food and clothes at reception facilities rather than cash benefits.-No tangible alternatives-After the assaults in Cologne on New Year's Eve, measures to facilitate the deportation of delinquent migrants are being discussed.Bosbach and like-minded MPs in the CDU meticulously avoid using the phrase migrant cap, but ultimately this is what they expect. "A cap of 200,000 asylum seekers a year is something I consider plausible," he said.Neither the joint letter nor Bosbach have formulated tangible alternatives to Merkel's open doors policy.The latest proposal, drafted by the CDU MP and prime minister candidate in the upcoming Rhineland-Palatinate state elections Julia Klöckner, is meant to lead to a compromise within the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. However, it simply renames options both Merkel and the social democrats have already rejected.Transit zones facilitating on-the-spot decisions over entering Germany are now referred to as border centres in the new proposal and the migrant cap is re-formulated into flexible daily quotas.Most of the conservative Merkel critics would be content with this plan, but the SPD coalition partner does not consider any of this an option."Transit zones are only practicable on a 3,757 kilometre, green border if the German borders are completely closed", said the MP Burkhard Lischka.-Conventions-Even though Bosbach stressed that "there is no revolution or rebellion within the CDU/CSU against Merkel," he recalled that there had not been a vote yet in the German parliament on the issue of refugees.Other MPs, too, would be in favour of a Bundestag vote on the refugee policy, even if a majority are expected to support Merkel on the issue, regardless of their political affiliation.If Germany closed its borders and rejected masses of asylum seekers, this would cause a tailback in neighbouring countries – and might put pressure on them to accept the migrant quotas and thus have a controlled influx of people.But the migrant cap seems to be a more complicated issue for Germany perhaps than other European countries. A recent ruling of the EU Court of Justice and a statement by the president of the federal Constitutional Court have asserted that a cap is not compatible with the individual right of asylum.International and German constitutional law state that individuals have the right to apply for asylum, subject to certain conditions. Therefore, it may prove difficult for German lawmakers to find a legal framework in which the first person over a cap can have their asylum application refused.
Kremlin demands US show 'proof' of Putin corruption claims-AFP-January 25, 2016 7:53 PM-YAHOONEWS
Moscow (AFP) - The Kremlin on Tuesday dismissed comments by a US Treasury official to the BBC alleging massive corruption by President Vladimir Putin, challenging Washington to provide proof for what amounted to an "official accusation".In the BBC Panorama programme that aired Monday evening, Adam Szubin, acting under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury said Putin was a "picture of corruption"."Concerning the BBC show, this would just be another example of typical irresponsible journalism if it weren't for the comment by a US Treasury official," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists."Here the situation is different. This is an official accusation," Peskov said."First of all this shows clearly who pulls the strings. Secondly, it requires proof," Peskov said."The airing of such accusations from such an institution as the US Treasury without concrete proof to back them up casts a shadow on this institution."Asked if the show's claim could affect relations with the US, Peskov said that relations were "now not in the best shape and therefore such a lie can hardly make them worse."Peskov earlier told the BBC the claims were "pure fiction."
French state of emergency under growing criticism By Eric Maurice-JAN 26,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-The Council of Europe has expressed concern over a planned extension of the state of emergency in France, the latest organisation to criticise the French government's actions following the Paris attacks in November."It was with some concern that I learned that its extension appeared to be under consideration," the pan-European human rights watchdog's president Thorbjoern Jagland wrote in a letter to French president Francois Hollande on Monday (25 January)."I would like to draw your attention to the risks that could result from the prerogatives conferred on the executive by the provisions that apply during the state of emergency if they are not accompanied by appropriate safeguards from the point of view of respect for fundamental freedoms," Jagland wrote."I sincerely hope that the current plans for constitutional and criminal-law reforms will secure this essential balance to which you are personally committed."The state of emergency was declared in France on the evening of the 13 November terrorist attacks in Paris, in which 130 people were killed. After an initial two-week period, it was extended for three months, until 25 February.Next week, on 3 February, the government will present a bill to extend it for three further months. And on 5 February the parliament will start examining a constitutional reform that includes provisions on the state of emergency.-New normality?-The constitutional bill states that the state of emergency can be declared "in case of immediate danger resulting from serious breach of public order" or of "events presenting, by nature and gravity, a characteristic of public calamity".It also adds to the constitution special administrative powers to the police, through laws to be voted.Another measure in the bill is the stripping of French citizenship for French-born people who have another citizenship and are sentenced over "a crime constituting a serious offence to the life of the nation".While the citizenship measure has divided Hollande's Socialist Party and his leftist majority in parliament, the institutionalisation of special powers is also rejected by some member of the centre-right opposition.As a consequence, the government is not sure to gain the three-fifths majority in parliament needed to change the constitution."As long as the threat is there we must use all means at our disposal," French prime minister Manuel Valls told the BBC last week.In the interview, Valls appeared to say that the state of emergency would stay "until we can get rid of Daesh”, the Arabic name for the Islamic State group (IS), which has said it carried out the Paris attacks.Valls also said that France "cannot live forever" under a state of emergency, but the echo of the first report demonstrated fears that exceptional measures could become a kind of new normality with the threat of new attacks still hanging.