Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Some news I thought you find interesting

23:25 Lebanon: A prosecutor filed an indictment against 56 people suspected of belonging to a terrorist organization, including al Qaeda. The accused are from various countries, including Jordan, Syria, the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia. (Guysen.International.News)04 Elections in Pakistan: the Pakistani People's Party (PPP) the party of the assassinated former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, is leading over the party of President Pervez Mousharrah, in the vote count. (Guysen.International.News)
22:43 The French president Nicolas Sarkozy recognized Kosovo as a ''free and independent state'' in a letter he sent to President Fatmir Sejdiu Kosovo. (Guysen.International.News)
22:15 Youssouf Fofana and twenty members of the ''gang of barbarians'' were returned to stand trial before the Assize Court of Paris for minors, for having kidnapped and tortured Ilan Halimi to death. (Guysen.International.News)
22:07 Albania: Tirana has recognized Kosovo as an independent state, through its Prime Minister, Sali Berisha. (Guysen.International.News)
21:51 It was not three, as previously announced, but seven kassam rockets that landed near the towns of Aloumim and Nahal Oz. There were no injuries. (Guysen.International.News)
21:42 Iraq: three people were killed and fifteen wounded in an attack near Baghdad airport. (Guysen.International.News)
21:14 The Palestinian diplomat, Saeb Erekat, contradicted the words of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who said that the issue of Jerusalem would be addressed last in the talks. ''The most important thing right now is to find a solution on these issues,'' Erekat said. He added that no agreement had been reached on the postponement of negotiations. (Guysen.International.News)
20:48 At least eleven people are in shock after a kassam rocket landed in the town of Sderot. Since the beginning of the day, nine kassam rockets and five mortar shells have hit Israel. One person was slightly injured and another fifteen in shock. (Guysen.International.News)
20:41 United States: the American administration has evidence that North Korea helped Syria build an underground nuclear power station. (Guysen.International.News)
20:35 A woman who was seeking shelter was slightly injured by the kassam rocket that landed in Sderot, on Sinai street. Another person was in shock. (Guysen.International.News)
19:52 The Popular Resistance Committees, a Palestinian terrorist organization, has called for terrorist attacks against Danish embassies around the world in protest against the publication of cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in newspapers. (Guysen.International.News)
19:43 Turkey: Ankara has just recognized the independence of Kosovo. (Guysen.International.News)
19:26 United States: the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has officially recognized the independence of Kosovo. ''Today, the United States officially recognizes the independence of Kosovo as a sovereign and independent state. We congratulate the people on this historic event,'' she wrote in the announcement published on this occasion. (Guysen.International.News)
19:19 The Director General of the Foreign Ministry, Aharon Abramovitch, criticized comments made by the UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, who had described the situation in southern Israel as an ''escalation of violence with the Palestinians ''. Mr. Abramovich was felt that such remarks ''may give the impression to the terrorists that the international community will put pressure on Israel rather than deal with the roots of violence. Accordingly, they are not conducive to the peace process ''. (Guysen.International.News)
18:35 France: the Union of Deportees to Auschwitz opposes the idea of President Nicolas Sarkozy to entrust the memory of each one of the 11,000 Jewish children deported from France during the Holocaust to the current generation of French children. Members of the organization said in a press release that "they knew too well the difficulty of speaking of the unspeakable even to our own children or to be heard even by adults, to want a younger generation to be confronted so early to the absolute unbearable history that destroyed so many children in our families.'' (Guysen.International.News)
18:09 Great Britain: Foreign Minister, David Miliband, announced that London recognized the independence of Kosovo. (Guysen.International.News)
17:57 The European Union has decided to give 9 million euros of financial support to Syria to help Iraqi refugees within its territory. (Guysen.International.News)
17:08 17:08 On Monday NATO reaffirmed its commitments to peacekeeping in Kosovo, explaining that the 16,000 troops deployed there would continue to protect the Serb minority. The Secretary General of NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said the forces of the Atlantic Alliance would urge the Albanian and Serb populations to show "moderation and maximum restraint''. For his part, the Romanian President, Traian Basescu, has described the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo as ''illegal''. (Guysen.International.News)
16:07 Ramiro Cibrian Uzal, the head of the EU delegation in Israel, strongly criticized Israeli leaders on Monday, who according to him, ''are doing nothing to promote the transfer of security control of Palestinian cities in Judea and Samaria to the Palestinians ''. He claimed that the Palestinian security forces trained recently in Jordan and are ready to assume their duties. (Guysen.International.News)
15:27 Osama al-Mazini, a senior Hamas official in charge of the Gilad Shalit case said on Monday that there was ''nothing new'' in this case and that the talks were dragging. ''Nothing has changed since 11 months ago and we are awaiting Israel's response on the list of prisoners to be released,'' he said, adding that ''the massacres perpetrated by Israel in the Gaza Strip could seriously compromise those talks.'' (Guysen.International.News)
