The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Hundreds flee homes as wildfire rages near California coast
- U.S. seeks North Korean amnesty for American jailed for 15 years
- Boston bombing suspects had planned July 4 attack, official says
| Hundreds flee homes as wildfire rages near California coast Posted: 02 May 2013 09:02 PM PDT CAMARILLO, California (Reuters) - A wind-driven wildfire raging along the California coast north of Los Angeles prompted the evacuation of hundreds of homes and a university campus on Thursday as flames engulfed several farm buildings and recreational vehicles near threatened neighbourhoods.
A smaller blaze in Riverside County, 80 miles (128 km) to the east, destroyed two houses and damaged two others before firefighters halted its spread, and at least five additional wildfires were burning in Northern California. The outbreak of brush and wildfires marked a fierce start to a fire season in California that weather forecasters predict will be worsened by a summer of high temperatures and drought throughout much of the U.S. West. The largest of the blazes erupted about 6:30 a.m. beside the U.S. 101 freeway, less than 10 miles (16 km) inland from the Pacific coast, and quickly consumed 6,500 acres (2,630 hectares) of dry, dense chaparral and brush near the communities of Camarillo and Newbury Park, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Los Angeles. Hot, dry Santa Ana winds fanned the so-called Springs Fire southward toward the ocean for much of the day, prompting authorities to close a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway. Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Bill Nash said no injuries were reported. News footage broadcast by KTLA-TV showed heavy smoke in the area and flames engulfing recreational vehicles parked near the evacuation zone. Later footage showed several farm sheds and other structures at the edge of an agricultural field going up in flames, apparently ignited by burning embers. Fire department spokesman Tom McHale told KTLA that authorities were worried people could be exposed to toxic fumes that might be released from agricultural facilities. 'NERVE-WRACKING' "The winds are a big factor in this firefight," he said. "Our concern is with pesticides and fumigants and things of that nature." Ventura fire department spokeswoman Lori Ross later confirmed that a number of homes, vehicles and farm buildings had been damaged, but she had no details about the extent of property losses. Emergency calls were placed to residents of two subdivisions near Camarillo and scattered houses along the coastal highway telling them to flee the fire zone, an evacuation encompassing 855 homes and thousands of people, Ventura County sheriff's spokesman Eric Buschow said. Evacuations were also ordered for the California State University at Channel Islands campus, according to a bulletin posted on the fire department website. "It was nerve-wracking," said Shannon Morris, 19, a first-year psychology major at the school, recounting the ominous sight of flames creeping over a nearby hill as she and a friend drove away from the campus in her car. "The whole sky was gray and the sun was like burning red." Phil Gibbons, 57, a writer who works from home near the campus, said he realized the fire was close when he looked out his back window and saw heavy smoke blanketing his normally pristine view of a canyon. "When I left, I was actually really, really frightened," said Gibbons, one of 70 evacuees at a Camarillo shelter. "I thought it was only a matter of time that the houses (in his neighbourhood) would catch fire." WATER-DROPPING AIRCRAFT More than 500 firefighters were dispatched to battle the blaze, along with six water-dropping helicopters and several bulldozers. Airplanes equipped to drop payloads of fire-retardant chemicals were grounded by high winds and thick smoke in the area, officials said. At Point Mugu Naval Air Station, a coastal installation south of Camarillo, all non-essential personnel on the coast south of the fire were sent home early, spokesman Vance Vasquez said, adding that the base was not in immediate danger. Evacuation orders were lifted for some areas on Thursday afternoon as the Santa Ana winds eased and cooler offshore breezes picked up, allowing firefighters to gain 10 percent containment of the blaze. Officials said it would be up to administrators at the university to decide whether students could return on Friday, when temperatures were expected to reach into the 90s (30s C) again, complicating efforts to fully contain the fire. "We're not going to call this thing caught until we have a good line around it and that line can hold the conditions that are presenting at the time," Ventura County Fire Captain Mike Lindbery said. "There's a real good chance that right after the sun goes down, we could have heavy winds blowing once again," he said. The separate blaze east of Los Angeles in Riverside County erupted on vegetation in a roadway centre divider and quickly swept across 12 acres (5 hectares) of brush, destroying two houses before firefighters managed to halt the advancing flames. That blaze, apparently triggered by a discarded cigarette or some other hot object, was reported completely contained within hours. It destroyed five outbuildings, 10 vehicles and a parked boat, Riverside County fire spokesman Mark Annas said. (Additional reporting by Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Tim Dobbyn and Peter Cooney) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| U.S. seeks North Korean amnesty for American jailed for 15 years Posted: 02 May 2013 07:58 PM PDT SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea sentenced an American citizen to 15 years of hard labour on Thursday for what it said were crimes against the state, prompting the United States to call for his immediate release to keep him from becoming a bargaining chip between the two countries.
