Spanyol tidak ikut-ikut Three Strike
Spanyol tidak berencana untuk menerapkan hukuman "Three Strike" bagi pengguna internet yang tebukti melakukan File Sharing secara ilegal, seperti yang dilakukan oleh inggris dan perancis. Keputusan ini disampaikan oleh Menteri Kebudayaan Spanyol, Angeles Gonzales-Sinde. Menurut Gonzales, daripada harus memutus koneksi, yang sebaiknya dilakukan pertama kali adalah memberangus asal semua produk bajakan yang ada di internet, sekaligus menangkap siapa saja yang mengambil keuntungan dari aksi tersebut.
Keputusan ini berlawanan dengan keputusan terbaru Uni Eropa dalam TelecomsReform Package yang mengizinkan 27 negara anggotanya memutus koneksi internet seseorang, bila terbukti melakukan file sharing ilegal sebanyak 3 kali.
Bulan lalu, Spanyol membentuk komisi yang bertugas mencari pelanggaran dalam UU hak cipta, serta mencari cara untuk memastikan keberadaan konten bersifat budaya yang ada di internet, tidak mengurangi pendapatan royalti bagi seniman dan pemilik konten.
source by: billboard.biz
Keputusan ini berlawanan dengan keputusan terbaru Uni Eropa dalam TelecomsReform Package yang mengizinkan 27 negara anggotanya memutus koneksi internet seseorang, bila terbukti melakukan file sharing ilegal sebanyak 3 kali.
Bulan lalu, Spanyol membentuk komisi yang bertugas mencari pelanggaran dalam UU hak cipta, serta mencari cara untuk memastikan keberadaan konten bersifat budaya yang ada di internet, tidak mengurangi pendapatan royalti bagi seniman dan pemilik konten.
source by: billboard.biz
Auto Insurance in California - Compare Shop for Cheap Car Insurance
If you are looking for a low and affordable California auto insurance, you need to shop around. Did you know that you can save hundreds of dollars if get several quotes from different companies? If the answer is no, you must read the whole article. Recent years have seen a significant rise in auto insurance rates. With the price of almost everything going up, it helps to know how you can save money while opting for a policy for your new or used car.
Shop Around
The Internet has made it very easy to shop around for an affordable quotation for your auto indemnity. Now from the comforts of you home, you can get several quotes within a few minutes. The best part about getting Californian auto insurance quotes online is that you do not have to stand in long queues or do extensive paper work.
Gone are the days when you would have to drive or walk to an insurance office, fill up a form and then wait for several days to get a response. Getting quotation for California car insurance has become fast and convenient through the advent of the Internet. Furthermore, buying your policy from an agent can mean that you are overlooking several better deals. Getting auto quotes online allows you to compare several offers at your leisure and select the right one for yourself.
Convenient And Fast
Online process does not just give you fast auto insurance quote. It allows you to look at several good schemes from different companies. Once you start looking online, you will be surprised to find companies offering various discounts and offers. Many companies give discount to drivers with good driving record. All you have to do is look around the Internet and you will have all that you wanted.
Some companies will give you a good discount if you have several policies with them. For example, if you own more than one car, you can approach one single company to insure all your cars. This way you get eligible for their special discount and save hundreds of dollars in auto indemnity.
If you have a good driving record and a good credit score, you will have no trouble finding low auto insurance on the net. Take your time to shop around. Look at several offers. Look at the kind of coverage they are offering. Consider whether they are providing what you are looking for. For example, see whether that California auto insurance policy provides comprehensive coverage, collision coverage, liability coverage, or combined single limit coverage. Then see at what rate the policy is being provided to you. Choose a policy that meets your needs and budget.
source by: IndoWebster
Shop Around
The Internet has made it very easy to shop around for an affordable quotation for your auto indemnity. Now from the comforts of you home, you can get several quotes within a few minutes. The best part about getting Californian auto insurance quotes online is that you do not have to stand in long queues or do extensive paper work.
Gone are the days when you would have to drive or walk to an insurance office, fill up a form and then wait for several days to get a response. Getting quotation for California car insurance has become fast and convenient through the advent of the Internet. Furthermore, buying your policy from an agent can mean that you are overlooking several better deals. Getting auto quotes online allows you to compare several offers at your leisure and select the right one for yourself.
Convenient And Fast
Online process does not just give you fast auto insurance quote. It allows you to look at several good schemes from different companies. Once you start looking online, you will be surprised to find companies offering various discounts and offers. Many companies give discount to drivers with good driving record. All you have to do is look around the Internet and you will have all that you wanted.
Some companies will give you a good discount if you have several policies with them. For example, if you own more than one car, you can approach one single company to insure all your cars. This way you get eligible for their special discount and save hundreds of dollars in auto indemnity.
If you have a good driving record and a good credit score, you will have no trouble finding low auto insurance on the net. Take your time to shop around. Look at several offers. Look at the kind of coverage they are offering. Consider whether they are providing what you are looking for. For example, see whether that California auto insurance policy provides comprehensive coverage, collision coverage, liability coverage, or combined single limit coverage. Then see at what rate the policy is being provided to you. Choose a policy that meets your needs and budget.
source by: IndoWebster
Indonesia telah merancang Standar kualitas Layanan VoIP internet dial up
Kayakny gag lama lagi semua keluhan yang di keluhkan oleh pengguna layanan telekomunikasi, spesifiknya si tentang akses internet dial up yang kadang kala bahkan sering up and down di harapkan seeh bisa berkurang nih...
Solusi yang sudah di jalankan oleh Departemen Komunikasi dan Informasi adalah penyusunan Rancangan peraturan menteri tentang Standar wajib kualitas pelayanan jasa akses internet dial up.
Katanya, rancangan nya sudah lama dibahas oleh beberapa pihak penyelenggara telekomunikasi, lalu dibahas oleh YLKI dan ID-TUG. Seandainya peraturannya sudah di sahkan, maka penyelenggara jasa internet akses dial up wajib mengikutinya.
Peraturan tersebut juga berlaku buat layanan VoIP. DepKomInfo katanya sering menerima keluhan karena masih seringnya kondisi layanan VoIP yang cenderung fluktuatif. Dalam artian, teknologi nya masih sangat sederhana. Tetapi, tarif nya tidak sesuai dengan kondisi yang sekarang terjadi. Kemudian speed dan kualitas suaranya pun tidak begitu bagus....
source by: postel.go.id
source by: postel.go.id
Perubahan Itu Perlu...
Waduh....waduh....
udah lama juga nih gw gag buka-buka Blog....
abisnya bingung mo nulis apa,,
yaaa...jadinya klo buka blog paling cuma liat-liat postingan gw aja yang udah basi alias kadarluarsa...
hehehe....
Tapi skrg sih...gw mo bikin blog gw jadi lebih berwarna dan lebih berguna buat orang-orang sekitar...
jadi tunggu tanggal mainnya aja deh... (^.^)v
source by: Originally by My Self
udah lama juga nih gw gag buka-buka Blog....
abisnya bingung mo nulis apa,,
yaaa...jadinya klo buka blog paling cuma liat-liat postingan gw aja yang udah basi alias kadarluarsa...
hehehe....
Tapi skrg sih...gw mo bikin blog gw jadi lebih berwarna dan lebih berguna buat orang-orang sekitar...
jadi tunggu tanggal mainnya aja deh... (^.^)v
source by: Originally by My Self
China-based network caught in cyber-espionage (AFP)
AFP/File – A man uses a computer. A shadowy cyber-espionage network based mostly in China has infiltrated secret … OTTAWA (AFP) – A shadowy cyber-espionage network based mostly in China has infiltrated secret government and private computers around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers said Sunday.