-UN concerns-In a statement published on 18 January, the French national consultative commission of human rights (CNDCDH) warned that the state of emergency "intrinsically harms" public liberties."The state of emergency, which must remain temporary, should not become the rule: its sole and only aim is a rapid return to normality," the human rights watchdog said."The biggest victory for the 'enemies of human rights' (terrorists or others) would be to imperil the rule of law with the emergence and consolidation of an illusory state of security that would legitimate itself with the adoption of measures that would be more and more detrimental to fundamental rights and liberties."The French watchdog's criticism was mirrored by a UN rights experts group who estimated that the measures taken by French authorities "do not seem to adjust to the fundamental principles of necessity and proportionality".The UN experts noted that the measures only allow judicial review of the powers of the executive after they have been invoked, that a law on surveillance of international electronic communications adopted last year has expanded powers to collect and store communications and date, and that under the state of emergency even environmental activists have been put under house arrest.“While exceptional measures may be required under exceptional circumstances, this does not relieve the authorities from demonstrating that these are applied solely for the purposes for which they were prescribed, and are directly related to the specific objective that inspired them,” the UN experts said in a statement.More than two months after the introduction of the state of emergency, the first cracks are appearing.-Breach of freedoms-On 22 January, the Council of State, France's highest administrative court, for the first time ruled that a house arrest under the state of emergency was illegal.The judges said that a man had been unduly suspected of being a radical islamist and forced to stay home. Lower courts previously annulled seven other house arrest decisions by the police. About 400 people have been placed under house arrest under the measures.On Tuesday, the Council of State will also examine a request by the Human Rights League (LDH) to suspend the state of emergency.The NGO says the measure is "a serious and manifestly illegal breach of several fundamental liberties" such as the respect to privacy, the freedom of circulation or the freedom to work.It also says the November attacks cannot constitute any more an "immediate threat" that could justify that the state of emergency is maintained.The LDH request could be a watershed in the debate. Firstly because the government will have to explain its action and the measures taken. And secondly because the Council of State in its turn has called upon the Constitutional Court about the constitutional validity of some measures.The Council of State will probably not suspend the state of emergency, but the Constitutional Court's reply to the request will certainly be the moment when the authorities know the limit of the post-November attacks security package.
Leading Iraqi Shi'ite says Islamic State shrugging off U.S. air strikes-Reuters By Samia Nakhoul, Maher Chmaytelli and Ahmed Rasheed-JAN 26,16-YAHOONEWS
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Flush with cash and weapons, Islamic State is attracting huge numbers of foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria and withstanding U.S.-led air strikes that are failing to hit the right targets, a powerful Iraqi Shi’ite paramilitary leader told Reuters in an interview.Hadi al-Amiri also said Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was alive and in Iraq, despite reports that he had been wounded."Many of its leadership have been killed but one should know that Daesh (IS) is still strong," said Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization whose armed wing has been fighting alongside Iraqi security forces to recapture territory seized by IS."Their attacks are still daring and swift and their morale is high. They still have money and weapons."Amiri delivered a damning assessment of the air strikes that the United States and its allies have been conducting against Islamic State for almost 18 months.He said these had failed to dislodge IS because they failed to target its vital structure. Diplomats say the United States has been held back partly by the difficulty of avoiding civilian casualties."Today Daesh is a state, it has command centers, their locations are known, their logistics are known," Amiri said. "Its leadership is known, its military convoys are known, its training camps are known. Until now we have not seen effective air strikes."He said the ultra-hardline insurgents had secured sophisticated U.S.-made anti-tank weapons including TOW missiles through Gulf Arab states. And he ridiculed the idea that Western powers could ensure arms only reached moderate rebel groups."They (rebels) did not capture these missiles, they were supplied by America, Saudi Arabia and Gulf states under the pretext of arming the moderate opposition in Syria. Who is the moderate opposition? Ahrar al-Sham? Jaish al-Islam? Nusra or Daesh?" he asked, reeling off the names of competing Islamist factions."All of them are terrorists," he said. "Any moderate factions in Syria are weak. Even if they are supplied with weapons, Daesh seizes them."Military aid from states including Saudi Arabia has been supplied to Syrian rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army in western Syria, and some of these groups have received military training from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The training has included how to use TOW missiles, supplied via Turkey and Jordan.-GOVERNMENT FIGHTBACK-Shi'ite paramilitaries like Amiri's have played a vital role in helping Iraqi security forces recover lost territory from IS, which seized a string of major cities in 2014. When the militants declared that year that they had established an Islamic caliphate across parts of Iraq and Syria, he left a senior government post and rushed to the frontlines.Since then, the government forces and their paramilitary allies have regained control of key cities -- Tikrit, Ramadi and Baiji -- with the support of the U.S.-led air strikes.But he said there were more obstacles ahead before they could launch a battle to recapture Mosul, the country's second city and the biggest under Islamic State control. