Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Garowe Online - Home
Garowe Online - Home: "NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Somali Islamist fighters on Friday beheaded seven prisoners accused of abandoning the Muslim faith and spying for the government in the largest mass execution since the Islamists were pushed from power two and a half years ago.
The public killings in the southwestern town of Baidoa followed weeks of fierce fighting as the Islamists try to seize Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, amid mounting concerns about the influx of hundreds of foreign fighters to the failed state.
The beheadings may be linked to the Islamists' failure to take Mogadishu after a 2-month-old offensive, said a senior analyst at global intelligence company Stratfor.
'Al-Shabab is reacting to a setback,' said Mark Schroeder.
WSWWEERRTEWWQAMNBV
The U.S. considers al-Shabab a terrorist group with links to al-Qaida, which al-Shabab denies. The group controls much of Somalia and its fighters operate openly in the capital."
The public killings in the southwestern town of Baidoa followed weeks of fierce fighting as the Islamists try to seize Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, amid mounting concerns about the influx of hundreds of foreign fighters to the failed state.
The beheadings may be linked to the Islamists' failure to take Mogadishu after a 2-month-old offensive, said a senior analyst at global intelligence company Stratfor.
'Al-Shabab is reacting to a setback,' said Mark Schroeder.
WSWWEERRTEWWQAMNBV
The U.S. considers al-Shabab a terrorist group with links to al-Qaida, which al-Shabab denies. The group controls much of Somalia and its fighters operate openly in the capital."
Gaza's children struggle with memories of war - Yahoo! News
Gaza's children struggle with memories of war - Yahoo! News: "GAZA CITY (AFP) – Fourteen-year-old Ghasan Matar won't talk about the explosion that cost him his legs and killed his brother. In fact, six months after the end of the Israeli war on Gaza, he still barely talks at all.
He spends most of his time staring at the walls and a huge poster depicting his older brother against a bloody background of war featuring a Kalashnikov assault rifle and dead Israeli soldiers.
He says he never thinks about the day when the house was hit during heavy shelling of Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood. He insists he has no nightmares. 'I'm doing fine,' he says, and then clams up.
'He's very traumatised. He doesn't speak, tries to act like nothing happened,' says social worker Nisrin Ramadan during a visit to the boy's crumbling brick home.
'There are many cases like this of deep shock and loss of hope,' says Ramadan, who works with the Society for the Physically Handicapped.
More than 300 children were among the 1,400 Palestinians killed and many more were wounded during the 22-day Israeli offensive that ended on January 18, according to Palestinian figures."
He spends most of his time staring at the walls and a huge poster depicting his older brother against a bloody background of war featuring a Kalashnikov assault rifle and dead Israeli soldiers.
He says he never thinks about the day when the house was hit during heavy shelling of Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood. He insists he has no nightmares. 'I'm doing fine,' he says, and then clams up.
'He's very traumatised. He doesn't speak, tries to act like nothing happened,' says social worker Nisrin Ramadan during a visit to the boy's crumbling brick home.
'There are many cases like this of deep shock and loss of hope,' says Ramadan, who works with the Society for the Physically Handicapped.
More than 300 children were among the 1,400 Palestinians killed and many more were wounded during the 22-day Israeli offensive that ended on January 18, according to Palestinian figures."
Friday, July 10, 2009
Judenrein! Israel adopts Nazi term to back settlers - Yahoo! News
Judenrein! Israel adopts Nazi term to back settlers - Yahoo! News: "JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hosting the German foreign minister this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used an especially tainted term to condemn the Palestinian demand that Israel's settlements in the occupied West Bank be removed.
'Judea and Samaria cannot be Judenrein,' a Netanyahu confidant quoted him as telling Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Asked how Germany's top diplomat responded to hearing the Nazi Holocaust term for areas 'cleansed of Jews,' the confidant said, 'What could he do? He basically just nodded.'"
