News of the Force: Thursday, April 3, 2014 - Page 1

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                                              Thursday, April 3, 2014

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Another shooting at Ft. Hood

    

    Investigators delved into the background today of a U.S. soldier who had been treated for mental illness before he killed three people and himself a day earlier at an Army base in Fort Hood, Texas, where another deadly rampage took place in 2009, military officials said. The victims were all military personnel at the massive Army base, which houses many soldiers who have seen combat abroad. The soldier had served four months in Iraq in 2011 and was undergoing evaluation for post-traumatic stress disorder, said Fort Hood commanding officer Lt. Gen. Mark Milley. Security officials said preliminary information identified the gunman as Ivan Lopez, but Milley declined to name the shooter, who is married, until his family was notified.

    The quiet, professional bearing of guards at the sprawling Army post's main gate today provided stark contrast to a soldier's rampage hours earlier that left four people dead and 16 injured. The base, dubbed "The Great Place," is home to two full divisions and 12 other units - more than 40,000 soldiers. Parts of the nation's largest active duty armored post resemble any typical suburban neighborhood. Such violence seems totally out of place, even in a community where streets bear names such as Tank Destroyer Boulevard and Hell on Wheels Avenue. The base and its surrounding community appeared normal today, although physical training was canceled for soldiers, who were ordered to report to their units at 10 a.m. Chaplains set up family counseling centers at the Spirit of Fort Hood Chapel and the nearby Scott & White Hospital. The drill is not new there. Yesterday's tragedy came less than five years after the same post suffered the worst attack on a domestic U.S. military installation in history. On Nov. 5, 2009, Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan went on a shooting rampage that left 13 dead and 31 wounded. Outside the 24-hour Hallmark diner, a few miles from the post, Terry Johnson and Anette Barreiro smoked cigarettes and fretted today about the people they know at Fort Hood. The post is a major economic driver for the area, especially when it's a pay week like this one. Car dealerships, pawn stores and barbershops ring the base. Johnson, 41, a car salesman, said some high-ranking officers have told him they feel safer deployed in combat zones than they do on their own post. Barreiro, 48, a waitress at a nearby sports bar, said she had just come on duty yesterday afternoon when the shooting happened. All the customers, she said, insisted she switch the TV screens to the news coverage. "It's very disturbing that people could do something like this," she said. "I know they've just come from war, but to do something like this..." Inside the Hallmark, a sign promises free coffee to active duty military. But today, none were inside thanks to a post lock-down that had lasted late into the night, said waitress Catherine Wright, 34. "It's been dead," she said. "Usually they come off the base and go to the clubs and then come here after, but not today," she said. Wright, who was born on Colorado's Fort Carson, said she's always felt safe around military bases. But that's changed over the past few years, she said. "You figure that since it happened before, they'd be more prepared," Wright said. The Army said the gunman, Spc. Ivan Lopez, was an Iraq War veteran who was being evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder, but had not yet been diagnosed for the illness. Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, the head of the Army's III Corps at the Texas post, said the shooter walked into a building in the 1st Medical Brigade at about 4 p.m., yesterday, and opened fire with a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol. He then got into a vehicle, fired more shots from the vehicle, went to another building and began shooting, Milley said. When a Military Police officer encountered him and drew her weapon, the shooter put his arms up before pulling out a gun and fatally shooting himself. He was married and "does have family," Gen. Milley said. "We do know that this soldier had behavioral health and mental health issues and was being treated for that," Gen. Milley said. He added that the shooter served four months in Iraq in 2011 and had "self-diagnosed" a traumatic brain injury. "He was not wounded in action," Milley said. Lopez arrived at the installation in February from another Army post and had not been assigned to one of the Army's Wounded Transition Units, military units that are set up to care for wounded, injured or ill soldiers. Those assigned to these units have case managers who help them track appointments and manage their medical treatments. Investigators are checking into whether Lopez had a criminal history, trying to learn more about the state of his mental health and his experiences in combat. "All the things that you would expect us to be doing are being done right now," he added late yesterday. Investigators will interview the gunman's wife, search his home, and examine whether his combat experience caused lingering psychological trauma.