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his predecessor have long pledged to "liberate" Mosul but their plans have been repeatedly delayed."There are preparatory operations to retake Mosul but other operations have a priority. We want to go to Mosul with the reassurance that Baghdad is safe and all the provinces in the north and the south are safe. This is the main reason that delayed us advancing toward Mosul," Amiri said."We have a decision not to enter the city of Mosul. We will surround it from outside and leave its people and its tribes to take part while we conduct the siege."-SECTARIAN SPLIT-Amiri said Sunni-Shi'ite tensions galvanized by the war in Iraq and neighboring Syria were swelling the ranks of Islamic State.The bombing of a Shi'ite shrine housing the tombs of two imams in the Iraqi city of Samarra in 2006 was the trigger for the worst sectarian carnage to engulf Iraq in the past decade, and now the Syria conflict has splintered the Middle East along the faultline dividing the two main denominations of Islam.Syria has become a battlefield in a proxy war between President Bashar al-Assad's main ally, Shi'ite Iran, backed by Russia, and his Sunni enemies in Turkey and Gulf Arab states, supported by the West."There is no terrorist organization with the ability to recruit and organize youths like Daesh does. We should know our enemy accurately and precisely to be able to defeat them," Amiri said."Daesh has no problem recruiting. Foreign fighters are still flocking in huge numbers to Iraq and Syria via Turkey," he added. He accused Saudi Arabia of being the breeding ground of the ultra-hardline Wahhabi ideology embraced by IS and other al Qaeda-affiliated groups."Where does this fundamentalist, extremist Islamist ideology, come from? Where was it nurtured? Its origin is Saudi Arabia," he said, adding "we need to combat this (Daesh) ideology before we dry out its funding."Amiri's Badr fighters fought on Iran's side in the 1980-88 war against Iraq's Sunni dictator, Saddam Hussein. The militia came to dominate much of southern Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam, and during the sectarian fighting that followed."I fought Saddam Hussein for more than 20 years. If I knew the alternative to Saddam was al Qaeda, Nusra or Daesh, I would have fought with Saddam against them," he said."Saddam executed more than 16 family members ... but there is nothing worse than these extremist groups. They are a real danger to the whole world."(Writing by Samia Nakhoul and Stephen Kalin; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Kerry fails to sway Cambodian leaders on South China Sea-Reuters By David Brunnstrom and Prak Chan Thul-JAN 26,16-YAHOONEWS
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of States John Kerry met Cambodian leaders on Tuesday but failed to secure their commitment to a more robust stance with Southeast Asian nations against China's pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea.Kerry was in Cambodia after a visit to neighboring Laos as part of an effort to urge unity among leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations before a summit with President Barack Obama in Sunnylands, California, next month.In Phnom Penh, Kerry met Hun Sen, Asia's longest serving prime minister, and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong for what Kerry described as "candid and constructive" meetings.Hor Namhong said Cambodia's position on the South China Sea was unchanged. It believed individual countries should settle disputes among themselves without the involvement of ASEAN, he said.That mirrors China's position that ASEAN is not a party to territorial disputes, so rows should be resolved bilaterally."We want it open to negotiations in the future between countries who made claims in the South China Sea," Hor Namhong said.China claims almost all the South China Sea, which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, and has been building up facilities on islands it controls. Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines also have claims.Laos is the 2016 chair of ASEAN. Kerry said Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong told him on Monday that Laos wants to sea a unified association and avoid the militarization of the South China Sea.When Cambodia was ASEAN chair in 2012, it was accused of obstructing a consensus in the bloc over standing up to China's assertive pursuit of its South China Sea claims."Cambodia was not a court that could judge that this island belongs to this or that country," Hor Namhong said on Tuesday.Kerry did not refer to the South China Sea in a statement after the meetings but stressed that the United States and ASEAN have a strategic partnership "and Cambodia plays a role in fully defining that partnership".Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, answering a reporter's question about a U.S. official urging ASEAN to unite to protect maritime rights, said that official did not represent ASEAN."I hope the United States can play a constructive role for peace and stability in Asia Pacific region and not sow discord,” she told reporters at a regular press briefing.Cambodia said it would work with the U.S. on efforts to combat Islamic State, Kerry said.Kerry was due in China later on Tuesday, where he is expected to press Beijing to put more curbs on North Korea after its nuclear test this month and reiterate U.S. concerns about China's behavior in the South China Sea.He called North Korea's nuclear program "about one of the most serious issues on the planet today, which is a clearly reckless and dangerous, evolving security threat in the hands of somebody who is questionable in terms of judgment and has proven thus to China".A senior official of the U.S. State Department said Kerry was expected to stress the need for a united front in response to North Korea through additional U.N. sanctions and for a tough unilateral response from China, which is North Korea's main ally and neighbor. (Editing by Simon Webb and Nick Macfie)
