Nepal quake victims still stranded, PM says toll could be 10,000

(GNN) - People stranded in remote villages and towns across Nepal were still waiting for aid and relief to arrive on Tuesday, four days after a devastating earthquake destroyed buildings and roads and killed more than 4,600 people.

The government has yet to assess the full scale of the damage wrought by Saturday's 7.9 magnitude quake, unable to reach many mountainous areas despite aid supplies and personnel pouring in from around the world.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told Reuters the death toll could reach 10,000, as information on damage from far-flung villages and towns has yet to come in. That would surpass the 8,500 who died in a 1934 earthquake, the last disaster on this scale to hit the Himalayan nation.

 "The government is doing all it can for rescue and relief on a war footing," Koirala said. "It is a challenge and a very difficult hour for Nepal."

Nepal told aid agencies it did not need more foreign rescue teams to help search for survivors, because its government and military could cope, the national head of the United Nations Development Programme told Reuters.

Experts said the chance of finding people alive in the ruins was slim more than four days after disaster struck.

"After the first 72 hours the survival rate drops dramatically and we are on day four," said Wojtek Wilk of the Polish Center for International Aid, an NGO which has six medical staff and 81 firefighters in Nepal. "On the fifth day it's next to zero."

In a rare glimmer of hope, a Nepali-French rescue team pulled a 28-year-old man, Rishi Khanal, from a collapsed apartment block in Kathmandu after he had spent around 80 hours trapped in a room with three dead bodies.

In Jharibar, a village in the hilly Gorkha district of Nepal close to the quake's epicentre, Sunthalia was not so lucky.

Her husband away in India and with no help in sight, she dug for hours in the rubble of her collapsed home on Saturday to recover the bodies of two of her children, a 10-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son.

Another son aged four miraculously survived.

HUNDREDS KILLED IN LANDSLIDES

In Barpak, further north, rescue helicopters were unable to find a place to land. On Tuesday, soldiers had started to make their way overland, first by bus, then by foot.

Army helicopters also circled over Laprak, another village in the district best known as the home of Gurkha soldiers.

A local health official estimated that 1,600 of the 1,700 houses there had been razed. Helicopters dropped food packets in the hope that survivors could gather them up.

In Sindhupalchowk, about 3.5 hours by road northeast of Kathmandu, the earthquake was followed by landslides, killing 1,182 people and seriously injuring 376. A local official said he feared many more were trapped and more aid was needed.

"There are hundreds of houses where our people have not been able to reach yet," said Krishna Pokharel, the district administrator. "There is a shortage of fuel, the weather is bad and there is not enough help coming in from Kathmandu."

International aid has begun arriving in Nepal, but disbursement has been slow, partly because aftershocks have sporadically closed the airport.

According to the home (interior) ministry, the confirmed death toll stands at 4,682, with more than 9,240 injured.

The United Nations said 8 million people were affected by the quake and that 1.4 million people were in need of food.

Nepal's most deadly quake in 81 years also triggered a huge avalanche on Mount Everest that killed at least 18 climbers and guides, including four foreigners, the worst single disaster on the world's highest peak.

All the climbers who had been stranded at camps high up on Everest had been flown by helicopters to safety, mountaineers reported on Tuesday.

Up to 250 people were missing after an avalanche hit a village on Tuesday in Rasuwa district, a popular trekking area to the north of Kathmandu, district governor Uddhav Bhattarai said.

FRUIT VENDORS RETURN TO STREETS

A series of aftershocks, severe damage from the quake, creaking infrastructure and a lack of funds have complicated rescue efforts in the poor country of 28 million people sandwiched between India and China.

In Kathmandu, youths and relatives of victims were digging into the ruins of destroyed buildings and landmarks.

"Waiting for help is more torturous than doing this ourselves," said Pradip Subba, searching for the bodies of his brother and sister-in-law in the debris of Kathmandu's historic Dharahara tower.

The 19th century tower collapsed on Saturday as weekend sightseers clambered up its spiral stairs. Scores of people were killed when it crumpled.

Elsewhere in the capital's ancient Durbar Square, groups of young men cleared rubble from around an ancient temple, using pickaxes, shovels and their hands. Several policemen stood by, watching.

Heavy rain late on Tuesday slowed the rescue work.

In the capital, as elsewhere, thousands have been sleeping on pavements, roads and in parks, many under makeshift tents.

Hospitals are full to overflowing, while water, food and power are scarce.

There were some signs of normality returning on Tuesday, with fruit vendors setting up stalls on major roads and public buses back in operation.

Officials acknowledged that they were overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster.

"The big challenge is relief," said Chief Secretary Leela Mani Paudel, Nepal's top bureaucrat. "We are really desperate for more foreign expertise to pull through this crisis."

India and China, which have used aid and investment to court Kathmandu for years, were among the first contributors to the international effort to support Nepal's stretched resources.

(Reuters)(Additional reporting by Gopal Sharma, Ross Adkin, Frank Jack Daniel, Andrew Marshall and Christophe Van Der Perre in Kathmandu, Aman Shah and Clara Ferreira-Marques in Mumbai, Aditya Kalra, Douglas Busvine and Aditi Shah in New Delhi, and Jane Wardell in Sydney; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Paul Tait)

Sierra Leone president sacks deputy for seeking asylum in U.S. Embassy

(GNN) - Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma has sacked Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana for seeking asylum in the U.S. Embassy, a statement from the president's office said on Wednesday.

