Grief and rage as Turkey buries mine disaster dead

May 15, 2014

SOMA, Turkey (AP) — With photos of their loved ones pinned to their chests and chanting the names of lost miners, grieving relatives laid their dead to rest in mass burials Thursday, as gravediggers labored to make room for scores more victims of Turkey's worst mining disaster.

"The love of my life is gone," women wailed loudly, swaying and singing improvised laments about the departed as bodies were lowered, one by one, into the freshly dug graves. Rescue teams recovered another nine victims, raising the death toll to 283 from Tuesday's disaster, with at least 140 miners believed still trapped underground, according to government figures.

Rage blended with grief as revulsion over poor safety conditions and what some perceived as government indifference set off protests across Turkey. "It's not an accident, it's murder," read a banner waved by trade unionists who marched through the streets of Istanbul.

The disaster has stirred up new hostility toward Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government and thrown his presidential ambitions off stride. Blackening his reputation further, Turkish newspapers published a photograph Thursday of one of Erdogan's aides kicking a protester who was being held on the ground by armed police.

At a graveyard in the mining town of Soma, where coal has been the main industry for decades, mourners said they spent their whole lives fearing a disaster like Tuesday's, in which an explosion set off a deadly fire just as workers were preparing for a shift change, trapping hundreds underground. No miner has been brought out alive since before dawn Wednesday.

"The wives of the miners kiss their husbands in the morning. When they come back, even if they are five minutes late, everyone starts calling, said 45-year-old Gulizar Donmez, whose husband and father are both miners and whose neighbor was among the victims. "You never know what is going to happen."

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the search for survivors was being hampered by a fire that had spread to a conveyor system — engulfing a 650-foot (200-meter) stretch of tunnel — but progress was made Thursday toward extinguishing it. Rescue operations have been suspended several times as fire created toxic fumes and too-risky conditions for rescuers.

Emergency crews detected a drop in carbon monoxide levels "which means that the fire has gotten smaller," Yildez said. Erdogan, who is expected to announce his candidacy soon for Turkey's presidential election in August, was greeted by angry protests during a visit to Soma on Wednesday after he referred to mining accidents as "ordinary things" that "happen all the time."

The Turkish leader was forced to take refuge inside a supermarket after angry crowds shouting "Murderer!" and "Thief!" — in a reference to alleged corruption — clashed with police. An Erdogan aide, Yusuf Yerkel," was photographed kicking a protester being pinned to the ground by special forces police.

Yerkel issued a statement Thursday expressing regret, but also claimed he was provoked. "I am sorry that I was not able to keep calm despite all the provocations, insults and attacks that I was subjected to," he said.

In contrast, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, visiting Soma on Thursday, referred to the mine explosion as "a huge disaster," adding: "The pain is felt by us all." The mood was more restrained than during Erdogan's visit, though townspeople angry at what they said was the slow rescue operation shouted at him, demanding that more be done to reach possible survivors.

Erdogan has made no secret of his desire to become Turkey's first popularly elected president. His party swept local elections in March despite a corruption scandal that forced him to dismiss four government ministers and has also implicated him and family members. Erdogan denies the allegations, saying they are part of a plot to bring his government down.

Turkey's largest trade union confederation, representing some 800,000 workers, joined a one-day strike Thursday by other unions to demand better working conditions for miners. In the Black Sea port of Zonguldak, site of Turkey's previous worst industrial accident, where a 1992 gas explosion killed 263, miners gathered but refused to enter a mine. At the protest in Istanbul, trade union groups tried to march to the local social security department but were blocked by police and staged a sit-in instead.

Authorities said the disaster followed an explosion and a fire at a power distribution unit, and most deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. The government said 787 people were inside the mine at the time and that 383 were rescued, many with injuries.

Erdogan has promised a thorough investigation and Hurriyet newspaper reported that a team of 15 prosecutors has been assigned to the inquiry. Turkey's Labor and Social Security Ministry said the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, most recently in March, when no safety violations were detected. But the country's opposition party said Erdogan's ruling party had voted down a proposal to hold a parliamentary inquiry into several smaller accidents at mines around Soma.

__ Fraser reported from Ankara.

Turkish president rules out job swap with Erdogan

April 18, 2014

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Abdullah Gul has signaled that he doesn't want to swap jobs with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan when the presidential term ends later this year.