'Judea and Samaria cannot be Judenrein,' a Netanyahu confidant quoted him as telling Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Asked how Germany's top diplomat responded to hearing the Nazi Holocaust term for areas 'cleansed of Jews,' the confidant said, 'What could he do? He basically just nodded.'"
The Daily Star - Politics - Palestinians will need a year to clear tons of Gaza war rubble �� UN
The Daily Star - Politics - Palestinians will need a year to clear tons of Gaza war rubble �� UN: "GAZA: Palestinian workers will need one year to clear a half million tons of concrete rubble from Gaza Strip districts bombed and bulldozed by Israeli forces during their winter offensive, the United Nations said on Thursday. The United Nations Development Program was beginning its rubble removal project six months after the 3-week war ended on January 18, with still no idea of when organized reconstruction could begin, said the UNDP’s Jens-Anders Toyberg-Frandzen.
“At the moment we cannot rebuild. That is of course very sad. We don’t have access to cement, we don’t have access to construction material because of the borders being closed. So we cannot build houses,” he said.
Thousands of buildings were destroyed during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, launched on December 27 with the declared aim of forcing Islamist Hamas fighters and other Palestinian groups to stop firing rockets and mortars at Israeli towns.
A total of 1,417 people were killed, 926 of them civilians in Gaza. Israel says 13 of its citizens, 10 of them soldiers, were killed in the 22 days.
Whole districts were razed during the operation with the stated aim of minimizing the risk of Israeli casualties from guerrilla small-arms attacks and booby-trap bombs, and opening up fields of fire for Israeli tanks, artillery and armored infantry units in Gaza.
Israel prohibits the import of cement and steel reinforcing rods on the grounds that they could be used for military purposes by Hamas, such as constructing defenses. But these are also the materials the people of Gaza build their homes with.
“The UN is constantly advocating for opening of the borders so that material can come in for humanitarian purposes, and also to be able to ensure or help the Palestinians in Gaza get a reasonable and decent life again,” the UNDP representative said. “But we haven’t succeeded so far.”
The rubble – estimated to total 600,000 tons according to the UNDP – is to be collected at a central dump where it will later be crushed and used for new construction – whenever that can begin in earnest.
Since January, thousands of homeless Gazans have either lived with relatives or in UN-provided tents or in makeshift camps in the ruins of their homes. Some have built houses of mud bricks.
A political deal with Israel to ease its blockade of Gaza remains out of reach, blocked partly by the split in Palestinian ranks between Hamas, which seized control of the enclave in fighting with the long dominant Fatah faction in 2007. – Reuters"
“At the moment we cannot rebuild. That is of course very sad. We don’t have access to cement, we don’t have access to construction material because of the borders being closed. So we cannot build houses,” he said.
Thousands of buildings were destroyed during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, launched on December 27 with the declared aim of forcing Islamist Hamas fighters and other Palestinian groups to stop firing rockets and mortars at Israeli towns.
A total of 1,417 people were killed, 926 of them civilians in Gaza. Israel says 13 of its citizens, 10 of them soldiers, were killed in the 22 days.
Whole districts were razed during the operation with the stated aim of minimizing the risk of Israeli casualties from guerrilla small-arms attacks and booby-trap bombs, and opening up fields of fire for Israeli tanks, artillery and armored infantry units in Gaza.
Israel prohibits the import of cement and steel reinforcing rods on the grounds that they could be used for military purposes by Hamas, such as constructing defenses. But these are also the materials the people of Gaza build their homes with.
“The UN is constantly advocating for opening of the borders so that material can come in for humanitarian purposes, and also to be able to ensure or help the Palestinians in Gaza get a reasonable and decent life again,” the UNDP representative said. “But we haven’t succeeded so far.”
The rubble – estimated to total 600,000 tons according to the UNDP – is to be collected at a central dump where it will later be crushed and used for new construction – whenever that can begin in earnest.