    President Obama said yesterday he was "heartbroken" that another shooting had occurred at the Fort Hood Army base. "We are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened," Obama told reporters in Chicago, where he was traveling for Democratic fund-raisers. "We're heartbroken that something like this might have happened again." On his flight back to Washington, Obama held a conference call with the Defense Department and the FBI about the shooting, the White House said. Participants included Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, and FBI Deputy Director Mark Giuliano.

 

In Iran, age mellows some former captors of U.S. hostages

    Three decades after hard-line students occupied the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took diplomats hostage for 444 days, many of the now middle-aged revolutionaries are among the most vocal critics of Iran's conservative establishment, officials and analysts said.

    The role of the students is back in the spotlight following the appointment of a new U.N. ambassador who may have participated on the fringes of the siege, the event that led Washington to sever ties with Tehran shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

    The U.S. State Department, which has yet to approve a visa for Hamid Abutalebi, said it had raised "serious concerns" with Iran about his nomination for the post. But Iran hopes the case can be resolved, while Abutalebi has played down his role in the hostage crisis, suggesting he was "just a translator."

 

Malaysia's prime minister visits missing plane search base

    Malaysia's prime minister visited the Australian search base for missing Flight MH-370 today as a nuclear-powered submarine joined the near-four week hunt that has so far failed to find any sign of the missing airliner and the 239 people on board.

    Najib Razak joined his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, at RAAF Base Pearce, near Perth, where air crews from seven countries have been flying dozens of missions deep into the southern Indian Ocean looking for debris from the Malaysia Airlines jet. It was briefly picked up on military radar on the other side of Malaysia and analysis of subsequent hourly electronic "pings" sent to a satellite led investigators to conclude the plane crashed far off the west Australian coast hours later.

    Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the Australian agency coordinating the operation, said an international air crash investigation team with analysts from Malaysia, the United States, Britain, China and Australia was continuing to refine the search area.

 

Kyrgyzstan appoints reformist premier

    Kyrgyzstan's Parliament voted overwhelmingly today to appoint reformer Joomart Otorbayev as prime minister and avert a political crisis in the volatile Central Asian nation where two leaders have been overthrown in the past decade.

    The previous government, led by Zhantoro Satybaldiyev, resigned on March 18 after the ruling coalition fell apart in a row over alleged corruption.

    Otorbayev, a deputy prime minister in the previous government, was proposed for approval by the same three parliamentary factions which once backed Satybaldiyev.

    "Our common goal is a developed Kyrgyzstan, and together we will achieve it," Otorbayev told deputies after a 103-7 vote for his appointment.

 

Los Angeles couple gets 3 years in Qatar prison for death of adopted child

     A Los Angeles couple was sentenced to three years in jail in Qatar today for causing the death of their adopted African-born daughter, who was found to have died of starvation, in a case that has raised concern in Washington.

    Matthew and Grace Huang were arrested in January, last year, after their 8-year-old daughter, Gloria, died unexpectedly. "We have just been wrongfully convicted and we feel as if we are being kidnapped by the Qatar judicial system," Matthew Huang said. "This verdict is wrong and appears to be nothing more than an effort to save face."

    In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said today that the United States was "surprised and disappointed by the trial court's decision." Harf told a regular news briefing that U.S. officials "have had some concerns throughout the trial by indications that not all of the evidence was weighed by the court and that some cultural misunderstandings may have led to an unfair trial. We have talked to the government of Qatar about this."

 

Pakistan's prime minister frees 16 prisoners in attempt to revive peace talks with the Taliban

    Pakistan has freed at least 16 Taliban prisoners with the approval of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, government and intelligence officials said today, in a move designed to invigorate a shaky peace process with the militant group.

    Sharif's office later released a statement saying those freed had been involved in petty crimes and were not Taliban prisoners, showing the sensitivity of releasing inmates who a public weary of violence might see as militants.

    The Pakistani Taliban called a one-month cease-fire on March 1, but said this week they would not extend the truce because the government was not serious about meeting their demands. The demands include releasing 800 prisoners the insurgent group describes as "innocent family members" and withdrawing the army from parts of the semi-autonomous tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.