The firing could stoke political tensions in one of the three West African countries hardest-hit by the worst outbreak on record of the Ebola virus that has killed over 3,600 people in Sierra Leone.

Koroma said in the statement that Sam-Sumana had abandoned his duties and office as vice president by seeking refuge in a foreign embassy, adding that he would appoint a new deputy shortly.

Sam-Sumana said on Saturday he would remain in hiding and would not return home due to security fears, but his whereabouts were unclear.

"Alhaji Samuel Sam-Sumana is no longer a member of a political party in Sierra Leone and therefore does not have the continuous requirement to hold office as vice president of the Republic of Sierra Leone," Koroma's statement said.

Sam-Sumana said in a statement he was "shocked and amazed" by a decision he called unconstitutional. Koroma has "absolutely no powers to relieve me of the duties of the vice president," he said, adding that he would challenge the decision in the country's supreme court.

Sam-Sumana requested asylum at the U.S. Embassy in Freetown after soldiers surrounded his residence on Saturday following his expulsion from the ruling party this month.

Following an investigation by Koroma's All People's Congress (APC) party, Sam-Sumana was accused of creating his own rival political movement and fomenting violence in his home region of Kono, in diamond-rich eastern Sierra Leone.

Sm-Sumana has rejected calls to resign and denied the accusations against him, which also included charges of lying about his academic credentials and his Muslim faith.

His expulsion from the party has stirred confusion as Sierra Leone's 1991 constitution only allows the dismissal of the vice president with the vote of two-thirds of parliament, but it does require the office holder to belong to a political party.

(Reuters)(Writing by Bate Felix and Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

South Sudan warlord offers abducted boys sit exams: U.N. envoy

(GNN) - A South Sudanese warlord who abducted about 89 boys from their school has offered to let them return to finish exams as long as they are then given back to him to fight, United Nations global education envoy Gordon Brown said on Wednesday.

"The whole world should be protesting as we did over Chibok about any child that is abducted from their school and any child that has been kidnapped ... as is happening to so many children in South Sudan," Brown told reporters at the United Nations.

Brown was referring to the kidnap of more than 200 girls by Boko Haram militants from Chibok, Nigeria. Boko Haram, which is fighting to carve an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria, attacked the girls' secondary school almost a year ago at exam time. The abduction led to a global campaign to find them.

In South Sudan, the U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF said in February that gunmen kidnapped the boys in oil-rich Upper Nile State while they were sitting exams.

Brown, a former British prime minister, said they were aged between 12 and 15. Brown was starting a campaign for the world to guard schools from military use and attacks and give them the same protections as Red Cross hospitals.

"The latest information is that the terrorist group has offered to allow them to sit their exams as long as they can then take them back as child soldiers," Brown said. He did not give details on who had taken the boys.

Brown said there have been more than 10,000 attacks on schools worldwide in the past five years and 28 million children in areas of conflict or emergency are unable to attend school.

South Sudan declared independence from Sudan in 2011. In January, the United Nations secured the release of about 3,000 child soldiers.

"About 12,000 children in South Sudan have been abducted in recent times by different factions ... who are training these children who have been abducted as soldiers for the future," Brown said.

South Sudan plunged into civil war in December 2013 when a political crisis sparked fighting between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels allied with his former deputy Riek Machar. The conflict has reopened ethnic fault lines that pit Kiir's Dinka people against Machar's ethnic Nuer forces.

At least 10,000 people have been killed and 1.5 million civilians displaced. On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, said a lack of accountability for atrocities hinders a bid for peace.

(Reuters)(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Grant McCool)

Congo orders expulsion of four foreign activists

(GNN) - Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday ordered the immediate expulsion of four foreign pro-democracy activists detained at the weekend during a news conference and criticized the United States for supporting the event.

The group were among some 40 activists, musicians and journalists arrested in the capital on Sunday during the news conference. A U.S. diplomat was also briefly detained.

The incident has stoked tensions in the vast, historically unstable Central African country a year ahead of an election. President Joseph Kabila is legally barred from seeking a third term in 2016 although opponents accuse him of plotting to extend his rule.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende said the foreign activists including a Burkinabe and three Senegalese activists were part of a "subversive movement inspired from abroad". Authorities had found military uniforms in their luggage but Congo has dropped a criminal investigation into them, he added.

The foreign activists have organized protests in their home countries supporting presidential term limits ahead of elections.

The Burkinabe activist was a member of grassroots political group "Balai Citoyen", which played a leading role in toppling longterm President Blaise Compaore last year as he sought to extend his mandate.

CRITICISM OF U.S. ROLE

At least 40 people were killed in January in violent protests against a revision of Congo's electoral law that opponents said was meant to delay the presidential poll.

Kabila has not officially declared his intentions for the election, although the government denies he is deliberately seeking to extend his presidency. The United States has repeatedly urged Kabila to respect term limits and set a date for the election.

Mende said a "black hand" had been active in Congolese politics this year and singled out the role of the U.S. embassy, which has acknowledged partially sponsoring Sunday’s news conference.

"The U.S. embassy does not have the status to organize political events in Democratic Republic of Congo," Mende said.

The embassy declined to give an immediate response to the spokesman's comment, although it has previously said that representatives at the event were respected and non-partisan.

One Congolese journalist in Kinshasa was released on Tuesday but the remainder of the local activists remained in custody. Mende said their cases would be "closed very soon".