Gul said Friday he opposes a model similar to that of Russia where the president and prime minister have traded places and one has ruled in the other's shadow. Gul suggested he would not oppose Erdogan if he chose to run for president in the election in August.

Erdogan has not made a decision about whether he will seek to become president — a position that is largely ceremonial but does include the power to appoint the prime minister. He has said he wants a presidency with more executive powers.

Polls boost Turkish leader's presidential hopes

March 31, 2014

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Despite allegations of corruption and concerns about authoritarianism, Turkey's local elections have given Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan momentum that could see him start a campaign to become the country's first directly elected president.

Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development party swept municipal elections on Sunday, gaining 45.5 percent of the votes and roundly beating the main opposition party, according to unofficial results. The party retained the key city of Istanbul and was also leading in Ankara, but votes in the capital were close and the opposition said the results would be contested.

Erdogan's win eased market concerns over instability on Monday, leading to a stock market rally. The Turkish lira strengthened against the dollar and the euro. Analysts say the result amounts to a vote of confidence for Erdogan and will encourage him to run in presidential elections in August, where he would have to win 50 percent of the votes.

"(Erdogan) has seen that he has the support of a mass of people that believes in him and won't desert him under any condition," wrote Mehmet Tezcan, a commentator for Milliyet newspaper. "This will encourage him on his way to the presidential palace."

Erdogan's presidential aspirations had been put in doubt after last year's anti-government protests, a corruption scandal and a series of freedom-restricting moves, including blocking access to Twitter and YouTube. The curbs on social media came after several audio recordings were leaked, suggesting corruption by Erdogan and family members.

Erdogan and his party have dominated Turkish politics over the past decade in a period of great prosperity. The party came to power backed by a pious Muslim base looking for greater standing in a country that had for decades favored a secular elite.

The allegations of corruption and bribe-taking have already brought down four ministers. Erdogan has rejected the allegations as a plot orchestrated by followers of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has split with him. Following the results, Erdogan promised retribution against Gulen's movement.

There were scattered reports of fraud, including irregular electoral lists and pre-stamped ballot papers, which were likely to delay an official announcement on the final results. Mustafa Sarigul, the opposition party's candidate who lost his bid to become the mayor of Istanbul, complained of power cuts during vote tallies and "sacks of ballot papers wandering around."

Turkey's Kurdish Party, which is involved in peace talks with Erdogan's government to try to end nearly three decades of fighting between troops and Kurdish insurgents, also made gains in the local elections, increasing the number of cities it won in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast regions from eight to 10, according to unofficial results.

Turkey PM has boost in apparent local election win

March 31, 2014

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday hailed what appeared to be a decisive victory for his party in local elections, providing a boost that could help him emerge from a spate of recent troubles.

Erdogan was not on the ballot in the countrywide polls, but he campaigned as if he were. Hours after the polls closed, Turkish newswires suggested that his party was significantly outstripping its results of about 39 percent in the last local elections in 2009 and roundly beating the main opposition party.

With nearly 70 percent of the votes counted, Erdogan's party was above 46 percent of the votes while the main opposition CHP was at just over 30 percent, according to state-run TRT television. "I thank my Lord for granting such a victory, such a meaningful result," Erdogan said at a victory rally in Ankara, speaking to a crowd of supporters who had been chanting, "Turkey is proud of you!"

Incumbent candidates from Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, better known by its Turkish acronym AKP, also were leading in high-profile races in Istanbul and Ankara. Voter turnout appeared to be heavy, with people forming long queues at polling stations.

The strong results were a big boost for the prime minister following a tumultuous corruption scandal. In recent days, Erdogan has also provoked outrage at home and abroad by blocking access to Twitter and YouTube.

Fadi Hakura, a Turkey analyst at London-based independent policy institute Chatham House, said neither corruption issues nor media freedoms determined the elections. "Overall, the people are happy with the government's economic performance," he said.

"His victory speech was uncompromising, tough and polarizing," the analyst added. "It is an indication that he will intensify his current robust style of leadership." The result could embolden Erdogan to run for president in an election scheduled for August. Prior to Sunday's showing, he had appeared to be leaning against that route, which has risks. In a direct vote, he would have to win 50 percent in a country that is deeply polarized over his rule.

Erdogan and his party have dominated Turkish politics over the past decade in a period of great prosperity. The party came to power backed by a pious Muslim base looking for greater standing in a country that had for decades favored a secular elite. But AKP, whose party symbol is a light bulb, has also cultivated an identity of pragmatism and competency.

