Beltway Insider: 8K Dead, World Sends Aid to Nepal; Lynch Approved; ISIS Offensive; Morsi Sentenced

President Obama called for complete disclosure to members of the media regarding the killing of two citizens, one American and one Italian, held captive by Al-Qaeda terrorists during a counterterror strike in January authorized by his office.

According to Gallup, President Obama's job approval, over the past week, increased four percentage points to 46% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as President decreased three percentage points to 48%. 

Nepal Hit with Major Quake; 10K Feared Dead; 7000 Injured; Toll Expected to Climb

President Obama, has authorized $1 million dollars in disaster relief sent to Nepal, the tiny country bordering India and Tibet, hit with a major shallow focused 7.8 earthquake, followed by three significant aftershocks that left the Tibetan nation reeling.

The initial major shallow focused quake struck at around noon Saturday, near the capital of Kathmandu, and lasted, with sustained shaking, for nearly 90 seconds. First reports indicated widespread damage with limited loss of life, as reports continued to escape through the damaged communications systems, the devastation estimates increased with major casualty expected.

Ancient temples that had stood the test of time for thousands of years have been reduced to rubble burying those inside. Nepalese are spending a second night outside, as the aftershocks continue to rumble through this shell shocked nation, feeling safer in the open air then in severely weakened structures.

The shallow quake struck at a depth less than 70km from the surface. Scenes of mass devastation and death are repeating across the Nepal capital, home to 700,000 and an additional 2.5million inhabit the Tibetan valley, as first responders and world aid begins to arrive. Cremation has already begun to curb the spread of disease.

Rescue efforts, for the nearly 4 million affected by the initial quake and significant aftershocks, are severely hampered by lack of necessary equipment, unstable and potentially dangerous buildings and fear of additional aftershocks with survivors digging through rubble by hand.

United States, World Offers AID

President Obama has been briefed on the precarious situation in Nepal as the nation reels from the massive 7.8 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. The president has allocated 1 million dollars in first responder aid and has sent disaster teams.

Pakistan has sent four aircraft carrying a thirty bed field hospital, along with first responder supplies. Israel has sent disaster teams and supplies; the United States teams are refueling midair to hasten response time. Nations are responding to the devastation with joined relief efforts.

18 Climbers Killed in Everest Avalanche; 217 Missing

Reports coming from other parts of the region stunned the world, as climbing season on Mt. Everest has just begun, the early trekkers scaling the 32,000ft peak, the highest in the world, were caught in an avalanche triggered by the massive quake.

The avalanche began on Mt. Pumori, a smaller 22,996 ft. peak, and quickly gathered momentum obliterating everything in its path. The wall of snow harnesses a force similar to the devastation the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami triggered by a 9.0 quake, the power continues until impact slows it.

Smaller avalanches, triggered by the repeated aftershocks, are continuing to torture the Tibetan people and teams stranded on Everest.

Reports from Patan, Nepal and Everest Base Camp Survivors Via Twitter

Siobhan Heanue, reporter for ABC News Australia, was in Patan, Nepal at the time of the earthquake. She used Twitter, the micro-messaging platform, to post before and after photos and provide on the ground coverage. Her live reports can be found here: https://twitter.com/siobhanheanue/media

"At least 50 killed when this hotel in tourist hotspot Thamel collapsed. Foreigners and locals killed. Horrendous Scene."

"Painstakingly slow cleanup in KTM. Rescue efforts by hand only, watched bodies being pulled out the rubble all day."

Updates on rescue position for the survivors on Mt. Everest have been tweeted by the seasoned trekker, Alex Gavan, who indicated more than 100 people were still trapped at Base Camp 1 and also indicated icefalls had occurred.

Alex Gavan, also posted the following updates on Twitter, "Everest base camp huge earthquake huge avalanche from pumori. Running for life from my tent. Unhurt. Many, many people up the mountain."

Gavan posted a second update "Things quiet now but large areas of base camp.  Looks like a nuclear blast great desolation. High uncertainty among people."

His accounts can be found here: https://twitter.com/alexgavan

Base Camp Destruction

Base camps of teams set up to acclimate themselves to the altitude and conditions were completely wiped out.  Survivors have reported hearing a loud boom or feeling the quake, rushing out of the tents to be hit or carried by a wall of snow and buried.

Tent villages set up by trekkers who saw this climb as a pinnacle moment of their lives are now either dead, cut off from escape on the mountainside, or have survived.

Helicopters have removed many of the survivors, as the official climbing season would begin in May, hundreds of climbers from around the world waiting to climb Mt. Everest, the tallest peak in the world, had arrived and were in training.

Unlike one year ago, when 16 Sherpa's were killed in an avalanche, the majority of Sherpa's, those locals who carry the supplies, have survived.

Google Executive, 2 Other Americans Confirmed Dead; Others Missing

American Dan Friedenberg, a Google Executive, has been confirmed among the dead. He was climbing the summit with three other google employees all of whom are reported safe.

