Hillary Clinton’s defense of her personal email server just got a little weaker 
By Natasha Bertrand5 hours ago(AP/Jim Mone) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses the summer meeting of the Democratic National Committee August 28 in Minneapolis. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has repeatedly claimed that she never sent or received information as US secretary of state that was marked classified at the time.It may not matter.There is more evidence that the information Clinton sent and received on her private server was automatically classified during her time as secretary of state — even though it wasn’t marked classified until this year.”That is because under federal law, information is classified by nature, not by marking,” Sean Davis of The Federalist writes. „As a result, federal classification authorities deemed that the information was classified the very second it originated, even if it was not marked as such until August 27, 2015.”In August, Reuters reported that Clinton’s emails contained „a type of information the US government and the department’s own regulations automatically deems classified from the get-go — regardless of whether it is already marked that way or not.”Davis, a former Senate staffer who worked for then-Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), looked at the 125 public classified emails sent or received by Clinton during her time as secretary of state and published several that were classified this way.‘Born classified’Reuters cited at least 30 emails made public that contained „foreign government information” — any information, written or spoken, provided in confidence to US officials by their foreign counterparts — which must be „presumed” classified.”It’s born classified,” said J. William Leonard, a former director of the US government’s Information Security Oversight Office in the White House’s National Archives and Records Administration from 2002 to 2008.”If a foreign minister just told the secretary of state something in confidence, by US rules that is classified at the moment it’s in US channels and US possession,” added Leonard, who worked for both the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.Among the 7,121 pages of emails the State Department made public Monday, 125 emails were retroactively marked classified and consequently contain redacted content.The Federalist points out that emails containing redacted information are marked with a redaction code, indicating the nature of the redacted content. For example, „1.4(D)” indicates the content has to do with „foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States, including confidential sources.”Next to that code is a declassification date. That date is usually 10 to 15 years from the time the classified information originated in the email — not from the time authorities got around to marking it as classified.
(AP/David Richard) Clinton speaks on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland August 27 during a „Commit to Vote” grassroots organizing meeting. Clinton’s unusual email system was originally set up by a staffer during Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. It replaced another private server used by her husband, former President Bill Clinton.The new server was run by Bryan Pagliano, who had worked as the IT director on Hillary Clinton’s campaign before joining the State Department in May 2009. In 2013 — the same year she left the State Department — Clinton hired a small Denver-based IT firm named Platte River Networks to oversee the system.Investigators are looking into the configuration of the server as well as whether any sensitive information was stored on the server after it was handed over to Platte River, which is „not cleared” to have access to classified material.NOW WATCH: This animated map shows how religion spread across the world
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What Joe Biden’s previous presidential campaigns can tell us about how he’ll make his big decision this year
Meredith Shiner Political correspondent Yahoo Politics September 1, 2015
Vice President Joe Biden, left, talks with Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., his longtime confidant and aide, in the U.S. Capitol in 2010. (Photo: Tom Williams/Roll Call via Getty Images)Vice President Joe Biden is expected to reveal in the coming weeks whether he’ll make a third bid for the presidency, closing out the last big, open question about the makeup of the 2016 presidential field and ending what has become the speculative political parlor game of the summer.As people try to understand what Biden might be thinking, it’s worth taking a look at how he approached his previous bids for presidency in 1988 (when he pulled out of the race amid a plagiarism controversy before voting began) and 2008 (when he dropped out after coming in fifth in the Iowa caucuses).One of the most instructive texts on this front is an oral history conducted by the U.S. Senate’s historian in 2011 with Biden’s longtime confidant and top aide, former U.S. Sen. Ted Kaufman. Kaufman spent decades as Biden’s chief of staff, then briefly filled his boss’s Delaware Senate seat in 2009 when Biden left for the White House.Kaufman’s extensive and multipart talk with Don Ritchie, now historian emeritus of the Senate, covered several key topics about Biden’s political life, including an entire interview titled “Biden for President.”While some things have obviously changed since Biden’s earlier races for the White House — age, experience, the emergence and evolution of the Internet — other important things have remained constant: Biden’s tight inner circle, his family-first nature and his pragmatic approach to politics. With that in mind, Yahoo News culled the lengthy on-the-record interview with Kaufman, who declined to comment beyond his previous accounts, to find nuggets that might reveal a little bit about how the vice president has previously weighed presidential decisions and is approaching the last big political choice of his elected career.For Biden, family set the terms for how and when to enter the presidential race:“Basically after the ’84 election we started preparing for a presidential election. Essentially what was done was there was a decision made. The first decision always was personal and family with Joe Biden, and by the way I think it’s underrated in terms of all politicians, there’s a number of misperceptions out there with the public, just like I’m sure it is in trying to understand baseball players or understand academics, but when you’re inside you realize that what drives most politicians’ decision is personal. How does it affect my family? If my family’s not going to be onboard for this campaign, I’m not running. … It’s a practical and a personal problem. You will probably fail, if you run without having your family squared away — we can go back through history and look at people who had done that, or tried to do that. So the first decision was: was the family ready to do this.”Biden thought years of advance planning made for a better White House bid:“I think we knew better than most people what was required. We knew that for this incredibly complex enterprise, getting started early was essential. You could run at the end, like Gore ran at the end in ’88 and did very well, so you don’t have to but it really was better to do it over the long pull. So we started in ’84 in terms of national scheduling.”