 

Risks of violence and fraud mar Afghanistan's elections

    Even if the Taliban fail to hobble the Afghan presidential election on Saturday, it could take months for a winner to be declared at a time when the country desperately needs a leader to stem rising violence as foreign troops prepare to leave.

    Most people expect the election will be better run than the chaotic 2009 vote that handed President Hamid Karzai a second term amid massive fraud and ballot-stuffing. And, despite a crescendo of attacks by the Islamist militant Taliban group in recent weeks, millions of Afghans are eager for a say in their country's future.

    Any delay would leave little time to complete a pact between Kabul and Washington to keep up to 10,000 U.S. troops in the country beyond 2014, after the bulk of the American force, which currently stands at around 23,500, has pulled out.

    Ahead of Afghanistan's last presidential election in 2009, the United States used its diplomatic and military muscle to try to pull off a successful vote in a nation expected to define the foreign policy of President Obama. Fast-forward to today: the Obama administration is taking an arms-length approach to Afghanistan's April 5 elections. U.S. soldiers are no longer taking the lead in safeguarding voters across the central Asian country. And U.S. officials have steered clear of appearing to pick sides among rival candidates.

 

Russia tells the U.S.: 'Accept it and move on'

    U.S. policymakers need to calm down, maybe do some yoga and accept that Crimea is now part of Russia, a senior Russian diplomat said today in unusually caustic remarks directed at Moscow's former Cold War-era adversary. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region last month has deepened the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War ended two decades ago. The West has imposed sanctions on officials and businessmen believed to be close to President Vladimir Putin. Many of those blacklisted have mocked the sanctions, wearing them as a badge of honor, but they have also rankled Moscow, with officials warning the West was only doing damage to itself.

    The Deutsche Post is no longer accepting letters bound for Crimea after its Ukrainian counterpart told the Geneva-based Universal Postal Union (UPU) that delivery to the region was no longer guaranteed, the German postal company said today. A Deutsche Post spokesman said that Ukraine's advisory to the UPU after Russia's annexation of Crimea also affects delivery of parcels and packages sent via the traditional postal networks of both countries. The UPU is a United Nations agency that coordinates postal policies among member nations and the worldwide postal system. The spokesman said that urgent documents and goods shipped via the DHL express courier unit of Deutsche Post were not affected because DHL has its own private logistics network in Ukraine and could therefore continue deliveries.

    The Ukrainian authorities said today ousted President Viktor Yanukovich was involved in drawing up plans under which police snipers shot dead dozens of anti-government protesters and hinted at a Russian role in the violent crackdown. The head of Ukraine's security service blamed the killing of more than 100 protesters in mid-February on the "Berkut" riot police, a turning point in the Moscow-backed leader's ultimately doomed struggle to keep power. He also said representatives of Russia's FSB security force had been seen at the Ukrainian security service's headquarters during the protests that began in November and that a Russian plane had flown a large amount of explosives into Ukraine. The hints of Russian involvement could further strain ties with Ukraine's former Soviet master, which annexed the Crimea region after Yanukovich's removal from power in what has become the worst East-West stand-off since the Cold War.

    Germany's ambassador to Russia has been summoned by the Russian Foreign Ministry over remarks by Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble likening Russian moves in Crimea to Nazi Germany, the ministry said today. "The comparisons by him are a gross manipulation of historic facts." Schaeuble said Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region were reminiscent of Adolf Hitler's aggression in 1938 that led to the annexation of the German-speaking regions of Czechoslovakia.

    Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said today a demand by Russia's Gazprom for Kiev to pay $485 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas had put the price too high and was politically motivated. The head of Russia's top natural gas producer announced the increase, caused by the introduction of an export duty on gas sales to Ukraine, two days after raising the price to $385.50. "It is a political price," Prodan told reporters in Kiev, and called for talks with Gazprom.

    Russia said today it wanted answers from NATO on its activities in eastern Europe after the Western military alliance promised to beef up defenses for its eastern members. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region last month has caused the deepest crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War, leading the West to impose sanctions and sparking fear President Vladimir Putin has territorial designs beyond the Black Sea peninsula with its Russian-majority population. NATO has ordered military planners to draft measures to reassure nervous Eastern European countries - which were under Moscow's domination until the 1989 end of the Cold War - but stopped short of calls by Poland to base more forces there. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any increase in NATO's permanent presence in eastern Europe would violate a 1997 treaty on NATO-Russian cooperation.

