World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[bd popeye]

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NEW YORK (AP) — The front landing gear of a flight arriving at New York's LaGuardia Airport collapsed Monday shortly after the plane touched down on the runway, leaving several people with injuries, officials said.

The Southwest Airlines flight coming from Nashville, Tenn., was carrying 150 passengers and crew, the airline said. The airline said initial reports had five passengers and three crewmembers requiring medical assistance. There was no immediate word on the extent of the injuries.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Flight 345 landed at 5:45 p.m., and came safely to a stop at the edge of the runway. The nose of the Boeing 737 could be seen on the ground.

The airport was temporarily closed, but one of two runways was operating shortly after 7 p.m.

The FAA is investigating, as is the National Transportation Safety Board.

Richard Strauss, who was on a nearby plane waiting to take off for Washington, said the nose of the plane was "completely down on the ground. It's something that I've never seen before. It's bizarre."

A rear stairwell or slide could be seen extending from the Southwest flight, said Strauss, who owns a Washington public relations firm. His plane, which was about 100 yards from the Southwest flight, wasn't allowed to taxi back to the gate, he said.

Bobby Abtahi, an attorney trying to catch a flight to Dallas, was watching from the terminal and heard a crowd reacting to the accident.

"I heard some people gasp and scream. I looked over and saw sparks flying at the front of the plane," he said.

The incident came 16 days after Asiana Flight 214 crash-landed at San Francisco's international airport on July 6, killing two Chinese teenagers; a third was killed when a fire truck ran over her while responding to the crash, authorities said. Dozens of people were injured in that landing, which involved a Boeing 777 flying from South Korea.

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[Equation]

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No surprise, it's Southwest Airlines. It's not exactly the cleanest air lines as far as maintenance and safety in Texas.

 

[delft]

For the first time a Dutch court doesn't allow the Dutch government to extradite someone to the US.
An Afghan called Sabir K. was arrested in Pakistan and tortured there. Because Pakistan doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US he was sent to The Netherlands. There his extradition to the US was denied first because the US couldn't guarantee a proper treatment for K.'s post-traumatic stress disorder. The government went to a higher court which in May said the government should investigate the alleged involvement of US agents in K.'s torture in Pakistan. The government refused so now the higher court refuses to allow the extradition.
The government can go to the highest court in the land but that will take many years to decide.
The US asked extradition on the grounds of terrorism, but the specific accusation is attacks on the US occupation forces in Afghanistan. According to Dutch legal opinion terrorism is using violence against civilians for political ends while you're not the government so even if in five years time or so the highest court sends the matter back to a medium level court there will be this matter to thresh out.

This is a pretty sensational development. The Netherlands even extradite Dutchmen for violating US law within The Netherlands, for example one man was extradited for selling marihuana to an American in Haarlem.

 

[SinoSoldier]

¦^��: World News Thread & Breaking News!!

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The House and Senate intelligence committees have approved CIA weapons shipments to opposition fighters in Syria, allowing the Obama administration to move ahead on the stalled program, senior congressional and administration officials said Monday. Despite ongoing ¡§very strong concerns about the strength of the administration¡¦s plans in Syria and its chances for success,¡¨ the House committee reached consensus ¡§after much discussion and review,¡¨ Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said in a statement.

Both the House and Senate panels voted on the administration¡¦s plan last week, officials said.
The agreement allows money already in the CIA¡¦s budget to be reprogrammed for the Syria operation, a covert action that President Obama approved early last month. The infrastructure for the program, which also includes training, logistics and intelligence assistance ¡X most of it based in Jordan ¡X is already in place and the arms would begin to flow within the next several weeks.

