Al Qaeda chief urges Westerner kidnappings - Yahoo News

Al Qaeda chief urges Westerner kidnappings - Yahoo News
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has called on Muslims to kidnap Westerners, particularly Americans, who could then be exchanged for jailed jihadists including a blind Egyptian cleric convicted in 1995 of conspiring to attack the United Nations and other New York landmarks.

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In a wide ranging audio interview, the al Qaeda leader expressed solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood which is facing a violent crackdown by the army-backed government in Egypt and urged unity among rebels in their fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the Zawahiri tape, but the voice resembled that of the al Qaeda leader.

"I ask Allah the Glorious to help us set free Dr. Omar Abdel-Rahman and the rest of the captive Muslims, and I ask Allah to help us capture from among the Americans and the Westerners to enable us to exchange
them for our captives," said Zawahiri, according to the SITE website monitoring service.

Abdel-Rahman is serving a life term in the United States for a 1993 attack on New York's World Trade Center.
Zawahiri also urged "jihad and overthrowing the criminal al-Assad regime" in Syria and renewed his call to end infighting among jihadists that increased this year, pitting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against rival rebels including other hardline Islamists. "The Ummah (Muslim world) must support this jihad with all that it can, and the mujahideen (Islamist militants) must unite around the word of Tawhid (unity)," said Zawahiri, an Egyptian-born doctor. "So everyone should prioritize the interest of Islam and the Ummah over

his organizational or partisans interest, even if he gives up for his brothers what he sees as right."

The infighting between the different rebel factions has hindered the battle against Assad and pushed rival rebel groups to consolidate power in their respective areas of control. Al Qaeda said it was breaking with ISIL in February after disputes over the group's refusal to limit itself to fighting in Iraq rather than in Syria, where the Nusra Front is al Qaeda's affiliate. Asked about the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Zawahiri answered: "the duty on every Muslims is to deter the aggressor by any means, and especially the oppressed Muslims." Security forces have killed hundreds of Brotherhood supporters and arrested thousands, including most of its leaders, since the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on July 3 following mass protests against his rule. Egypt designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization last year.

Group of deputies wants Gorbachev investigated over Soviet break-up - Yahoo News

Group of deputies wants Gorbachev investigated over Soviet break-up - Yahoo News
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
A small group of lawmakers have asked Russia's top prosecutor to investigate whether the last Soviet
leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, should face treason charges over his role in the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev dismissed the request as an act of publicity-seeking and said there were no grounds to charge him. It follows a surge of patriotism since Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last month, which has revived nostalgia among some Russians for the Soviet Union and boosted President Vladimir Putin's popularity ratings.

The seven-page request for an investigation says Gorbachev and other senior Soviet officials violated the law and the will of the people by letting the republics that made up the Soviet Union declare independence and break away.

"As a result of these criminal actions, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a global superpower, was destroyed and ceased existing as a geopolitical reality," says the letter.

View gallery

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev addresses students as he visits the International Universi … Signed by five lawmakers including two members of the United Russia party loyal to Putin, it was sent to Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika on Wednesday.

The Prosecutor General's office declined comment but said it generally
takes up to 10 days to decide whether to start an investigation.

Gorbachev is celebrated in the West for his policies of "perestroika" (restructuring) and glasnost" (openness) and not resorting to widespread use of force to hold the Soviet Union together.

But many Russians blame him for the superpower's collapse and some hanker for what they see as the relative stability of Soviet times.

"The catastrophic consequences have manifested themselves throughout the years since the collapse of the USSR, in Russia as well as on the territory of the (other) former Soviet republics," the lawmakers wrote,
describing the crisis in Ukraine as among the consequences.

View gallery

U.S. President George Bush checks his watch during the joint news conference with Soviet President M … The 83-year-old Nobel Peace

Prize laureate said: "Such calls only reflect how certain lawmakers
seek their own PR and like being talked about, but the request is
completely ill-considered and absolutely unjustified from the point of
view of historic facts."

Gorbachev has repeatedly criticized Putin and his treatment of political dissent, saying Russia needs a new system of governance. He also co-publishes an independent newspaper that is critical of the Kremlin.

Senate approves jobless aid extension

Senate approves jobless aid extension
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
The U.S. Senate approved legislation Monday that would reinstate expired jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, but the proposal faces opposition from House Republicans who say it doesn't do enough to
spur job creation. The bill passed 59-38.

The bipartisan Senate bill, crafted by Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., is a short-term fix. It would reinstate benefits for five months and would be paid retroactively through May.

Unemployment benefits for workers who have been unemployed for longer than 26 weeks expired in December. About 2.79 million Americans will be eligible for benefits if the extension is approved.

The nearly $10 billion cost of the extension would be paid for by extending custom user fees through 2024 and by allowing companies to change the way they pay in to their pension programs.

The legislation faces an uncertain fate. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, says he does not support extending jobless benefits if the package does not include any provisions intended to create jobs.

"I made clear that if we're going to consider dealing with emergency unemployment, we ought to do something about creating better jobs in America, higher wages in America," Boehner recently told reporters. Asked whether he was concerned about the millions affected by the congressional impasse, he replied, "What those people want is a chance at a good job, and I'm trying to get them one."

President Obama said in a statement after the Senate vote, "Each week Congress fails to act on this crucial issue, roughly 70,000 long-term unemployed Americans lose their vital economic lifeline. I urge House Republicans to stop blocking a bipartisan compromise that would stem this tide, take up the bill without delay, and send it to my desk."

There is support among House Republicans to amend the package and send it back to the Senate, but there is no consensus on what to ask for in exchange for their support. Proposals have been floated on a number of issues, including job training programs, approval of construction for the Keystone XL oil pipeline or the repeal of an unpopular tax on medical devices.

The House has previously bowed to pressure from the Senate and public demand to extend jobless benefits without conditions.
At least seven House Republicans from centrist districts asked the speaker to put the bill to a vote. The measure would probably pass on the strength of Democratic support.

GOP Reps. Pete King, Chris Gibson and Michael Grimm of New York; Frank LoBiondo, Chris Smith and
Jon Runyan of New Jersey, and Joe Heck of Nevada are all publicly in support of reinstating the unemployment benefit.
Jobs and the economy are a top focus for both parties in the 2014 midterm elections.

Senate Democrats will move forward in the coming weeks on legislation on pay equity for female workers and a federal hike in the minimum wage. Republicans have rejected those Democratic efforts as election-year
gambits to motivate their base, noting that efforts by GOP lawmakers, such as Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to forge a compromise on the wage increase have been dismissed by Democrats.