In the eastern city of Goma, about a dozen youth activists were released late Tuesday night after having been detained earlier in the day by intelligence agents while protesting the Kinshasa arrests, some of the released activists told Reuters.

(Reuters)(Reporting by Aaron Ross; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Dominic Evans)

Related articles

• DR Congo demonstrators arrested (bbc.co.uk)
• Activists arrested in Kinshasa pro-democracy event (aljazeera.com)
• DR Congo detains American diplomat in raid targeting political activists (foxnews.com)
• DRC Opposition Calls on President to Avoid Third Term (voanews.com)
• Congo Official: US Diplomat Released From Detention (abcnews.go.com)
• Congo official: US diplomat released from detention (dailymail.co.uk)

Mali government refuses further talks on north's future

(GNN) - Mali's government said on Wednesday it would not participate in further talks with rebels seeking autonomy for northern Mali, leaving the future of a U.N.-brokered peace process in question.

A collapse in peace talks could leave the question of north Mali's political status open indefinitely, a factor that may be exploited by Islamist militants active in the region.

Mediators have been working for months to facilitate talks between a group of Tuareg-led rebels from the north and the southern government in Bamako aimed at ending decades of northern uprisings.

Bamako signed a preliminary proposal in early March but the rebels rejected it this week, saying it did not grant enough autonomy for a region they call Azawad.

"There is no question for us to resume negotiations again, otherwise it will never end," government spokesman Choguel Kokala Maiga told reporters.

The government refusal to reopen discussions comes a day after the rebel coalition known as the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) agreed to another round of talks, without setting a date or location.

Mediators from the United Nations, the African Union, France, China, Russia and Algeria had flown to the rebel stronghold town of Kidal in an attempt to salvage the peace process.

The United Nations said in a statement that the CMA had submitted a document in the Tuesday meeting with a list of "observations it would like the mediators to consider in order to proceed with a signature."

It did not give details of the demands.

"Certain of these observations formulated by the CMA could be validly taken into account in the framework of the implementation of the agreement," the U.N. added.

(Reuters)(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Additional reporting by David Lewis; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

EU's Tusk discussing Russia sanctions idea with Merkel, Hollande

(GNN) - European Council President Donald Tusk is discussing a proposal with Germany and France to link European Union sanctions on Russia to full implementation of a Ukraine ceasefire, a senior EU official said on Wednesday.

Tusk is working with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on a compromise proposal on the future of EU sanctions that he believes all 28 EU leaders would support at a summit on Thursday.

"The direction of that proposal will go into building very strong links between full implementation of Minsk and sanctions that are already in place being in place until full implementation of Minsk," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

An uneasy ceasefire is in place in eastern Ukraine after a new truce agreement was agreed in Minsk last month.

Agreement of all EU governments is needed to renew economic sanctions on Russia expiring in July, but governments are sharply divided.

More hawkish member states wanted an agreement to extend those sanctions now, while other governments wanted to wait until a June summit to give the Minsk accord a chance to work.

Linking sanctions to full implementation of Minsk would effectively mean extending them at least until the end of the year, because the Minsk accord contains a year-end deadline for Ukraine to recover full control over its border.

The EU official said all governments were ready to agree that Merkel and Hollande, having helped negotiate the Minsk agreement, "should have a specific role in the process of defining further steps which should support implementation of Minsk".

"That is why right now Tusk is working together with Merkel and Hollande on that proposal," the official said.

One EU diplomat said leaders would likely agree at the summit to signal now that they would keep sanctions on Russia until the Minsk terms were fully met, while leaving a formal decision on renewing sanctions until June.

"It makes no sense to reduce the pressure on Russia ... if their commitment to the full implementation of Minsk hasn't been tested," he said. "We think there are clear advantages to sending a signal on rollover (of sanctions) early on."

A German government official said that implementation of the Minsk agreement was the benchmark for Berlin.

Merkel made clear when she met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Berlin on Monday “that the implementation of the Minsk agreement and sanctions are closely bound politically,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

(Reuters)(Additional reporting by Stephen Brown in Berlin; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

Senator McCain raps Air Force on Russian rocket engines

(GNN) - Senator John McCain on Wednesday criticized the U.S. Air Force's "troubling lack of urgency" in ending dependence on Russian rocket engines for space launches, saying there was still no strategy to replace them a year after Moscow seized the Crimea.

"Continued reliance on Russian rocket engines is unacceptable and it's time the Air Force conduct itself accordingly," McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told a hearing with senior Air Force officials.

McCain said Congress had given the Air Force $220 million this fiscal year and set a deadline of 2019 for replacing the engine.

Congress is pushing for development of a U.S. engine amid rising tensions between the United States and Russia over Moscow's annexation last year of the Crimea region of Ukraine.

"Instead of giving the effort the level of attention needed, the Air Force has wasted a year doing very little to end our reliance on Russian rocket engines," McCain said.

"If the Air Force is unwilling to do what is necessary to meet the 2019 deadline, they are going to have to figure out how to meet our space launch needs without the RD-180 (Russian engine)," he said.

McCain made his remarks a day after Air Force officials told lawmakers they planned to release a draft request for proposals next month and could award initial study contracts by the end of the 2015 fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The officials said the Air Force planned to focus the competition on launch services rather than development of a new American engine, since any engine must be closely integrated with the rocket it fuels.