The network, known as GhostNet, infected 1,295 computers in 103 countries and penetrated systems containing sensitive information in top political, economic and media offices, the researchers found in a report.
Many of the compromised computers were found in the embassies of Asian countries, such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand and Taiwan.
The embassies of Cyprus, Germany, Malta, Portugal and Romania as well as the foreign ministries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran and Latvia were also targeted.
"Up to 30 percent of the infected hosts are considered high-value targets and include computers located at ministries of foreign affairs, embassies, international organizations, news media and NGOs," the report said.
The report, by the group Information Warfare Monitor, was commissioned by the Dalai Lama's office alarmed by possible breaches of security.
The 10-month investigation by specialists based at the University of Toronto found the spying was being done from computers based almost exclusively in China.
But researchers said while its findings were disturbing there was no conclusive evidence the Chinese government was involved, highlighting that China now had the world's highest number of Internet users.
"We do not know the motivation or the identity of the attackers or how to accurately characterize this network of infections as a whole," the report said.
"Attributing all Chinese malware to deliberate or intelligence gathering operations by the Chinese state is wrong and misleading," the report said.
"The sheer number of young digital natives online can more than account for the increase in Chinese malware."
The investigation between June 2008 and March 2009 focused on the Tibetan community, thanks to the unparalleled access the team was given to Tibetan missions in Dharamsala as well as in London, Brussels and New York.
"The Tibetan computer systems we manually investigated ... were conclusively compromised by multiple infections that gave attackers unprecedented access to potentially sensitive information," the report said.
Their work led them to a broader operation that had infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in less than two years.
By installing malware on the computers, the hackers were able to get the infected systems to send them top-secret information.
"From the evidence at hand, it is not clear whether the attacker(s) really knew what they had penetrated, or if the information was ever exploited for commercial or intelligence value," the report said.
"This report serves as a wake up call," the authors pointed out. "At the very least a large percentage of high-value targets compromised by this network demonstrate the relative ease with which a technically unsophisticated approach can quickly be harnessed to create a very effective spynet."
The newly reported spying operation is by far the largest to come to light in terms of countries affected, the New York Times said.
GhostNet continues to invade and monitor more than a dozen new computers a week, the researchers warned.
However, they found no evidence that US government offices had been infiltrated, although a NATO computer was monitored by the spies for half a day and computers of the Indian Embassy in Washington were infiltrated.
source by: Yahoo!News
The network, known as GhostNet, infected 1,295 computers in 103 countries and penetrated systems containing sensitive information in top political, economic and media offices, the researchers found in a report.
Many of the compromised computers were found in the embassies of Asian countries, such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand and Taiwan.
The embassies of Cyprus, Germany, Malta, Portugal and Romania as well as the foreign ministries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran and Latvia were also targeted.
"Up to 30 percent of the infected hosts are considered high-value targets and include computers located at ministries of foreign affairs, embassies, international organizations, news media and NGOs," the report said.
The report, by the group Information Warfare Monitor, was commissioned by the Dalai Lama's office alarmed by possible breaches of security.
The 10-month investigation by specialists based at the University of Toronto found the spying was being done from computers based almost exclusively in China.
But researchers said while its findings were disturbing there was no conclusive evidence the Chinese government was involved, highlighting that China now had the world's highest number of Internet users.
"We do not know the motivation or the identity of the attackers or how to accurately characterize this network of infections as a whole," the report said.
"Attributing all Chinese malware to deliberate or intelligence gathering operations by the Chinese state is wrong and misleading," the report said.
"The sheer number of young digital natives online can more than account for the increase in Chinese malware."
The investigation between June 2008 and March 2009 focused on the Tibetan community, thanks to the unparalleled access the team was given to Tibetan missions in Dharamsala as well as in London, Brussels and New York.
"The Tibetan computer systems we manually investigated ... were conclusively compromised by multiple infections that gave attackers unprecedented access to potentially sensitive information," the report said.
Their work led them to a broader operation that had infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in less than two years.
By installing malware on the computers, the hackers were able to get the infected systems to send them top-secret information.
"From the evidence at hand, it is not clear whether the attacker(s) really knew what they had penetrated, or if the information was ever exploited for commercial or intelligence value," the report said.
"This report serves as a wake up call," the authors pointed out. "At the very least a large percentage of high-value targets compromised by this network demonstrate the relative ease with which a technically unsophisticated approach can quickly be harnessed to create a very effective spynet."
The newly reported spying operation is by far the largest to come to light in terms of countries affected, the New York Times said.
GhostNet continues to invade and monitor more than a dozen new computers a week, the researchers warned.
However, they found no evidence that US government offices had been infiltrated, although a NATO computer was monitored by the spies for half a day and computers of the Indian Embassy in Washington were infiltrated.
source by: Yahoo!News
Israel: Militants smuggled tons of weapons to Gaza
AP – A Palestinian girl, holds balloons as she walks next to a painted wall in the West Bank city of Ramallah, … The assessment by the chief of Israel's internal security service, Yuval Diskin, reinforced a growing feeling among Israelis that the government ended the war too soon.
Diskin told the Cabinet that since the three-week military operation ended Jan. 18, Gaza militants have smuggled into the territory 22 tons of explosives, 45 tons of raw materials for producing bombs, dozens of rockets, hundreds of mortar shells and dozens of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.
The weapons are coming in through Gaza's porous border with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, despite improved Egyptian interdiction, Diskin said. His remarks were reported by meeting participants who spoke on condition of anonymity because the session was closed.
There was no way to verify his assessment. Using sophisticated technology and human informants, Israel has kept close tabs on Gaza since it withdrew its forces from the area in 2005.
Israel launched its air and ground assault in late December in an effort to stop rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from Hamas-ruled Gaza and stanch the stream of arms reaching the territory through underground tunnels from Egypt. More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including 926 civilians, the Palestinians say. Thirteen Israelis also died.
The attacks from Gaza have dropped off considerably but have not stopped: The military reported Sunday that a total of 185 rockets and mortars were fired since the military campaign ended. But the threat of escalation remains, as the reports of continued smuggling suggested.
"It is testimony that next time, we should go to something more complete in order to prevent the rearmament of Hamas," said Yuval Steinitz, a close associate of incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"In the long term, Israel cannot agree to the establishment of an Iranian military base 50 or 60 kilometers from Tel Aviv," said Steinitz, a lawmaker in Netanyahu's Likud party. "Sooner or later, we shall have to put an end to it," he added, without elaborating.
Israel accuses Iran of funding and arming Hamas.
Netanyahu, who is expected to take office on Tuesday, has said the Gaza offensive did not go far enough and Hamas should be toppled. However, he stopped short of saying he would attack Gaza again to bring that about.
During its Gaza offensive, Israeli warplanes destroyed dozens of smuggling tunnels, though many were quickly repaired. Egyptian-brokered negotiations on a long-term truce between Hamas and Israel centered in part on instituting measures to stop the smuggling.
Last week, however, Israel came under suspicion of having dramatically escalated its attempts to cut off the flow of arms to Gaza militants with the emergence of reports that aircraft attacked weapons convoys in Sudan last month. Israeli officials have not commented publicly about the reports.
However, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has hinted that Israel did launch the strikes, saying the Israeli military would hit "terror infrastructure" wherever it may be.
source by: Yahoo!News
Iraqi troops round up Sunni fighters in Baghdad
AP – U.S. troops take position on a major street after a gunfight sparked Saturday at the dominantly Sunni … BAGHDAD – U.S.-backed Iraqi forces swept through a central Baghdad slum Sunday, disarming government-allied Sunni fighters who launched a two-day uprising to protest the arrest of their leader.
An official of the local Awakening Council in the Fadhil area said Iraqi forces had taken control of the neighborhood along with U.S. soldiers and were arresting fighters. He said resistance had ceased "for the sake of people of Fadhil."