Kenneth Bae, 44, was born in South Korea but is a naturalized U.S. citizen and studied psychology for two years at the University of Oregon. His sentencing comes after two months of sabre-rattling that saw North Korea threaten the United States and South Korea with nuclear war. Pyongyang has previously tried to use American prisoners as negotiation assets in talks with Washington. Washington is not looking for an envoy to try to secure Bae's release as it has sometimes done, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said the United States has sought in recent years to break out of a pattern of having to resolve repeated crises with North Korea through transactional deals. "We urge the DPRK (North Korea) to grant Mr. Bae amnesty and immediate release," State Department deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell said. It was not clear if Bae had been taken immediately to jail. Bruce Klingner, a former CIA North Korea analyst, dismissed the idea that Bae's release would trigger the renewal of long-stalled diplomacy. "Previous arrests of U.S. citizens didn't lead to changes in North Korean policy, resumption of bilateral dialogue or breakthroughs in U.S.-North Korean relations," said Klingner, a senior fellow at Washington's Heritage Foundation think tank. Human rights activists in South Korea say Bae may have been arrested for taking pictures of starving children. FAMILY SAYS 'BAFFLED' Bae is "a committed Christian," said David Ross, director of a missionary training centre at Antioch World Ministries Inc in Monroe, Washington. "He has feelings for orphans and has done some ministry work feeding orphans," added Ross, who said he has been a casual acquaintance of Bae since they met four years ago through church affiliations in Hawaii. "He has a missionary heart," Ross said. Bae's mother, Myung-Hee Bae, told Reuters in a brief telephone interview that she had last spoken to her son on April 23 and that he told her during the call that he was well. Myung-Hee Bae, who lives in the Seattle area, said it was the only call she had received from her son since he was detained. His sister, Terri Chung, told CNN in an interview that he had been working as a tour guide bringing people from China into North Korea and that he had never before run into trouble doing so. "We can't really know for sure why he would be arrested. He's only had the biggest heart for the people and the nation of North Korea," she said. "We are baffled just like anybody else about why a man like my brother could be arrested." "We just pray and ask for leaders of both nations to please just see him as one man caught in between and we just ask that he be allowed to come home," Chung said. Bae was one of five tourists who visited the northeastern North Korean city of Rajin in November and has been held since then. The State Department recommends that U.S. citizens avoid travel to North Korea, although it does not block trips. "U.S. citizens crossing into North Korea, even accidentally, have been subject to arbitrary arrest and long-term detention," reads the department's travel warning, updated in March. NEGOTIATING CARD? Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who has made numerous trips to North Korea that included efforts to free detained Americans, said Bae's case should not become entangled in the current U.S.-North Korea impasse. "Now that the sentencing and the North Korean legal process has been completed, it is important that negotiations begin to secure Kenneth Bae's release on humanitarian grounds or a general amnesty," said Richardson, who visited North Korea in January with Google Inc CEO Eric Schmidt. White House spokesman Jay Carney said any negotiations with North Korea were "dependent upon the North Koreans demonstrating a willingness to live up to their international obligations." North Korea is the subject of U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for an end to its nuclear and missile tests, as well as punitive U.N. sanctions. Some media reports have identified Bae as the leader of the tour group. NK News, a specialist North Korea news website, said he was the owner of a company called Nation Tours that specialized in tours of northeastern North Korea. The reports could not be verified and North Korean state news agency KCNA did not list any specific charge other than crimes against the state, and used a Korean rendering of Bae's name, Pae Jun-ho, when it reported the Supreme Court ruling. "North Korea has shown their intention to use him as a negotiating card as they have done in the past," said Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, a think tank in Seoul. North Korea appears to use the release of high-profile American prisoners to extract a form of personal tribute, rather than for economic or diplomatic gain, often portraying visiting dignitaries as paying homage. 'HEFTY' SENTENCE Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who has travelled to North Korea before to try to free a detained American, has no plans to do so for Bae, Carter's spokeswoman said. According to North Korean law, the punishment for hostile acts against the state is between five and 10 years' hard labour. "I think his sentencing was hefty. North Korea seemed to consider his acts more severe," said Jang Myung-bong, honorary professor at Kookmin University in Seoul and a North Korea law expert. North Korea is one of the most isolated states on earth. Its official policy of "Juche," or self-reliance, is a fusion of Marxism, extreme nationalism and self-sufficiency centred on the cult of the ruling Kim family. Bae likely will not be incarcerated in one of the North's notorious slave labour camps, such as the one where defector Kwon Hyo-jin was locked up. There, Kwon said, prisoners were worked to death and often survived only by eating rats and snakes. "If an American served jail together with North Korean inmates, which won't happen, he could tell them about capitalism or economic developments. That would be the biggest mistake for North Korea," said Kwon, a North Korean sentenced to a camp for seven years until 2007. He defected to South Korea in 2009. "(Bae) would be sent to a correctional facility that only houses foreigners and was set up as a model for international human rights groups." Bae's