    Elektrobudowa, a Polish firm that builds power plants, is interested in buying its partner out of a Russian company they jointly own, but there is a problem: the partner firm is owned by a pro-Moscow Crimean politician on the E.U.'s sanctions list. To buy out the partner would mean Elektrobudowa transferring cash or assets to the owners, and that, say lawyers who specialize in sanctions law, could be interpreted as a violation of the E.U. measures. Those measures are supposed to punish Russia's elite for annexing Crimea, but according to people advising companies in this field they have also spread confusion and created awkward predicaments for some foreign investors. A surge in net capital flight - mostly Russians sending their own funds abroad to avoid uncertainty at home - is one of the main factors prompting Russia's central bank to warn that economic growth would likely fall below 1 percent this year.

    And Ukraine hopes for $13 billion in external aid this year, including $7 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Finance Minister Oleksander Shlapak said today. "This year the possible amount of external resources are $13 billion. We can expect to get about 7 billion from the IMF, the rest we hope to get at donor conferences from other creditors," Shlapak told journalists.

 

Erdogan takes battle with enemies beyond Turkey's frontiers

    Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's battle to root out the "terrorists" he says are embedded in the Turkish state is extending beyond its frontiers to Africa and Asia, further complicating foreign policy already hit by tensions with the Arab world and Western allies.

    A source at the school, run by the Hizmet organization of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, said the decision had been conveyed to the principal in a one sentence missive.

    Ahmet Beyaz, the chief executive of the bank, which has among its share-holders Kaynak Holding, which is close to Hizmet, aid the bank was not in any danger. The government would not comment.

    Meanwhile, Erdogan will be banking on Kurdish support if he bids for Turkey's presidency in an August election and is likely to use his party's strong showing in local polls as a mandate to advance peace talks with Kurdish militants. Erdogan's AK Party emerged well ahead of rivals in municipal elections on Sunday, increasing its share of the vote including in parts of the Kurdish-dominated southeast. The outcome has bolstered his hand in a peace process in which he has invested much political capital despite staunch nationalist opposition. Erdogan has made no secret of his desire to run for Turkey's first directly-elected presidency in four months' time.

 

Chad to withdraw its troops from the A.U.'s mission in the CAR

    Chad said today it would withdraw its troops from an African Union (A.U.) peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, a setback to efforts to build a large international force to stem religious conflict in the impoverished country.

    Chadian soldiers have been at the heart of African efforts to stabilize the CAR, but its forces have been criticized for siding with the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels whose seizure of power last year sparked tit-for-tat violence with Christian militia.

    "Despite the sacrifices we have made, Chad and Chadians have been targeted in a gratuitous and malicious campaign that blamed them for all the suffering in the CAR," Chad's foreign ministry said in a statement announcing the planned withdrawal. The statement said Chadian troops would remain in place while the practicalities of the withdrawal are confirmed.

 

Chile hit by powerful after-shock

    A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck off northern Chile late yesterday but there were no reports of damage and a precautionary tsunami alert along the coast and in neighboring Peru was called off.

    Chile's emergency office Onemi said there were no initial reports of casualties or serious damage from the latest quake.

    President Michelle Bachelet, who had gone to the area to inspect the damage from the earlier quake, was evacuated from her hotel in the city of Arica. "I was evacuated like all the citizens and we have come here (to Arica's emergency office) to see if there is any way we can help," she said late last night.

 

Court in Saudi Arabia sentences al-Qaida ideologue to death

    A Saudi Arabian court yesterday sentenced a top al-Qaida strategist to death and jailed 15 others for their role in a series of attacks in the kingdom in the last decade, Saudi newspapers reported today.

    The judge ordered that the body of Faris al-Zahrani, also known as Abu Jandal al-Azdi, be displayed in public after his death in the most severe form of punishment available under the kingdom's Islamic law, the al-Madina and Arab News dailies reported.

    The Saudi authorities ended the campaign by arresting thousands of suspected militants and launching a media campaign to discredit their ideology with the backing of influential clerics and tribal leaders.