Why the Russian air force keeps recklessly testing America’s defensesFROM
Michael Kofman
REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin September 1, 2015 Russia’s intensified military overflights have caused Western consternation. Moscow’s strategic bombers and fighters plow the unwelcoming Western skies, violating airspace across Europe, and taking cruises to the Caribbean, South East Asia, and the U.S. coast. American allies from Japan to Norway are forced to scramble constantly to identify and escort Russian aircraft out of their air identification zones. A recent spate of accidents has dampened Russia’s campaign of aggravation, but it demonstrated an important point: The power to annoy should not be underestimated. When used right it works. For a low price, it can shape your adversary’s perceptions.Russia’s belligerent behavior is a campaign of annoyance designed to compensate for its lack of power projection. The point of this effort is for the United States to take it seriously as a strategic adversary, a threat on the existential plane, and to make the current confrontation over Ukraine harder to sustain for European allies. The overflights are not the sole cause of changing U.S. perceptions of Russia, but they have been a consistent and steady demonstration of hostile intent. They have made the U.S. national security establishment question existing assumptions that Russia does not seek actual conflict with NATO, and that Moscow would not engage in a reckless act of aggression. This provides some evidence that the strategy is working for Moscow.Weeks ago, incoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford called Russia an „existential threat” and its behavior nothing „short of alarming” during his nomination hearing. He was far from alone, and his comments were not an unscripted departure. Every senior commander up for nomination was reading off of a similar sheet of music. A few days before, two groups of Russian Tu-95MS-H strategic bomberspaid a visit to the California and Alaska coastlines as a reminder. The United States is steadily, and uncomfortably, adjusting to this Cold War level of activity and the increasing sophistication of Russian long-range aviation. Russia may not have carrier strike groups, a large fleet of amphibious assault ships, or remotely comparable expeditionary forces, but it can alter the only superpower’s threat perceptions.Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s statements last week further demonstrate that Russia’s efforts are having their desired effect. Calling Russia a „very, very significant threat,” Carter explained further that, although the threat itself is not new, „we have not regarded Russia as an antagonist,” and that Russia today behaves „in some respects and in very important respects, as an antagonist.”
