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Purveyor's JournalNorth Korea Set To Stage Major Military Drill
Source: Agence France-Presse
North Korea appears to be gearing up for a major military exercise, a report said, amid tensions over an expected missile test and South Korea’s pullout from a joint industrial complex.
Preparations are under way near the North’s western port of Nampo for a combined live-fire drill involving artillery units and air force jets, the South’s Yonhap news agency said, citing a Seoul government source.
“It appears that the scale of the drill will be quite big,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying, voicing fears of military provocations against the South or a missile test by Pyongyang during the exercise.
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Another Seoul military official quoted by Yonhap said the communist North may try to “fan military tension” after South Korea pulls out all its remaining workers from a jointly run factory park.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/28/north-korea-set-to-stage-major-military-drill/
Former Bush Aide Shames Congress: More Worried About Airport Delays Than Dead Kids
President George W. Bush’s former chief strategist Matthew Dowd on Sunday lashed out at Congress for moving so quickly to fund air traffic controllers because lawmakers were personally “about to get delayed at the airports,” while they couldn’t pass background checks to protect children from mass shootings.
During a panel discussion on ABC’s This Week, Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile noted that Congress had rushed through a bill to avert air traffic controller furloughs caused by automatic budget cuts in the so-called sequester, but ignored the pain the cuts were causing less-wealthy Americans.
“This sequester will have real impact on real people in real time, not just members of Congress, but people that work for the park service, medical research as the NIH begin to make those cuts, it’s impacting Meals on Wheels, kids who are in kindergarten,” Brazile explained. “So I really do think that Congress needs to take a second look at this.”
Former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, however, called the air traffic controller bill “a real victory for fiscal conservatism” because Congress moved funds around, instead of undoing any budget cuts.
“Doesn’t that mean the politically weakest are going to bear the biggest burden?” ABC host George Stephanopolous wondered.
“Not necessarily,” Gingrich insisted. “It may mean the most corrupt are going to bear the biggest burden. It may mean the dumbest are going to bear the biggest burden. When you look at a $4 trillion government, you can find lots of really stupid things to quit paying for.”
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/28/former-bush-aide-shames-congress-more-worried-about-airport-delays-than-dead-kids/
Rep. Rogers: FBI Pursuing ‘Persons Of Interest’ In Boston Probe
Investigators are pursuing other “persons of interest” who may be linked to the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon, a US lawmaker said on Sunday.
“There are still persons of interest in the United States that the FBI would like to have conversations with,” Congressman Mike Rogers, Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC’s “This Week.” He declined to provide a number.
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Rogers’ comment came as US media reported that Russian authorities secretly wiretapped the mother of the brothers and recorded her discussing jihad in vague terms during a 2011 telephone conversation.
The Russians only turned over the information to their US counterparts in recent days, according to CNN.
A US official with knowledge of the investigation who confirmed the intercept to the US television network declined to confirm who was on the other line.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/28/rep-rogers-fbi-pursuing-persons-of-interest-in-boston-probe/
Iran, Not Israel, Faces An Existential Threat, Says Top US Analyst
Anthony Cordesman claims all of Islamic Republic’s population centers now within range of Israeli missiles with thermonuclear warheadsBy YOEL GOLDMAN April 26, 2013, 12:11 pm
Iran, not Israel, faces an existential threat, according to a top US analyst who is considered one of the world’s leading scholars on the Iranian nuclear issue.
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Cordesman, a former national security aide to Senator John McCain, said Iran is likely within the range of Israeli missiles carrying thermonuclear warheads, which employ hydrogen fission and are far more powerful than standard atomic warheads. He attributed the information to “a variety of media and think tank reports.”
“Israel long ago extended the range of its nuclear-armed land-based missiles, probably now targets Iran with thermonuclear weapons, and is examining options for sea launched cruise missiles,” he wrote.
According to the CSIS report, entitled US-Iranian competition: The Gulf Military Balance II, “A mix of several air and ground bursts in an Israeli thermonuclear or high fission yield attack on five key cities – Tehran (capital) 7.19 million; Mashhad 2.592 million; Esfahan 1.704 million; Karaj 1.531 million; Tabriz 1.459 million – would probably destroy Iran as a nation in anything like its current form.”
According to Cordesman, Iran will not have the ability to threaten Israel with a long-range nuclear warhead for several years. Today, the Islamic Republic can attack Israel with small bombs from the sea, or with long-range non-nuclear missiles, he noted.
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http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-not-israel-faces-an-existential-threat/
Netanyahu Orders Ministers To Keep Mum On Syria
Prime Minister’s instructions follow Ze’ev Elkin’s Friday remarks suggesting military option against AssadBy ADIV STERMAN April 27, 2013, 11:38 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday instructed his ministers to stop giving interviews on the situation in Syria, and specifically on the Assad regime’s reported use of chemical weapons.
Netanyahu’s strict orders came in response to deputy foreign minister Ze’ev Elkin‘s remarks on Army Radio Friday, in which he was seen to be calling on the international community to take control of and eliminate Syrian President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal.