Some lawmakers have criticized the proposal as insufficient to make a difference on the battlefield, and called for U.S. air support for the beleaguered rebels with attacks on Syrian airfields or establishment of a no-fly zone over rebel-held territory.
Others have objected to any U.S. military involvement in the Syrian civil war ¡X a position supported in numerous American public opinion polls ¡X and questioned whether the administration has a realistic long-term plan.
While voicing appreciation for Rogers¡¦s efforts to ¡§try to reach consensus,¡¨ Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the intelligence committee, said Monday night that he disagreed ¡§and wish to make my dissent clear. In my view, the modest chance for success of these plans does not warrant the risk of becoming entangled in yet another civil war.¡¨
Over the past several weeks, administration officials including Vice President Biden, CIA Director John O. Brennan and Secretary of State John F. Kerry have tried to answer those concerns in telephone calls and briefings.
Among the points they made was the need for U.S. ¡§skin in the game,¡¨ in the form of weapons supplies. Although the CIA operation will include only light arms and ammunition, they argued, it will allow the administration to exert leadership and coordinate the many streams of aid flowing to the rebels from other countries, including sophisticated surface-to-air missiles coming from Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Persian Gulf.
Increased participation, they said, also would allow the administration more control over arms recipients, ensuring that weapons go to vetted members of the approved Free Syrian Army, rather than Islamist extremists also fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
At the same time, the administration hopes to improve its relationship with the opposition, which has complained about the paucity of weapons aid and U.S. reluctance to provide more than humanitarian and diplomatic support.
Officials also worked to assuage concerns of some lawmakers that the program would dominate CIA attention and resources, at a time when the administration has said it wants to steer the agency back to more traditional intelligence gathering and analysis.

Time for China to make her own move by actively promoting the Sky Dragon air defense system, YJ83 anti ship missile, and B611M ballistic missile. A couple of military advisors wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Air Force Brat]

Re: ¦^��: World News Thread & Breaking News!!

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Time for China to make her own move by actively promoting the Sky Dragon air defense system, YJ83 anti ship missile, and B611M ballistic missile. A couple of military advisors wouldn't hurt either.

I wouldn't touch this mess with a ten foot pole, it won't be pretty! brat

 

[Equation]

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Time for China to make her own move by actively promoting the Sky Dragon air defense system, YJ83 anti ship missile, and B611M ballistic missile. A couple of military advisors wouldn't hurt either.

I wouldn't want China or the US to be getting involved with that mess. Why can't they just let the Syrian episode played itself out?

I wouldn't touch this mess with a ten foot pole, it won't be pretty! brat

I hear ya Brat. This is getting more and more ridiculous.

 

[delft]

Quite clearly the Council of Guardians excluded everyone more "moderate" than Hassan Rohani in the recent presidential elections to ensure him an easy victory. This was the time for the US to show they want peace in the Middle East. Clearly they don't. They want to arm "moderate" terrorists and think in that way to control the "extremists" that are much more richly endowed with money and weapons by Qatar and Saudi Arabia. They are preparing for a war in Syria lasting many years and all that time Europe will not receive gas from the Pars field in the Persian Gulf either from Iran through Syria and Lebanon and over the bottom of the Mediterranean or from Qatar through Syria to Turkey. The US are again sacrificing the interests of European countries just as they did when destroying the Novi Sad bridges in Serbia thus disrupting shipping over the Danube between Germany and the Black Sea. But as true satellites those countries don't complain.
Even so general Dempsey warned for the financial cost of direct US involvement in this war.
Here is Pepe Escobar on the matter:

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THE ROVING EYE
War against Iran, Iraq AND Syria?
By Pepe Escobar

Amidst the incessant rumble in the (Washington) jungle about a possible Obama administration military adventure in Syria, new information has come to light. And what a piece of Pipelineistan information that is.

Picture Iraqi Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi, Syrian Oil Minister Sufian Allaw, and the current Iranian caretaker Oil Minister Mohammad Aliabadi getting together in the port of Assalouyeh, southern Iran, to sign a memorandum of understanding for the construction of the Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline, no less.

