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Australia 'holding migrants at sea'
7/8/2014 7:22:05 PM
- 153 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka being held at sea after boat intercepted
- High Court hearing brought by lawyers seeking to stop handover to Sri Lankan authorities
- Australian government has a policy of not commenting on operational matters
- Silence condemned by human rights advocates, critics of "harsh" policy
(CNN) -- The Australian government has admitted it has 153 people, including children, in custody at sea while it fights a High Court challenge to any plans to send them back to Sri Lanka.
Until Tuesday's court hearing in Melbourne, the government had refused to confirm or deny it was holding the suspected asylum seekers, in line with its policy of not commenting on operational matters under "Operation Sovereign Borders."
All those on board are thought to be Tamils who left the Indian port of Pondicherry on a 72-foot boat in mid-June. They include three-year-old Febrina, whose image was released by a worried relative who hasn't heard from his family for more than a week.
"I am desperate to know where my family is. I can't function at all not knowing. I know all of them would be in very big trouble if sent back to Sri Lanka," he said, via an interpreter to the Tamil Refugee Council in Australia, before Tuesday's hearing.
The government launched Operation Sovereign Borders last September, a military-led campaign to "stop the boats," referring to a steady stream of vessels crammed with asylum seekers trying to make it to Australian waters.
Critics, including human rights campaigners, have slammed the policy, which advocates "turn-backs" and the offshore processing of asylum claims, as cruel and unnecessary.
'Culture of secrecy'
On Tuesday, they also took aim at the "culture of secrecy," which created days of uncertainty for family members whose relatives were presumably lost at sea, and resulted in a vacuum of official information to back up claims that a boat had gone missing.
"It took getting a case to the High Court before the government would admit that they did have those people in custody and that they were on the high seas, that's not good enough," said Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition.
David Manne, Executive Director of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Center (RILC), said the government's silence raised "profound concerns" about whether their rights and Australia's obligations under international law were being breached.
"Our system of Constitutional democracy is meant to deal with such grave matters with checks and balances under rule of law, not under a government-imposed shroud of secrecy with sweeping assertions that our international obligations are being met when the circumstances strongly suggest they are, in fact, being breached," he told CNN.
Greens Party Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said: "The ugly truth is that the government has been keeping dozens of children detained out on the high seas. These families have been at sea for over three weeks; they are anxious and frightened.
"The government has shown total contempt for the truth and for the rights of the Australian people to know what is being done in their name. Thankfully the courts have been able to shed some light on this immoral behavior," she added.
Why was the matter before the High Court?
On Tuesday, lawyers acting for 50 passengers on board the boat -- including 21 women and eight children from as young as two years old -- were seeking to extend a 24-hour injunction granted Monday to stop the Australian government from handing them over to Sri Lankan authorities.
Fears they would be returned to face potential persecution intensified earlier Monday when the government confirmed it had on Sunday returned 41 Sri Lankan nationals found aboard a boat west of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in late June.
According to a statement from Australian immigration minister Scott Morrison, 38 Sinhalese and four Tamil Sri Lankans had been subject to an "enhanced screening process" at sea.
It found only one Singhalese Sri Lankan had a possible case for refugee status, but that person had asked to return with the others, the statement said.
Human rights advocates said evaluating asylum seekers at sea was not an appropriate way to deal with serious claims.
"It sounds as though three or four or five questions are being asked by video conference, snap judgments are being (made), and they're simply being returned," said Gillian Triggs, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission. "There is an obligation with international law to have a proper process," she added.
In a statement, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said, "UNHCR's experience over the years with shipboard processing has generally not been positive. Such an would rarely afford an appropriate venue for a fair procedure."
On Tuesday, the returned Sri Lankans faced court in the city of Galle, charged with illegally departing the country.
What does the government say?
The government has repeatedly defended Operation Sovereign Borders as the only way to put people smugglers out of business and to prevent lives being lost at sea.
In a radio interview last week, immigration minister Morrison said: "I know there's a lot of people out there who feel uncomfortable about elements of this, I get that... But this is how you stop the boats. This is how it has to be done because this is what works. This is why we're sticking to it."
Ministers often refer to the 1,200 people thought to have been lost at sea while trying to make the dangerous journey through seas to Australia during the previous Labor government's tenure. The Liberal government boasts that not one person has drowned in the 202 days since the last successful people smuggling venture arrived in Australia.
In a statement on Tuesday, acting Immigration Minister Julie Bishop said: "The government provided the High Court with the information it requested. However, in accordance with the policy established by the Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Agency Task Force Commander, the Government will not provide commentary about on-water matters under Operation Sovereign Borders."
"The Government will act in accordance with undertakings made before the Court," she added.
High Court ruling
Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens senator
On Tuesday, the government agreed to give 72 hours' written notice before any move to hand the asylum seekers back to Sri Lanka.
Lawyers for the government revealed for the first time that the boat had been intercepted in Australia's contiguous zone, the area stretching beyond its territorial waters. Because the boat was not in Australian waters, the people on board were not able to seek protection under the country's Migration Act, the court heard.
However, the presiding judge, Justice Susan Crennan, said there was no barrier to the government moving the asylum seekers to another location for processing, presumably one of its two controversial offshore processing centers on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea or Nauru.
How did advocates know about the boat?
Until Tuesday, most of the details known about the boat and those on board came from the vessel itself.
On Thursday, someone claiming to be a passenger called a well-known human rights advocate.
"We're on our way to Australia," the caller said, according to Bala Vigneswaran from the Australian Tamil Congress, which represents the country's Tamil community.
The caller said the boat had left the Indian port of Pondicherry, with 153 people on board, all Tamils, including women and children. Other phone calls were made before communication with the boat suddenly ceased on Saturday morning, Vigneswaran said, who passed the information to local media who called the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
Asked how he thought the asylum seekers might be feeling about being held, Vigneswaran said: "The only thing I can think of is they'd be very happy. Why not? Not all of them know the government policy (of offshore processing), some of them might.
"But, at the end of the day, they would think 'if we prove we are real refugees then the government will take us.' That's the mindset everyone has, isn't it?"
The Australian government has been returning asylum seekers to Sri Lanka, a country Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said is "at peace", despite reports of the abuse and mistreatment of Tamils since the end of the civil war in 2009.
Australia extradites alleged people smuggler in asylum crackdown
Opinion: Deterring and denying asylum seekers in Australia
Oscar Pistorius' defense rests
7/8/2014 7:22:35 PM
- Closing arguments will begin August 7
- The athlete is accused of deliberately shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp
- He says he shot Steenkamp accidentally in his bathroom, mistaking her for an intruder
London (CNN) -- The defense in the Oscar Pistorius murder case rested Tuesday, bringing to an end the latest phase of a trial which has lasted longer than the athlete's relationship with Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend he killed.
Closing arguments will begin August 7, the judge ordered.
The long delay may be because of the length of time it will take the legal teams on both sides to review the transcript of the case, CNN legal analyst Kelly Phelps said.
It's thought to be as much as 4,000 pages long, covering a case that ran for 39 days between March 3 and July 8.
Pistorius, 27, admits firing the bullets that killed Steenkamp, but he says he mistakenly thought he was defending himself from an intruder. Prosecutors say the two had an argument and he deliberately murdered the model and law school graduate, who was 29.
Following closing arguments, the judge will have to decide whether Pistorius genuinely made a mistake or deliberately murdered his girlfriend.
If Judge Thokozile Masipa does not believe the athlete thought there was an intruder, she will find him guilty of murder and sentence him to a prison term ranging from 15 years to life. South Africa does not have the death penalty.
If Masipa accepts that Pistorius did not know that Steenkamp was the person he was shooting at, she could find him guilty of culpable homicide, a lesser charge than murder, or acquit him, according to Phelps, the CNN legal analyst.
A verdict of culpable homicide would leave the sentence at Masipa's discretion.
READ: 13 things to know as case resumes
READ: Judge sends Pistorius for psychiatric tests
READ: Did Oscar Pistorius have time to think?
The voice of Pinocchio dies
7/9/2014 8:04:37 AM
- Richard Percy Jones, known in film and TV as Dick Jones, was 87
- Disney Studios named Jones a "Disney Legend"
- "At the time, Pinocchio was just a job," Jones said
- Jones appeared in nearly 100 films and 200 TV shows
Los Angeles (CNN) -- The actor who gave voice to Pinocchio in Walt Disney's 1940 animation movie, died at his home Monday night, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said Tuesday.
Richard Percy Jones, known in film and television as Dick Jones, was 87.
The cause of death has not yet been determined, according to Fred Corral of the coroner's office. A daughter found Jones on a bathroom floor of his Northridge, California, home, Corral said.
Disney Studios named Jones a "Disney Legend" in 2000 in recognition of his work on the iconic film.
"At the time, 'Pinocchio' was just a job," Jones said at the time of induction. "Who knew it would turn out to be the classic that it is today? I count my lucky stars that I had a part in it."
In addition to voicing the script, Jones also wore a puppet costume and acted out scenes to help Disney animators draw the cartoon.
Born in McKinney, Texas, on February 25, 1927, his acting career started when he was just 3 years old. Cowboy film legend Hoot Gibson discovered the child while appearing in a rodeo in Jones' hometown, according to his Disney biography.
"Hoot told my mother I ought to be in pictures and sponsored our trip to Hollywood," Jones said.
Jones acted in Jimmy Stewart's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "Destry Rides Again" during the same 19 months he was working on Pinocchio, according to his bio.
He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944, but returned to Hollywood after the second world war.
Jones acted in Errol Flynn's "Rocky Mountain" and several other movies before the start of his television acting career in 1949.
He used his skills as a horseman to work as a stuntman for Gene Autry's Flying A Productions.
Jones played the sidekick in "The Range Rider" television series before getting his own western series, "Buffalo Bill, Jr." in the 1950s.
His 200 TV appearances include guest star roles in "Gunsmoke," "Annie Oakley" and "The Lone Ranger."
When he left acting to start a career in real estate in 1959, he had appeared in nearly 100 movies, according to Disney.
People we've lost in 2014
Is Middle East at a tipping point?
7/9/2014 7:45:47 AM
- "The blood is up. You have got retaliation," a Middle East expert warns
- Analysts say the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas appears set to continue
- But a broader Palestinian uprising against Israel seems less likely
- Both sides are sinking into a confrontation they don't necessarily want, analysts say
(CNN) -- The violent cycle of retribution and retaliation only seems to be worsening.
As militants fire volleys of rockets from Gaza, Israel is responding with waves of airstrikes.
As Hamas vows to make its enemy pay the price, Israel is calling up hundreds of recruits and strengthening its positions around Gaza.
Tensions between Palestinians and Israelis have always simmered in plain view, erupting periodically into deadly spasms.
Could it be happening again?
"I do not want to over-dramatize, but the last few hours may have been, God forbid, the tipping point," Ari Shavit, a prominent Israeli author and journalist, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday night.
"What we see is different sides who do not want escalation ... they are dragged into something that is becoming very violent, very dangerous."
Israel prepared to expand operation against Hamas in Gaza
'The blood is up'
Long-standing resentments have boiled over in recent weeks following the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, which Israel blamed on Hamas. The militant group praised the abductions but denied responsibility.