    Zahrani was found guilty of offenses that included embracing extremist ideologies, shedding the blood of Muslims and others, targeting security officials, harboring fugitives and planning the overthrow of Gulf monarchies.

 

Lebanon marks 'devastating' milestone with 1-millionth refugee

By Lisa Levine, News of the Force Tel Aviv

    

    The number of Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon officially topped 1 million today, highlighting the growing humanitarian catastrophe caused by Syria's civil war and the huge burden placed on its poorly prepared neighbors. The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, marked what it called a "devastating" milestone by formally registering a 18-year-old student from the city of Homs as the millionth refugee at a ceremony in Lebanon's Mediterranean city of Tripoli. After three years of conflict sparked by protests against President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule, Syria's war has caused one of the greatest upheavals seen in the Middle East - and one which shows no sign of abating. With a population of just 4 million, Lebanon now has the highest per capita concentration of refugees worldwide, an influx which the government has described as an existential threat in a country scarred by its own volatile history.

    The Muslim Brotherhood has urged Britain not to bow to foreign pressure in conducting a review of the group over concerns about possible links to violence, following its designation by Egypt and Saudi Arabia as a terrorist organization. In a statement, the movement said that it would "openly engage" with the review ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron, but it would challenge in the British courts "any improper attempt to restrict its activity." The Brotherhood, a movement whose affiliated groups have deep roots in many Arab and Islamic states, said it was concerned that Britain's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, John Jenkins, would be leading the review, the statement issued late yesterday said.

    When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed onto 15 international conventions on Tuesday, he shocked the U.S. sponsors of troubled Middle East peace talks. Abbas's action may have been designed more as a symbolic act of defiance to shore up his tenuous standing among Palestinians frustrated at the diplomatic impasse with Israel over their goal of statehood than a knife in the heart of peacemaking. As a non-member state in the United Nations, Palestinians can join 63 international agencies and accords. However, by only signing conventions dealing with social and human rights instead of seeking full membership in U.N. bodies, the Palestinians' foreign minister said they would not provoke U.S. sanctions.

    Talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are at a critical moment although progress was made in overnight discussions, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said today. The talks ran into trouble over the weekend when Israel refused to release a group of Palestinian prisoners under the terms of a previous accord unless it received assurances that the Palestinian leadership would continue with negotiations beyond an initial end-April deadline. Aimed at creating a Palestinian state and ending a decades-long conflict, the talks have also stalled over Palestinian opposition to Israel's demand that it be recognized as a Jewish state, and the issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

    The Obama administration scrambled yesterday to rescue the faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations after what it called "unhelpful, unilateral actions" by both sides. A surprise decision by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to sign more than a dozen international conventions that could give Palestinians greater leverage against Israel left the United States searching for a way to keep the talks going past an April 29 deadline. "We are disappointed by the unhelpful, unilateral actions that both parties have taken in recent days," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One, as President Obama headed to Michigan. He said Secretary of State John Kerry was "in close touch with our negotiating team, which remains on the ground in the region to continue discussions with the parties."

    Nine months of U.S.-brokered peace talks appear to have done very little to bring Israel and the Palestinians closer to peace.

    And the Israeli army has helped Palestinian traffic accident victims. Often portrayed as "heartless oppressors," Israel's soldiers regularly go out of their way to help Palestinians.

 

Libya sees 'good intentions' in talks with rebels

    Libya sees "good intentions" at ongoing talks with eastern rebels which might lead to the lifting of their blockage of major oil ports within days, acting oil minister Omar Shakmak said today. "There are good intentions," he told reporters in Benghazi, adding that tribal leaders and local leaders were working hard to mediate.

 

Le Pen faces reality check in depressed French towns

    Far-right leader Marine Le Pen humbled France's establishment with a powerful showing in local elections. The anti-immigrant, anti-E.U. National Front won 11 town halls on Sunday, more than double its record from the 1990s in a performance that highlights the potential of far-right parties to win seats in European Parliament elections in May. But while Le Pen hails the victories as proof she has turned the party into France's third political force, its debutant mayors must tackle the realities of crime and joblessness with limited budgets and official powers. Any slips could undo years of efforts by Le Pen to re-brand the National Front (FN), and revive perceptions that it is unfit to govern. "Town management is now the number one problem facing the FN," said Jean-Yves Camus, a political analyst who researches the far-right.