At Asia Times Online and also elsewhere I have been arguing that this prospective Pipelinestan node is one of the fundamental reasons for the proxy war in Syria. Against the interests of Washington, for whom integrating Iran is anathema, the pipeline bypasses two crucial foreign actors in Syria - prime "rebel" weaponizer Qatar (as a gas producer) and logistical "rebel" supporter Turkey (as the self-described privileged energy crossroads between East and West).

The US$10 billion, 6,000 kilometer pipeline is set to start in Iran's South Pars gas field (the largest in the world, shared with Qatar), and run via Iraq, Syria and ultimately to Lebanon. Then it could go under the Mediterranean to Greece and beyond; be linked to the Arab gas pipeline; or both.

Before the end of August, three working groups will be discussing the complex technical, financial and legal aspects involved. Once finance is secured - and that's far from certain, considering the proxy war in Syria - the pipeline could be online by 2018. Tehran hopes that the final agreement will be signed before the end of the year.

Tehran's working assumption is that it will be able to export 250 million cubic meters of gas a day by 2016. When finished, the pipeline will be able to pump 100 million cubic meters a day. For the moment, Iraq needs up to 15 million cubic meters a day. By 2020, Syria will need up to 20 million cubic meters, and Lebanon up to 7 million cubic meters. That still leaves a lot of gas to be exported to European customers.

Europeans - who endlessly carp about being hostages of Gazprom - should be rejoicing. Instead, once again they shot themselves in their Bally-clad feet.

Want war? Here's the bill
Before we get to the latest European fiasco, let's mix this Pipelineistan development with the new Pentagon "discovery" - via the deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), David Shedd, according to whom the proxy war in Syria may last for "multiple years". If that happens, bye-bye pipeline.

One wonders what those Pentagon intel wizards have really been doing since early 2011, considering they had been predicting Bashar al-Assad's fall every other week. Now they have also "discovered" that jihadis in the Syrian theater of the Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) mould are actually running the (ghastly) show. Shedd admitted there are "at least 1,200" disparate "rebel" factions/gangs in Syria, most of them irrelevant.

Attesting to the appalling average IQ involved in foreign policy debate in the Beltway, still this information had to be spun to justify yet another military adventure on the horizon - especially after President Barack "Assad must go" Obama declared he would authorize the "light" weaponizing of "good" rebels only. As if the harsh rules of war obeyed some Weapon Fairy Godmother high up in the sky.

Into the ring steps General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On the same day that Tehran, Baghdad and Damascus were talking seriously about the business of energy, Dempsey wrote to US senators of the John McCain warmongering variety that the US getting into yet another war would lead to "unintended consequences".

Dempsey wrote that weaponizing and training the "good" rebels (assuming the CIA has a clue who they are) would cost "$500 million per year initially", require "several hundred to several thousand troops" and risk weaponizing al-Qaeda-style jihadis, as well as plunging Washington, according to Dempsey's Pentagonese, into "inadvertent association with war crimes due to vetting difficulties."

In case the Obama administration caved in to the warmongers' favorite option - a no-fly zone - Dempsey also said "limited" air strikes would require "hundreds of aircraft, ships, submarines, and other enablers", to a cost "in the billions", and all that to achieve little else than a "significant degradation of regime capabilities and an increase in regime desertions".

Dempsey at least was frank; unlike Gaddafi in Libya, Bashar al-Assad's forces would not fold because of a no-fly zone. And nothing substantially would change because the Syrian government "relies overwhelmingly on surface fires - mortars, artillery, and missiles". And even a limited no-fly zone - what former State Department star Anne-Marie Slaughter euphemistically defined as a "no-kill zone" - would cost "over $1 billion a month". And who will be paying for all this? China?

Even with Dempsey playing god cop and sporting the voice of reason - something quite astonishing in itself; but anyway he's been to Iraq, and saw first hand the ass-kicking by a bunch of towelheads with second-hand Kalashnikovs - US pundits are still relishing the internal debate in the Obama administration over the "wisdom" of yet another war.