The confrontation in Fadhil, a ramshackle Sunni enclave on the east bank of the Tigris River where al-Qaida once held sway, is potentially explosive if it leads to a split between the Shiite-led government and the Awakening Councils.
The councils, also known as Sons of Iraq, are Sunni security volunteers who broke with al-Qaida and joined forces with the Americans to help guard their neighborhoods against extremists.
Shiite political leaders have never fully trusted the Awakening Councils since many of them are ex-insurgents. There have been fears that some of the fighters may return to the insurgency if they feel threatened by the Shiite-led government.
That could undermine U.S. efforts to stabilize Baghdad before American troops pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June.
Trouble started Saturday when Iraqi troops arrested the head of Fadhil's Awakening Council for alleged terrorist activity and for purportedly leading an armed group loyal to Saddam Hussein's ousted party.
The arrest triggered fierce gunfights between Iraqi forces and Awakening Council members, killing four people and wounding 15.
Six more people, including four women, were wounded Sunday in sporadic shooting that occurred as U.S. and Iraqi soldiers began sealing off the neighborhood, police and hospital officials said.
After Sunday's gunbattles, Iraqi soldiers using loudspeakers ordered Awakening Council members in Fadhil to give up their weapons, while convoys of Iraqi and U.S. troops rolled in to secure the area, witnesses said.
Witnesses saw Iraqi troops, some accompanied by American soldiers, leading away groups of young men.
Awakening Council members, reached by telephone, said they would release five Iraqi soldiers captured in Saturday's fighting.
The government sought to dampen speculation that the operation was directed at crushing the Awakening movement.
An Iraqi military spokesman told government television that operation in Fadhil was directed at "pursuing those involved in opening fire on our security forces" and not the general Sunni population.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the Awakening Council leader who was arrested in Fadhil, Adil al-Mashhadani, was believed to have been involved in murder, extortion and other crimes as well as leading an armed wing of Saddam's Baath party.
But suspicion between the government and the councils runs deep in Baghdad. Awakening Council leaders had complained of mistreatment by the government, including delays in receiving their salaries since they went off the U.S. payroll last year. The arrest of al-Mashhadani only served to reinforce their concerns.
"We hope the government will not arrest any member until it is proved he made mistakes," said Sheik Mustafa Kamil Shebib, leader of the Awakening Council in south Baghdad's Dora area.
Sheik Aifan Saadoun, a prominent Anbar province Awakening Council member, said no one wants criminals in the ranks but "we fear that this situation will turn into a 'settling of scores' by some political parties and we might be the victims."
A U.S. military spokesman, Col. Bill Buckner, insisted the arrest did not herald a crackdown and said the government appreciated the contribution of the councils in improving security.
Iraqi army officers were holding meetings with Awakening Council leaders in other parts of the city, apparently seeking to offer assurances that the arrest in Fadhil was not part of a move against them.
The Iraqi government assumed responsibility for paying the more than 90,000 security volunteers in October, and will take on the remaining 10,000 on April 1.
Leaders of several Awakening Council groups complained that the government has not paid them in months, with some threatening to quit the movement.
"We will wait until the end of April, and if the government does not pay us our salaries, then we will abandon our work," said Ahmed Suleiman al-Jubouri, a leader of a group that mans checkpoints in south Baghdad.
Buckner said the new budget law shifted funding for the volunteers to the Interior Ministry, which was still refining its procedures and payments would resume this week.
Under pressure from the U.S., the government agreed to accept 20,000 of the fighters into the police or army and continue paying the rest until they could find them civilian jobs.
But U.S. officials say the process has been slowed because the drop in world oil prices has cut deeply into the government's revenues, prompting a freeze on army and police recruiting.
Ahmed Abu Risha, head of the Awakening Councils in Anbar province, said the government should speed up integrating volunteers into the army and police "to avoid what happened today" in Fadhil.
Also Sunday, a roadside bomb exploded near a security patrol in the southern city of Basra, killing one security guard and three civilians, police said.
source by: Yahoo!News
An official of the local Awakening Council in the Fadhil area said Iraqi forces had taken control of the neighborhood along with U.S. soldiers and were arresting fighters. He said resistance had ceased "for the sake of people of Fadhil."
The confrontation in Fadhil, a ramshackle Sunni enclave on the east bank of the Tigris River where al-Qaida once held sway, is potentially explosive if it leads to a split between the Shiite-led government and the Awakening Councils.
The councils, also known as Sons of Iraq, are Sunni security volunteers who broke with al-Qaida and joined forces with the Americans to help guard their neighborhoods against extremists.
Shiite political leaders have never fully trusted the Awakening Councils since many of them are ex-insurgents. There have been fears that some of the fighters may return to the insurgency if they feel threatened by the Shiite-led government.
That could undermine U.S. efforts to stabilize Baghdad before American troops pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June.
Trouble started Saturday when Iraqi troops arrested the head of Fadhil's Awakening Council for alleged terrorist activity and for purportedly leading an armed group loyal to Saddam Hussein's ousted party.
The arrest triggered fierce gunfights between Iraqi forces and Awakening Council members, killing four people and wounding 15.
Six more people, including four women, were wounded Sunday in sporadic shooting that occurred as U.S. and Iraqi soldiers began sealing off the neighborhood, police and hospital officials said.
After Sunday's gunbattles, Iraqi soldiers using loudspeakers ordered Awakening Council members in Fadhil to give up their weapons, while convoys of Iraqi and U.S. troops rolled in to secure the area, witnesses said.
Witnesses saw Iraqi troops, some accompanied by American soldiers, leading away groups of young men.
Awakening Council members, reached by telephone, said they would release five Iraqi soldiers captured in Saturday's fighting.
The government sought to dampen speculation that the operation was directed at crushing the Awakening movement.
An Iraqi military spokesman told government television that operation in Fadhil was directed at "pursuing those involved in opening fire on our security forces" and not the general Sunni population.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the Awakening Council leader who was arrested in Fadhil, Adil al-Mashhadani, was believed to have been involved in murder, extortion and other crimes as well as leading an armed wing of Saddam's Baath party.
But suspicion between the government and the councils runs deep in Baghdad. Awakening Council leaders had complained of mistreatment by the government, including delays in receiving their salaries since they went off the U.S. payroll last year. The arrest of al-Mashhadani only served to reinforce their concerns.
"We hope the government will not arrest any member until it is proved he made mistakes," said Sheik Mustafa Kamil Shebib, leader of the Awakening Council in south Baghdad's Dora area.
Sheik Aifan Saadoun, a prominent Anbar province Awakening Council member, said no one wants criminals in the ranks but "we fear that this situation will turn into a 'settling of scores' by some political parties and we might be the victims."
A U.S. military spokesman, Col. Bill Buckner, insisted the arrest did not herald a crackdown and said the government appreciated the contribution of the councils in improving security.
Iraqi army officers were holding meetings with Awakening Council leaders in other parts of the city, apparently seeking to offer assurances that the arrest in Fadhil was not part of a move against them.
The Iraqi government assumed responsibility for paying the more than 90,000 security volunteers in October, and will take on the remaining 10,000 on April 1.
Leaders of several Awakening Council groups complained that the government has not paid them in months, with some threatening to quit the movement.
"We will wait until the end of April, and if the government does not pay us our salaries, then we will abandon our work," said Ahmed Suleiman al-Jubouri, a leader of a group that mans checkpoints in south Baghdad.
Buckner said the new budget law shifted funding for the volunteers to the Interior Ministry, which was still refining its procedures and payments would resume this week.
Under pressure from the U.S., the government agreed to accept 20,000 of the fighters into the police or army and continue paying the rest until they could find them civilian jobs.