 

U.N.'s climate chief urges radical clean-up of oil and gas industries

    The U.N.'s climate chief called on the oil and gas industry today to make a drastic shift to a clean, low-carbon future or risk having to leave three-quarters of fossil fuel reserves in the ground.

    "The time for experimentation, for marginal changes and for conditional response is now over," Christiana Figueres told the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) in a speech in London. She urged an "urgent transformation" to greener production after top scientists warned on Monday that climate change would damage food supplies, slow economic growth and aggravate the underlying causes of armed conflicts.

    Limiting global warming to an agreed U.N. ceiling "means that three quarters of the fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground, and the fossil fuels we do use must be utilized sparingly and responsibly," she said.

 

China demands assurances from Malaysia of safety of Chinese citizens there after kidnapping

    

    China demanded that Malaysia ensures the safety of its nationals today, after armed men abducted two women, a Chinese tourist and a Philippines hotel worker, from a Malaysian diving resort on Borneo Island.

    The unidentified gunmen kidnapped the two women last night from Singamata Island, off the coastal town of Semporna, in Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah. Some Malaysian media reports said the 29-year old tourist was in her room when the gunmen forced her out and into a waiting boat.

    China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, told a regular news briefing in Beijing that its consulate in Malaysian Borneo had demanded "that local police fully put into effect rescue work on the basis of guaranteeing safety and to ensure the safety of Chinese tourists there. The Chinese foreign ministry will pay close attention to how the situation develops," he added.

 

Chinese city acknowledges protesters hurt in rally against chemical plant

    Officials in a southern Chinese city acknowledged today that 15 people were hurt "accidentally" at a mass protest against a chemical plant, days after police made no mention of injuries in a case that has incensed many Chinese. But the deputy police chief of Maoming also denounced as "pure rubbish" news and online accounts of the upheaval last Sunday that said several people had died.

    Reports of the unrest had sparked demonstrations in nearby towns by sympathizers.

"In the course of cleaning up the scene, because the gathering of people was complicated, and at its peak with 1,000 people, on-duty police officers may have accidentally injured some of the by-standers," deputy chief of public security Zhou Peizhou said, according to a report by the city's news site.

 

Lufthansa pilots keep airline grounded for second day

    Lufthansa pilots were on strike for a second day today, grounding Germany's largest airline in a row over retirement conditions. The pilots announced a three-day stoppage earlier this week, leading Lufthansa to cancel 3,800 flights, or around nine out of ten flights planned for the period. The action is expected to cost the airline tens of millions of euros and disrupt the travel plans of around 425,000 passengers.

 

Obama calls 2014 his 'last campaign'

    On a politically-focused trip aimed at revving up his base and raising cash, President Obama yesterday urged supporters to help Democrats keep control of the U.S. Senate and declared this year to be his last campaign.

    Buoyed by good news over his signature health care program, Obama touted proposals to raise the minimum wage and spur job creation that have little chance of passage in Congress during a rally with students in Michigan.

    Later, at a fundraiser in Chicago, he underscored Democratic worries about their political vulnerabilities in the Senate and House of Representatives in November congressional elections. "Even though I promised Michelle that 2012 was going to be my last campaign, actually this one's my last campaign," Obama, referring to his wife, told a fundraiser at the private home of longtime donors in his hometown of Chicago.

 

U.S. Army, Army Reserve bring total force concept to WAREX

    The 181st Infantry Brigade, of 1st Army Division-West, located at Fort McCoy, Wis., typically supports Army Reserve exercises such as the WAREX.

 

U.S. Coast Guard news

    

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard, has announced the agencies will work together to clean up the Samoa Pulp Mill site, near San Francisco, Calif.

    The U.S. Coast Guard has coordinated the rescue of three sailors aboard a sinking sailboat, approximately 50 miles south of Balboa, Panama.

    U.S. Coast Guard crews taking place in a mock drill involving a fire on a ship were instead diverted yesterday to an emergency on a boat fire in the Atlantic Ocean.