That image has been damaged by the corruption scandal, with a series of leaked tapes bringing down four ministers with revelations of bribe-taking and cover-ups. One tape allegedly involves Erdogan and family members, but he and his allies have rejected the allegations as a plot orchestrated by followers of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has split with him.

Following the results, Erdogan promised retribution against Gulen's movement. "We shall enter into their caves," he said. "They will pay and account for their deeds." In the wake of the scandal, Erdogan has shuffled thousands of police officers and tightened control of the judiciary, which had launched investigations. The moves prompted concern that Erdogan was moving toward more authoritarian rule.

But in his victory speech, Erdogan said that democracy in Turkey is strong. "We have the democracy which the West is longing for," he said.

Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed to this report.

ISIS crush tribal uprising in Syria

August 11, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — ISIS have crushed a tribal uprising against their rule in eastern Syria after three days of clashes in three eastern villages near the border with Iraq, activists said Monday.

The armed revolt by the Shueitat tribe in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour was the first sign of local resistance to the ISIS since its fighters swept into the province. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Turkey-based activist Thaer ak-Deiri said that ISIS fighters regained control of three villages of the Shueitat tribe on Sunday after being expelled earlier this month.

The Observatory said ISIS fighters beheaded two tribesmen after they fled to the nearby village of Shaafa. It had no immediate word on other casualties in the area. Clashes over the past two weeks left more than a dozen people dead and both sides.

The extremist group has taken over much of northern and eastern Syria as well as western and northern Iraq. The group has declared a self-styled caliphate in territory it controls along the Iraqi-Syrian border.

The clashes in eastern Syria came as ISIS fighters tightened its siege on a major military air base in the town of Tabqa in the northern province of Raqqa. The air base is the last army position in the Raqqa province that is an ISIS stronghold.

The Observatory's chief Rami Abdurrahman said ISIS fighters are bombarding the base with artillery as they appear to be preparing to storm it. Last week, ISIS fighters seized the nearby Brigade 93 base after days of heavy fighting and late last month captured another base in which they took dozens of prisoners whom some of them were later beheaded and their bodies paraded in one of Raqqa's main squares.

Syria's conflict began in March 2011 as a popular uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule, but turned into an insurgency after government forces violently cracked down on demonstrators. It has since become a full blown revolution. Over 170,000 people have been killed in Syria in more than three years of fighting, activists say.

Jordanians hold pro-Gaza rally in Amman

Sat Aug 9, 2014

Over 15,000 supporters of Muslim Brotherhood have staged an anti-Israeli demonstration in the Jordanian capital of Amman, urging the resistance movement to ratchet up its campaign against Israel.

Scores of masked youths dressed in the uniform of Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, also took part in the Friday rally, the largest demonstration in Amman in years, and staged a symbolic military parade in support of Hamas.

A Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson on Friday called on Hamas to escalate its attacks against Israel in an attempt to avenge the deaths of civilians in Gaza.

"In the coming phase, after negotiations failed, the only thing left is the flag of resistance which was behind the victory in Gaza," said Zaki Bani Rusheid, deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan.

The Israeli military aggression against Gaza, which began on July 8, has claimed the lives of more than 1,900 Palestinians, including more than 400 children, and wounded over 9,500 others. Palestinian resistance movements have retaliated  by launching rockets into Israel.

A 72-hour truce in Gaza ended on Friday morning without any agreement to extend it.

Jordan is home to the largest number of Palestinian refugees and most of its more than 7 million population are of Palestinian origin.

This week, the Arab country, which along with Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel, refused calls by public protesters, the opposition and some prominent politicians to expel Tel Aviv’s ambassador and cut ties with the entity, describing it as a counter-productive move.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/08/09/374624/antiisrael-demo-held-in-amman/.

Tunisia's fishermen save rising tide of migrants

August 10, 2014

ZARZIS, Tunisia (AP) — The fishermen of this small North African port are used to catching sea bass and sea bream in their nets, but lately they've been hauling in something else: shipwrecked migrants fleeing war-ravaged Libya on flimsy boats.

Chamseddine Bourassine, a Tunisian fisherman in his 50s, and his colleagues are on the front lines of a growing humanitarian disaster as waves of migrants take to the sea bound for Italy. They do their best to save who they can, but Bourassine says they're quickly being overcome by this year's flood of African and Middle Eastern migrants seeking a new life in Europe.