Round up all the Prada jihadis
And while the "wisdom" debate is slated to go on, the European Union decided to act; meekly bowing to US and Israel pressure, the EU - itself pressured by the UK and the Netherlands - blacklisted the armed wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

The pretext was the bombing of a bus carrying Israelis in Bulgaria in 2012. Hezbollah said it had nothing to do with it. Bulgarian investigators said positively yes; then maybe; and now they admit even circumstantial evidence is shaky.

So the pretext is bogus. This is the EU - after the despicable denying of overflying rights to the Bolivian presidential plane - once again meekly playing poodle, with the Brits and the Dutch trying to weaken Hezbollah just as it has staked its ground in the Syrian/Lebanese border and has actually fought those jihadis of the Jabhat al-Nusra and AQI kind.

As a graphic illustration of utter EU cluelessness - some might say stupidity - Britain, the Netherlands and France, especially, followed by the others, have just branded the organization that is fighting jihadis on the ground in Syria/Lebanon "terrorists", while the jihadis themselves get away with it. So much for European ignorance/arrogance.

So what's next? It's not far-fetched to imagine the EU totally forgetting about a pipeline that will ultimately benefit its citizens and issuing - under US pressure - a directive branding Iran-Iraq-Syria as a terrorist axis; lobbying for a no-fly zone applying to all; and recruiting jihadis all over for a Holy War against the axis, supported by a fatwa issued by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. But first they would need Washington's approval. As a matter of fact, they might even get it.

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007), Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge (Nimble Books, 2007), and Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009). He may be reached at [email protected].

(Copyright 2013 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

 

[AssassinsMace]

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Japan likely to mull pre-emptive strike ability in defence update

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is likely to start considering acquiring the ability to launch pre-emptive military strikes in an update of its basic defense policies, the latest step away from the constraints of its pacifist constitution.

The expected proposal, which will almost certainly sound alarm bells in China, is part of a review of Japan's defense policies undertaken by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, an interim report on which could come as early as Friday.

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

Article 9 of Japan's constitution, drafted by U.S. occupation forces after its defeat in World War Two, renounces the right to wage war and, if taken literally, rules out the very notion of a standing army. In reality, Japan's Self-Defense Forces are one of Asia's strongest militaries.

The Defence Ministry is likely to call in the report for consideration of acquiring the ability to make a pre-emptive strike when an enemy attack is imminent, and creating a Marines force to protect remote islands such as those at the core of a dispute with China, Japanese media said.

"The acquisition of offensive capability would be a fundamental change in our defence policy, a kind of philosophical change," said Marushige Michishita, a professor at the National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies.

Obtaining that capability, however, would take time, money and training, meaning any shift may be more rhetorical than real. "It's easier said than done," Michishita added.

The updated guidelines could also touch on Abe's moves toward lifting a self-imposed ban on exercising the right of collective self-defence, or helping an ally under attack, such as if North Korea launched an attack on the United States.

The defence review may also urge replacing a self-imposed ban on arms exports, that has been eased several times, making it easier for Japan's defence contractors to join international projects and reduce procurement costs.

Some experts stressed that the changes were evolutionary rather than a sudden transformation in Japan's defence posture.

QUESTIONS OVER HARDWARE, COST

"It's all part of a process of Japan edging away from the most restrictive interpretation of Article 9," said Richard Samuels, director of the MIT-Japan program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Still, given Japan's strained ties with China over disputed isles and how to frame the narrative of Japan's wartime history, China is likely to react strongly to the proposals, which come after Abe cemented his grip on power with a big win in a weekend election for parliament's upper house.

"No matter how Japan explains things, China will attack it pretty harshly," said Michael Green of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Although China has been a nuclear power for decades and North Korea is developing nuclear arms, Japan says it has no intention of doing so.

Support has grown in Japan for a more robust military because of concern about China, but opposition also remains.

Japan last updated its National Defence Programme Guidelines in 2010 when the Democratic Party of Japan was in power.

Those changes shifted Japan away from defending areas to its north, a Cold War legacy, to a defence capability that could respond with more flexibility to incursions to the south, the site of the row with China over tiny, uninhabited islands.