But U.S. officials say the process has been slowed because the drop in world oil prices has cut deeply into the government's revenues, prompting a freeze on army and police recruiting.
Ahmed Abu Risha, head of the Awakening Councils in Anbar province, said the government should speed up integrating volunteers into the army and police "to avoid what happened today" in Fadhil.
Also Sunday, a roadside bomb exploded near a security patrol in the southern city of Basra, killing one security guard and three civilians, police said.
source by: Yahoo!News
Rocket From Gaza Strikes Israeli City
GAZA — Palestinian militants fired a long-range rocket from Gaza into the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon on Tuesday and Israel retaliated with airstrikes against smuggling tunnels and a Hamas outpost in southern Gaza, as Egyptian-brokered talks for a sustainable cease-fire continued in Cairo with no obvious progress.
No injuries were reported on the Palestinian or the Israeli side.
But the rocket that fell near a clinic in central Ashkelon was an imported Katyusha, the first of that more powerful type since a tenuous calm took hold more than two weeks ago. It presented a new challenge to Israeli leaders ahead of elections next Tuesday and raised the possibility of a military escalation should the Egyptian initiative fail.
“We promised peace and safety to those living in southern Israel, and we will deliver,” the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, vowed Tuesday.
Israel pulled its troops out of Gaza on Jan. 18, ending a devastating three-week offensive that Israel said had been primarily meant to deter such rocket attacks. Israel and Hamas, the Islamic group that rules Gaza, declared separate cease-fires. But tit-for-tat attacks have increased since Jan. 27, when Palestinian militants detonated a bomb that killed an Israeli soldier patrolling the border.
Until Tuesday, the trickle of mostly homemade rockets fired into Israel had landed primarily in open areas close to the Gaza border. Ashkelon is a city of 120,000 people about 10 miles north of Gaza, on the Mediterranean coast.
Hamas denies that it has been firing the rockets. The Gaza branch of Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, a militia nominally affiliated with Hamas’s main rival, Fatah, has claimed responsibility for some of the launchings. Others have been claimed by smaller groups, or by no one.
In Gaza, some leaders explained the rockets as a means of testing and challenging Israel, Egypt and Hamas.
Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said Israel’s decision to declare a unilateral cease-fire, without reaching agreements with Hamas, “opens the door for some factions to prove themselves at this time.”
A Fatah leader, Ibrahim Abu al-Naja, suggested that Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades and others had been, in effect, protesting their exclusion from the Cairo talks. Israel rejects such explanations and holds the Hamas rulers of Gaza responsible for all the rocket attacks. Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, noted that Hamas had not been taking any action against the groups firing the rockets.
Some Israeli analysts speculate that Hamas wants to show it has not been defeated, and that it may be trying to better the terms for any cease-fire deal.
Egypt has been holding separate talks with Israel and Hamas, and has indicated that it is trying to reach a formula for consolidating the cease-fire by Thursday. Hamas representatives were in Cairo on Tuesday for more talks.
In return for a cease-fire lasting a year or more, Hamas is demanding the lifting of Israel’s 18-month economic embargo on Gaza and the opening of the border crossings for regular commerce.
Israel is seeking assurances from Egypt about the prevention of weapons smuggling into Gaza, and says it is prepared to allow only humanitarian aid into Gaza at this stage. Israel has made the resolution of the case of a captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, a condition for the full operation of the border crossings.
Hamas has been holding Corporal Shalit since 2006 and has demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for his return. The group has rejected any linking of the issue of the border crossings to the soldier’s release.
Egypt may be trying to press Hamas into accepting a partial opening of the crossings, but Hamas officials have continued in recent days to demand an end of the embargo and have not hinted at a compromise.
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that the new administration’s special envoy to the Middle East, the former senator George J. Mitchell, would revisit the region this month.
Mr. Mitchell returned Monday from the region, where he held talks with Israeli officials and with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank who were considered more moderate and pragmatic than Hamas. “This is the first of what will be an ongoing high level of engagement by Senator Mitchell on behalf of myself and the president,” Mrs. Clinton said.
The United States, like Israel and the European Union, refuses to deal with Hamas unless it fulfills certain conditions, including recognizing Israel’s right to exist and renouncing violence. Hamas has so far rejected those conditions.
source by: Yahoo!News
Iraqi prime minister's bloc wins provincial vote
AFP – An Iraqi soldier secures a street in Ramadi. Iraq boosted security in the former Sunni insurgent stronghold … BAGHDAD – Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's allies swept to victory over Shiite religious parties during last weekend's provincial elections in Iraq — a rousing endorsement of his crackdown on extremists, according to official results released Thursday.
The impressive showing, which must be certified by international and Iraqi observers, places al-Maliki in a strong position before parliamentary elections late this year and could bolster U.S. confidence that it can begin withdrawing more of its 140,000 troops.
The results were a major blow to Iraq's biggest Shiite religious party — the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council — which trailed in every Shiite province including its base in the holy city of Najaf.
Still, the margin of victory in a number of Shiite provinces was narrow, indicating the prime minister's supporters will have to cut deals with their rivals in order to govern.
And al-Maliki's Coalition of the State of Law gained little traction in Sunni areas, suggesting that sectarian divisions still play a major role in Iraqi politics. Al-Maliki is himself a Shiite from a religious party but his bloc ran on a platform against sectarianism.
Some Western diplomats believe al-Maliki's biggest problem now will be fending off challenges from fellow Shiites as well as Sunnis and Kurds — who all underestimated him two years ago but now have a strong vested interest in curbing his power.
The elections, for ruling councils in 14 of the 18 provinces, were the first nationwide balloting since December 2005 and went off peacefully. But a suicide bomber struck Thursday in an ethnically tense northern town, killing 14 people, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.
The election commission must apportion seats on provincial councils based on the percentages of the vote won by each party, a process that could take weeks. Council members in turn elect the provincial governors.
Al-Maliki's biggest victories came in Baghdad and Basra, Iraq's second largest city, where voters rewarded him for last spring's offensive crushing Shiite militias that had ruled the streets for years.
The election commission announced that al-Maliki's coalition claimed 38 percent of the votes in Baghdad, followed by allies of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and a Sunni party with 9 percent each.
In Basra, al-Maliki's followers won 37 percent to 11.6 percent for the Supreme Council, which maintains ties to both Iran and the United States. Parties linked to the Basra militias garnered less than 5 percent.
The vote in Baghdad and Basra was also seen as a repudiation of religious parties widely blamed for fueling sectarian tension that plunged the country to the brink of all-out civil war three years ago.
However, in many southern provinces the margins among the top finishers were much closer. In Najaf, al-Maliki's coalition won 16.2 percent compared with 14.8 for the Supreme Council and 12.2 percent for al-Sadr's followers.
Al-Maliki's bloc finished third in Karbala, the prime minister's home province. The top finisher was a local group headed by a former senior provincial official in Saddam Hussein's regime.
Al-Sadr, whose fortunes waned after the defeat of his Mahdi Army militia last spring, won enough votes in Baghdad and the south to remain a player in Shiite politics.
In Sunni areas, the picture was also mixed.
A Sunni bloc linked to the al-Maliki's government finished ahead in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces but trailed a close third in Anbar, behind a party led by government critic Saleh al-Mutlaq and an alliance of tribal sheiks who rose up against al-Qaida two years ago.
A leader of the Anbar sheiks, Ahmed Abu Risha, had accused his rivals of rigging the election but said Thursday he would wait for the election commission to investigate the fraud allegations.
In Nineveh province, still a major battlefield in the war against Sunni insurgents, a local Sunni Arab party won 48.4 percent of the vote on a campaign to end Kurdish political domination.