Ukraine and the art of exhaustion
Dealing with Putin’s strategic incompetence Moscow’s objective is to change the U.S. perception of Russia, which is currently seen as a regional power in structural decline. Why would a superpower substantively negotiate and seek compromise with a country it expects will be weaker tomorrow? If time is on America’s side, then the logical approach is to manage the conflict in Ukraine, constrain Russia economically, and wait. There would be no trades on Ukraine’s fate, no grand renegotiation of the security arrangements in Europe, and little fear of Moscow’s rancor over increased U.S. presence on the territory of bordering NATO members. Russia also has little hope of deterring forward-leaning policies, such as additional troop deployments to Europe or arming Ukraine, if the United States perceives no possible risks to its own security. Simply put, the U.S. perception of Russia was a major problem for Moscow if it hoped to ever find a way out of this situation without capitulating.Lacking conventional power projection, Russia’s nuclear arsenal is close to useless. Certainly it can destroy the United States, but that’s been a long priced-in reality in American thinking — one that is governed by deterrence, arms control, and strategic stability arrangements Russia does not wish to break. Moscow may be sneaking out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, but that cheating hardly flips the strategic board for the United States. Vladimir Putin intentionally drops bombasticstatements about Russia’s nuclear readiness, and backs them by launching TU-22M3 nuclear-capable bombers. He’s not being flippant about the use of nuclear weapons, but playing a convincing part in an orchestrated display. In reality Russia isn’t expanding its nuclear arsenal outside treaty limits, or fidgeting with readiness. One of the advantages of ruling for over 15 years is you get to know your mark, and Vladimir Putin has used the power of annoyance effectively to get America’s attention. Outside of budget cuts, the word „nuclear” definitely raises eyebrows in Washington.To shift thinking in Washington, Russia had to put itself on every commander’s radar, literally, and those of Western allies as well. Among a laundry list of uninvited visits, Russia’s Su-24 frontline bombers buzzed American ships in the Black Sea, and a Su-27 fighter aggressively intercepted a RC-135U reconnaissance plane north Poland, resulting in official U.S. protests. These incidents spurred headlines and cable news discussions, all of which have a magnifying effect on perceptions. Sweden’s foreign minister stated his people were „truly afraid” of Russia’s unpredictable behavior after their navy’s submarine hunt last October, which ignited a media frenzy, although no Russian sub was found in Swedish waters. The power to annoy works best when the target’s media dominates, and runs with the message.These are not mere antics. They are the hallmark of a targeted policy of aggravation against a power that has become so unaccustomed to being challenged in the air domain that it is easily riled. Perhaps the best example of this was in March when U.S. officials asked Vietnam to stop allowing Russia to refuel its bombers in Cam Ranh Bay, in response to them circling Guam (U.S. territory) and flying around the Pacific. Given the extensive and historical defense cooperation between Russia and Vietnam, that particular request was ill-advised, but showed how prickly the United States could be. As incident follows incident, memos and PowerPoint briefings begin to add up. Russia steadily climbed through the ranks from a declining regional power to a strategic adversary.After finding a way to be taken seriously, Russia’s second problem is time. It is engaged in a strategic confrontation with the West, but decidedly at a disadvantage, facing the stacking pressure of low oil prices, economic recession and Western sanctions. Moscow is stuck in Ukraine with no victory in sight and its leadership could be one financial downturn away from dealing with an economic disaster. Russian leaders fear that sanctions and other punishments might stay in place longer than this crisis merits as a general policy of asphyxiation. As Milton Friedman once said, „[N]othing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” Hence, Moscow’s campaign makes European militaries worried and its leaders nervous that an accident could happen and escalate into a larger war. Russia is suffering and it wants to make sure everyone else is uncomfortable too.For Moscow, the strategic bomber flights are cheap inputs, yet grab newspaper headlines and raise concerns among ordinary people. European citizens and their representatives get the sense that this state of affairs is not without tangible costs for them. That message is important for Moscow, though it’s something everyone should keep in mind. Russia is not being reckless, it is appearing so in a calculated manner.The flights play well with his domestic audience, and Putin has never been as popular at home as he is now. Western media is inadvertently supporting this campaign. Headlines describing Russian bomber patrols in international airspace as a great menace paints Moscow as a global contender. There are few good news stories in Russia today, and even fewer opportunities for Moscow to appear as a major global power. One of the things it can still do, which most countries cannot, is pester the only superpower with long-range aviation. The Western response has only reinforced the concept behind these operations. Russia’s state broadcasters, such as RT, miss no opportunity to highlight how Moscow can thumb its nose at the West with impunity.These bomber flights are not without practical uses for Russia’s general staff. They train the air force along potential strike routes, investigate radar coverage, and measure fighter response times and