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Tuesday, February 9, 2016

PM's Mum Signs Austerity Cuts Petition

Tennis - 2012 Wimbledon Championships - Day Thirteen - The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
David Cameron's mother has signed a petition against cuts to "invaluable" children's services driven by the Government's austerity measures.
Mary Cameron, 81, has joined the fight to stop dozens of children's centres being closed by the Conservative-run Oxfordshire County Council – which covers Mr Cameron's own Witney constituency.
Both Mrs Cameron and the Prime Minister's aunt, Clare Currie, have signed to try to stop the council from shutting down 44 centres in the county as part of annual budget cuts.
Mrs Cameron, a retired magistrate who lives in Berkshire, told the Oxford Mail: "Where children's centres are needed, they are invaluable."
Conservative council leader Ian Hudspeth has said the cuts, which will save around £8m, were a result of the 40% Government had slashed from its funding since 2010.
Jill Huish, leader of Save Oxfordshire's Children's Centres, said: "It shows how deep austerity is cutting our most vulnerable when even David Cameron's mum has had enough."
he told the newspaper: "David Cameron's constituents in Witney must feel so let down that every other speech from their MP seems to involve looking after families, yet he will stand by while his local children’s centres are closed down by the Tory-controlled authority.
"You couldn't make it up."
The Prime Minister had previously written to Mr Hudspeth warning over cuts to museums, libraries and day centres but was told the measures were as a result of the Government cuts to local council funding.
Including Mr Cameron's mother and aunt, 10,000 people have signed the petition ahead of a meeting to agree the local authority budget next week.

Car bomb attack rocks Syria's Damascus

A car bomb struck close to a market and a police club in the north of the Syrian capital Damascus on Tuesday, causing casualties, state media reported.
SANA news agency said at least three people were killed and 14 injured in a "terrorist car bomb" attack near a vegetable market in Masaken Barzeh district.
"The attack also caused material damage to the nearby building of the General Establishment for Mills," it added.
State TV said the blast occurred near a police officers' club, inflicting casualties.
The club and the market are next to one another.
Syrian TV, quoting a source in the interior ministry, reported that a car had tried to ram into the police officers' club in the area, but was stopped by guards.
"A suicide bomber then detonated his explosives, causing deaths and injuries," the TV report added, citing the source, without giving further details on the toll.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least eight people were killed and 20 wounded in the attack.
Car bombs have been used regularly in Syria's conflict.
While the capital has been largely spared, a multiple bomb attack near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine outside the city killed at least 71 people last month.
More than 260,000 people have died in Syria's conflict since it began in March 2011 with anti-government protests. 

Somali plane bomb: What happened?

Who planted the bomb?
One suggestion is that the suspected bomber is the same man who was missing and later confirmed dead.
We don't know that for sure.
Somali officials say the missing man was called Abdulahi Abdisalam Borle, had a Somali passport and was about 55 years old.
He, along with most of the passengers, was meant to get on a Turkish Airlines flight but it was cancelled and Daallo Airlines took the passengers instead.
There has been speculation that the passenger was in a wheelchair but Daallo Airlines head Mohamed Yaseen Olad told BBC's Newsday that this was not recorded when he was checked in.
Investigators told AFP news agency that he was "probably" propelled out of the hole in the side of the plane caused by the explosion.
On the same day, a man was found dead on the ground in Balad, an agricultural town 30km (18 miles) north of Mogadishu. 
But the body has not been positively identified.

How did a bomb get onto the plane?
Somali authorities have released a video they say shows a laptop being given to the passenger after he has passed through the security checkpoint.

A man in an orange hi-vis vest is shown walking with a man in a blue shirt holding what looks like a laptop. Another man in a hat approaches them and it is alleged that the laptop is handed over.
The implication is that an explosive device was concealed in the laptop.
They have since arrested 20 people, including airport staff.
Aviation expert David Learmont, however, is sceptical that the video is all that conclusive.
"I don't think that anybody knows for sure if this is the transaction that was behind the bombing," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa radio programme.
But he added that airport staff are the weak point in security all over the world.
"One of the easiest ways into today's system is to subvert employees who have passes to go into airside," he added.
The pilot of the plane was slightly more blunt in an interview with Associated Press. "The security is zero," Vlatko Vodopivec said. 

Why didn't the bomb make more of an impact?
The plane's pilot told AP that if the explosion happened when the aircraft was at a higher altitude it could have caused the jet to crash.
Bomb disposal specialist David Denman explains that a relatively small explosion - from the amount you can fit in a laptop case or even smaller - can have a "catastrophic" effect.
That's because a small explosion, causing a small hole would create a secondary effect if the cabin is pressurised and the plane is flying at a high altitude.
Mr Denman explains that in that scenario, the difference in pressure would cause the contents of the plane to be sucked out, making a bigger hole, causing the pilot to lose control and possibly leading to the plane breaking into pieces.
Instead the bomb went off roughly 15 minutes after the plane took off, at 11,000ft (3,350m).
This resulted in a hole in the side of the plane of about one metre, with the pilot still managing to land the plane safely.
So this really leads to the question - why did the bomb explode when it did?
That is impossible to know without speaking to those involved in the plot.

Why hasn't anyone claimed responsibility for the bomb?
The BBC Somali service's Abdirahman Koronto suggests that a militant group would have said they were behind the attack if there had been a bigger impact.
He points out that, usually, the main Islamist militant group in Somalia, al-Shabab, says it has carried out an attack a few hours after it has happened. 
The group used a laptop bomb three years ago. But in the 2013 attack it was used in conjunction with a car bomb and six people died. 
On the other hand, he points out there are also attacks that no-one has admitted to. In December 2013 three Syrian doctors and their Somali colleague were shot dead in an ambush, something al-Shabab denied being involved in.

