Friday, November 15, 2013

Russia in the Middle East: Return of the bear - BBC News - Nov 14, 2013 | Russia and Egypt in 'historic' talks - BBC News - It is the highest level ...

Russia and Egypt in 'historic' talks - BBC News (Nov 14, 2013 17:21) 
BBC News Russia and Egypt in 'historic' talks BBC News It is the highest level ...

14 November 2013 Last updated at 15:27 ET

Russia and Egypt in 'historic' talks

Sergei Lavrov (centre) sitting opposite Egyptian officials in Cairo (14/11/13)The talks are the highest level between Russia and Egypt for years

Egypt in crisis

Top officials in Egypt have hailed talks with Russian ministers in Cairo as "historic".
The head of the Egyptian army, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said the talks signalled the start of a new era of enhanced military co-operation.
There are on-going discussions about a possible arms deal that could be worth as much as $2bn (£1.2bn), though no agreement has been reached.
It is the highest level visit to Egypt by a Russian delegation in years.
It follows the US decision to cut defence aid to Egypt in response to the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi.
But Egypt's Foreign Minister, Nabil Fahmy, insisted that he was not looking for a "substitute for anyone".
Mr Fahmy said Russia had too much leverage to be an alternative to someone else.
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Egypt says improving ties with Russia is not a snub to US - The Guardian (Nov 14, 2013 12:43) 
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Russia in the Middle East: Return of the bear - BBC News (Nov 14, 2013 12:27) 
BBC News Russia in the Middle East: Return of the bear BBC News The Russians , once vil...

 » Russia in the Middle East: Return of the bear - BBC News
14/11/13 12:27 from Russia - Google News
BBC News Russia in the Middle East: Return of the bear BBC News The Russians , once vilified in some Arab countries as godless communists, their crumbling economy mocked, their dated weaponry shunned by the rich Gulf states, are now swee...
Al Qaeda-linked rebels apologize after beheading wrong man, report says
Fox News

Syrian rebel fighters linked with Al Qaeda have asked for "understanding and forgiveness" after mistakenly beheading one of their allies and putting the head on display. In a video posted online, members of Islamic State of Iraq and ... Meanwhile on ...

Against Spying on Foreign Leaders
Council on Foreign Relations (blog)
Reading the news stories about alleged U.S. spying on Angela Merkel's cell phone, an oldmemory came to mind. In the Reagan second term I was ... The country in question was not Cuba, an enemy state allied with the USSR. It was a friendly state, with ...
Egypt, Obama, Coups, and Law
Council on Foreign Relations (blog)
Nor was this the first time: as former State Department Legal Adviser John Bellinger pointed out, the administration's meanderings here are “not unlike the White House conclusion in 2011 that the U.S. was not engaged in 'hostilities' in Libya, which ...
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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

(Reuters) - Four U.S. Marines were killed on Wednesday in an accident while clearing a training area used as an artillery and aerial bombing range at Camp Pendleton in Southern California, a military spokesman said

Four U.S. Marines die in accident at Camp Pendleton in California

BY MARTY GRAHAM
SAN DIEGO Wed Nov 13, 2013 9:58pm EST
1 COMMENTS
(Reuters) - Four U.S. Marines were killed on Wednesday in an accident while clearing a training area used as an artillery and aerial bombing range at Camp Pendleton in Southern California, a military spokesman said.
NBC News reported the Marines were killed when unexploded ordnance unexpectedly detonated, but the spokesman could not immediately confirm that, saying only the Marines had been clearing the area.
Marines spokesman Lieutenant Ryan Finnegan said the clearance operation would have involved anything necessary to keep the range free of obstructions, which could include disposing of ordnance. But he could not say they were handling ordnance when the accident occurred.
The cause of the accident, which happened on Wednesday morning at the Zulu Impact Area in the interior part of the base, was under investigation.
No live-fire exercise was under way at Zulu at the time, and while such an exercise was occurring at neighboring Whiskey Impact Area, it played no role in the deaths, Finnegan said.
"We offer our heartfelt prayers and condolences to the families of the Marines lost today in this tragic accident," Brigadier General John Bullard, commanding general of the base, said in a statement. "Our first priority is to provide the families with the support they need during this difficult time."
Finnegan said the Marines killed were not new recruits and were based at Camp Pendleton, but the military did not release their ages or other details about them.
Training at Camp Pendleton, including the live fire at Whiskey Impact Area, continued after the fatalities, he said.
The Zulu Impact Area is a restricted zone because of the danger of unexploded ordnance, according to Camp Pendleton's website. As a result, efforts to contain wildfires and study biology there are limited, the website description stated.
Seven Marines were killed in an accidental munitions depot blast in Nevada in March. In May, a U.S. Navy SEAL was killed in a vehicle accident during a training exercise at Fort Knox in Kentucky.
In September 2011, two Marines aboard a helicopter died when it crashed during a training mission at Camp Pendleton, two months after a Marine was killed when another helicopter went down at the base.
Camp Pendleton, 40 miles north of San Diego, is the main West Coast base for the Marine Corps.

