ARAB TIMES, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015

11INTERNATIONAL

US Vice-President Joe Biden (right), flanked by US President Barack Obama (left), speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House on Oct 21, in Washington, DC. Biden announced that he is notrunning for president. (AFP)

Joe says no: Biden won’t run, a boost for ClintonUS Vice-President Joe Biden said hewon’t be a candidate in the 2016White House campaign, solidifyingHillary Rodham Clinton’s status asthe Democratic front-runner and theparty’s likely heir to President BarackObama’s legacy.

Standing under bright sun in theWhite House Rose Garden, Biden onWednesday - after months of tortured

indecision - spoke movingly aboutmourning the recent death of his son,Beau, a process he said does notmatch the political calendar. While hesaid his family was emotionally pre-pared to undertake a grueling presi-dential campaign, they arrived at thatdecision too late for him to mount acredible bid for a job that has long beenthe north star of his political ambitions.

“Unfortunately, I believe we’re outof time,” said Biden, flanked by hiswife, Jill, and the president.

Biden’s decision puts to rest theuncertainty hanging over theDemocratic primary. The race nowwill likely settle into a two-person con-test between Clinton and VermontSen Bernie Sanders, who has ener-gized the party’s liberal base but

lacks Clinton’s campaign infrastruc-ture and support from party leaders.

Biden was seen by someDemocrats as an ideal blend ofClinton’s establishment credentialsand Sanders’ populist appeal. Interestin his potential candidacy was fueledboth by an outpouring of affection afterhis son succumbed to cancer in Mayand the persistent questions about

Clinton’s viability, particularly amid rev-elations about her controversial emailuse at the State Department.

However, Clinton appeared to calmnervous supporters with a command-ing performance in last week’s firstDemocratic debate. What wasalready a narrow path to the presi-dency for Biden appeared to get evensmaller. (AP)

US First Lady Michelle Obama speaksat the University of Akron on Oct 21, inAkron, Ohio. Cleveland Cavaliers’LeBron James teamed up with MrsObama to celebrate the importance ofsecondary education at a privateevent at the University of Akron. TheNBA superstar, who went from highschool to the pros, and first lady arehosting thousands of children and

their parents at the school. (AP)

Stodder Christie

America

‘Warrantless phone tracking’: Anew policy allows the US Secret Serviceto use intrusive cellphone-tracking tech-nology without a warrant if there’sbelieved to be a nonspecific threat to thepresident or another protected person.

Homeland Security Assistant SecretarySeth M. Stodder described to a House ofRepresentatives subcommittee Wednesdaythe department’s policy on the use of cell-site simulators.

Civil libertarians and privacy advocateshave long expressed concern about thesuitcase-size devices, known as Stingrays,which mimic cell-towers to scoop up elec-tronic data that can be used to locate near-by phones and identify their owners. Thedevices don’t listen in to phone calls orcapture text messages, Stodder said.

The policy the department unveiled thisweek is similar to the one announced inSeptember by the Justice Department,which includes the FBI.

Federal law enforcement officers arerequired to get a warrant signed by ajudge before using Stingrays, exceptunder emergency “exigent circumstances”meeting the constitutional standard forprobable cause under the FourthAmendment, but when there is no time toget a warrant.

Stodder cited the example of kidnap-pings, such as a recent case whereImmigration and Customs Enforcement

In this photo provided by Vandenberg Air Force Base, an unarmed MinutemanIII intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a test re-entry vehicle islaunched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on Oct 21. The Air Forcesays the missile carried a test re-entry vehicle that headed for a target area4,200 miles away near the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Air Forceroutinely uses Vandenberg to test Minuteman missiles from bases around the

country. (AP)

officers used a Stingray to help locate andrescue a 6-year-old girl being held hostageby human smugglers in Arizona.

But Stodder said another allowedexception under the policy would let theSecret Service use Stingrays in “excep-

tional circumstances” without meeting thelegal threshold for probable cause. In suchcases, using the devices would require

direct approval from “executive-level per-sonnel” at Secret Service headquarters andthe US attorney for the relevant jurisdic-

Diplomacy

Obama turns to political dimensions of Afghan war

Pakistan to tell US won’t accept limitsISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON, Oct22, (Agencies): Pakistani PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif will tell USPresident Barack Obama this week thatIslamabad will not accept limits on itsuse of small tactical nuclear weapons,Pakistani officials said on Wednesday.

Pakistan insists smaller weaponswould deter a sudden attack by its biggerneighbour India, which is also a nuclearpower. But the United States worriestactical weapons may further destabilisean already volatile region because theirsmaller size makes them more temptingto use in a conventional war.