sentencing brought bad back memories for Euna Lee, one of two U.S. journalists sentenced to 12 years in 2009 and released only after a visit to Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton. She cried out loud in the courtroom when her labour camp sentence was handed down. "The word 'labour camp' took the tiny hope I had away from me. I was physically and mentally weak and I really thought I would not make it home," South Korea-born Lee said via email. Lee, then a journalist for Current TV, said her 12-year sentence included two years for illegal border crossing and 10 for the "hostile act" of making a documentary on North Koreans who risk their lives fleeing their country for nearby China. Bae was given counsel by the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang because the United States does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea. The embassy has declined to comment on the case and Ventrell said the Swedes did not attend Bae's trial. (Additional reporting by Christine Kim in Seoul, Matt Spetalnick and Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Laura L. Myers in Seattle and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Alistair Bell, David Brunnstrom and Mohammad Zargham) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Boston bombing suspects had planned July 4 attack, official says Posted: 02 May 2013 07:09 PM PDT BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The two brothers suspected of carrying out the deadly attacks on the Boston Marathon had originally planned to set off their bombs on July 4, a law enforcement official said.
The official said the suspects, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, advanced the date of their attack because they completed building bombs more quickly then they originally anticipated. The official declined to be identified and did not offer more details. Police say the brothers detonated two bombs made with pressure-cookers in the April 15 attack on the Boston Marathon that killed three people and wounded 264. An attack on Boston's packed July 4 celebrations would have carried the extra symbolism of disrupting the city's widely followed Independence Day celebrations. Citing unnamed officials, The Boston Globe reported on its website that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger brother who was captured by police four days after the bombing, told investigators the pair discussed detonating their explosives at the city's famed celebration on its Charles River Esplanade. News of the alleged July 4 attack plan and other details supplied by Tsarnaev to investigators was earlier reported by The New York Times and other media outlets. NBC News, also citing unnamed officials, reported Tsarnaev told investigators the bombs were made in the home of his brother Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout with police early on April 19. The Times reported the ethnic Chechen brothers also considered suicide attacks and that they had viewed online sermons by Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical U.S.-born cleric who was killed by an American drone strike in Yemen in 2011. There is no indication the brothers communicated with Awlaki, however, the newspaper reported on its website. What, if any, ties the two suspects had with foreign militants is a key question for investigators trying to determine how the pair became radicalized. How they selected their target would also shed light on their mindset. Mitch Silber, executive managing director at K2 Intelligence and former head of intelligence analysis at the New York City Police Department, said a July 4 attack in Boston might have been more deadly given the fact that greater numbers of people gather for the city's annual celebration. Former federal prosecutor Mark Rasch said a July 4 attack would have sent a stronger message. "The essence of terrorism is all about symbolism," Rasch said. "The Boston Marathon just does not have as much of a symbolic feeling as the Fourth of July to the United States." Tamerlan Tsarnaev was 26 when he was killed in the shootout with police in Watertown, Massachusetts. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was wounded in the shootout and captured later that day. Both are also suspected of killing a university police officer. Another officer was badly wounded in the Watertown confrontation. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with crimes in connection with the bombing that could carry the death penalty if he is convicted, and is being held at a prison medical facility in Devens, Massachusetts. SUSPECT'S BODY CLAIMED Tamerlan Tsarnaev's remains were claimed on behalf of his family on Thursday. His body had been kept at a Boston facility for more than a week. Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Massachusetts, said a funeral services company retained by the family had claimed the body. Harris declined to provide details including the cause of death or where the body had been taken. On Tuesday, Tsarnaev's widow, Katherine Russell, said through an attorney that she wished his remains to be released to the Tsarnaev family. Russell's attorney could not immediately be reached on Thursday. Investigators have questioned Russell as they seek clues about how the suspects allegedly built the two bombs used in the attack and whether they had help. The Tsarnaevs' parents previously lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but have since returned to Russia. Other relatives remain in the United States, including an uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Maryland. Officials said on Thursday that three men who had been charged with interfering with the investigation of the bombing were in custody at a jail in Middleton, Massachusetts, a small town about 20 miles (30 km) North of Boston. The three 19-year-olds - Azamat Tazhayakov, Dias Kadyrbayev and Robel Phillipos - had been transported to the Essex County Correctional Facility in Middleton on Wednesday after they were charged in Boston. Authorities have described them as college friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. (Additional reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Copyright © 2013 Reuters |
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