14:55 Two kassam rockets fired by Palestinians from the Gaza Strip have just hit a kibbutz in the western Negev. Four people are in a state of shock. There was also damage to several windows. (Guysen.International.News)
13:36 Kosovo: Germany has recognized independence of the province in southern Serbia. Spain has not. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the status of Kosovo is unique and ''cannot be compared to any other''. The Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos said that the proclamation of independence of Kosovo ''does not respect international law''. (Guysen.International.News)
12:45 An Israeli Arab Palestinians carrying illegal immigrants, tried to run over a border guard. The incident occurred at the entrance to Umm el-Fahem, and ended without injuries after a chase. The driver and his two Palestinian passengers were arrested. (Guysen.International.News)
12:09 The Israeli Aviation Industries (IAI) has signed a cooperation contract with the Indian Tata empire. They decided to set up a joint company based in India, responsible for development, manufacturing and technical support of military products. India has in recent years become one of the largest, if not the largest, market for Israeli security exports. (Guysen.International.News)
11:45 Azmi Bishara, a former Israeli Arab MK on the run, called Israel "the last country in the world where there is still apartheid". The former leader of the Balad party, accused of spying on behalf of Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War, made these comments from a conference in Canada. (Guysen.International.News)
11:29 Bird flu continues to plague Indonesia: 105 people have died from the disease. The Indonesian Ministry of Health reported a new case detected on a 3 year old child in Jakarta, who died at the hospital, on Saturday. Another boy died on the same day, also affected by the virulent H5N1 virus. (Guysen.International.News)
11:10 The Palestinian diplomat Saeb Erekat called on terrorist factions to lay down their arms to avoid a large-scale Israeli offensive in Gaza. Interviewed by the Al Jazeera television station, he believes that ''there are indications that Israel will launch a large-scale operation in Gaza''. (Guysen.International.News)
10:02 Berlin: the Israeli film ''Restless'' by Amos Kollek won the Prize of the Association of German Cinemas, and the feature film "Lemon Tree", by Eran Riklis, won the Public Prize in the Panorama section. Finally ''Shahida-Brides of Allah'' by Nathalie Assouline was awarded the prize of the International Critique of the Forum section. (Guysen.International.News)
09:33 Israel and Hamas have agreed on the identity of the 230 of the 350 prisoners to be released in exchange for Gilad Shalit. According to Army Radio Galei Zahal, this progress was made following the adoption by the ad hoc ministerial committee of the relaxation of the criteria for release of terrorists ''with blood on their hands''. Initially, Israel and Hamas had agreed on the release of 44 prisoners only. The final list must be approved by the government, a measure that has not yet been achieved by Ehud Olmert. (Guysen.International.News)
09:22 Recent immigrants are equally, if not more motivated, than young native Israelis, to enlist in combat units. The head of human resources of the IDF, General Eleazar Stern, presented this data to a school of new immigrants in Tel Aviv. The prison director was keen to point out that 89% of its students were performing their military service, a rate far above the national average. (Guysen.International.News)
08:27 A resumption of activities of some departments of the Orient House, the PLO headquarters in east Jerusalem. These departments, that were closed, are not operating from the premises themselves of the Orient House, but their members meet in east Jerusalem with foreign personalities and diplomats. The advisor to the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, confirmed that the Palestinian security services and intelligence are also working in a restricted manner in the east of the capital. (Guysen.International.News)
08:09 Hezbollah is not rushing to respond to the death of its chief of operations Imad Moughnieh. According to the Kuwaiti newspaper A Rai, the Lebanese Shi'ite militia intends to attack an Israeli personality on the same level as Moughnieh, regarded as the ''chief of staff'' of Hezbollah. Moughnieh had even prepared a bank of Israeli targets, after the Second Lebanon War, when Israel announced its intention to eliminate Hassan Nasrallah. (Guysen.International.News)
07:47 A bomb placed in the headrest of the vehicle of Imad Moughnieh, remotely operated, caused his death, according to the Sunday Times. Hezbollah believes that the charge was detonated by satellite and is pointing an accusatory finger at Israel. (Guysen.International.News)
07:36 Miky Golwasser, mother of Ehud kidnapped in Lebanon, denies that her son was declared ''dead'' without the submission of formal proofs of his death. After reports in the German newspaper Der Spiegel, Mrs. Goldwasser said that no member of government has asked the family's approval to declare the two soldiers abducted by Hezbollah as ''dead''. She is less upset with the government than the fact that UN Resolution 1701 explicitly demanding the release of the soldiers, has not been applied. (Guysen.International.News)
06:42 Burma: the latest adventures of John Rambo do not appeal to the military junta leaders. The police have recently banned DVD sellers from promoting the latest episode of this American saga. The fourth part of the adventures of John Rambo takes place on the border between Thailand and Burma. (Guysen.International.News)
05:59 182,000 tourists visited Israel in January, representing an increase of over 57% compared with January 2007 - a record for the tourism sector of Israel. The previous record, with the arrival of 170,000 tourists in January, was established in 2000. (Guysen.International.News)

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