The fishermen, who are risking both their lives and livelihoods to rescue the migrants, often cite a saying by the Prophet Muhammad: "Who saves a life, saves all of humanity." "Today I have the means to bring back 107 people, but I'll lose 3,000 Tunisian dinars ($1,750)," Bourassine says. "Tomorrow I might not be able to. I have people who work with me. If I interrupt work once, twice, three times, it becomes a heavy burden on my shoulders."

He estimates he has saved more than 1,000 migrants on four separate occasions while out in his fishing boat, twice since the Libyan uprising in 2011. Bourassine and other fishermen don't take any rewards for saving the migrants and he understands why they are trying to leave. But he says it's not his job to save them and he feels there's been a lack of support from rescue organizations and governmental authorities.

Mansour Ben Chouikha, a fifty-something fisherman, paused while cleaning his rustic blue-and-white fishing vessel to describe the horrific scenes he has witnessed on the calm, peaceful waters off Zarzis, only 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Libyan border. He says he has seen floating bodies decomposing in the Mediterranean, some missing their heads.

"We find them dead but we don't declare it," said Chouikha. "(If) there is a body in the water and we are six or seven hours from the land, we can't get them on board." The fishermen don't keep track of the number of migrants they recover — dead or alive. But they are unanimous in saying the numbers are rising. Last week two bodies were pulled out the water off the nearby coastal resort of Djerba.

"The other day, with my boat, I brought back 107 people, three or four died before my eyes, they fell in the water and they didn't know how to swim. My stability (of the boat) didn't allow me to act. One hundred and seven people represent a great danger for my crew," Bourassine said.

The fishermen complain that the authorities are turning a blind eye. Unlike the media storm that followed the October 2013 migrant disaster off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa — in which roughly 400 migrants died when their boats capsized — similar catastrophes go unmentioned in Tunisia.

The fishermen say they've seen up 30 boats of migrants leaving each day for Italy, each with a capacity of between 50 and 250 people, but it's difficult to get exact numbers. Organizations such as the Red Crescent are trying to help some of the migrants picked up by the Tunisian Coast Guard. A Tunisian Red Crescent official told The Associated Press they have looked after around 400 rescued migrants but that doesn't reflect the true number out in the sea.

The Italian navy has stepped up their rescue efforts since Lampedusa. On Monday they announced they had rescued more than 93,000 migrants since the start of the year. Despite the risks, migrants see the journey as their only option.

Abou Bakr Boudjan is a Gambian who found his way to Libya last year. Two months ago, he took a boat trying to reach Europe but was caught by the Coast Guard at sea. Now he is stuck in Zarzis trying to file for asylum with the support of the Red Crescent.

His dreams are simple: having a normal life and a job, whatever country he ends up in. "Anywhere I can now have freedom is OK. Here, Libya, Italy, anywhere," Boudjan said.

Keller reported from Paris.

New sub afloat in South Korea

by Richard Tomkins
Seoul (UPI)
Aug 8, 2013

Hyundai Heavy Industries has launched a new 214-class submarine, to be equipped with locally produced cruise missiles, for the South Korean Navy.

The vessel is the Yun Bong Gil Ham, which weighs 1,800 tons, is 214 feet long, and has a top speed of 20 knots.

The ship is the fifth 214-class submarine of the country's navy.

According to the Department of National Defense, the ship features an air independent propulsion system that charges the submarine's storage battery without air, enabling it to stay submerged for two weeks.

Hyundai Heavy Industries will transfer the under-construction submarine to the navy in the second half of next year. Nine months of tests and evaluations will follow, culminating in the vessel gaining operational status, Korean officials said.

The country currently operates 10 209-class and 214-class submarines. The first 209-class vessel, the Jang Bo Go Ham, was taken over from Germany in 1992.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/New_sub_afloat_in_South_Korea_999.html.

Ukraine OKs Red Cross-led aid mission to east

August 11, 2014

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces on Monday zeroed in on rebel strongholds as the government welcomed an international humanitarian relief mission into the rebellious east involving Russia, the United States and the European Union.

The mission will be conducted under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The organization said in a statement it is ready to facilitate the operation with the involvement of all sides concerned following a Russian initiative to provide humanitarian assistance to people in eastern Ukraine.

It wasn't clear when the deliveries would start. "The practical details of this operation need to be clarified before this initiative can move forward," said Laurent Corbaz, the ICRC's head of operations for Europe and Central Asia.