air defense placement. However, Russia’s strategic bomber force is small and old, consisting of 16 Tu-160s, 60 Tu-95s, and 60 Tu-22M3s. It can’t sustain operations for long, the aircraft frames date back to the Soviet era, and replacement parts are hardly plentiful. The bombers are vulnerable; even if equipped with modern long-range cruise missiles the fundamental military balance remains unaltered. NATO has to adjust to new capabilities but there is not much new to fear. By flying at such a high operational tempo Russia is not furthering its military capability, but wearing it out. In the past two months Russia’s air force has suffered six crashes among different aircraft, a sign it is flying beyond what its maintenance can support, but this is a small price to pay to change the strategic thinking in the United States. Russia’s air force is second only to the United States in size, and with $130 billion dedicated to modernization, it is procuring new aircraft faster than its Western counterparts.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine remains the chief reason for why the West sees it as an adversary. The impact of this nuisance campaign should not be overstated. But to underestimate it is to fail to understand both Russia’s tactics and ourselves. Russia’s leaders want to be considered as the existential threat that the USSR was, a country the United States negotiated and compromised with, instead of chiding, sanctioning, and ignoring. Some have argued that this approach is ultimately self-defeating. However, these analyses of Moscow’s mistakes smack of overconfidence.Russia has convinced the United States that if mistakes are made, conflict escalation to the point of war between itself and NATO is possible. Russia’s conventional superiority in Ukraine and vis-à-vis bordering NATO members is quite real, as is its nuclear capability, whereas NATO’s „reinvigorated purpose” is mostly a wonderful slogan. A handful of aircraft conducting Baltic air policing (a mission recently cut by 50 percent) does not concern Russia the way NATO members shudder at the Kremlin’s bomber patrols. A „re-invigorated” Europe has hardly translated into substantive financial or security assistance for Ukraine either. Russia is stuck in Ukraine, not finished. Its job of making sure Ukraine doesn’t succeed is ultimately easier than the West’s goal of making sure it doesn’t fail. Furthermore, it has already ensured Ukraine will not be invited to NATO; now it’s just trying to keep the United States from becoming committed to the conflict.Russia expects no reconciliation and no improvement of relations with the United States in the coming years. Its plan is to deter hawks in the U.S. administration and convince the military establishment that it is serious. NORAD, Strategic Command, and other organizations tasked with ensuring the survival of the United States will not rest easy under the assumption that Moscow is bluffing, or that Putin is a poor strategist. The latter may actually worry them more. Meanwhile countries more personally vested in the survival of Europe, like Germany, will steadily diverge in policy over Ukraine as Russia ratchets up the tensions. Moscow realizes that it cannot attain the respect or acceptance of the United States. So it is cultivating fear. In 2014, President Obama described Russia as a „regional power” acting „out of weakness.” Thanks in part to its air force, in a year Russia has catapulted itself to the top of the U.S. threat list without having to add a meter of power projection capability.Michael Kofman is a Public Policy Scholar at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute and an analyst at the CNA Corporation. Previously he served as Program Manager at National Defense University. The views presented here are his own.If you are passionate about strategy, defense, foreign policy, and booze (yes, that’s right, booze) War on the Rocks offers some of the best commentary out there — and all by people who have been there and done it! Sign up for its daily email update here or subscribe to its RSS feed here.SHARE THIS!Try 4 Risk-Free Issuesof The Week magazine.
N.Korea would have ‘no chance’ in a conflict with South: US
6 hours ago
Bombs explode on a mountain range during a joint live firing drill between South Korea and the US at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, 65 kms northeast of Seoul, on August 28, 2015 (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-Je)Related Stories
Washington (AFP) – North Korea would have no chance of defeating its southern neighbor and its allies in a conflict, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday, days after the peninsula appeared on the brink of armed conflict.Last month’s inter-Korean crisis was triggered by landmine blasts that maimed two South Korean soldiers on patrol along the border with the North. A deal to de-escalate was reached last week.”We need to make sure that North Koreans always understand that any provocation with them will be dealt with, and they stand no chance of defeating us and our allies in South Korea,” Carter told troops in a televised broadcast.Carter referred to the latest tensions as a „dust-up,” and said they showed how quickly things could go awry.”Korea is one of these places that is a tinder box,” he said. „It’s probably the single place in the world where war could erupt at the snap of our fingers.”The US military has played a key role on the Korean Peninsula since the end of the 1950-1953 war. Close to 30,000 US troops are permanently stationed in South Korea.Seoul blamed Pyongyang for the latest crisis and responded to the landmine blasts by switching on banks of giant speakers and blasting propaganda messages into North Korea.The North denied any involvement and threatened to attack the propaganda units as cross-border military tensions soared. Those broadcasts were stopped under the deal.