Kurds won a disproportionate share of power in Nineveh, which includes Iraq's third largest city of Mosul, because Sunni Arabs largely boycotted the last provincial election in January 2005. A Kurdish ticket finished second Thursday with 25.5 percent. The election was aimed at redistributing political power at the local level and encouraging disaffected Sunnis and Shiites to settle their differences politically instead of on the battlefield.
"Iraq is a developing democracy. It's going to have to ups and downs. But I think the fact that you had Iraqis going to the polls, very little violence that took place around the election time, it's just great for the Iraqi people," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in Washington.
"This is what so many have died for, so many have wanted. It's a very good thing."
U.S. officials were watching the outcome to determine if Iraq was stable enough for significant reductions in the U.S. military force. President Barack Obama has asked the Pentagon to draw up options, including accelerating the pace of the withdrawal.
U.S. commanders here have warned against a hasty withdrawal, fearing that the security gains of the past two years are not irreversible.
Although violence is down significantly in Baghdad and most of the country, many areas remain unstable, especially those in which Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds are competing for power.
Elections could not be held in the ethnically mixed province around Kirkuk because Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen could not agree on a power-sharing formula. The three provinces of the Kurdish self-ruled region will choose councils later this year.
Thursday's suicide attack happened at a restaurant in Khanaqin, a largely Kurdish town in mostly Arab Diyala province 90 miles north of Baghdad near the Iranian border. The town has been a source of friction between Kurds and the Arab-run central government.
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Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Hadeel al-Shalchi in Baghdad and Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah contributed to this report.
Source by: Yahoo!News
The impressive showing, which must be certified by international and Iraqi observers, places al-Maliki in a strong position before parliamentary elections late this year and could bolster U.S. confidence that it can begin withdrawing more of its 140,000 troops.
The results were a major blow to Iraq's biggest Shiite religious party — the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council — which trailed in every Shiite province including its base in the holy city of Najaf.
Still, the margin of victory in a number of Shiite provinces was narrow, indicating the prime minister's supporters will have to cut deals with their rivals in order to govern.
And al-Maliki's Coalition of the State of Law gained little traction in Sunni areas, suggesting that sectarian divisions still play a major role in Iraqi politics. Al-Maliki is himself a Shiite from a religious party but his bloc ran on a platform against sectarianism.
Some Western diplomats believe al-Maliki's biggest problem now will be fending off challenges from fellow Shiites as well as Sunnis and Kurds — who all underestimated him two years ago but now have a strong vested interest in curbing his power.
The elections, for ruling councils in 14 of the 18 provinces, were the first nationwide balloting since December 2005 and went off peacefully. But a suicide bomber struck Thursday in an ethnically tense northern town, killing 14 people, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.
The election commission must apportion seats on provincial councils based on the percentages of the vote won by each party, a process that could take weeks. Council members in turn elect the provincial governors.
Al-Maliki's biggest victories came in Baghdad and Basra, Iraq's second largest city, where voters rewarded him for last spring's offensive crushing Shiite militias that had ruled the streets for years.
The election commission announced that al-Maliki's coalition claimed 38 percent of the votes in Baghdad, followed by allies of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and a Sunni party with 9 percent each.
In Basra, al-Maliki's followers won 37 percent to 11.6 percent for the Supreme Council, which maintains ties to both Iran and the United States. Parties linked to the Basra militias garnered less than 5 percent.
The vote in Baghdad and Basra was also seen as a repudiation of religious parties widely blamed for fueling sectarian tension that plunged the country to the brink of all-out civil war three years ago.
However, in many southern provinces the margins among the top finishers were much closer. In Najaf, al-Maliki's coalition won 16.2 percent compared with 14.8 for the Supreme Council and 12.2 percent for al-Sadr's followers.
Al-Maliki's bloc finished third in Karbala, the prime minister's home province. The top finisher was a local group headed by a former senior provincial official in Saddam Hussein's regime.
Al-Sadr, whose fortunes waned after the defeat of his Mahdi Army militia last spring, won enough votes in Baghdad and the south to remain a player in Shiite politics.
In Sunni areas, the picture was also mixed.
A Sunni bloc linked to the al-Maliki's government finished ahead in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces but trailed a close third in Anbar, behind a party led by government critic Saleh al-Mutlaq and an alliance of tribal sheiks who rose up against al-Qaida two years ago.
A leader of the Anbar sheiks, Ahmed Abu Risha, had accused his rivals of rigging the election but said Thursday he would wait for the election commission to investigate the fraud allegations.
In Nineveh province, still a major battlefield in the war against Sunni insurgents, a local Sunni Arab party won 48.4 percent of the vote on a campaign to end Kurdish political domination.
Kurds won a disproportionate share of power in Nineveh, which includes Iraq's third largest city of Mosul, because Sunni Arabs largely boycotted the last provincial election in January 2005. A Kurdish ticket finished second Thursday with 25.5 percent. The election was aimed at redistributing political power at the local level and encouraging disaffected Sunnis and Shiites to settle their differences politically instead of on the battlefield.
"Iraq is a developing democracy. It's going to have to ups and downs. But I think the fact that you had Iraqis going to the polls, very little violence that took place around the election time, it's just great for the Iraqi people," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in Washington.
"This is what so many have died for, so many have wanted. It's a very good thing."
U.S. officials were watching the outcome to determine if Iraq was stable enough for significant reductions in the U.S. military force. President Barack Obama has asked the Pentagon to draw up options, including accelerating the pace of the withdrawal.
U.S. commanders here have warned against a hasty withdrawal, fearing that the security gains of the past two years are not irreversible.
Although violence is down significantly in Baghdad and most of the country, many areas remain unstable, especially those in which Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds are competing for power.
Elections could not be held in the ethnically mixed province around Kirkuk because Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen could not agree on a power-sharing formula. The three provinces of the Kurdish self-ruled region will choose councils later this year.
Thursday's suicide attack happened at a restaurant in Khanaqin, a largely Kurdish town in mostly Arab Diyala province 90 miles north of Baghdad near the Iranian border. The town has been a source of friction between Kurds and the Arab-run central government.
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Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Hadeel al-Shalchi in Baghdad and Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah contributed to this report.
Source by: Yahoo!News
Israel bombards Hamas hours before cease-fire vote
AP – An explosion is seen from Israeli artillery during an Israeli military operation in the northern Gaza … JERUSALEM – Israel's top leadership met Saturday to approve a unilateral cease-fire that would halt the devastating 22-day offensive against the Hamas rulers of Gaza.
The 12-member Security Cabinet is expected to back an Egyptian-brokered proposal for a 10-day cease-fire with no sign of a commitment by Hamas to stop the rocket fire on southern Israel that sparked the conflict.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak indicated Israel's readiness for a cease-fire, saying the country "was very close to achieving its goals and securing them through diplomatic agreements." He spoke during a trip to southern Israel, which has been the target of militant rocket fire.
In the hours leading up to the vote, Israel kept up its bombardment of dozens of Hamas targets in Gaza.
Gaza's Hamas rulers have sent mixed signals on whether the group would reciprocate.
Hamas' exiled leadership vowed to continue the fight against Israel. Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas official based in Lebanon, said the group would not halt its attacks until Israel withdraws its troops from Gaza and ends its blockade of the seaside strip.
"If any vision does not achieve these things, then we will continue in the battle on the ground," he said.
But after weeks of heavy losses, leaders inside Gaza have signaled they are ready for a deal. A Hamas delegation was in Cairo for more truce negotiations.
Palestinian medics say the fighting has killed at least 1,140 Palestinians — roughly half of them civilians — and Israel's bombing campaign caused massive destruction in the Gaza Strip. Thirteen Israelis have been killed, according to the government.
If the truce is approved, fighting would stop immediately for 10 days. Israeli forces would remain in Gaza during that time and the territory's border crossing with Israel and Egypt would remain closed until security arrangements are made to prevent Hamas arms smuggling.