    A U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadet testified yesterday that a classmate entered her room at the Academy in the middle of the night, and touched her leg.

    A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a 54-year-old man who had become “unresponsive” yesterday morning while diving in the Gulf of Mexico, off Florida's central west coast.

    The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation on Tuesday that would authorize U.S. Coast Guard operations for fiscal years 2015 and 2016.

    Work on the Barnegat Inlet North Jetty, in New Jersey, is expected to begin this month. According to a report from the U.S. Coast Guard. The North Jetty, across the inlet from Barnegat Light State Park, was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in October, 2012. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has contracted with Agate Construction to repair the jetty, beginning on or about April 14 and possibly continuing through November. Operations will occur during daylight hours and at night. A crane barge and a rock barge will be spudded down for stabilization at the north jetty with barge lights illuminated. According to Al Revy, of USCG Auxiliary Flotilla 72, spudding is a digging/drilling process using a liner or casing for reinforcement. According to the Coast Guard release, the navigable channel in Barnegat Inlet is narrow due to shoaling on the south side and in the center. Natural changes in the inlet typically cause the water to be deeper on the north side, near the damaged jetty. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ dredge, Murden, has been dredging the shoal throughout March, to widen the navigable area. Depending on the results of this dredging, a safety zone will be activated that encompasses the entire Barnegat Inlet. Within the safety zone the following will not be permitted: swimming, diving, fishing, mooring, anchoring, or passing and overtaking other transiting vessels. Such a zone will be in effect and broadcast to maintain the safety of the boating public and the Agate Construction workers on site. Vessels will only be able to transit Barnegat Inlet one vessel at a time at the minimum speed necessary to maintain steerage. Mariners wanting to transit the safety zone with more than one vessel at a time must contact the Sector Delaware Bay Command Center 36 hours prior to the intended transit time at (215) 271-4807. Vessels needing to contact the on-scene tug can contact them on VHF Channel 16. Vessels should monitor VHF channel 16 for updated information on the operation. Anyone who has any questions regarding the Barnegat Inlet North Jetty repair project can contact the Waterways Management staff at (215) 271-4814, or the 24/7 Sector Command Center at (215) 271-4807. Updates will be published in the Local Notices to Mariners. Revy said visitors to the Barnegat Lighthouse will probably be able to use the walkway on the lighthouse in the south side of the jetty, except in unusual construction circumstances.

    And the U.S. Coast Guard, in Astoria, Oregon, has debuted its new 50-mph response boats.

 

Retired Marine enters race of governor of New Hampshire

    A new Republican challenger has emerged in the race for New Hampshire governor.

    Alton Republican Walt Havenstein announced yesterday that he will run for the Republican nomination to challenge Gov. Maggie Hassan. He joins Republican activist Andrew Hemingway in the race for the nomination.

    "I think Mr. Havenstein is also going to be a very strong candidate," said state GOP Chairwoman Jennifer Horn. "He brings a tremendous amount of experience. He has deep roots here in New Hampshire."

    Havenstein graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 2001. His background is in business, mostly in the defense industry as the president and CEO of BAE and, more recently, Science Application International.

    State Sen. John Reagan, R-Deerfield, said that with Havenstein's entry into the race, he's no longer thinking about a run for governor. "I met with Walt Havenstein and find him to be a very qualified and able leader and executive, and I think he'll do well leading the state of New Hampshire," Reagan said.

    Before the announcement, Havenstein had been taking heat for claiming a tax exemption on his home in Maryland, which Democrats said shows it was his primary residence. Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who is planning to enter the Republican U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire, has also faced criticism of being an outsider. "It shows the shape of the Republican Party," said state Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley. "They are essentially allowing Washington insiders to handpick their candidate for governor and Senate, both of whom had to move to the state to run."

    "The Democrats can make hay about residency, but now the GOP has candidates to get excited about in both races," said analyst James Pindell, of WMUR's Political Scoop.

    And there are other Republicans in the Senate and gubernatorial races. Senate candidates Bob Smith and Jim Rubens have already been on the attack over Brown's New Hampshire credentials.

    In the governor's race, Hemingway jumped on Havenstein's residence status, suggesting that he won't even make it onto the ballot.

 

 

                       

 

 

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