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — Republican Donald Trump on Tuesday bowed out of the final Republican presidential debate before the leadoff Iowa caucuses, saying Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly is "a lightweight."With 48 hours to go before the faceoff, campaign manager Corey Lewandowski confirmed Trump's decision Tuesday evening after a press conference in which Trump lashed out at Kelly and said she'd been "toying" with him."He will not be participating in the Fox News debate Thursday," Lewandowski said immediately after the press conference.Trump, who called his decision "pretty close to irrevocable" in the press conference, said he'd hold an Iowa event at the same time as the debate to raise money for wounded veterans. Iowa hosts the nation's opening presidential primary contest on Monday."With me, they're dealing with somebody that's a little bit different. They can't toy with me like they toy with everybody else," he said. "Let them have their debate and let's see how they do with the ratings."He added, "Why do I have to make Fox rich?"The Republican National Committee said the decision was up to Trump."Obviously we would love all of the candidates to participate but each campaign ultimately makes their own decision what's it their best interest," said RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer.Trump had suggested he might skip the Fox debate earlier in the day, drawing a sarcastic statement from the television network that "the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president.""A nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings," the Fox statement said.A Fox spokesman did not immediately respond to Trump's decision.The New York real estate mogul's presence has helped produce massive ratings in the previous six Republican presidential debates. His decision leaves seven candidates to share the primetime stage on Thursday: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul."Let them have their debate. I'm going to raise money during that period of time for the wounded warriors and for the vets. Let Fox play its games," Trump said.He added, "I don't' think Iowa's gonna care."At the very least, the high-profile debate feud serves as a major distraction in the Republican contest just six days before Iowa voters cast the first votes in the 2016 primary contest.Trump, now locked in a tight race with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, has proven to be a master of commanding media attention at key moments. Among other things, he has previously called for a temporary ban on all Muslim immigrants and later questioned Cruz's presidential eligibility given that he was born in Canada.The provocative declarations have often left little oxygen in the race for his opponents to surge.
How an investigation into Planned Parenthood boomeranged against its accusers-Michael Isikoff-Chief Investigative Correspondent-January 26, 2016-YAHOONEWS
David Daleiden, left, and his fake driver’s license under the name “Robert Daoud Sarkis.”For Houston prosecutors, the crucial evidence that turned a criminal investigation into Planned Parenthood into a probe of the group’s critics was two forged California driver’s licenses with phony names.The fake licenses were used by two antiabortion activists, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, to gain access to a Planned Parenthood conference in Houston last April in order to make an undercover video intended to show that the organization was engaged in the illegal sale of fetal tissue for abortions.But apparently unknown to the activists, Planned Parenthood security guards had scanned the licenses — and photographed the two activists using them as they entered the conference.When Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson launched an investigation into Planned Parenthood last summer — amid a political outcry spurred by the videos — one of the group’s lawyers, Josh Schaffer, met with the prosecutors and turned over copies of the fake IDs.The phony licenses with fake names (“Robert Daoud Sarkis” for Daleiden and “Susan Sarah Tennenbaum” for Merritt) are dated in 2009 and 2010, respectively, according to copies obtained by Yahoo News on Tuesday. The documents then became the basis for criminal indictments against the two antiabortion activists that a grand jury returned late Monday. The charge against them: tampering with a governmental record, a felony that is punishable by between two and 20 years in prison, under Texas law.“This is not your teenage kid presenting a fake ID to get a six-pack of beer,” Schaffer told Yahoo News in an interview. “What elevates this is the intention to defraud and harm another.”Daleiden was also charged with a misdemeanor relating to the purchase and sale of human organs, according to a statement by the district attorney. No charges are to be filed against Planned Parenthood, the original target of the probe.Schaffer described how from the outset of the probe, he and Planned Parenthood fully cooperated with investigators. “I met with the prosecutors,” he said. “We gave them a tour of the facility, and we turned over a slew of documents.”Sandra Merritt’s fake driver’s license under the name “Susan Sarah Tennenbaum.”But even after receiving the phony driver’s licenses, the prosecutors and agents on the case were stumped by one issue: They had the phony name that Merritt had used on the driver’s license — “Susan Tennenbaum” — but they didn’t know her true identity, Schaffer said. And when they questioned Daleiden, Schaffer said he learned from the prosecutors, the antiabortion activist refused to tell them.Then, just this month, there was a breakthrough: Daleiden was being deposed in California for an unrelated civil suit brought by a fetal tissue provider. In the suit, he was asked about his colleague, and he was forced, under oath, to identify her as Merritt. Schaffer got a hold of a transcript of the deposition, and it allowed Planned Parenthood to file its own civil suit earlier this month against the two activists, the group they were working for — the Center for Medical Progress, an antiabortion organization in Irvine, Calif. — and four associates.Among the allegations in the suit: that Daleiden, the Center for Medical Progress’s chief executive officer, and Merritt created a fake fetal tissue company with phony business cards to carry off their ruse. And that, as part of the plan, Merritt even created a fake Facebook page with “likes” that included Hillary Clinton and “The Rachel Maddow Show.”Daleiden and Merritt couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday. But in a statement on the Center for Medical Progress’s website, the group said, “The Center for Medical Progress uses the same undercover techniques that investigative journalists have used for decades in exercising our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and of the press, and follows all applicable laws. We respect the processes of the Harris County District Attorney, and note that buying fetal tissue requires a seller as well. Planned Parenthood still cannot deny the admissions from their leadership about fetal organ sales captured on video for all the world to see.”
