Turkey coup suspects to wear brown uniforms, Erdogan says

Turkey's president says all suspected coup plotters and "terrorists" will have to wear an almond-brown uniform when they appear in court.

Obama says US restoring ties with Cuba (five decades after diplomatic relations were severed)

The United States will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba more than 50 years after they were severed, US President Barack Obama has said, just hours after Havana announced it had released a US aid worker who had been jailed for five years in Cuba.

"Today the US is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba. We'll begin to normalise relations between our two nations. Through these changes, we intend to create more opportunities for the American and Cuban people and begin a new chapter," said Obama.

The US president said he had spoken to his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro on Tuesday about arrangements to release US aid worker Alan Gross, who was arrested in 2009 in Cuba and jailed for five years, on humanitarian grounds.

US media reported a prisoner exchange that also included Cuba releasing a US intelligence source and the US releasing three Cuban intelligence agents.

Obama said he had instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to immediately initiate discussions with Cuba on the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, which were severed in 1961.

"In the coming months, we will re-establish an embassy in Havana and carry out high-level exchanges and visits between our two governments as part of the normalisation process," Obama said.
"As an initial step, the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs will lead the US Delegation to the next round of US-Cuba Migration Talks in January 2015, in Havana."

Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, said the trade embargo imposed on Cuba after ties were severed can only be lifted by Congress. 
"Senior administration officials tell me they don't think Congress is going to lift the embargo. We have seen several members of Congress come out and call the president's moves 'outrageous'," she said.
Cuban President Raul Castro said he welcomed the restoration of relations with the US.
In a nationally broadcast speech, the Cuban leader said profound differences remained between Cuba and the US in areas such as human rights, foreign policy and questions of sovereignty, but he said the two nations have to learn to live with their differences "in a civilised manner".................http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/12/cuba-releases-us-aid-worker-alan-gross-20141217142522855301.html
17/12/14
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Related:

• Russia considers maintenance of embargo against Cuba unacceptable

• France sends first foreign minister to Cuba in 30 years

• Obama administration: ‘Cuban Twitter’ discreet, not covert

• Les Cubains autorisés à voyager hors de leur île

US Senate report finds CIA interrogations 'far more brutal' than agency admitted

"Enhanced interrogation" techniques used by the CIA on militants detained in secret prisons were ineffective and never produced information which led to the disruption of imminent terrorist plots, the declassified report by the Senate Intelligence Committee has found.
The report said the CIA misled the public and government policymakers about the effectiveness of the programme, which ran from 2002 to 2006 and involved questioning Al-Qaeda and other captives around the world.

The report prepared by the Intelligence Committee after a five-year investigation said the techniques used were "far more brutal" than the CIA ever told policymakers or the public.
"This document examines the CIA's secret overseas detention of at least 119 individuals and the use of coercive interrogation techniques - in some cases amounting to torture," committee chair Dianne Feinstein said.

Speaking on the Senate Floor, Senator Feinstein said that the findings fell into four main categories:

• (1) that the so-called "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" were not an effective way of acquiring effective intelligence that was otherwise unattainable.

• (2) that the CIA provided extensive amounts of inaccurate information about the interrogation programme to the White House, to Congress, to the Department of State, to the media and to the American public.

• (3) that CIA management of the programme was inadequate and deeply flawed.

• (4) that the techniques involved were far more brutal than anyone had been led to believe.