If the cease-fire is approved, it was not clear how Israel would respond to violations of a cease-fire.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni indicated that Israel would renew its offensive if Hamas militants continued to fire rockets at Israel after Israel declared a truce.
"This campaign is not a one-time event," she said in an interview with the Israeli YNet news Web site. "The test will be the day after. That is the test of deterrence."
Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27 to try to halt near-daily Hamas rocket attacks against southern Israel. Its key demand is for guarantees that Hamas halt the smuggling of rockets, explosives and other weapons through the porous Egyptian border.
Under the deal, Egypt would shut down weapons smuggling routes with international help and discussions on opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings — Hamas' key demand — would take place at a later date.
Cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz, who will attend Saturday night's Security Cabinet meeting, said any deal would also require a mechanism for negotiating the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit who was captured by Hamas more than two years ago.
The Israeli vote was set after Israel and the U.S. signed on Friday a "memorandum of understanding" in Washington that calls for expanded intelligence cooperation to prevent Hamas from rearming.
The agreement outlines a framework under which the United States commits detection and surveillance equipment, as well as logistical help and training to Israel, Egypt and other nations to be used in monitoring Gaza's land and sea borders.
Livni, who signed the deal, called it "a vital complement for a cessation of hostility."
The vote comes just days ahead of Barack Obama's inauguration as president on Tuesday.
Egypt has been a key interlocutor in weeks of negotiations to end the assault on Gaza sparked by years of Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel.
"I demand Israel today stop its military operations immediately," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said. "I demand from its leaders an immediate and unconditional cease-fire and I demand from them a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit dismissed the U.S.-Israel agreement Saturday, saying his country would not be bound by its terms.
The U.S. and Israel can "do what they wish with regard to the sea or any other country in Africa, but when it comes to Egyptian land, we are not bound by anything except the safety and national security of the Egyptian people and Egypt's ability to protect its borders," Aboul Gheit told reporters.
The comments by Egyptian officials could indicate frustration over Israeli and American efforts to broker their own deal to stem smuggling into Gaza after weeks of Egyptian mediation for an agreement. They could also be intended to tell the domestic audience that Egypt's role will not be dictated by outside powers. Egypt's cooperation will be critical to prevent arms being smuggled into Gaza for Hamas.
The comments by Egyptian officials could indicate frustration over Israeli and American efforts to broker their own deal to stem smuggling into Gaza after weeks of Egyptian mediation for an agreement. Egypt's cooperation will be critical in efforts to prevent arms being smuggled into Gaza for Hamas.
Israel Radio reported that a truce summit could be held in Egypt as early as Sunday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Israeli leaders in attendance.
Speaking to Lebanon's parliament Saturday, Ban said Hamas must stop rocket attacks on Israel and the Jewish state must immediately end its offensive and withdraw its troops from Gaza.
"We cannot wait for all the details, the mechanisms, to be conclusively negotiated and agreed, while civilians continue to be traumatized, injured or killed," he said. "We have no more time to lose. We demand an immediate cease-fire," said Ban.
In the meantime, there was no slowdown in the offensive. A total of 13 Palestinians were killed in battles throughout Gaza Saturday, Palestinian medics said.
Israeli warplanes dropped bombs during the night on suspected smuggling tunnels in the southern border town of Rafah. The bombs could be heard whistling through the air, shook the ground upon impact and left a dusty haze in the air.
In the northern town of Beit Lahiya, Israeli shells struck a U.N. school where 1,600 people had sought shelter to flee the fighting. One shell scored a direct hit on the top floor of the three-story building, killing two boys, U.N. officials said. An adjacent room was turned into a blackened mess of charred concrete and twisted metal bed frames.
John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza, condemned the attack — the latest in a series of Israeli shellings that have struck U.N. installations.
"The question that has to be asked is for all those children and all those innocent people who have been killed in this conflict. Were they war crimes? Were they war crimes that resulted in the deaths of the innocents during this conflict? That question has to be answered," he said.
The Israeli army said it was launching a high-level investigation into the shelling, as well as four other attacks that hit civilian targets, including the U.N. headquarters in Gaza. The army investigation also includes the shelling of a hospital, a media center and the home of a well-known doctor.
An Israeli military spokesman said the investigations would be handled at the command level. He spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement.
Previously, Israel has accused Hamas of using schools, mosques, hospitals and residential areas to stage attacks.
The military said its planes struck 50 Hamas locations overnight, including rocket-launching sites, smuggling tunnels, weapons storehouses, bunkers and minefields. Some five rockets were fired into Israel, causing minor damage but no injuries, the army said.
Israeli troops entered a small central Gaza town and nearby housing project, taking over houses and positioning on rooftops. Hamas militants fired assault rifles, mortars and rockets at the Israeli forces in tanks and military vehicles, the sound of clashes audible from Gaza City. Warplanes fired missiles at buildings and nearby farms, witnesses said.
"A shell landed in my bedroom and we are now sitting in the kitchen. We are 17 people here," Jihan Sarsawi, a resident of the housing project, said by telephone. She said residents were trapped in their homes.
___
Ibrahim Barzak reported from Gaza. Associated Press reporter Alfred de Montesquiou contributed to this report from Rafah, Gaza Strip.
source by: Yahoo!News
The 12-member Security Cabinet is expected to back an Egyptian-brokered proposal for a 10-day cease-fire with no sign of a commitment by Hamas to stop the rocket fire on southern Israel that sparked the conflict.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak indicated Israel's readiness for a cease-fire, saying the country "was very close to achieving its goals and securing them through diplomatic agreements." He spoke during a trip to southern Israel, which has been the target of militant rocket fire.
In the hours leading up to the vote, Israel kept up its bombardment of dozens of Hamas targets in Gaza.
Gaza's Hamas rulers have sent mixed signals on whether the group would reciprocate.
Hamas' exiled leadership vowed to continue the fight against Israel. Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas official based in Lebanon, said the group would not halt its attacks until Israel withdraws its troops from Gaza and ends its blockade of the seaside strip.
"If any vision does not achieve these things, then we will continue in the battle on the ground," he said.
But after weeks of heavy losses, leaders inside Gaza have signaled they are ready for a deal. A Hamas delegation was in Cairo for more truce negotiations.
Palestinian medics say the fighting has killed at least 1,140 Palestinians — roughly half of them civilians — and Israel's bombing campaign caused massive destruction in the Gaza Strip. Thirteen Israelis have been killed, according to the government.
If the truce is approved, fighting would stop immediately for 10 days. Israeli forces would remain in Gaza during that time and the territory's border crossing with Israel and Egypt would remain closed until security arrangements are made to prevent Hamas arms smuggling.
If the cease-fire is approved, it was not clear how Israel would respond to violations of a cease-fire.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni indicated that Israel would renew its offensive if Hamas militants continued to fire rockets at Israel after Israel declared a truce.
"This campaign is not a one-time event," she said in an interview with the Israeli YNet news Web site. "The test will be the day after. That is the test of deterrence."
Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27 to try to halt near-daily Hamas rocket attacks against southern Israel. Its key demand is for guarantees that Hamas halt the smuggling of rockets, explosives and other weapons through the porous Egyptian border.
Under the deal, Egypt would shut down weapons smuggling routes with international help and discussions on opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings — Hamas' key demand — would take place at a later date.
Cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz, who will attend Saturday night's Security Cabinet meeting, said any deal would also require a mechanism for negotiating the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit who was captured by Hamas more than two years ago.
The Israeli vote was set after Israel and the U.S. signed on Friday a "memorandum of understanding" in Washington that calls for expanded intelligence cooperation to prevent Hamas from rearming.