Europol launches EU anti-terror centre-By EUOBSERVER-JAN 26,16
Today, 09:09-Europol has launched the EU's new European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC). The centre, launched at the informal meeting of the justice and home affairs ministers in Amsterdam on Monday, will be based in The Hague and will tackle issues like foreign fighters, terrorist financing, online propaganda and arms trafficking.
Most asylum seekers ineligible, EU commissioner says By Nikolaj Nielsen-JAN 26,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 19:44-More than half of asylum seekers and refugees arriving in the EU last December were not entitled to international protection, the EU has said, marking a possible trend reversal.In an interview with Dutch media outlet Nos on Monday (25 January), European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans said more than 60 percent did not qualify."More than half of the people now arriving to Europe come from countries where you can assume they have no reason to apply for refugee status. More than half, 60 percent", he said.The figures are sourced from an unpublished report by the EU border agency Frontex and may represent a major trend shift.The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) had previously said that up until the start of December over 75 percent of those arriving in Europe had fled conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq.-Lower in January-EU Commission spokesperson Natasha Bertaud, for her part, said the figure for January appears to be lower than Frontex's estimate of 60 percent for December.The statistics so far for January were not provided but the Swiss-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) maintains that some 90 percent of all new arrivals in Greece since the start of the year come from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.IOM missions in Greece and the Western Balkans estimate some 38,876 Syrians, Iraqis and Afghanis crossed into Macedonia in the two weeks prior to 21 January, nearly 47 percent fewer than in the preceding two weeks.It also estimates that 45,361 arrived by sea on the Greek islands since the start of the year."This is roughly 31 times as many as the 1,472 recorded by the Greek Coast Guard for the whole of January 2015," the IOM noted in a statement.-Returns-The EU and member states like Greece are still struggling to return home people who don't qualify.The EU has a readmission agreement with Pakistan but it is not working in practice. Greece last December tried to send dozens back but they were blocked by authorities in Islamabad.Matthias Ruete, who heads the commission's migration and home affairs directorate, said similar problems were being encountered with Turkey.He noted Greece had filed some 12,000 readmissions to Turkey. Turkey accepted 6,000 of those but only 50 actually returned."Some of it because the people had just absconded, some of it because the Turkish authorities were so long in terms of replying to these requests", he said on Tuesday.-Mounting pressure-Pressure is now mounting to extend border controls within the EU's passport-free Schengen zone to up to two years.EU interior ministers in Amsterdam on Monday asked the EU Commission to draw up plans to prolong the checks.Bertaud told reporters on Tuesday that those checks were likely to be extended given that many more people are expected to arrive in the upcoming months."If the situation does not change and there could be indeed justifications under public order and security reasons to maintain internal controls at internal Schengen borders as long as the external borders are not effectively controlled", she saidAll eyes are on Greece, which is the target of the bulk of migrant inflows.Greek authorities are struggling to patrol Turkey's 1,800-kilometre coastline.Last year, almost 20,000 small rubber boats landed on the Greek islands and some 2,800 in December alone.
German MPs sceptical of Merkel's 'European solution' By Marta Orosz-EUOBSERVER
BERLIN, 26. Jan, 17:55-Forty-four of the 310 members of Angela Merkel's Bundestag parliamentary group signed a protest letter on 19 January asking the chancellor to change course on her refugee policy."There have been passionate, controversial, yet factual debates within the Union on the issue of refugees," Wolfgang Bosbach, one of the signatories of the letter, told press in Berlin on Monday (25 January)."We are torn between our sympathy and respect for Angela Merkel and our doubts whether Europe will find the right way to solve our problems," said Bosbach, an MP in Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which is part of the parliamentary group that also includes its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).Austria and Sweden have reintroduced border controls to stop the influx of migrants and refugees.Germany accepted over 40 percent of the migrants and refugees arriving in the EU in the first quarter of 2015, according to Eurostat. Many in Merkel's conservative party and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the other coalition partner, consider that she has been too liberal on this issue.Concerns from CDU/CSU MPs have grown as they have seen that neither the so-called hotspots nor the plan to distribute 160,000 refugees across the EU have been implemented."If refugees were somewhat equitably distributed in the European Union, then there is no doubt that reception and integration of 2 - 3 million people would be possible," said Wolfgang Bosbach, an eager critic of the chancellor.But he and other Merkel critics expressed their fear in the letter that this would not change in the foreseeable future.-Historic assignment-It is not the first letter addressed to Merkel by different groups protesting her open doors policy.The German chancellor has been under intense pressure from both local officials and federal politicians. Most of her critics expect her to give in to a migrant cap.Bosbach, who is managing to achieve currently more popularity amongst Germans than the chancellor herself, expects a so-called 'Kurskorrektur', or change of course, in her policy.Merkel is very much aware of the current sentiments, but "she acts on conviction", Bosbach said. "The chancellor thinks that history assigned us this task and we should not surrender."In addition, she was hoping to gather allies for her policy in Europe, which is backed by European Commission president Juncker and Parliament president Martin Schulz.Some small changes have already been made to the refugee policy, including extending the list of 'safe countries of origin' and offering asylum seekers food and clothes at reception facilities rather than cash benefits.