Israel responded by cracking down on Hamas operations in the West Bank, arresting hundreds of activists and conducting widespread searches of homes.
When the three teenagers' bodies were found last week in a field in the West Bank, anger erupted in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Hamas would pay.
The mood darkened further when a Palestinian teenager was abducted and killed in Jerusalem in what police say could be a revenge killing. The news sparked clashes between protesting Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces in Jerusalem.
Throughout that grim week, Israel and Hamas continued to trade fire across the Gaza border.
"You have got politics. The blood is up. You have got retaliation," said Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
'Clouds are getting dark'
The region has many depressing precedents when it comes to violence.
In recent decades, Palestinians launched two armed uprisings against Israel, known as Intifadas, that each went on for years.
In late 2008 and early 2009, Israel carried out airstrikes and then a ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians.
In November 2012, the two sides fought a bloody eight-day conflict that ended in a cease-fire.
The region appears to be careering toward another confrontation.
"It's difficult to see how this stops. At what point does one of the sides say, 'You know what? Let's have a moment where we make a preemptive concession, we do some kind of peace talks,'" said CNN's Fareed Zakaria.
"That's not in the cards right now."
The Israeli military is nonetheless gathering its forces near the border with Gaza.
"They are talking about an escalation," said CNN's Ben Wedeman. "Perhaps not on the scale of November 2012 or the war at the end of 2008, beginning of 2009, but definitely there's a feeling that the clouds are getting dark over Gaza and things could get much worse."
On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said the security operation against Hamas "will probably not end within several days." And the Israeli military was gathering its forces near the border with Gaza.
"They are talking about an escalation," said CNN's Ben Wedeman. "Perhaps not on the scale of November 2012 or the war at the end of 2008, beginning of 2009, but definitely there's a feeling that the clouds are getting dark over Gaza and things could get much worse."
'I still think no'
CNN's Ben Wedeman
There are reasons why violence may not engulf the whole region.
Although clashes flared in some areas of Jerusalem after the killing of the Palestinian teenager last week, the unrest doesn't so far appear to be spreading.
The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported that "many East Jerusalem officials expect the turmoil to die down." It noted that West Bank cities have not joined the violent protests.
"Are we on the tipping point of a third Intifada? A major sustained escalation?" Miller asked in a conversation with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "I still think no."
Palestinian people are "far more interested in social-economic issues," Miller said.
"They know the pain and suffering caused by the second Intifada that achieved very little. And even Hamas, I suspect, weakened by the fact that they don't have much support from Egypt or Turkey, bad governance, economic mismanagement in Gaza, I'm not sure they are prepared for sustained battle either."
'No angels here'
Shavit said that since the collapse of U.S.-sponsored peace talks earlier this year, Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have failed to halt the descent into crisis.
"What we see in recent months is that the extremists on both sides are taking the agenda and are actually cornering these two leaders and actually dragging us into conflict," he said.
He faulted Netanyahu for failing to control hardliners in his government and not acting in time against violent Jewish nationalists.
But Shavit also criticized Abbas for agreeing to a pact with Hamas after years of divisions between the two factions.
"There are no angels here," Shavit said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also has to face tough questions about the unraveling situation.
"Some of us here warned a few months ago ... that the moment you try to have peace in this land, the way Secretary Kerry did in a courageous way, you cannot step back," Shavit said.
"And from the moment that negotiations collapsed in late March, this illusion that you can go back to Washington, deal with China and Ukraine and ignore the Middle East, was a dangerous illusion."
Role for U.S.?
Now, it appears tricky for the United States to play a role in calming the situation.
"I'm not sure, frankly, that the Secretary of State wants or should put himself in a situation right now of trying to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas," Miller said. The U.S. government lists Hamas as a terrorist organization.
During the 2012 conflict in Gaza, Egypt brokered the cease-fire.
But that was under Islamist-backed former President Mohamed Morsy, who has since been ousted and replaced by the country's former military chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The new Egyptian president has "very poor" relations with Hamas, according to Zakaria. And in the current climate, "I don't think an outside mediator is going to help," he said.
Even Hamas has been losing support to more radical elements in recent years, Zakaria said, which has put the movement under pressure to act.
"On both sides, there is an internal compulsion, an internal dynamic which is pushing them to a confrontation that maybe they don't rationally want," he said.
And those who will pay the price for the unwanted conflict are likely to be the civilians of Gaza and southern Israel.
READ: Why is this flare-up happening now?
READ: Signs of war: Life amid Iraqi conflict
READ: Israelis, Palestinians in game with no end
Obama hasn't hit rock bottom yet
7/9/2014 6:51:21 AM
- Alex Castellanos looks at Obama's recent approval ratings; his prognosis: not good
- Castellanos: Everywhere you walk, Mr. President, the world unravels
- He says that if Obama were a car manufactured by GM, he'd be recalled for defects
Editor's note: Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist, is the founder of Purple Strategies and NewRepublican.org. You can follow him on Twitter @alexcast. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- Ordinarily, being ranked as the worst modern president of the United States would be considered unfortunate. For you Mr. President, that's the good news.
As painful as it is to note, your presidency has not yet hit bottom. You've got a long way to go in your descent.
Everywhere you walk, Mr. President, the world unravels. Americans are whispering that each political missile you fire seems to hit not its target but our own house.
You have undone the core idea you've advanced, that a larger public sector can save us. You are becoming the one-man Keystone Cops of an experiment in weakness and incompetent government.
Your Veterans Administration is a dysfunctional mess. Some veterans who have lived through war have not survived contact with your VA.
Your immigration agents are changing diapers and crying for fresh underwear for detained immigrants awaiting deportation. Your IRS has been accused of targeting political opponents, and your best defense is their ineptitude: They lose their e-mails and files.
Your own signature initiative, the Affordable Care Act, has turned on you. You've repeatedly delayed and altered the law, gluing and taping together, on the fly, the health care of an anxious nation.
Begala: What's behind Boehner's nutty lawsuit threat
Your Supreme Court is telling you to read the manual that came with your office: You are not allowed to run a Nixonian presidency. In three years, you've suffered numerous humiliating and unanimous reversals of your executive authority.
You are protected by the thinly manned barricades of an attorney general who refuses to investigate misconduct in your executive offices. Four out of five Americans believe the government you would like to expand is corrupt, a view that is a 7-point increase from the last year of the Bush administration.
You are fortunate you cannot be impeached because of the cost to our exhausted, divided country. If you were a car manufactured by GM, not the president who bailed it out, you would be recalled for your defects.
In foreign affairs, you have undone one of the great accomplishments of the 20th century: You have resuscitated the Soviet Union. A two-bit KGB thug named Putin has been kicking sand in the face of your country. In the absence of American leadership, the Middle East has devolved into chaos, and you are reduced to unpalatable choices: Either you negotiate with our Iranian enemies or abandon our allies, if we still have any, to jihadist wildfires that threaten Israel's borders and set desert sands aflame.
Boehner: Why we must sue the President
Young people who voted for you to earn a better life than their parents are now living with their parents. Our nation has the lost the hope you promised us. We fear our freedom is in decline: A 48% plurality feel our best days are in the past.
Even the one thing you have been good at, Mr. President -- politics -- has abandoned you. You have now been reduced to pathetically small political "listening tours." Even on such an inconsequential stage, you are tone-deaf, incapable of striking the right chords: You tell your audiences you are there to tell them that you are listening.
You have always been more popular than your policies.
Despite your stumbling, we have loved your bright smile and intellectual aura. But now, we are beginning to notice; you laugh too hard at your own jokes.
Behind the smile, we see an ego inflated beyond merit. Your intellectual detachment, we now find, was merely cluelessness. The distance between what you've promised and done has grown too large for us to blame anyone else.
Kohn: Boehner, do your job instead
Is this as bad as it can get? Actually, no, Mr. President. The road ahead is worse for you.
Even your supporters will soon say publicly what we are all thinking privately. In days to come, it will become increasingly cool to snicker and then laugh at your presidency.
Disagreement is not the cruelest cut in politics; it is ridicule.
Politicians who have survived everything else are done in ultimately by laughter. The gristliest moment for an incumbent is not when voters express their anger. There is respect, even in those dark days. What an incumbent never wants to hear from a voter is pity. Your worst day will be when a voter says, "Poor President Obama. He's done the best he can."
When that day comes, Mr. President, your favorable rating will crash another 10 points into the basement. Democratic candidates will not only ignore you, as they now do, they will turn on you.
Hillary Clinton will betray you. That will start a war within your party as candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Jerry Brown rush to defend you. If they depose the Clintons, mere anarchy will be loosed upon the Democratic world.
At this moment, our emperor is naked, but no one has yet said it publicly. That will change soon.
When it is too sad to cry about our presidents, America laughs. That's what will really hurt.
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Why football is still the beautiful game
7/9/2014 7:47:53 AM
- Amy Bass: Brazil trashed by Germany at World Cup, but it was more: It was historic
- She says Germany's rout, with fast, furious scoring, denied Brazil its sure-thing victory
- She says excuses can be made, but Germany was great; Brazil coach wisely said "life goes on"
- Bass: Brazil fans gave splendid display of "beautiful game" by standing in tribute to Germany
Editor's note: Amy Bass, a professor of history at the College of New Rochelle, has written widely on the cultural history of sports, including the book "Not the Triumph but the Struggle: The 1968 Olympics and the Making of the Black Athlete." She is a veteran of eight Olympics as the supervisor of NBC's Olympic Research Room, for which she won an Emmy in 2012. Follow her on Twitter @bassab1.
(CNN) -- It was a beating, a thrashing, a rout, a waxing, a debacle. Sport is well-equipped with words to describe what took place in the semifinal match between Germany and Brazil on Tuesday, but none of them, at least not yet, can capture what really went down.
One of the oft-cited reasons Americans give for not embracing the most popular sport in the world is the low-scoring action that generally personifies the so-called beautiful game. Excuse me? In this semifinal's first half, Germany scored five goals in 18 minutes, goals that came so fast and so furious one could hardly keep track: minute 11, minute 23, minute 24, minute 26, minute 29.
The final score of 7-1, which propelled Germany into the final and Brazil into a game for third place, is historic in and of itself. And never before had five goals been scored in the first half of a World Cup match. Never before had four goals been scored in a six-minute stretch.
And that it took place in Brazil is no small matter. Despite the uproar over the money the nation spent building soccer cathedrals, most Brazilians were not only ready to celebrate victory, they expected it. Their national team had not lost an official game on home soil since 1975, making the dream of winning the country's sixth World Cup title seem not just obtainable, but a sure thing.
The most brutal (and funny) Germany vs. Brazil tweets
Without question, excuses can be made. Brazil played without its captain and central defender, Thiago Silva, who had been suspended after the match against Colombia for the accumulation of yellow cards. Without him, the Brazilian defense appeared powerless and confused against the likes of Thomas Mueller and company. Also missing, of course, was Brazil's star, forward Neymar, who had been kneed in the back by Colombian Juan Zuniga, fracturing a vertebra in his spine.
But it is unlikely even a healthy Neymar could have created balance against such offense. Germany was relentless perfection, taking advantage of every opportunity Brazil offered while simultaneously creating its own prospects.