Turkey’s new cabinet meets with first pro-Kurdish, veiled ministers 8 hours ago
Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (C – Front) poses with his ministers on September 1, 2015 after a wreath-laying ceremony at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in Ankara (AFP Photo/Adem Altan)Ankara (AFP) – Turkey’s new caretaker government that includes the first ever representatives from a pro-Kurdish party and a veiled minister held its first meeting on Tuesday to prepare to rule until snap polls in November.Related Stories
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu formed the so-called „election cabinet” after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the polls following inconclusive polls on June 7.The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) failed to win a majority for the first time since it came to power in 2002 but was also unable to form a coalition with the opposition.The cabinet met at the Cankaya Palace in Ankara after visiting the mausoleum of modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the official Anatolia news agency reported.The formation of the caretaker government is an obligation under the constitution if the elections are called by president.It should include representatives of all parties in parliament but the second placed Republican People’s Party (CHP) and third placed Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have refused to take part.The quota of posts allotted to the CHP and MHP have gone to experts from outside parliament and many are seen as loyal to the AKP.But two MPs from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Ali Haydar Konca and Muslum Dogan, have taken posts as EU affairs minister and development minister.This is the first time MPs from a pro-Kurdish party have cabinet seats and comes as the government is waging a remorseless offensive against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.Much attention has been given to the appointment of Aysen Gurcan as family and social minister, as she is the first woman wearing the Muslim headscarf to serve in the Turkish cabinet.Known for her conservative social views, the career academic is seen as the ideological architect of Erdogan’s drive to encourage families to have three children.Turkish media quoted her as saying at the weekend: „If a Muslim woman does not know how to make a borek (Turkish pastry) then that family is condemned to collapse.”Meanwhile, the new Tourism and Culture Minister is Yalcin Topcu, nominally independent, but a former head of the ultra-nationalist Great Union Party (BBP).Davutoglu also scored a major coup by persuading MHP MP Tugrul Turkes — the son of the party’s founder — to break the line of its leader Devlet Bahceli and join the cabinet.Many high profile faces are gone, including former deputy prime minister for economic affairs Ali Babacan and former foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Israel asks UN to reject Palestinian attempt to raise flag
By EDITH M. LEDERER and CARA ANNA6 hours ago
FILE – In this Sept. 18, 2007 file photo, the flags of member states fly outside United Nations headquarters. Israel on Tuesday Sept. 1, 2015 urged U.N. leaders to reject a Palestinian effort to raise their flag at headquarters as a non-member observer state as early as next month’s gathering of world leaders at the U.N. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Israel on Tuesday urged U.N. leaders to reject a Palestinian attempt to raise their flag at U.N. headquarters as early as this month’s gathering of world leaders there.Related Stories
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor accused the Palestinians in letters to the United Nations secretary-general and General Assembly president of „attempting to swiftly change longstanding U.N. tradition in order to score political points.”The flags of all 193 U.N. member states fly outside U.N. headquarters in New York and other U.N. offices — but not the flags of the two non-member observer states, Palestine and the Vatican.The Palestinians are seeking General Assembly approval of a draft resolution that would allow non-member observer states to raise their flags.Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour told The Associated Press that he expects a revised draft to be circulated on Thursday and a vote on Sept. 10, though a General Assembly spokeswoman said no date had been set.He said he expects an „overwhelming majority” of states to support the resolution.It states that „observer states maintaining permanent observer missions will raise their flags after member states,” Mansour said. And it gives Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon 20 days to implement the flag-raising provision.Mansour said he would like to see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas raise the flag after he addresses the General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders on Sept. 30. He said if the Holy See wants to raise its flag in time for Pope Francis’ visit to the U.N. on Sept. 25, „by all means — we’ll be there!”Several nations have shown support for the Palestinians’ pursuit of statehood, including the Vatican. In May, the Vatican officially recognized the state of Palestine with a bilateral treaty.Mansour said the Holy See had expressed support for the flag-raising idea in principle early last month. But last week, the Vatican’s mission to the U.N. circulated a note among member states saying it was not co-sponsoring the draft.Then on Friday, the Vatican issued a statement noting that by tradition only member states have displayed their flags, but adding that it would accept whatever U.N. decision is taken on the issue.Prosor’s letter called the flag-raising effort a „blatant attempt to hijack the U.N.,” adding, „As the gatekeeper of this institution, I call on you to reject this aggressive behavior.”The United States, Israel’s closest ally, opposed the Palestinian move.”We continue to believe that Palestinian efforts to pursue statehood or endorsements of statehood claims through the U.N. system that are outside of a negotiated settlement … (are) counterproductive,” U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, adding that this includes raising the flag.Mansour called Prosor’s letter „full of distortion and fabrications” and said the matter is up to member states to decide.The flags could be up quickly, Mansour said.”We did our homework. We inspected everything needed. There are holes for additional poles. There are poles,” he said. „Everything’s ready to go.”A spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters Tuesday that the U.N. will abide by whatever the General Assembly decides.”We’re moving into somewhat uncharted territory here,” he said._Associated Press Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Washington.