-No tangible alternatives-After the assaults in Cologne on New Year's Eve, measures to facilitate the deportation of delinquent migrants are being discussed.Bosbach and like-minded MPs in the CDU meticulously avoid using the phrase migrant cap, but ultimately this is what they expect. "A cap of 200,000 asylum seekers a year is something I consider plausible," he said.Neither the joint letter nor Bosbach have formulated tangible alternatives to Merkel's open doors policy.The latest proposal, drafted by the CDU MP and prime minister candidate in the upcoming Rhineland-Palatinate state elections Julia Klöckner, is meant to lead to a compromise within the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. However, it simply renames options both Merkel and the social democrats have already rejected.Transit zones facilitating on-the-spot decisions over entering Germany are now referred to as border centres in the new proposal and the migrant cap is re-formulated into flexible daily quotas.Most of the conservative Merkel critics would be content with this plan, but the SPD coalition partner does not consider any of this an option."Transit zones are only practicable on a 3,757 kilometre, green border if the German borders are completely closed", said the MP Burkhard Lischka.-Conventions-Even though Bosbach stressed that "there is no revolution or rebellion within the CDU/CSU against Merkel," he recalled that there had not been a vote yet in the German parliament on the issue of refugees.Other MPs, too, would be in favour of a Bundestag vote on the refugee policy, even if a majority are expected to support Merkel on the issue, regardless of their political affiliation.If Germany closed its borders and rejected masses of asylum seekers, this would cause a tailback in neighbouring countries – and might put pressure on them to accept the migrant quotas and thus have a controlled influx of people.But the migrant cap seems to be a more complicated issue for Germany perhaps than other European countries. A recent ruling of the EU Court of Justice and a statement by the president of the federal Constitutional Court have asserted that a cap is not compatible with the individual right of asylum.International and German constitutional law state that individuals have the right to apply for asylum, subject to certain conditions. Therefore, it may prove difficult for German lawmakers to find a legal framework in which the first person over a cap can have their asylum application refused.
Kremlin demands US show 'proof' of Putin corruption claims-AFP-January 25, 2016 7:53 PM-YAHOONEWS
Moscow (AFP) - The Kremlin on Tuesday dismissed comments by a US Treasury official to the BBC alleging massive corruption by President Vladimir Putin, challenging Washington to provide proof for what amounted to an "official accusation".In the BBC Panorama programme that aired Monday evening, Adam Szubin, acting under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury said Putin was a "picture of corruption"."Concerning the BBC show, this would just be another example of typical irresponsible journalism if it weren't for the comment by a US Treasury official," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists."Here the situation is different. This is an official accusation," Peskov said."First of all this shows clearly who pulls the strings. Secondly, it requires proof," Peskov said."The airing of such accusations from such an institution as the US Treasury without concrete proof to back them up casts a shadow on this institution."Asked if the show's claim could affect relations with the US, Peskov said that relations were "now not in the best shape and therefore such a lie can hardly make them worse."Peskov earlier told the BBC the claims were "pure fiction."
French state of emergency under growing criticism By Eric Maurice-JAN 26,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-The Council of Europe has expressed concern over a planned extension of the state of emergency in France, the latest organisation to criticise the French government's actions following the Paris attacks in November."It was with some concern that I learned that its extension appeared to be under consideration," the pan-European human rights watchdog's president Thorbjoern Jagland wrote in a letter to French president Francois Hollande on Monday (25 January)."I would like to draw your attention to the risks that could result from the prerogatives conferred on the executive by the provisions that apply during the state of emergency if they are not accompanied by appropriate safeguards from the point of view of respect for fundamental freedoms," Jagland wrote."I sincerely hope that the current plans for constitutional and criminal-law reforms will secure this essential balance to which you are personally committed."The state of emergency was declared in France on the evening of the 13 November terrorist attacks in Paris, in which 130 people were killed. After an initial two-week period, it was extended for three months, until 25 February.Next week, on 3 February, the government will present a bill to extend it for three further months. And on 5 February the parliament will start examining a constitutional reform that includes provisions on the state of emergency.-New normality?-The constitutional bill states that the state of emergency can be declared "in case of immediate danger resulting from serious breach of public order" or of "events presenting, by nature and gravity, a characteristic of public calamity".It also adds to the constitution special administrative powers to the police, through laws to be voted.Another measure in the bill is the stripping of French citizenship for French-born people who have another citizenship and are sentenced over "a crime constituting a serious offence to the life of the nation".While the citizenship measure has divided Hollande's Socialist Party and his leftist majority in parliament, the institutionalisation of special powers is also rejected by some member of the centre-right opposition.As a consequence, the government is not sure to gain the three-fifths majority in parliament needed to change the constitution."As long as the threat is there we must use all means at our disposal," French prime minister Manuel Valls told the BBC last week.In the interview, Valls appeared to say that the state of emergency would stay "until we can get rid of Daesh”, the Arabic name for the Islamic State group (IS), which has said it carried out the Paris attacks.Valls also said that France "cannot live forever" under a state of emergency, but the echo of the first report demonstrated fears that exceptional measures could become a kind of new normality with the threat of new attacks still hanging.