Tears, puns and a Twitter record
Some now worry that the disenchantment on display before the tournament started -- the fury of protests against the billions Brazil spent on the tournament marked by "Go Home FIFA" signs throughout the country -- will reignite in force, now that the home team can only hope for a third-place finish at best. Indeed within seconds of the end, Twitter feeds wrongly assumed images of rioting Brazilians demonstrated postgame fury when, it turns out, people were posting older photos of the protests that had taken place throughout the spring.
And as the inevitable finger-pointing against coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and his players begins, we can hope that sanity will prevail, taking to heart Scolari's wisdom in his wrenching postgame press conference that "life goes on," rather than the criminal soccer passion that apparently led to the killing of Colombian Andres Escobar, who scored the own-goal that led to his team's loss against the United States in 1994.
There are signs to give hope that the love for the game in soccer-crazed Brazil, a country that truly epitomizes what it means to live and breathe a sport, will transcend the devastation of the historic 7-1 score. At the conclusion of the semifinal match, weeping Brazilians stood in tribute to the German team, which had just handed them their most humiliating moment since their loss in 1950 to Uruguay, considered by many to be one of the most shocking results in World Cup history.
5 things about the beat down in Brazil
Without question, this game, and on home turf, trumps that earlier one. But the act of respect shown to Germany by the Brazilian ovation in Belo Horizonte stadium demonstrates how sometimes it is more important to love the game than to win a game.
Because it's the beautiful game, indeed.
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Snowden files asylum extension
7/9/2014 10:15:05 PM
- Edward Snowden leaks info on U.S. spy programs; he's charged in the U.S.
- Last summer, Russia granted him temporary asylum; the term expires July 31
- His lawyer says Snowden made a formal request to extend his asylum in Russia
(CNN) -- Edward Snowden is hoping to stay in Russia a little, or perhaps a lot, longer.
The former National Security Agency whistleblower, who leaked secret information about U.S. spying programs, has formally requested that Russia's government extend his temporary asylum, Russian state news reported Wednesday.
The asylum request was filed with the Moscow branch of the Federal Migration Service, said Snowden attorney Anatoly Kucherena, according to state-run Itar-Tass and RIA Novosti.
As to how long Snowden might extend his stay, RIA Novosti reported that Kucherena said, "We won't say yet in what status we would like to receive the extension because that decision is up to the Federal [Migration] Service."
Kucherena noted that Snowden's temporary asylum in Russia ends on July 31. He'd been holed up at a Moscow airport for five weeks before the Russian government granted asylum for one year on August 1.
Since that time, Snowden has kept busy working for a Russian website and speaking out about the disclosures about the U.S. government's spying programs and processes that he helped make public.
Snowden's disclosures in 2013 made him in an icon among those who praised him for risking his future to expose these secrets and a villain among those who accused him of being a lawbreaker who betrayed the United States.
The former government information technology contractor collected information on spy programs -- in which the NSA mined phone and Internet metadata from thousands of people inside and outside of the United States -- and exposed the programs to the media.
U.S. authorities have charged him with espionage and theft of government property.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented on Snowden's case in an interview this week with the German magazine Der Spiegel.
"I think he is a poor messenger for the message that he's trying to take credit for," she told the magazine.
"I think he could have provoked the debate in our country without stealing and distributing material that was government property and was of some consequence," Clinton said.
Opinion: A year after Snowden, the real costs of NSA surveillance
Edward Snowden's interview: 10 things we learned
Review board finds potential for abuses in NSA surveillance
CNN's Sara Mazloumsaki contributed to this report.
Hurricane Katrina mayor jailed
7/9/2014 9:34:03 PM
- NEW: A judge orders Nagin to pay $84,264 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service
- He was convicted this year on corruption charges
- The former mayor maintains his innocence
(CNN) -- Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday in a bribery scandal that rocked the city, the U.S. Justice Department said.
U.S. District Judge Helen G. Berrigan also ordered that Nagin pay $84,264 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
In February, a jury found him guilty of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and other favors from businessmen looking for a break from his administration.
Of the 21 counts against him, he was convicted of 20.
The former mayor maintained his innocence even after the conviction.
Prosecutors argued that Nagin was at the center of a kickback scheme in which he received checks, cash, wire transfers, personal services and free travel from businessmen seeking contracts and favorable treatment from the city.
A January 2013 indictment detailed more than $200,000 in bribes to the mayor, and his family members allegedly received a vacation in Hawaii; first-class airfare to Jamaica; private jet travel and a limousine for New York City; and cellular phone service. In exchange, businesses that coughed up for Nagin and his family won more than $5 million in city contracts, according to the indictment.
Few tears shed for Nagin in the city he once led
Boy, 3, with cancer named deputy
7/10/2014 1:39:21 AM
- Wyatt is being treated for stage 4 cancer
- The ceremony was meant to honor his courage
- The sheriff's deputy status is an official designation, not an honorary title
(CNN) -- He has the trademark brown uniform and the badge of a newly minted sheriff's deputy.
And he has his first order -- actually, his only order: get better.
Wyatt Schmaltz is the new sheriff in town and he's only 3.
On Wednesday, an Indiana sheriff and a state trooper visited Wyatt and bestowed him with the powers.
It meant the world to Wyatt, who is being treated for stage 4 neuroblastoma at the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
The cancer attacks nerve tissue and is most common in young children.
The boy has gone through months of treatment, he faces surgery for a tumor in his abdomen, and a stem cell transplant.
But amid it all, he's kept his joyful spirit. The Wednesday ceremony in his hospital room was meant to honor that.
Huntington County Sheriff Terry Stoffel said Wyatt's sheriff status is an official designation, not an honorary title.
"We have given Wyatt all the powers of a real sheriff deputy, which are to carry out the orders of the sheriff," he said. "Right now, his only orders are to get better."
Dr. Michele Saysana, a doctor at the hospital, said there were few dry eyes at the ceremony.
"Gestures like this really aid the healing process for our patients," she said.
And what were Wyatt's first words after he was sworn in?"
"What else do you have?"
Thai teen raped, thrown from train
7/9/2014 4:38:36 AM
- Nong Kaem vanished while riding night train to Bangkok
- Body found three days later by the track; she'd been raped, police said
- 22-year-old railway employee charged with rape and murder
- Campaign calls for tougher penalties including mandatory death sentence for rape
Bangkok (CNN) -- The distraught mother of a 13-year-old girl raped and thrown from a sleeper train en route to Bangkok has told of her daughter's dreams for the future, amid angry calls for a mandatory death penalty for child rapists.
"She wanted to be an angel, she wanted to be an air hostess," her mother said of Nong Kaem. "If she was still here I would do everything to support her, but now I have nothing left."
Kaem's sister, one of two who was traveling with her on the overnight train from southern Thailand on Saturday, wrote on Facebook of her guilt at not being able to protect her. "Kaem, I am so sorry that I failed to look after you. I am a terrible sister. Please forgive me," she wrote, according to the Bangkok Post.
Journey turned to horror
It was Kaem's first time on a train.
She was returning from the city of Surat Thai with her two sisters and one of their boyfriends to the Thai capital Bangkok, a popular route for tourists going to and from the country's popular southern beaches.
They were sharing a sleeping carriage, and turned in for the night. By the morning Kaem was gone.
Police searched the train and the track as the teenager's frantic family turned to the media for help in finding her.
Three days later, her body was found naked near the track; she'd been raped, suffocated and tossed out of a window by her attacker who told police he had been drinking and was high on methamphetamine, according to Police Major General Thanet Soonthornsuk.
Dejudom Krairit, Chairman of Lawyers Council of Thailand
Tracked down by phone
Police named Kaem's alleged murderer as 22-year-old railway employee Wanchai Saengkhao.
They said he confessed to the crime after he was tracked down via his victim's mobile phone. Wanchai sold the girl's phone to a shop owner in Bangkok, who took a copy of his I.D. which was later passed to police.
Police said Wanchai admitted carrying the sleeping child to another carriage where he raped and strangled her, before throwing her lifeless body out the window as the train passed through the Pranburi District in Prachuabkirikan Province.
Wanchai has been charged with murder, rape of a child under 15 years old and theft, police said.
He faces possible execution for the murder charge, but activists are using the case to call for tougher charges for child rape, which currently carries a jail term of four to 20 years and a fine of up to 40,000 baht ($1,200).
Rage vented online
The reaction on social media was swift and scathing as angry Thais bombarded Wanchai's Facebook page with abusive messages. The page is no longer available.
Junta leader, army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha, expressed his sorrow, and the former transport minister, Chatchart Sitthipan, said he took the blame for failing to do more when he was in charge of the railway.
"It is the worst news in many years for the State Railway of Thailand and the Ministry of Transport. I feel that I am also responsible for this event, because I did not do my job well enough when I was the Minister," Chatchart said.
As word spread that Kaem had gone missing, Thai actress and former Miss Thailand, Panadda Wongphudee, posted a message on Instagram urging people to back a campaign to change the law under the slogan, "Rape, will be executed."
A Change.org petition was set up calling for the tougher penalties -- "no more sentence reduction, parole or pardon" -- which at the time of writing had more than 25,000 signatories.
There were also calls for State Railway of Thailand governor Prapas Chongsanguan to step down, as officials scrambled to assure passengers the trains were safe. A ban would be slapped on the sale of alcohol on all trains, they said, and background checks would be stepped up for all employees.
Are new laws the answer?
Amid the anger, some called for calm.
"We have to listen to this news with full consciousness. To design or change a law base on emotions and hatred will never produce effective law. It will only promote more hatred in society," said Dejudom Krairit, Chairman of Lawyers Council of Thailand.
Writing in the Bangkok Post, columnist Sanitsuda Ekachai said: "I seriously doubt if the angry calls for the death penalty as the only punishment for child rapists and rapists/murderers will make our society any safer.
"These calls stem from the belief that this heinous crime was possible because the punishment is not heavy enough. This is not new. We hear such calls every time a shocking rape or murder happens."
Violence against women: By the numbers
3 suspects confess to gang-raping girls in India
Iran: Our best hope for Mideast peace?
7/10/2014 6:21:48 AM
- U.S. is aligning "awkwardly" with Iran as Iraq crisis escalates, says Arezo Yazd
- Improvement in U.S-Iran relations may be only silver-lining to crisis, she adds
- Yazd: Opportunity for partnership exists in Iran's budding technology market
- Possibility of U.S. changing sanctions policy regarding Iran arouses excitement, she says
Editor's note: Arezo Yazd is an Iranian-American attorney based in New York City. She is the principal and founder of ASY Ventures, a legal consulting company working mostly with tech start-up companies. The view expressed in this commentary are entirely her own.
(CNN) -- As the situation in Iraq escalates, the U.S. finds itself awkwardly aligned with a country once vilified as part of the "Axis of Evil." While Iraq loses control of its western border to ISIS rebels, the U.S. decides to pragmatically turn to its geopolitical interests to calm this disaster.
The unlikely result is Iran sending military weaponry and planes -- including Russian combat jets -- across the Iranian border to aid the Iraqi national army. This shift in alliance seemed implausible a few years ago, but since President Hassan Rouhani took office last year tensions between the U.S. and Iran have slowly and cautiously thawed. While Iraq plummets into further chaos and fragmentation -- the Kurds are expected to vote for full autonomy in an impending referendum -- improvement in U.S-Iran relations may be the only silver-lining in this otherwise catastrophic affair.
