Tag: Tony Abbott

Armed Sydney attacker hoists black Islamic flag

A police operation is underway at a café in central Sydney, where up to 40 hostages are being held by an armed attacker and a black flag with Arabic inscriptions can be seen. Australia is contributing to the US-led operation against the Islamic State.

As the siege was about to enter its sixth hour, at least five people apparently escaped from the building. Live footage showed heavily-armed police regrouping near the cafe’s door, but not entering it.

A senior Lindt Australia official said that 10 staff and up to 30 customers could be held inside the Lindt Chocolate Café in Martin Place. There were “probably 30 customers” at the time of the attack, Sky Business quoted Lindt Chief Executive Steve Loane as saying.

There was no immediate confirmation of the exact number of assailants.

Live TV footage showed people standing inside the café with their hands pressed against the windows. At least one attacker was caught on camera wearing a traditional Islamic cap.

The hostages were forced to hold a black flag with an Arabic inscription, prompting fears that ruthless Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants were behind the attack.

The flag – which appeared different from the one typically used by the IS – was identified as the shahada, or the statement of Islamic faith. The shahada itself only contains the religious inscription “There is no god but the God, Mohammed is the messenger of the God.”

The armed Islamist gunman reportedly contacted a local radio station saying that four bombs were planted and demanding negotiations with Australian PM Tony Abbott.

The attack, which took place in Sydney’s central business district, forced nearby buildings in Martin Place – including the Reserve Bank of Australia – into lockdown.

The US has evacuated its Sydney consulate, which is close to the Lindt Cafe, Reuters quoted a spokeswoman as saying.

Reports on the ground suggest that young women being held hostage in the cafe are being used as a shield.

Earlier, Australian 2GB radio host Ray Hadley said that the captor had demanded to speak with Prime Minister Tony Abbott live on the radio.

Hadley added that hostages inside the cafe contacted him, but he declined to air their conversation due to safety concerns of those inside the building.

Another report claimed that gunmen have explosive suicide belts.

Meanwhile, NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said that no direct contact was made with the captor(s).

Dozens of police, including a SWAT team, were dispatched to the scene, and a couple hundred people were held back by cordons amid the evacuation of nearby buildings.

Media speculations connecting the attack to the Islamic State have sprung up, as Australia has been supporting the US-led anti-IS coalition in Syria and Iraq. Back in September, Canberra contributed 600 troops and up to 10 military aircraft to the campaign.

In October, Australia launched its first fighter jet mission in Iraq against the IS. “The Super Hornet aircraft conducted an air interdiction and close air support mission over northern Iraq overnight,” the Australian Defence Force said in a statement.

ABC News live video showed that at least three people escaped through the emergency exit. A Sydney police representative confirmed that the hostages who had managed to escape were safe.

Oz leader’s comments on Scotland ‘foolish, hypocritical, offensive’

Alex Salmond, the First Minister for Scotland, has said that comments by Tony Abbott, the Australian Prime Minster, that the world would not “be helped by an independent Scotland” are “foolish, hypocritical and offensive”.

Mr Abbott who is on a visit to London told the Times newspaper that it was “hard to see how the world would be helped by an independent Scotland.”

“I think the people who would like to see the break-up of the United Kingdom are not the friends of justice, the friends of freedom, and the countries that cheer at the prospect are not the countries whose company one would like to keep,” he said.

Scottish voters will go to the polls on 18 September and will be asked the question “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

Alex Salmond jumped on Mr. Abbotts’ comments and told BBC Scotland they were hypocritical and “offensive to the Scottish people” considering the benefits Australia has got since becoming independent from Britain after the Second World War.

“They are foolish, actually, because of the way he said it. To say the people of Scotland who supported independence weren’t friends of freedom or justice, I mean, the independence process is about freedom and justice,” he said.

He added that even the British government could recognize the need for a democratic vote on the issue and that the referendum was a “model of democratic conduct”.

The Scottish premiere also said that Abbott was gaffe prone and had put his foot in it, with his comments.

One of his previous gaffes involved referring to Canada as Canadia during a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa in June.

Source: RT

Enemies of West will cheer Scottish independence – Oz PM

The Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, has warned that Scottish independence would be “cheered” by the enemies of the West in the most outspoken foreign attack in the campaign so far.

“As a friend of Britain, as an observer from afar, it’s hard to see how the world would be helped by an independent Scotland,” Abbott said in an exclusive interview for The Times, London.

“I think that the people who would like to see the break-up of the United Kingdom are not the friends of justice, not the friends of freedom, and that the countries that would cheer at the prospect of the break-up with the United
Kingdom are not the countries whose company one would like to keep,” Abbott added.

“Independence seems to be working well for Australia,” responded Gail Lythgoe, a spokeswoman for the official pro-independence campaign, Yes Scotland. “The decision about Scotland’s future is one for the people of Scotland to make – a point that even UK Prime Minister David Cameron asserts,” Lythgoe said.

“After a Yes vote, Scotland will take her place as a normal and valued member of the international community – just as Australia did when she gained independence at the turn of the century.”

Abbott, who spent two years at Oxford University, is no stranger to controversy and has previously insulted native Australian aborigines, housewives and immigrants despite the fact he moved to the country himself as a child.

Abbott’s comments on Scottish independence follow those by US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who both gave veiled support for the continuation of the United Kingdom as a whole following approaches from Downing Street. But the Australian Prime Minister’s comments represent the most explicit rejection of Scottish independence yet made by an international leader.

Scots will go to the polls on September 18, and will be asked one question, “Should Scotland become an independent country?”

Source: RIA Novosti