World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[Jeff Head]

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Powerful Typhoon Fitow has rammed into eastern China after triggering the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.

With winds up to 151km/h (93mph), the storm landed in Fujian province early on Monday, bringing heavy rains and causing widespread power cuts.

The authorities earlier issued the highest alert - red - for the area.

At least two people have been killed by the typhoon, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

One victim was on his way to rescue a fisherman when he was blown off a hill by strong winds late on Sunday, Xinhua said.

Some homes are said to have collapsed in neighbouring Zhejiang province and two port workers are missing.

Typhoon Fitow - named after a flower - made landfall at 01:15 local time on Monday (17:15 GMT Sunday) in the city of Fuding, Chinese meteorologists said.

The typhoon had affected over three million people in Zhejiang and caused economic damage of over 2bn yuan ($330m; £200m), Xinhua said, citing the provincial flood control office.

Parts of China have been hit by up to 200mm (8 inches) of rain, AFP news agency reported.

Over the weekend the authorities drafted in the army to help strengthen flood defences, the BBC's John Sudworth in Shanghai reports.

China is used to dealing with extreme weather events but, nonetheless, the risk to life remains high, our correspondent adds.

In Fujian, 177,000 people were evacuated before the storm hit the coast, Xinhua said, while in Zhejiang, some 574,000 people had to leave their homes.

Some 35,000 boats in Zhejiang and 30,000 in Fujian were ordered to return to harbour for shelter.

Coastal facilities such as seaside bathing centres were also closed, state media reported.

"We must not leave anybody in danger," Zhejiang Governor Li Qiang was quoted as saying.

The typhoon also caused suspension of bullet trains and coach services in several cities in the area.

Dozens of flights to and from Wenzhou airport in Zhejiang were cancelled.

The storm is now moving north-west and is expected to weaken quickly.

 

[joshuatree]

HK Journalists Kicked Out of APEC Summit for Shouting at President Aquino

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AFP | Monday, Oct 07, 2013

NUSA DUA, Indonesia - APEC hosts Indonesia on Monday denied stifling press freedom after withdrawing the credentials of nine Hong Kong journalists for shouting questions at the Philippine leader, insisting that they had posed a security threat.Despite protests from Hong Kong's main journalist group, President Benigno Aquino's spokesman also said the journalists had "crossed the line" by aggressively questioning him about a hostage siege in Manila that left eight Hong Kong people dead in 2010.

"We deemed it improper for media to act that way, as they didn't talk normally but they were very demonstrative, like they were protesting," Gatot Dewa Broto, the Indonesian communications ministry official who is in charge of the APEC media centre in Bali, told AFP."So we did this due to security concerns," he said, adding that the press badges of nine Hong Kong journalists had been deactivated.They were free to remain in Bali, but could no longer access the media centre or venues being used for the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the official said.Hong Kong media said journalists and technicians were affected from Now TV, RTHK and Commercial Radio.

What a joke, it was a non-restricted area and what constitutes "screaming" and "threat" is nothing more than being broached with a question no doubt uncomfortable for Aquino. If security was such an issue, you wouldn't have the head of state walking through a non-restricted area. It's no ambush, it was more like APEC security being embarrassed. Taking away badges from media staff that weren't even there reflects that. So next time if there are demonstrators in that non-restricted area, they must a threat and should be shot on sight.

 

[solarz]

NASA is required by law to operate within the bounds of US law..

It is true that Chinese students are very bright...but in this case they are also Chinese nationals and their allegiance is to their homeland (as one would expect) and so anything they discover through NASA would end up being directly communicated to and used by the PRC.

The ban does not apply to Chinese students here who are or have become US citizens, so I am sure there are a number of Chinese attending the conference. Now, it may well be likely that such information will find its way to the PRC in any case, but NASA Is required to follow the law.

NASA's position is perfectly understandable. In a way, they are the victims of this law as well.

My point was that this is a moronic law that only serves to hurt US interests. Notice that the law specifically excludes foreign nationals from stepping inside NASA buildings. That means auditoriums, cafeterias and bathrooms as well as research labs. It is clearly a xenophobic overreaction pandering to the years of anti-China rhetoric.