Moscow had long urged Kiev to allow the aid delivery, but Ukraine and the West previously had opposed the move, fearing that it could serve as a pretext for sending Russian troops into rebel-held territory. Ukraine and the West have accused Moscow of arming and supporting the rebels fighting government troops in the east, a charge that the Kremlin has denied.

The Red Cross said it has shared a document with Ukrainian and Russian authorities that stipulates all parties must guarantee the security of its staff during the operation and respect the organization's neutrality.

The aid mission was announced after a conversation between U.S. President Barack Obama and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Monday. The White House said that Obama and Poroshenko agreed that "any Russian intervention in Ukraine without the formal, express consent and authorization of the Ukraine government would be unacceptable and a violation of international law."

Shortly before that, Russia had declared that it was dispatching a humanitarian convoy into Ukraine in cooperation with the Red Cross without giving any details. President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, later was quoted by Russian news wires as saying that the convoy wouldn't involve and military personnel.

Officials in Kiev took pains to specify Monday that the Ukrainian government was behind the humanitarian convoy initiative, and that Moscow was only one of several countries involved. "Apart from deliveries provided by Ukraine, the mission will feature an international component, including aid provided to the International Committee of the Red Cross by the United States, the EU, as well as Russia," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry also laid out specific conditions for the aid shipment, saying it should only pass through checkpoints controlled by the Ukrainian government. At least 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the long Russian-Ukrainian border is currently in rebel hands.

It said that the aid will be distributed by the Ukrainian authorities in the Luhansk region, one of the two mostly Russian-speaking rebel provinces. Some of the heaviest impact on civilians has been seen in Luhansk — the rebel-held capital of the Luhansk province that had a pre-war population of 420,000. City authorities said Monday that the 250,000 residents remaining have had no electricity or water supplies for nine days.

Food, medicine and fuel are also not being delivered, the Luhansk city government said. "Humanitarian aid will only be distributed among the civilian population of the Luhansk province, which has long been suffering from the actions of illegal armed gangs," the ministry said in a statement.

In the last week, Ukrainian government forces have been closing on the few remaining rebel strongholds, including Donetsk, the largest rebel-held city. Hundreds of thousands have been fleeing the fighting in the city, which had a population of 1 million before the hostilities.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the West for its reluctance to support the delivery of Russian aid earlier, but voiced hope for the success of the mission. "I hope that our Western partners will not put a spanner in the works," he said.

Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-proclaimed rebel government in the Donetsk region, said Monday that the insurgents were ready to observe a cease-fire to allow humanitarian aid to pass into Luhansk.

The talk about the relief mission came as fierce fighting continued to rage in the east. Donetsk city council spokesman Maxim Rovinsky said a rocket hit a high-security prison Monday, killing at least one inmate and leaving three others severely wounded. In the chaos, 106 prisoners escaped, including some jailed for murder, robbery and rape, he said.

Officials with Ukraine's state penitentiary service said later Monday that 34 prisoners had returned to the jail. It was not immediately possible to verify that claim. One of the prisoners who had apparently returned to the prison told The Associated Press that inmates were forced to flee to avoid incoming rockets, but were apprehended in a nearby neighborhood.

Both Ukrainian government forces and the pro-Russian rebels have deployed heavy Soviet-built weapons that lack precision. Apartments and other civilian buildings have frequently been hit, adding to the mounting death toll among civilians.

Many of those in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine distrust the new central government in Kiev, which came to power after the February ouster of former President Viktor Yanukovych, whose power base was in eastern Ukraine.

Fighting began a month after Russia annexed Ukraine's peninsula of Crimea in March.

Leonard reported from Kiev. Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and John Heilprin in Geneva also contributed to this report.

Ukraine rocket attack leads to mass jail breakout

August 11, 2014

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Rockets slammed into a high-security prison Monday in the rebel-held city of Donetsk, igniting a riot that allowed more than 100 prisoners to flee, authorities in eastern Ukraine said.

Donetsk city council spokesman Maxim Rovinsky said a direct rocket hit killed at least one inmate and left three others severely wounded. In the chaos, he said 106 prisoners escaped, included some jailed for murder, robbery and rape.

In the past week Ukrainian government forces have intensified their military operations and surrounded Donetsk, the largest city in rebel-held eastern Ukraine. Exchanges of rocket fire and deaths from shelling have become a feature of daily life and hundreds of thousands have chosen to flee.