McCain told Reuters after the hearing that he favored the Air Force's more commercial approach, which would allow bidders to offer their own designs.

The Russian-built RD-180 engine now powers the Atlas 5, one of two rockets used by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, which launches most big U.S. military and intelligence satellites.

Privately held Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, expects to be certified by June to compete for some of those launches, but it may be years before its Falcon Heavy rocket is certified to launch the heaviest intelligence satellites.

(Reuters)(Reporting by David Alexander and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Grant McCool and Andre Grenon)

Volkswagen hit by second Chinese state television exposé in one week

(GNN) - China's main state-owned television network struck out against Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) in its second exposé targeting the firm this week, alleging this time that the company overlooked dangerous engine leaks in its Chinese cars.

Foreign firms like Volkswagen that dominate certain sectors of the Chinese market can be particularly vulnerable to exposés that hold sway over consumers and can drag down sales.

The China Central Television (CCTV) segment on Wednesday alleged that Volkswagen customer service and dealerships ignored complaints of oil leaks pooling in the engine tray, an issue that third-party experts said could be a fire hazard.

"We are aware of media reports regarding an engine oil issue, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers," Volkswagen spokeswoman Larissa Braun said in an emailed statement.

"We take such reports very seriously and have already launched an investigation into the matter."

The company will issue further information as soon as possible, she said.

"[The report] does pass the sniff test," said James Feldkamp, CEO of Shanghai-based consumer watchdog MingJian.

Volkswagen has recalled more than 93,000 2014 and 2015 models globally, including some models from subsidiaries Audi and Porsche, over fuel leak issues as well as nearly 38,000 in the United States, Feldkamp said.

"It looks entirely plausible that the engine problems they're having with the leak are more widespread than originally reported," he said.

CCTV said it found complaints of engine leaks in Volkswagen cars in Shanghai, Beijing and at least eight of China's provinces. The report mentioned Magotan sedan and Tiguan SUV models.

When the owners featured in the program contacted dealers or Shanghai Volkswagen customer service, they were told such leakages were normal.

In 2013, CCTV reported on Volkswagen transmission gearboxes causing cars to speed up or slow down. That report spurred a recall.

The exposé follows on CCTV's annual "3.15" consumer rights day investigative special aired on Sunday that alleged Volkswagen, Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) and Daimler AG's (DAIGn.DE) Mercedes Benz dealerships oversold repair services and parts that drivers did not need.

McDonald's Corp (MCD.N), Apple (AAPL.O) and Starbucks (SBUX.O) have all been subjects of CCTV 3.15 exposés in the past.

China is the world's largest auto market, and Volkswagen, through its joint ventures with SAIC Motor Corp (600104.SS) and FAW Group, was the country's top selling automaker in 2014.

Chinese regulations only allow foreign firms to manufacture cars through joint ventures and restrict them to a 50-percent ownership cap.

(Reuters)(Reporting by Jake Spring; Additional reporting by Paul Carsten in BEIJING; Editing by Ryan Woo and Gopakumar Warrier)

Vietnam calls for 'self-restraint' in disputed South China Sea

(GNN) - Vietnam and Australia called on Wednesday for "self-restraint" in the South China Sea and warned against the unilateral use of force, an obvious reference to China's increasingly aggressive presence that has stirred concerns across the disputed region.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met Australian counterpart Tony Abbott in Canberra, where they will sign a deal on issues including security and climate change.

Vietnam and other wary Southeast Asian countries have complained about China's controversial policy of land reclamation on disputed isles in the South China Sea. Beijing in turn has said it is not seeking to overturn international order.

Dung told the Australian parliament there was an imperative need to draw up a code of conduct for the South China Sea.

"We agreed ... (to) exercise self-restraint and refrain from actions that may escalate the tension in the region, including the use of force to unilaterally change the status quo," Dung said.

China claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, displaying its reach on official maps with a so-called nine-dash dotted line that stretches deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims to parts of the potentially energy-rich waters that are crossed by key global shipping lanes.

Beijing is committed to working toward regional stability, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday, when asked about the statement.

"We hope the relevant countries in the region can come together with China," Hong Lei said in a regular briefing. "We hope that countries outside the region maintain a neutral position, particularly on the issue of sovereignty."

Last week, China expressed its anger at the Vietnamese head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for comments he made on the disputed South China Sea, rejecting Chinese claims based on the nine-dash line.

Australia and China sealed a landmark free trade agreement in November that would significantly expand ties between them. China is Australia's largest trading partner.

Dung said Australia and Vietnam were also committed to working together closely and deepening their friendship.

(Reuters)(Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Paul Tait)

Related articles

• Vietnam calls for 'self-restraint' in disputed South China Sea (msn.com)
• Vietnam PM to visit Australia (theage.com.au)
• Vietnam PM to visit Australia (smh.com.au)
• Vietnam calls for "self-restraint" in disputed South China Sea (dailymail.co.uk)
• Vietnam, Australia Strengthen Security Ties (voanews.com)
• Vietnam PM to visit Australia (sbs.com.au)
• Vietnam and Australia leaders agree to closer defense ties (newsday.com)

U.N.: Peace process only way for Israel to stay a democracy

(GNN) - The United Nations said on Wednesday that Israel needs to stick with the Middle East peace process to remain a democracy after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abandoned a commitment ahead of his re-election to negotiate a Palestinian state.