-UN concerns-In a statement published on 18 January, the French national consultative commission of human rights (CNDCDH) warned that the state of emergency "intrinsically harms" public liberties."The state of emergency, which must remain temporary, should not become the rule: its sole and only aim is a rapid return to normality," the human rights watchdog said."The biggest victory for the 'enemies of human rights' (terrorists or others) would be to imperil the rule of law with the emergence and consolidation of an illusory state of security that would legitimate itself with the adoption of measures that would be more and more detrimental to fundamental rights and liberties."The French watchdog's criticism was mirrored by a UN rights experts group who estimated that the measures taken by French authorities "do not seem to adjust to the fundamental principles of necessity and proportionality".The UN experts noted that the measures only allow judicial review of the powers of the executive after they have been invoked, that a law on surveillance of international electronic communications adopted last year has expanded powers to collect and store communications and date, and that under the state of emergency even environmental activists have been put under house arrest.“While exceptional measures may be required under exceptional circumstances, this does not relieve the authorities from demonstrating that these are applied solely for the purposes for which they were prescribed, and are directly related to the specific objective that inspired them,” the UN experts said in a statement.More than two months after the introduction of the state of emergency, the first cracks are appearing.-Breach of freedoms-On 22 January, the Council of State, France's highest administrative court, for the first time ruled that a house arrest under the state of emergency was illegal.The judges said that a man had been unduly suspected of being a radical islamist and forced to stay home. Lower courts previously annulled seven other house arrest decisions by the police. About 400 people have been placed under house arrest under the measures.On Tuesday, the Council of State will also examine a request by the Human Rights League (LDH) to suspend the state of emergency.The NGO says the measure is "a serious and manifestly illegal breach of several fundamental liberties" such as the respect to privacy, the freedom of circulation or the freedom to work.It also says the November attacks cannot constitute any more an "immediate threat" that could justify that the state of emergency is maintained.The LDH request could be a watershed in the debate. Firstly because the government will have to explain its action and the measures taken. And secondly because the Council of State in its turn has called upon the Constitutional Court about the constitutional validity of some measures.The Council of State will probably not suspend the state of emergency, but the Constitutional Court's reply to the request will certainly be the moment when the authorities know the limit of the post-November attacks security package.
Leading Iraqi Shi'ite says Islamic State shrugging off U.S. air strikes-Reuters By Samia Nakhoul, Maher Chmaytelli and Ahmed Rasheed-JAN 26,16-YAHOONEWS
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Flush with cash and weapons, Islamic State is attracting huge numbers of foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria and withstanding U.S.-led air strikes that are failing to hit the right targets, a powerful Iraqi Shi’ite paramilitary leader told Reuters in an interview.Hadi al-Amiri also said Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was alive and in Iraq, despite reports that he had been wounded."Many of its leadership have been killed but one should know that Daesh (IS) is still strong," said Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization whose armed wing has been fighting alongside Iraqi security forces to recapture territory seized by IS."Their attacks are still daring and swift and their morale is high. They still have money and weapons."Amiri delivered a damning assessment of the air strikes that the United States and its allies have been conducting against Islamic State for almost 18 months.He said these had failed to dislodge IS because they failed to target its vital structure. Diplomats say the United States has been held back partly by the difficulty of avoiding civilian casualties."Today Daesh is a state, it has command centers, their locations are known, their logistics are known," Amiri said. "Its leadership is known, its military convoys are known, its training camps are known. Until now we have not seen effective air strikes."He said the ultra-hardline insurgents had secured sophisticated U.S.-made anti-tank weapons including TOW missiles through Gulf Arab states. And he ridiculed the idea that Western powers could ensure arms only reached moderate rebel groups."They (rebels) did not capture these missiles, they were supplied by America, Saudi Arabia and Gulf states under the pretext of arming the moderate opposition in Syria. Who is the moderate opposition? Ahrar al-Sham? Jaish al-Islam? Nusra or Daesh?" he asked, reeling off the names of competing Islamist factions."All of them are terrorists," he said. "Any moderate factions in Syria are weak. Even if they are supplied with weapons, Daesh seizes them."Military aid from states including Saudi Arabia has been supplied to Syrian rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army in western Syria, and some of these groups have received military training from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The training has included how to use TOW missiles, supplied via Turkey and Jordan.-GOVERNMENT FIGHTBACK-Shi'ite paramilitaries like Amiri's have played a vital role in helping Iraqi security forces recover lost territory from IS, which seized a string of major cities in 2014. When the militants declared that year that they had established an Islamic caliphate across parts of Iraq and Syria, he left a senior government post and rushed to the frontlines.Since then, the government forces and their paramilitary allies have regained control of key cities -- Tikrit, Ramadi and Baiji -- with the support of the U.S.