Japan has for decades been stretching the limits of Article 9 and has long said it has the right to attack enemy bases overseas when the enemy's intention to attack Japan is evident, the threat is imminent and there are no other defence options.

But while previous administrations shied away from acquiring the hardware to do so, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party in June urged the government to consider acquiring that capability.

Just what hardware might come under consideration is as yet unclear. And with a huge public debt, Japan may be in no position to afford the bill.

Japan already has a very limited attack capability with its F-2 and F-15 fighter jets, mid-air refueling aircraft and Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kit. Tokyo also plans to buy 42 Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth fighters, with the first four due for delivery by March 2017.

Acquiring the ability to hit mobile missile launchers in North Korea - the most likely target - would require many more attack aircraft as well as intelligence capability for which Japan would most likely have to rely on the United States, Michishita said. Cruise missiles might also be considered.

Obtaining the ability to strike missile bases in mainland China would be an even bigger stretch, experts said, requiring for example intercontinental missiles. "It would cost lots of money, and take time, training and education to acquire a robust and meaningful capability," Michishita said.

(Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Good!

Now these proposals that are released to the public are about gauging the reaction. The reason I don't care is if there were a war, it's best that Japan start it because China will be able to do anything it wants in reaction. Another reason why they release these statements is get their kicks at seeing China alarmed. That's the only way they can feel like they're in control of China these days.

 

[delft]

Re: Sabir K.
My Dutch newspaper had more information about him in yesterday's edition.He is the son of a Pakistani father and a Dutch mother and has both nationalities. He was raised in The Hague but was living with his mother and other family members in Pakistan. Nothing was said about his father. He is accused of having prepared a bomb attack on US military in Afghanistan in 2010 and was arrested by the Pakistan authorities in September 2010. Dutch courts accept that he was tortured based on examination of his body. He was extradited to The Netherlands in April 2011 and there kept in prison awaiting extradition to the US until April this year when a judge ruled that it was unreasonable to keep him in prison any longer. The US had asked for his extradition three months before he arrived in here. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that he was arrested after a request by the US. It is known that ISI habitually tortured prisoners and just asking for someone to be arrested makes the US, in common with ISI, responsible for his torture. In addition K. says that US agents were involved in his torture in Pakistan. It is jurisprudence that The Netherlands don't extradite people to a country that was responsible for his torture.
In short the Dutch government did what it could to please the US but it can't control its judiciary.

 

[bd popeye]

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A high-speed train that derailed on a curve Wednesday night in northwestern Spain, and that has killed at least 78 passengers and injured 141 others, may have been traveling at more than twice the speed limit, Spanish media reported Thursday.

Spain's El Pais newspaper said that it was told by the operator of the train that it was going 190km/h on the stretch of track that has a limit of 80km/h. Another Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, also reported that the train may have approached speeds of up to 190 km/h. But neither report has been confirmed and Spain's national rail operator has not commented on the allegation.

However, the Reuters news agency reported that the driver of the derailed train has now been put under formal investigation, adding to the suggestion that the driver's actions may have had some role in the accident.

El Pais reported that the death toll in Spain's worst train disaster in decades has now risen to at least 78, with scores more reported injured. Spanish officials appeared to confirm the numbers.

Officials said initially that the crash, which occurred on the eve of a local Christian festival, appeared to be an accident, not terrorism. In 2004, Islamists blew up trains in Madrid, killing 191 and wounding hundreds.

The express train, carrying 218 people between Madrid and Ferrol, left the tracks at 8:42 p.m. (2:42 p.m. ET) about two miles from the station at Santiago de Compostela, in the Galician region, said the government-owned railway, Renfe. The number of crewmembers was not released.

All 13 carriages derailed, and four overturned. TV images showed one car torn apart, another on fire and blanket-covered bodies beside the ruined carriages.

The train company said Thursday that there does not appear to have been a technical fault with the train.