The agreement outlines a framework under which the United States commits detection and surveillance equipment, as well as logistical help and training to Israel, Egypt and other nations to be used in monitoring Gaza's land and sea borders.
Livni, who signed the deal, called it "a vital complement for a cessation of hostility."
The vote comes just days ahead of Barack Obama's inauguration as president on Tuesday.
Egypt has been a key interlocutor in weeks of negotiations to end the assault on Gaza sparked by years of Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel.
"I demand Israel today stop its military operations immediately," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said. "I demand from its leaders an immediate and unconditional cease-fire and I demand from them a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit dismissed the U.S.-Israel agreement Saturday, saying his country would not be bound by its terms.
The U.S. and Israel can "do what they wish with regard to the sea or any other country in Africa, but when it comes to Egyptian land, we are not bound by anything except the safety and national security of the Egyptian people and Egypt's ability to protect its borders," Aboul Gheit told reporters.
The comments by Egyptian officials could indicate frustration over Israeli and American efforts to broker their own deal to stem smuggling into Gaza after weeks of Egyptian mediation for an agreement. They could also be intended to tell the domestic audience that Egypt's role will not be dictated by outside powers. Egypt's cooperation will be critical to prevent arms being smuggled into Gaza for Hamas.
The comments by Egyptian officials could indicate frustration over Israeli and American efforts to broker their own deal to stem smuggling into Gaza after weeks of Egyptian mediation for an agreement. Egypt's cooperation will be critical in efforts to prevent arms being smuggled into Gaza for Hamas.
Israel Radio reported that a truce summit could be held in Egypt as early as Sunday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Israeli leaders in attendance.
Speaking to Lebanon's parliament Saturday, Ban said Hamas must stop rocket attacks on Israel and the Jewish state must immediately end its offensive and withdraw its troops from Gaza.
"We cannot wait for all the details, the mechanisms, to be conclusively negotiated and agreed, while civilians continue to be traumatized, injured or killed," he said. "We have no more time to lose. We demand an immediate cease-fire," said Ban.
In the meantime, there was no slowdown in the offensive. A total of 13 Palestinians were killed in battles throughout Gaza Saturday, Palestinian medics said.
Israeli warplanes dropped bombs during the night on suspected smuggling tunnels in the southern border town of Rafah. The bombs could be heard whistling through the air, shook the ground upon impact and left a dusty haze in the air.
In the northern town of Beit Lahiya, Israeli shells struck a U.N. school where 1,600 people had sought shelter to flee the fighting. One shell scored a direct hit on the top floor of the three-story building, killing two boys, U.N. officials said. An adjacent room was turned into a blackened mess of charred concrete and twisted metal bed frames.
John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza, condemned the attack — the latest in a series of Israeli shellings that have struck U.N. installations.
"The question that has to be asked is for all those children and all those innocent people who have been killed in this conflict. Were they war crimes? Were they war crimes that resulted in the deaths of the innocents during this conflict? That question has to be answered," he said.
The Israeli army said it was launching a high-level investigation into the shelling, as well as four other attacks that hit civilian targets, including the U.N. headquarters in Gaza. The army investigation also includes the shelling of a hospital, a media center and the home of a well-known doctor.
An Israeli military spokesman said the investigations would be handled at the command level. He spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement.
Previously, Israel has accused Hamas of using schools, mosques, hospitals and residential areas to stage attacks.
The military said its planes struck 50 Hamas locations overnight, including rocket-launching sites, smuggling tunnels, weapons storehouses, bunkers and minefields. Some five rockets were fired into Israel, causing minor damage but no injuries, the army said.
Israeli troops entered a small central Gaza town and nearby housing project, taking over houses and positioning on rooftops. Hamas militants fired assault rifles, mortars and rockets at the Israeli forces in tanks and military vehicles, the sound of clashes audible from Gaza City. Warplanes fired missiles at buildings and nearby farms, witnesses said.
"A shell landed in my bedroom and we are now sitting in the kitchen. We are 17 people here," Jihan Sarsawi, a resident of the housing project, said by telephone. She said residents were trapped in their homes.
___
Ibrahim Barzak reported from Gaza. Associated Press reporter Alfred de Montesquiou contributed to this report from Rafah, Gaza Strip.
source by: Yahoo!News
Bomb kills 1 US service member, 4 Afghans in Kabul
KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide car bomb attack Saturday on a heavily guarded road between the German Embassy and a U.S. military base in the Afghan capital killed one U.S. service member and four Afghan civilians, officials said.
A separate suicide bomber later attacked a convoy of NATO and Afghan police in eastern Afghanistan, killing one civilian, officials said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks and said German military personnel in Kabul and other foreign troops in the east were the targets.
U.S. military spokesman Col. Jerry O'Hara said one U.S. service member died from wounds received in the 9:45 a.m. attack on a busy Kabul street. The blast also wounded six American forces and one U.S. civilian, he said.
"They detonated this explosive device right in a crowded area that was both used by civilians and military people," O'Hara said.
Firefighters and soldiers doused burning vehicles with water. Afghan security personnel and U.S. soldiers carried a U.S. service member out of a window near the blast.
Four Afghan civilians died in the blast and at least 19 wounded were being treated at two hospitals, the interior minister said. Two other wounded civilians were at other hospitals, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Defense Ministry spokesman.
The German Embassy shares a small, two-lane road with Camp Eggers, a U.S. base that serves as the headquarters for soldiers who train Afghan police and army personnel. Dozens of armed Afghan security personnel guard the street, and blast walls of concrete and sand-filled mesh-wire boxes line the road.
"It did not breach the wall (of the base)," said Lt. Col. Chris Kubik, a U.S. military spokesman. "It was fairly close but I can't tell you if they were targeting us or not."
A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin said "some personnel" were wounded in the blast, but he did not give numbers. He said they had no reports of deaths.
Windows inside the German compound shattered in the explosion, but the wall protecting the compound is still intact, he said. The spokesman refused to give his name for publication, citing government policy.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said a Taliban suicide bomber named Shumse Rehman carried out the attack in a Toyota Corolla. He said the bomber targeted two vehicles believed to be carrying German military officers.
"The Germans have forces in the north of Afghanistan and they are involved in the killing of innocent Afghans. The Taliban will target all those countries who have forces in Afghanistan," he said.
Mujahid said the Taliban had been monitoring the movements of German vehicles and planned the attack to target officers believed to be inside.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned "this cowardly act of barbarity."
"Germany stands by its commitment in Afghanistan," Steinmeier said in a statement. "We will not let terror deter us from continuing our aid to the Afghan people."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai also condemned the attack and offered condolences to the victims' families.
"These kind of un-Islamic and inhumane acts will only increase people's hatred for the terrorists," Karzai said.
In Saturday's second attack, a suicide bomber in a minivan charged a convoy of NATO troops and Afghan police in eastern Nangarhar province. The explosion in Chaparhar district killed one civilian and wounded three others, said Ghafor Khan, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. He said three police were also wounded.
Mujahid said the bombing was aimed at the foreign military forces in the convoy.
A spokesman for NATO forces, Sgt. Brian Jones, confirmed the bomb attack on the convoy. He said no NATO troops were killed or wounded.
Germany has 3,200 troops in Afghanistan, mainly in the country's north. That region is considerably more peaceful than the country's east or south, but German troops are still the target of occasional bomb attacks.
The U.S. has some 32,000 troops in Afghanistan and plans to send up to 30,000 more this year.
Also Saturday, a U.S. CH-47 helicopter went down in eastern Kunar province during a routine resupply mission for NATO troops, according to Lt. Cmdr. James Gater, a spokesman for NATO's mission in Afghanistan.
Some of those aboard were injured, Gater said.