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Elkin went on to explain that an international military option is possible, but suggested that the US was not prepared to take measures in order to contain the situation in the war-torn country.
“It is clear that if the United States wants to and the international community wants to, they could act militarily, among other things, to take control of the chemical weapons, and then all the fears … will not be relevant,” he concluded.
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http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-orders-ministers-to-keep-mum-on-syria/
WATCH: IDF Soldier Screams At Israeli Activists: 'You Are Worse Than The Arabs'
Israeli Ta’ayush activists who were accompanying Palestinian shepherds in the southern West Bank village Umm al Amad on Saturday were confronted by a soldier who lost his cool, to say the least.
According to Guy, the Israeli activist who filmed the video below, this is private Palestinian land (the Otniel settlement is nearby) that the IDF and settlers routinely try and keep the Palestinian residents out of. In the video below, the soldier can be seen first approaching the Palestinian shepherd, screaming in his face in Arabic: “You better watch it!” Then Guy tells the soldier not to scream at him and to leave him alone, to which the soldier turns to Guy, screaming: “Get out of here you Israel haters, I’ll kick the crap out of you. You are worse than the Arabs.”
He then turned to one of the female Israeli activists and said: “Shut up, Israel hater who goes to bed with Arabs.”
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http://972mag.com/watch-idf-soldier-lashes-out-at-israeli-activists-you-are-worse-than-the-arabs/70037/
Russian Cargo Spacecraft Docks With Space Station Despite Glitch
An unmanned cargo-carrying spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station Friday morning, despite a glitch in the capsule's navigation system.
After its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the Russian Progress 51 spacecraft failed to deploy one of the two antennas used for the Kurs automated docking system. Russian ground controllers were able to reposition the antenna, allowing the automated docking to go ahead as planned.
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Although the cosmonauts were prepared to take over docking procedures, the automated system worked and the spacecraft fully docked to the station at 8:34 a.m. EDT while flying 251 miles (404 kilometers) over the border between China and Kazakhstan.
The approach to the space station was slower than usual because controllers on the ground and astronauts on the International Space Station were carefully monitoring Progress' position, NASA officials said.
At first the Progress was "soft-docked" and not secured in place with hooks in latches, giving the station crew and flight controllers a chance to make sure its stuck antenna posed no risk to the station's exterior. When they saw it was safe, the Progress was slowly drawn into the port and secured.
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http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/26/17930092-russian-cargo-spacecraft-docks-with-space-station-despite-glitch?lite
6 Months After Sandy, Thousands Homeless In NY, NJ
MANTOLOKING, N.J. (AP) -- The 9-year-old girl who got New Jersey's tough-guy governor to shed a tear as he comforted her after her home was destroyed is bummed because she now lives far from her best friend and has nowhere to hang her One Direction posters.
A New Jersey woman whose home was overtaken by mold still cries when she drives through the area. A New York City man whose home burned can't wait to build a new one.
Six months after Superstorm Sandy devastated the Jersey shore and New York City and pounded coastal areas of New England, the region is dealing with a slow and frustrating, yet often hopeful, recovery. Tens of thousands of people remain homeless. Housing, business, tourism and coastal protection all remain major issues with the summer vacation - and hurricane - seasons almost here again.
"Some families and some lives have come back together quickly and well, and some people are up and running almost as if nothing ever happened, and for them it's been fine," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference Thursday. "Some people are still very much in the midst of recovery. You still have people in hotel rooms, you still have people doubled up, you still have people fighting with insurance companies, and for them it's been terrible and horrendous."
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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUPERSTORM_6_MONTHS_LATER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-27-12-32-46
Syrian Opposition Rejects Russian Chemical Weapons Experts
DUBAI, April 27 (RIA Novosti) - The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces spoke against Russian experts investigating a possible use of chemical weapons in the country.
Last month, the Syrian government and rebels accused each other of using chemical weapons in an incident in Khan al-Assal in Aleppo province.
According to the coalition, Russia “is the main supplier of standard and strategic weapons to the Syrian regime as well as its main political guarantor of staying in power.”
“This is why Russia has no status enabling it to conduct a just and unbiased criminal investigation,” the coalition said in a statement.
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http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130427/180872743/Syrian-Opposition-Rejects-Russian-Chemical-Weapons-Experts.html
Syria Says Chemical Weapons Claims ‘Barefaced Lie’
US and British accusations that the regime in Damascus may have used chemical weapons are a “barefaced lie,” Syria’s information minister told Russian television Saturday.
“First of all, I want to confirm that statements by the US Secretary of State and British government are inconsistent with reality and a barefaced lie,” Omran al-Zohbi said in an interview published on the Kremlin-funded RT’s website.
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United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon has called on Syria to approve a UN mission of inspectors to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons in the spiralling two-year conflict.
But Zohbi told RT that the Syrian government could not trust UN inspectors from Britain and the US. “We do not trust the American and British experts from a political point of view,” Zobhi said. “We also do not trust their qualifications. Their aim is to juggle with facts.”
He added that the Syrian government would accept Russian inspectors.
MORE...
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/27/syria-says-chemical-weapons-claims-barefaced-lie/
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