The report, which runs to 6,700 pages, however, the committee also published a declassified executive summary of around 500 pages.
Senator Feinstein said the committee had found that at least 26 of them were wrongfully held.
She described how detainees were often stripped naked, made to wear nappies and put in stress positions from the moment they arrived in secret overseas locations. 
Detainees were also deprived of sleep for days, and she referred to one case of an individual who was kept awake for seven and a half straight days.
Specific examples of brutality by CIA interrogators cited in the report include the November 2002 death from hypothermia of a detainee who had been held partially nude and chained to a concrete floor at a secret CIA prison.
Commenting on the report US President Barack Obama said it “documents a troubling program involving enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects in secret facilities outside the United States.
"It reinforces my long-held view that these harsh methods were not only inconsistent with our values as nation, they did not serve our broader counterterrorism efforts or our national security interests.
"Moreover, these techniques did significant damage to America's standing in the world and made it harder to pursue our interests with allies and partners," he added in a statement.
"That is why I will continue to use my authority as president to make sure we never resort to those methods again.
"That is why I unequivocally banned torture when I took office, because one of our most effective tools in fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe is staying true to our ideals."
The report describes one secret CIA prison, whose location is not identified, as a "dungeon" where detainees were kept in total darkness, constantly shackled in isolated cells, bombarded with loud noise or music, and given only a bucket in which to relieve themselves.
It says that during one of the 83 occasions on which he was subjected to a simulated drowning technique the CIA called "waterboarding," an Al-Qaeda detainee known as Abu Zubaydah became "completely unresponsive with bubbles rising through his open full mouth," though he later was revived.
CIA Director John Brennan acknowledged that the CIA detention and interrogation programme "had shortcomings and that the agency made mistakes" but the agency pushed back against the panel's criticism.
The agency insists that information gleaned from detainees held and questioned in the CIA programme "advanced the strategic and tactical understanding of the enemy in ways that continue to inform counter-terrorism efforts to this day".
It was unclear whether the report would lead to further attempts to hold those involved accountable. The legal statute of limitations has passed for many of the actions.

Security stepped up at US facilities worldwide
Preparing for a worldwide outcry from the publication of the graphic details, the White House and US intelligence officials said they had beefed up security of US facilities worldwide.
The report charts the history of the CIA's "Rendition, Detention and Interrogation" programme, which President George W. Bush authorised after the 9/11 attacks.......................http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/1209/665563-cia-report/
9/12/14
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US prisoner swap angers domestic critics

The dramatic deal to free soldier Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for Taliban prisoners ignited criticism after the insurgents' leader declared a "big victory," but also raised hopes for peace as the US prepares to leave Afghanistan.

Washington has defended the swap as critical to saving Bergdahl's life, as his health had deteriorated sharply after five years spent as the only US soldier held captive by the Taliban since the war began in 2001.

But the exchange announced Saturday was criticized by Republican lawmakers, who said the five Taliban prisoners, all held at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, could return to the battlefield and pose a threat to Americans abroad.

• The Afghan president is angry at being kept in the dark over the deal and accuses Washington of failing to back a peace plan for the war-torn country, a senior source said on Monday.

• US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed hope it could lead to direct US talks with the Taliban, and support the Afghan-led effort to reach a peace that prevents the state from failing after US withdrawal.

AFP - Reuters
[globaltimes.cn]
2/6/14
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• Full Obama Statement on Prisoner Release

Syria gives Russia ceasefire plan for Aleppo

Syria has handed Russia plans for a ceasefire in Syria’s biggest city, Aleppo, and was ready to exchange lists with rebel forces on a possible prisoner swap, its foreign minister Walid Muallem told a joint news conference in Moscow with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov before a planned peace conference on Syria in Switzerland next week
“I count on the success of this plan if all sides carry out their obligations,” Reuters quoted Muallem as saying following talks with Lavrov.
“We would like this to serve as an example to other towns,” Muallem said of the plan for Aleppo.

The Syrian rebels backed by Washington have agreed that if the government commits to such a partial ceasefire, they would abide by it, Washington has said.
Muallem also said that Damascus is in favor to exchange prisoners.
“I informed (Russian Foreign Minister Sergei) Lavrov of our principled position in favor of an agreement to exchange those held in Syrian prisons for those taken by the other side,” he said.
“We are ready to exchange lists and develop the necessary mechanism for accomplishing these goals,” he added.
Washington and Moscow have been trying to negotiate some confidence-building measures and allow humanitarian aid to flow in the nearly three-year-old civil war.
Meanwhile, grisly images emerged from the Palestinian Yarmouk camp in southern Damascus showing bodies of people killed because of hunger or others who suffered acute starvation.
But Muallem denied that Damascus has besieged or attacked the camp.

