Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/371338
ByDiaaHadid The Associated Press BEIRUT The mother of a hostage American journal- ist pleaded for his release Wednesday in a video di- rected at the Islamic State group, while new images emerged of mass killings, including masked militants shooting kneeling men af- ter the capture of a strate- gic air base in Syria. Shirley Sotloff's plea came as a U.N. commis- sion accused the group, which dominates a broad swath of territory span- ning the Syria-Iraq bor- der, of committing crimes against humanity and President Barack Obama weighs options for target- ing the extremists' strong- hold in Syria. The Islamic State mil- itants have threatened to kill 31-year-old Steven Sot- loff unless the U.S. halts its airstrikes against it. Sotloff, who free-lanced for Time and Foreign Pol- icy magazines, had last been seen in Syria in Au- gust 2013 until he appeared in a video released online last week by the Islamic State group showing the beheading of fellow Ameri- can journalist, James Foley. Dressed in an orange jump- suit against the backdrop of an arid Syrian land- scape, Sotloff was threat- ened with death unless the U.S. stopped airstrikes on the group in Iraq. Addressing the leader of the Islamic State by name, Shirley Sotloff said her son was "an innocent journal- ist" who shouldn't pay for U.S. government actions in the Middle East over which he has no control. Appealing directly to Is- lamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who describes himself as a caliph, or Is- lamic leader intending to lead the Muslim world, she implored himtoshowmercy and follow the example of the prophet Muhammad. "You, the caliph, can grant amnesty. I ask you, please, to release my child. I ask you to use your au- thority to spare his life," Shirley Sotloff said on the video, which was first aired on the Al-Arabiya televi- sion network. It was widely retweeted by Islamic State supporters later Wednes- day with her face blurred because their ultra-conser- vative interpretation of Is- lam prohibits showing a woman's face. At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters he did not know whether Obama had seen Shirley Sotloff's video appeal, but he said the ad- ministration was "deeply engaged" in trying to gain release of all Americans held hostage in the Mid- dle East. "She obviously, as is ev- ident from the video, feels desperate about the safety and well-being of her son, and understandably so, and that is why our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Sotloff's family at this very difficult and trying time," SYRIA Ph ot os s ho w gr ue so me Islamic State seizure of base THEASSOCIATEDPRESS This still image from an undated video released by Islamic State militants on Aug. 19, purports to show journalist Steven Sotloff being held by the group. Sotloff's mother, Shirley Sotloff, pleaded for his release Wednesday in a video message aimed directly at his captors that aired on the Al-Arabiya television network. By Tia Goldenberg The Associated Press JERUSALEM Both Israel's prime minister and Hamas declared victory Wednesday intheGazawar,thoughtheir competing claims left ques- tions over future terms of their uneasy peace still lin- gering. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's com- ments, delivered in a prime- time address on national television, appeared aimed at countering critics of the war, with both hard-liners in his governing coalition, as well as residents of rocket- scarred southern Israel, say- ing the war was a failure be- cause it did not halt Hamas' rocket attacks or oust the group from power. Masked Hamas mili- tants carrying heavy weap- ons gave their own address upon the rubble of one de- stroyed Gaza neighborhood, though their own major de- mands won't be addressed until indirect talks with Is- rael begin again in Cairo. Israel and Hamas agreed to an open-ended truce Tuesday, with each side settling for an ambiguous interim agreement in ex- change for a period of calm. Hamas, though badly bat- tered, remains in control of Gaza with part of its mili- tary arsenal intact. Israel and Egypt will continue to control access to blockaded Gaza, despite Hamas' de- mand that border closures imposed in 2007 be lifted. Hamas is seeking an end to the Israeli blockade, in- cluding the reopening of Gaza's sea and airport. It also wants Egypt to reopen its Rafah border crossing, the territory's main gate- way to the outside world. Under the restrictions, vir- tually all of Gaza's 1.8 mil- lion people cannot trade or travel. Only a few thousand are able to leave the coastal territory every month. Israel, meanwhile, wants Hamas to be disarmed. "Hamas was hit hard and it received not one of the demands it set forth for a cease-fire, not one," Ne- tanyahu said. He said Is- rael "will not tolerate" any more rocket fire, and would respond "even harder" if the attacks resume. Addressing the future of Gaza, Netanyahu said that should Palestinian Pres- ident Mahmoud Abbas "choose peace," he would be happy for Abbas to re- gain control of the coastal enclave, which the Islamic militant group Hamas has ruled since it routed Ab- bas' forces