Sharif and Obama were due to meetat the White House on Thursday. TheNew York Times, quoting senior USofficials, reported on Wednesday thatthe Obama administration is preparingto sell eight F-16 fighter jets toPakistan in an attempt to bolster thetwo countries’ relationship despiteWashington’s concerns aboutPakistan’s growing nuclear arsenal.

The aircraft sales, which the USCongress could block, would be a sym-bolic step given Pakistan’s already largefleet of fighter jets, the Times added.

Weapons The United States wants Pakistan to

commit to not using tactical nuclearweapons but Islamabad wants to keepits options open as a way of deterring

a potential Indian attack, said MariaSultan, head of the South AsianStrategic Stability Institute.

Pakistan says the United States isdemanding unreasonable limits on itsuse of nuclear weapons and not offer-ing much in return apart from a hazypromise to consider Pakistan as arecognised recipient of nuclear tech-nology.

“Pakistan’s nuclear programme is ...India-centric. And it exists to makewar a non-option ... Tactical nuclearweapons block off this room (for war)completely”, said a Pakistani securityofficial with knowledge of the coun-try’s nuclear program. “No one candictate what kind of weapons we willmake or use”.

Pakistan was working on develop-ing a nuclear submarine, he added.“The goal is a sea-based second strikecapability”, he said, referring to a sub-marine that could carry nuclear war-heads and strike in case land-basednuclear weapons were wiped out.

US Secretary of State John Kerrymet Sharif on Wednesday but StateDepartment spokesman John Kirbydeclined to say whether a US call fornuclear restraint was discussed.

Kirby told a regular news briefingPakistan remained engaged with theinternational community on nuclearsecurity and added: “We believe that

they believe in the importance ofnuclear security issues”.

DialogueKirby also said the United States

encouraged India and Pakistan to engagein direct dialogue to reduce tensions.

“The normalization of relationsbetween Pakistan and India is vital toboth countries and to the region”, hesaid, while adding Kerry and Sharifdiscussed the need for more effortsagainst militants in Pakistan.

For the past two years, Pakistan hastested missiles that can reach all ofIndia, and very short-range missilesthat could be used if Indian troopscross onto Pakistani soil.

Pakistani Foreign Secretary AizazChaudhry said on Tuesday this was areaction to Indian threats to make a lim-ited, lightning raid with conventionalforces in case of militant attack, an ideaknown as the “Cold Start” doctrine.

“In India, they brought the Cold Startdoctrine”, he said. “So we have alsopreserved our deterrence capability”.

Meanwhile, one week after revers-ing his pledge to pull American troopsout of Afghanistan before he leavesoffice, Obama is turning to two corepolitical dimensions of the war: obsta-cles to a negotiated peace, andPakistan as a Taleban sanctuary.

Obama is welcoming Pakistani Prime

Minister Sharif to the White House onThursday for talks also expected totouch on US financial assistance toIslamabad and the prospects forPakistani acceptance of limits on thescope of its nuclear weapons arsenal.

Major breakthroughs are seen asunlikely.

The visit highlights the complexi-ties of a 14-year-old Afghan war thatObama inherited in 2009, escalated ayear later with a surge of Americantroops designed in part to force theTaleban to the negotiating table, andthen vowed to end before he hands offto a new president in Jan 2017.Instead, Obama announced last weekthat he plans to retain 5,500 US troopsthere beyond 2016 to continue trainingand advising Afghan forces and tohunt al-Qaida terrorists.

Obama’s decision was an acknowl-edgement that the war’s end game isnot going according to plan.

Relationship The US-Pakistan relationship has

been rocky over the years, not leastbecause of US concerns about thegrowth of Pakistan’s secretive nucleararsenal. The US is interested in mov-ing Pakistan toward an arrangementlimiting the scope of its nuclear stock-pile, but there are few signs that anybreakthrough is in sight.

WASHINGTON, Oct 22, (AFP):Vice Media’s website went darkWednesday to protest the detentionin Turkey of one of its journalistsreporting on anti-government unrestin the Kurdish-dominated southeast.

The news organization said itswebsites would be black for twohours, linking to a petition to freeMohammed Rasool, an Iraqi jour-nalist working as a translator witha team for Vice.

Rasool was arrested along withBritish reporters Jake Hanrahanand Philip Pendlebury and chargedwith “engaging in terror activity”on behalf of the Islamic Stateextremist group. The two Britishjournalists were later freed.

In collaboration with VICE News,the US-based Committee to ProtectJournalists launched a petition call-ing on Turkey’s President RecepTayyip Erdogan to release Rasool.