Syria wants political solution

The Syrian foreign minister said that Damascus “wants a political solution” for the conflict that killed more than 100,000 people and displaced millions.
While Syrian government sent a letter to the United Nations on Thursday confirming attendance of the Geneva talks, it is not clear if the Syrian opposition will join the peace talks.
On Friday, the main opposition group abroad, the Syrian National Coalition, will meet in Istanbul to decide if it will participate in Geneva.
(With Reuters and AFP)
 http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/01/17/Syria-gives-Russia-ceasefire-plan-in-Aleppo.html
17/1/14
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• Le pouvoir syrien se dit prêt à une série d'avancées humanitaires

Le pouvoir syrien est prêt à prendre une série de mesures humanitaires pour faciliter la situation dans le pays en conflit et à échanger des prisonniers avec les rebelles, ont affirmé vendredi les chefs de la diplomatie russe et syrienne à Moscou. L'opposition syrienne en exil, divisée et sous la pression de ses parrains occidentaux et arabes, se réunit de son côté ce vendredi à Istanbul pour décider de sa participation à la conférence de paix de Genève II.

A cinq jours du coup d'envoi du rendez-vous diplomatique imposé par la Russie et les Etats-Unis, les délégués de la Coalition de l'opposition doivent engager leurs discussions à 14h00 dans le strict huis clos d'un hôtel de la lointaine banlieue stambouliote, a-t-on appris auprès d'un de leurs porte-parole.
Le débat, déjà mis entre parenthèses il y a dix jours, s'annonce long et difficile, tant les membres de l'opposition modérée au président Bachar al-Assad sont divisés sur l'opportunité de s'asseoir à la même table que ses représentants. "Prendre une décision de participer ou non à cette conférence n'est pas facile", a concédé à l'AFP Munzer Aqbiq, le conseiller du président de la Coalition Ahmad Jarba. "Le droit, la justice, le bien et le mal sont parfaitement identifiés dans le dossier syrien, alors faire des compromis sera douloureux", a-t-il anticipé.
En novembre dernier, la Coalition avait posé une série de conditions très strictes à sa participation à la conférence qui doit s'ouvrir mercredi prochain à Montreux (Suisse).
Sur le plan politique, elle a exigé notamment que les discussions se déroulent "sur la base d'un transfert intégral" du pouvoir et que le président Assad "et ceux qui ont du sang sur les mains ne jouent aucun rôle" dans la transition. Et sur le terrain, elle a également demandé un cessez-le-feu pendant les négociations, ainsi que des "couloirs humanitaires" permettant d'évacuer les blessés.
Ses exigences politiques ont d'ores et déjà été rejetées par Damas, qui a répété qu'il n'irait pas à Genève "pour remettre le pouvoir à qui que ce soit ni faire de transactions avec qui que soit", et qu'il revenait à Bachar al-Assad de mener la transition.
Sous l'influence de son fidèle soutien russe, le régime s'est toutefois dit prêt vendredi à prendre une série de mesures "humanitaires" qui répondent aux requêtes de l'opposition. A l'issue d'une rencontre avec son homologue syrien Walid Mouallem à Moscou, le chef de la diplomatie russe Sergueï Lavrov a évoqué la livraison de "cargaisons humanitaires" dans plusieurs régions,notamment autour d'Alep et Damas.

Assurances et réassurances
"J'ai informé le ministre Lavrov que nous étions prêts à échanger des détenus contre des prisonniers capturés par le camp adverse", a pour sa part annoncé Walid Mouallem. Sans évoquer un "cessez-le-feu", le Syrien a également évoqué un plan prévoyant "l'arrêt de toutes les actions militaires" dans la région d'Alep.
Conscients des réticences de plus en plus fortes qui l'animent, les parrains occidentaux et arabes de l'opposition ont multiplié ces derniers jours les assurances et les pressions pour les convaincre de participer à la conférence, condition sine qua non de sa crédibilité.
Jeudi soir encore, le secrétaire d’État américain John Kerry a une nouvelle fois exhorté la Coalition à faire le voyage en Suisse en lui assurant qu'il ne saurait être question d'y accorder le moindre avenir politique à Bachar al-Assad.
Dimanche à Paris, le président de la Coalition Ahmad Jarba avait publiquement évoqué ses "inquiétudes", "doutes" et "craintes" quant à l'issue de la conférence.
En coulisses, les Etats-Unis et la Grande-Bretagne, ont été plus directs, en menaçant directement de lui couper les vivres en cas de refus, selon des médias britanniques.
"La Coalition est prise entre deux feux. D’une part les injonctions à participer des +amis de la Syrie+, de l’autre ses membres qui refusent car ils estiment qu’ils ont trop à perdre", a résumé un diplomate occidental. "On peut s’attendre au final à ce que la Coalition envoie une délégation à Genève, mais à quel prix pour son avenir ?", a-t-il demandé.
La conférence de Genève II doit tenter de trouver une solution politique susceptible de mettre fin à la guerre civile en Syrie, qui a fait plus de 130.000 morts et des millions de réfugiés et déplacés depuis mars 2011. Vendredi, le Haut-commissaire aux réfugiés de l'ONU Antonio Guterres a exhorté les partie au conflit à accoucher rapidement de cette solution. "Il est absolument indispensable de mettre un terme à ce bain de sang", a-t-il dit.
AFP
 http://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_le-pouvoir-syrien-se-dit-pret-a-une-serie-d-avancees-humanitaires?id=8178199
17/1/14