Yet supporters of U.S.-Iran relations should not forget the importance of promoting relations through long-term economic ties, rather than one based on purely geopolitical military needs. In the past decade, war has raged on two of Iran's borders, and seemingly both Iran and the U.S. shared common enemies in the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.
However, foreign policy alignments in the region did not result in sustained diplomatic ties. By easing sanctions and fostering economic growth in Iran, the U.S. can ultimately promote a sustainable relationship based on mutual needs and benefits. Now more than ever, the opportunity for just such a partnership exists in Iran's budding technology market.
Currently, Iran has the highest total number of Internet users in the Middle East; almost half of Iranian households have some access to the internet. There are more Internet users in Iran than in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon and Qatar, combined. Interest among young Iranians in technology and entrepreneurship is rapidly increasing. Iran's Center for E-commerce Development recently announced that nearly 70% of applicants for electronic retail licenses are younger than 30.
Rather than focusing on industries such as oil and gas, which ultimately trickles down profits to a few large companies closely aligned with the regime, promoting commercial development in the arena of tech entrepreneurship creates a high-skilled middle class. A thriving Iranian middle class will have an invested interest in maintaining close relations with the U.S.
The long-term benefits of commercial development in Iran's tech sector are endless. Transparency and increased openness in civil society through advances in social media, internet infrastructure and access to information are just some of the added benefits of a robust tech industry.
Promoting tech over other industries in Iran also allows the U.S. to play an active role in a market that empowers women in business. Unlike many Western countries where women only account for 10% of the tech industry, women in the Middle East account for 35% of tech entrepreneurs.
This number is astonishing considering Western notions of the marginalization of women in the region. Women in the Middle East are increasingly finding it both convenient and conducive to start small businesses from the comfort of their homes, and, thanks to increased internet access, they are now able to tap into global markets.
The benefits of promoting the burgeoning tech industry in Iran have not gone unnoticed. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs plan to gather this September to discuss entrepreneurship in Iran, and, in the event that sanctions are lifted, the possibility of building bridges between entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and their Iranian counterparts. Iran's very own TedX Tehran, scheduled to take place in Tehran later this year, is a result of enthusiasm surrounding technology and entrepreneurship.
Much of the eagerness surrounding Iran's tech scene is based on the possibility of the U.S. changing its sanctions policy regarding Iran. Unlike his predecessor, Rouhani made headway on nuclear program negotiations with world powers earlier this year. Even making use of social media, Rouhani tweets a softer image of the Iranian presidency by posting pictures of himself in sweatpants watching World Cup games.
Most importantly, Rouhani debuted his presidency with a message of economic openness and a desire to reintegrate Iran back into the international community. Iran's dismal human rights record still remains on the table, but the country's open approach on economic issues may be human rights activists' best chance to address political freedoms down the road.
Iran's support of Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki's government and majority-ruling Shiites in Iraq puts Iran in a position that is aligned with U.S.'s geopolitical interests. What remains unclear is whether the current situation will give way to a stable partnership if the Iraq crisis is contained. The Iran-Contra affair in 1986 demonstrated that the U.S. could covertly set aside ideological differences for military advantage. However, as history has demonstrated, unlikely wartime bedfellows rarely equate to stable diplomatic policy. Indeed, if history has taught the U.S. anything, it's that Iran is a resilient country with vast potential -- potential that expands far beyond merely oil, gas and guns.
READ: No, talking to Iran about Iraq isn't desperation
READ: U.S. and Iran: From sworn enemies to partners on Iraq?
New wave of Israeli airstrikes hammers Gaza
7/10/2014 3:03:40 AM
- NEW: At least 81 Palestinians killed, more than 500 injured in Gaza, Palestinian officials say
- Israeli police officer suspended over beating of U.S. teen in Jerusalem
- Israeli Prime Minister says the offensive will be expanded and go on until rockets stop
- The U.N. Security Council is set to discuss the deepening crisis later Thursday
Jerusalem (CNN) -- A new wave of Israeli airstrikes battered areas of Gaza early Thursday, continuing the deadly onslaught aimed at stopping militant rocket fire into Israel.
The days-long aerial bombardment of Gaza has killed 81 Palestinians, including women and children, and injured more than 500 since it began Monday, Palestinian officials said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the offensive would be expanded and continue "until the firing at our communities stops and quiet is restored."
But there was no sign that Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza were backing down as rockets continued to streak over the border into southern Israel. No Israelis have been killed so far in the rocket attacks.
Some Israeli officials have hinted at the possibility of a ground offensive in Gaza, although questions remain about the government's appetite for such a conflict.
Netanyahu didn't specify what the expansion of the current operation, which began Monday, would entail, but he said Israel's military "is prepared for all possibilities."
Ground offensive?
President Shimon Peres, whose role is largely ceremonial and is not involved in setting policy, said in an exclusive interview with CNN's Becky Anderson that he believed a ground offensive "may happen quite soon" unless Hamas stops firing rockets at Israel.
"We warned them. We asked them to stop it," Peres told Anderson. "We waited one day, two days, three days and they continued, and they spread their fire on more areas in Israel."
While Peres was speaking on his own and his position may not outline an official government policy, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz earlier told CNN that a ground operation "might become necessary."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, convened an emergency meeting of his cabinet on Wednesday to discuss the crisis.
"This war is not against Hamas or another political party but it is against the Palestinian people," he told the media afterward. "What do you call this crime? What is this crime known under international law? To kill entire families, is this collective punishment?
"This is called collective genocide."
A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said Israel's threat to launch a "stupid" ground offensive didn't scare anyone, and fighters from Hamas' military wing were ready to face off with Israel's "coward" soldiers in Gaza.
Rising death toll in Gaza
The comments came as the death toll rose in Gaza, where the Israel Defense Forces has struck at 785 Hamas targets since launching its offensive Monday. It said it hit more than 100 different targets between midnight and about 7 a.m. Thursday.
The IDF has said its targets include rocket launchers, tunnels and the homes of senior Hamas leaders, which the IDF describes as "command centers."
Among the dead are 22 children and 15 women, including an 18-month-old baby and an 80-year-old woman, according to information from the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The IDF said it uses phone calls and drops empty shells on roofs -- what it calls "roof knocking" -- to warn civilians that airstrikes are imminent.
In one case, members of a family returned to a house in Gaza shortly after having been warned to evacuate it, said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman. They were caught in the airstrike.
He called their deaths a tragedy, saying, "This is not what the IDF does."
The Israeli Cabinet has authorized the military to call up 40,000 troops if needed. That is 10,000 more than were called up during Israel's offensive into Gaza in November 2012. Only about 1,000 have been mobilized so far.
Amid the deepening crisis, the U.N. Security Council is due Thursday to hold its first official session on the violence. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who warned Wednesday that "Gaza is on a knife-edge," has requested the opportunity to speak to the Security Council.
Teens' deaths set off latest crisis
The region has many depressing precedents when it comes to violence. Palestinians revolted twice in the past three decades against Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel conquered and occupied those territories in the June 1967 war. Gaza is now under the control of Hamas.
In late 2008 and early 2009, Israel carried out airstrikes and then a ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza that killed roughly 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. The November 2012 Israeli offensive sparked a bloody eight-day conflict that ended in a cease-fire.
In this case, tensions boiled over after three Israeli teens, including one with dual U.S. citizenship, were kidnapped and killed in the West Bank. Israel blames Hamas for the deaths, but the group has denied any involvement.
Last week, only days after the bodies of the Israelis were discovered, a Palestinian teen was abducted and later found dead in Jerusalem. Israeli police have arrested suspects and say there's "strong indication" it was a revenge killing.
Tariq Abu Khdeir, a 15-year-old American cousin of the slain Palestinian teen, was arrested by Israeli police amid the ensuing protests in Jerusalem. A video showed him being brutally beaten by two men in the uniforms of Israeli security forces, prompting widespread outrage.
Israeli authorities said Thursday that following an investigation into the incident, they have suspended for 15 days a police officer who is suspected of committing "serious violent offenses."
The Israeli Department for the Investigation of Police is considering criminal charges against the officer, who is in a special undercover unit, and he has been summoned for a hearing, the agency said in a statement.
Multiple threats
The IDF said 72 rockets rained down on Israel on Wednesday, and more were fired early Thursday. Some came down in unpopulated areas, while others were intercepted by the country's Iron Dome defense system over Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and Dimona, the IDF said.
Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza are believed to have about 10,000 rockets of varying ranges, according to the Israeli military. Israel has said some 3.5 million residents live in areas within reach of the rockets.
Israel says it's also facing other threats from Hamas. The IDF said it killed attackers who tried to enter southern Israel by sea on Tuesday.
"Israel has been attacked by Hamas in Gaza from the air, with all of those missiles and rockets, through the sea, those commandos," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday. "Those terrorists came through the sea through the Mediterranean in boats from Gaza. And we've also had an attempted attack underground -- they've been tunneling under the frontier -- trying to bring in terrorists that way to Israel."
Flare-up in Israeli-Palestinian violence: Why now?
Has the Middle East crisis reached a tipping point?
Was teen's death a revenge killing?
Palestinian teen burned alive, autopsy shows
Israel resident: What I don't want to happen at my daughter's wedding
CNN's Diana Magnay reported from Jerusalem, Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Michael Pearson, Ed Payne, Larry Register, Kareem Khadder, Ben Wedeman, Tal Heinrich, Amir Tal, Salma Abdelaziz and Talal Abu Rahma contributed to this report.
North Korea fires missiles into sea
7/9/2014 3:20:46 AM
- NEW: The projectiles are assumed to be short-range ballistic missiles
- They flew more than 310 miles (some 500 kilometers)
- No damage or injures are reported
- It's the latest in a series of rocket and missile launches by North Korea
(CNN) -- North Korea fired two short-range missiles off the coast of the Korean Peninsula early Wednesday, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said.
North Korea did not declare a no-fly zone prior to the launch, the official said. No damage or injures were reported.
The projectiles, assumed to be short-range ballistic missiles, flew more than 310 miles (almost 500 kilometers), the official said.
The official said the missiles were launched from North Korea's western Hwanghae Province and flew northeast toward the water.
North Korea through a Google Glass lens
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered his cabinet to look into the apparent launch. The Japanese government intends to lodge an official protest with the North Korean government.
North Korea has carried out a series of missile and rocket launches into the sea in recent months, drawing criticism from South Korea, the United States and the United Nations.
North Korea fires two short-range rockets into sea
Japan eases sanctions on North Korea after talks on abductions
North Korea preparing to prosecute 2 American tourists
CNN's Yoko Wakatsuki and K.J. Kwon contributed to this report.
Clooney: Wedding article 'a lie'
7/9/2014 5:12:09 PM
- Daily Mail said Clooney's future mother-in-law opposes his marriage on religious grounds
- Clooney responds in USA Today, calling the story "completely fabricated" and "dangerous"
- The story was removed from the Mail's website, and the paper is investigating
- Clooney rarely responds to the media's stories about his personal life
(CNN) -- George Clooney 1, Daily Mail newspaper 0.
The British newspaper's website deleted an article about Clooney, his fiancee, Amal Alamuddin, and her mother, Baria, on Wednesday, after Clooney said the article was "completely fabricated" and even "dangerous."