(Reporting by Marty Graham in San Diego; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Peter Cooney)
The New York Times

November 13, 2013

Four Marines Are Killed in Camp Pendleton Accident

By IAN LOVETT

LOS ANGELES — Four Marines were killed Wednesday in an accident during maintenance of an artillery range at a base outside San Diego, military officials said.
The cause of the accident at Camp Pendleton was under investigation, according to officials. The names of the Marines who were killed have not been released by the military, pending notification of their next of kin.
The accident occurred during regularly scheduled maintenance of the base’s Zulu Impact Area, which is used for firing artillery and dropping bombs from aircraft during training, according to Cpl. Michael Iams.
Maintenance of the range can involve removing ordnance left in the area, moving wild animals or cutting the grass, Corporal Iams said, although he would not comment on what specifically happened Wednesday morning.
No live fire was going on at the range at the time of the accident, a military official said.
This is the second fatal accident this year involving Marines on a domestic military base. In March, seven Marines died and several others were injured when a mortar round exploded during a live-fire training exercise at a weapons depot in Nevada.
An investigation attributed the explosion to an error by a Marine operating a 60-millimeter mortar tube who did not follow correct procedure. Marine officials announced in May that two officers and a noncommissioned officer were removed from command as a result.
In a statement Wednesday, Brig. Gen. John W. Bullard, the commanding general at Camp Pendleton, offered condolences to the families of the victims of Wednesday’s accident.
“Our first priority is to provide the families with the support they need during this difficult time,” he said.

15/11/13 01:20 from Top Stories - Google News
New York Daily News Marines killed on base from Calif., Mo., La. USA TODAY SAN DIEGO (AP) — The four bomb removal technicians killed at Camp Pendleton included two Marines from California, one from Louisiana and one from Missouri. The Ma...

camp pendleton

 camp pendleton - Google Blog Search

 Four U.S. Marines were killed at Camp Pendleton

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The imprisoned Pussy Riot band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova had been transferred to a prison in Siberia

» Russia: Imprisoned Punk Protester Is in Siberia - New York Times
12/11/13 23:11 from Russia - Google News
Freemuse Russia : Imprisoned Punk Protester Is in Siberia New York Times Russia 's human rights ombudsman said Tuesday that the imprisoned Pussy Riot band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova had been transferred to a prison in Siberia. Her...
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Pentagon cancels plans to buy Russian helicopters 6:49pm EST Short sellers test the waters on Twitter 5:29pm EST Four U.S. Marines die in accident at Camp Pendleton in California 9:58pm EST

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On the supreme leader’s watch, Iran systematically justified his organization’s seizure of wealth. Full Article

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The death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams, whose body was found in a padlocked sports bag, was probably an accident, police have said

13 November 2013 Last updated at 07:20 ET

MI6 spy Gareth Williams death 'probably an accident', police say

Gareth WilliamsGareth Williams's body was found in his flat in Pimlico in 2010

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The death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams, whose body was found in a padlocked sports bag, was probably an accident, police have said.
Last year, a coroner said it was likely Mr Williams, 31, from Anglesey, had been unlawfully killed in August 2010.
But the Metropolitan Police said an evidence review had found "it was more probable" no other person was present when he died in his London flat.
Mr Williams's family said they stood by the coroner's findings.
In a statement, they said: "We are naturally disappointed that it is still not possible to state with certainty how Gareth died and the fact that the circumstances of his death are still unknown adds to our grief.
"We consider that on the basis of the facts at present known, the coroner's verdict accurately reflects the circumstances of Gareth's death."
'Unlawfully killed'
Mr Williams's body was found naked at his flat in Pimlico on 23 August 2010 after colleagues raised concerns for his welfare.
He had been on a secondment with MI6 from his job as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