As for your 3rd paragraph, I'm not sure if you are aware of just how difficult it is to even get US permanent residency (green card), never even mind citizenship.

I've known a PhD in nuclear physics who could not find a job in his field in the US, and out of desperation tried to turn to IT. Needless to say, that didn't work too well, and I believe he returned to China. Now imagine the same thing happening to Chinese nationals who are PhD in astrophysics. In the end, who do you think that benefits: the US or China?

 

[kwaigonegin]

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Chinese students studying in the US, especially in such highly specialized fields as astronomy and astrophysics, are some of the brightest and most talented scientists in the world. The US is only hurting its own research capabilities by enacting such laws.

is it specifically only Chinese people or ALL foreign nationals? I mean can a Russian, Indian or Argentinian PhD astrophysics student be granted access?

If it's the latter than I'm ok with it but if it's targeted specifically at Chinese nationals than I have to admit there is some underlying form of racism there and I would not support that.

 

[AssassinsMace]

Hey they did it back during the Wen Ho Lee scandal who was arrested for espionage passing a law that anyone of Chinese descent were not allowed in government labs. People have to remember in a representative democracy those elected are usually as intelligent or less than the people who voted for them. It's that reason why they also had to rescind that law days later. Why, because in a country where the college students who are non-foreign born Americans less and less pursue a career in sciences, ignorant politicians that backed that law believed the propaganda that all the work done in science and engineering are vastly done by them and had to be told otherwise. It comes from the same mentality of those who believe China cannot survive or do anything without the US or the West. Now this NASA sponsored event is irrelevant so it's only superficial. It's just like when they barred Chinese journalists from attending a NASA launch of an American rocket that had a scientific payload that was in part had Chinese contribution. It's the same reason why the usual suspects want to restrict H1B visas. Those people think they're not needed because non-foreign born Americans do all the heavy lifting anyway.

I don't believe everyone else can't do anything without the US and/or the West so this news really doesn't bother me nor surprise me. All it does in the future is more open others into learning that it can be done without the US and the West.

 

[Franklin]

Almost 20 years to the day of the Black Hawk Down incident in Somalia in 1993 another US special forces raid in Somalia went bad. The last time a group of US Army Rangers and Delta Force operators tried to capture a Somali warlord Mohammed Aidid and his top lieutenants but failed. On 3 october 1993 two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and they ended up in a massive fire fight in the center of Mogadishu and 18 Americans were killed. This time on 5 october SEALS Team Six the people who got Bin Laden in Pakistan were send into Somalia to capture a top al-Shabaab commander and ended up in a massive fire fight with the al-Shabaab militia members and had to redraw without their target. This time luckily for the Americans there where no casualties on their side.

Exclusive: How the SEAL raid on Somalia went bad

The team of less than two dozen Navy SEALs from Seal Team 6 huddled in one fast boat and headed toward the Somali shoreline under the cover of darkness in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Three more small boats with additional SEALs flanked the assault team’s craft, to provide back-up and assist with the planned extraction of an al Shabaab warlord named Ikrima.

According to multiple U.S. military sources, the lead boat landed, and the assault team hit the beach near the Southern Somali town of Barawe, headed for the fortified seaside compound of their target. U.S. intelligence had determined that Ikrima, one of two terror suspects targeted by the military in simultaneous raids thousands of miles apart this weekend, planned the terror group’s operations outside of Somalia.

The SEALs entered the compound and took the positions they had selected based on the intelligence collected in advance of the raid.

Then a lone al Shabaab fighter walked out into plain view, smoked a cigarette, and went back inside, one source familiar with the details of the raid said. The fighter played it cool, and gave no indication that he had spotted the SEALs. But he came back out shooting, firing rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle.

Soon the American commandos were under siege from the warlord’s well-armed fighters. Gunfire swept toward their positions and grenades began to rain down, multiple military sources said.

Several of the SEALs could see Ikrima through the windows of the compound, but couldn’t get to him. The SEALs continued to take fire while trying to find a way to get closer to their target.

And then the children came into the pictures on their scopes.