Proche-Orient: pessimisme ambiant avant une nouvelle mission de Kerry

La libération de 26 prisonniers palestiniens par Israël avant la nouvelle mission au Proche-Orient du secrétaire d'Etat John Kerry, la 10e depuis mars, n'a pas dissipé le pessimisme ambiant sur les chances de progrès dans les négociations de paix.

Ces libérations, survenues mardi avant l'aube, sont conformes aux engagements pris auprès des Etats-Unis et des Palestiniens par le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu de relâcher en quatre étapes un total de 104 détenus palestiniens afin de permettre la relance des négociations de paix qui ont repris fin juillet dernier.
Deux premiers contingents de prisonniers avaient été relâchés le 13 août et le 30 octobre. Le dernier groupe de Palestiniens doit être libéré en février.
Les festivités qui ont accompagné comme d'habitude la libération des prisonniers -considérés comme des "combattants héroïques" chez eux- ont été dénoncées en Israël.

"Alors que nous avons pris une décision très douloureuse pour tenter de parvenir à la fin du conflit, j'ai vu nos voisins et leurs plus hauts dirigeants fêter des assassins", a dit M. Netanyahu à propos de la réception accordée par le président palestinien Mahmoud Abbas aux détenus élargis au QG de l'Autorité palestinienne à Ramallah en Cisjordanie.
"Ce n'est pas comme ça que l'on fait la paix", a estimé le Premier ministre, dont les propos étaient rapportés à la radio.

Plusieurs autres contentieux risquent en outre de peser lourdement sur les discussions à partir de jeudi de John Kerry qui doit rencontrer M. Netanyahu à Jérusalem et M. Abbas à Ramallah.

Selon des sources diplomatiques et les médias, il doit présenter pour la première fois un projet d'"accord-cadre" traçant les grandes lignes d'un règlement final aux deux parties.
Une première polémique porte sur la question de savoir si des Arabes israéliens -descendants des 160.000 Palestiniens restés après la création de l'Etat d'Israël en 1948- seront remis en liberté prochainement.

Selon les Palestiniens, M. Netanyahu aurait promis à John Kerry d'inclure des Arabes israéliens dans le prochain contingent à sortir de prison.
Mais le député du Likoud (droite nationaliste) Tzahi Hanegbi, très proche du Premier ministre, a démenti. "Le gouvernement devra discuter de cette question et je ne suis pas sûr que cela puisse passer".

Vallée du Jourdain et colonies
Deuxième pomme de discorde: le projet de loi adopté dimanche par la commission ministérielle des lois qui prévoit l'annexion de la Vallée du Jourdain, aux frontières entre la Cisjordanie et la Jordanie.
Cette initiative a été lancée par les faucons de la droite, y compris du Likoud, le parti de M. Netanyahu. Même si, selon les commentateurs israéliens, il a surtout une valeur symbolique, ce projet a été vivement dénoncé par les Palestiniens.
M. Abbas a proclamé que la Vallée du Jourdain était "une terre palestinienne" et que son éventuelle annexion constituerait "une ligne rouge que personne ne peut franchir". A titre de protestation, le conseil des ministres palestinien hebdomadaire s'est réuni mardi dans la Vallée du Jourdain, qui représente un tiers de la Cisjordanie.
Selon le ministre israélien de l'Energie Sylvan Shalom, le projet d'"accord-cadre" de John Kerry vise en fait à "prolonger les négociations, qui doivent s'achever le 29 avril, jusqu'à la fin de l'an prochain".