The website subsequently apologized and said it had "launched a full investigation."
The offending article came out on the Web on Monday and in print on Tuesday. While it is now missing from the Mail's site, rewritten versions of it still appear on hundreds of other sites -- a point that Clooney himself made in an unusual response to the Mail, published by USA Today on Wednesday morning.
In order to rebut the article, Clooney had to repeat some of what it said.
"The Daily Mail has printed a completely fabricated story about my fiancee's mother opposing our marriage for religious reasons," Clooney wrote in USA Today. "It says Amal's mother has been telling 'half of Beirut' that she's against the wedding. It says they joke about traditions in the Druze religion that end up with the death of the bride."
None of that is true, Clooney said.
Clooney, of course, is used to media misbehavior -- thinly sourced stories about celebrities of his stature are a daily occurrence, and "I seldom respond," he wrote.
"But this lie involves larger issues," he wrote. "The irresponsibility, in this day and age, to exploit religious differences where none exist, is at the very least negligent and more appropriately dangerous. We have family members all over the world, and the idea that someone would inflame any part of that world for the sole reason of selling papers should be criminal."
Later on, he suggested that the Mail had moved "into the arena of inciting violence."
So was the Mail story completely made up? MailOnline, the Web division of the newspaper, said Wednesday that it was "not a fabrication"; rather, it was "supplied in good faith by a reputable and trusted freelance journalist."
The Mail said the journalist "based her story on conversations with a long-standing contact who has strong connections with senior members of the Lebanese community in the UK and the Druze in Beirut."
In other words, the journalist played a particularly bad game of telephone, repeating what one person was saying about what other people were allegedly saying about Clooney's future mother-in-law.
"We accept Mr. Clooney's assurance that the story is inaccurate and we apologise to him, Miss Amal Alamuddin and her mother, Baria, for any distress caused," the Mail said in a statement.
"We have removed the article from our website and will be contacting Mr. Clooney's representatives to discuss giving him the opportunity to set the record straight."
What we know about George Clooney's fiancee
Photos: The women who captured George Clooney's heart
CNN's Joan Yeam contributed to this report.
Bieber charged in egging case
7/9/2014 6:59:38 PM
- NEW: "Justin is glad to get this matter resolved and behind him," his rep says
- Bieber must serve two years probation, pay $80,900 to his neighbor
- Bieber still faces drunk driving charge in Miami
- Investigators called for a more serious felony charge against the singer
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Justin Bieber must pay $80,900 restitution for damage caused to his former neighbor's mansion by eggs he threw.
The pop star accepted a plea deal to settle a vandalism charge that puts him on probation for two years. The probation will be supervised until he completes 12 weekly anger management sessions, works five days of community labor and pays the restitution.
The sentence also requires Bieber to stay at least 100 yards way from the victim's family.
Bieber must let the probation officer know if he is deported or otherwise leaves the country, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Leland Harris said.
"Justin is glad to get this matter resolved and behind him," his representative said in a written statement. "He will continue to move forward focusing on his career and his music."
The misdemeanor charge was filed Wednesday morning by the Los Angeles County District attorney five months after a sheriff's investigator recommended it be prosecuted as a felony.
Assistant District Attorney Alan Yochelson told the judge that while the damage to Jeffrey Schwartz's "dream house" was "incredible" he did not think it warranted a felony charge.
Yochelson called it "an extremely immature and silly act" that caused "incredible amount of damage" to what the neighbors considered their "dream house."
Bieber's lawyer previously called it a "silly prank."
Bieber, 20, was not required to be in court. Attorney Shawn Holley, known for her frequent appearances defending Lindsay Lohan, entered the "no contest" plea on his behalf in a Van Nuys, California, court Wednesday afternoon.
Is Justin Bieber getting special treatment?
The vandalism case is what lawyers call a "wobbler," meaning the district attorney could have prosecuted it as a felony -- which would have much more serious consequences for the singer -- or as a misdemeanor.
Bieber has since moved from the neighborhood, selling the mansion to Khloe Kardashian.
Justin Bieber: 'Don't believe rumors'
Bieber's drunken driving charge in Miami is also still pending, although a source close to that case said talks are under way to reach a plea deal to avoid a trial.
Justin Bieber avoids felony robbery charge in cell phone 'tussle'
Los Angeles prosecutors decided in June not to pursue charges against Bieber for an incident in which a Los Angeles woman accused him of trying to take her cell phone.
Justin Bieber caught in racial controversy
The egging case began when the singer's neighbor called 911 to report that someone was throwing eggs over a fence from Bieber's home. Residents of the exclusive community had previously reported several incidents allegedly involving Bieber, including speeding on the residential streets.
Investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department searched Bieber's home on January 14 for video from Bieber's security cameras they hoped would show what happened. They later presented prosecutors of video they said supports a vandalism charge against Bieber, an investigator said.
Bieber house guest Lil Za, a rapper whose real name is Xavier Smith, was arrested on a felony drug charge during the raid. Deputies added a vandalism charge when he damaged a jail phone. He later accepted a plea deal for probation.
Bieber buddy Lil Za gets probation for drug, vandalism charges
When chemical weapons killed 90,000
7/9/2014 2:42:49 PM
- Paul Schulte says WWI ushered in era of chemical weapons use that lingers today
- He says such things as mustard gas brought agony: blindness, disability, often death
- Treaties have sought to rein them in but are not always successful, as in Syria, he says
- Chemical warfare was universally criminalized, Schulte says, but behavior remains toxic
Editor's note: This is the fifth in a series on the legacies of World War I appearing on CNN.com/Opinion in the weeks leading up to the 100-year anniversary of the war's outbreak in August. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is guest editor for the series. Paul Schulte is honorary professor at the University of Birmingham's Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security. He is former director of proliferation and arms control in the British Ministry of Defence and U.N. disarmament commissioner for Iraq. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- World War I ushered in an era of chemical weapons use that lingers, lethally, into the present day.
Indeed, the German chlorine attacks against French, Algerian, British and Canadian troops around Ypres -- site of the war's most relentless fighting -- in April 1915 presaged a world in which weapons of mass destruction became at least a permanent background anxiety and often a source of intense terror.
World War I, which began nearly 100 years ago, linked science with mass killing and, despite preventative treaties such as the 1900 Hague Convention, created a lasting precedent. Scientific progress now brought new fears as well as hope.
The other combatant nations responded to their maximum extent, with rapidly developed mixtures of retaliation-in-kind and protective technologies and procedures. Perhaps 1 million chemical casualties were inflicted, to little overall military advantage. Although fatalities were eventually kept relatively low, at about 90,000 in total, there was, and remains, deep revulsion at slow, agonizing deaths from tissue damage through blistering of the skin caused by innovations such as mustard gas or drowning through destruction of the lungs.
Opinion: How a century-old war affects you
The first World War began August 4, 1914, in the wake of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary on June 28 of that year. In the next two months, CNN.com/Opinion will feature articles on the weapons of war, its language, the role of women, battlefield injuries and the rise of aerial surveillance.
Many survivors were left blind or permanently disabled. Human distress, dread, "gas fright" and their long-term psychiatric consequences are impossible to calculate. They may have fatefully helped intensify Hitler's psychopathology as he lay brooding upon the Armistice in a military hospital, temporarily blinded by British mustard gas.
Later, in the Geneva Gas Protocol of 1925, the world tried to address its WMD problem through a collective promise of "no first chemical or bacteriological use," backed by uncontrolled arsenals, which it was hoped would deter treaty breach by the hideously plausible and familiar threat of retaliation.
That gamble held precariously in World War II but not in hidden, or conveniently overlooked, one-sided campaigns conducted by Spain, Italy, Japan and Egypt in remote theaters such as Morocco, Ethiopia, China and Yemen. Continued secret research created still more efficient nerve gases, blatantly employed by Saddam Hussein's forces in the 1980s against Iranians and Kurds, without international response. However, the international honeymoon period after the Cold War allowed the negotiation of total, monitored and inspected elimination of all chemical weapons stocks and production facilities under the 1998 Chemical Weapons Convention.
But World War I and its aftermath have left discouraging precedents.
Opinion: The mighty women of World War I
Although banned, in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, from keeping any chemical weapons, Germany secretly maintained formidable capacities. Its specialists went on to set up joint trials and research facilities in the USSR and to pioneer the whole class of nerve agents. Cheating in arms-control treaties, especially with the assistance of third parties, has remained a lasting political anxiety and an intelligence priority ever since.
We now also know that during World War I, German agents tried systematically to infect Allied livestock with glanders (a serious bacterial disease, transmissible to humans but mainly affecting horses and mules). This was the insidious, but fortunately not then very successful, birth of covert scientific biological warfare -- which, despite the unverifiable and evidently broken Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention of 1971, now persists as an uneliminable security nightmare.
So we are all still partially breathing the yellow-green poison cloud that Nobel laureate Fritz Haber determinedly developed and the generals of the German High Command, locked into the first scientific Total War, reluctantly authorized. (The suicides, apparently through shame and disgust, of both Haber's wife, Clara, and Hermann, one of his sons, seem to add further intimate casualties to his innovation.)
Opinion: How World War I gave us 'cooties'
Haber's weaponization of chlorine for the second Battle of Ypres heralded a period of destructive technological dynamism in which we still live, when, repeatedly, as Bertolt Brecht observed:
"Out of the libraries come the killers.
Mothers stand despondently waiting,
Hugging their children and searching the sky,
Looking for the latest inventions of the professors."
And today, the news remains bad.
Mothers still scan the sky for incoming chemicals.
Chlorine is back.
After 1,400 people were killed with highly efficient sarin nerve agent in the rebel-held eastern suburbs of Damascus in August, the Syrian government agreed to join the 1998 Chemical Weapons Convention and cooperate in its own chemical disarmament, as an alternative to U.S. punitive strikes.
Opinion: The 'bionic men' of World War I
Before completion of that process, reports repeatedly emerged in early 2014 of new attacks using chlorine, which as an industrial chemical used in water purification cannot be removed from the country, although employing it against humans is unquestionably forbidden. Chlorine's lethality, even against unprotected civilians, may be unimpressively low by modern standards, but it reliably continues to terrify.
And while German culpability in the gas attacks in Flanders 100 years ago was clear, the United Nations is still unable to agree, or even yet formally investigate, which side has been conducting chemical attacks of any kind in the long Syrian civil war.
Chemical warfare was universally criminalized in September under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2118. But finally eliminating or even punishing the homicidal employment of chemicals in organized violence is a diplomatic as much as a legal, technical or military problem.
It turns out that some international behavior over chemical killing remains as toxic as in 1915.
WWI: The Golden Age of postcards
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Hamas ready for troops as Israel warns of worse to come
7/9/2014 10:32:43 PM
- At least 61 Palestinians killed, more than 500 injured in Gaza, Palestinian officials say
- IDF says it warns civilians when airstrikes are coming with dummy bombs, phone calls
- Military is "prepared for all possibilities," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says
- Palestinian Authority President says Israel is committing "genocide"
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli airstrikes pounded targets in Gaza, killing scores of people Wednesday as dozens of militant rockets streaked into Israel.
The continued Hamas barrage prompted Israel's Prime Minister to step up the offensive against the militant group.