The prison break became possible after a substation providing the building with electricity was damaged, disabling the facility's alarm system. "Extremely dangerous prisoners are now free. It is hard to know the extent of threat this poses to the city, which is flooded with weapons," Rovinsky said.

Rebels routinely accuse government forces of using heavy artillery in their campaign to retake Donetsk. But Ukrainian security spokesman Andriy Lysenko blamed the prison strike on separatist fighters.

"Bandits in Donetsk shelled residential quarters and correctional facility No. 124," he said. Prisoners said the rocket hit their building late Sunday night. "At around 10 p.m., after lights went out and the prisoners began heading to their sleeping quarters, a rocket hit this place," said one prisoner, who gave his name as Vova Kordemansky. "Nobody was in this room, but one guy downstairs had his head blown off."

Officials with Ukraine's state penitentiary service said later Monday that 34 prisoners had returned to the jail. It was not immediately possible to verify that claim. One of the prisoners who had apparently returned to the prison told The Associated Press that inmates were forced to flee to avoid incoming rockets, but were apprehended in a nearby neighborhood.

Both Ukrainian government forces and the pro-Russian rebels who want independence for their eastern region have deployed heavy and often imprecise weapons in the battle that began in April. Apartments and other civilian buildings have frequently been hit, adding to the mounting death toll among civilians.

Rovinsky said Monday at least 10 homes, shops and garages were hit by overnight rockets. He added that 20,000 people had no electricity in Donetsk and an estimated 400,000 have fled the city, which had a pre-war population of 1 million. Many shops have closed and supplies are dwindling at the few still open.

Local authorities have attempted to continue providing basic services, such as trash removal and a skeleton bus service. The Ukrainians army's strategy has focused on encircling Donetsk and nearby rebel towns and breaking off road links with other separatist towns and villages further east, closer to the Russian border.

Many of those in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine distrust the new central government in Kiev, which came to power after the February ouster of former President Viktor Yanukovych, whose power base was in eastern Ukraine.

Fighting began a month after Russia annexed Ukraine's peninsula of Crimea in March.

Associated Press writer Peter Leonard in Kiev, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

Kosovo police arrest 40 alleged Islamic radicals

August 11, 2014

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo police on Monday arrested at least 40 people in a major operation targeting Islamic radicals suspected of fighting alongside extremists in Iraq and Syria.

Spokesman Baki Kelani said weapons, ammunition and explosives were seized as hundreds of police officers and special police units raided 60 locations across Kosovo, including makeshift mosques believed to have served as recruiting centers.

The police operation is the largest ever against suspected Islamic radicals in Kosovo. Authorities have been on alert as a growing number of ethnic Albanians have joined militants in Syria and Iraq and appeared on social media in attempts to lure more followers.

"We believe these persons pose a threat to Kosovo's security and they have therefore been arrested," Kelani told The Associated Press on Monday. "Some are suspected of being involved in terrorist organisations such as ISIS and (Jabhat) Al-Nusra."

The Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, has gained territory in surprise operations in Iraq and Syria and its rise led U.S. President Barack Obama to authorize limited airstrikes against the group.

Police in Kosovo say at least 16 Kosovars who joined the militant group as volunteers have been killed in battles with Syrian and Iraqi authorities. Kosovo's ethnic Albanians are overwhelmingly Muslim.

Kosovo's government welcomed Monday's operation and warned it will fight religious extremists in Kosovo. "Any threat against the fundamental values of our state and our society will be punished without mercy," a government statement said.

President Atifete Jahjaga said the operation seeks to bring to justice suspects whose acts threaten security in the Balkan region and to prevent "terrorist threats to Kosovo and its strategic allies."

"Kosovo will not be a safe haven for extremism," Jahjaga said.

Rotation of Planets Influences Habitability

Moffet Field CA (NASA)
Aug 11, 2014

There are currently almost 2,000 extrasolar planets known to us, but most are inhospitable gas giants. Thanks to NASA's Kepler mission, a handful of smaller, rockier planets have been discovered within the habitable zones of their stars that could provide a niche for alien life.

The habitable zone of a star is typically defined as the range from a star where temperatures would allow liquid water to exist on the surface of a planet. At the inner edge of this zone, the star's blistering heat vaporizes the planet's water into the atmosphere in a runaway greenhouse effect.

At the outer edge of the habitable zone, temperatures are so cold that clouds of carbon dioxide form and the little solar energy that does arrive bounces off the clouds, turning the planet into a frozen wasteland.