Sikh Actor Says He Was Barred From Boarding Flight Because of Turban

Actor Waris Ahluwalia poses during a portrait session on day seven of the 12th annual Dubai International Film Festival held at the Madinat Jumeriah Complex on Dec. 15, 2015 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Gareth Cattermole—Getty Images for DIFFActor Waris Ahluwalia poses during a portrait session on day seven of the 12th annual Dubai International Film Festival held at the Madinat Jumeriah Complex on Dec. 15, 2015 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Sikh-American designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia said he was not allowed to board his Aeroméxico flight Monday morning because of his turban, according to posts on Ahluwalia’s social media accounts.
Ahluwalia, who is based in New York, was trying to fly back from Mexico City on Monday when he was reportedly refused. Ahluwalia posted a photo on his Instagram account of himself holding his ticket.
“This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate #humanrights #dignity #lovenotfear,” Ahluwalia wrote in the caption of his photo.


Michael Bloomberg Confirms He’s Looking Into White House Run


Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attends a meeting during the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, December 5, 2015. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe - RTX1XAUU
Stephane Mahe—ReutersFormer New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attends a meeting during the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, France, on Dec. 5, 2015
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has confirmedhe’s exploring a run for President in the midst of an unpredictable election season.
Bloomberg told the Financial Times he was “looking at all the options” in his first statement on the matter since the New York Times reported last month that his team was investigating the possibility of running as an independent. “I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters,” he said, arguing that the American public deserves “a lot better.”
The potential candidate said he would have to put his name on ballots beginning in March; meanwhile, he’s “listening to what candidates are saying and what the primary voters appear to be doing.”

Hacker Releases Details Of 20,000 FBI Staff

A seal on a door to a Federal Bureau of Investigation mobile command vehicle.
An anonymous hacker has apparently leaked data from more than 20,000 FBI employees and 9,000 Department of Homeland Security staff.
The details were published on a Twitter account with the message: "Long Live Palestine. Long Live Gaza. #FreePalestine".
It happened during the Super Bowl on Sunday evening, and the account has since been tweeting messages such as: "Be sure to tweet #FreePalestine to bring awareness to all the kids dying by Israeli bombs that the US government funds!"
Another read: "FBI and DHS info is dropped and that's all we came to do, so now its time to go, bye folks! #FreePalestine."
It has not been confirmed whether the information leaked is legitimate.
The Department of Justice played down the breach, with a spokesman saying: "This unauthorised access is still under investigation; however, there is no indication at this time that there is any breach of sensitive personally identifiable information."
The hacker told the Motherboard website that they gained access to sensitive information via a "compromised" Department of Justice email last week.
They used the credentials to log into the DOJ intranet, where staff details are located.
It is the latest apparently pro-Palestine attack on US government systems.
In October pro-Palestinian hackers broke into the email account of CIA director John Brennan.
And last month calls made by the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, were forwarded to the Free Palestine Movement in a hacker prank.

Canada to end ISIL air strikes within weeks

As well as training Kurdish forces, Canada will arm them with weapons such as assault rifles, machineguns and light mortars [Reuters]
Canada is to end its participation in air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria and Iraq within two weeks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced
Following up on campaign promises he made last year to withdraw Canada's jets, Trudeau said on Monday that his country's contribution to the fight against ISIL would be extended until the end of March 2017 - but would be "a non-combat mission".
"It is important to understand that while air strike operations can be very useful to achieve short-term military and territorial gains, they do not on their own achieve long-term stability for local communities," Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.
"We will be supporting and empowering local forces to take their fight directly to ISIL so that kilometre by kilometre they can reclaim their homes, their land and their future."

Training support

Trudeau said Canada will triple the number of special forces deployed to train Iraqi Kurdish forces on the ground over the next two years.
As well as training them, Canada will also arm the Kurdish forces with light weapons such as assault rifles, machineguns and light mortars, as well as optical systems for the weapons and ammunition.
The number of elite Canadian commandos helping to train Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq will also jump from 69 to 230, bringing the total of Canadian soldiers deployed in the region from about 650 to about 830.
Canada will also provide $CAD840m ($609m) in humanitarian assistance over three years, and has allocated  $270m to "build local capacity" in Jordan and Lebanon, which are hosting more than two million Syrian refugees.
While the country will pull its six CF-18 Hornet fighter jets from the bombing mission, it will keep its aircrew and support personnel for one CC-150 Polaris aerial refuelling aircraft and up to two CP-140 Aurora spy planes.

'Step backward'

The US had asked coalition members to boost their military contributions in Iraq and Syria against ISIL after the deadly attacks in Paris in November. However, Trudeau, who was sworn in last November, had already promised to withdraw his jets during his election campaign.
Trudeau promised to put the new policy to a debate in parliament when the House of Commons resumes next week.
Rona Ambrose, leader of the official opposition and interim leader of the Conservative Party, denounced the plan to withdraw the fighter jets as "a step backwards for Canada".
Helene Laverdiere, foreign affairs spokeswoman for the left-wing New Democratic Party, said Canada should focus on stopping the flow of arms, funds and foreign fighters, including improving anti-radicalisation efforts at home.
"We are concerned that the Liberal government has chosen to place Canadian Forces personnel deeper into an open-ended combat military mission in Iraq - a mission that fails to even define what success would look like," Laverdiere said.
US President Barak Obama "welcomed Canada's current and new contributions to coalition efforts and highlighted Canada's leadership in the coalition", the White House said in a statement without specifically mentioning Canada's decision to halt air strikes.