"The operation will be expanded and will continue until the firing at our communities stops and quiet is restored," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
He did not detail what the expansion would entail but said Israel's military "is prepared for all possibilities."
President Shimon Peres, whose role is largely ceremonial and is not involved in setting policy, said in an exclusive interview with CNN's Becky Anderson that he believed a ground offensive "may happen quite soon" unless Hamas stops firing rockets at Israel.
"We warned them. We asked them to stop it," Peres told Anderson. "We waited one day, two days, three days and they continued, and they spread their fire on more areas in Israel."
While Peres was speaking on his own and his position may not outline an official government policy, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz earlier told CNN that a ground operation "might become necessary."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, convened an emergency meeting of his Cabinet to discuss the crisis.
"This war is not against Hamas or another political party but it is against the Palestinian people," he told the media afterward. "What do you call this crime? What is this crime known under international law? To kill entire families, is this collective punishment?
"This is called collective genocide."
A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said Israel's threat to launch a "stupid" ground offensive didn't scare anyone, and fighters from Hamas' military wing were ready to face off with Israel's "coward" soldiers in Gaza.
More deaths in Gaza
The comments came as the death toll rose in Gaza, where the Israel Defense Forces had struck at 550 Hamas targets since launching its offensive Monday.
The IDF said the targets included 60 rocket launchers, 31 tunnels and the homes of 11 senior Hamas leaders, which the IDF described as "command centers."
At least 61 Palestinians have been killed and more than 550 injured in the airstrikes, according to Palestinian medical sources and Health Ministry officials.
Among the dead were eight women and 11 children, including an 18-month-old baby and an 80-year-old woman, according to a list provided by Palestinian medical sources and Health Ministry officials.
In one airstrike Wednesday, two children and their mother were among five people killed when Israeli forces targeted their house. Some members of the family are believed to have links to Hamas, Palestinian security sources said.
A driver for a Gaza news agency was killed Wednesday night when an Israeli missile hit his car, witness told CNN. Three people were wounded, witnesses said.
The IDF said it uses phone calls and drops empty shells on roofs -- what it calls "roof knocking" -- to warn civilians that airstrikes are imminent.
The Israeli Cabinet has authorized the military to call up 40,000 troops if needed. That is 10,000 more than were called up during Israel's offensive into Gaza in November 2012. Only about 1,000 have been mobilized so far.
Teens' deaths sparked new violence
Tensions in the region reached a fever pitch after three Israeli teens, including one with dual U.S. citizenship, were kidnapped last month on their way home from school in the West Bank. Their bodies were found last week.
Israel blames Hamas, but the group has denied any involvement.
"Hamas said it clearly. ... We don't have information about what had happened," Osama Hamdan, a foreign policy spokesman for Hamas, told CNN's Michael Holmes.
Only days after the bodies of the Israelis were discovered, a Palestinian teen was abducted, and then found dead, within an hour in Jerusalem. Israel has arrested suspects and says there's "strong indication" it was a revenge killing.
Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal blamed Netanyahu for the wave of violence.
"It is as if we started the problem in Gaza," he said. "As if a rocket was fired from Gaza so the Zionist enemy was forced to respond to it. This is not true."
"I say to the American and European administrations and the United Nations and our Arab neighbors: Were the Palestinian people supposed to break and surrender and die a slow death?" he said. "What is left of our lands and our holy sites? What life is left?"
But with rockets flying over his country's cities, Netanyahu seemed in no mood to back down.
"Our military is strong, the home front is steadfast and our people are united," he said.
The region has many depressing precedents when it comes to violence. Palestinians have revolted twice against Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel conquered and occupied those territories in the June 1967 war.
In late 2008 and early 2009, Israel carried out airstrikes and then a ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians. The November 2012 Israeli offensive sparked a bloody eight-day conflict that ended in a cease-fire.
Flare-up in Israeli-Palestinian violence: Why now?
New threat
The IDF said 72 rockets rained down on Israel on Wednesday. Some came down in unpopulated areas, while others were intercepted by the country's Iron Dome defense system over Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and Dimona, the IDF said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Dimona is home to a nuclear plant. Israeli media reported the facility was not hit.
The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv said it would close Thursday. Embassy staff had to take shelter Tuesday during a rocket warning, and the facility was already operating with minimal staff.
Hamas is believed to have 10,000 rockets of varying ranges, said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman. Israel said some 3.5 million residents live in areas within reach of the rockets.
Has the Middle East crisis reached a tipping point?
Was teen's death a revenge killing?
Palestinian teen burned alive, autopsy shows
Israel resident: What I don't want to happen at my daughter's wedding
CNN's Diana Magnay reported from Jerusalem, Michael Pearson, Steve Almasy and Ed Payne reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Kareem Khadder, Ben Wedeman, Tal Heinrich, Amir Tal, Salma Abdelaziz, Josh Levs, Talal Abu Rahma and Jason Hanna also contributed to this report.
Tipping point: Is all-out war next?
7/9/2014 4:00:36 AM
- "The blood is up. You have got retaliation," a Middle East expert warns
- Analysts say the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas appears set to continue
- But a broader Palestinian uprising against Israel seems less likely
- Both sides are sinking into a confrontation they don't necessarily want, analysts say
(CNN) -- The violent cycle of retribution and retaliation only seems to be worsening.
As militants fire volleys of rockets from Gaza, Israel is responding with waves of airstrikes.
As Hamas vows to make its enemy pay the price, Israel is calling up hundreds of recruits and strengthening its positions around Gaza.
Tensions between Palestinians and Israelis have always simmered in plain view, erupting periodically into deadly spasms.
Could it be happening again?
"I do not want to over-dramatize, but the last few hours may have been, God forbid, the tipping point," Ari Shavit, a prominent Israeli author and journalist, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday night.
"What we see is different sides who do not want escalation ... they are dragged into something that is becoming very violent, very dangerous."
Israel prepared to expand operation against Hamas in Gaza
'The blood is up'
Long-standing resentments have boiled over in recent weeks following the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, which Israel blamed on Hamas. The militant group praised the abductions but denied responsibility.
Israel responded by cracking down on Hamas operations in the West Bank, arresting hundreds of activists and conducting widespread searches of homes.
When the three teenagers' bodies were found last week in a field in the West Bank, anger erupted in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Hamas would pay.
The mood darkened further when a Palestinian teenager was abducted and killed in Jerusalem in what police say could be a revenge killing. The news sparked clashes between protesting Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces in Jerusalem.
Throughout that grim week, Israel and Hamas continued to trade fire across the Gaza border.
"You have got politics. The blood is up. You have got retaliation," said Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
'Clouds are getting dark'
The region has many depressing precedents when it comes to violence.
In recent decades, Palestinians launched two armed uprisings against Israel, known as Intifadas, that each went on for years.
In late 2008 and early 2009, Israel carried out airstrikes and then a ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians.
In November 2012, the two sides fought a bloody eight-day conflict that ended in a cease-fire.
The region appears to be careering toward another confrontation.
"It's difficult to see how this stops. At what point does one of the sides say, 'You know what? Let's have a moment where we make a preemptive concession, we do some kind of peace talks,'" said CNN's Fareed Zakaria.
"That's not in the cards right now."
The Israeli military is nonetheless gathering its forces near the border with Gaza.
"They are talking about an escalation," said CNN's Ben Wedeman. "Perhaps not on the scale of November 2012 or the war at the end of 2008, beginning of 2009, but definitely there's a feeling that the clouds are getting dark over Gaza and things could get much worse."
On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said the security operation against Hamas "will probably not end within several days." And the Israeli military was gathering its forces near the border with Gaza.
"They are talking about an escalation," said CNN's Ben Wedeman. "Perhaps not on the scale of November 2012 or the war at the end of 2008, beginning of 2009, but definitely there's a feeling that the clouds are getting dark over Gaza and things could get much worse."
'I still think no'
CNN's Ben Wedeman
There are reasons why violence may not engulf the whole region.
Although clashes flared in some areas of Jerusalem after the killing of the Palestinian teenager last week, the unrest doesn't so far appear to be spreading.
The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported that "many East Jerusalem officials expect the turmoil to die down." It noted that West Bank cities have not joined the violent protests.
"Are we on the tipping point of a third Intifada? A major sustained escalation?" Miller asked in a conversation with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "I still think no."
Palestinian people are "far more interested in social-economic issues," Miller said.
"They know the pain and suffering caused by the second Intifada that achieved very little. And even Hamas, I suspect, weakened by the fact that they don't have much support from Egypt or Turkey, bad governance, economic mismanagement in Gaza, I'm not sure they are prepared for sustained battle either."
'No angels here'
Shavit said that since the collapse of U.S.-sponsored peace talks earlier this year, Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have failed to halt the descent into crisis.
"What we see in recent months is that the extremists on both sides are taking the agenda and are actually cornering these two leaders and actually dragging us into conflict," he said.
He faulted Netanyahu for failing to control hardliners in his government and not acting in time against violent Jewish nationalists.
But Shavit also criticized Abbas for agreeing to a pact with Hamas after years of divisions between the two factions.
"There are no angels here," Shavit said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also has to face tough questions about the unraveling situation.
"Some of us here warned a few months ago ... that the moment you try to have peace in this land, the way Secretary Kerry did in a courageous way, you cannot step back," Shavit said.
"And from the moment that negotiations collapsed in late March, this illusion that you can go back to Washington, deal with China and Ukraine and ignore the Middle East, was a dangerous illusion."
Role for U.S.?
Now, it appears tricky for the United States to play a role in calming the situation.
"I'm not sure, frankly, that the Secretary of State wants or should put himself in a situation right now of trying to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas," Miller said. The U.S. government lists Hamas as a terrorist organization.
During the 2012 conflict in Gaza, Egypt brokered the cease-fire.
But that was under Islamist-backed former President Mohamed Morsy, who has since been ousted and replaced by the country's former military chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The new Egyptian president has "very poor" relations with Hamas, according to Zakaria. And in the current climate, "I don't think an outside mediator is going to help," he said.
Even Hamas has been losing support to more radical elements in recent years, Zakaria said, which has put the movement under pressure to act.
"On both sides, there is an internal compulsion, an internal dynamic which is pushing them to a confrontation that maybe they don't rationally want," he said.
And those who will pay the price for the unwanted conflict are likely to be the civilians of Gaza and southern Israel.
READ: Why is this flare-up happening now?
READ: Signs of war: Life amid Iraqi conflict
READ: Israelis, Palestinians in game with no end
How do cryptocurrencies work?
7/9/2014 7:56:00 AM
- Over $1 million dollars are being traded in Bitcoin every day
- Transaction history is encrypted into a chain of letters and numbers for each coin's identity
- Fans of cryptocurrencies like the fact that no single person or institution has control
Editor's note: Future Finance is a new series showcasing future trends related to the global financial system. The show complements CNN's business coverage by examining everything from a cashless society to high-speed trading that employs the power of laser beams.
(CNN) -- Not so long ago the thought of reaching into your pocket for a digital currency might have seemed too far-fetched.
But cryptocurrencies are digital money -- and they're on the rise.
This method of payment, which cuts out the banks, is peer to peer and it's all done digitally.
While the most well-known is Bitcoin -- being the first of its kind in 2009 -- there are many others now, such as Litecoin and Feathercoin.