Dedicated climbers flock to Nepal to conquer K2 with the annual trekking season beginning in May. It is not been stated and the devastation implies the season will be cancelled for the second year.

Searcs, the ice overhangs, which each season are loosened naturally due to global warming and are notably near the end of the trek, called the bottleneck, where team of climbers wait in queue for the final phase of the climb, have broken off the glacier creating conditions that won't be understood or realized until climbers can return to the mountain.

Senate Approves Loretta Lynch

Loretta Lynch, the former United States Attorney of the Eastern District of the State of New York, has been confirmed as the nation's first female African American Attorney General.

Lynch, replacing Eric Holder, a longtime Obama friend and associate, has been waiting for more than five months as the Senate held confirmation hearings with Republicans particularly slowing the confirmation process.

The most notable case of recent history would be the Eric Garner case. In remarks the president released this statement "Loretta has spent her life fighting for the fair and equal justice that is the foundation of our democracy."  

As head of the Justice Department, Lynch will oversee a vast range of legal issues and cases and will also make of cases judicial recommendations and policy re views. Her expertise will including counterterrorism and voting rights; public corruption and white-collar crime.

"She will bring to bear her experience as a tough, independent, and well-respected prosecutor on key, bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform.  And she will build on our progress in combatting newer threats like cybercrime.  Loretta's confirmation ensures that we are better positioned to keep our communities safe, keep our nation secure, and ensure that every American experiences justice under the law," the president said in a released statement.

Former Egyptian President Sentenced

Mohammed Morsi the first democratically elected President of Egypt, who took office after Hosni Mubarak, the longtime President of Egypt, resigned during the democratic protests that swept across the Arab Peninsula in December 2010, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Morsi, along with a dozen others, have been convicted on torturing protestors and prisoners during the Arab Spring uprising. The verdict has been globally denounced as deeply flawed stemming from a sham trial.

Mohammed Morsi is the second of Egyptian president to face prison. The same power that elected him, the mass protest that deposed his predecessor also deposed him. By 2013, less than three years after taking office, Morsi was ousted and detained.

President Hosni Mubarak was also jailed, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He was later acquitted and released. His sons and members of his cabinet were also freed. Mubarak is still fighting the last of the charges brought by an overzealous legal system in the wake of newly found democratic freedoms.

Counterterror Strikes Kills Two Civilians; ISIS Launches Offensive

President Obama released a statement regarding the killing of two citizens, one American and one Italian, held captive by Al-Qaeda terrorists during a counterterror strike in January authorized by his office.

"This morning, I want to express our grief and condolences to the families of two hostages.  One American, Dr. Warren Weinstein, and an Italian, Giovanni Lo Porto, who were tragically killed in a U.S. counterterrorism operation.As President and as Commander-in-Chief, I take full responsibility for all our counterterrorism operations, including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni.  I profoundly regret what happened," the President said in a released statement.

The counterterror strike was based on intelligence that pinpointed an Al-Qaeda compound near the Afghanistan/Pakistan border and used by a key member of Al-Qaeda's inner circle, an Ahmed Faruq, an American Al-Qaeda leader.

The operation was based on the belief that the targeted compound was an active installation. Intelligence did not deem it actively operational, in that Al-Qaeda terrorist did not frequent the compound daily. It was a known to be used when needed to hide or harbor.

Once the operation was completed a battle assessment, as is the next phase in all operations, was completed which assesses damage on the ground including civilian casualty and evaluates the region for any sings of instability or other factors.

Questioned as to whether the president remained true to his own stated principals, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, "What's clear is that in the aftermath of a situation like this, it raises legitimate questions about whether additional changes need to be made to those protocols. They follow those protocols, and yet it still resulted in this unintended but very tragic consequence.  And that's why the President has directed his team to conduct a review of this particular operation to see if there are lessons learned, reforms that we can implement to this process."

ISIS Launches Offensive

Islamic State rebels launched a counter offensive Friday in the capital city of Ramadi, in the Anbar province, killing 2 senior Iraq officials and killing 10 soldiers with a suicide bomber as ISIS troops also moved to take control of the city of Ramadi, northwest of Fallujah, killing 157 soldiers and taking 90 prisoners.

Anbar province, a large desert, bordering Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, has been home to many conflicts. The latest, between Iraqi forces and ISIS insurgents, is highly populated and is quickly being overrun by ISIS as Iraqi citizens are targeted by the vicious, slaughtering Islamic State soldiers.

ISIS has declared its own nation, laws and governance. The first official ISIS baby has been born and a photo released showing the birth certificate of the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq. A baby born into a religion of hate as a hand grenade and Glock handgun frame the newborn's head.

For more information on President Barack Obama: www.whitehouse.gov

Sources: Whitehouse.org, Wikipedia.com

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