In the final days of campaigning before Israeli voters went to the polls on Tuesday, Netanyahu said he would not permit a Palestinian state to be created under his watch and also promised to go on building settlements on occupied land.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes the peace process, including an end to illegal settlement building, is "the best and only way forward for Israel to remain a democratic state," U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.

Palestinians seek a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 War.

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor responded: "The United Nations may disagree with the policies of the Israeli government, but there is one fact that can't be disputed - that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East."

"If the U.N. is so concerned about the future of the Palestinian people, it should be asking why President (Mahmoud) Abbas is in the tenth year of a five-year presidential term," Proser said in a statement.

Ban welcomed the preliminary results of Israel's election and hoped for the rapid establishment of a government, said Haq.

"It is incumbent on the new Israeli government, once formed, to create the conditions for a negotiated final peace agreement, with the active engagement of the international community, that will end the Israeli occupation and realize the creation of a viable Palestinian state, living in peace and security alongside Israel," Haq said.

Ban again urged Israel to resume transfer of tax revenue to the Palestinians. Israel is withholding critical tax revenue in retaliation for Palestinian moves to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).

(Reuters)(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Ken Wills)

Related articles

• Huckabee Calls Out Media's 'Ridiculous' Reaction to Netanyahu's Victory (insider.foxnews.com)
• For Palestinians, Israel's election offers bleak horizon (nation.com.pk)
• Netanyahu visits east Jerusalem in final day of campaign (dailystar.com.lb)
• Palestinian vote to halt to security coordination with Israel worries UN (theguardian.com)

Some U.S. allies may send troops to Syria with trainees: Army chief

(GNN) - Some U.S. allies in the fight against Islamic State militants in Syria may be willing to send troops to accompany and support the Syrian opposition force the coalition is planning to train and send back to Syria, Army General Ray Odierno said on Wednesday.

Odierno, the U.S. Army chief of staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee the military was aware the Syrian opposition force would need help and support once it returned home and was studying how best to provide that assistance.

Asked whether forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad might immediately try to wipe out the coalition-trained opposition, Odierno said the allies would be cautious about where the troops were inserted and what operations they initially undertook.

"As we look at employing those forces once they're trained, I think we've got to be very careful about how we do that," Odierno said. "I think we would work with ... some of our allies that might be able to put some people in there with them."

"We'd be very careful in where we place them and what their initial missions would be as they continue to develop capability," he added. "I also believe there would be some enabler support that would be necessary in order to help them."

Odierno did not specify what type of enablers might be necessary. The word is often used to refer to troops who do intelligence or surveillance, medical evacuation, communications and other jobs that support combat operations.

The Army chief said that since the purpose of the opposition force was to confront Islamic State militants, the allies would make an effort initially to place it in a location where it was not likely to come under attack from Assad's military.

The U.S. military last month began vetting Syrian opposition members to identify candidates to receive military training at camps being set up in up to four countries across the region.

The allies have identified about 2,000 Syrian opposition candidates for the training so far, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

About 400 have progressed through the first stage of vetting, which involves compiling biographical data. The final stage is a full biometric screening, she said. The full vetting process takes about six weeks.

Coalition partners hope to train 5,000 to 5,500 Syrian opposition members per year, beginning small with about 200 to 300 trainees per group.

(Reuters)(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Ken Wills)

Related articles

• Syria's Assad awaits US 'actions' after Kerry comments (news.yahoo.com)
• After Kerry, France says Syria's Assad can't be part of negotiated solution (dailymail.co.uk)
• Assad's Targeted Killings: Why He Doesn't Need Chemical Weapons (blogs.timesofisrael.com)

U.S. rebukes Israel's victorious Netanyahu on Mideast policy

(GNN) - The White House on Wednesday scolded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following his re-election victory for abandoning his commitment to negotiate for a Palestinian state and for what it called "divisive" campaign rhetoric toward Israel’s minority Arab voters.

Even as President Barack Obama's administration congratulated Netanyahu for his party's decisive win, the White House signaled its deep disagreements – and thorny relationship - with Netanyahu will persist on issues ranging from Middle East peacemaking to Iran nuclear diplomacy.

In a hard-right shift in the final days of campaigning, Netanyahu backtracked on his support for eventual creation of a Palestinian state - the cornerstone of more than two decades of peace efforts - and promised to continue building Jewish settlements on occupied land.

Such policies could put him on a new collision course with the Obama administration. Some Obama aides had privately left little doubt during the Israeli election campaign of their preference for Netanyahu's center-left challenger, Isaac Herzog.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest reaffirmed Obama’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict and said that based on Netanyahu’s comments, "the United States will evaluate our approach to this situation moving forward."

Netanyahu’s insistence that there will be no Palestinian state while he holds office, seen as a maneuver to mobilize his right-wing base, angered the Palestinians and drew criticism from the United Nations and European governments. Chances for restarting long-stalled peace moves already had been low.

U.S. lawmakers were divided on Netanyahu's hardened stance.

"It was remarkable to back-track so significantly on a two-state solution," said Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, adding it could make Washington's effort to mediate more difficult.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he hoped the United States and Israel would see the election as "an opportunity to start over." But he said: "A two-state solution is impossible as long as Hamas exists and runs Gaza."

DEEP CONCERN

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Earnest said the administration would communicate its concern directly to the Israeli government over rhetoric used by Netanyahu's campaign.