in 2007. Netan- yahu indicated that so long as Hamas was in power, a negotiated solution to the conflict with the Palestin- ians was impossible. UNEASY PEACE Is ra el i le ad er , Ha ma s claim victory in Gaza By Josh Lederman The Associated Press WASHINGTON The White House is crafting a blame- it-on-Congress legal justifi- cation to back up President Barack Obama's impending executive actions on immi- gration. Facing an expected on- slaught of opposition, the administration plans to ar- gue that Congress failed to provide enough resources to fully enforce U.S. laws, thereby ceding wide lati- tude to White House to pri- oritize deportations of the 11.5 million people who are in the country illegally, ad- ministration officials and legal experts said. But Re- publicans, too, are explor- ing their legal options for stopping Obama from what they've deemed egregious presidential overreaching. A self-imposed, end-of- summer deadline to act on immigration is rapidly ap- proaching. While Obama has yet to receive the for- mal recommendations he's requested from Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, administration officials said the president is intimately familiar with the universe of options and won't spend much time de- liberating once Johnson de- livers his recommendations. After resisting calls to act alone in hopes Con- gress would pass a compre- hensive immigration fix, Obama in June bowed to immigration activists and said that "if Congress will not do their job, at least we can do ours." The most sweeping, controversial step under consideration involves halting deporta- tion for millions, a major expansion of a 2012 Obama program that deferred pros- ecutions for those brought here illegally as children. Roughly half a million have benefited from that program, known as De- ferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA. But while prosecutors are routinely expected to use their discretion on a case- by-case basis, such blanket exempting of entire cate- gories of people has never been done on the scale of what Obama is consider- ing — potentially involving many millions of people if he extends relief to parents of DACA children, close rel- atives of U.S. citizens or im- migrants with clean crimi- nal records. "The question is how broadly can the president extend the categories and still stay on the side of spec- trum of ensuring the laws are faithfully executed?" said Cristina Rodriguez, who left the Justice Depart- ment's Office of Legal Coun- sel in 2013 to teach at Yale Law School. Obama's goal had been to announce his decision around Labor Day, be- fore leaving on a trip next week to Estonia and Wales. But a host of national se- curity crises have pushed the announcement back, likely until after Obama returns, said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment by name and de- manded anonymity. BLAME CONGRESS Ob am a cr a s legal rationale for im mi gr at io n st ep s PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Thank you! By Peter Leonard The Associated Press NOVOAZOVSK, UKRAINE Pushing west in a new of- fensive along Ukraine's strategic coastline, heavily armed Russian-backed sep- aratist forces captured new territory Wednesday far from their previous battles with government troops. The bold offensive along a new southeastern front raised the prospect that the separatists are seeking to create a land link between Russia and Crimea, which also would give them con- trol over the entire Azov Sea. After a third day of heavy shelling that sent many res- idents fleeing, rebel fight- ers with dozens of tanks and armored vehicles en- tered Novoazovsk, a resort town of 40,000 on the Azov Sea, the mayor told The As- sociated Press. Novoazovsk lies along the road linking Russia to the Ukrainian port of Mar- iupol and onto Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed in March. The separatist attack ap- pears to have caught gov- ernment forces off guard, and they were scrambling Wednesday to build up de- fenses. The offensive also adds to growing evidence that the rebels receive Rus- sian support. Oleg Sidorkin, the mayor of Novoazovs said the rebel forces had rolled into town from positions near Ukraine's southernmost border with Russia. To travel to this spot through Ukraine from the main front line around Do- netsk and Luhansk, far to the north, the rebels would have had to cross terri- tory controlled by govern- ment troops. The more log- ical conclusion is that they came across the nearby Russian border. Ukraine and Western governments have long ac- cused Russia of a direct role in the conflict, supply- ing troops and weaponry. NEW OFFENSIVE Battle for Ukraine's southeast coast heats up EFREM LUKATSKY - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Relatives and friends say good-bye to volunteers Tuesday before they le for the eastern part of Ukraine to join the fighting against pro-Russian separatists, in Kiev, Ukraine. Deli-TastyBurgers-Wraps NewTo-GoSection Thursday,Friday&Saturday Lunch&DinnerBuffet Happy Hour with Cocktails, Food & Entertainment Saigon Bistro 723 Walnut St. Red Bluff 528-9670 | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2014 8 A