Since January, thousands of homeless Gazans have either lived with relatives or in UN-provided tents or in makeshift camps in the ruins of their homes. Some have built houses of mud bricks.
A political deal with Israel to ease its blockade of Gaza remains out of reach, blocked partly by the split in Palestinian ranks between Hamas, which seized control of the enclave in fighting with the long dominant Fatah faction in 2007. – Reuters"
Uighurs claim 400 killed in unrest in western China | The Australian
Uighurs claim 400 killed in unrest in western China | The Australian: "POLICE killed 400 Uighurs in the capital of China's Xinjiang region during ethnic unrest there, exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer claimed yesterday.
Ms Kadeer said Uighur sources within 'East Turkestan', the separatist name for the northwest region, had told her 400 Uighurs had died 'as a result of police shootings and beatings' in Urumqi since violence erupted there on Sunday.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal Asia, the president of the World Uighur Congress said unrest was spreading across the region and unconfirmed reports indicated more than 100 Uighurs had been killed in Kashgar, another major city in Xinjiang.
Chinese authorities have said 156 people died in Sunday's violence in Urumqi. They have not made clear how many of the victims were Han Chinese and how many were Uighur, or how they died.
'Uighurs have contacted me to report that the Chinese authorities are in the process of conducting a house-to-house search of Uighur homes and are arresting male Uighurs,' Ms Kadeer wrote.
'They say that Uighurs are afraid to walk the streets in the capital of their homeland.'
China has blamed Ms Kadeer for instigating the violence, which she strongly denies.
In Urumqi yesterday, hundreds of paramilitary police guarded the main roads to Uighur neighbourhoods and the central square, where the first riots began. Most were armed with shields and clubs, while a few had assault rifles fixed with bayonets."
Ms Kadeer said Uighur sources within 'East Turkestan', the separatist name for the northwest region, had told her 400 Uighurs had died 'as a result of police shootings and beatings' in Urumqi since violence erupted there on Sunday.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal Asia, the president of the World Uighur Congress said unrest was spreading across the region and unconfirmed reports indicated more than 100 Uighurs had been killed in Kashgar, another major city in Xinjiang.
Chinese authorities have said 156 people died in Sunday's violence in Urumqi. They have not made clear how many of the victims were Han Chinese and how many were Uighur, or how they died.
'Uighurs have contacted me to report that the Chinese authorities are in the process of conducting a house-to-house search of Uighur homes and are arresting male Uighurs,' Ms Kadeer wrote.
'They say that Uighurs are afraid to walk the streets in the capital of their homeland.'
China has blamed Ms Kadeer for instigating the violence, which she strongly denies.
In Urumqi yesterday, hundreds of paramilitary police guarded the main roads to Uighur neighbourhoods and the central square, where the first riots began. Most were armed with shields and clubs, while a few had assault rifles fixed with bayonets."
Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - 'Hundreds dying' in Sri Lanka camp
Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - 'Hundreds dying' in Sri Lanka camp: "About 1,400 people are dying every week in a camp set up in Sri Lanka to detain Tamil refugees from the country's civil war, a British newspaper reports.
Quoting senior international aid sources, The Times reported on Friday that the death toll at the Menik Farm would add to concerns that the Sri Lankan government had failed to halt a humanitarian catastrophe.
Most of the deaths are the result of waterborne diseases, particularly diarrhoea, the paper said, quoting a senior relief worker it said spoke on condition of anonymity.
Women, children and the elderly were shoved aside in the scramble for supplies, it said."
Quoting senior international aid sources, The Times reported on Friday that the death toll at the Menik Farm would add to concerns that the Sri Lankan government had failed to halt a humanitarian catastrophe.
Most of the deaths are the result of waterborne diseases, particularly diarrhoea, the paper said, quoting a senior relief worker it said spoke on condition of anonymity.
Women, children and the elderly were shoved aside in the scramble for supplies, it said."
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