Netanyahu charged on election day in Israel that left-wingers were trying to get Arab-Israeli voters out "in droves" to sway the election against him. "The United States and this administration is deeply concerned about rhetoric that seeks to marginalize Arab-Israeli citizens," Earnest said.

Arabs comprise about 20 percent of Israel's population of eight million and have long complained about discrimination. They emerged from Tuesday's vote as the third largest party.

Two weeks ago Netanyahu defied Obama with a politically divisive speech to Congress attacking U.S.-led nuclear talks with Iran. Earnest predicted that Netanyahu's re-election would have no "material impact" on the sensitive Iran negotiations.

Secretary of State John Kerry called Netanyahu on Wednesday to congratulate him. Obama will follow suit "in coming days," Earnest said. He said that after previous elections Obama had waited a similar amount of time, holding off until Netanyahu was formally given the go-ahead to form a coalition.

Although Netanyahu must still put together a coalition, his victory all but guarantees Israel's president will give him the first opportunity to form a government.

Administration officials had privately signaled their hopes for an election outcome more in sync with Obama’s agenda, especially with an end-of-March deadline looming for a framework nuclear deal in negotiations between Tehran and world powers.

But they, and lawmakers, said U.S.-Israeli ties were strong enough to transcend their leaders' differences.

"Who cares if they don't like each other?" asked U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

(Reuters)(Additional reporting by Julia Edwards and Jeff Mason in Washington; Writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Howard Goller, Toni Reinhold)

Downing of U.S. drone suggests Syria imposing red lines on air war

(GNN) - After allowing the United States to use its air space to bomb Islamic State fighters for six months, the Syrian army appears to have imposed a "red line" by shooting down a U.S. drone over territory of critical importance to Damascus.

The U.S. military has said it lost contact with one of its drones over northwest Syria but has not given the cause of the incident over Latakia province - part of the western region of Syria where Damascus has been consolidating state control.

Two U.S. officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the Predator drone was likely shot down, although the investigation continues.

A Syrian army source said the aircraft was shot down over government-held territory in an area free from Islamic State, the jihadist group that has been facing near daily bombardment by U.S.-led warplanes on the other side of the country.

"Our air defense brought it down with a rocket," the military source told Reuters. "The plane was American-made, was brought down coming from the sea, and the Syrian air defense was the one that brought it down," he added.

"The whole region is under state control."

Four years into Syria's civil war, Washington still says President Bashar al-Assad has no future in Syria, despite leading an air campaign against jihadist groups that are his most powerful foes on the ground.

Until now, Syria is not known to have fired on U.S. aircraft. The United States says its air strikes are not coordinated with Damascus but Syria says it receives word of them through mutual friends in Iraq.

The drone was shot down about 10 km (6 miles) north of the coastal city of Latakia, according to the military source and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the war using sources on the ground.

The area is far from the northern and eastern parts of Syria where U.S. and allied warplanes have been launching near daily air strikes against Islamic State positions to roll back the group that has seized wide areas of Syria and Iraq.

Damascus has been consolidating its grip over western Syria, including the Mediterranean coast, even as it has lost control over wide areas of the north and east. The coastal region includes a Russian naval base in Tartous.

The United States has previously described Syrian air defenses as "passive," meaning they have not engaged the U.S.-led coalition's aircraft as American and other planes carry out strikes against militants.

The U.S. air strikes have not targeted Syrian military forces or military infrastructure.

SENDING A MESSAGE

U.S. officials have not provided word on the drone's mission, although the fact it was unarmed suggests it was carrying out intelligence collection. Tuesday's incident took place sometime around 7:40 pm in Syria, when officials said the United States lost contact with the unarmed MQ-1 Predator aircraft.

"If America wanted to send a message - be it for reasons of spying or discovering points of strength or weakness in the Syrian defenses - I believe the Syrian response confirmed that violations of Syrian air space are forbidden," said Salim Harbba, a Damascus-based strategic analyst.

In addition to the regular strikes against Islamic State, U.S. aircraft have also occasionally targeted a separate jihadist group, the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, in northwestern Syria, closer to the area of Tuesday's incident.

The Nusra Front, which shares much of Islamic State's militant Sunni Islamist ideology but does not recognize its legitimacy, has recently fought with the Syrian military and allied militias in northern Latakia province.

Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory, said the U.S. drone may have been scouting for al Qaeda-linked militants.

"There have been increased battles in the Latakia area," he said.

(Reuters)(Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Peter Graff and Richard Chang)

Exclusive: U.S. asks Vietnam to stop helping Russian bomber flights

(GNN) - The United States has asked Vietnam to stop letting Russia use a former U.S. base to refuel nuclear-capable bombers engaged in shows of strength over the Asia-Pacific region, exposing strains in Washington's steadily warming relations with Hanoi.

The request, described to Reuters by a State Department official, comes as U.S. officials say Russian bombers have stepped up flights in a region already rife with tensions between China, U.S.-ally Japan and Southeast Asian nations.

General Vincent Brooks, commander of the U.S. Army in the

Pacific, told Reuters the planes had conducted "provocative" flights, including around the U.S. Pacific Ocean territory of Guam, home to a major American air base.

It is the first time that U.S. officials have confirmed the role of Cam Ranh Bay, a natural deep-water harbor, in Russian bomber plane activity that has increased globally.

Brooks said the planes that circled Guam were refueled by Russian tankers flying from the strategic bay, which was transformed by the Americans during the Vietnam War into a massive air and naval base.