A NATO statement described the incident as a "hard landing." British Capt. Mark Windsor, another NATO spokesman, said "there was enemy fire in the area" but that he did not know if the helicopter was shot down.
___
Associated Press reporters Jason Straziuso, Heidi Vogt, Amir Shah, and Noor Khan contributed to this report.
source by: YahooNews
A separate suicide bomber later attacked a convoy of NATO and Afghan police in eastern Afghanistan, killing one civilian, officials said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks and said German military personnel in Kabul and other foreign troops in the east were the targets.
U.S. military spokesman Col. Jerry O'Hara said one U.S. service member died from wounds received in the 9:45 a.m. attack on a busy Kabul street. The blast also wounded six American forces and one U.S. civilian, he said.
"They detonated this explosive device right in a crowded area that was both used by civilians and military people," O'Hara said.
Firefighters and soldiers doused burning vehicles with water. Afghan security personnel and U.S. soldiers carried a U.S. service member out of a window near the blast.
Four Afghan civilians died in the blast and at least 19 wounded were being treated at two hospitals, the interior minister said. Two other wounded civilians were at other hospitals, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Defense Ministry spokesman.
The German Embassy shares a small, two-lane road with Camp Eggers, a U.S. base that serves as the headquarters for soldiers who train Afghan police and army personnel. Dozens of armed Afghan security personnel guard the street, and blast walls of concrete and sand-filled mesh-wire boxes line the road.
"It did not breach the wall (of the base)," said Lt. Col. Chris Kubik, a U.S. military spokesman. "It was fairly close but I can't tell you if they were targeting us or not."
A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin said "some personnel" were wounded in the blast, but he did not give numbers. He said they had no reports of deaths.
Windows inside the German compound shattered in the explosion, but the wall protecting the compound is still intact, he said. The spokesman refused to give his name for publication, citing government policy.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said a Taliban suicide bomber named Shumse Rehman carried out the attack in a Toyota Corolla. He said the bomber targeted two vehicles believed to be carrying German military officers.
"The Germans have forces in the north of Afghanistan and they are involved in the killing of innocent Afghans. The Taliban will target all those countries who have forces in Afghanistan," he said.
Mujahid said the Taliban had been monitoring the movements of German vehicles and planned the attack to target officers believed to be inside.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned "this cowardly act of barbarity."
"Germany stands by its commitment in Afghanistan," Steinmeier said in a statement. "We will not let terror deter us from continuing our aid to the Afghan people."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai also condemned the attack and offered condolences to the victims' families.
"These kind of un-Islamic and inhumane acts will only increase people's hatred for the terrorists," Karzai said.
In Saturday's second attack, a suicide bomber in a minivan charged a convoy of NATO troops and Afghan police in eastern Nangarhar province. The explosion in Chaparhar district killed one civilian and wounded three others, said Ghafor Khan, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. He said three police were also wounded.
Mujahid said the bombing was aimed at the foreign military forces in the convoy.
A spokesman for NATO forces, Sgt. Brian Jones, confirmed the bomb attack on the convoy. He said no NATO troops were killed or wounded.
Germany has 3,200 troops in Afghanistan, mainly in the country's north. That region is considerably more peaceful than the country's east or south, but German troops are still the target of occasional bomb attacks.
The U.S. has some 32,000 troops in Afghanistan and plans to send up to 30,000 more this year.
Also Saturday, a U.S. CH-47 helicopter went down in eastern Kunar province during a routine resupply mission for NATO troops, according to Lt. Cmdr. James Gater, a spokesman for NATO's mission in Afghanistan.
Some of those aboard were injured, Gater said.
A NATO statement described the incident as a "hard landing." British Capt. Mark Windsor, another NATO spokesman, said "there was enemy fire in the area" but that he did not know if the helicopter was shot down.
___
Associated Press reporters Jason Straziuso, Heidi Vogt, Amir Shah, and Noor Khan contributed to this report.
source by: YahooNews
Hamas chief: We will not accept Israeli conditions
AP – Hamas Leader Khaled Mashaal, center, Ramadan Shallah, head of Islamic Jihad, right, and Ahmad Jebril, … Despite the hard-line comments by the Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, Israel and Egyptian mediators were expressing optimism a cease-fire could be reached. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said he was hopeful that Israel is "entering the endgame" on its Gaza offensive and that a "sustained and durable" stop to Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel was near.
A top Israeli envoy, Amos Gilad, held talks with Egyptian officials for a second straight day on a cease-fire proposal put forward by Egypt. An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said "signs are encouraging for a breakthrough" in negotiations in Cairo for a truce.
The impact of Mashaal's comments was not immediately clear, but they could muddle the diplomatic efforts for a halt in the now 3-week-old Israeli offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Damascus-based Hamas leader was speaking at an Arab summit in the Qatari capital of Doha that pro-U.S. Egypt and Saudi Arabia boycotted, fearing Hamas would use it to bolster a hard-line stance and undermine the negotiations.
There have been some signs of cracks within Hamas over the cease-fire talks. Hamas officials in Gaza have often appeared more prepared to accept Egyptian proposals than Mashaal's leadership-in-exile.
Under the Egyptian proposal, fighting would stop immediately for 10 days, but Israeli forces would remain in place in Gaza and the border crossings into the territory would remain closed, until security arrangements are made for the crossings to ensure Hamas does not smuggle weapons into the territory. Israel demands a halt to Hamas rocket attacks into southern Israel and internationally backed guarantees that Hamas will not rearm by smuggling weapons into the tiny Mediterranean strip, which it has controlled since 2007.
But in Doha, Mashaal insisted Hamas cannot stop fighting until the border crossings into Gaza are opened.
"We will not accept Israel's conditions for a cease-fire," Mashaal told the summit. He said Hamas demands that "the aggression stop," Israeli troops withdraw and crossings into Gaza open immediately.
He asked Arab nations to back Hamas' position and to announce a boycott of Israel and the cutting of any ties they have with the Jewish state.
Mashaal lay down Hamas' view of the conflict, trying to fend off suggestions from Egypt and Saudi Arabia that its rocket attacks were to blame for sparking the Israeli assault, in which more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza medical officials. Israel says it launched its Gaza offensive because of continued Hamas rocket fire against southern cities.
Mashaal insisted Israel was to blame because of the crippling blockade it imposed on the tiny Mediterranean coastal strip since Hamas took power there in 2007. Mashaal said refused to renew a 6-month-old truce with Israel that ran out in December because the period of relative calm had not led to an end to the closure. Israel says the closure is needed to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas, but it has also caused months of widespread shortages and suffering in Gaza.
"Did we do wrong, by rejecting a truce that let the blockade continue?" Mashaal said. "Don't the people of Gaza deserve to live free? ... They want to live free without blockade or occupation, just like all the Palestinian people do."
"Please listen to the voice of the resistance," he said. "Don't think that Hamas wants an open war. We are defending our people."
Speaking to the gathering, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syria's Bashar Assad — both close allies of Hamas — echoed Mashaal's call for a severing of ties with Israel and a boycott. Egypt and Jordan, which did not attend, are the only Arab nations with diplomatic ties with Israel, but several Gulf states — including Qatar — have lower level economic ties with the Jewish state.
The surprise presence of the president of mainly Persian Iran at what was touted as an Arab summit underlined how the Gaza conflict has deepened the split in the Middle East between pro-U.S. governments and their rivals, particularly Hamas's allies Syria and Iran.
Like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Hamas' rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, boycotted the Qatar gathering, and around 10 other Arab leaders also stayed away, reportedly under pressure from Cairo and Riyadh.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia have instead suggested leaders discuss Gaza at a previously planned economic summit due to begin in Kuwait on Sunday. Arab foreign ministers met Friday in Kuwait to prepare for the gathering and discuss Gaza.
source by : YahooNews
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