However, this concept is rather simple. In reality, many other factors come into play that could affect a planet's habitability. New research has revealed that the rate at which a planet spins is instrumental in its ability to support life. Not only does rotation control the length of day and night, it can also tug on the winds that blow through the atmosphere and ultimately influence cloud formation.

The paper has been accepted to Astrophysical Journal Letters and a preprint is available online at Arxiv.

Air circulation and rotation rates

The radiation that the Earth receives from the Sun is strongest at the equator. The air in this region is heated until it rises up through the atmosphere and heads towards the poles of the planet where it subsequently cools. This cool air falls through the atmosphere and is ushered back towards the equator. This process of atmospheric circulation is known as a Hadley cell.

If a planet is rotating rapidly, the Hadley cells are confined to low latitudes and they are arranged into different bands that encircle the planet. Clouds become prominent at tropical regions, which are important for reflecting a proportion of the light back into space. However, for a planet in a tighter orbit around its star, the radiation received from the star is much more extreme.

This will decrease the temperature difference between the equator and the poles and ultimately weaken the Hadley cells. The result is fewer clouds at the tropical regions available to protect the planet from the intense heat, and the planet becomes uninhabitable.

If, on the other hand, the planet is a slow rotator, then the Hadley cells can expand to encompass the entire world. This is because the atmospheric circulation is enhanced due to the difference in temperature between the day and night side of the planet.

The days and nights are very long, so that the half of the planet that is bathed in light from the star has plenty of time to soak up the Sun. In contrast, the night side of the planet is much cooler, as it has been shaded from the star for some time.

This difference in temperature is large enough to cause the warm air from the day side to flow to the night side, in a similar manner as opening a door on a cold day results in warm air fleeing from a room. The increased circulation causes more clouds to build up over the substellar point, which is the point on the planet where the star would be seen directly overhead, and where radiation is most intense.

The clouds over the substellar point then create a shield for the ground below as most of the harmful radiation is reflected away.

The high albedo clouds can allow a planet to remain habitable even at levels of radiation that were previously thought to be too high, so that the inner edge of the habitable zone is pushed much closer to the star.

"Rotation can have a huge effect, and lots of planets that we previously thought were definitely not habitable now can be considered as candidates," says Dorian Abbot of the University of Chicago, and a co-author on the paper.

Earth in Venus' orbit

The study used computer simulations to show that a slowly rotating planet with the same atmospheric composition, mass, and radius of the Earth could potentially be habitable even at Venus' distance from the Sun.

Under the typical boundaries of a habitable zone, Venus is situated closer to the Sun than the inner edge of the zone. In the study, the simulated planet received almost twice as much radiation as the actual Earth did, and yet the surface temperature was cool enough for life to thrive due to the shielding clouds.

Despite the slow rotation, Venus itself is actually a scorching hot planet with a atmosphere so dense that it would crush a person on the surface in seconds. This goes to show that just because a planet is rotating slowly does not automatically mean that it is habitable, rather it has the potential to be habitable if the right conditions exist.

For instance, it is possible that Venus used to spin much faster, giving shorter days than it has now. Venus' atmosphere is enriched with deuterium, which indicates that an ocean might have once been present. Such a rapid rotation rate on a planet so close to the Sun would have led to a runaway greenhouse effect and the loss of the oceans. By the time the rotation of the planet slowed to its current rate the damage was irreversible.

Finding the slow rotators

While it is difficult to measure planetary rotation rates, future observations by the James Webb Space Telescope might be able to measure rotation if the right conditions were present. The James Webb Space Telescope is an infrared telescope due to launch in 2018, and it is capable of measuring the level of heat emitted by exoplanets.

The telescope would be able to measure the heat emitted from any high albedo clouds that are formed over the substellar point. An unusually low temperature at what is expected to be the hottest location on the planet could indicate that the planet is a potentially habitable slow rotator.

"From space, Earth looks like it is between -70 and -50 degrees Celsius over large regions of the western tropical Pacific because of high clouds there, even though the surface is more like 30 degrees Celsius," says Abbot.

It is also known than many planets that orbit cool M dwarf stars are either tidally locked, meaning that the same side of the planet faces the star all the time, or they are slow rotators. This research emphasizes the importance of looking beyond the traditional habitable zone for planets that could host life, and it turns out that planets we once thought were too hot might actually be just right for life.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Rotation_of_Planets_Influences_Habitability_999.html.