Migrant chaos at Budapest train station; Germany says EU rules still hold
By Krisztina Than and Madeline Chambers7 hours ago
View gallerMigrants face Hungarian police in the main Eastern Railway station in Budapest, Hungary, September 1, …By Krisztina Than and Madeline Chambers Related Stories
BUDAPEST/BERLIN (Reuters) – Hundreds of angry migrants demonstrated outside Budapest’s Eastern Railway Terminus on Tuesday demanding they be allowed to travel on to Germany, as the biggest ever influx of migrants into the European Union left its asylum policies in tatters.Around 1,000 people waved tickets, clapping, booing and shouting „Germany! Germany!” outside the station. Later they sat down, staring at a police blockade erected at the entrance.”Please, we are human too,” said a sign in German held up by a young boy in a smaller group which protested into the evening.A refugee crisis rivaling the Balkan wars of the 1990s as Europe’s worst since World War Two has polarized and confounded the European Union, which has no mechanism to cope with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of poor and desperate people.Germany is likely to accept by far the largest share. In the case of those fleeing the Syrian civil war it has effectively suspended an EU rule that asylum seekers must apply in the first EU country they reach.
A policeman tries to control migrants as ticket control rules now mandate each passenger to have all …But with trainloads of migrants rolling into Munich and Rosenheim from Austria and Hungary, it insisted on Tuesday that the rule was nevertheless still in force and urged other EU countries to abide by it.The vast majority of refugees fleeing violence and other migrants escaping poverty arrive on Europe’s southern and eastern edges but are determined to press on and seek asylum in richer countries further north and west. That means illegally crossing a bloc with no internal border controls to stop them.Hungary has emerged as one of the main flashpoints of the crisis as the primary gateway for migrants traveling over land through the Balkans and into the EU.Officials shut the Budapest train station altogether on Tuesday, then reopened it but barred entry to migrants. The decision was a reversal from Monday, when Hungary and Austria let trainloads of undocumented migrants head for Germany.Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said the closure was an attempt to enforce EU law. The presence of about 2,000 people camped out in 40 degree-Celsius (104-Fahrenheit) heat in the square next to the station showed how hard that would be.
A Swiss police officer accompanies migrants from Syria carrying their children, upon their arrival a …”We are thousands here, where should we go?” said Marah, a 20 year-old woman from Aleppo, Syria, who said her family had bought tickets for a Vienna-bound train.European laws, known as the „Dublin rules”, require asylum seekers to apply in the country where they enter the EU and stay there until their applications are processed, even though 26 members of the bloc have no border controls between them.The countries where most first enter the European Union – Italy, Greece and Hungary – say they have no capacity to process applications on such a scale.Germany announced last month it would allow Syrians arriving from elsewhere in the EU to apply for asylum without being sent back to the country where they entered the bloc.”The decision, driven by practical considerations … not, in most cases, to enforce the sending back of Syrian asylum seekers to other EU member states underlines the humanitarian responsibility of Germany for these particularly hard hit refugees,” a German Interior Ministry Spokesman said.
A migrant, hoping to cross into Hungary, walks along a railway track near the village of Horgos in S …”Germany has not suspended Dublin. Dublin rules are still valid and we expect European member states to stick to them.”WHERE SHOULD WE GO? European leaders want the 28-member EU to do more to organize the unprecedented influx.”For those refugees who are being persecuted or have fled war, there should be a fair distribution in Europe based on the economic strength, productivity and size of each country,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a joint news conference in Berlin with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.She and Rajoy both said the bloc’s executive European Commission should draw up a list of safe countries, making it easier to send home migrants who were not genuine refugees.