"Mais pour obtenir cette prolongation nous avons dû payer un prix très lourd avec la libération des prisonniers", s'est lamenté M. Shalom.
Enfin, le troisième contentieux immédiat concerne des programmes de construction dans les colonies que le gouvernement Netanyahu pourrait annoncer dans les prochains jours. Selon les médias, ils porteront sur 1.400 nouveaux logements.
Les Etats-Unis et l'Union européenne ont expressément demandé à Israël de s'abstenir de lancer des appels d'offre pour les colonies en même temps que le processus de libération de détenus, selon les médias.

A Gaza, le mouvement islamiste Hamas, qui contrôle l'enclave palestinienne, s'est réjoui de la libération des prisonniers, mais a dénoncé à nouveau les négociations de paix avec Israël.
"Nous rejetons les négociations avec l'occupant et nous n'acceptons pas que les colonies s'étendent en échange de la libération de Palestiniens", a affirmé le Premier ministre du gouvernement du Hamas Ismaïl Haniyeh lors d'une conférence de presse.
 http://www.rtl.be/info/monde/international/1058753/proche-orient-pessimisme-ambiant-avant-une-nouvelle-mission-de-kerry
31/12/13
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 Sur le même sujet:

• Israel aprueba la anexión de los asentamientos del valle del Jordán

• UN agency condemns Israeli demolition of Arab homes, urges adherence to international law

• Ρωσία και ΕΕ τάχθηκαν υπέρ των απευθείας συνομιλιών μεταξύ Παλαιστίνης και Ισραήλ

• Netanyahu calls on Abbas to address Israeli parliament.

  

   

High court orders California to release thousands of prisoners....

On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal to halt the early release of thousands of California prison inmates by the end of the year.
The Supreme Court did not comment on its decision, which supports a previous ruling by a lower court forcing California to free about 9,600 additional inmates by the end of the year. In 2011, federal judges ruled that the state must improve prison health conditions. Reducing the number of inmates was included as part of the process.
Since then, California has cut its prison population by about 25,000 inmates. State Gov. Jerry Brown claims that releasing even more could jeopardize public safety. It remains to be seen whether or not counties in California are equipped to handle the influx of inmates scheduled to occur.

"We haven't projected for them. They are not part of our population modeling. So you can't give them to us. We're not ready for this yet," Jerry Powers, a member of the Los Angeles County Probation Department, told the local ABC news affiliate in Los Angeles.
According to ABC, Los Angeles County could find itself making room for about 3,000 inmates in January 2014.
"The state's reclassification of mentally disordered offenders so that they're no longer mentally disordered offenders because of a signature on a piece of paper has resulted in an undue burden to our local county probation officers," Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich said. 

California is still trying to strike a deal with the courts that would delay the release of prisoners beyond the start of the new year. Gov. Brown has also signed a bill that would allow the state to hold inmates in private and county jails should it fail to arrange a delay of the January deadline. 
Attorneys representing the inmates are currently in the midst of settlement negotiations with the state. At least one is arguing that Tuesday’s decision should compel California to begin complying with the judges’ ruling.
“They already lost once and the Supreme Court said you don’t get a second bite at the apple,” Michael Bien, one of the attorneys representing inmates, said to Time. “Hopefully it’s the signal to all the parties that it’s time to comply with the three-judge court’s orders and move on with the reforms that are necessary, rather than resisting.”
 
This is just the latest chapter in a dispute that began in 2001, when a lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates argued that poor prison conditions violated inmates’ constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment. When federal judges agreed, California was required to upgrade its medical facilities and staff, and reduce overcrowding.

The Supreme Court’s decision to reject California’s appeal comes just over one month after inmates ended an attention-grabbing hunger strike at the state’s largest prison. In an attempt to protest the poor conditions they found themselves in because of the prison’s lengthy solitary confinement policies, about 30,000 inmates began refusing meals in a strike that would last for two months. By the end of the second month, the number of participants fell to 100, but lawmakers agreed to hold legislative hearings this autumn to discuss policy change proposals. 
http://rt.com/usa/high-court-california-prisoners-271/
16/10/13