The suspect was barricaded and heavily protected by armed men, and now children were intermingled among the fighters and in danger of dying. Then the whole town of Barawe began to erupt and more armed fighters were seen heading for Ikrima’s compound. Soon there would be fewer than two dozen Americans against hundreds of Somalis.

The SEALs opted to withdraw.

U.S. military sources said they did so in stages, making their way down the beach, asking and waiting for further orders. The team, sources said, was still considering the option of returning to fight some more.

As air support was called in, the SEALs headed back to the beach and to their boat. A command decision had been made that the prize was not worth the risk of casualties to civilians and SEALs.

The SEALs escaped from Barawe without any deaths or injuries, according to sources and officials. And the target they sought to capture is still at large.

The SEALs were members of the same unit that raided Osama bin Laden’s compound in 2011, killing the al Qaeda leader.

“After the past few years and the bin Laden raid, everyone thinks these operations are easy – they’re not,” said a senior military official familiar with the operation. “The area doesn’t have the same support network for us as Afghanistan and Iraq.”

The SEALs were “amazed” no one was hurt in the Somalia operation, said the official.

In a statement, Pentagon press secretary George Little said that U.S. military personnel had conducted a targeted operation against Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, a Kenyan of Somali origin. The statement referred to him as a close associate of al Qaeda operatives involved in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya and the 2002 attacks in Mombasa that killed Kenyans and Israelis.

“While the operation did not result in Ikrima’s capture,” said the statement, “U.S. military personnel conducted the operation with unparalleled precision and demonstrated that the United States can put direct pressure on al Shabaab leadership at any time of our choosing.”

In a simultaneous operation 3,000 miles away, U.S. special forces whisked al Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al-Libi off the streets of the Libyan capital of Tripoli. He will be taken to the United States to stand trial for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the officials said.

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[SteelBird]

Almost 20 years to the day of the Black Hawk Down incident in Somalia in 1993 another US special forces raid in Somalia went bad. The last time a group of US Army Rangers and Delta Force operators tried to capture a Somali warlord Mohammed Aidid and his top lieutenants but failed. On 3 october 1993 two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and they ended up in a massive fire fight in the center of Mogadishu and 18 Americans were killed. This time on 5 october SEALS Team Six the people who got Bin Laden in Pakistan were send into Somalia to capture a top al-Shabaab commander and ended up in a massive fire fight with the al-Shabaab militia members and had to redraw without their target. This time luckily for the Americans there where no casualties on their side.

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That sounds like a Hollywood action movie. Something always keep me wondering, so I decide to seek for clarify from expert here; An assault rifle's magazine usually hold 30 rounds and the firing speed is usually about 600 to 800 round per minute. A single trigger fires at least 5 to 10 rounds, experts can fire less. A soldier usually can carry 5 magazines including the one in his gun (AK-47 soldier, American soldiers may carry more because I usually see them have double row of magazine). So, that's about 150 rounds a soldier can carry. In an aggressive scenario described above, logistic and support are difficult. How long can 150 rounds last? How can they fight for hours?

 

[AssassinsMace]

I'll bet that story turns out to be false. Once the news came that the SEALs did not accomplish their mission in Somalia, there were already reports it was because of human shields being used. How would the media get the news that quick? It sounds like a Hollywood movie because that's what the media does. If you remember, the Bin Laden raid was reported at first very much like a Hollywood movie where Bin Laden was being protected by dozens upon dozens of fighters where a 40 minute firefight broke out. The truth will probably be something very not dramatic.

 

[PanAsian]

I don't know one way or the other how true this version of the Somalia raid story is. I do know and I am proud of the US and the service members involved for taking the high road, as well as probably the ultimately effective road, of not just collateral damaging their way to the target no matter what, because we all know the capability is there. There will be another opportunity to capture this guy with minimal fuss.

 

[AssassinsMace]

Well that's why the Pentagon has a history of romanticizing events because people would rather here the romanticized version. It could be as simple as the SEALs were spotted early on and thus the target probably would not be at the location they were going to catch him. So why risk going in when the enemy is alerted? You know why they misreported the Bin Laden raid? Even though it was a success, it doesn't sound exciting enough. But when operations go by the numbers they aren't going to be exciting. If there's a firefight especially a long one, most likely something didn't go as planned.