Migrants wave their train tickets and lift up children outside the main Eastern Railway station in B …The EU executive will outline new plans next week to share out refugees across European states and speed the deportation of unwanted migrants, the bloc’s migration commissioner said.”Some countries that were a bit reluctant … have changed their mind because now they realize that this problem is not the problem of other countries but theirs as well,” Dimitris Avramopoulos told Reuters.Thousands of migrants have drowned this year trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean in rickety vessels, while the peril of the overland journey was hammered home when 71 dead bodies were found in an abandoned truck in Austria last week.Austrian police said on Tuesday they had freed 24 teenagers from Afghanistan from a van in Vienna which had been welded shut, and arrested the Romanian driver. „It was like a rolling prison cell..they were crammed in, sitting and standing on top of each other,” said Thomas Keiblinger, spokesman for the police in Vienna. „They would not have made it too much further.”Political parties that oppose immigration have gained ground across Europe, not least in Hungary where the government has reinforced the border with a razor wire fence and deployed thousands of extra police. More than 140,000 people have crossed into Hungary from Serbia this year alone.
Migrants face Hungarian police in the main Eastern Railway station in Budapest, Hungary, September 1 …Antal Rogan, the parliament caucus leader of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling center-right Fidesz party, said on Tuesday „the very existence of Christian Europe” was under threat.”Would we like our grandchildren to grow up in a United European Caliphate? My answer to that is no,” Rogan told the pro-government daily Magyar Idok.German Labor Minister Andrea Nahles said the influx of refugees and migrants would mean an extra 240,000-460,000 people would be entitled to German social benefits next year, costing the state an extra 3.3 billion euros ($3.7 billion).Bavarian state minister for labor and social affairs, Emilia Mueller, said her state had been quick to set up an arrival and deportation centre for migrants from the Balkans unlikely to get refugee status but could not cope alone.”We have a system in Europe which no longer works and Hungary is making this very clear.”(Additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in Vienna; writing by Peter Graff; editing by Gareth Jones and Philippa Fletcher)
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Passengers stranded in dark after Eurostar trains suspended 1 hour ago
Lille (France) (AFP) – Eurostar passengers were left stranded in the dark after „trespassers” entered the tracks, in the latest disruption to the cross-Channel service by suspected migrants trying to reach Britain.Five trains — one in Britain and four in France — were prevented from entering the Channel Tunnel after people blocked the tracks in Calais at around 10:30 pm (2030 GMT) Eurostar said. A sixth train was also interrupted in Britain, a spokesman for French rail company SNCF said.”We have trespassers on the French side of the tunnel, which means that the traffic is blocked. Five trains are stuck on both sides,” a Eurostar spokesman said.”We are waiting for the police to clear the zone so that the trains and traffic can start again. Because we don’t know when the site will be cleared we really can’t say anything about how long the tunnel delay will be. It’s impossible for us to say right now.”Another train, travelling from London to Paris, was also forced to return to the British capital, according to the SNCF spokesman, who added that rail traffic had now resumed.”Security forces intervened to clear the track once it had stopped, and that blocked the Eurostar that was travelling to London and the power had to be cut for safety reasons,” the SNCF spokesman said.
A Eurostar train travels through the countryside near Maidstone in Kent, south east England, on Augu …Three Eurostar trains bound for London that were blocked from entering the tunnel have been completely freed, while a Eurostar blocked at the entrance to the tunnel had to return to Paris, he added.But by nearly 03:00 am Wednesday French time, some passengers were still left stuck on trains in what they said were intolerable conditions.”There is no more electricity and we have been left in darkness,” said Geraldine Guyon, a passenger who has been stuck on a Eurostar train from Paris to London for several hours, adding that the heat in the carriage is becoming „unbearable”.Passengers were earlier told the train was stopped because of problems with migrants on the tracks and a helicopter was seen flying above the train, but now the conductor has announced „the Eurostar cannot re-start because a window has been broken,” she added.France and Britain have brought in emergency measures to deal with a surge in the number of migrants trying cross the Channel Tunnel after people have been killed while making a desperate attempt to reach England.Some 3,000 migrants camped out in the northern French port of Calais have been ramping up their attempts to outfox hopelessly outnumbered security officials and police to reach what they see as the „El Dorado” of Britain.