-led air strikes.But he said there were more obstacles ahead before they could launch a battle to recapture Mosul, the country's second city and the biggest under Islamic State control. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his predecessor have long pledged to "liberate" Mosul but their plans have been repeatedly delayed."There are preparatory operations to retake Mosul but other operations have a priority. We want to go to Mosul with the reassurance that Baghdad is safe and all the provinces in the north and the south are safe. This is the main reason that delayed us advancing toward Mosul," Amiri said."We have a decision not to enter the city of Mosul. We will surround it from outside and leave its people and its tribes to take part while we conduct the siege."-SECTARIAN SPLIT-Amiri said Sunni-Shi'ite tensions galvanized by the war in Iraq and neighboring Syria were swelling the ranks of Islamic State.The bombing of a Shi'ite shrine housing the tombs of two imams in the Iraqi city of Samarra in 2006 was the trigger for the worst sectarian carnage to engulf Iraq in the past decade, and now the Syria conflict has splintered the Middle East along the faultline dividing the two main denominations of Islam.Syria has become a battlefield in a proxy war between President Bashar al-Assad's main ally, Shi'ite Iran, backed by Russia, and his Sunni enemies in Turkey and Gulf Arab states, supported by the West."There is no terrorist organization with the ability to recruit and organize youths like Daesh does. We should know our enemy accurately and precisely to be able to defeat them," Amiri said."Daesh has no problem recruiting. Foreign fighters are still flocking in huge numbers to Iraq and Syria via Turkey," he added. He accused Saudi Arabia of being the breeding ground of the ultra-hardline Wahhabi ideology embraced by IS and other al Qaeda-affiliated groups."Where does this fundamentalist, extremist Islamist ideology, come from? Where was it nurtured? Its origin is Saudi Arabia," he said, adding "we need to combat this (Daesh) ideology before we dry out its funding."Amiri's Badr fighters fought on Iran's side in the 1980-88 war against Iraq's Sunni dictator, Saddam Hussein. The militia came to dominate much of southern Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam, and during the sectarian fighting that followed."I fought Saddam Hussein for more than 20 years. If I knew the alternative to Saddam was al Qaeda, Nusra or Daesh, I would have fought with Saddam against them," he said."Saddam executed more than 16 family members ... but there is nothing worse than these extremist groups. They are a real danger to the whole world."(Writing by Samia Nakhoul and Stephen Kalin; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Kerry fails to sway Cambodian leaders on South China Sea-Reuters By David Brunnstrom and Prak Chan Thul-JAN 26,16-YAHOONEWS
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of States John Kerry met Cambodian leaders on Tuesday but failed to secure their commitment to a more robust stance with Southeast Asian nations against China's pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea.Kerry was in Cambodia after a visit to neighboring Laos as part of an effort to urge unity among leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations before a summit with President Barack Obama in Sunnylands, California, next month.In Phnom Penh, Kerry met Hun Sen, Asia's longest serving prime minister, and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong for what Kerry described as "candid and constructive" meetings.Hor Namhong said Cambodia's position on the South China Sea was unchanged. It believed individual countries should settle disputes among themselves without the involvement of ASEAN, he said.That mirrors China's position that ASEAN is not a party to territorial disputes, so rows should be resolved bilaterally."We want it open to negotiations in the future between countries who made claims in the South China Sea," Hor Namhong said.China claims almost all the South China Sea, which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, and has been building up facilities on islands it controls. Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines also have claims.Laos is the 2016 chair of ASEAN. Kerry said Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong told him on Monday that Laos wants to sea a unified association and avoid the militarization of the South China Sea.When Cambodia was ASEAN chair in 2012, it was accused of obstructing a consensus in the bloc over standing up to China's assertive pursuit of its South China Sea claims."Cambodia was not a court that could judge that this island belongs to this or that country," Hor Namhong said on Tuesday.Kerry did not refer to the South China Sea in a statement after the meetings but stressed that the United States and ASEAN have a strategic partnership "and Cambodia plays a role in fully defining that partnership".Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, answering a reporter's question about a U.S. official urging ASEAN to unite to protect maritime rights, said that official did not represent ASEAN."I hope the United States can play a constructive role for peace and stability in Asia Pacific region and not sow discord,” she told reporters at a regular press briefing.Cambodia said it would work with the U.S. on efforts to combat Islamic State, Kerry said.Kerry was due in China later on Tuesday, where he is expected to press Beijing to put more curbs on North Korea after its nuclear test this month and reiterate U.S. concerns about China's behavior in the South China Sea.He called North Korea's nuclear program "about one of the most serious issues on the planet today, which is a clearly reckless and dangerous, evolving security threat in the hands of somebody who is questionable in terms of judgment and has proven thus to China".A senior official of the U.S. State Department said Kerry was expected to stress the need for a united front in response to North Korea through additional U.N. sanctions and for a tough unilateral response from China, which is North Korea's main ally and neighbor. (Editing by Simon Webb and Nick Macfie)
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