“Start Quote

The reality is that for both hypotheses, there exist evidential contradictions and gaps in our understanding”
DAC Martin HewitMetropolitan Police
Police discovered his body inside a zipped-up red sports holdall, in the empty bath of his bathroom.
It had taken a week for MI6 to investigate the code-breaker's disappearance, and a post-mortem examination carried out by a Home Office pathologist failed to determine the cause of death.
During a seven-day inquest in May 2012, the question of whether Mr Williams could have padlocked himself into a bag in a bath was central.
Coroner Fiona Wilcox concluded that "most of the fundamental questions in relation to how Gareth died remain unanswered".
But she said he was, "on the balance of probabilities", unlawfully killed.
At a briefing on Wednesday, the Met Police announced the conclusion of its three-year investigation into the incident.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said he was satisfied it was "theoretically possible" Mr Williams could have padlocked the bag from the inside, although "many questions remain unanswered" as to the circumstances of his death.
But he said there was no evidence that the MI6 officer had intended to take his own life or that his death was connected to his work.
'Naturally disappointed'
There were about 10 to 15 traces of DNA in the flat from which it had not been possible to gain full DNA profiles, but all other DNA profiles and fingerprints had been eliminated, said DAC Hewitt.
He also said there was no evidence that Mr Williams' flat had been forensically cleaned, adding it was a "fallacy" that it had been deep-cleaned in such a way that only certain DNA was left in the premises.
DAC Hewitt acknowledged that the coroner, having studied "all the evidence available at that stage" had made "the logical inference that it was more likely someone else was involved in Gareth's death".
"However, she also recognised that there has been endless speculation but little real evidence and it was her view [that] 'it is unlikely that his death will ever be satisfactorily explained'," he said.
"Now at the end of our investigation, based on the evidence, or where we have been unable to find positive evidence, we believe that it is a more probable conclusion that there was no other person present when Gareth died.
"But the reality is that for both hypotheses, there exist evidential contradictions and gaps in our understanding."

Death of British spy found padlocked in bag was accidental: British police

BY MICHAEL HOLDEN
LONDON Wed Nov 13, 2013 9:28am EST
4 COMMENTS
(Reuters) - A British spy, whose naked, decomposing body was found padlocked in a bag in his bathtub, probably died accidentally on his own, police said on Wednesday, rejecting conspiracy theories that his bizarre death was the work of foreign agents.
In May last year, a coroner concluded that Gareth Williams, who was working for Britain's external intelligence service MI6 when he was found dead at his home in August 2010, was probably killed unlawfully by another person.
His spy background and the fact that expensive, unworn women's clothes were found at his flat provoked a wide range of "weird and wonderful" theories, London Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said, but further investigations now suggested it was more likely he had not been murdered.
"Most probably, it was an accident," Hewitt told reporters. "I'm convinced that Gareth's death was in no way linked to his work."
Williams, 31, worked as a code breaker at the Government Communications Headquarters but was on a three-year secondment to MI6, which deals with foreign espionage matters.
The remains of the maths prodigy were found curled up inside a zipped and padlocked red hold-all at the London flat - an intelligence service "safe house" - close to MI6's headquarters.
His body was badly decomposed after remaining in the bag in the August heat for a full week until he was discovered. Tests found no traces of alcohol, drugs or poison in his body.
Detectives found no palm prints on the side of the bath nor any traces of his DNA on the padlock.
Instead, they found make-up, a long-haired wig and unworn women's clothes and shoes worth around 20,000 pounds ($31,900). They also found images of transvestites, a picture of Williams wearing only boots, and evidence of visits to sexual bondage websites on his computer.
THEORIES AND SPECULATION
"This is a case where there's been enormous theorizing and speculating...and weird and wonderful stories," Hewitt said.
Hewitt admitted the original police investigation had been flawed and after the inquest they pursued new lines of inquiry.
But detectives found no evidence anyone had been in the flat when he died. Hewitt rejected suggestions the flat could have undergone a "forensic clean" to remove traces of any killers.
He ruled out any suggestion that Williams interest in women's clothing or his work as a spy had played a part, and said they did not believe he had meant to take his own life.
Despite the fact that there had always been doubt that someone could have locked themselves in a bag - a number of experts tried and failed - Hewitt said they now believed this was what Williams had done.
"It's theoretically possible for someone to do that. It is a more probable conclusion that there was no other person present," said Hewitt, who agreed Williams's interest in escapology might have been a factor.
He could not categorically rule out anyone else being involved and said any new evidence would be followed up.
In a statement, Williams's family said they still believed the coroner's conclusions more accurately reflected what had happened, and repeated their anger that MI6 had failed to report Williams missing for days after he did not show up at work.
Hewitt denied suggestions Britain's spies had simply staged an elaborate cover-up.
"I do not believe I have had the wool pulled over my eyes."
($1 = 0.6279 British pounds)
(editing by Stephen Addison)
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