Turkey raids critical media group after British reporters jailed By Burak Akinci and Dilay Gundogan in Istanbul6 hours ago
Ankara (AFP) – Turkish police on Tuesday swooped on the Ankara-based offices of a media group critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a day after two British reporters were jailed on controversial terror charges.The raids on Koza-Ipek Media sparked fresh concern about press freedom in Turkey, which is gearing for snap legislative elections in November, its second in five months.Six people have been arrested and a warrant has been issued for the conglomerate’s chief executive, Akin Ipek, who is thought to be in Britain, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.The swoop came a day after a court in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast ordered two British journalists working for US-based Vice News to be remanded in custody on terror charges.Ipek Media Group owns the Turkish dailies Bugun and Millet, the television channels stations Bugun TV and Kanalturk and the website BGNNews.com and is close to Erdogan’s political rival, the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.Masked police entered 23 offices as well as Ipek University in Ankara belonging to its parent company Koza Ipek Holding „as part of a terrorist investigation into Fethullah Gulen”, Anatolia said.
US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen is a former ally-turned-foe of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan …They were accused of „providing financial support to and disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organisation,” Anatolia added.Speaking on Kanalturk on Tuesday, Ipek denounced the operation as „baseless” and „funny”, adding: „If they (police) are able to find even a cent of illicit money, I am ready to hand my company over to them.” – ‘Concern over Turkish democracy’ -The move was the latest targeting supporters of the powerful „Hizmet” (Service) movement headed by Gulen, a former ally-turned-foe whom Erdogan accuses of trying to create a „parallel state” with the aim of overthrowing his government.Ali Haydar Konca, Turkey’s new EU affairs minister from the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), said the raids „cannot be justified”.
Exiled Turkish Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen left for the US in 1999 to escape charges of anti-sec …”I’m worried that operations targeting the media will create great concern across the world about the state of democracy in Turkey,” he added.For several years Gulen, whose movement brings together a wide range of interests, from schools and media to finance, was seen as a close ally of Ergodan and his Islamic-rooted AKP.But in 2013 the authorities blamed Gulen for corruption allegations that rocked Erdogan and the ruling elite, and the government launched an all-out war against him and his supporters.In December, police arrested dozens of people in raids on other media outlets with ties to Gulen. The pro-Gulen Samanyolu TV (STV) chief Hidayet Karaca has also been remanded in custody on charges of leading a terrorist group.- ‘Alarmingly false’ –
Turkish soldiers wait at a check point in Diyarbakir on July 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ilyas Akengin)As Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) prepare for elections on November 1 under the shadow of a major offensive against Kurdish militants, opposition journalists have complained of a squeeze on all critical media.The two Vice News British reporters and their translator, an Iraqi national, have been charged by a court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir with „engaging in terror activity” on behalf of the Islamic State extremist group.Vice News condemned the charges as „baseless” and „alarmingly false”, while leading rights groups have called for the immediate release of the reporters.A senior Turkish official said the Turkish government played no role in the arrests and is „not pleased” the three are being held, a senior official said Tuesday.In Washington, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner urged Turkey in general to „uphold universal democratic values.”
Women outside the Koza Ipek Holding building in Ankara on September 1, 2015, as Turkish police offic …”That includes freedom of the press, due process and access to media information,” he said.”We’ve made our views often and clearly to the Turkish government,” said Toner. „I’m not going to get into any specific diplomatic exchanges about this case we may have had. But they’re aware of our feelings about this.”The EU’s foreign service expressed concern over the arrests, calling for an „independent and transparent” investigation.Erdogan caused outrage in the run-up to June 7 elections by saying Cumhuriyet newspaper editor-in-chief Can Dundar would „pay a heavy price” over a front-page story which it said proved Turkey had sent arms to Islamist rebels in Syria.”You can’t hide the truth even if you silence all the newspapers,” Dundar wrote on Twitter Tuesday.The front page of the anti-government Sozcu daily carried blank columns signed by its columnists in protest at the „unprecedented pressure on the media, the likes of which was not seen even during Turkey’s coup era.”Meanwhile, Deniz Ulke Aribogan, an academic who hosted a TV show on state-run broadcaster TRT, said she had been fired over a tweet criticising the latest raids.Milliyet daily has recently dismissed two high-profile columnists — Kadri Gursel and Mehves Evin — after they wrote pieces critical of the government.