There's no denying that digital money is part of the future of finance. Most recent figures show there is more than $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in circulation.
Watch the explainer video to learn a few more facts about the world of cryptocurrencies.
Why you must vaccinate your kids
7/9/2014 9:40:37 AM
- In the last few years, measles and mumps have been on the rise
- Aaron Carroll: Immunizations can prevent contagious vaccine-preventable illnesses
- He says people who refuse to vaccinate their children put other children in danger
- Carroll: Widespread vaccination prevents disease outbreaks, this protects everyone
Editor's note:
(CNN) -- Although vaccines are required for entry into school in most places in the United States, the government does allow for exceptions, like religious reasons.
In the last few years, the rates of vaccine-preventable illness such as measles and mumps have been on the rise. In most cases, these outbreaks began with children who were unvaccinated. In a school environment, an unvaccinated child who has a contagious disease can more easily spread it to other children.
To combat this threat, some schools in New York have been refusing to allow unvaccinated children to attend school, where they might start outbreaks or make outbreaks worse. Several parents thought this was unfair and filed lawsuits. Just recently, though, a federal court ruled in favor of the city schools, citing that government has the power to make decisions that would protect public health.
The court made the right decision. Immunizations are important because they allow us to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
Vaccines significantly decrease your risk of getting a disease if you come into contact with it, though there is still a tiny chance that you can get sick. When measles outbreaks occur, for example, more of the people who get sick tend to be unvaccinated, but some who are vaccinated can become ill.
Vaccine policy depends not only on the added protection that vaccines confer upon those who get shots, but also on the decreased likelihood that anyone will come into contact with the disease. This is known as herd immunity. It refers to the fact that when enough people are immunized, then there really can't be an outbreak. And if there can't be an outbreak, then everyone is protected, even those who can't get vaccinated.
This is critical, because there are people who are at increased risk for communicable diseases but cannot be given immunizations for various reasons. Small babies are susceptible to certain diseases, but can't be given all vaccines. The elderly sometimes have less-well functioning immune systems, and are at higher risk for diseases. The same goes for all immune-compromised patients, who are always under threat of infection.
We don't just get vaccines to protect ourselves. We don't just give them to our children to protect them. We do this so that all those other people are protected as well.
In 1995, the varicella vaccine, or the chicken pox vaccine, was introduced in the United States. Over time, more and more children received it. In 2011, a study was published in the journal Pediatrics that looked at how the program affected the number of children who died from the disease.
The first thing noted in the paper was that death from chicken pox went down significantly from before the vaccine was released. From 2001 through 2007, the rates of death remained much lower, with just a few children dying from chicken pox nationally each year.
What's notable is that from 2004 through 2007, not one child less than 1 year of age died in the United States from chicken pox. None. This is remarkable, because we cannot give the varicella vaccine to babies. It's only approved for children 1 year or older.
In other words, all those babies were saved not because we vaccinated them against this illness. They were saved because older children were. Enough of the older kids were vaccinated to grant herd immunity that protected babies from getting sick.
Widespread vaccination prevents disease outbreaks. This protects all people from getting ill.
But if some parents want their children to remain at risk by leaving them unimmunized, and those children get sick, the state has then to take steps to prevent outbreaks from occurring. In New York, one of the few children who developed measles earlier this year was an unvaccinated child. The state refused to allow that child's sibling, who was also unvaccinated, to go to school. That child also developed measles. The school maintains -- and it's hard to dispute -- that letting the second child go to school would have put everyone at higher risk.
People who refuse to vaccinate themselves, or their children, aren't just putting themselves at risk -- they're putting everyone else in danger, too.
Forgotten vials of smallpox virus found
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Peres: 'We warned them, we asked them to stop it'
7/9/2014 10:04:26 AM
- NEW: At least 46 people have died in Israeli strikes on Gaza, Palestinian officials say
- The Israeli military says it has intercepted nearly 50 rockets today
- Military is "prepared for all possibilities," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says
- The range of Palestinian rocket attacks expands
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli airstrikes pounded targets in Gaza, killing at least 19 people Wednesday as dozens of militant rockets streaked into Israel.
The continued Hamas barrage prompted Israel's Prime Minister to say he would step up the offensive against the militant group.
"The operation will be expanded and will continue until the firing at our communities stops and quiet is restored," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.
He did not detail what the expansion would entail, but President Shimon Peres said in an exclusive interview Wednesday with CNN's Becky Anderson that a ground offensive "may happen quite soon" unless Hamas stops firing rockets at Israel.
"We warned them. We asked them to stop it," Peres told Anderson. "We waited one day, two days, three days and they continued, and they spread their fire on more areas in Israel."
The President's post is largely ceremonial and he isn't involved in setting government policy. So, his remarks may not be part of the official government position. CNN has asked the Prime Minister's office for a response to Peres' remarks and it had nothing to add to the President's remarks.
Israel Defense Forces said it had struck 550 Hamas targets since the operation began, including 60 rocket launchers, 31 tunnels and the homes of 11 senior Hamas leaders, which the IDF described as "command centers" for the militant group.
At least 46 people have been killed since the airstrikes started Monday, according to Palestinian medical sources and Health Ministry officials. The sources provided CNN with a list of the names of the dead and their ages.
Among the dead were eight women and 11 children, including an 18-month-old baby and an 80-year-old woman.
Among those killed Wednesday in Gaza were two children, their mother and two others who died in an Israeli strike on a home, Palestinian medical sources said. Some members of the family are believed to have links to Hamas, Palestinian security sources said.
In Israel, the military said on Twitter that it had intercepted nearly 50 rockets Wednesday, including one over the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
Earlier, the IDF had said 48 rockets had been fired from Gaza since midnight. Fourteen of them were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defense system, the IDF said.
Israeli officials reported no deaths, but expressed rising concern about the range of Hamas rockets, some of which reached the area around Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas convened an emergency meeting of his Cabinet on Wednesday to discuss the crisis amid concerns that Israeli forces could be preparing for a ground incursion.
On Tuesday, the Israeli Cabinet authorized the military to call up 40,000 troops if needed. That is 10,000 more than were called up during Israel's offensive into Gaza in November of 2012. Only about 1,000 have been mobilized so far.
Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz told CNN a ground operation "might become necessary."
Netanyahu, after holding security consultations with top officials Wednesday, said "the IDF is prepared for all possibilities."
"Our military is strong, the home front is steadfast and our people are united," he said.
Maen Rashid Areikat, the Palestinian representative to the United States said he hopes the conflict does not escalate into an "all-out war."
"For the Israelis, they have to know that there's no military solution to this problem," he said.
READ: Flare-up in Israeli-Palestinian violence: Why now?
New threat
Rocket attacks into Israel are nothing new, but their reach has grown.
Warning sirens that blared Tuesday and Wednesday in Tel Aviv, one of Israel's most populated areas, showed a threat Israel had warned of. The country said militants' rockets from Gaza are powerful enough to reach 3.5 million Israeli residents.
The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv announced on its website that it would close Thursday after its staff had to scurry into an underground shelter Tuesday following an earlier rocket warning. The embassy was already operating with minimal staff, according to the website.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said Hamas is estimated to have 10,000 rockets of varying ranges, including some that can reach as far north as Tel Aviv and beyond.
Israel confirmed that a rocket hit the city of Hadera, which is some 62 miles (100 kilometers) from Gaza.
YouTube video posted Tuesday purported to show a wedding party in the western Israeli city of Ashdod interrupted by air raid sirens and flashes of light overhead from a possible Hamas rocket. CNN cannot confirm the video.
To the south, in Ashkelon, also in western Israel, a CNN crew scrambled for cover as air raid sirens wailed and an apparent rocket streaked overhead.
The IDF also posted a picture it said was of kindergartners near Gaza taking shelter from rockets.
Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group, took responsibility for the rocket fired at Tel Aviv. In a statement, the group called it a "response to the ongoing Zionist aggression."
"The Palestinian people will defend themselves," said Osama Hamdan, a foreign policy spokesman for Hamas. If there is a "clear cease-fire, the Palestinians will deal with that."
Hamas later claimed responsibility for firing rockets on Jerusalem and Haifa. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said he finds the rocket attacks surprising.
"It is amazing to find terrorist groups that are willing to fire indiscriminate rockets targeted at civilians," he said.
READ: Has the Middle East crisis reached a tipping point?
Teens' deaths sparked new violence
Tensions in the region reached a fever pitch after three Israeli teens, including one with dual U.S. citizenship, were kidnapped last month on their way home from school in the West Bank. Their bodies were found last week.
Israel blames Hamas, but the group has denied any involvement.
"Hamas said it clearly. ... We don't have information about what had happened," Hamdan told CNN's Michael Holmes.
Only days after the bodies of the Israelis were discovered, a Palestinian teen was abducted, and then found dead, within an hour in Jerusalem. Israel has arrested suspects and says there's "strong indication" it was a revenge killing.
Abbas, who was criticized by Palestinians when he condemned the Israeli teens' kidnappings, called on Israel on Tuesday to immediately stop its strikes, warning the operation would drag the region into instability.
Abbas said a truce was needed to "spare the innocent from mass destruction."
And a similar call for an end to hostilities came from the Arab League.
Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi asked for the U.N. Security Council to convene on the matter.
READ: Was teen's death a revenge killing?
READ: Palestinian teen burned alive, autopsy shows
READ: Israel resident: What I don't want to happen at my daughter's wedding
CNN's Diana Magnay reported from Jerusalem, Michael Pearson and Ed Payne reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Kareem Khadder, Ben Wedeman, Tal Heinrich, Josh Levs, Talal Abu Rahma and Jason Hanna also contributed to this report.
Iran is now our best hope?
7/9/2014 2:13:33 PM
- U.S. is aligning "awkwardly" with Iran as Iraq crisis escalates, says Arezo Yazd
- Improvement in U.S-Iran relations may be only silver-lining to crisis, she adds
- Yazd: Opportunity for partnership exists in Iran's budding technology market
- Possibility of U.S. changing sanctions policy regarding Iran arouses excitement, she says
Editor's note: Arezo Yazd is an Iranian-American attorney based in New York City. She is the principal and founder of ASY Ventures, a legal consulting company working mostly with tech start-up companies. The view expressed in this commentary are entirely her own.
(CNN) -- As the situation in Iraq escalates, the U.S. finds itself awkwardly aligned with a country once vilified as part of the "Axis of Evil." While Iraq loses control of its western border to ISIS rebels, the U.S. decides to pragmatically turn to its geopolitical interests to calm this disaster.
The unlikely result is Iran sending military weaponry and planes -- including Russian combat jets -- across the Iranian border to aid the Iraqi national army. This shift in alliance seemed implausible a few years ago, but since President Hassan Rouhani took office last year tensions between the U.S. and Iran have slowly and cautiously thawed. While Iraq plummets into further chaos and fragmentation -- the Kurds are expected to vote for full autonomy in an impending referendum -- improvement in U.S-Iran relations may be the only silver-lining in this otherwise catastrophic affair.
Yet supporters of U.S.-Iran relations should not forget the importance of promoting relations through long-term economic ties, rather than one based on purely geopolitical military needs. In the past decade, war has raged on two of Iran's borders, and seemingly both Iran and the U.S. shared common enemies in the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.