Vietnam's willingness to allow Russia to use Cam Ranh Bay reflects Hanoi's complex position in a geopolitical tug-of-war that frequently pits China and Russia on one side and the United States, Japan and much of Southeast Asia on the other.

   Washington is keen to secure greater access itself to Cam Ranh Bay as part of its strategic "pivot" to Asia to counter China's growing strength in the region. U.S. ships have visited for repairs in recent years.

Vietnam, in turn, has sought closer U.S. ties as a hedge against what it sees as China's aggression, but remains close to Russia in both defense and energy cooperation.

Cam Ranh Bay is now host to three submarines bought by Vietnam's navy from Russia to counter Chinese expansion in the South China Sea, with two more expected by early next year.

Brooks said in an interview the flights indicated that Vietnam's Cold War-era ally Russia was acting as "a spoiler to our interests and the interests of others."

RAISING TENSIONS

Asked about the Russian flights in the region, the State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Washington respected Hanoi's right to enter agreements with other countries.

But the official added: "We have urged Vietnamese officials to ensure that Russia is not able to use its access to Cam Ranh Bay to conduct activities that could raise tensions in the region."

The Vietnamese government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.S. request.

Brooks declined to say when the flights he referred to took place. He did not say how many had been conducted and how many aircraft were involved. But he confirmed they had occurred since Russia's annexation of Crimea last March, which sparked a broader conflict with Ukraine and a surge in tensions between Russia and the United States.

The head of U.S. air forces in the Pacific said last May that Russia's intervention in Ukraine had been accompanied by a significant increase in Russian air activity in the Asia-Pacific region in a show of strength and to gather intelligence.

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Jan. 4 that Russian Il-78 tanker aircraft had used Cam Ranh Bay in 2014, enabling the refueling of nuclear-capable TU-95 "Bear" strategic bombers, a statement also reported in Vietnam's state-controlled media.

In that time, Russia has conducted increasingly aggressive air and sea patrols close to the borders of the U.S.-led NATO alliance, including by Bear bombers over the English Channel.

    Last year, NATO conducted more than 100 intercepts of Russian aircraft, about three times as many as in 2013.

RUSSIAN BOMBER FLIGHTS

Russian bomber patrol flights, a Cold War-era practice, were cut back after the fall of the Soviet Union but President Vladimir Putin revived them in 2007.

Russia said in November it planned to send long-range bombers on patrols over North American waters but the Pentagon played this down at the time as routine training in international airspace.

In its effort to boost ties with Vietnam, the United States has been pouring in aid and assistance in health, education, landmines clearance, scholarships and nuclear energy.

Defense cooperation had been limited by an embargo on lethal arms. But Washington started to ease this in October, enabling humanitarian exercises between both militaries late last year and more are taking place this month.

Last year saw a flurry of high-level U.S. visits to Vietnam that coincided with a maritime territorial row between Hanoi and Beijing. On Friday, the U.S ambassador in Vietnam announced that the Vietnamese Communist Party chief would later this year become the first party leader to visit Washington.

U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius said on Friday it was understandable Hanoi would look to "historic partners" when it came to security, but the United States had "much to offer... to enhance Vietnam's security in the short, medium and long term."

(Reuters)(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by Martin Petty and Ho Binh Minh in Hanoi and Jason Szep in Washington; Editing by David Storey and Stuart Grudgings)

Related articles

• Monsanto Talks Food Security, But Critics Want Vietnam War Restitution First
• U.S. Asks Vietnam To Stop Helping Russian Bomber Flights
• Save A Life: Reference Guide To Learning Cpr
• Hon. Fred Foreman Retained as Special Counsel by Coalition to Salute America's Heroes
• U.S. asks Vietnam to stop helping Russian bomber flights
• US asks Vietnam to stop letting Russia use Cam Ranh Bay base

Disaster damage expected to hit $300 billion yearly as events intensify

(GNN) - ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Investing in insurance programs for poor farmers today could save tens of billions of dollars in coming decades as climate change upsets growing patterns and makes harvests fail, U.N. officials said ahead of next week's conference in Japan on disaster preparedness.

An investment of $350,000 in disaster prevention for farmers, including irrigation systems, crop insurance and terraces saves an estimated $4 million in averted costs for humanitarian relief when a drought or flood hits, said Richard Choularton, chief of disaster risk reduction at the World Food Programme (WFP).

Index insurance systems, where farmers receive a payout if rainfall levels or the temperature pass a given threshold, have been some of the most effective tools in helping communities respond to floods, droughts or heatwaves, Choularton said.

"The poorest farmers are the ones who need access to insurance most," Choularton told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Safety nets are needed to reduce and manage the risks from disasters."

A U.N. report released ahead of the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction set to take place in Sendai, Japan, from March 14-18 found that disasters are expected to cost the global community up to $300 billion in annual losses in the coming decades.

Choularton believes that estimate is conservative.

The scale of the problem is making governments start to appreciate the increased costs they can expect when natural disasters strike.

The African Union, for example, has set up an insurance fund to help member states when a drought hits, and individual countries are also building their own programs, Choularton said.

On average, the farm sector bears 22 percent of the costs caused by natural disasters, said Dominique Burgeon, director of emergencies for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

"The number of disasters is increasing, becoming more intense and more costly," Burgeon told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather, especially floods, droughts and heatwaves."