‘Vice’ goes dark toprotest journo arrest

tion.Asked whether that essentially granted

a blanket exception for the Secret Service,Stodder said that the exemption would notbe used in routine criminal probes, suchas a counterfeiting investigation. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

Govs lineup for GOP debate: NewJersey Governor Chris Christie, OhioGovernor John Kasich and US SenatorRand Paul have made the field of 10 can-didates who will participate in the nextprime-time Republican presidential debateon Oct 28, the debate’s host, CNBC, saidon Wednesday.

The prime-time debate includes the top10 candidates in opinion polls. The otherseven candidates in the debate are front-runner Donald Trump, retired neurosur-geon Ben Carson, US Senator MarcoRubio, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush,businesswoman Carly Fiorina, US SenatorTed Cruz and former Arkansas GovernorMike Huckabee, the network said.

A separate debate several hours earlierfor lower-polling candidates will compriseformer US Senator Rick Santorum,Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, formerNew York Governor George Pataki andUS Senator Lindsey Graham, CNBC said.(RTRS)

Congress

House speakership

Ryan movescloser to jobWASHINGTON, Oct 22,(Agencies): US congressman PaulRyan and hardline Republicans sig-naled Wednesday that he is closerto taking the role of speaker of theHouse after the majority of a con-servative faction offered their sup-

port.The House of

Representativeswill choose itsnew speakernext week,according tooutgoing speak-er John Boehner— who resignedunder pressure

from the rebellious conservatives.Ryan, who had been hesitant to

take the job, said he would only doso if the deeply divided Republicancaucus would unify around him.

On Wednesday he earned thesupport of many — but not all — inthe House Freedom Caucus.

But he said after a high-stakesmeeting with the group that despitetheir lack of official endorsement,he was moving forward with hiseffort to win the speaker’s gavel.

Support“I’m grateful for the support of a

supermajority of the House FreedomCaucus,” Ryan said in a statement.

“I look forward to hearing fromthe other two caucuses by the endof the week, but I believe this is apositive step toward a unifiedRepublican team.”

The Freedom Caucus met behindclosed doors Wednesday evening,with about two-thirds of memberssaying they would back Ryan,Politico reported. The group’s rulesrequire an 80 percent threshold totrigger a formal endorsement.

“We tried to reach a consensusbut we were not able to reach the 80percent threshold,” Politico quotedcaucus board member RaulLabrador as saying.

“There is some consensus thatit’s time for us to move forward,”he added. “We’re trying to moveforward in a positive way. It’s anoffer of support.”

The group later confirmed that a“supermajority” backs Ryan.

Developed“Paul is a policy entrepreneur

who has developed conservativereforms dealing with a wide varietyof subjects, and he has promised tobe an ideas-focused speaker whowill advance limited governmentprinciples and devolve power to themembership,” the caucus said in astatement.

“While no consensus existsamong members of the HouseFreedom Caucus regardingChairman Ryan’s preconditions forserving, we believe that these issuescan be resolved within ourConference in due time.”

Ryan has said he wants to changea rule that allows any member todemand a vote to oust a sittingspeaker of the House, and staunch-ly defended his need for “familytime,” as he and his wife are raisingthree young children.

Ryan, a Wisconsin native, wasthe 2012 Republican vice presiden-tial nominee. He chairs the powerfulHouse Ways and Means Committee,where he presides over tax policy.

Claiming the speaker’s gavelwould place him second in the lineof succession to the presidency,after the vice president.

Boehner announced thatRepublicans will pick their nomi-nee Oct 28, with the full House vot-ing the following day. He aims tostep down October 30.

House leadership was plungedinto chaos two weeks ago whenconservatives helped force numbertwo Republican Kevin McCarthyout of the race to replace Boehner.

Rep. Raul Labrador said thechoice was now up to Ryan, whomust decide “whether he wants toreally lead the conference.”

Caucus members, including Rep.Matt Salmon of Arizona, said Ryannow appears to have more thanenough support to prevail in asecret-ballot House Republicanelection set for Oct. 28, and in avote of the full House the next day.

“He has a supermajority of theFreedom Caucus, which means thathe clearly has more than enoughvotes from the conference, if otherpeople vote in kind, to get electedby a pretty healthy margin,” saidSalmon.

The Wisconsin congressman, areluctant candidate for the post, wasasked to run by mainstream partyleaders seeking to resolve a crisisset in motion when compromise-averse conservatives pushedBoehner to resign and then pres-sured his likely successor into with-drawing.

The same intraparty divide isroiling the Republicans’ presiden-tial campaign, with outsiders led bybillionaire businessman DonaldTrump dominating the field formonths.

Freedom Caucus members saidthat in offering their support forRyan they were not embracing thechanges he sought.

Ryan