However, foreign policy alignments in the region did not result in sustained diplomatic ties. By easing sanctions and fostering economic growth in Iran, the U.S. can ultimately promote a sustainable relationship based on mutual needs and benefits. Now more than ever, the opportunity for just such a partnership exists in Iran's budding technology market.
Currently, Iran has the highest total number of Internet users in the Middle East; almost half of Iranian households have some access to the internet. There are more Internet users in Iran than in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon and Qatar, combined. Interest among young Iranians in technology and entrepreneurship is rapidly increasing. Iran's Center for E-commerce Development recently announced that nearly 70% of applicants for electronic retail licenses are younger than 30.
Rather than focusing on industries such as oil and gas, which ultimately trickles down profits to a few large companies closely aligned with the regime, promoting commercial development in the arena of tech entrepreneurship creates a high-skilled middle class. A thriving Iranian middle class will have an invested interest in maintaining close relations with the U.S.
The long-term benefits of commercial development in Iran's tech sector are endless. Transparency and increased openness in civil society through advances in social media, internet infrastructure and access to information are just some of the added benefits of a robust tech industry.
Promoting tech over other industries in Iran also allows the U.S. to play an active role in a market that empowers women in business. Unlike many Western countries where women only account for 10% of the tech industry, women in the Middle East account for 35% of tech entrepreneurs.
This number is astonishing considering Western notions of the marginalization of women in the region. Women in the Middle East are increasingly finding it both convenient and conducive to start small businesses from the comfort of their homes, and, thanks to increased internet access, they are now able to tap into global markets.
The benefits of promoting the burgeoning tech industry in Iran have not gone unnoticed. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs plan to gather this September to discuss entrepreneurship in Iran, and, in the event that sanctions are lifted, the possibility of building bridges between entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and their Iranian counterparts. Iran's very own TedX Tehran, scheduled to take place in Tehran later this year, is a result of enthusiasm surrounding technology and entrepreneurship.
Much of the eagerness surrounding Iran's tech scene is based on the possibility of the U.S. changing its sanctions policy regarding Iran. Unlike his predecessor, Rouhani made headway on nuclear program negotiations with world powers earlier this year. Even making use of social media, Rouhani tweets a softer image of the Iranian presidency by posting pictures of himself in sweatpants watching World Cup games.
Most importantly, Rouhani debuted his presidency with a message of economic openness and a desire to reintegrate Iran back into the international community. Iran's dismal human rights record still remains on the table, but the country's open approach on economic issues may be human rights activists' best chance to address political freedoms down the road.
Iran's support of Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki's government and majority-ruling Shiites in Iraq puts Iran in a position that is aligned with U.S.'s geopolitical interests. What remains unclear is whether the current situation will give way to a stable partnership if the Iraq crisis is contained. The Iran-Contra affair in 1986 demonstrated that the U.S. could covertly set aside ideological differences for military advantage. However, as history has demonstrated, unlikely wartime bedfellows rarely equate to stable diplomatic policy. Indeed, if history has taught the U.S. anything, it's that Iran is a resilient country with vast potential -- potential that expands far beyond merely oil, gas and guns.
READ: No, talking to Iran about Iraq isn't desperation
READ: U.S. and Iran: From sworn enemies to partners on Iraq?
Gaza operation 'will be expanded'
7/9/2014 4:57:20 PM
- NEW: Hamas spokesman calls Israeli soldiers '"cowards," says Hamas forces will defend Gaza
- Military is "prepared for all possibilities," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says
- Palestinian Authority President says Israel is committing "genocide"
- At least 53 Palestinians killed, more than 500 injured in Gaza, Palestinian officials say
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli airstrikes pounded targets in Gaza, killing scores of people Wednesday as dozens of militant rockets streaked into Israel.
The continued Hamas barrage prompted Israel's Prime Minister to step up the offensive against the militant group.
"The operation will be expanded and will continue until the firing at our communities stops and quiet is restored," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
He did not detail what the expansion would entail but said Israel's military "is prepared for all possibilities."
President Shimon Peres, whose role is largely ceremonial and is not involved in setting policy, said in an exclusive interview with CNN's Becky Anderson that he believed a ground offensive "may happen quite soon" unless Hamas stops firing rockets at Israel.
"We warned them. We asked them to stop it," Peres told Anderson. "We waited one day, two days, three days and they continued, and they spread their fire on more areas in Israel."
While Peres was speaking on his own and his position may not outline an official government policy, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz earlier told CNN that a ground operation "might become necessary."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, convened an emergency meeting of his Cabinet to discuss the crisis.
"This war is not against Hamas or another political party but it is against the Palestinian people," he told the media afterward. "What do you call this crime? What is this crime known under international law? To kill entire families, is this collective punishment?
"This is called collective genocide."
A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said Israel's threat to launch a "stupid" ground offensive didn't scare anyone, and fighters from Hamas' military wing were ready to face off with Israel's "coward" soldiers in Gaza.
More deaths in Gaza
The comments came as the death toll rose in Gaza, where the Israel Defense Forces had struck at 550 Hamas targets since launching its offensive Monday.
The IDF said the targets included 60 rocket launchers, 31 tunnels and the homes of 11 senior Hamas leaders, which the IDF described as "command centers."
At least 53 Palestinians have been killed and more than 500 injured in the airstrikes, according to Palestinian medical sources and Health Ministry officials.
Among the dead were eight women and 11 children, including an 18-month-old baby and an 80-year-old woman, according to a list provided by Palestinian medical sources and Health Ministry officials.
In one airstrike Wednesday, two children and their mother were among five people killed when Israeli forces targeted their house. Some members of the family are believed to have links to Hamas, Palestinian security sources said.
The Israeli Cabinet has authorized the military to call up 40,000 troops if needed. That is 10,000 more than were called up during Israel's offensive into Gaza in November 2012. Only about 1,000 have been mobilized so far.
Teens' deaths sparked new violence
Tensions in the region reached a fever pitch after three Israeli teens, including one with dual U.S. citizenship, were kidnapped last month on their way home from school in the West Bank. Their bodies were found last week.
Israel blames Hamas, but the group has denied any involvement.
"Hamas said it clearly. ... We don't have information about what had happened," Osama Hamdan, a foreign policy spokesman for Hamas, told CNN's Michael Holmes.
Only days after the bodies of the Israelis were discovered, a Palestinian teen was abducted, and then found dead, within an hour in Jerusalem. Israel has arrested suspects and says there's "strong indication" it was a revenge killing.
Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal blamed Netanyahu for the wave of violence.
"It is as if we started the problem in Gaza," he said. "As if a rocket was fired from Gaza so the Zionist enemy was forced to respond to it. This is not true."
"I say to the American and European administrations and the United Nations and our Arab neighbors: Were the Palestinian people supposed to break and surrender and die a slow death?" he said. "What is left of our lands and our holy sites? What life is left?"
But with rockets flying over his country's cities, Netanyahu seemed in no mood to back down.
"Our military is strong, the home front is steadfast and our people are united," he said.
The region has many depressing precedents when it comes to violence. In recent decades, Palestinians launched two armed uprisings, known as intifadas, that each went on for years.
In late 2008 and early 2009, Israel carried out airstrikes and then a ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians. The November 2012 Israeli offensive sparked a bloody eight-day conflict that ended in a cease-fire.
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The IDF said 72 rockets rained down on Israel on Wednesday. Some came down in unpopulated areas, while others were intercepted by the country's Iron Dome defense system over Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and Dimona, the IDF said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Dimona is home to a nuclear plant. Israeli media reported the facility was not hit.
The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv said it would close Thursday. Embassy staff had to take shelter Tuesday during a rocket warning, and the facility was already operating with minimal staff.
Hamas is believed to have 10,000 rockets of varying ranges, said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman. Israel said some 3.5 million residents live in areas within reach of the rockets.
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CNN's Diana Magnay reported from Jerusalem, Michael Pearson, Steve Almasy and Ed Payne reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Kareem Khadder, Ben Wedeman, Tal Heinrich, Salma Abdelaziz, Josh Levs, Talal Abu Rahma and Jason Hanna also contributed to this report.
How Israel's Iron Dome blocks rockets
7/9/2014 10:09:51 AM
- Israel uses the Iron Dome system only against rockets headed toward populated areas
- The system confronts multiple threats simultaneously, in any weather, the military says
- Each battery has a firing-control radar to identify targets and a portable missile launcher
- The interceptor missile explodes near the incoming rocket
Editor's note: A version of this report originally was published in November 2012.
(CNN) -- Israel is fighting to block rockets from striking its major population centers, deploying its Iron Dome missile defense system to intercept them.
By Wednesday afternoon, since the start of Operation Protective Edge, the Israel Defense Forces said missiles from the system had intercepted 56 rockets fired out of Gaza, preventing strikes in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat and elsewhere.
More than 250 rockets have been fired out of Gaza toward Israel in that time, the IDF said. Israel uses the Iron Dome system only against rockets headed toward populated areas. If one appears to be headed for an empty field, the dome does not activate.
The system is a centerpiece of Israel's defense strategy.
How does it work?
The name Iron Dome evokes an image of a protective bubble over a city. In practice, it targets incoming rockets and fires an interceptor missile to destroy them in the air.
Each battery has a firing-control radar to identify targets. It also has a portable missile launcher. The system is easily transportable, with just a few hours needed to relocate and set up.
The missile is highly maneuverable. It is 3 meters, or almost 10 feet, long; has a diameter of about 6 inches (15 centimeters); and weighs 90 kilograms, or 198 pounds, the security analysis group IHS Jane's said in 2012.
The warhead is believed to carry 11 kilograms, or 24 pounds, of high explosives, IHS Jane's said. Its range is from 4 kilometers to 70 kilometers, or 2½ miles to 43 miles.
Iron Dome confronts multiple threats simultaneously, in all weather conditions, the military said. Israel credits "breakthrough technology" and the system's radar.
"The radar detects a rocket launch and passes information regarding its path to the control center, which calculates the predicted point of impact," the IDF said. "If this location justifies an interception, a missile is fired to intercept the rocket. The payload of the interceptor missile explodes near the rocket, in a place that is not expected to cause injuries."
What are the origins?
Israel began developing the ground-based system in 2007.
After a series of test flights in 2008 and 2009, the first deployment of a battery occurred in southern Israel in 2011. The Israel Air Force reported an interception success rate of 70% in 2011, IHS Jane's said.
Is the United States involved in Iron Dome?
Yes.
The initial development was solely by Israel's defense technology company Rafael, but the system has since been heavily sponsored by the United States.
In 2014, the United States provided $235 million for Iron Dome research, development and production, according to the Congressional Research Service.
"This is a program that has been critical in terms of providing security and safety for Israeli families," President Obama has said of Iron Dome. "It is a program that has been tested and has prevented missile strikes inside of Israel."
Each Iron Dome battery costs $50 million, IHS Jane's said. A missile costs at least $62,000, Israeli officials said.
Other countries have expressed interest in buying the system, including the United States, South Korea and several NATO countries in Europe with military forces in Afghanistan, The Jerusalem Post has reported.
READ: Gazans exhausted by crises, wars, clashes, upheavals
READ: Has the Middle East crisis reached a tipping point?
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