Around the world, 2.5 billion smallholder farmers depend on agriculture to earn a living, he said, including hundreds of millions who exist at subsistence levels at the best of times.

In the developed world, about 80 percent of agricultural insurance is subsidized by the state, the WFP's Choularton said, and governments in developing countries should work to expand social safety nets for farmers to mitigate the worst effects of disasters.

(Reporting By Chris Arsenault; Editing by Tim Pearce)

Obama war request in trouble in Congress, mostly from Democrats

(GNN) - U.S. President Barack Obama's request to authorize military force against Islamic State has made little progress since he sent it to Congress, and it may never pass, due largely to opposition from his fellow Democrats.

Obama asked Congress for an authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against Islamic State a month ago, after agitation from lawmakers worried that the military campaign he began in August overstepped his constitutional authority.

Congressional leaders anticipated quick hearings and votes on the plan, which proposed a three-year time frame for the campaign and repealing the 2002 authorization used for the Iraq War.

But it met with instant, deep disapproval.

Republicans, who control Congress and criticize Obama's foreign policy as too passive, want stronger measures against the militants and fewer limits on the use of U.S. combat troops than included in the plan.

But more serious opposition came from Obama's fellow Democrats, who demanded a strict time limit for any combat troops. Many also want to repeal the 2001 AUMF the Obama administration has been using to justify the anti-Islamic State campaign.

"This AUMF, hardly anybody supports it that I know of," Republican Senator Orrin Hatch told reporters.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee set its first major AUMF hearing, with testimony from Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, for Wednesday.

The panel's chairman, Republican Senator Bob Corker, said he planned one or two more hearings. But without support from Democrats, he said he was not sure how it would move ahead.

"One of the things we don't want to do is embark on a path that leads nowhere," he told reporters.

Senator Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, does not support Obama's plan as proposed.

The hearings process has barely begun in the House, where compromise between conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats is even rarer than in the Senate.

MONTHS BEFORE A VOTE

Both lawmakers and aides said they expected it would be months, if ever, before the full House and Senate vote.

"Time is not on our side," Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and a leading advocate for a new AUMF, told Reuters.

"The longer we go into this conflict without a resolution, the more members become comfortable with the status quo and failure to act ... that would be an appalling result," he said.

Some lawmakers insisted compromise was possible.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy acknowledged the process was slow. But he insisted that Obama's draft could be changed enough to attract Democrats and moderate Republicans.

"There is an authorization, with reasonable restrictions, that can get 60 votes in the Senate, but we haven't even tried to get there yet," he told Reuters.

The Obama administration has shown no immediate concern that its proposal might die in Congress.

"We remain open to reasonable adjustments that are consistent with the president's policy and that can garner bipartisan support," said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "However, it is ultimately up to Congress to pass a new authorization."

Ultimately, the AUMF will make little difference for the campaign Obama began in August with air strikes in Iraq and later expanded to Syria.

Obama says the 2001 AUMF gives him all the authority he needs, although he wants Congress's approval to show not just the militants, but the world, a united front.

(Reuters)(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Islamic State video shows killing of teen accused as Israeli spy

(GNN) - A video posted online by Islamic State militants on Tuesday showed a boy fatally shooting Muhammad Musallam, an Israeli Arab accused by the group of having signed up as a jihadi to spy for Israel's intelligence service.

The video, published by the group's Furqan media outlet, showed Musallam, 19, sitting in a room wearing an orange jumpsuit, talking about how he had been recruited and trained by Mossad. He said his father and elder brother had encouraged him.

After that, it showed Musallam being escorted to a field and then being shot in the head by a boy, described by an older, French-speaking fighter as one of the "cubs of the caliphate".

Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the footage, which also appeared on Twitter feeds used by Islamic State supporters.

Israeli security officials said they were aware of the video but could not confirm that it was authentic.

The video, which was about 13 minutes long, showed Musallam on his knees as he listened to the older fighter delivering the verdict in French.

Then the boy, wearing a military uniform and armed with a pistol, stands face to face with Musallam and fires one bullet into his forehead. After Musallam collapsed, the child shot him three more times and chanted "Allahu Akbar!" (God is greatest).

In the video, Musallam repeated what he had said last month in an interview published by the group's English language magazine Dabiq, in which he said he had joined Islamic State to report to the Israelis on weapons caches, bases and Palestinian recruits. Israel and his family denied that he was an Israeli spy.

"I tell my father and my son: Repent to God. I say to the spies who spy on Islamic State: You will not be successful, they will expose you," Musallam said in the latest video, in Arabic.

An Israeli security official had said Musallam went to Syria to fight for Islamic State in October last year.

Musallam's father has denied his son was a spy, saying a month ago that his son had gone missing while on a tourist trip to Turkey.

Said Musallam and the youth's mother, Um Ahmad, wept at their home in East Jerusalem when they learned of his death. Clutching her son's photograph, Um Ahmad told reporters: "A spy of 19? How is that possible? Why would he have gone there if he were a spy?"

Said Musallam said his son had been trying to return home when he was captured. He accused the militants of forcing his son to say he was a spy before killing him just for show.

"Mohammad was told by them to say about himself that he works for the Israelis," Said Musallam said. "They took him as a victim, only to show the world, so the world would be afraid of them."

(Reuters) (Reporting by Mariam Karouny and by Ali Abdellati in Cairo; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Ken Wills)